A district judge who held another ACORN worker for trial Monday on election law violations urged prosecutors to go after the real culprit, the organization that employed him.

“Somebody has to go after ACORN,” Senior District Judge Richard H. Zoller said about the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.

“It’s happening all over the country. All you have to do is turn on the television,” he said, referring to voter registration fraud charges brought recently against ACORN and its workers in Nevada.

“We will,” Allegheny County Detective Robert F. Keenan promised as he wrapped up his testimony.

A spokesman for District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. said following the hearing that the county’s investigation into members of ACORN and their activities during the 2008 campaign “remains open and active.”

House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr. has backed off his plan to investigate purported wrongdoing by the liberal activist group ACORN, saying  “powers that be” put the kibosh on the idea.

Mr. Conyers, Michigan Democrat, earlier bucked his party leaders by calling for hearings on accusations the Association of Community Organization for Reform Now (ACORN) has committed crimes ranging from voter fraud to a mob-style “protection” racket.

“The powers that be decided against it,” Mr. Conyers told The Washington Times as he left the House chambers Wednesday.

The chairman declined to elaborate, shrugging off questions about who told him how to run his committee and give the Democrat-allied group a pass.

Nationwide - Justice Department Charges Filed Against ACORN: Monday, January 12, 2009

Today began a quiet revolution in the national grassroots community. ACORN board members across the country took a collective breath and screamed “YES WE CAN.” In US Attorney’s offices from Washington DC to California including Minnesota, Missouri, Texas, Georgia, Michigan, Rhode Island, Ohio, Louisiana, North Carolina, Kentucky and Mississippi; ACORN members began the arduous process of demanding justice and accountability from ACORN. The US Attorney’s Office and/or the FBI have been contacted in fourteen states and the District of Columbia. The allegations include RICO, ERISA and criminal civil rights violations against ACORN’s low-income membership. The dispute started following embezzlement and an eight year cover up by ACORN founder, staff and executive committee members.

The estranged members of the National Board of ACORN filed criminal charges against senior staff members operating that venerable organization. For decades, ACORN has operated in silence, preferring to keep its members marginalized, while at the same time using them to intimidate banks, politicians and business owners. These ACORN members have sacrificed personal time and money to fight for the liberation of the poor from ACORN. In ACORN offices across the country there is an unofficial policy of removing anyone who questions ACORN or dares to ask for any type of reporting and accountability. After hard work by ACORN 8 members across the country; the advent of the Obama administration, with its pledge of truth and transparency in the government, heralds a new day for ACORN.