The story in a nutshell:

* Bertha Lewis is the CEO of ACORN.
* In a review of Lewis’s contacts list, which was leaked to RedState, Bertha Lewis has the office, cell phone, home number, and private personal email address of Patrick Gaspard.
* Patrick Gaspard holds Karl Rove’s position in the White House and was Obama’s Political Director during the campaign.
* In addition to Patrick, Bertha has Patrick’s brother Michael in her rolodex. She lists Michael as working at the Advance Group.
* The Advance Group is ACORN’s lobbying organization.
* In other words, besides having Obama’s political director’s contact info, the political director’s brother works for ACORN via its lobbying shop.

The level of detail Bertha Lewis has for contacting Patrick Gaspard suggests a closeness between the two.

Ms. Lewis has Patrick Gaspard’s office number, home number, and cell phone number. Patrick’s information still contains the 212 area code, which suggests it has not been updated since he moved to Washington, D.C. However, only 131 of the 1,894 contacts, or 7% of the total, list home phone numbers, let alone home, office, and cell phone numbers. For perspective, only 31 of the 1,849 contacts have home, office, cell phone, and business email addresses listed. Patrick Gaspard makes that list.

Gaspard’s contact information also contains his private personal email address making him among the most detailed contacts on the list. Only Wade Rathke, the founder of ACORN, and a handful of others have as much personal information in Lewis’s contacts list as Patrick Gaspard.

Bertha Lewis also has Michael Gaspard’s office number and cell phone. In addition, as noted above, Michael Gaspard works for ACORN’s registered lobbying organization and with ACORN’s national spokesman.
Other Administration Connections

A cursory view of Ms. Lewis’s contacts lists shows a couple of other obvious administration contacts too.

It will come as no surprise that Ms. Lewis keeps up with Shaun Donovan. Mr. Donovan is now the Secretary for Housing and Urban Development. Before that, Mr. Donovan was the Commissioner of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD). In New York City, he worked on affordable housing initiatives right up ACORN’s alley. His contact information has not been updated since he left the HPD.

Then there is Karine Jean-Pierre. She originally worked for John Edwards. In fact, Ms. Lewis’s contacts list still has her listed with John Edwards’ campaign, but also has Ms. Jean-Pierre’s personal and presumably still working personal email address, etc. Ms. Jean-Pierre left there to work for Congressman Anthony Weiner, then became Barack Obama’s regional political director.. She is now the White House liaison for the Department of Labor. That’s a handy contact.

The web of connections from Ms. Lewis’s contacts list goes straight into the White House and out the other door into the Departments of Labor and Housing and Urban Development, circling back to ACORN’s lobbying operation.

With the White House trying to distance itself from ACORN, Ms. Lewis’s contacts there might make it more difficult. She has clear ties to Patrick and Michael Gaspard, the President’s fixer and the man who gets ACORN projects and money.

Labels: Criminals in Power

¶ posted by Hobie 1:00 PM