TARPalicious! Bailed-Out Banks Funding ACORN

The more layers you peel back from the ACORN scandal the more incestuous the relationship between Democrats and ACORN becomes obvious. Now that the antique media has actually discovered the story due to ACORN's insane decision to sue Andrew Brietbart, James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles they'll have no choice but to actually cover the story. Who knows, even Charlie Gibson might give it 10 seconds on ABC News.

Now we discover that some banks that received TARP money have been funneling major dollars to this criminal empire.

Jamie Dimon has been described as “Obama’s favorite banker” by the New York Times. He’s ACORN’s favorite banker, too, and with good reason. Mr. Dimon is the CEO of JPMorgan Chase, which operates a charitable foundation that gave ACORN $1 million in 2007, along with a smaller grant to the ACORN Institute. Beyond the charitable grants, ACORN and its affiliates have long profited from their “partnerships” with the big banks, taking a cut of subprime loans marketed to low-income borrowers in poor neighborhoods.

However, JPMorgan Chase isn’t the only big offender here. According to Peter Flaherty — president of the National Legal and Policy Center, which is tracking corporate America’s underwriting of the Left — other big ACORN benefactors include such TARPalicious names as Bank of America and Citigroup. Taxpayers bail out the banks, the banks fund ACORN, and ACORN dispenses advice on human trafficking and tax evasion to aspiring pimps and hookers. Not America’s proudest moment.

Oh, and who exactly is Jamie Dimon? Maybe you'll recognize some of his connections.

Dimon, of course, is no white-shoe East Coast banker. He’s a Chicago Democrat, deeply plugged in to Obama’s machine — he was said to be Obama’s choice for secretary of the Treasury until advisers convinced the president to go with Tim Geithner — and so it’s no surprise to find his company shunting money ACORN’s way. And where there are Chicago Democrats and a whiff of corruption, can the name Daley be far away? Bill Daley, brother of Chicago mayor Richard Daley and son of Boss Daley, runs JPMorgan Chase’s charitable foundation and also is in charge of the bank’s “corporate social responsibility” office. While it would be unfair to visit the sins of the father (and the brother, and the rest of the Chicago machine) upon the son, Daley is not the first name that comes to mind when one thinks of “social responsibility.” Even leaving aside his family connections, Mr. Daley represents precisely the overlap of Wall Street, Democratic machine politics, and ACORN that ought to give sober observers pause.

Naturally, Harry Reid and the Democrats are resistant to investigating ACORN because it may well topple the Democrats stranglehold on the Senate and the House of Representatives. Reid and the rest of his gang can try as they might but this story is not going away.

Still, the media will try running interference with tear-jerking stories like this.

North Carolina's ACORN office has had to lay off all eight of its employees in the wake of a scandal that has rocked the national office of the grass-roots organizing group.

Yet many workers have continued the past three weeks as unpaid volunteers for the nonprofit organization, reaching out to low- and moderate-income workers who might need help with issues ranging from landlord fights to high-priced mortgages.

In Washington, hidden-camera videos made this summer by two young conservative activists that appear to show ACORN workers in other states encouraging illegal behavior have led to federal inquiries and inspired Congress to act to cut off much of the national organization's federal funding.

ACORN has received untold millions from the taxpayers and banks so we must ask: Where has all the money gone?

ACORN's national organization, along with an affiliated group, ACORN Housing, also received a $2 million housing preservation grant from Charlotte-based Bank of America.

In a statement, the bank said that it doesn't condone the actions on the videos and that it is reviewing its work with ACORN.

Bank of America also said it and other banks have allowed ACORN to help tens of thousands of homeowners facing foreclosure.

"Overall, we believe our investments have been leveraged to further the company's commitments and benefit the country," the bank said in its statement.

Would the folks at Bank of America like to walk that one back?

As for Harry Reid's refusal to investigate, he may soon have no choice, especially if he has any designs on a political career after 2010.

"It is almost Orwellian for the majority leader and these Senate Democrats to go on and on about how these investigations may be politically driven," Vitter said "Interestingly now, because of ACORN's well-known close relationship with the Democratic Party, the majority leader believes the status quo for the last 2 1/2 years could be harmful to our country."

Also Wednesday, Vitter sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder suggesting he open an inquiry into ACORN under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization statute.

"Now that both chambers of Congress have agreed to cut off funding for ACORN, the Justice Department should use all of the current legal tools at its disposal -- like the RICO Act -- to ensure that the taxpayer dollars that ACORN receives are being used properly, " Vitter wrote Holder.

The Democrats are on extremely thin ice heading into the 2010 midterms and having ACORN out there registering phony voters for them sure isn't going to help.