GAO Plans Investigation of ACORN Funds

Meredith Jessup | December 17, 2009 2:48 PM

According to The Hill, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has informed House Republicans Reps. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, and Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), the ranking member of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee that it intends to investigate ACORN’s use of federal funds.

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In a letter dated December 7, GAO's Ralph Dawn wrote the representatives, saying, "GAO accepts your request as work that is within the scope of its authority."

Issa and Smith later applauded the GAO's decision, but called for further action:

“ACORN’s criminal acts over many years have robbed taxpayers and charitable donors of the honest public services ACORN was paid to provide,” he said. “This GAO study should be another step toward understanding the scope of funds from across the federal government that were sent to ACORN yet cannot be verified that they were used as intended.”

Smith said the GAO probe is a “good start” but called on the FBI to launch its own investigation, considering the large number of criminal allegations related to ACORN that have surfaced in recent months.

“The GAO review is a good start, but given ACORN’s extensive record of criminal conduct, the FBI must also step in,” he said. “Only an independent criminal investigation conducted by the FBI can get to the bottom of the nationwide allegations against ACORN.”