As ACORN grew, so did its clout and its problems

By Barbara Barrett | McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — Long before two conservative young activists strode into an ACORN office wearing a hidden camera, the grassroots organization had been racking up kills in its decades-long quest to protect working-class people from what it saw as wrongheaded corporate interests.

ACORN -- the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now -- was founded in 1970 by a 21-year-old organizer who wanted to try a new way of lifting up low- and moderate-income workers.