Congressman Michele Bachman (R-MN) warned us that floor votes in the House and Senate to “defund” ACORN were just so much political cover. That is beginning to look like Speaker Pelosi’s plan.

Sen. David Vitter (R-LA.) has called for a Justice Department investigation and congressional hearings into ACORN’s activities, potentially as an institution of organized crime. At first blush, it seems that ACORN fits many of the definitions of a criminal enterprise under federal RICO statutes.

It is outrageous, of course, that the organization has been seen aiding and abetting in schemes to evade taxes, promote prostitution and conceal the use of illegal immigrant children as sex toys. But the criminal activities of ACORN go well beyond those moral outrages.

It is an open secret that ACORN was an essential part of the Democrat Party’s registration/Get-Out-The-Vote machine last year. And it is indisputable that they made a substantial difference in electing Barack Obama to the presidency and expanding Speaker Pelosi’s base of power. Some of their electoral activities were probably legal; but other programs of voter registration and GOTV were blatantly illegal.

Some of their “nonpartisan” work in Idaho last year demands further scrutiny and analysis – especially in Boise and Canyon Counties. And, in fact, some of the anomalies in 2008 election returns point to the need for the Legislature to tighten up Idaho election laws to prevent fraud.
A wholesale investigation into ACORN is, therefore, more than a matter of saving tax dollars. It is necessary to protect the integrity of our democratic institutions. For a time, it seemed that the moment had arrived in Washington when a critical mass of integrity would produce results.

But just yesterday, two key Democrat leaders signaled that Bachman was more than a prophet. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer announced that “Congress needs to gather more facts before it decides whether to cut off all federal funds for ACORN.” A person might have hoped that Hoyer was about to join David Vitter in the campaign to “get more information”.

But it appears that no investigation is to be launched. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced he was “too busy” with “important” issues to undertake Senate hearings into the nefarious organization and its abuse of American taxpayers.

We applaud Idaho’s congressional delegation, including Walt Minnick, for voting to end tax funding of ACORN last week. But it is now obvious that greater action is necessary for those votes to mean more than political gamesmanship.

We will soon see what the Democrat majority is actually made of. There is no doubt that their hopes for retaining a congressional majority will be hurt if ACORN is removed from the battlefield of next year’s election; but the nation cannot stomach national leaders simply looking away from such blatant corruption.