ACORN, SEIU, and the New Party joined at the hip in 2001

RBO’s article from October 15th is bumped because NRO’s Stanley Kurtz has joined the melee with today’s Something New Here. Radical? Check. Tied to ACORN? Check. Redistributionist? Check.

Kurtz comments:

So despite repeated attempts to distance himself from ACORN, Obama’s New Party ties raise disturbing questions about his links to those proudly militant leftists. The media’s near-total silence on this critical element of Obama’s past is deeply irresponsible.

RBO agrees. Totally. But what else is new?

Read the rest of Kurtz’s article here.

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Google 2001 churns out another oldie but goodie (h/t MP). RBO’s latest favorite legal term is ipse dixit. It certainly does.

• ACORN – Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now
• AGAPE – Broadcasting Foundation, Inc.
• AHC – ACORN Housing Corporation, Inc.
• AHC OF IL – ACORN Housing Corporation of Illinois
• AHC OF NY – New York ACORN Housing Company, Inc.
• AHC OF PA – ACORN Housing Corporation of Pennsylvania
• AISJ – American Institute for Social Justice
• ALERT – ACORN Law for Representation & Training
• ANP – Arkansas New Party
• AR FAIR HOUSING ACHC – Arkansas ACORN FAIR HOUSING
• HOTROC – Hospitality, Hotel, & Restaurant Organizing Council
• INP – Illinois New Party
• KABF – Arkansas Broadcasting Foundation, Inc.
• KNON – Agape Broadcasting Foundation, Inc.
• LOCAL 100 – Service Employees International Union, AFL-CIO, Local 100
• LOCAL 880 – Service Employees International Union, AFL-CIO, Local 880
• LA FAIR HOUSING – ACLA of LA Louisiana ACORN Fair Housing
• MHANY – Mutual Housing Association of New York, Inc.
• PROJECT VOTE – PROJECT VOTE Voting for America, Inc.

Of all the groups on this list, the one that jumps out at us, though, is LOCAL 880. It rings an immediate bell!

RBO has been compiling lists from those Illinois State Board of Elections files for Obama’s Friends of Obama PAC (political action committee). One of those contributors has fairly consistently been the ACORN-affiliated organization SEIU Local 880:

SEIU Local 880 Political Fund, $250, 11/16/1995; $250, 7/8/1997; $500, 7/21/1998; $500, 10/15/1998; $1000, 1/20/2000; $500, 6/23/2000.

In the 2008 election cycle, SEIU Local 880 has only contributed to one candidate — $5001 to Barack Obama.

Two more organizations on this list grab our attention — the Arkansas New Party and the Illinois New Party.

There are state-by-state listings on the web page. Let’s take a look first at the address for the Arkansas ACORN office. It is listed as 2101 South Main Street, Little Rock, AR 72206.

The same physical address is listed for AHC, KABF, SEIU Local 100, ACHC, PROJECT VOTE — as well as for the Arkansas New Party.

All of these Arkansas groups received their email @acorn.org — including the Arkansas New Party.

Now, let’s check out the Illinois listings.

The physical address for ACORN Downtown is listed as 650 S. Clark Street, Chicago, IL 60605, and so is one office location for SEIU LOCAL 880, as well as AHL of Illinois — and the Illinois New Party. PROJECT VOTE is not listed.

As in Arkansas, all of these Illinois groups, including SEIU Local 880 and the Illinois New Party, shared the email address @acorn.org.

Check the other states on the list — ACORN and SEIU share the same physical addresses, same email @acorn.org connection — particularly in New Orleans, ACORN’s national office.

How can anyone — ANYONE — look at this information and not recognize that there is a very close relationship between the ACORN, SEIU and the New Party?

Also see:

• ACORN and SEIU 880 joined at the hip since 1995.
• Representation and A New Political Party at ACORN.org — 2001.

Update: Not only has SEIU 880 endorsed Obama, but it also has been involved in GOTV efforts in Indiana.

Marc Ambinder wrote September 17, 2007, in The Atlantic (as posted on Obama’s official website):

A charged-up Sen. Barack Obama begged politically active members of the Service Employees union to join his “movement” to reform the Democratic Party. [...]

SEIU’s members are temperamentally suited to Obama; he is a longtime friend of Chicago’s SEIU Local 880 and worked closely with the union as an organizer and later as a state legislator.