Hunt begins for records on ACORN's fed funds

A public interest law firm has filed a lawsuit against the Department of Housing and Urban Development to obtain records concerning federal grants provided to ACORN.

Judicial Watch filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, July 17. HUD confirmed receipt of the request but failed to abide by its own extended deadline even after Judicial Watch agreed to limit the scope of the request to only seven states – California, Texas, Washington, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Arkansas and Louisiana.

Now, Judicial Watch has announced it filed a lawsuit against HUD Sept. 23 seeking the following records:

All documents concerning money given to ACORN and/or any of its affiliates since January 2000.

All documents concerning actions and disbarments against ACORN, for reasons including but not limited to abuse of grant money, misconduct, etc., since January 2000.

HUD has failed to produce the records or indicate if and when they will be available.

Judicial Watch noted the federal government has acted to distance itself from ACORN in the last two weeks after videos revealed ACORN workers advising undercover reporters on how to evade tax, immigration and child prostitution laws. The U.S. Senate voted to deny ACORN access to housing funds, while the House of Representatives voted to deny ACORN all federal funds. The U.S. Census Bureau has ended its partnership with the group for the 2010 Census, and the Internal Revenue Service also disengaged from its relationship with ACORN.

"The Obama administration needs to come clean to the American people about its relationship with this disgraced organization, especially in light of President Obama's personal connections to ACORN," Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a statement.

WND has detailed Obama's personal ties to ACORN through the years.

"Given ACORN's scandalous record, the federal government has no business supporting the organization with taxpayer dollars," Fitton said. "It is troubling, given President Obama's promises of transparency, we have had to sue to try to gain access to the ACORN documents."