Poor Bertha Lewis. The embattled ACORN honcho can barely start ex plaining away the latest allegations surrounding her community-organizing behemoth before fresh ones pop up.
Yesterday, Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell, a Democrat, floated a new charge: In a subpoena, he said fraud committed by a former top ACORN exec was five times bigger than previously reported — and that Lewis knew about it.
Gee, what else is ACORN hiding?
Dale Rathke, the group’s then-bookkeeper and brother of founder Wade Rathke, embezzled ACORN funds in 1999 and 2000 to the tune of what the group said was nearly $1 million.
Yet Cantwell claims that at a 2008 directors’ meeting, Lewis acknowledged that the fraud ran to $5 million — likely consisting largely of taxpayer money.
Lewis denies it, of course. But then, how does she even keep up? She spent all of yesterday morning equivocating over the rest of ACORN’s sins.
Appearing before the National Press Club, Lewis condemned as “McCarthyism” the scrutiny her group has drawn since employees in several cities were filmed advising undercover journalists on how to commit housing fraud.
They’re just bad apples, see, and she’s working to “turn this thing around.” But what of the ACORN affiliates under investigation in multiple states for voter fraud? What of the Rathkes themselves?
Nope, the evidence is piling up that ACORN is rotten all through. No wonder its political allies are running for cover.
Lewis said she doubts the group will ever get federal money again.
That would sure be a good start.