Say Anything Blog

The WSJ’s John Fund has a fascinating piece on the background of today’s Voter ID law decision, liberal Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens who wrote today’s opinion upholding Indiana’s Voter ID law, and former “community organizer” and ACORN litigator, Barack Obama and his ties to the corrupt Daley political “machine”.

In ruling on the constitutionality of Indiana’s voter ID law – the toughest in the nation – the Supreme Court had to deal with the claim that such laws demanded the strictest of scrutiny by courts, because they could disenfranchise voters. All nine Justices rejected that argument…

Justice John Paul Stevens, who wrote the decision, grew up in Hyde Park, the city neighborhood where Sen. Barack Obama – the most vociferous Congressional critic of such laws – lives now. Both men have seen how the Daley machine has governed the city for so many years, with a mix of patronage, contract favoritism and, where necessary, voter fraud.

After detailing some of Justice Stevens’ past efforts to fight the endemic corruption that is Democrat politics in Daley’s Chicago, Mr. Fund takes a look at Obama’s record on the issue of political corruption.  His record… not his rhetoric.

In 1995, then GOP Gov. Jim Edgar refused to implement the federal “Motor Voter” law. Allowing voters to register using only a postcard and blocking the state from culling voter rolls, he argued, could invite fraud. Mr. Obama sued on behalf of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, and won. Acorn later invited Mr. Obama to help train its staff; Mr. Obama would also sit on the board of the Woods Fund for Chicago, which frequently gave this group grants.

ACORN, has a reputation for voter registration fraud.  In St. Louis over 1,000 fraudulent registrations were discovered and 8 ACORN workers indicted.  In Seattle, seven more felony indictments.  Investigations have been reported in several other states. Perhaps not surprisingly, both ACORN and Barack Obama filed briefs opposing the Indiana Voter ID law which the Court upheld today by a 6-3 margin.

Last year, (Obama) put on hold the nomination of Hans von Spakovsky for a seat on the Federal Election Commission. Mr. von Spakovsky, as a Justice Department official, had supported a Georgia photo ID law.

In a letter to the Senate Rules Committee, Mr. Obama wrote that “Mr. von Spakovsky’s role in supporting the Department of Justice’s quixotic efforts to attack voter fraud raises significant questions about his ability to interpret and apply the law in a fair manner.”

The hold on the von Spakovsky nomination has left the Federal Election Commission with less than a quorum. As a result, the FEC can’t open new cases, hold public meetings, issue advisory opinions or approve John McCain’s receipt of public funding for the general election.

Obama piously portrays himself as a “new style” politician, a transcending instrument of needed “change” in America.  But the facts seem to indicate that he is little more than a fresh face on the same old corruption for which Chicago has been famous for generations.

ACORN has endorsed Mr. Obama’s bid for the presidency.