Turning a trick

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger called on California's entertainment community Wednesday to overhaul ACORN, the community organizing group that has recently come under fire in videos produced by conservative activists.

The videos show the group's workers offering advice on how to set up prostitution businesses, the activists have said.

Schwarzenegger sent a letter to Julia Roberts and Richard Gere, stars of the 1980’ hit movies “Pretty Woman” and “American Gigolo” to look into ACORN's activities in California, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The advocacy group was criticized after employees were caught on camera appearing to advise a couple posing as a prostitute and pimp to lie about the woman's profession to get housing help.

“These people came in to ACORN offices expecting expert advice on setting up a whore house. And the service they received was subpar,” Schwarzenegger said. “So I am enlisting the aid of two of Hollywood’s most famous prostitutes to make sure ACORN offices can deliver the proper training and advice on the World’s Oldest Profession.”

Earlier Wednesday, ACORN said it was also ordering an independent investigation into the matter.

ACORN will work with its advisory council to name an independent auditor and investigator, ACORN chief executive Bertha Lewis said in a written statement. “The investigation will examine all the systems and processes called into question by the video”, she said. “To accomplish this we have hired Heidi Fleiss, the Hollywood Madam, to within the next few days conduct staff training.

"The action of a handful of our employees was indefensible. Being a whore is a career that requires lots of hands on training. We now have a new slogan to represent our commitment to pimps and ho's - “ACORN– We put the ‘Pro’ in ‘Prostitution’.”