The dust is still rising from the ACORN mother-of-all-scandals, but when it begins to clear it is inevitable there will be an investigation into the organization’s ties to our federal government – and let’s hope an effort to recoup the millions of dollars in federal funding ACORN has received.

For more background, here is the latest video and here Hannah Giles tells how they did it.

And as the realization sinks in that an organization caught in apparently illegal behavior on four separate occasions, in four separate places on opposite sides of the country might be involved in institutionalized lawbreaking, it is time to investigate Barack Obama’s ties to ACORN and its documented work for his campaigns.

… Since then, we have invited Obama to our leadership training sessions to run the session on power every year, and, as a result, many of our newly developing leaders got to know him before he ever ran for office. Thus, it was natural for many of us to be active volunteers in his first campaign for State Senate and then his failed bid for U.S. Congress in 1996. By the time he ran for U.S. Senate, we were old friends. And along about early March, we started to see that the African-American community had made its move: when Sen. Obama’s name was mentioned at our Southside Summit meeting with 700 people in attendance from three southside communities, the crowd went crazy. With about a week to go before the election, it was very clear how the African-American community would vote. But would they vote in high enough numbers?

It seemed to us that what Obama needed in the March primary was what we always work to deliver anyway: increased turnout in our ACORN communities. ACORN is active on the south and west sides of Chicago, in the south suburbs and on the east side of Springfield, the state capital. Most of the turf where we organize in is African American, with a growing Latino presence in Chicago’s Little Village and the suburbs.

ACORN members were involved in three activities around the primary …

Revealed by the O’Keefe-Giles videos is more than a scandal. It appears to be a criminal enterprise that has been operating with the blessing of powerful public officials. Documents linking President Obama to ACORN are hard to find, though as evidenced above, not impossible. You can still find a little info about ACORN if you look hard: For instance, guidestar.org has the 2004-2007 IRS Form 990 filings for ACORN (EIN 52-2416966) but that’s about it. Stanley Kurtz wrote an interesting quasi-investigative piece last year. It would not be surprising if more comes to light in the weeks ahead.

UPDATE: From Canada Free Press - Obama’s direct and lucrative ties to ACORN.

UPDATE II: NYT admits it spiked Obama/ACORN corruption story.

UPDATE III: Obama – ACORN’S Manchurian Candidate?

UPDATE IV: Obama: ACORN will help shape my policy.

UPDATE V: Obama’s ACORN, the early days.