ACORN’s former leader is back on top.
Bertha Lewis played critical behind-the-scenes roles in the victorious Democratic primary campaigns of both Bill de Blasio for mayor and Kenneth Thompson for Brooklyn district attorney, The Post has learned.
“We’re baacccck. The right wing will have to deal with it,” Lewis chuckled.
Lewis, a co-founder of the Working Families Party, was an early backer and adviser to de Blasio.
ACORN’s successor group, New York Communities for Change, endorsed de Blasio for mayor in early spring, and a Lewis protege, NYCC field director Harold Miller, helped run de Blasio’s field operation.
So it was no surprise that Lewis stood behind de Blasio during his primary night victory speech last Tuesday.
Or that de Blasio tweeted, “Thanks to nychange members for coming out tonight!”
Lewis said she played an even larger role for Ken Thompson, who toppled longtime Brooklyn DA Charles “Joe” Hynes.
“We ran a hell of a campaign,” she said of Thompson’s victory. “Early on, I gave advice and direction on the field operation and the entire campaign.”
Lewis is founder and president of The Black Institute, which, among things, advocates for immigrants.
She launched the group after the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now — or ACORN — dissolved amid accusations of voter fraud and claims that workers told an undercover conservative journalist how to flout the law.
Subsequent probes cleared ACORN of wrongdoing.
But the group, which promoted housing and social services for the needy, closed shop when negative publicity led to a loss of government aid and private funding.
In New York, ACORN was reborn as New York Communities for Change.
Like its predecessor, NYCC is closely linked to the teachers’ union.
The United Federation of Teachers paid NYCC $400,000 last year for union organizing efforts, including for opposition to charter schools.