ACORN Brings Down the Military-Industrial Complex

Ryan Grim reports that the Defund ACORN Act could end up defunding much, much more:

The congressional legislation intended to defund ACORN, passed with broad bipartisan support, is written so broadly that it applies to "any organization" that has been charged with breaking federal or state election laws, lobbying disclosure laws, campaign finance laws or filing fraudulent paperwork with any federal or state agency. It also applies to any of the employees, contractors or other folks affiliated with a group charged with any of those things….

Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) picked up on the legislative overreach and asked the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) to sift through its database to find which contractors might be caught in the ACORN net.

Lockheed Martin and Northrop Gumman both popped up quickly, with 20 fraud cases between them, and the longer list is a Who's Who of weapons manufacturers and defense contractors.

Call me a cynic, but I'll bet this means the legislation will get a quiet bipartisan detoothing. But I'm enjoying the thought that it'll survive as written, expelling not just the pimp assistance industry but some of the country's sleaziest corporate welfare queens from the public trough.