Burris defends ACORN

The director of the 2010, Robert Groves, came to Capitol Hill yesterday to talk about the upcoming population count. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) praised Groves for cutting ties to disgraced community organizing group ACORN.

Who defended ACORN? Why, Sen. Roland Burris (D-IL), the man appointed to the Senate by former Governor Rod Blagojevich, who goes on trial for corruption next summer.

Politics Daily fills in the details:

But Burris stepped in to defend the embattled group, asking Groves if he had given ACORN a formal review or hearing. Groves said he did not. "I made that decision because we are in constant contact with our regional offices, and we were learning that the recruitment of other partners was inhibited by our partnership with ACORN," he told the senator.

Burris asked if news reports of "the so-called Fox sting, which ACORN now is suing over," had contributed to Groves' decision to cut ties with the group. Groves said the scandal was part of it, but added the negative feedback from his regional offices was his primary concern. (To clarify-- The news channel did not have anything to do with the sting operation. The undercover video was actually produced and broadcast by BigGovernment.com.)

Burris argued that Groves' move stemmed from "unfair assessments based on agendas that have nothing to do with service to the community." The senator said he knows of ACORN's work in Chicago and said the organization could have been a valuable partner in getting a full census count in African American and poor communities.

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