John Fund, WSJ, 10/30/08:

[Karen] Gillette [ACORN’s Project Vote head fund-raiser] certainly deserves more scrutiny [in the matter of trolling for money among maxed-out Obama donors supplied by the Obama campaign]. In 2006, she was a campaign consultant for Jennifer Brunner, the Acorn-backed Democratic candidate for Ohio secretary of state. Since her election, Ms. Brunner has outraged Republicans and left many objective observers puzzled by her judgment calls.

Some 660,000 new voter registrations have been filed in Ohio this year by groups including Acorn, and more than 200,000 failed a “match up” test in which voter information was compared with driver’s license and Social Security databases. Despite these warning signs, Ms. Brunner refused to allow county officials access to information they needed to verify the newly registered voters.

Many of the new registrants cast ballots earlier this month in Ohio’s “Golden Week,” a seven-day period when state residents can register and immediately cast an absentee ballot. At least half a dozen cases have been documented of people illegally registering and casting ballots during “Golden Week.”

Republicans seeking to force Secretary Brunner to surrender the data have been stymied in court, but their hand may be strengthened by the latest revelation that Ms. Brunner’s campaign consultant has close ties with Acorn’s Project Vote and has been accused under oath of obtaining donor lists from the Obama campaign to drum up dollars for Acorn’s voter registration effort — including its large Ohio operation.

Listen to the testimony of lawyer Heather Heidelbaugh on the B-Cast from yesterday, beginning at about 24:00.  Whistleblower Anita MonCrief, formerly of ACORN and one of the dissident ACORN Eight,  testified under oath that she was asked to co-ordinate with the Obama campaign by supplying a spread sheet of maxed-out donors.  When MonCrief testified, Gillette, who was scheduled to testify in a hearing for injunctive relief, got up and walked out of the courtroom.

ACORN, of course, is meant to help out with the census, overseen by Groves, as reported by Jeff, yesterday.

Listen to the whole thing: “And that is ACORN’s defense: you can’t catch us.”

Via Don Surber, more evidence of “independent political organizations” illegally co-ordinating with Obama’s continuous campaign, as reported by Darth Rove:

Senior presidential adviser Valerie Jarrett and her chief of staff, Michael Strautmanis, are in regular contact with MoveOn.Org, Americans United for Change and other liberal interest groups. Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina has collaborated with Americans United for Change on strategy and even ad copy. Ms. Jarrett invited leaders of the liberal interest groups to a White House social event with the president and first lady to kick off the lobbying campaign.

Its targets were initially Republicans, as team Obama ran ads depicting the GOP as the “party of no.” But now the fire is being trained on Democrats worried about runaway spending.

Americans United is going after Democrats who are skeptical of Mr. Obama’s plans to double the national debt in five years and nearly triple it in 10. The White House is taking aim at lawmakers in 12 states, including Democratic Sens. Kent Conrad, Ben Nelson, Mary Landrieu, Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor. MoveOn.Org is running ads aimed at 10 moderate Senate and House Democrats. And robocalls are urging voters in key districts to pressure their congressman to get in line.

Team Obama is also ginning up the Democratic National Committee. A special group at the DNC has been created called “Organizing for America.” It is headed by Mr. Obama’s campaign manager, David Plouffe, and is lobbying for the administration’s spending proposals.

Thuggin’ the Vote, baby!