Judge says "Go After ACORN"
By Walter F. Roche Jr.
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
A district judge who held another ACORN worker for trial Monday on election law violations urged prosecutors to go after the real culprit, the organization that employed him.
"Somebody has to go after ACORN," Senior District Judge Richard H. Zoller said about the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.
"It's happening all over the country. All you have to do is turn on the television," he said, referring to voter registration fraud charges brought recently against ACORN and its workers in Nevada.
"We will," Allegheny County Detective Robert F. Keenan promised as he wrapped up his testimony.
A spokesman for District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. said following the hearing that the county's investigation into members of ACORN and their activities during the 2008 campaign "remains open and active."
"(T)here is quite a bit of activity aimed at determining if anyone else should be charged," Zappala's spokesman Mike Manko said.
Eric E. Jordan, 20, of North Braddock became the sixth person ordered to face trial in Allegheny County. He is charged with soliciting a voter registration and interfering with county voter registration officials by submitted applications for himself in order to meet his quota for registrations. A seventh defendant faces a preliminary hearing next month.
Zappala claims the ACORN canvassers engaged in voter registration fraud and a quota system for registrations, which is barred by state law.
Olga Salvatori, Jordan's attorney, told the judge her client did not know a quota system was illegal. She said Jordan was told he had to bring in a set number of registrations each day or he would be fired.
"ACORN should be charged, not my client," Salvatori said.
But, argued Assistant District Attorney Matthew Robinowitz: "By accepting a job with a quota, he violated the law."
Salvatori argued that Jordan didn't "interfere" with anyone because all he did was resubmit his own voter registration three times, changing his address or party affiliation.
ACORN officials repeatedly have denied the organization imposed a quota system on workers, although they have acknowledged they had "standards" canvassers were expected to maintain. They did not respond yesterday to requests for comment.
Salvatori said after the hearing it was unfair that her client and other workers were charged for such technical violations.
"I didn't even know a quota was illegal until I looked it up," she said. "They go into poor neighborhoods and sign these people up. They tell them they have to meet minimum standards. How would (the workers) know what the law is?"
Keenan testified that he questioned Jordan last spring about suspect voter registrations he filed. He said Jordan, who was in custody on unrelated charges, acknowledged during the interview that he had to get 10 to 12 registrations per day or he would be fired.
Jordan attended the hearing but did not testify.
County Elections Division Director Mark Wolosik testified that every time a voter registration application was submitted or resubmitted, county workers had to process the application and generate a voter card and other paperwork.
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
A district judge who held another ACORN worker for trial Monday on election law violations urged prosecutors to go after the real culprit, the organization that employed him.
"Somebody has to go after ACORN," Senior District Judge Richard H. Zoller said about the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.
"It's happening all over the country. All you have to do is turn on the television," he said, referring to voter registration fraud charges brought recently against ACORN and its workers in Nevada.
"We will," Allegheny County Detective Robert F. Keenan promised as he wrapped up his testimony.
A spokesman for District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. said following the hearing that the county's investigation into members of ACORN and their activities during the 2008 campaign "remains open and active."
"(T)here is quite a bit of activity aimed at determining if anyone else should be charged," Zappala's spokesman Mike Manko said.
Eric E. Jordan, 20, of North Braddock became the sixth person ordered to face trial in Allegheny County. He is charged with soliciting a voter registration and interfering with county voter registration officials by submitted applications for himself in order to meet his quota for registrations. A seventh defendant faces a preliminary hearing next month.
Zappala claims the ACORN canvassers engaged in voter registration fraud and a quota system for registrations, which is barred by state law.
Olga Salvatori, Jordan's attorney, told the judge her client did not know a quota system was illegal. She said Jordan was told he had to bring in a set number of registrations each day or he would be fired.
"ACORN should be charged, not my client," Salvatori said.
But, argued Assistant District Attorney Matthew Robinowitz: "By accepting a job with a quota, he violated the law."
Salvatori argued that Jordan didn't "interfere" with anyone because all he did was resubmit his own voter registration three times, changing his address or party affiliation.
ACORN officials repeatedly have denied the organization imposed a quota system on workers, although they have acknowledged they had "standards" canvassers were expected to maintain. They did not respond yesterday to requests for comment.
Salvatori said after the hearing it was unfair that her client and other workers were charged for such technical violations.
"I didn't even know a quota was illegal until I looked it up," she said. "They go into poor neighborhoods and sign these people up. They tell them they have to meet minimum standards. How would (the workers) know what the law is?"
Keenan testified that he questioned Jordan last spring about suspect voter registrations he filed. He said Jordan, who was in custody on unrelated charges, acknowledged during the interview that he had to get 10 to 12 registrations per day or he would be fired.
Jordan attended the hearing but did not testify.
County Elections Division Director Mark Wolosik testified that every time a voter registration application was submitted or resubmitted, county workers had to process the application and generate a voter card and other paperwork.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Twana Blevins on -
Me to. I think we need to hold them to their words.
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Permalink Reply by Ray Chagnard on -
I think Acorn is no different than anybody else, if you break the law and you are fraudulantin in any way you should be prosecuted. Why is our government so afraid to investigate and prosecute these people? Is it because they might loose some votes, If this is true then they are no better and they should be prosecuted also.
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Permalink Reply by Twana Blevins on
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Well said Ray.
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Permalink Reply by Genie Z on
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I think our government does not want to investigate because all of the corruption will point directly at them and they don't want to be found out. They are the ones who fund ACORN and I am sure they get what they pay for. This organization is not a private organization it is supported and funded by the scumbags in Washington.
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Permalink Reply by Penny on
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I wonder how soon we will learn that Judge Zoller has been "recalled" by the Obama administration......
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Permalink Reply by Bill J. Spence on -
Hopefully something will come out of this...However, anything that O'Bla'Ma's people do to let it die will not surprise me...Hopefully Glenn Beck will get right on it as he has lots of inside information about ACORN..
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Permalink Reply by phrowt on -
Unless and until we have Patriot Lawyers and Judges, people and organizations like Acorn will continue to proliferate and will not be held accountable. Just one more reason to indict even those that permit illegal actions. I always remember from somewhere in my early education, "Ignorance of the Law is NO excuse". Seems so long ago and as I view todays events maybe I dreamed it. The way Laws are and have been written it has always been my way to try to adhere to the Ten Commandments as a way to insure I stayed out of trouble.
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Permalink Reply by Sara Elkins on -
I believe Obama as long as he has ACORN and the Syrian George Sohros backing him with Saudi Arabia $$$
he is not going to leave office by itself even affter 8 years. He doesn't care about constituents as his power comes from Saudi Arabia King Abdhullah and its son: Osama Bin Laden (who is from Saudi Arabia himself)
Therefore Acorn must be investigate to discover Obama's and congress corruption linked and be destroyed completed!
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Permalink Reply by Brian Cooper on
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It would be great to see them take the top dogs down but I doubt it will happen if they are as high up in the Obama Cartel as I suspect.It like how Robert Rubin was indicted the same day as Madoff . Madoff fried, Rubin slides! Rubin stole more money but his connection to Obama and higher Banking industry makes him untouchable at the moment. A con making world policy! So as to say I think if Acorn is protected at the top we will see! How far will the administration goes to just ignore these crimes?
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Permalink Reply by SUSAN MARIANO on
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Go after acorn with everything you got, 1st. start with bertha, & work youself down one by one ,someone down the line will talk to save their @ss.then you''ll get the top man, obama. also, whats going on with the birth certificate....the longer you wait, the worst it going to be for the ''citizens of the U.S.A?
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