I just came across this link to a House Oversight Committee staff report on Acorn dated July 23, 2009.
From a reading of the executive summary and pp.7-8 of the report, and assuming the document is even half legit, I would say that anyone who seriously maintains that Acorn executives deserve a pass on allegations that they were complicit in voter registration fraud and other serious wrongdoing, is being perhaps just a tad generous.