Firefighters lose large U.S. grant to ACORN

Great news that ACORN will not be getting funds meant for firefighters but we would still like to know how it was awarded to ACORN in the first place instead of firefighters in Louisiana.

UPDATE:

Officials: ACORN won't get grant

Members of Congress want to know why it was awarded

By Audrey Hudson

Obama administration officials said Wednesday there is no chance that ACORN will get a Homeland Security grant it was awarded last month because of a provision in a bill signed into law last week prohibiting any federal funding to the controversial group.

Several members of Congress said they were pleased that ACORN will not get the money, which would have come from funding typically earmarked for fire departments across the country, but they questioned why it had been awarded to ACORN in the first place. At least one also still wants official assurance of a permanent withdrawal of the $997,402 fire safety grant.

"We are perplexed as to how this organization would even be considered for a first-responder grant," said a letter sent Wednesday to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano by Rep. Darrell Issa of California, ranking Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, ranking Republican on the Senate Homeland Security Committee.

The Washington Times reported erroneously Wednesday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is part of Homeland Security, awarded the nearly $1 million grant to ACORN in spite of a clear signal from Congress that it intended to cut off funding to the group.

Excerpt: Full Article at Washington Times

Would someone explain to us what ACORN has to do with firefighting/fire prevention grants? After all the scandal, Homeland Security is giving ACORN a grant instead of local Louisiana firefighters who are trained to do Fire Prevention.

How many other grants has ACORN received that have kept legitimate organizations from getting grants? This ACORN voter fraud organization needs to be put out of business permanent and lost their non-profit status not to mention be under federal investigation. Wait, we have Eric Holder at the DOJ so it would be better to investigate them at the State level like Louisiana is doing. As much as $5M has been embezzled from ACORN HQ in LA by a Rathke brother and who knows who else, but Homeland Security wants to give them more taxpayer dollars. Maybe we should be looking into Homeland Security and where they spend their money.

Firefighters lose large U.S. grant to ACORN
Sen. Vitter wants $1 million returned to Homeland Security
By Audrey Hudson
Oct 7, 2009

Nearly $1 million in Homeland Security funding typically earmarked for fire departments has been awarded to ACORN, despite a clear signal from Congress that it intends to cut off federal funding to the embattled group.

The grant to ACORN's Louisiana office became public on Oct. 2, less than three weeks after the House and Senate voted to cut off ACORN funding after employees were caught on video advising a fake prostitute and pimp on scams.

It was one of only three such grants issued to the state and made up almost 80 percent of the firefighting money earmarked for Louisiana, prompting one of the U.S. senators from the state to demand that the funds be taken back.

"I request that you rescind this grant based on a history of abuse of federal dollars by ACORN and their clear lack of expertise in this area," said Sen. David Vitter, Louisiana Republican.

The group has headquarters in Louisiana.

When asked how the money would be spent, ACORN spokesman Brian Kettenring issued a statement criticizing the senator, who confessed in the past to having used an escort service.

"Senator Vitter knows a lot more about prostitution rings than anyone here does, so we'll defer to him on any matters pertaining to the videos attacking ACORN," the statement read. It did not explain how the group plans to spend the Federal Emergency Management Agency grant.

Mr. Vitter, who was routinely notified of the grant before it became public, sent his letter to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on Sept. 22, saying the money should be given "to a more deserving group of first responders."

One such group might have been the St. Tammany Parish Fire District No. 3, which applied for a $120,000 grant to purchase smoke alarms for low-income families after a January fire killed four childrenin a home that had no working detectors.

"We wanted to buy smoke detectors to spread to homes all over the community to prevent that from happening again," Chief Charles Flynn said in an interview Tuesday.

Excerpt: See Washington Times for Full Article