Despite what the left-wing machine’s media apologists have claimed, the state of Illinois does have official relationships with scandal-plagued ACORN (the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now). A 2008 report from the Illinois Housing Development Authority showed that ACORN’s housing subsidiary received a $100,000 grant from the agency to build its Predatory Lending Database Program. Somehow, this grant just happens to not appear in the Illinois Comptroller’s database. We need a real, serious ACORN investigation here in Illinois immediately. If Governor Quinn fails to act quickly and decisively, he’ll show the country that Illinois is simply continuing with corrupt politics as usual.

The housing grant could be just the tip of a huge iceberg, or it could be a lone grant. Right now, there’s just no way to know, and it certainly doesn’t help that there is evidence of this grant of taxpayer funds to ACORN being concealed. We do know that Illinois has at least one official arrangement with a criminal and unethical organization, and that Illinois’ ongoing efforts to increase government transparency are, so far, coming up short.

We must investigate ACORN and all its subsidiary and allied organizations to find out how widely this organization—whose national operation is undergoing intense scrutiny—is entrenched here in Illinois.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has called for an investigation into the organization’s activities. In Georgia, Governor Sonny Perdue told the state government not to give any contracts to ACORN. Similar efforts are ongoing in Louisiana, Minnesota, New York, and Florida.

Given our state’s tragically well-deserved reputation for corruption, including the role of ACORN-affiliated SEIU in the Blagojevich scandal, we can’t afford to react slowly and foster the impression that Illinois will go on with corruption as usual in the face of overwhelming evidence that ACORN is a criminal organization.

Through its numerous affiliates such as SEIU Local 880 of the Service Employees International Union, ACORN has been mixed up in corrupt in Illinois politics for decades. Illinois State Board of Elections records shows since it began tracking contributions, SEIU has given over $12 million to Illinois political campaigns, both Republicans and Democrats. This includes $538,963 to disgraced former Governor Rod Blagojevich, and $30,750 to current Governor Patrick Quinn.

The federal government has taken some preliminary steps to cut off the flow of federal tax dollars to ACORN. But the recent votes in Washington merely eliminated funding for ACORN from two specific bills, and even then only in the Senate. No reforms have yet been enacted into law. There are still millions of dollars worth of government grants and contracts out there with links to ACORN at the federal level. An estimated $53 million of your tax dollars have already funded the organization since 1994, according to a congressional study.

These necessary efforts in Washington have come about despite the unhelpful votes of some of our Illinois Members of Congress. Senators Durbin and Burris, as well as Representatives Davis, Jackson, Rush, and Schakowsky voted for ACORN to keep its federal funding, which suggests there may be more to the story here in Illinois.

This should not be a partisan issue. It is a basic responsibility of government to investigate and prevent taxpayer dollars from going to corrupt and unethical organizations. Illinois taxpayers should demand a full investigation of ACORN and real safeguards to ensure that tax dollars cannot be diverted to corrupt political organizations.