By JoAnne Viviano
Associated Press
COLUMBUS -- The community organizing group ACORN is not expressly prohibited from returning to Ohio under a settlement reached in a lawsuit that claimed it used fraudulent voter registration practices.
But a lawyer for a libertarian group that filed the lawsuit on behalf of two voters said Saturday that it would fight in court any attempt by ACORN -- the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now -- to reopen its doors in Ohio for voter registration purposes.
A copy of the confidential settlement obtained by The Associated Press shows that ACORN has agreed to refrain in Ohio from supporting or enabling others "to engage in the type of unlawful conduct alleged" in the lawsuit.
ACORN also has agreed to surrender its Ohio business license and has already ceased operations in Ohio, "for reasons unrelated" to the lawsuit, the agreement says.
ACORN has denied that it engaged in wrongdoing and has called the original suit baseless and a form of harassment.
In a statement, ACORN spokesman Kevin Whelan refuted the claim that the group could not re-emerge in Ohio and accused the law center of a "concerted voter suppression campaign."
Whelan said Ohio members of ACORN brought hundreds of thousands of voters to the polls in 2004, 2006, and 2008.