We should be careful regarding ACORN

[NobleCynic]

The Democratic Secretary of State, Ross Miller, just raided their Vegas office. And up here in Reno, Nevada, I work next door to the office ACORN was renting in Reno. They left town in a real hurry. I have their workers coming around my office asking what happened because they didn't get their last paycheck. No, really. I PERSONALLY have spoken to no less than five of their workers thus far that haven't been paid. (Might be a Nevada thing. I didn't get my last paycheck from Southwest Group in 2002 for my election work, but I digress)

<http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hvb0LfZQ5mY-X8PYSvYxTe3QGgdgD93LVDS80>

ACORN... yeah.... I am not pleased regarding this group right now. Not only did they have no screening policy regarding their hires besides presenting an ID (I witnessed multiple orientations personally), but to get hired they required their workers to "prove" they can work registration by working unpaid for half a day. Combine that with completely unrealistic quotas regarding daily registrations and you have a recipe for stupid fraud. This leads some workers to fake registrations not for any grand diabolical reason, but simply to avoid getting fired. If you're running a campaign, your workers should be there because they believe in the cause, not because they HAVE to make rent this month or else.

No screening is bad enough, they also have no real training. The number of registration forms they turn in that are bad because they are incomplete (boxes or fields left empty) is far higher than ANY other group doing registration. I'm talking 50% range. And given that they're only paying marginally above min wage for their petitioners, trust me, they're scrapping the bottom of the talent pool as far as election workers go.

For a progressive organization, their labor practices make me sick. For a professional organization, their standards make me ill.

These guys may do good work outside of election season. I know they have been one of prime movers behind min wage increases nationwide. But this season, they are making every honest activist or election worker's job much more difficult. At least here in Nevada. Keeping a little distance might be wise.