Acorn May Cut Voter-Registration Work

Community-organizing group Acorn said Thursday it was considering quitting its voter-registration work amid a growing political storm over its activities, a move that could hurt Democrats at the polls.

In the latest rebuke, the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly Thursday to block the group from receiving federal funds. Republicans attached the measure attacking Acorn to an unrelated bill that advances a top Democratic priority: making the federal government the sole provider of college loans under federal programs, forcing private lenders out of the origination market.

The Acorn measure passed with strong bipartisan support, 345-75, while the student-loan bill passed by 253-171, largely along party lines.

After the vote, Republican Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia said "Acorn has violated serious federal laws" and was a "corrupt organization."

Acorn's most recent problems stem from a series of secretly recorded videos showing Acorn employees offering advice on evading taxes, setting up brothels and smuggling illegal immigrants. In the past, Acorn employees have admitted to filling out false voter-registration forms.

Acorn spokesman Kevin Whelan said the group was now deciding whether to focus on such lower-profile election activities as persuading registered voters to head to the polls. Its stated mission has been to register low-income Americans to vote.

"If you do registration on a large scale, you open yourselves up to political attack because it's inevitable that you will make some small mistakes," Mr. Whelan said.

Acorn, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, says it collected and submitted more than 1 million voter-registration applications for low-income people and minorities in the 2008 election, up from 500,000 in the 2006 election. In total, 16.6 million more voters registered in 2008 compared with the previous presidential election. Acorn's work is technically nonpartisan, but its efforts tend to help Democratic candidates since they target groups that are part of the party's base.

Acorn's latest problems have fired up Republicans and could provide a setback to efforts to register new voters. Republicans have highlighted Acorn's ties to Democrats and President Barack Obama. Democrats have steered millions of dollars in federal aid to Acorn with the mandate to help low-income Americans find housing. Mr. Obama's campaign was aided by voters who were registered by Acorn.

"Acorn is a nut Republicans will be able to chew on for some time," said Greg Mueller, a Republican campaign consultant.

Democrats are supported by a growing number of independent voter-registration operations. Rock the Vote registered 2.2 million young voters in the 2008 election, and Mr. Obama's campaign for the White House ran one of the largest voter-registration efforts in modern politics.

In Virginia's race for state attorney general, Republican candidate Ken Cuccinelli is releasing a Web advertisement Friday that tries to link Acorn with his Democratic opponent. In the advertisement, the narrator lists the allegations against Acorn and says: "So what do we hear from Steve Shannon and Virginia Democrats about Acorn's criminal activities? Silence."

On Thursday, the head of the House Republican's campaign arm sent a fund-raising appeal asking people to "help us retire Nancy Pelosi and cut off government funding for Acorn."

Speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill Thursday, Ms. Pelosi (D., Calif.) said Acorn's actions were inexcusable and said any group receiving federal funds should "have tough scrutiny applied to it." She declined to say whether she supported blocking further government grants.