Audit: FEMA Grant Wrongly Given To ACORN Institute

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A government audit says the Federal Emergency Management Agency overruled its review board in 2007 to give a $450,500 grant to an ACORN affiliate that should not have received it.

The Department of Homeland Security Inspector General's Office also says the ACORN Institute did less than it said it would and couldn't prove how it spent nearly $160,800.

The draft audit says FEMA lacked the oversight either to keep the group from getting the grant or to fully evaluate its use.

FEMA spokeswoman Rachel Racusen

says the new administration has taken steps to improve grant oversight.

In a Sept. 1 letter, the institute's attorney protested that auditors refused to accept documents that would have resolved most concerns