The crime: Registering poor voters

Mostly critics seem infuriated by ACORN's voter-registration efforts in economically disadvantaged communities, among Latinos and people of color, folks who tend to vote Democratic. ACORN reports registering nearly 1.7 million voters in the 2004 and 2006 elections, and 1.3 million voters last year, 144,000 in Pennsylvania, more than half in Philadelphia.

When angry, embittered, increasingly disenfranchised people don't like what they see, they smear opponents by questioning their legitimacy, politics, methods, and goals. ACORN has been targeted by Berman & Co., a Washington outfit known for "Astroturf lobbying," launching fake grassroots efforts through Web sites, protests, and dubious front organizations funded by corporate clients.

"Let us do what we do best, which is to give power to the poor," Marcano says. "These people who are attacking us want the rich to get richer, the poor to get poorer."

The conservative "media echo chamber" successfully "framed" ACORN coverage last year, according to the study "Manipulating the Public Agenda" by academics Peter Dreier and Christopher Martin. "Voter fraud" was mentioned in more than half of 647 stories, without the claim being verified. Fraud is rare, as opposed to registration irregularities, which are common even at the DMV. In most cases, ACORN reported irregularities, as required under law, then acted to stop improper conduct, mostly by temporary employees. At the Philadelphia office, organizers made up to three calls to verify every registration.

Why do conservatives fear ACORN? Perhaps because its organizers fought for a minimum-wage increase, angering big business, or because they were early, adamant critics of redlining and predatory lending practices, thereby incensing banks.

McKnight, the great-grandmother of 22, worked as a cashier and on an assembly line. Her desire is simple: to leave this place better than she found it.

"Americans need to stop fighting. We're not leading the world in education. Who is our future? Our children," she says. "I'm 78. I've had a very good life. But I think about what I could have done, what I could have been, had I been given a good education. If we don't educate these young people, our future, what's this country going to be? Nothing."

Maybe this is what worries ACORN critics most: bright, engaged and increasingly empowered women like Junette Marcano and Miriam McKnight having their voices heard, their issues addressed, and their many votes counted.



click here for complete column by Karen Heller (The Philadelphia Inquirer)