Conyers weighing probe of ACORN

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By S.A. Miller

"We are confident that in any setting where the facts are laid bare that the right-wing campaign to smear ACORN's good work will be exposed," ACORN spokesman Brian Kettenring said.

Mr. Conyers' comments were made on the same day the Republican National Lawyers Association (RNLA) sent a letter to the Judiciary Committee to press for a hearing to "get to the bottom of the allegations" against ACORN.

Cleta Mitchell, RNLA co-chairman and a Washington lawyer, said she was pleased when she learned that Mr. Conyers had pledged to follow through with a probe of ACORN, though she remained skeptical the chairman would take on the Democrat-allied group.

"I hope this is a real hearing and not a whitewash," she said. "If there is a panel comprised primarily of those who want to bury the truth about ACORN, then it won't be a real hearing."

Mr. Conyers, a fierce partisan known for his drive to continue investigating the Bush administration, first shifted his position on ACORN at a March 19 hearing of Mr. Nadler's subcommittee that explored issues from the 2008 presidential election.

He suggested a congressional probe after scathing testimony that the nonprofit group was violating tax, campaign-finance and other laws by, among other things, sharing with the Barack Obama campaign a list of the Democrat's maxed-out campaign donors so ACORN could use it to solicit them for a get-out-the-vote drive.

The proposal was met by resistance from Mr. Nadler, and Mr. Conyers had not publicly pressed the matter since then.

Mr. Conyers previously defended ACORN. In October, he condemned an FBI voter fraud investigation targeting the group. He questioned whether it was politically motivated to hamper a voter-registration drive targeting groups likely to support Mr. Obama's candidacy.

The testimony that provoked the change was delivered by Pittsburgh lawyer Heather Heidelbaugh, a member of the RNLA executive committee.

She also testified that the organization provided liberal causes with protest-for-hire services and coerced donations from targets of demonstrations through a shakedown it called the "muscle for the money" program.

Ms. Heidelbaugh spearheaded an unsuccessful lawsuit last year seeking a court injunction in Pennsylvania against ACORN's voter-registration drive for the 2008 presidential campaign. She appeared as a witness at the request of Republican committee members.

The accusations against the group were based entirely on sworn court testimony late last year by ACORN whistleblower Anita MonCrief. No ACORN officials testified at the March 19 hearing, but they have dismissed Ms. MonCrief as a disgruntled, low-level employee who was fired for stealing money from the organization.