Using A Nuke To Kill An ACORN

In their holier-than-thou zeal to rid the world of ACORN, House lawmakers may have flattened military contractors and other fundraising allies suffering from bad press too.

The congressional legislation intended to defund ACORN, passed with broad bipartisan support, is written so broadly that it applies to "any organization" that has been charged with breaking federal or state election laws, lobbying disclosure laws, campaign finance laws or filing fraudulent paperwork with any federal or state agency. It also applies to any of the employees, contractors or other folks affiliated with a group charged with any of those things.

In other words, the bill could plausibly defund the entire military-industrial complex. Whoops.

Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) picked up on the legislative overreach and asked the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) to sift through its database to find which contractors might be caught in the ACORN net.

Lockheed Martin and Northrop Gumman both popped up quickly, with 20 fraud cases between them, and the longer list is a Who's Who of weapons manufacturers and defense contractors.

The language was written by the GOP and filed as a "motion to recommit" in the House, where it passed 345-75.

POGO is reaching out to its members to identify other companies who have engaged in the type of misconduct that would make them ineligible for federal funds.

Grayson then intends to file that list in the legislative history that goes along with the bill so that judges can reference it when determining whether a company should be denied federal funds.

It's hysterical. Lawmakers can't single out ACORN in the legislation, they'd sue and win, but designing a category of people to punish that only includes ACORN and not the hundreds of other organizations and companies on both sided of the aisle that are facing fraud allegations is impossible.

Just goes to show you that poorly planned, knee jerk reactionary legislation is stupid, no matter which party's responsible for it.