This could actually end up being a big deal as it may violate all sorts of election laws, campaign funding laws and if state or federal funds were used could become a criminal conspiracy.
ACORN plot found, Oklahoma GOP says
The Daily Oklahoman ^ | Wednesday, September 30, 2009 | Michael McNutt
NewsOK
Posted on September 30, 2009 10:28:45 AM CDT by RasterMaster
A Republican state legislator released documents Tuesday which he says show the community-organizing group ACORN focused on helping Democrats in three legislative races in the November 2008 election and had developed a game plan to "take power” in Oklahoma within five years. "They say they’re not political, but one of the subdirectories was called political action plans,” Reynolds said. "It was their political plans to take over key targeted races in Oklahoma City to show how powerful they are.”
One of the key legislative races mentioned in the documents was the Senate District 43 race involving Reynolds’ brother. State Sen. Jim Reynolds, an Oklahoma City Republican who won by about 3,600 votes in 2004, won by 159 votes in 2008.
Mike Reynolds said he was contacted in late summer 2008 by people who had leased office space near SW 25 and Robinson Avenue to ACORN. He was told the group had stopped paying the lease. Reynolds said he bought two computers for which passwords were found in desks.
Oklahoma Republican Party Chairman Gary Jones said ACORN, officially the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, had three Oklahoma City offices in 2008. The organization now does not list any Oklahoma City office on its Web site.
No one answered at an ACORN office Tuesday in Tulsa. Messages left at an ACORN office in Washington were not returned. A spokesman with The Advance Group, a New York-based company which handles public relations for ACORN, said Tuesday he was unaware of the documents.
Todd Goodman, chairman of the Oklahoma Democratic Party, said he was unaware ACORN had any volunteers working in Oklahoma City during the 2008 elections.
Goodman questioned the release of the documents a year after their alleged discovery.
Reynolds, who said he had been busy with legislative matters the past several months, said about 1,600 documents are on the computers. Some of them have nothing to do with Oklahoma and deal with other states.
He said he has converted nearly 60 into a document format that can be viewed by most computer users; he’s posted them on a Web site, which he said is not yet available to the public.
His intent "is to dispel the idea that ACORN wasn’t a political organization,” Reynolds said. "That’s all they were about was politics.”
Most of the documents on Reynolds’ Web site, made available to The Oklahoman, are not on any letterhead.
Few have any dates or any indication who wrote them.
Reynolds said computer files show who composed them. Jones said several show the files were created on a computer at state Democratic Party headquarters.
Goodman denied the allegation.
The released documents also include what appears to be a form letter on Oklahoma City ACORN stationery asking the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to expedite the processing of immigrant citizen applications. State Sen. Andrew Rice’s name is on the bottom of the letter; his signature is not.
Rice, D-Oklahoma City, said Tuesday he didn’t write the letter and never worked with anyone from ACORN.
The Daily Oklahoman ^ | Wednesday, September 30, 2009 | Michael McNutt
NewsOK
Posted on September 30, 2009 10:28:45 AM CDT by RasterMaster
A Republican state legislator released documents Tuesday which he says show the community-organizing group ACORN focused on helping Democrats in three legislative races in the November 2008 election and had developed a game plan to "take power” in Oklahoma within five years. "They say they’re not political, but one of the subdirectories was called political action plans,” Reynolds said. "It was their political plans to take over key targeted races in Oklahoma City to show how powerful they are.”
One of the key legislative races mentioned in the documents was the Senate District 43 race involving Reynolds’ brother. State Sen. Jim Reynolds, an Oklahoma City Republican who won by about 3,600 votes in 2004, won by 159 votes in 2008.
Mike Reynolds said he was contacted in late summer 2008 by people who had leased office space near SW 25 and Robinson Avenue to ACORN. He was told the group had stopped paying the lease. Reynolds said he bought two computers for which passwords were found in desks.
Oklahoma Republican Party Chairman Gary Jones said ACORN, officially the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, had three Oklahoma City offices in 2008. The organization now does not list any Oklahoma City office on its Web site.
No one answered at an ACORN office Tuesday in Tulsa. Messages left at an ACORN office in Washington were not returned. A spokesman with The Advance Group, a New York-based company which handles public relations for ACORN, said Tuesday he was unaware of the documents.
Todd Goodman, chairman of the Oklahoma Democratic Party, said he was unaware ACORN had any volunteers working in Oklahoma City during the 2008 elections.
Goodman questioned the release of the documents a year after their alleged discovery.
Reynolds, who said he had been busy with legislative matters the past several months, said about 1,600 documents are on the computers. Some of them have nothing to do with Oklahoma and deal with other states.
He said he has converted nearly 60 into a document format that can be viewed by most computer users; he’s posted them on a Web site, which he said is not yet available to the public.
His intent "is to dispel the idea that ACORN wasn’t a political organization,” Reynolds said. "That’s all they were about was politics.”
Most of the documents on Reynolds’ Web site, made available to The Oklahoman, are not on any letterhead.
Few have any dates or any indication who wrote them.
Reynolds said computer files show who composed them. Jones said several show the files were created on a computer at state Democratic Party headquarters.
Goodman denied the allegation.
The released documents also include what appears to be a form letter on Oklahoma City ACORN stationery asking the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to expedite the processing of immigrant citizen applications. State Sen. Andrew Rice’s name is on the bottom of the letter; his signature is not.
Rice, D-Oklahoma City, said Tuesday he didn’t write the letter and never worked with anyone from ACORN.
