Austin Adult Entertainment: Controversy over ACORN flares in Texas
As controversy over the advocacy group ACORN flared from Washington into Texas on Tuesday, state politicians quickly began lining up to oppose federal financing for the group and to cut off any state financing.
At the same time, ACORN officials in Texas said the dispute was helping, not hurting, their work by triggering an outpouring of Lone Star support.
The back-and-forth unspooled Tuesday, a day after the U.S. Senate voted 83-7 to block the Department of Housing and Urban Development from giving grants to ACORN, which stands for Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. The vote was a response to hidden-camera videos released by conservative activists posing as a prostitute and a pimp that showed ACORN employees in Baltimore advising them to lie about her profession and launder her earnings to receive housing assistance.