Filmmaker Who Targeted ACORN Arrested in Alleged Senate Phone Scheme

[paperview]

Again PPV, I believe He was speaking as a spokes person for the group, when describing what They were doing, as a whole, not individually. Why were two charged and not Him for wearing the Uniforms?

So you think the people in the Senator's office just randomly let him and his buddy follow the telephone repairman into the office and the phone closet without any explanation whatsoever, with an FBI agent standing right there?

Is that your contention?

I'm, telling you he's absolutely delusional. O'Keefe directly saying himself THREE times he was dressed that way in an on-air interview during a softball Hannity session doesn't mean anything to him.

hey Intense: The preliminary trial is this Friday. You willing to go to wire and make a bet we are right and you are wrong? You feel strong enough to wager a sig line for a month?

 

[Vast LWC]

I am highly entertained when people who clearly know fuck all about how the media works, and how investigative journalists (not that there are many any more) work, give us chapter and verse as though they are experts on the subject. And yet, by their posts, prove that they know less than jack shit. Carry on.

When then, feel free to chime in and enlighten us all.

Drive-by insults are not allowed.

 

[Intense]

Correction to This Article
Earlier versions of this story incorrectly reported that James O'Keefe faced charges in an alleged plot to bug the office of Sen. Mary Landrieu. The charges were related to an alleged plot to tamper with a phone system. The headline incorrectly referred to a plot to bug the phone and a caption incorrectly referred to an alleged wiretap scheme. The story also incorrectly reported that Landrieu had proposed a replacement for William Flanagan. Landrieu had proposed a replacement for the U.S. attorney, but Flanagan did not hold the post at that time.
James O'Keefe charged in alleged phone tampering of Senator Mary Landrieu's office

James O'Keefe, left, and Stan Dai, are accused of aiding two men in the alleged phone tampering scheme and face up to 10 years in prison. (Patrick Semansky/Associated Press)


By Carol D. Leonnig and Garance Franke-Ruta
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 27, 2010

The conservative young filmmaker whose undercover sting damaged a liberal activist group last year faces federal criminal charges in an alleged plot to tamper with the phones in the New Orleans office of Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.).

This Story
ACORN foe charged in alleged phone tampering plot
Activist arrested in senator's office plot
James O'Keefe was among four men who created a ruse to enter the lawmaker's downtown office, saying they needed to repair her telephones, according to court records unsealed Tuesday. O'Keefe used his cellphone to take pictures of two men, Joseph Basel and Robert Flanagan, who are accused in an FBI agent's sworn affidavit of impersonating telephone company workers. Stanley Dai is accused of aiding the Jan. 25 plot.

All four were taken to a suburban New Orleans jail and charged with entering federal property under false pretenses with the intent of committing a felony. If convicted, each man faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

Flanagan, 24, is the son of William J. Flanagan, the acting U.S. attorney for the Western District of Louisiana, based in Shreveport. William Flanagan declined to comment through an office assistant.

Landrieu said Tuesday, "I am as interested as everyone else about their motives and purpose, which I hope will become clear as the investigation moves forward."

Last July, Landrieu proposed a replacement for the U.S. attorney in New Orleans, and last week, President Obama nominated that person, Stephanie A. Finley, for the job.

O'Keefe, 25, became a conservative hero last year after he and fellow activist Hannah Giles secretly videotaped several regional offices of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) while posting as a pimp and a prostitute. O'Keefe's videos showed ACORN staffers appearing to offer them housing help and advice on concealing their purported prostitution business.

The furor over the videos led Congress in September to recommend banning all federal funding for ACORN, and the group, facing major questions about its housing work for the federal government, was forced to launch an internal audit of its operations. The ban never took effect: In December, a federal court ruled that singling out ACORN for punishment was unconstitutional and ordered the federal government to honor its existing contracts with the group.

Given that history with O'Keefe, Democrats gleefully pored over the details of the criminal charges Tuesday, while Republicans either spoke about waiting for all the facts to come out or kept their thoughts to themselves.

Conservative activist Andrew Breitbart, who helped champion O'Keefe's undercover work on his Web site BigGovernment.com and advised him on how best to release the videos over time, said Tuesday that he didn't have enough details about the New Orleans charges to comment.

"We have no knowledge about or connection to any alleged acts and events involving James O'Keefe at Senator Mary Landrieu's office," Breitbart said. "We have no information other than what has been reported publicly by the press."

According to the FBI affidavit, Flanagan and Basel were dressed in blue denim pants, blue work shirts, light green fluorescent vests, tool belts and white construction-style hard hats when they entered the Hale Boggs Federal Building on busy Poydras Street. The pair told Landrieu's staff members that they were telephone repairmen and needed access to the office's main reception desk telephone.




James O'Keefe charged in alleged phone tampering of Senator Mary Landrieu's office

James O'Keefe, left, and Stan Dai, are accused of aiding two men in the alleged phone tampering scheme and face up to 10 years in prison. (Patrick Semansky/Associated Press)

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O'Keefe was already inside the office, telling a Landrieu staffer that he was waiting for someone to arrive. The staffer told an FBI agent that O'Keefe had "positioned his cellular phone in his hand so as to record Flanagan and Basel," the affidavit stated.

ACORN foe charged in alleged phone tampering plot
Activist arrested in senator's office plot
On Thursday, O'Keefe delivered a speech to the Pelican Institute, a libertarian think tank based one block from Landrieu's office. He was hailed in promotional materials for the event as "a pioneer in the use of new media to drive these kinds of important stories. . . . He will discuss the role of new media and show examples of effective investigative reporting."

In October, 31 members of Congress signed a resolution, authored by Rep. Pete Olson (R-Tex.), to honor O'Keefe and Giles "for their diligent investigative journalism exposing the fraudulent and potentially illegal activities" of ACORN.

"Hannah and James should be applauded for their efforts to root out corruption and abuse of federal tax dollars," Olson said, adding that they were "setting an example for concerned citizens across America that we can hold those who receive taxpayer funds accountable."

Olson said Tuesday that he understandably supported exposing the misdeeds of a government contractor. "However, if recent events conclude that any laws were broken in the incident in Senator Landrieu's office -- that is not something I condone," he said in a statement.

The earlier videos put ACORN, and many of the Democratic lawmakers who supported it, in the hot seat for nearly a month. ACORN, whose subsidiaries have federal contracts primarily to offer housing counseling, is best known for its robust registration of low-income and minority voters, who typically vote Democratic. Its efforts in 2008 were credited with helping to elect Barack Obama president.

Last fall, ACORN accused O'Keefe of doctoring some of the videos, including by deleting comments by ACORN staffers that indicated they thought his pimp act was a joke.

ACORN President Bertha Lewis said Tuesday that O'Keefe's arrest is "further evidence of his disregard for the law in pursuit of his extremist agenda" and that it supports the organization's view that many videos were edited to make it look bad.

"From the day that O'Keefe's undercover 'sting' videos came out, ACORN leadership pledged accountability for its own staff while pointing out that the videos had been shot illegally and edited deceptively in order to undermine the work of an organization that has empowered working families for four decades," she said. "Unfortunately, during the rush to judge ACORN, both the media and Congress failed to question the methods, intent and accuracy of Mr. O'Keefe's videos."

O'Keefe is well-known, but Flanagan, Basel and Dai are not. Flanagan worked last year as a paid intern for Rep. Mary Fallin (R-Okla.); he now works at the Pelican Institute as a blogger.

Dai, who is from Alexandria, is a Chinese immigrant and was president of the Conservative Student Union at George Washington University in 2005, student records show.

Basel, a Mankato, Minn., native, and O'Keefe became friends as fellow founders of conservative newspapers at their respective colleges, O'Keefe at Rutgers and Basel at the University of Minnesota-Morris.

In a joint interview given to CampusReform.org two weeks ago, O'Keefe and Basel were quoted about their frustration with what they considered to be the liberal bent of college media. O'Keefe urged young conservatives to think and act boldly to avoid complacency.

"The more bold you are, the more opportunities will be open to you," O'Keefe said. "The less bold you are, the less opportunities in life will be open to you."


washingtonpost.com

According to the FBI affidavit, Flanagan and Basel were dressed in blue denim pants, blue work shirts, light green fluorescent vests, tool belts and white construction-style hard hats when they entered the Hale Boggs Federal Building on busy Poydras Street. The pair told Landrieu's staff members that they were telephone repairmen and needed access to the office's main reception desk telephone.


O'Keefe was already inside the office, telling a Landrieu staffer that he was waiting for someone to arrive. The staffer told an FBI agent that O'Keefe had "positioned his cellular phone in his hand so as to record Flanagan and Basel," the affidavit stated.

 

[California Girl]

I am highly entertained when people who clearly know fuck all about how the media works, and how investigative journalists (not that there are many any more) work, give us chapter and verse as though they are experts on the subject. And yet, by their posts, prove that they know less than jack shit. Carry on.

When then, feel free to chime in and enlighten us all.

Drive-by insults are not allowed.

I think you'll find I can post whatever the hell I want. Feel free to whine to a moderator but don't tell me what is or is not 'allowed'.

 

[Jay Canuck]

"The more bold you are, the more opportunities will be open to you," O'Keefe said. "The less bold you are, the less opportunities in life will be open to you."

- oportunities like 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000???

 

[Intense]

Must watch out for those Thug's with badges huh.... Should We wait for a Conviction? Humor Us here Jay.

 

[paperview]

Repeating the challenge I asked earlier...the one you seem to want to ignore:

hey Intense: The preliminary trial is this Friday. You willing to go to wire and make a bet we are right (he WAS in a telephone repair outfit) and you are wrong?
You feel strong enough to wager a sig line for a month?

 

[Intense]

Repeating the challenge I asked earlier...the one you seem to want to ignore:

hey Intense: The preliminary trial is this Friday. You willing to go to wire and make a bet we are right (he WAS in a telephone repair outfit) and you are wrong?
You feel strong enough to wager a sig line for a month?

I'm showing You a conflict in what was reported and what was charged. If the Testimony in the Charge is wrong, what position does that put the Defendant in?

I did not bet the Super Bowl, I would not bet that NYC receives less than a foot of snow tomorrow, I'm past Santa, and th Tooth Fairy (though I am partial to bunnies), and Man made Global warming, and I fin this particular issue too insignificant to bet on.

What I will consider is something more relevant in meaning to principle, to wager on than outfit.

There is Impartial Justice and Blind Justice. The two rarely meet. Politics, Press, and Kangaroo Courts have the chaos factor which can go either way. I propose for now, We get comfortable, and wait to see what unfolds, how, and to what end.

What is Fact is that both versions were reported and that there is a contradiction between them.

 

[paperview]

Didn't think you had the nads.

Thanks for letting us know, in your overly-wordy wiggly way.

 

[Intense]

Didn't think you had the nads.

Thanks for letting us know, in your overly-wordy wiggly way.

It's almost like My Wife and Daughter are ganging up on Me at the same time.

Makes Me fee so Hopey-Changey inside.


Got Milk?

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHIWFklIK_I&feature=related]YouTube - last man standing[/ame]

 

[Ravi]

I am highly entertained when people who clearly know fuck all about how the media works, and how investigative journalists (not that there are many any more) work, give us chapter and verse as though they are experts on the subject. And yet, by their posts, prove that they know less than jack shit. Carry on.

How many investigative journalists commit felonies for stories? And if they did...wouldn't you say they should be "man" enough to take their punishment?

btw, and this is not meant to throw the thread off topic, O'Keefe is not an investigative journalist. He's some blowhard that is on the payroll of a blogger.

 

[Ravi]

It's almost like My Wife and Daughter are ganging up on Me at the same time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHIWFklIK_I&feature=related

Does that mean that you see your wife and daughter as being weak or is it that they often accuse you of having no balls?

 

[paperview]

Didn't think you had the nads.

Thanks for letting us know, in your overly-wordy wiggly way.

It's almost like My Wife and Daughter are ganging up on Me at the same time.

Makes Me fee so Hopey-Changey inside.


Got Milk? [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHIWFklIK_I&feature=related"][/ame]

I gotta give you this Intensy: You take ridicule well.

Hattsoff!

 

[Intense]

It's almost like My Wife and Daughter are ganging up on Me at the same time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHIWFklIK_I&feature=related

Does that mean that you see your wife and daughter as being weak or is it that they often accuse you of having no balls?

Either Or? What are You projecting here Ravi?

The correct answer is Girls don't always play fair.
Are You Tag Teaming now?

We love it when You do that.

 

[Coyote]

It's almost like My Wife and Daughter are ganging up on Me at the same time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHIWFklIK_I&feature=related

Does that mean that you see your wife and daughter as being weak or is it that they often accuse you of having no balls?

Either Or? What are You projecting here Ravi?

The correct answer is Girls don't always play fair.
Are You Tag Teaming now?

We love it when You do that.

Ahem....surely you know they don't call us bitches for nothing

 

[Vast LWC]

When then, feel free to chime in and enlighten us all.

Drive-by insults are not allowed.

I think you'll find I can post whatever the hell I want. Feel free to whine to a moderator but don't tell me what is or is not 'allowed'.[/QUOTE]

Oh, they're 'allowed' as far as board rules go...

They're just not 'allowed' under the rules of intelligent discourse.

 

[Intense]

James O’Keefe, the self-styled guerilla investigative journalist celebrated for his video on ACORN and arrested last month in New Orleans in an attempted expose of Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu, got a rock star welcome at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference Thursday.


O’Keefe, 25, wasn’t scheduled to do any official events at CPAC, as the conference is known, but he attracted plenty of attention as he waded through the lobby of the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, where the conference is taking place, posing for pictures with admiring fans who wished him well in his pending court case.


O’Keefe became a instant conservative celebrity last year when he and a partner, Hannah Giles, released secretly recorded videos of them posing as a pimp and prostitute while soliciting advice from employees of ACORN, the liberal community organizing group, on how to set up a brothel.


But last month, after he and two other men entered Landrieu’s New Orleans district office pretending to be telephone repairmen, while a fourth man waited outside, they were arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service and charged with entering federal property under false pretenses with the intent of committing a felony, charges that carry maximum penalties of 10 years in prison and $250,000 in fines.


According to an FBI affidavit, two of the men attempted to manipulate telephones and accessed the telephone closet, while O’Keefe filmed them on his cell phone camera.


Their supporters say their goal was to show that staffers for Landrieu, who became a target of conservative scorn for voting for the Senate healthcare overhaul after being promised additional Medicaid funding for her state, was ignoring constituent phone calls.


In a short interview in a hotel hallway, O’Keefe told POLITICO he had another investigative video “ready to go,” though he wouldn’t reveal the topic or the timing. “I’m always ready to go,” he said.


The ACORN videos, which resulted in a Congressional vote to stop federal funding for the group before a federal judge ordered the funding restored, will be recognized Friday evening with an award from XPAC, the acronym for “Xtremely Active Political Conservatives,” which is holding its own events at the conference.


O’Keefe – who had to get permission from his parole office to attend CPAC – told POLITICO he wasn’t sure if the terms of his probation would allow him to remain in Washington to accept the award or would require him to return to his parents’ home in New Jersey.



O’Keefe flashed his parole papers from the federal district court hearing his case – as did Joe Basel, 24, one of the three other activists arrested with him in New Orleans – as conference-goers walked by gawking and offering encouragement.


“Good job, bud,” said one elderly man, who shook O’Keefe’s hand. “Hang in there.”


“It’s like (the attendees) saw Chuck Norris,” said Basel, who confessed fewer CPACers recognized him. “These aren’t my people,” he explained.


O’Keefe blasted mainstream media outlets for falsely reporting that he and his crew had been arrested for attempting to wiretap the phones in Landrieu’s district office, and he boasted that The Washington Post had to run two corrections for mischaracterizing the case.


“They hate me because I’m effective,” he said. He briefly defended his undercover tactics, asserting reporters can learn more if they didn’t identify themselves as such, and urging this POLITICO reporter to try that approach, before begging off a longer, more formal interview.


O’Keefe explained that he intends to limit his media exposure to heighten anticipation for his forthcoming video. “I’m not a pundit,” he said, before retreating into an elevator with Giles, Basel and a third man.


Andrew Breitbart, whose Big Government website posted O’Keefe’s ACORN videos, predicted that O’Keefe, Basel and their colleagues would be absolved in the New Orleans case and that when the truth comes out it would leave their critics “with egg on their face.”


He alleged that left-leaning media personalities including MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, who made a brief appearance at CPAC, tried to vilify O’Keefe and his cohorts, but said attacks will only make them more effective.


“When they do that to a Joe Basel or a Hannah Giles, or a James O’Keefe, it only weaponizes them,” Breitbart told POLITICO. “And that’s the reason they have a smile on their face - they know that they now have a platform. They’re not shying away from their notoriety here,” he said, as woman approached him to thank him for “sticking up for James.”


Breitbart said he continues to work with O’Keefe and intends to post his next video project, but said he only met Basel and a third person who was arrested in New Orleans, 24-year-old Stan Dai, at a Wednesday night party hosted by former House Majority Leader Dick Armey’s FreedomWorks PAC.


“I love meeting troublemakers,” Breitbart said, adding he was impressed by Basel and Dai, and intends to use CPAC to scout for more young people interested in activist journalism.


“My business model is I want to be a talent scout. I want to be an American idol for weaponized freedom fighters,” said Breitbart. “And that’s one of the reasons I love coming here.”

James O'Keefe says next video 'ready to go' - Kenneth P. Vogel - POLITICO.com

 

[SpidermanTuba]

O’Keefe – who had to get permission from his parole office to attend CPAC – told POLITICO he wasn’t sure if the terms of his probation would allow him to remain in Washington to accept the award or would require him to return to his parents’ home in New Jersey.

 

[California Girl]

When then, feel free to chime in and enlighten us all.

Drive-by insults are not allowed.

I think you'll find I can post whatever the hell I want. Feel free to whine to a moderator but don't tell me what is or is not 'allowed'.

Oh, they're 'allowed' as far as board rules go...

They're just not 'allowed' under the rules of intelligent discourse.[/QUOTE]

I'm not the one altering posts - which is actually against the T&Cs of this site. Did you alter it so you could attribute my comments to you and your stupidity to me? That's not gonna fool anyone.

On the day you demonstrate intelligent discourse, I'll consider responding in kind. From the evidence, I suspect that is beyond your limited intellectual capacity.

Now stop whining.

 

[Ravi]

O’Keefe – who had to get permission from his parole office to attend CPAC – told POLITICO he wasn’t sure if the terms of his probation would allow him to remain in Washington to accept the award or would require him to return to his parents’ home in New Jersey.

I wonder if Cheney shook his hand?