Chamblee54

This is a repost from October 12, 2008. At the time, ACORN was at the center of an election year controversy. In the three years since, it was been caught up in another flap, this one even flakier than the 2008 dustup. This  had a devastating impact on the organization. ACORN filed for bankruptcy on November 2, 2010.
An organization called ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) has been in the news lately. The word is they are registering voters, and not being too choosy who they sign up. Vote early, and vote often. Since a lot of these new voters will presumably vote for BHO, the JSM campaign has made an issue of this. The talking points have gone out, and ACORN is an issue.
This brought back some memories for PG. He used to work, briefly, for one of those community organizations. In 1980, he answered an ad for “Activists”. The job was for a group called Georgia Action, which was connected to ACORN.
The job was going door to door, getting people to sign a petition. The petition called for the Public Service Commission to take action against Georgia Power Company. When the petition was signed, the signer was asked to make a donation. Checks were preferred, since people seldom make checks out for less than five dollars.
PG trained for a couple of days with a senior operator. The word operator is appropriate. The man had a slick routine down, and did not take no for an answer. One lady said she was on chemotherapy, and was strapped for cash. The operator did not bat an eye, but said she could save money on her power bill if she would help Georgia Action.
Back at the office, PG learned that most of what Georgia Action did was “build a base”. They had meetings for Senior Citizens. The worked with neighborhoods to get garbage picked up. They did almost nothing with Georgia Power. The power company was a handy villain to use in fundraising. PG began to be disillusioned, but decided to stick it out.
The first day on his own, he was walking from the bus stop to the office. An acorn fell off a tree, and hit him in the head. PG tried, but never did too well. He called on a Georgia Power employee, who ridiculed what he was doing. His heart was not there, and the money wasn’t that great either. He called it off after a couple of days.
Now, this is just one story, about one of many community organizations. It took place 31 years ago. The petition drives against Georgia Power have not been seen in a while. Is ACORN committing voter fraud on behalf of BHO today? Who knows. The charges by JSM have the feel of noise from a losing candidate. There just might be an organization doing the same thing to register voters for JSM.
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.