ACORN fired two employees who were seen on hidden-camera video givingtax advice to a man posing as a pimp and a woman who pretended to be aprostitute.
The Census Bureau on Friday severed its ties with ACORN, a communityorganization that has been hit with Republican accusations ofvoter-registration fraud.
“We do not come to this decisionlightly,” Census director Robert Groves wrote in a letter to ACORN,which was obtained by The Associated Press.
In splitting withACORN, Groves sought to tamp down GOP concerns and negative publicitythat the partnership will taint the 2010 head count.
“It is clearthat ACORN’s affiliation with the 2010 census promotion has causedsufficient concern in the general public, has indeed become adistraction from our mission, and may even become a discouragement topublic cooperation, negatively impacting 2010 census efforts,” Groveswrote.
Stephen Buckner, a census spokesman, confirmed the letter, but declined additional comment.
ACORN spokesman Scott Levenson did not immediately return a request for comment.
Inrecent months, Republicans have become increasingly critical of thecensus’ ties with ACORN, which stands for the Association of CommunityOrganizations for Reform Now. The group, which advocates for poorpeople, conducted a massive voter registration effort last year andbecame a target of conservatives when some employees were accused ofsubmitting false registration forms with names such as “Mickey Mouse.”
ACORN has said only a handful of employees submitted false registration forms and did so in a bid to boost their pay.