# Could Acorn Be Prosecuted Under the RICO Act? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 28, 2009, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-acorn-be-prosecuted-under-the-rico-act/519235 "2009-11-28T14:18:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2009, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-acorn-be-prosecuted-under-the-rico-act/519235/1 "2009-11-28T14:18:51Z")
Just in from California: Acorn has been dumping and destroyig internal memos (which expose the corrupt and dishonest practices of Acorn). Calfornia AG Jerry Brown thinks that evidence found in the trash is not admissable (it is). It is clear that Brown doesn’t want to investigate, but he may have to. My question: could a special prosecutor be appointed, and use RICO to get at the heart of the corruption? ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2009, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-acorn-be-prosecuted-under-the-rico-act/519235/2 "2009-11-28T14:34:06Z")
Well, RICO _was_ a tool in the fight against anti-abortion groups, so part of me wants to chortle and say how funny it would be to see it also misused against ACORN. But no. RICO’s predicate acts were never intended to be an all-encompassing panacea against any group doing anything distasteful. Unless ACORN’s activities truly include rackteering or extortion, a possibility I regard as pretty remote, I don’t think RICO is appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2009, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-acorn-be-prosecuted-under-the-rico-act/519235/3 "2009-11-28T14:58:41Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > internal memos (which expose the corrupt and dishonest practices of Acorn). You have proof of this, or is it just speculation on the part of those you believe? In either case, how about a little linkage here so’s folk can determine exactly what it is you’re going on about? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2009, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-acorn-be-prosecuted-under-the-rico-act/519235/4 "2009-11-28T16:18:30Z")
Given the political nature of the OP, this is better handled in GD than GQ. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2009, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-acorn-be-prosecuted-under-the-rico-act/519235/5 "2009-11-28T16:34:25Z")
Conservative witch hunt continues. More News at 11. ---
**Author:** ![athelas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@athelas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/athelas)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2009, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-acorn-be-prosecuted-under-the-rico-act/519235/6 "2009-11-28T16:38:04Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > Conservative witch hunt continues. More News at 11. Translation: You can’t hurt ACORN, they’re on the _good guys_’s side! ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2009, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-acorn-be-prosecuted-under-the-rico-act/519235/7 "2009-11-28T16:46:13Z")
Please tell me the crime they have committed. Then we can discuss it. The repubs are just trying to send a message to people who work with the poor. They will do whatever it takes ,to keep power. Vote suppression is a repub tactic. Don’t mess with them. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2009, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-acorn-be-prosecuted-under-the-rico-act/519235/8 "2009-11-28T16:46:42Z")
> [@athelas](#): > > Translation: You can’t hurt ACORN, they’re on the _good guys_’s side! Actual translation: Acorn hasn’t done anything wrong, but for some reason conservatives really, really want it to be sinister. Acorn = Diebold. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2009, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-acorn-be-prosecuted-under-the-rico-act/519235/9 "2009-11-28T17:07:35Z")
> [@athelas](#): > > You can’t hurt ACORN, they’re on the _good guys_’s side! Well, we could nuke em. That’d hurt, _and_ cement our reputation for insane barbarism. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2009, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-acorn-be-prosecuted-under-the-rico-act/519235/10 "2009-11-28T17:22:05Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > Actual translation: Acorn hasn’t done anything wrong, but for some reason conservatives really, really want it to be sinister. > > Acorn = Diebold. There were never any leading Democrats calling for a nation-wide investigation of Diebold. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2009, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-acorn-be-prosecuted-under-the-rico-act/519235/11 "2009-11-28T18:02:48Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Calfornia AG Jerry Brown thinks that evidence found in the trash is not admissable (it is). Could you provide a summary of your legal opinion as to why the Attorney General is incorrect and the materials are admissible? ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2009, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-acorn-be-prosecuted-under-the-rico-act/519235/12 "2009-11-28T18:19:04Z")
> [@Knorf](#): > > There were never any leading Democrats calling for a nation-wide investigation of Diebold. Oh I agree that the Republicans are the bad guys in this instance. I’m just saying that the ignorant, angry children that comprise the Republican party now want to have a Diebold issue to tit-for-tat the issues that Democrats have had during the last administration. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2009, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-acorn-be-prosecuted-under-the-rico-act/519235/13 "2009-11-28T18:27:19Z")
RICO does not fit in ACORN. The whole idea is to come down on the Mafia and organized crime. ACORN was not a profit making enterprise . It did not extort . It would be a misuse and inappropriate. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2009, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-acorn-be-prosecuted-under-the-rico-act/519235/14 "2009-11-28T18:53:21Z")
I doubt the OP will be back to support his premise, and in an initial search, I couldn’t find any recent media posts referencing the OP’s assertions. In an effort to get some kind of debate going, therefore, here is a (IMO) very [well-written article](http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/columns/shoptalk_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1004047850&imw=Y) discussing how the combination of right-wing “opinion entrepreneurs” and slipshod reporting by the media have cemented the idea of an ACORN conspiracy in the public mind. As some of us know, these issues have a rather tenuous factual basis but have been hyped beyond belief by persons with a clear agenda to suppress community organizations, with ACORN a particular target due to its size. To the media’s shame, it has done next to no actual investigation of these issues, apparently preferring instead to repeat the right-wing allegations without much in the way of context or fact-checking. Given the appalling quality of reporting on the subject, it is understandable that the OP would have the notion that there is some sort of enormous conspiracy going on within the organization. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2009, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-acorn-be-prosecuted-under-the-rico-act/519235/15 "2009-11-28T19:42:32Z")
> **[Editorial: Jerry Brown vs. ACORN](https://www.ocregister.com/2009/11/25/editorial-jerry-brown-vs-acorn/)** > > It might sound little cliché, but ACORN is the gift of controversy that keeps on giving. This time the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now is putting Jerry Brown, Californi… \*Orange County Register \*editorial. Choice highlights… > [@](#): > > Political activist Andrew Breitbart broke a story this week about ACORN, a national association of community organizers that claims to advocate for low-and-moderate-income people, on his Big Government blog. This time ACORN is accused of a massive document dump at its San Diego office… Andrew Breitbart. Mmmm, yes. > [@](#): > > …Breitbart’s highest profile venue was the _Drudge Report_… Mr. Breitbart has guest-hosted the _Savage Nation_ talk radio program…(that would be, of course, Michael Savage. aka The Savage Weiner)…Breitbart’s work has been published in the\* Wall Street Journal\*, _National Review Online_ and the _Weekly Standard Online_, among others. He writes a weekly column for _The Washington Times_… Lest anyone think he has an agenda… > [@](#): > > …In the hours immediately following Senator Ted Kennedy’s death, Breitbart called Kennedy a “villain,” a “duplicitous bastard,” a “prick” and “a special pile of human excrement”… > **[Andrew Breitbart](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Breitbart)** > > Andrew James Breitbart (/ˈbraɪtbɑːrt/; February 1, 1969 – March 1, 2012) was an American conservative journalist and political commentator who was the founder of Breitbart News and a co-founder of HuffPost. > After helping in the early stages of HuffPost and the Drudge Report, Breitbart created Breitbart News, now a far-right news and opinion website, which has been described as misogynistic, xenophobic, and racist by academics and journalists, notably The University of California Press. > Brei... Meanwhile, back on Derange County… > [@](#): > > …Other documents, according to Derrick Roach, the private investigator who retrieved the data, contained detailed information about how ACORN operates in California… Thats his name. Derrick Roach. I am not making this up! “According to him” being the operative words. The money quote: > [@](#): > > …The real story, though, is the timing of the disposal, which occurred six days before representatives from the Attorney General’s Office visited the ACORN offices for their investigation into potentially illegal advice and misconduct captured on video by two activists posing as potential ACORN clients. The videos caused a national stir in September… Right. The CA AG is investigating an incident that occured in…Massachussets? And its suspicious because it happened a mere _six days_ before the “raid”. Gasp! ---
**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2009, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-acorn-be-prosecuted-under-the-rico-act/519235/16 "2009-11-28T20:13:07Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Just in from California: Acorn has been dumping and destroyig internal memos (which expose the corrupt and dishonest practices of Acorn). Calfornia AG Jerry Brown thinks that evidence found in the trash is not admissable (it is). It is clear that Brown doesn’t want to investigate, but he may have to. > My question: could a special prosecutor be appointed, and use RICO to get at the heart of the corruption? > [@Squink](#): > > You have proof of this, or is it just speculation on the part of those you believe? > In either case, how about a little linkage here so’s folk can determine exactly what it is you’re going on about? Concurring with **Squink** : Or they could just be old files. Even ACORN is allowed to throw stuff in the garbage. But maybe you, **ralph124c** , know something more? Why don’t you share with us? I’d hate for you to get a reputation for hysterical slander. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2009, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-acorn-be-prosecuted-under-the-rico-act/519235/17 "2009-11-28T20:17:51Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > Actual translation: Acorn hasn’t done anything wrong, but for some reason conservatives really, really want it to be sinister. > > Acorn = Diebold. OT: Diebold is selling its voting machine division, so at least we won’t have to hear about that anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2009, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-acorn-be-prosecuted-under-the-rico-act/519235/18 "2009-11-28T20:54:15Z")
> [@](#): > > OT: Diebold is selling its voting machine division, so at least we won’t have to hear about that anymore. That depends, of course, on whom they’re selling it to. ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2009, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-acorn-be-prosecuted-under-the-rico-act/519235/19 "2009-11-29T04:05:38Z")
> [@](#): > > Just in from California: Acorn has been dumping and destroyig internal memos (which expose the corrupt and dishonest practices of Acorn). You sound like you read these memos prior to their destruction. What did they say exactly? ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2009, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-acorn-be-prosecuted-under-the-rico-act/519235/20 "2009-11-29T04:06:26Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Could you provide a summary of your legal opinion as to why the Attorney General is incorrect and the materials are admissible? Probably **ralph** was just sharing his own experience of the law. We shouldn’t actually press for any sort of concrete legal citation uner these circumstances. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-acorn-be-prosecuted-under-the-rico-act/519235.md?page=2)