ACORN and voter registration fraud.

Prosecutors filed felony charges but have entered into a "settlement agreement" whereby ACORN slides off the hook.

Why is an organization so closely associated with voter registration fraud not only in King County, Washington, but also in Missouri, Ohio, and 12 other states getting a pass? Let's see, that would make Washington the 15th state in which ACORN has apparently engaged in voter registration fraud.

So how come ACORN rates a settlement rather than a vigorous prosecution.

I have wondered at the supine nature of the present day American citizen. Violations of the border by foreigners who decided on their own that they'd like to live next door engender no sense of outrage in huge numbers of citizens. If it were otherwise the Sendate and George Bush would not have dared to try the recent cram down on amnesty.

Now we see where the very essence of our democracy -- attenuated as it is in so many ways -- attacked frontally by alleged fraud on the part of the organization and what is the result?

Red hot prosecution?

Perish the thought.

No. What the junk yard dog prosecutors come up with in King County, Washington, is . . . . a settlement agreement. Sort of like reducing vehicular homicide down to double parking.

Could the close ties between ACORN and the AFL-CIO and the Democratic Party have influenced the decision to be so lenient?

Juuuuuust us thinking out loud.

Is there any part of national sovereignty or the sanctity of the ballot that Americans will get excited about? NASCAR- or Superbowl-level excitement?

Apparently not.

"ACORN falls again: The worst case of voter-registration fraud in Washington state history Plus: John Edwards & ACORN, perfect together." By Michelle Malkin, 7/26/07.


UPDATE:

Local [King County, Wash.] officials refused to accept the registrations because they had been delivered after last year's Oct. 7 registration deadline. Initially, Acorn officials demanded the registrations be accepted and threatened to sue King County (Seattle) officials if they were tossed out. But just after four Acorn registration workers were indicted in Kansas City, Mo., on similar charges of fraud, the group reversed its position and said the registrations should be rejected. But by then, local election workers had had a reason to carefully scrutinize the forms and uncovered the fraud. Of the 1,805 names submitted by Acorn, only nine have been confirmed as valid, and another 34 are still being investigated. The rest--over 97%--were fake.

Something doesn't smell right about the gingerly way ACORN has been treated after substantial evidence of its engaging in highly questionable voter registration efforts to say the very least. Mr. Fund gingerly writes, "Several prosecutors told me they feared charges of racism or of a return to Jim Crow voter suppression tactics if they pursued touchy voter fraud cases . . . ."

This may be the crux of the matter.

Here's a suggested hypothesis: ACORN is heavily engaged in registering minority voters so white prosecutors and politicians will bend over backwards to interpret these transgressions in the most positive light possible. "Not enough evidence," "difficult to prove," "political sensitivity just prior to election," "firsthand" evidence of conspiracy necessary, etc.

"Whose Ox Is Gored. After Bush's victory, liberals shouted "Voter fraud!" Why have they changed their tune?" By John Fund, Opinion Journal, 7/30/07 (emphasis added).