Senate Judiciary Committee

Senate GOPers On US Attorney Firings: Voter Fraud, Voter Fraud!

Zachary Roth | November 18, 2008, 2:21PM

Election-law expert Rick Hasen picks out an interesting passage from the minority section of the Senate Judiciary Committee's just-released report into the US Attorneys firings.

Some members of the committee's Republican minority -- including senior senators like McCain pal Lindsey Graham, new NRSC chair John Cornyn, and ex-presidential candidate Sam Brownback -- strenuously disagreed with the findings of the Majority (and with an internal report produced by DOJ's Office of the Inspector General) that the White House helped engineer the firings, and that several of the dismissals were made for inappropriate political reasons.

Instead, they used the report as a chance to bang the drum on "voter fraud" one more time. But they continue to willfully confuse voter registration fraud with voter fraud -- even though numerous experts have now pointed out that there's no evidence that fraudulent voter registration forms lead to fraudulent votes being cast.

The dissenting Republicans wrote:

Perhaps the most Orwellian aspect of the Majority report is its repeated insistence that there is no vote fraud in this country that is ever worth investigating. At one point, the Majority even places scare quotes around the term, lest anyone receive the impression that the Majority believes that voter fraud could ever be a real problem. Yet during the federal elections just concluded, the American public saw numerous examples of serious attempts to commit voter fraud in this country.

Most of these incidents involved the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), a group that actively promotes voter registration in many cities across the nation. ACORN tends to target areas where it believes that it can register Democratic voters, such as parks, public-assistance agencies, and liquor stores, ACORN's history is littered with claims and convictions of fraud. and generally hires part-time workers who are paid for each registered name to canvas these areas. In this election cycle, many different groups, from journalists to the GOP, strongly criticized the integrity of the organization's registration methods. As early as September, state officials reported fraudulent voter registrations submitted by ACORN, and as of October 6th, the New York Times reported that about 400,000 ACORN filings had been rejected by authorities as duplicates, incomplete, or fraudulent. After comparing their voter registration rolls, Georgia, Florida, and Ohio found 112,000 duplicate voters registered in two states, and authorities have rejected ACORN applications attempting to register such "voters" as Mickey Mouse and the Dallas Cowboys' offensive line.

Notice that the Republicans stop short of saying voter fraud was actually committed. They do say flatly, however, that faulty registration forms submitted by ACORN amount to "serious attempts" to commit voter fraud.

But they don't offer a single piece of evidence to support even this reduced charge.
Not one citation given -- most of which are to columns by conservative opinion columnist John Fund, or to posts on the conservative blog Powerline -- leads to an example that contains any evidence whatsoever of an effort to actually commit voter fraud.

It's one thing for Fund or Sean Hannity to try to muddy up these distinctions in an effort to confuse people into believing that voter fraud actually exists in significant numbers. But it's pretty shocking when Senate Republicans do so.

Karen Handel

Georgia's "Non-Citizen" Voting Controversy: A Recap

Zachary Roth | November 12, 2008, 11:34AM

So let's briefly look back at what appears to have happened in the controversy over voting in Georgia this election cycle.

First, GOP Secretary of State Karen Handel, based on an interpretation of federal election law, purged around 50,000 newly registered voters from the rolls, based on discrepancies between the information on their voter registration form and that in state databases. About 5000 of those voters were purged because the state found that they had checked a box on their drivers license application indicating that they're non-citizens.

Voting-rights groups sued Handel, claiming that the purge violated federal voting laws, and that the procedure for identifying non-citizens was flawed. For instance, the plaintiff in the case, Jose Morales, had applied for his drivers license while a non-citizen, but had become a naturalized citizen before the election. Since the drivers database is not automatically updated in such cases, he was still flagged as a non-citizen.

Ultimately, a judge required Handel to send a letter to the voters flagged as non-citizens, informing them that their status was in question and notifying them that they could cast a provisional ballot. But if they didn't provide election officials with documents proving their citizenship, within a few days after the election, their ballots would be thrown out.

Many such voters -- in some counties, about two thirds -- did return with the correct documentation. But of course, many didn't, and some counties began throwing out ballots this week.

And the fact that so many did provide documentation only served to bolster the contention of voting-rights groups that the process for flagging voters had been badly flawed. That claim was further strengthened by the fact that the system now seems to have flagged not only naturalized citizens like Morales, but also U.S. born voters whose citizenship has never been in question. One of these voters, a veteran of the U.S. military who received Handel's letter telling her that her citizenship was in question, spoke to TPMmuckraker yesterday.

It's still not clear how many voters were wrongly flagged, and either had their ballots thrown out or were discouraged by Handel's letter from voting in the first place. The question is not academic, because a runoff vote in Georgia's U.S. Senate race, between Republican Saxby Chambliss and Democrat Jim Martin, is scheduled for December 2nd, after neither man gained 50 percent last week. The vote is expected to be extremely close, and voters who have been designated as non-citizens, correctly or incorrectly, will presumably be barred from casting conventional ballots once again.

Handel's office has said it's working on compiling those numbers, though it appears to be in no rush. We'll keep you posted on what we hear...

ACORN

Before Recount, GOP Smearing Minnesota Sec Of State

Zachary Roth | November 11, 2008, 5:00PM

The recount in the Minnesota Senate race hasn't even begun yet, but already the GOP is working to delegitimize it in advance, by smearing the man who will run it as a partisan Democrat.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) has been distributing to reporters a three-page "backgrounder" that attacks Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, a Democrat, for having spoken at the Democratic convention this summer, and for having "led a voter registration coalition that included ACORN," among other alleged sins.

In the first vote count, Republican incumbent Norm Coleman currently holds an edge of around 200 votes over Democratic challenger Al Franken, though that number may continue to dwindle as more votes are counted. Either way, the margin is easily close enough to require a recount under state law, which will begin next week under Ritchie's supervision.

Despite the backgrounder's sometimes hysterical compilation of anti-Ritchie greatest hits -- it claims that "the Communist Party USA Wrote Encouragingly Of His Candidacy," citing an unsourced line from a report in the Minneapolis Star Tribue -- there's no evidence that Ritchie has ever used his role as the state's top elections administrator to advantage Democrats.

But that likely misses the point of the GOP gambit, which appears to be to cast public doubt on the integrity of the recount process, thereby bolstering Coleman's claim that's he's the rightful winner and that a recount is unnecessary -- just the strategy pursued by George Bush's campaign in Florida in 2000.

Indeed, Coleman's shrinking lead in the first count has already prompted him to try to question the ongoing vote counting. A lawyer for the campaign yesterday told The Politico: "We're not going to sit idly by, while mysterious, statistically dubious changes in vote totals take place after official government offices close."

Voting

Is Voting Reform On The Horizon?

Zachary Roth | November 11, 2008, 3:07PM

It looks like the battle over voter registration didn't end with the election.

Of course, Republican-driven fears of rampant voter fraud perpetrated by ACORN proved unfounded. (So, we should note, did Democratic fears of an election stolen through massive purges of valid voters -- though that was thanks partly to the vigilance of voting-rights groups who brought lawsuits in some states in the weeks before the election.)

But, reports the Los Angeles Times, advocates of election reform still think there's a whole lot of room for improvement. They're talking up the idea of "universal registration," which would have the government take the initiative on voter registration, as is done in other major democracies.

The specific proposals for a universal system differ, but they all aim to address the fact that nearly 1 in 4 American adults is not on the rolls. Most would do things like ensuring that when voters move, states would update their rolls, and some would automatically add teens to the rolls when they turn 18, and to add people .

Perhaps most far-reaching is a proposal to have Congress create a national voter registration database modeled on the Social Security database. But other plans would put registration in the hands of the states.

One benefit of universal registration is that it would take groups like ACORN -- which was criticized, mainly by Republicans, for submitting large numbers of bogus registration forms, wasting time and resources for election officials -- out of the voter registration equation.

And that would prevent the GOP from using ACORN as a boogeyman for fears of systematic voter fraud -- as the party tried to do this year -- thereby making it harder to justify efforts at voter suppression.

According to the Brennan Center for Justice, a leading voting-rights group, Hillary Clinton has said she plans to introduce legislation for a federal version of the system, and officials in a handful of states have also expressed interest in passing similar state laws.

It's too soon to know whether the bitter fights over ACORN and voter suppression that we saw this year are a thing of the past. But it's encouraging that people are still paying attention to the problem.

voter fraud

Georgia Can't Say How Many Eligible Voters It's Currently Disenfranchising

Zachary Roth | November 10, 2008, 5:37PM

This morning we told you that election officials in Georgia are throwing out ballots cast by new voters who couldn't prove their citizenship, on the orders of the Republican secretary of state, Karen Handel.

And now Handel's office says it can't say how many of those disqualified ballots were actually cast by eligible voters.

A spokesman for the office insisted to TPMmuckraker that most of the voters originally identified through the state's system for finding non-citizens had self-identified as being such. But voting-rights groups argue that that system -- which checks registrations against state drivers records -- is flawed, and could lead to be eligible voters being included through data entry errors and other administrative errors.

Handel's office couldn't yet say how many mistakes had been made, though the spokesman added that the information would soon become available as information from individual counties came in.

In other words, the office can't say how many eligible voters cast ballots that are now being thrown out.

The dispute began back in October, when voting-rights groups including the ACLU sued the state over an effort by Handel to purge from the rolls newly registered voters whose citizenship was called into question by the state's database.

A judge ultimately ruled that the state must allow the voters whose citizenship was in question -- around 5000 -- to cast provisional ballots, and must inform them of the challenge to their eligibility. The voters would then have to show documents proving their citizenship, either on Election Day or in subsequent days, in order for their ballot to be counted.

As we wrote earlier today, many voters did so, but in some counties, around a third did not, causing their some of their ballots to be disqualified starting today. But it now appears almost certain that some ballots cast by eligible voters who were mistakenly flagged, and who then failed to provide election officials with the necessary documents after the fact, are being wrongly thrown out.

We'll continue to keep you posted as more information becomes available...

ACORN

Ohio and Minn. Sec Of States: No Reports Of Voter Fraud

Zachary Roth | November 6, 2008, 2:39PM

Since we're rounding up the evidence (or lack thereof) of voter fraud taking place yesterday, it's worth also noting what the top election officials in Ohio and Minnesota told us on Tuesday night.

Ohio secretary of state Jennifer Brunner, a Democrat, said in a statement released toTPMmuckraker the night of the election: "We have received no reports of election irregularities in Ohio today - and we have been on the lookout for any hint of illegal voting or voter suppression."

And her counterpart in Minnesota, Mark Ritchie, also a Democrat, told TPMmuckraker in an interview that his office had received no reports of voter fraud.

In both states, Republicans or their allies had raised concerns about the possibility for fraud. Brunner had reportedly received death threats after she fought a GOP lawsuit aimed at cracking down on voter fraud. The Supreme Court sided with Brunner.

voter fraud

PA: No Voter Fraud Issues, Despite GOP Suit

Zachary Roth | November 6, 2008, 11:53AM

In Pennsylvania, where the state Republican party had filed a grab-bag of a lawsuit related to concerns over the integrity of the vote, there were no such problems yesterday.

Voting did not always go smoothly, reports the Associated Press. Fox News showed footage of a man in Black Panther attire holding a nightstick at the doorway of a polling place. There were long lines at many other locations. And according to voting rights groups, some voters whose names were missing from registration books were sent away without being given provisional ballots, as required.

But none of these problems related to voter fraud. That issue had been the major underlying concern of a lawsuit filed late last month by the GOP. It sought, among other things, to force ACORN air public-service announcements reminding first-time voters that they must bring identification to the polls, and to compel the state to provide more provisional ballots.

A judge rejected the suit.

voter fraud

NV: GOP Voting Fears Unfounded

Zachary Roth | November 6, 2008, 11:36AM

In Nevada, where the state GOP had raised concerns about possible voter fraud if election officials didn't take a more restrictive approach to voting -- and where authorities had raided an ACORN office -- everything seems to have gone smoothly.

Robert Walsh, a spokesman for Secretary of State Ross Miller, told the Associated Press: "We've been preparing for virtually every possibility we could imagine. But to this point, none of those scenarios have come to pass.

Walsh added that no formal complaints were filed with the state's election office. And the AP confirms that state and federal court officials reported no election-related lawsuits.

Late last month, the chair of the state Republican party wrote to Miller, a Democrat, arguing that voters who had to correct discrepancies in their voter registration at the polls should be forced to cast provisional ballots.

Miller quickly responded with an interpretation of state law that rejected the GOP argument.

And earlier last month, state authorities raided the Las Vegas office of ACORN, as part of an investigation into voter registration fraud.

Voting

IN: Despite GOP Warnings of Voter Fraud, "It Was a Good Clean Election."

Zachary Roth | November 6, 2008, 10:58AM

In Indiana, Republican fears of voter fraud appear to have been unfounded.

Before the election, GOP secretary of state Todd Rokita, a fast-emerging TPMmuckraker favorite, had called on law enforcement authorities to investigate ACORN, claiming he had found evidence of widespread registration fraud perpetrated by the group.

And the Lake County Republican party had filed suit, unsuccessfully, to shut down early voting "satellite" centers in three Democratic cities in the northern part of the county. The GOP argued, among other things, that allowing early voting at the satellite centers, rather than limiting it to the county seat, which is in a more Republican area of the county -- could increase the chances of fraud.

But yesterday, the man who led the Republicans' legal effort in Lake County, party chair John Curley, told the Chicago Tribune: "The election is over and it was a good clean election."

Curley even added, according to the paper, that early voting "might be the wave of the future."

The final margin of victory for Obama in Indiana was just 22,986 votes -- close enough that Republicans might have been expected to raise concerns over fraud if such evidence had existed.

ACORN

Minnesota Sec of State: No Reports Of Voter Fraud

Zachary Roth | November 4, 2008, 8:45PM

Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie says that his office received no reports whatsoever of fraudulent voting occurring today.

Ritchie, a Democrat, told TPMmuckraker that one young man did attempt to sell his vote on eBay(!), but he was quickly apprehended and charged with a felony. No one voted fraudulently in his name.

Minnesota Majority, a conservative group, had raised concerns about voter fraud in recent weeks.

Earlier tonight, we posted a statement from Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, saying she also had received no reports of illegal voting in her state.

Ritchie said his office would conduct a review of the state database in the coming weeks, and that it was possible that they would find a very few cases of ineligible voters casting ballots.

But he stressed that, in his experience, genuine voter fraud "does not happen."

He added: "The specter of this is raised as a political strategy," by losing candidates, to explain their losses. Ritchie called the strategy "despicable."

Jennifer Brunner

Ohio Sec of State: No Reports Of Illegal Voting

Zachary Roth | November 4, 2008, 8:24PM

A statement from Jennifer Brunner, the Ohio Secretary of State:

"We have received no reports of election irregularities in Ohio today - and we have been on the lookout for any hint of illegal voting or voter suppression.

Republicans in the state had raised fears of voter fraud after the Supreme Court rejected their lawsuit against Brunner, over discrepancies in some voters' registration information.

Voting

Security Assigned To Ohio Dem Sec of State

Zachary Roth | November 4, 2008, 7:05PM

Security has been assigned to Ohio's Democratic secretary of state Jennifer Brunner, reports the Toledo Blade.

Brunner was sued by the state Republican party over a dispute about discrepancies in the registration information of newly registered voters. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Brunner last month.

Brunner has reported receiving death threats after the ruling, and her office was the target of a security breach.

Voting

RNC Ready To Sue Over Computerized Voter Fraud?

Zachary Roth | November 4, 2008, 6:36PM

Is the GOP now laying the groundwork for claims of computerized voter fraud?

The computer forensics company Forensicon just sent out the following press release:

Republican National Committee Prepares for Computerized Voting Fraud Legal Battle

CHICAGO, IL--(Marketwire - November 4, 2008) - Forensicon, Inc., a Chicago-based computer forensics company, was contacted last Thursday by a security firm lining up vendors to assist the Republican National Committee with consulting related to potential allegations of computerized voter fraud. It has been widely reported that electronic voting machines in many states are vulnerable to hacking by anyone with the right equipment and a few minutes' access to the voting machine.

Yesterday, noted Chicago resident Oprah Winfrey attempted to cast her vote for her candidate, but the vote failed to register correctly.

It has been widely reported that electronic voting machines in many states are vulnerable to hacking by anyone with the right equipment and a few minutes' access to the voting machine with a handheld computing device. The lack of printed voting receipts in many of these systems leaves the election ballots in many areas vulnerable to rampant fraud and abuse.

"If the election returns vary significantly from the polled numbers in any precincts that proves crucial to the election outcome, I expect that a legal struggle over the validity of the election results will ensue," said Forensicon's President, Lee Neubecker.

ACORN

No Restraining Order For Rogers -- Voter Intimidation Suit Continues

Zachary Roth | November 4, 2008, 3:27PM

A judge declined today to grant a temporary restraining order against Pat Rogers, the New Mexico GOP lawyer who is being sued by MALDEF for alleged voter intimidation.

Nina Perales, a lawyer for MALDEF, told TPMmuckraker that despite the judge's decision, her organization believed it had achieved its goals, because Al Romero -- the private investigator hired by Rogers -- testified under oath that he would not go back to the home of one of the plaintiffs, Dora Escobedo, to question her about voting.

Romero's visits to Escobedo and another Hispanic woman in Albuquerque -- during which he questioned them about their right to vote -- triggered the lawsuit.

The visits were reported last month by TPMmuckraker and others.

Perales said MALDEF's lawsuit against Rogers and Romero continues, and will move to the discovery phase.

voter fraud

Fox Desperately Stokes Fears of Flawed Election

Zachary Roth | November 4, 2008, 2:22PM

Check out FoxNews.com's frantic effort to lay the groundwork for the claim that Obama's expected win is illegitimate, the product of a chaotic and fraud-prone election system and voter intimidation carried out by violent African-Americans.

At one polling site in Vermont, voters could maybe even look over and see each other's ballots! The election is ruined!

Not to pooh-pooh the importance of a secret ballot, but this is really grasping at straws.

In a way, you can't blame Fox. In stoking fears of an illegitimate election, it's only following John McCain's lead.

voter fraud

Hoax Email Tells Virginia Students To Vote Tomorrow

Zachary Roth | November 4, 2008, 10:23AM

Hackers broke into the email account of the George Mason University provost in Virginia, early this morning and sent out the following email:

Subject: Election Day Update To the Mason Community:

Please note that election day has been moved to November 5th. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you.

Peter N. Stearns
Provost

According to Dan Walsh, a spokesman for the university, the hoax message went to the entire student body -- more than 30,000 students -- and about 5000 faculty and staff.

Stearns himself quickly sent out a followup message assuring recipients that it was a hoax, which was being investigated.

Walsh said the university had contacted campus police, who are working with outside law enforcement to look into the hoax.

ACORN

No Ruling Yet On Restraining Order For Rogers

Zachary Roth | November 4, 2008, 8:47AM

The court hearing the lawsuit filed by MALDEF against New Mexico GOP lawyer Pat Rogers did not rule yesterday on the plaintiffs' request for a restraining order to be placed on Rogers, reports the Albuquerque Journal.

The plaintiffs, two Hispanic voters in Albuquerque, want Rogers and Al Romero, the private investigator and ex-FBI agent hired by Rogers, prohibited from intimidating the plaintiffs or challenging their ballots.

The judge, William P. Johnson, questioned lawyers for the plaintiffs skeptically, reports the paper, but said the hearing will continue this morning.

Rogers' attorneys argued that Rogers had hired Romero not because he wanted to intimidate voters, but because he wanted to investigate ACORN for a possible lawsuit. ACORN had registered the plaintiffs to vote. Romero's visits to one of the plaintiffs, Dora Escobedo, and to another voter, were reported last month by TPMmuckraker and the New Mexico Independent.

But Escobedo told the court that Romero came to her home and intimidated her about her right to vote, adding that he "not only threatened me, but he made fun of me."

Romero's lawyer said Romero didn't threaten Escobedo, and that he had good reason to visit her because her voter registration form contained discrepancies.

After the hearing, Rogers told reporters: "This (lawsuit) is clearly a strategy to distract Republican lawyers from the duty at hand, which is getting out the vote."

ACORN

More Use Of P.I.s By GOP In New Mexico?

Zachary Roth | November 3, 2008, 5:00PM

Is the Republican National Committee, too, turning to private investigators to help make it harder to vote in New Mexico?

David O'Niell, a P.I in the state, has told the New Mexico Independent that he was contacted by Todd Stefan of SETEC investigations, who told O'Niell he was recruiting P.I.s to advise poll challengers on election day, and was working on behalf of the Republican National Committee.

Stefan declined to confirm to the Independent that he was working for the RNC, but said: "I was told to see if there were some individuals, people with investigative experience, IT [information technology] experience... to advise attorneys and make sure that everything goes smoothly."

Voting- and civil-rights groups last week filed suit against the New Mexico GOP and Pat Rogers, a lawyer associated with the party, after the Independent and TPMmuckraker reported that Rogers had hired a private investigator who questioned several Hispanics in Albuquerque about their right to vote.

No evidence has yet emerged tying the national GOP to that alleged scheme.

In Wisconsin, the Republican Attorney General has called for law enforcement agents to serve as poll-watchers.

ACORN

Restraining Order For NM GOP Lawyer?

Zachary Roth | November 3, 2008, 2:36PM

A hearing is scheduled for this afternoon in the suit filed last week by MALDEF against New Mexico GOP lawyer Pat Rogers. The suit, triggered by reporting from TPMmuckraker and others, alleges that Rogers hired a private investigator, Al Romero, to intimidate Hispanics in Albuquerque about their right to vote. Romero is also named as a defendant.

MALDEF, which is bringing the suit on behalf of two of the voters in question, wants an injunction blocking Rogers from conducting further alleged intimidation of the plaintiffs, and from challenging the plaintiffs' right to vote.

The hearing will occur at 3pm EST today, before U.S. District Court Judge Martha Vázquez in Albuquerque. We'll keep you posted on what happens.

ACORN

McCain Camp Can't Give Example Of Registration Fraud Leading To Voter Fraud

Zachary Roth | November 2, 2008, 11:33AM

A member of John McCain's "Honest and Open Election Committee" has admitted that he can't give a single example of voter registration fraud leading to actual voter fraud.

In an interview with Pro Publica, which was also published on Politico.com, Ronald Michaelson, a veteran elections administrator, acknowledged:

"Do we have a documented instance of voting fraud that resulted from a phony registration form? No, I can't cite one, chapter and verse."

The Honest and Open Election Committee was set up by the McCain camp to provide a veneer of expertise and non-partisanship to the campaign's efforts to stoke fears about voter fraud. In a September conference call, one of the committee chair's, ex-Missouri senator John Danforth, highlighted reports of faulty registration forms in Michigan, Colorado, and other states, and tried to link ACORN to Barack Obama.

Michaelson also admitted, in Pro Publica's words, that "an election-rigging scheme starting with phony application forms would not make much sense." But he argued that the mere perception of fraud can do damage to the integrity of the election.

Of course, the McCain campaign and other Republicans have been the foremost creators of that perception. Earlier this month in a presidential debate, McCain warned darkly that ACORN -- the community organizing group that Republicans have tried to turn into a voter-fraud boogeyman -- "is now on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy."

Pro Publica adds that a McCain campaign spokesman couldn't do much better than Michaelson:

Asked for specifics about the dangers of fake registration, Ben Porritt, a spokesman for the McCain campaign, provided links to 13 news clips and a 2003 Missouri state auditor's report. Eleven of the cases did not involve registration fraud. Two recounted how felons appeared to have cast illegal votes under their own names. The lone example of a forged registration leading to an illegitimate vote comes from The Wall Street Journal's John Fund, who in April 2006 wrote that a community organizer had improperly registered a noncitizen, and then "someone eventually voted in [the noncitizen's] name."

Department of Homeland Security

Conyers on Obama Aunt Leak: "Very Disturbing"

Zachary Roth | November 1, 2008, 12:54PM

Rep. John Conyers, the chair of the House Judiciary Committee, has responded to the Bush administration's leak of information on the immigration status of Obama's aunt.

In a hastily written letter, Conyers makes the same connection that we did with the administration's leaking of information on the FBI's nationwide investigation of ACORN. Both leaks went to the Associated Press, and appear to have been done for political purposes.

There's some other news in the letter in regard to that leak about ACORN. Conyers writes:

[I]n recent weeks law enforcement sources leaked information about an alleged investigation of a community services organization, a leak that the Department of Justice informs me is now under investigation by the Department's Office of the Inspector General and Professional Responsibility.

So, two internal DOJ offices are looking into the ACORN leak. That's certainly worth keeping an eye on.

The full text of the letter follows after the jump...

Read more »