State Sen. Jeff Mullis, R-ACORN, has proposed legislation that would allow counties to band together and levy a one-cent sales tax to fund transportation projects. Metro Atlanta bigwigs favor this approach. Mullis’ legislation would make the 10-county metropolitan area one region.
(Hat tip to Georgia Legislative Watch)
Jesus, this never ends.
Yesterday, state Sen. Jeff Mullis, R-Chicamauga, was blasted by ACORN, the controversial grassroots organization that was accused of voter registration fraud during last year’s presidential campaign, for the lawmaker’s resolution that urges the Internal Revenue Service yank its tax-exempt status. ACORN said it didn’t have such status.
There was much guffawing. But blogger Anita Moncrief says Mullis was right.
Sentator Mullis was correct in calling for ACORN’s tax exempt status to be revoked because it does have one, it just happens to be registered in the name of Project Vote. Civil RICO charges filed on January 7, 2008 allege what the liberal voter registration world has known for years. The complaint details a report done by ACORN’s own lawyer Elizabeth Kingsley. The complaint also quotes part of the document that was leaked to the New York Times.
There’s lot more to Moncrief’s argument, which can be viewed through the link. (Click that little word “says” up there. Success!)
Updated to reflect a comment below.
(A big tip of the hat is due to Jason Pye, who along with Chris Farris, is providing great Gold Dome coverage this session at Georgia Legislative Watch.)
Charles Jackson, ACORN’s communications director, sends this prepared statement regarding a resolution filed yesterday by state Sen. Jeff Mullis, R-Chicamauga, urging the IRS yank the grassroots’ organization’s tax-exempt status.
ACORN says there’s just one problem — it doesn’t have such a status. ACORN President Maude Hurd says Mullis “indicates his ignorance” with the resolution.
*ACORN Response to Ga. Senator’s Legislation: Organization has no tax-exempt status *
On Jan. 13, ACORN President Maude Hurd released the following statement on Georgia State Sen. Jeff Mullis’ legislation urging the Internal Revenue Service to no longer allow ACORN to keep its tax exempt status.
“Senator Mullis is just throwing around an old John McCain talking point. He would do better focusing on the issues of working families in Georgia, like jobs or foreclosures.
ACORN is proud of our work to help low and moderate-income citizens become apart of the electoral process. More than 900,000 voters – mostly minority and low-income — have cast ballots since 2004 through ACORN’s voter registration efforts.
ACORN has never been charged with falsifying any voter records. There has been a small fraction of the 13,000 temporary workers we hired to try to defraud ACORN by turning in bogus cards. ACORN has a zero policy for employees deliberately falsifying registrations, and in the cases where our internal quality control procedures identifies this is happening, the person is fired and turned into elections and law enforcement officials.
As required by law and legal advice, ACORN turned in all signed applications for final verification to be determined by election officials. This extensive Quality Control process held up well in the face of politically-motivated attacks and unprecedented media scrutiny. Though this fact was not always widely reported, most of the forms that Boards of Elections found to be problematic had already been flagged as such by ACORN’s own staff.
Senator Mullis indicates his ignorance by calling for revocation of ACORN’s tax-exempt status; the organization does not have such status.”
(Jim Galloway at the AJC’s Political Insider reminds us that Mullis was one of the earliest supporters of John McCain, the former presidential candidate who accused ACORN of “maybe destroying the fabric of democracy in this country” with its controversial voter registration drives.)
State Sen. Jeff Mullis, R-Chickamauga, filed legislation today that urges the Internal Revenue Service to revoke the tax-exempt status of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN.
If you recall, the grassroots organization pissed off cable news pundits and right-wing Internet trolls during the 2008 presidential election for alleged voter fraud.
From the state Senate press office:
“An organization that chooses to undermine the integrity of our nation’s election process should not be entitled to tax exemption benefits,” said Sen. Mullis. “The excessive amount of evidence against ACORN engaging in fraudulent activity demands that the organization to be held accountable for taking advantage of hardworking taxpayers, and I call on the IRS to ensure that justice is executed in this case.”
The grassroots organization runs a large voter registration drive focused on minority and low-income communities, and during the 2008 presidential election came under fire for submitting voter registrations to 11 states with false information. ACORN has been accused of submitting the names of deceased persons and the names of 15 members of the Dallas Cowboys on registration forms in Nevada. In Ohio, one person stated that he signed 73 voter registration applications over a five-month span through ACORN, and in Connecticut, ACORN submitted a registration card for a seven-year-old girl that contained a false birth date.
Sen. Mullis is calling on the IRS and the Secretary of the Treasury to launch a full-scale investigation into ACORN’s fraudulent activities, and is urging the IRS to remove the organization’s tax exemption status.
In 5,000 years, when a humanoid alien race sifts through the wasteland we ultimately created here on Earth, they will reach into the rubble of what once was the Georgia Capitol and find one piece of paper that, despite the ravages of time and the post-apocalyptic elements, will be preserved. It will be unripped. It will shine from under ash. It will have been the finest moment in this edifice’s history.
It will read:
Eureka! On Monday, state Sen. Seth Harp, R-Midland — along with three co-sponsors — pre-filed a bill that, if passed and signed by Gov. Sonny Perdue, would allow Georgia cities and counties to vote whether alcohol could be sold on the Sabbath inside their boundaries.
If you’ve long wanted to purchase booze on Sunday — be it for cooking, sporting events or to self-medicate — this is the bill you want to watch. And if you’ve ever just wanted to have a voice in the issue, it’s that too. Andre at Peach Pundit writes more on the possible political dynamics.
Atlantans may just get to see their cash go toward their transportation needs after all.
An influential joint committee of state politicos this morning released its eagerly anticipated laundry list of how Georgia should attack its people-moving mess and generate the cash for its woefully underfunded transportation projects. The committee, led by state Sen. Jeff Mullis, R-Chickamauga, traveled throughout the state over the past year to pitch and solicit ideas. (Keep in mind that a lot of these suggestions are basically asking the General Assembly to say with a vote that it thinks some projects are “cool,” and don’t really suggest the state pony up funds for them.)
The most pressing suggestion offered could very well be the foundation to building all the others: How do we get the funding? The committee straddled the fence, suggesting legislation for both and opting not to deem either one of the statewide-tax/regional-sales-tax strategies edge the better choice. Georgians may see elements of both ideas mixed together. The sales and motor-fuel tax, the committee said, should remain the same.
The rest of the goodies follow after the jump …
