Last week, the House voted 345-75 to approve the “Defund ACORN Act.” This had followed the 83-7 vote in the Senate to prohibit ACORN from receiving housing grants from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

However, the group is still receiving taxpayer funds, says Wilson. “Although the House and Senate have voted, the ‘Defund ACORN Act’ is not yet law,” Wilson said.

ACORN is still eligible for more than $3 billion under the $787 billion “stimulus” spending bill, and $5.5 billion from the 2010 budget. The group is also eligible for over $500 million of an “affordable housing fund” created under the $300 billion Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008.

Since 1994, ACORN has received at least $53 million from American taxpayers, according to the Washington Examiner, and it receives at least 40 percent of its funding tax-funded sources, according to the Consumer Rights League. This fiscal year it has received $1.6 million received thus far for housing services.

“ACORN has been on a PR and lobbying blitz for the past two weeks,” Wilson added. “They need that money or else they would not be fighting so hard to keep it. And so far, they’re keeping it.”

According to Politico, ACORN’s “Washington lobbying shop has been quietly meeting with sympathetic congressional offices, reminding them that ACORN’s services help low-income residents of urban areas. On the legal front, the group is playing hardball, filing a lawsuit Wednesday against the conservative activists who produced the now famous undercover film in which a fake pimp and prostitute ask for tax advice at an ACORN office.”

“Their goal right now is to make certain that the language of the ‘Defund ACORN Act’ never finds its way into a conference report reconciling House and Senate legislation,” Wilson added. “We’ll know that they were successful when it’s stripped out of the conference reports.”

According to the legislation, no organization may receive funding that has “been indicted for a violation under any Federal or State law governing the financing of a campaign for election for public office or any law governing the administration of an election for public office, including a law relating to voter registration… had its State corporate charter terminated due to its failure to comply with Federal or State lobbying disclosure requirements… [or] has filed a fraudulent form with any Federal or State regulatory agency.”

Last week’s votes in the House and Senate resulted from BigGovernment.com’s exposé of undercover videos revealing ACORN’s operations. On the videos, ACORN employees offered assistance to two journalists posing as a pimp and a prostitue, giving advice on how to evade taxes, set up a brothel, and even use minors as prostitutes.

The revelations have already led to the U.S. Census revoking its partnership agreement with ACORN in the official 2010 Census count. And now, the IRS has cut off ties to the group, ending its involvement with the agency’s volunteer tax assistance program.

“Congress still has not done its due diligence in defunding ACORN permanently,” Wilson said. “And until it does, Americans for Limited Government pledges to remind members who have continually supported funding this corrupt racket in spite of its problems with voter registration fraud and supporting loose-lending policies to unqualified buyers.”

In May, 2009, the House voted to fund ACORN in the “Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act” by a vote of 245-176. The legislation was defeated in the Senate.

“The only way Congress can unravel all of the various funding measures in the ‘stimulus,’ in the ‘Foreclosure Prevention Act,’ and other measures is to pass the ‘Defund ACORN Act’ immediately. They should do it now. Before ACORN spends it all,” Wilson concluded.

Interview Availability: Please contact Alex Rosenwald at (703)383-0880 or at arosenwald@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

###

“Harry Reid is not going to just ram this through and eliminate the filibuster,” said Wilson, “Not without dire consequences. Senate Republicans should shut down the Senate if that’s the direction he wants to go in. No business addressed. No quorum. No votes. The filibuster is a time-honored tradition. And so is democratic resistance.”

In recent weeks, Reid has threatened to use reconciliation, whereby only 51 votes would be needed to pass the government-run health care proposal. Yesterday, he again did so, promising to use it if Republicans halted consideration of the bill in committee. “If we can’t work this out to do something within the committee structure, then we’ll be forced to do reconciliation,” he said, calling the tactic a “last resort.”

Wilson called Reid’s warning “a thuggish threat,” and said it would result in “one-party rule over what is supposed to be the ‘most deliberative body’ in the world. The filibuster as implemented has been a tool for the minority party to still have a voice in governance. Its elimination is in essence the elimination of our age-old two-party system.”

Senator Minority Leader Mitch McConnell warned Reid of a public backlash. He said, “Let me say…budget reconciliation has never been used to structure one-sixth of the American economy. If that option were chosen, there would be a severe, negative, and I think appropriate reaction from the American people… If you thought the American people were upset in August, you haven’t seen how upset they will be if this device is chosen.”

According to Rasmussen Reports, 66 percent of voters are angry at current government policies. And some 56 percent currently oppose Democrats’ health care proposal.

Wilson said reconciliation may be the only way Congressional Democrats can get their legislation passed. “Harry Reid obviously doesn’t have the 60 votes he needs in the Senate for cloture. Else, he would not be issuing these threats.”

According to Reid spokesman Jim Manley, “The White House and the Senate Democratic leadership still prefer a bipartisan bill. However, patience is not unlimited, and we are determined to get something done this year by any legislative means necessary.”

Wilson said the threats were as a result of severe public opposition to the plan to “scare Republicans into submission. First, they tried painting as ‘extremists’ opponents—which is really just caricature assassination. Now, they’ve moved from simply ridiculing opponents to holding a gun to their heads.”

In the pages of USA Today, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer wrote, “These disruptions are occurring because opponents are afraid not just of differing views — but of the facts themselves. Drowning out opposing views is simply un-American. Drowning out the facts is how we failed at this task for decades.”

Congressman Steve Kagen (WI-CD8) said they were “uncivilized,” and Congressman Baron Hill (IN-CD9) called them “political terrorists.” Congressman Brian Baird (WA-CD3) called opponents of the legislation “Brown Shirts” and compared them to domestic terrorists, “Some of the rhetoric that we’re hearing is… eerily reminiscent of the kind of things that drove Tim McVeigh to bomb the federal building in Oklahoma.”

Wilson concluded, “These are times that try men’s souls. And Senate Republicans must hold firm against the ObamaCare threat to American liberty and prosperity. They should respond to Reid’s threat to eliminate the filibuster with a threat of their own: they’ll shut down and boycott the Senate.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Alex Rosenwald at (703)383-0880 or at arosenwald@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

###

Baucus sought to create a plan without the so-called “public option” as a means of garnering support for health care legislation that could pass this year. Wilson said it doesn’t matter.

“This is still a government takeover of the health care industry,” Wilson said. “The proposal creates government-run ‘co-ops’ to administer care in place of private options. It still sets up a rationing board. It still forces Americans to be insured or else pay a fine. It still does nothing to allow Americans to purchase insurance across state lines. It still expands Medicaid. It still increases taxes. It still has no tort reform. And it still adds to an already unsustainable debt.”

“It may move a little slower toward the goal of a single-payer system, but there is no question that under the Baucus proposal, Americans would be tricked into getting a treat that would crush our health care industry,” Wilson added.

Wilson said the proposal would ultimately result in Americans “being forced off of their current health care plans—which are excellent—and into a government-regulated co-ops that will drastically increase in costs since insurance policies will no longer be based on individual risk.”

Wilson pointed to provisions that force insurers to take on riskier patients without charging more for the premiums. “As a result, the associated risk costs will be passed on to everybody, distributed throughout the system, which means rates will go up. At the same time the quality of everyone’s coverage will be watered down to pay for the uninsurables. And individuals will have no choice but to buy the plans per the mandate.”

Wilson said that the system would not be pay for itself, and would lead to greater taxpayer-subsidized health care. “To make up for the inevitable shortfalls and deficits that will be endemic throughout the system, taxes under the plan will be raised on businesses and individuals.”

The Baucus bill is said insure an additional 26 million individuals that Wilson says could cost as much as $1.22 trillion over ten years. The average cost for an insurance premium is $4,700, according to the National Coalition on Health Care. “That’s about $122 billion extra every year we don’t have. That’s on top of ‘stimulus’ and TARP and all the rest of Barack Obama’s record-setting $1.85 trillion deficit. Under the Baucus proposal, the American people will be dealt yet another unsustainable entitlement that over time will totally consume the public treasury,” Wilson said.

Wilson credited concerned citizen efforts nationwide, including ALG’s 400,000 member activists, who have called, emailed, wrote letters to, and visited with Congressmen at their offices and town hall meetings for persuading many elected officials to vote against the bill. He said public opposition to the bill “is the only reason lawmakers are now considering removing the public ‘option.’ Only, the American people still do not want the total destruction of private health care now being proposed.”

According to Rasmussen Reports, 56 percent of voters now oppose the plan. And Barack Obama’s public disapproval has sunk to the 52 percent mark for the first time in his term.

“Harry Reid still doesn’t have the 60 votes needed in the Senate for cloture on the so-called ‘public option,’ and so Senate Democrats have begun watering down their proposal. Really, this is the beginning of the end—they are fleeing for the lifeboats on a political Titantic. Nobody wants to be left without a seat,” Wilson concluded.

Interview Availability: Please contact Alex Rosenwald at (703)383-0880 or at arosenwald@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

###

Yesterday, in a floor speech, Nadler claimed that the legislation was a “bill of attainder.”

“The ‘Defund ACORN Act’ is actually not aimed at one group—it is a standard by which all recipients of federal funds will be held,” said Wilson. “Congress has the power to state the terms under which organizations are eligible to receive funding. In this case, it has barred any organization from receiving funding that has engaged in voter registration fraud, does not abide by lobbying disclosure requirements, or has tried to defraud the government.”

“Furthermore, under Congressman Nadler’s reading, cutting off any organization’s or business’ federal dollars would be a ‘bill of attainder.’ Nadler’s statement is just simply wrong. It would mean nobody’s budget could ever be cut,” Wilson added. “There is no ‘right’ to federal funding.”

According to the legislation, no organization may receive funding that has “been indicted for a violation under any Federal or State law governing the financing of a campaign for election for public office or any law governing the administration of an election for public office, including a law relating to voter registration… had its State corporate charter terminated due to its failure to comply with Federal or State lobbying disclosure requirements… [or] has filed a fraudulent form with any Federal or State regulatory agency.”

Yesterday, the House voted 345-75 to approve the “Defund ACORN Act.”

This followed action this week in the Senate, which voted 83-7 to prohibit ACORN from receiving housing grants from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The House legislation now proceeds to the Senate.

Wilson called on the Senate to approve the language of the legislation and get it to Barack Obama’s desk. “The Senate did not go far enough. It only cut ACORN’s funding from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.”

ACORN is currently eligible for over $500 million of an “affordable housing fund” created under the $300 billion Foreclosure Prevention Act passed in 2008. According to the Consumer Rights League, ACORN receives some 40 percent of its funding from taxpayers annually. This fiscal year it has received $1.6 million received thus far for housing services.

ACORN was also made eligible for more than $3 billion under the $787 billion “stimulus” spending bill, and $5.5 billion from the 2010 budget. Since 1994, ACORN has received at least $53 million from American taxpayers.

Wilson concluded, “Congress has a right and a responsibility to set the terms and conditions under which organizations are eligible to receive funding. And it has a duty to make sure that partisan political or corrupt organizations like ACORN are no longer on the taxpayer dole.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Alex Rosenwald at (703)383-0880 or at arosenwald@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

###

Today, the House voted 345-75 to approve the “Defund ACORN Act.” This followed action this week in the Senate, which voted 83-7 to prohibit ACORN from receiving housing grants from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The House legislation will now proceed to the Senate.

“Andrew Breitbart, his BigGovernment.com, and the new media across the country deserve the credit for nailing ACORN—a corrupt outfit that has engaged in voter fraud and pushed for the loose-lending policies that helped destroy the housing industry,” Wilson said.

According to the legislation, no organization may receive funding that has “been indicted for a violation under any Federal or State law governing the financing of a campaign for election for public office or any law governing the administration of an election for public office, including a law relating to voter registration… had its State corporate charter terminated due to its failure to comply with Federal or State lobbying disclosure requirements… [or] has filed a fraudulent form with any Federal or State regulatory agency.”

This week’s votes in the House and Senate followed the highly publicized disclosure of undercover videos revealing ACORN operations offering assistance to underaged prostitutes exclusively reported by Andrew Breitbart’s Big Government news portal. On the videos, ACORN workers were shown giving advice on how to evade taxes, set up a brothel, and even use minors as prostitutes.

The revelations have already led to the U.S. Census revoking its partnership agreement with ACORN in the official 2010 Census count, as ALG News previously reported.

ACORN is currently eligible for more than $3 billion under the $787 billion “stimulus” spending bill, and $5.5 billion from the 2010 budget. Since 1994, ACORN has received at least $53 million from American taxpayers, according to the Washington Examiner.

ACORN is also eligible for over $500 million of an “affordable housing fund” created under the $300 billion Foreclosure Prevention Act passed this past summer. Wilson cited ACORN Housing Corporation’s troubled history in giving out cheap mortgages as playing a key role in weakening credit standards.

According to the Consumer Rights League, ACORN receives some 40 percent of its funding from taxpayers annually. This fiscal year it has received $1.6 million received thus far for housing services.

In addition to its problems with housing funds and offering assistance to prostitutes, ACORN is under investigation for voter registration fraud in several swing states, including Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, and Missouri, and has a long history of such fraud in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Washington, Michigan, Wisconsin, and New Mexico. Americans for Limited government last year released a comprehensive executive summary of its activities.

Wilson called on new media outlets to continue uncovering the wrongdoings of tax-funded organizations. “Keep doing the good work that the controlled media won’t,” said Wilson. “And at ALG News we’ll help make sure the word gets out, loud and clear.”

“The fact is, no organization should be on the taxpayer dole that has engaged in voter registration fraud, does not abide by lobbying disclosure requirements, or tries to defraud the government,” Wilson concluded.

Interview Availability: Please contact Alex Rosenwald at (703)383-0880 or at arosenwald@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

###

“Madame Speaker and Leader Hoyer, the time has come for you to remove Charles Rangel from the chairmanship of the Ways and Means Committee. Any further delay will make you little more than willing accomplices to his malfeasance,” Wilson wrote in his letter.

Wilson explained, “Mr. Rangel’s nefarious financial wheeling and dealing has brought disgrace upon himself, his office, our nation, and your House. Time and again, he has been caught red handed violating tax laws and House rules, only to plead a degree of unmitigated ignorance absolutely intolerable for a man in his position.”

The letter cites several transgressions:

1) failure to report over $1 million in outside income and $3 million in business transactions as required by the House,

2) failure to disclose at least $650,000 in assets he had previously failed to list on his House financial disclosure forms,

3) failure to disclose to the IRS or on his financial disclosure forms $75,000 in rental income for a beach villa in the Dominican Republic,

4) violation of state laws by claiming three primary residences and broke municipal laws by maintaining four rent-controlled apartments,

5) violation of House rules by using congressional letterhead to solicit donations for an education center bearing his name at City College of New York, and

6) delinquency in paying his property taxes on two New Jersey parcels and failure to report the sale of a $1.3 million brownstone.

Americans for Limited Government also launched a petition website, RangelOutNow.org, to encourage Attorney General Eric Holder to immediately investigate Rangel’s “repeated violation of public disclosure laws… [and] exactly how Mr. Rangel came into at least $650,000 in undisclosed income, and to audit the extent of his income.”

Wilson also called upon Holder to “prosecute Mr. Rangel to the fullest extent of the law for any and all infractions of the law.”

Rangel is currently under investigation by the House Ethics Committee, but Wilson stated that the committee may be deliberately stalling, writing, “[T]he Ethics Committee — comprised of some of Mr. Rangel’s most ardent apologists — has clearly decided to turn its ‘internal investigation’ into an ‘eternal investigation.’ And justice delayed has long since become justice denied.”

According CBS’ Marcia Kramer, Rangel may have gone as far to “influence” members of the Ethics Committee to look the other way: “CBS 2 HD has discovered that since ethics probes began last year the 79-year-old congressman has given campaign donations to 119 members of Congress, including three of the five Democrats on the House Ethics Committee who are charged with investigating him.

The report continues, “Charlie’s ‘angels’ on the committee include Congressmen Ben Chandler of Kentucky, G.K. Butterfield of North Carolina and Peter Welch of Vermont. All have received donations from Rangel.”

In a statement, Wilson compared the stalling that has taken place with Rangel’s investigation with the swiftness that Congressman Joe Wilson had a resolution brought against him for shouting “You lie!” at Barack Obama during a joint session of Congress.Yesterday, the House voted 240-179 in a resolution against Congressman Wilson.

Said Wilson, “Think about it. Joe Wilson screws up, immediately apologizes to the public and Obama and they want to ‘investigate’ him. Meanwhile, Chairman Rangel lies, cheats and hordes millions of dollars we know not where from and nothing happens. This is the face of the leftist in control on Congress—the rack for small infractions for their opponents, a pass for heinous crimes by their allies.”

Attachments:
ALG President Bill Wilson Letter to Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer, September 16th, 2009.

“The Man Who Knew Too Little,” by Carter Clews, August 31st, 2009.

Interview Availability: Please contact Alex Rosenwald at (703)383-0880 or at arosenwald@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

###

Yesterday, the Senate voted 83-7 to prohibit ACORN from receiving housing grants from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Voting no were Senators Roland Burris (D-IL), Robert Casey (D-PA), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Bernard Sanders (I-VT), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI).

“The ACORN Housing Corporation has long been pushing the very loose-lending policies that helped destroy the housing industry. And now it has been exposed for working with prostitutes, as well. Yet, these seven Senators have knowingly voted to keep sending taxpayer money to a highly corrupt organization of pushers and pimps,” said Wilson.

“The constituents of these seven unconscionable Senators need to know that despite ACORN’s clear track record of bad lending practices, the ‘Sordid Seven’ have chosen to look the other way,” Wilson added.

Wilson cited ACORN Housing Corporation’s troubled history in giving out cheap mortgages as playing a key role in weakening credit standards. “ACORN repeatedly gave out 100-percent financed loans, accepted undocumented income, and even gave out loans with no use of credit scores,” Wilson explained.

“The fact is, the Senate did not go far enough,” Wilson added, saying, “ACORN should be immediately defunded of all its federal moneys, no if’s, and’s, or but’s.” Wilson called on members of Congress to support a House Republican proposal to end all federal funding to ACORN reported this morning in the Washington Examiner.

ACORN is currently eligible for over $500 million of an “affordable housing fund” created under the $300 billion Foreclosure Prevention Act passed this past summer. According to the Consumer Rights League, ACORN receives some 40 percent of its funding from taxpayers annually. This fiscal year it has received $1.6 million received thus far for housing services.

ACORN was also made eligible for more than $3 billion under the $787 billion “stimulus” spending bill, and $5.5 billion from the 2010 budget. Since 1994, ACORN has received at least $53 million from American taxpayers, according to the Washington Examiner.

Yesterday’s vote in the Senate followed the highly publicized disclosure of undercover videos revealing operations offering assistance to underaged prostitutes exclusively reported by Andrew Breitbart’s Big Government news portal. On the videos, ACORN workers were shown giving advice on how to evade taxes, set up a brothel, and even use minors as prostitutes.

The revelations have already led to the U.S. Census revoking its partnership agreement with ACORN in the official 2010 Census count, as ALG News previously reported.

In addition to its problems with housing funds and offering assistance to prostitutes, ACORN is under investigation for voter registration fraud in several swing states, including Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, and Missouri, and has a long history of such fraud in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Washington, Michigan, Wisconsin, and New Mexico. Americans for Limited government last year released a comprehensive executive summary of its activities.

“These seven Senators, who I’m now calling the ‘Sordid Seven,’ ought to be held to account, and Americans for Limited Government promises to remind their constituents often of their acting as bagmen for ACORN,” Wilson concluded.

Interview Availability: Please contact Alex Rosenwald at (703)383-0880 or at arosenwald@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

###

The videos were exclusively reported by Andrew Breitbart’s Big Government news portal. Although the Census Bureau has said that the revelations at regional ACORN offices was not “decisive,” in a letter dated September 11th, 2009, Census Director Robert Groves wrote, “recent events concerning several local offices of ACORN have added to the worsening negative perceptions of ACORN and its affiliation with our partnership efforts.”

The Census revealed in its letter, which terminated its partnership with ACORN, that the partnership was harming the mission of the Census. “Over the last several months, through ongoing communication with our regional offices, it is clear that ACORN’s affiliation with 2010 Census promotion has caused sufficient concern in the general public, has indeed become a distraction from our mission, and may even become a discouragement to public cooperation, negatively impacting 2010 Census efforts.”

The letter continued, “Unfortunately, we no longer have confidence that our national partnership agreement is being effectively managed through your many local offices. For the reasons stated, we therefore have decided to terminate the partnership.”

Commenting on the Cenus Bureau letter, Wilson said, “To put it bluntly, the real problem with ACORN is not concern in the general public. It’s the fact that it has been staging voter registration fraud nationwide for years and has no business counting the population on an official basis.” Wilson pointed to investigations in several swing states, including Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, and Missouri, and has a long history of such fraud in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Washington, Michigan, Wisconsin, and New Mexico.

“The real problem with the Census is that it enlisted ACORN’s aid in the first place for the 2010 Census count knowing full well its terrible track record. And now, only because of overwhelming public pressure has it finally done the right thing,” Wilson added.

“Nonetheless, this is a start,” said Wilson, “and the next step is to stop sending taxpayer money to ACORN and its housing affiliates, including the ACORN Housing Corporation.” Wilson called for an immediate freeze in the disbursement of federal funds to ACORN.

“There is positively no reason that ACORN should be stealing money from taxpayers to carry on these shady activities, including voter registration fraud, unethical lending, and now helping prostitutes evade criminal detection by police,” Wilson added.

ACORN is currently eligible for over $500 million of an “affordable housing fund” created under the $300 billion Foreclosure Prevention Act passed this past summer. According to the Consumer Rights League, ACORN receives some 40 percent of its funding from taxpayers annually. This fiscal year it has received $1.6 million received thus far for housing services.

ACORN was also made eligible for more than $3 billion under the $787 billion “stimulus” spending bill, and $5.5 billion from the 2010 budget. Since 1994, ACORN has received at least $53 million from American taxpayers, according to the Washington Examiner.

“The ACORN Housing Corporation has been one of the principal backers of the irresponsible loose-lending policies including the Community Reinvestment Act, and has a history of strong-arming banks into handing out high-risk loans to low-income recipients, and yet receives money year after year with no accountability for its past misdeeds.”

Wilson cited ACORN Housing Corporation’s troubled history in giving out cheap mortgages as playing a role in weakening credit standards. “ACORN gave out loans without using credit scores, accepted undocumented income, and even gave out 100-percent financed loans,” Wilson explained.

Wilson concluded, “Congress has repeatedly passed up on opportunities to hold ACORN accountable and make it ineligible for funding. Instead, it has joined the criminal enterprise and knowingly served as its ‘bagman’ with taxpayer dollars. This has to end now!”

###

“Despite the extensive revelations of Cass Sunstein’s extreme views on animal rights, hunting, and scientific testing of animals, the Senate has chosen to simply take Mr. Sunstein’s word for it that he will not issue regulations that match his own views,” Sunstein said.

“Meanwhile, there has been no confirmation from the Obama Administration that it will not direct Mr. Sunstein to issue regulations that would harm cattle production, hunting, and the safe testing of drugs and products,” Wilson added. “Senators are now going to have to explain to their constituents just why they are throwing hunters, cattlemen, and consumers in their home states under the bus.”

In April, Barack Obama nominated Cass Sunstein to be Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the White House Office of Management and Budget. This post is also known as the “Regulatory Czar,” since all major regulatory actions by the federal government are subject to review by this office.

In August, Senate Republicans had blocked a unanimous consent resolution to approve Sunstein without any roll call that had been attempted by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. “Those who forced Reid to subject Sunstein to a roll call deserve recognition,” said Wilson, “because at least the American people know that Senators voting ‘yes’ had no problem with Sunstein’s radical views.”

Today, the Senate voted 63-35 to pave the way for a final vote on Sunstein later this week that Wilson called “a critical vote,” urging the Senate to reject the nomination.

In a speech at Harvard in 2007, Sunstein told an audience, “We ought to ban hunting, I suggest, if there isn’t a purpose other than sport and fun. That should be against the law. It’s time now.”

Sunstein favors granting legal rights to animals. In 2002 he wrote in “The Rights of Animals: A Very Short Primer,” “We could even grant animals a right to bring suit without insisting that animals are persons, or that they are not property.”

Sunstein also supported “further regulation” against hunting, animal testing and farming. “We should focus attention not only on the ‘enforcement gap,’ but on the areas where current law offers little or no protection. In short, the law should impose further regulation on hunting, scientific experiments, entertainment, and (above all) farming to ensure against unnecessary animal suffering.”

In a letter to farm bureaus nationwide sent in August, Americans for Limited Government alerted farmers and cattlemen of Sunstein’s views on animal rights. Days later, the American Farm Bureau announced their endorsement of Sunstein.

“The regulatory czar is an extremely powerful position, and if his views become standing regulation, the cattle industry in America could be destroyed, unsafe products could on their way to markets, and forests overpopulated with animals that can no longer be hunted who will starve instead,” Wilson said.

“Every senator who voted to end the filibuster on Sunstein has necessarily associated him or herself with his extremist designs. This is now a radical Senate. Every American wants to have the right to choose what to eat and purchase at the grocery store or at the farm stand, and the vote in favor of Sunstein was a vote against that right,” Wilson concluded.

Attachments:
Bill Wilson Letter to Farm Bureaus Nationwide, August 27th, 2009

Interview Availability: Please contact Alex Rosenwald at (703)383-0880 or at arosenwald@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

#  #  #

The poster, by award-winning cartoonist William Warren, is captioned “How Washington Politicians See the World.” It shows an overblown view of Washington, with the Capitol, the White House, and various government buildings dominating the foreground. In the far distance, only inches wide is the rest of the United States peopled by “Angry Mobs,” “Uninformed Masses,” and “Un-American Malcontents.”

“The poster is clearly a take-off on the old New Yorker cover ‘How New Yorkers See the World,’” said cartoonist Warren. “But in this case, its message is far more accurate, and ominous.”

Warren pointed out that each of the labels affixed to the American people is drawn from an actual description by members of Congress.

“The truth is,” Warren said, “I had to soften it some. ‘UnAmerican,’ of course, came from Pelosi and Hoyer, and ‘uninformed’ is how many of the politicians described those who have protested the Obama health care takeover. But, I purposely refrained from using Harry Reid’s depiction of Americans as ‘evilmongers,’ or Rep. Baird’s labeling them ‘brownshirts.’”

ALG president Bill Wilson wasn’t as sparing of the politicians’ feelings in his comments on the poster delivery.

“We’re shoving their own attitude right in their faces,” said Wilson. “In the long history of this country, we have never had a gang of career politicians so outrageously out of touch with the American people as we have in Washington today. They have decided they are a world unto themselves – and we’re telling them they’re not.”

Throughout the country, Americans for Limited Government has taken the lead in helping grassroots leaders organize protests against the Obama health care plan and other incidents of what it terms “Big Government power grabs.” The poster is being offered to the organization’s 400,000 members nationwide.

“The problem the politicians have is that the poster doesn’t merely reflect how they see the American people,” Wilson said, “it also reflects how the American people see the politicians.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: Should any members of the media wish to accompany ALG staffers as they deliver the “Washington World View” posters to the members of Congress, they can meet the delivery team at:

When: September 10th, 1PM
Where: 300 First Street, SE
Washington, DC 20003