Yahoo reports
WASHINGTON – Conservative Republicans are capitalizing on the troubles of community activist group ACORN — ranging from charges of voter registration fraud to embarrassing videos of its employees — to revive their long-standing fight against a federal law that grades banks on their investments in poor and minority neighborhoods.
The 1977 Community Reinvestment Act was intended to end redlining, a practice in which banks in effect walled off many inner-city neighborhoods from mortgage loans. But some GOP lawmakers say it has outlived its purpose and is being used inappropriately by ACORN to shake down banks for money. They want to repeal the law, scale it back or at least block a Democratic proposal to expand it.
Critics of the law are linking it to ACORN — a subject many Democrats wish would go away — at every opportunity. [...]
actually, much extortion is 100% legal.
ReplyDeletefor example, the current news story about a late night nite talk show host in ameruica.
if he would have hired a lawyer, and the lawyer went to his lawyer and said i'll sue you unless you pay $2mm, its 100% legal -- no extortion charge.
so the problem is lawyers, and, as you indicate here, "lobby groups".