◼ House Judiciary Committee chairman Rep. Lamar Smith warned Attorney General Eric Holder not to permit the transfer of funds from a recent $335 million Department of Justice settlement to organizations associated with the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, more commonly known as ACORN, or other advocacy groups allied with President Obama. - Daily Caller
“I am concerned that the terms of the Justice Department’s recent settlement with Countrywide Financial Corporation and certain affiliates (collectively, ‘Countrywide’) will allow the Department to give large sums of money to individuals and organizations with questionable backgrounds or close political ties to the White House without any guidelines or oversight,” Smith wrote.
“If that is to be the case, this sort of backdoor funding of the president’s political allies would be an abuse of the Department’s law enforcement authority.”
In December, Countrywide settled with the DOJ for $335 million over allegations that it had discriminated against approximately 200,000 African-Americans and Hispanics by charging them higher interest rates or by placing them in subprime loans.
In his letter to Holder, Smith said the settlement documents allow the DOJ to disburse parts of the $335 million settlement to “each allegedly aggrieved person.” But there are no specific criteria for what qualifies someone as an “aggrieved person.” “The only criterion for status as an ‘aggrieved person’ is that the Department says so,” Smith wrote....
The administration has continued funding organizations closely affiliated with ACORN, despite a 2010 law stipulating that no taxpayer funds could be awarded to ACORN “or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, or allied organizations.”
One such organization that received about $700,000 in taxpayer cash over the course of 2011 is the Affordable Housing Centers of America, or AHCOA. AHCOA formerly called itself ACORN Housing, but changed its name after the 2009 ACORN meltdown....
During their announcement of the Countrywide settlement, neither Holder nor DOJ Civil Rights Division head Thomas Perez mentioned the possibility that related funds could benefit the president’s political allies.
“I am concerned that the terms of the Justice Department’s recent settlement with Countrywide Financial Corporation and certain affiliates (collectively, ‘Countrywide’) will allow the Department to give large sums of money to individuals and organizations with questionable backgrounds or close political ties to the White House without any guidelines or oversight,” Smith wrote.
“If that is to be the case, this sort of backdoor funding of the president’s political allies would be an abuse of the Department’s law enforcement authority.”
In December, Countrywide settled with the DOJ for $335 million over allegations that it had discriminated against approximately 200,000 African-Americans and Hispanics by charging them higher interest rates or by placing them in subprime loans.
In his letter to Holder, Smith said the settlement documents allow the DOJ to disburse parts of the $335 million settlement to “each allegedly aggrieved person.” But there are no specific criteria for what qualifies someone as an “aggrieved person.” “The only criterion for status as an ‘aggrieved person’ is that the Department says so,” Smith wrote....
The administration has continued funding organizations closely affiliated with ACORN, despite a 2010 law stipulating that no taxpayer funds could be awarded to ACORN “or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, or allied organizations.”
One such organization that received about $700,000 in taxpayer cash over the course of 2011 is the Affordable Housing Centers of America, or AHCOA. AHCOA formerly called itself ACORN Housing, but changed its name after the 2009 ACORN meltdown....
During their announcement of the Countrywide settlement, neither Holder nor DOJ Civil Rights Division head Thomas Perez mentioned the possibility that related funds could benefit the president’s political allies.
