More of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's links to ACORN, in ACORN's own words

Sonya Renee, ACORN parent leader, is shown speaking on the Capitol steps after the August 14, 2006 hearing. Mayor Villaraigosa is to her left.(from the ACORN's Website). BTW, is that State Senator and candidate for Superintendent of Public Instruction, Gloria Romero on the right side??

The nation-wide scandal involving the community organizing group ACORN, continues to grow, this time in San Diego. In Washington D.C., the House of Representatives voted to defund ACORN 345-75. This comes on the heel of the same action in the Senate. In California, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has called upon Attorney Gereral Jerry Brown to investigate ACORN activities in the state.

Yesterday, we praise the LA Times aka. "Old Gray Westside Hag On Spring Street" for their editorial imploring ACORN to "clean house". We also called upon the Times to devote an large "story budget" to reporter David Zahniser under the auspices of investigating the current ACORN/ Mayor Villaraigosa relationship, something he did when employed by the LA Weekly. Later, we posted more details of the ACORN/ Villaraigosa connection that goes back to his days as a 2001 candidate for Mayor.

Now as the ACORN scandal grows, it is time for the likes of District Attorney Steve Cooley, the County Grand Jury, City Attorney Carmen Trutanich and City Controller Wendy Greuel, to audit and investigate ACORN's various collaborations in city and county government. Taxpayers have the right to know the extent of the relationship between City Hall, County Hall of Administration and ACORN. We provide this from ACORN's main website to show ACORN's perspective on their relationship with Mayor Villaraigosa.

August 23, 2006.

More than 180 Los Angeles ACORN members boarded buses and vans to drive to Sacramento for the Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on AB 1381, on Sunday, Aug.13. If passed, the bill will restructure the Los Angeles Unified School District, give the LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa more power and autonomize three low-performing clusters of schools, among other changes.

The trip to Sacramento turned out to be quite the heated battle between those in favor of restructuring and change vs. those defending the school district’s current structure.

Mayor Villaraigosa walked in to a packed room of chanting ACORN members at their hotel and talked with them about the plan for the day and the next couple of weeks. At the Capitol, members did more than 20 lobby visits, several with legislators, on why as parents they supported major change within the school district.

Several of those legislator visits were filmed by TV crews, and members were interviewed in the hallways outside the Capitol. Meanwhile, down on the Capitol steps, a group of ACORN members clashed with a group supporting the school district. Before holding their own press conference, the group that opposed ACORN yelled that the ACORN members weren't "real parents.”

There was a chanting contest as their press conference began. On ACORN’s side, "Who are we? ACORN! What do we want? School reform!" and on the district's side, "Who are we? Yellow shirts! What do we want? Parents not politics!"

In the hearing, supporters of the bill dominated the room.

ACORN members filled up many seats, wearing blue shirts emblazoned with "I Support Reform" and "Powered by Parents” and red ACORN visors and stickers. The hearing was a series of drawn out debates happening in Los Angeles and Sacramento concerning whether the Mayor's bill is the right direction to go. Many of those speaking in opposition currently hold prestigious leadership positions in the district.

ACORN parent member Sonya Renee said, “I'm going to speak using my own words. I got involved in this because I was tired of watching TV and seeing people claiming to represent me as a parent in their opposition to this bill. Those people don't speak for all parents. I for one believe the district needs to change, and I support school reform."

This hearing added the support of some smaller cities within the school district and others within the district. Later that week, the bill passed out of committee on a 9-2 vote.

ACORN is planning to meet with Mayor Villaraigosa soon to discuss how the group will be involved in the implementation of the new District governance structure.

More information later.

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