Rubio asks Crist to probe ACORN in Florida
by George Bennett | September 17th, 2009
Former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio has written a letter to his 2010 GOP Senate primary rival, Gov. Charlie Crist, asking him to probe scandal-rocked ACORN’s activities in Florida.
The left-leaning group has come under fire after a series of undercover videos — featuring a 20-year-old Florida International University student — have revealed ACORN workers appearing to condone prostitution and promote tax evasion.
Rubio’s letter notes a St. Petersburg Times report about Crist’s past links to ACORN and Crist’s absence in 2008 from the chorus of Republicans who criticized the group’s voter-registration practices.
Read the text of Rubio’s letter after the jump…..
September 17, 2009
The Honorable Charlie Crist
The Capitol
400 South Monroe Street
Tallahassee, Florida 32399
Dear Governor Crist:
As you are no doubt aware, the community organizing group Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) is now under intense scrutiny for recent reports of its involvement in questionable behavior and potentially illegal activity in several states.
In addition to the damning video reports of ACORN employees now familiar to most Floridians, just last week the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office announced that arrest warrants were issued for 11 former ACORN employees accused of faking voter registration cards. While it is commendable that ACORN assisted in the investigations that led to the arrests, it begs the question: why were so many people capable of these crimes working for ACORN in the first place?
Last Friday, the Census Bureau severed ties with ACORN. On Tuesday, U.S. Senators Bill Nelson and George LeMieux joined 81 other Senators in an overwhelming and bipartisan vote to strip federal funding from ACORN. Just yesterday, Governors Arnold Schwarzenegger in California and Tim Pawlenty in Minnesota took similar action, asking officials to investigate ACORN’s behavior in their respective states and prevent state taxpayer funding of the group.
Based on the mounting evidence against ACORN and the serious questions surrounding this organization, I respectfully ask that you follow the lead of the other elected officials I mentioned above and take immediate steps to initiate a thorough investigation into ACORN’s activities in Florida, including a detailed accounting of what state funds, if any, ACORN may be receiving. If it is discovered that they are receiving state funds, I believe further steps should be taken to cut off any taxpayer funding of ACORN.
The St. Petersburg Times also reported yesterday that your office may have partnered with ACORN in the past on several initiatives, including your 2007 effort to restore voting rights to convicted felons in Florida. If you partnered with ACORN, I have no reason to doubt you did so unaware of ACORN’s propensity for questionable activity, and with what you believed at the time to be the best interests of Floridians at heart. However, given the recent revelations about ACORN, I believe it is now in the best interest of all Floridians for your office to provide a thorough accounting of its relationship with ACORN and what, if any, influence ACORN may have had in any actions you have taken on behalf of the people of Florida.
Lastly, during last year’s presidential election, despite what now seems to be a prescient chorus of concerned parties asking for an investigation into ACORN’s election-related activities, you insisted that you were unconcerned with ACORN’s activities. In light of the recent allegations against ACORN, I suggest you reconsider your position, demand a full investigation of ACORN’s election-related activities, and take whatever steps available to you to prevent ACORN from engaging in voter registration and other election-related activities until the questions surrounding this organization are resolved.
Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Marco Rubio
Tags: ACORN
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September 17th, 2009 at 11:05 am
I encountered ACORN about 15 years ago in Atlanta. They were unsavory then.
September 17th, 2009 at 11:25 am
[...] See the full article from “Palm Beach Post” [...]
September 17th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
Fellow conservatives. Are you tired of seeing ACORN in the news? Tired of your tax dollars funding them?
The American Conservative Union has been leading the battle against ACORN over the past two years. We must keep the pressure on now more than ever – Join the ACU and keep the pressure on ACORN – Sign the petition now.
http://conservative.org/
We at the American Conservative Union thank you for all you do.
September 17th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
blah blah blah, their ceo looked like a bag woman, how in the world can our government look at us with hat in hand, knowing this is what the money is going towards.
September 18th, 2009 at 12:53 am
Legislation specifically targeting one particular group or one particular person is called a “bill of attainder” and it’s expressly prohibited in our Constitution. If this is the sort of thing you support you are NOT a patriot.
September 19th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
CRIST CAN RUN BUT HE CAN’T HIDE.. INVESTIGATE ACORN NOW.
September 21st, 2009 at 8:03 pm
[...] up Crist? The governor has teamed up with the embattled group in the past, and now Marco Rubio is calling on Crist to launch an investigation of the organization. No TweetBacks yet. (Be the first to Tweet this [...]