Just before I was on KNPR with Steve Sebelius this morning, State of Nevada host Dave Berns had Nevada Secretary of State Ross Miller on the air discussing yesterday’s raid on the Las Vegas ACORN offices.

After Sec. Miller summed up the situation, Dave mentioned some grousing about the timing of the raid by managers at ACORN.  Apparently their offices were stormed just hours before a celebratory potluck dinner was planned in recognition of 80,000 new voter registrations. 

The insinuation was that there had been a deliberate intent to interrupt the event.  SOS Miller denied this in an eloquent statement that can pretty much be summed up as, “No, we did not try to wreck their little potluck.”

In response to ACORN regional director Matthew Henderson’s claims that the raid was a “politically motivated stunt,” Sec of State Miller reminded listeners that he is a registered Democrat and stated his commitment to “fair and honest elections in Nevada.”

Apparently submitted voter cards included addresses and names that do not exist, duplicates, and names gleaned from the Dallas Cowboys roster.  It is also alleged that ACORN hired 59 felons through a work release program.

 Miller says new registrations are serial coded on arrival, that he is committed to reviewing and systematically weeding out bogus forms, and that he is “very confident” all the bogus cards can be flagged and invalidated between now and November 4^th. 

Meanwhile, Michelle Malkin did us the favor of combing through the 20-page search warrant from yesterday’s Las Vegas raid.  She flagged the section where ACORN employee Jason Anderson referred to some of their canvassers as “lazy crack-heads”.

Anderson said ACORN sets quotas of 20 registration forms per canvasser per shift and that slackers are put on probation or terminated if they do not produce.

“ENSIGN URGES FEDS TO STOP PAYMENTS TO ACORN”   posted by [Rich Lowry] @ The Corner

Washington, D.C. – In a letter to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), Senator John Ensign today called for the suspension of taxpayer dollars that ultimately end up in the hands of such controversial groups as ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.  ACORN, which is under investigation, is eligible for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac affordable housing funds, which add up to hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

“With the government takeover of Fannie and Freddie, the government will be taxing itself to create a backdoor slush fund, and we must prevent these taxpayer dollars from going toward ACORN,” said Ensign.  “With the recent news tying ACORN with voter fraud, suspending these funds is even more urgent.”

As part of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, Fannie and Freddie are required to provide funding for newly created affordable housing funds.  This was signed into law prior to the government takeover of the two agencies.  Now that the government owns Fannie and Freddie and may provide them with up to $200 billion, taxing these companies does not help create stability, which is the goal of FHFA.

A search warrant was served today on the ACORN Headquarters in Nevada as part of an ongoing investigation into whether employees used false addresses or false names as part of their voter registration operation.

The letter was sent to James Lockhart, the Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency today.  As the regulatory agency overseeing Fannie and Freddie, FHFA has the authority to stop these contributions to the affordable housing funds.  Senators Michael Enzi, Jon Kyl, David Vitter, Pat Roberts, Tom Coburn, John Thune and Jim DeMint signed the letter with Ensign.

See Rich’s post for the text of Ensign’s letter.

Apparently seven agents from the NV Sec of State and AG offices served a search warrant and removed boxes and computers.

(ACORN stands for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.)

The gist of the complaint against ACORN is that they are trying to bombard election officials with new registrations that are carelessly gathered and might enable unqualified voters to get on the rolls.

So far, proven offenses range from illegible names on registration cards to names being drawn from telephone listings or other public directories. 

Here’s ACORN’s Nevada website/contact info if you are curious.

Click here to contact San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsome’s office and let him know what you think about this!  You can also contact your Senator and/or Congressman with your thoughts about illegal immigration.

My three cents:  ALL illegal immigrants – not just those who violate ADDITIONAL laws after breaking our immigration laws to get here - should be reported and deported on “first contact” with a U.S. citizen and/or our authorities.  Our immigration laws are not (and should not be treated as if) they are casual suggestions. 

For an example of the proper care and handling of illegal immigrants, see this story re: a major raid and dozens of arrests in northern Nevada last fall and this follow up story describing the consequences for a company’s failure to comply with immigration law:  a Reno McDonald’s franchise owner was ordered to pay $1M in fines for knowingly employing illegal immigrants.

A couple of Nevada lawmakers are trying to get a bill passed that will do something about illegal immigration in Nevada – but unfortunately there does not seem to be wide support in the Nevada Assembly.