U.S. Rep. Howard Coble, a Greensboro Republican, criticized the national media this morning for what he called a lack of coverage on the ACORN scandal.

ACORN (Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now) came under criticism after two activists, posing as a prostitute and her pimp, secretly recorded some of the group’s employees offering advice on how to fill out tax returns for an illegal business, Barb Barrett reports.

In the wake of the scandal, Congress pulled federal funding for the organization.

In his brief speech during the House of Representatives’ "one-minutes" this morning, Coble said the national media should report the facts.

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A new study covering the journalism of the recent scandals regarding ACORN blames right-wing media blogs and conservatives for stirring up controversy about the community organizing group during last year’s presidential campaign and the first months of the Obama administration.

The study, “Manipulating the Public Agenda: Why Acorn Was in the News, and What the News Got Wrong,” says a well-orchestrated, anti-ACORN blitz appeared in October 2008, reports Barb Barrett.

It continued in a “conservative media echo chamber” through the following months, say the authors, Peter Dreier, director of the Urban & Environmental Policy Program at Occidental College; and Christopher R. Martin, a journalism professor at the University of Northern Iowa.

They report that firms created front groups, such as the Consumer Rights League and the Employment Policies Institute, to attack ACORN on battles against predatory lending and in favor of “living wage” laws.

More after the jump.

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WASHINGTON -- North Carolina's ACORN office has had to lay off all eight of its employees in the wake of a scandal that has rocked the national office of the grass-roots organizing group.

Yet many workers have continued the past three weeks as unpaid volunteers for the nonprofit organization, reaching out to low- and moderate-income workers who might need help with issues ranging from landlord fights to high-priced mortgages, Barb Barrett reports.

In Washington, hidden-camera videos made this summer by two young conservative activists that appear to show ACORN workers in other states encouraging illegal behavior have led to federal inquiries and inspired Congress to act to cut off much of the national organization's federal funding. (N&O)

North Carolina Democratic U.S. Reps. G.K. Butterfield of Wilson and David Price of Chapel Hill voted this afternoon to protect ACORN'S right to receive federal funding.

U.S. Rep. Mel Watt, a Charlotte Democrat, voted present, Barb Barrett reports.

The rest of the delegation supported the measure, put forward by Republicans who are attacking the national community development organization.

This week, YouTube videos showed frontline employees at a handful of ACORN offices offering advice to two young undercover activists posing as a prostitute and her pimp.

According to Republican estimates, ACORN has received $53 million in federal funding in the past 15 years. The vote in the House passed 345-75.

On Monday, the U.S. Senate voted to prohibit ACORN from receiving federal funding in the spending bill that covers the Departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development.

U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan, a Democrat, voted yes in the 83-7 vote. U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, a Republican, did not vote.

State elections director Gary Bartlett heard about the RNC conference call today saying that voter registration fraud is rampant in North Carolina, and wants to clarify the state board's position.

The state elections board takes voter fraud seriously, but organizations have the right to participate in voter registration drives, Bartlett told Lynn Bonner.

"Certainly, when someone tries to commit fraud...it does slow us down, there is no doubt about that, but we have to balance everything," Bartlett said. The suspicious forms are "just a small portion of many things we’ll be reviewing."

The state has not finished its investigation into the bogus registration forms submitted by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, he said, but it appears so far that the people who submitted them were motivated by "personal greed," not partisan politics.

"It doesn’t have anything to do with them supporting or opposing any cause," he said.

Update: Deputy Director Johnnie McLean told the Charlotte Observer that the bogus forms appear to have been filed by "a lazy worker" hired by ACORN. She says she does not see any evidence of voter fraud.

"For somebody to say that with no apparent evidence to support it, it just doesn't do very much to establish trust in the elections process," she said.

The Republican National Committee is arguing that voter registration fraud is "rampant" in North Carolina.

During a conference call with reporters this morning, RNC chief counsel Sean Cairncross and spokesman Danny Diaz argued that the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, is submitting fraudulent registration forms here.

The State Board of Elections has found 135 bogus forms out of the nearly 28,000 submitted by the group in North Carolina this year, or about half of one percent.

Overall, more than 467,000 new voters have registered in North Carolina since the beginning of the year.

Diaz argued that the fraudulent forms are a burden to elections directors and risks leading to the disenfranchisement of legitimate voter registrations. He also argued that a percentage of the false forms may end up leading to voter fraud.

"It's hard to catch, but we do know in point of fact that these names get on the rolls," he said.

He pointed to a recent New York Post story that an Ohio man registered to vote multiple times and cast a ballot with a fake address.

The State Board of Elections has found 135 bogus voter registration forms.

The elections board is checking suspicious voter registration forms handed in by canvassers working for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, which works to register low-income people as voters.

Elections board director Gary Bartlett said 104 of the incorrect forms were from Durham, 30 from Wake and one from Mecklenburg.

Since 2007, ACORN claims to have registered 1.3 million people nationwide, including nearly 28,000 in North Carolina. The group flags questionable forms submitted by its canvassers, but by law it must submit all forms to the elections boards.

Elections officials said falsified forms do not lead to voter fraud, since names that do not have accurate information don't make it onto the voter rolls. (AP) 

Pat McCrory is calling on Beverly Perdue to stop a third-party voter registration effort that is under investigation for fraud.

In a press release this afternoon, the Republican gubernatorial candidate's campaign called on Perdue to demand that the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, "stop registering voters in North Carolina illegally."

"Her supporters are being investigated by the FBI for allegedly falsifying voter registration forms and registering convicted felons," said McCrory strategist Jack Hawke. "How low will Beverly Perdue sink to win this election?"

Agents of the Nevada Secretary of State and Attorney General raided the local offices of an ACORN voter registration effort this week as part of an investigation into voter registration cards it turned in with incorrect names.

The McCrory campaign included a link to an Investor's Business Daily editorial that asserted that North Carolina offices had also been raided, but ACORN state director Pat McCoy questioned that report.

"I have no knowledge whatsoever of anything like that," he said.

Update: "For someone who claims to be running a positive campaign, it's amazing that they owuld even think about putting out a press release like this," said Perdue spokesman David Kochman, "but it's not the first time they've launched attacks on Bev Perdue that have no validity." 

A coalition of labor and anti-poverty groups criticized the state budget discussions today.

Led by the N.C. Justice Center, more than 40 groups argued that the state should not repeal the "temporary taxes" or use certificates of participation for debt.

At the same time, they said the state should create an earned income tax credit and fund the N.C. Kids' Care program.

The coalition includes ACORN, the N.C. AFL-CIO and the N.C. Association of Educators as well as the the N.C. Housing Coalition, N.C. Fair Share and Working Families Win, among others.

Bill Rowe, head of the N.C. Justice Center, described its proposal as a "can-do budget."