Rico Lawsuit Seeks Acorn Dissolution
by Connie Hair
Posted 10/15/2008 ET
http://www.humanevents.com/The Buckeye Institute, a Columbus, Ohio public policy institute, on behalf of two plaintiffs yesterday filed a state RICO action against community organizer group ACORN in the state of Ohio. The action filed in Warren County Court of Common Pleas alleges ACORN has engaged in a pattern of corrupt activity that amounts to organized crime. The court action seeks ACORN’s dissolution as a legal entity and the revocation of any licenses ACORN and its subsidiaries may hold in Ohio.
Late yesterday I reached Maurice Thompson, Director of the Buckeye Institute’s 1851 Center for Constitutional Law for a phone interview. Thompson said, “Primarily this action is about fraud through the voter registration process. That registration process is over, so the injunctive window has already closed. This is a normal civil action.”
The Institute is ready to file injunctions against any fraudulent absentee or other actual voting activity that comes to their attention. “Should evidence come to light of fraudulent votes, we are poised to file an injunction for this election, but our ultimate goal is to get ACORN out of Ohio and all of its operations and shell organizations, including Project Vote and Citizen Services,” Thompson said. “This action has the ability to affect ACORN actions nationally.”
The federal RICO statue requires injury to business or property, but the Ohio state law requires only injury. According to the Buckeye Institute’s release, the two plaintiffs “allege that ACORN’s actions deprive them of the right to participate in an honest and effective elections process. They allege fraudulent voter registrations submitted by ACORN dilute the votes of legally registered voters.”
