ShareThisMEMPHIS, Tenn. - The scandal-plagued grassroots group ACORN may not survive another year, its longtime leader says.
Wade Rathke, who began the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now in 1970 and stepped down last year from its help, spoke at the University of Memphis Monday night.
"The organization has become the focal point of the right," Rathke said during an interview before his speech.
"I don't know if it can survive another year," he said.
ACORN became a punching bag for conservatives after allegations of voter registration irregularities surfaced last year, spawning investigations in several states.
Then came a video recording showing ACORN workers in Baltimore giving advice to a couple posing as a prostitute and her pimp.
Rathke's appearance at the university was derided in a statement by the Republican Party of Shelby County.
"It is outrageous that the U of M has invited a parade of radicals to speak at events, and totally unacceptable to welcome such a character as Wade Rathke," the statement read in part.
A handful of protesters stood outside the university's Fogelman Executive Center Monday night, one with a sign that said "I'm Allergic to Nuts."
"ACORN is a corrupt organization," said Jim Tomasik of Cordova, Tenn., who noted that Rathke's brother, Dale Rathke, resigned last year after misappropriating nearly $1 million from the organization.
Wade Rathke said his brother has repaid the money.
"Right is right and wrong is wrong," Tomasik said.
ACORN, Rathke said, serves an important function in a democratic society, in that it "provides a vehicle for community residents, particularly lower and middle income, to have a voice in affairs ... The problem with organizations like ACORN ... is that you can't get 100 percent perfection."
The founder acknowledged the organization has not been blameless. "You are going to have some people who cut corners, and do things that are irregular. ACORN made mistakes," he said.
Rathke said he was glad to be in Canada when the Baltimore video surfaced.
"I don't want to second-guess the current leadership," said Rathke. "But ACORN dropped the ball when it first came up ... and it took on a life of its own," he said.
"They should have immediately suspended (the workers). It was painful to me that they were so easily scammed."
(Christopher Conley is a reporter for The Commercial Appeal in Memphis, Tenn.)
