Ex-worker sues activist group: South Florida Sun-Sentinel

By Jeremy Milarsky
Staff Writer

Posted October 21 2004

An activist group was sued in Miami-Dade circuit court this week by a former employee, who has accused top officials of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now of violating a slew of election laws.

Mac Stuart, of Opa-locka, has accused the organization, known as ACORN, of illegally copying voter registration applications and selling them to labor union groups, allowing people to sign petitions who were not registered voters and suppressing Republican voter registration applications.

Founded in Arkansas, ACORN is one of many groups that have pushed for a high voter turnout for the presidential election.

Stuart, who was assistant director of voter registration for the group, was fired in early August after being accused of trying to cash a paycheck that wasn't his. In the lawsuit, he claims he was fired only days after voicing his concerns about ACORN practices at a group meeting in late July.

An attorney for ACORN, Faith Guy, said Stuart's former employers didn't engage in any wrongdoing and that it was Stuart engaging in election law violations.

'I think this is absolutely outrageous,' Guy said. 'My sense is that these are things that he was doing.'

Stuart is asking for more than $15,000 in damages in the case, in addition to attorney's fees and court-related costs. ACORN has 20 days to respond to the suit. Guy said not only would the group respond, but officials within ACORN are considering whether to sue Stuart for defamation.

This month, ACORN said it registered hundreds of thousands of state voters.

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