ACORN and Unintended Consequences
By Elizabeth Newell
A prominent industry group is concerned that a provision in legislation aimed at ACORN might have broader implications for contractors. TechAmerica released a statement today opposing a provision which would effectively debar any federal contractor indicted for filing fraudulent information with the government, without waiting for the final verdict on the charge.
"It is already a crime to file fraudulently with the government, and we wholeheartedly condemn such actions," said TechAmerica President Phil Bond, questioning whether legislators intended for contractors to be among the organizations effected by the provision. "Talk about unintended consequences, this language could put a company out of business without regard to actual guilt. All contractors are asking for is simple due process - the opportunity to defend themselves in court against an allegation that could well be false."
Bond said TechAmerica has no position on the broader ACORN legislation, which the House voted last week to add to student loan legislation under consideration by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. The specific language the association opposes prohibits any federal agency from awarding a contract to any organization indicted for filing fraudulent information. Under current law, a contractor could already be debarred if convicted of that crime.
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ACORN: Association of Criminals Obama Represented in the Nineties.
“I've been fighting alongside of Acorn on issues you care about my entire career. Even before I was an elected official, when I ran Project Vote in Illinois, Acorn was smack dab in the middle of it, and we appreciate your work.” --Obama, 2007
MR. PRESIDENT, DO YOU FEEL COMPLICIT IN THIS SCANDAL, HAVING “WORKED ALONGSIDE OF ACORN” FOR YOUR “ENTIRE CAREER”?
JupiterSuite Posted Wednesday, September 23, 2009 5:11 PMMR. PRESIDENT, BASED ON PAST PERFORMANCE, WHY SHOULD WE EXPECT THAT OTHER SOCIAL ENGINEERING SCHEMES YOU CHAMPION WILL BE EFFECTIVE?
ACORN: Child “Services” / Financial “Services” / “Voter” Registration ---Democrat Funded
To those defending this organization, please. It has been caught on tape five times (with more to come!) offering advice on how to evade the authorities while enslaving Salvadoran children as prostitutes.
As the WSJ tenderly put it to other apologists, "There is no kind way to say what we think of this, but we will try to put it as gently as we can: Partisanship is well and good, but one ought to take care to observe some minimal standard of basic moral hygiene."
JupiterSuite Posted Wednesday, September 23, 2009 5:11 PMA company convicted of a crime that indicates "a lack of business integrity or business honesty that seriously and directly affects [its] present responsibility" may be debarred (FAR 9.406-2). Where there has not been a conviction, but there is "adequate evidence" that a company has committed an "offense indicating a lack of business integrity or business honesty that seriously and directly affects [its] present responsibility," a company may be suspended (FAR 9.407-2). If a company has been debarred or suspended, an agency "shall not solicit offers from, award contracts to, or consent to subcontracts with" the company" (FAR 9.405). There is virtually no difference between suspension and debarment on the ability of a company to be awarded a contract. Under current procedures, a company can be effectively put out of business if it is suspended.
One thing is clear from this proposal. Once again, we have an IDIOT CONGRESSMAN who is simply GRANDSTANDING and wasting the time of a lot of people while doing so.
wallyp Posted Thursday, September 24, 2009 8:02 AM