Rich Crotty
Orange County Mayor Rich Crotty said Wednesday that he has avoided working with the anti-poverty group ACORN on a housing foreclosure campaign, and does not expect to work with them in obtaining an accurate 2010 headcount for the U.S. Census effort he’s helping lead in Florida.
The advocacy group, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, is in hot water because ofsecretly-taped interviews appearing to show multiple organizers condoning or encouraging prostitution and the laundering of earnings from it. The group responded with reform proposals today.
Crotty said he specifically made it clear during a senior staff meeting months ago that the group should not be included in any plans Orange crafted to spend $28 million in neighborhood stabilization funds to deal with foreclosures. “In a very out-loud voice, I said I didn’t want that word [ACORN] to come up,” Crotty said.
Crotty also discussed the fact that U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson has been one of the group’s most prominent supporters, and that any Republican who ran against the freshman Democrat next year could point out that Grayson is often referred to as the “Congressman from ACORN.”
“It’s always been an arrow in the quiver,” said Crotty, who for several months has flirted with the possibility of challenging Grayson. To that question, Crotty said an answer should come soon.
Crotty pointed to the start of the next federal campaign donation reporting period, which begins in October, and said “that’s when serious candidates get serious.”
So is he the one?
“I’m not saying anything,” Crotty said. “But I expect Congressman Grayson to have a Republican opponent in the next fund raising period, and a strong one at that.”
