NOLAgate: right wing ‘pimp’ superstar and pals facing federal charges
Defendants in the NOLAgate case: James O'Keefe (top left), Joseph Basel (top right), Robert Flanagan (bottom left) and Stan Dai (bottom right).
What to do if you’re a right winger and the young Woodward to your Bernstein becomes a felon? James O’Keefe, who was hailed by Fox News, the right wing blogosphere and the folks at Politico for supposedly bringing down the evil beastie that is ACORN (or not) was arrested by FBI agents this week after his latest caper, an attempt to enter the office of a United States Senator with the intent of tempering with the phones, turns out to be criminal. Who knew? (And yes, that was major schadenfreude.) [Read the affidavit]
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From the Daily Mail:
Four conservative activists, including Republican activist James O’Keefe, face up to ten years in jail after being arrested in connection with a break in at Senator Mary Landrieu’s office on Monday. Two of the suspects posed as repairmen, wearing denim work suits, fluorescent vests, tool belts and hard hats, to tamper with the telephones in New Orleans, Louisiana. While O’Keefe filmed, Robert Flanagan and Joseph Basel ‘manipulated the telephone system’ in the reception area of Landrieu’s office on Monday, the FBI said.
Dai apparently was communicating with the others through a listening device. Apparently, early reports that the four intended to bug Mary Landrieu’s phones were untrue. But what is true is that these were no ordinary burglars:
All four men have significant experience as activists for conservative causes. The common link between at least three of them is Mr. O’Keefe, whose work has achieved the highest profile among them. Last year, Mr. O’Keefe, a 25-year-old filmmaker, shot undercover videos at field offices of advocacy group Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or Acorn, that gained national attention for purporting to document corruption.
… Steven Sutton, vice president of campus programs at the Leadership Institute, an Arlington Va.-based group that trains college students in conservative activism, extolled Mr. O’Keefe—who went through the training while attending Rutgers University—as “the rare person on the right who is willing to push the envelope.”
… With Mr. O’Keefe’s guidance, Mr. Basel used a grant from the Leadership Institute to start a conservative student newspaper, the Counterweight. Mr. Basel also was active in the College Republicans and worked on the 2006 campaign of Republican state Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen.
… Mr. O’Keefe and Mr. Flanagan share a connection with the Pelican Institute for Public Policy, a nonprofit think tank in New Orleans that advocates for limited government and acts as a policy watchdog. Like Mr. O’Keefe, the Pelican Institute has conducted its own investigative reporting on Acorn, which was founded in New Orleans. Pelican Institute President Kevin P. Kane said that common interest led his organization to host an event last Thursday with Mr. O’Keefe as the featured speaker. His topic was “Exposing Truth: Undercover Video, New Media and Creativity.”
The 24-year-old Mr. Flanagan has worked on a contract basis for the Pelican Institute’s Web blog, according to Mr. Kane.
… Mr. Flanagan, who lives in New Orleans, is the son of William J. Flanagan, the interim U.S. attorney for the Western District of Louisiana. A spokeswoman at U.S. Attorney Flanagan’s office, in Shreveport, said he wouldn’t comment about his son’s arrest. Mr. Flanagan couldn’t be reached for comment.
Federal authorities didn’t explain Mr. Dai’s role in the incident but said the 24-year-old helped to conceive and execute the plan. Mr. Dai, who emigrated from China and who grew up in Illinois, was a junior administrator for a federally funded program in 2008 at Trinity Washington University in Washington, D.C., that exposed students to potential careers in intelligence in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Ann Pauley, a spokeswoman at Trinity, said Mr. Dai stopped working at the school when the grant ended, in October 2008. Mr. Dai couldn’t be reached for comment.
And O’Keefe is also on the payroll of Andrew Breitbart, the right wing media maven and sidekick to Matt Drudge. Which begs the question, what did Breitbart know about the “stunt,” and did he intend to pay O’Keefe for the fruits of it …
Right wingers are already expressing doubts about O’Keefe’s lawyer’s claim that no phone tampering was going on, and putting major distance between themselves and their former beloved, Mr. O’Keefe, and he has been bumped from his keynote speaking position at a Republican conference this fall. (Keith Olbermann pointed out last night that Fox News devoted just 4 hours of its programming day to the O’Keefe caper yesterday, versus about 13 times that devoted to the supposed ACORN scandal and O’Keefe’s pimp video. BTW, the “ho” to O’Keefe’s pimp in the ACORN videos is disavowing him, too.)
And what of the 31 Republican members of Congress who cosponsored a resolution honoring O’Keefe and Giles? They’re not talking, so far. But here’s a list of them so you can point and laugh at your leisure (the text of the bill is also at the link)
Rep Akin, W. Todd [MO-2] – 11/19/2009
Rep Bartlett, Roscoe G. [MD-6] – 11/19/2009
Rep Barton, Joe [TX-6] – 11/19/2009
Rep Bishop, Rob [UT-1] – 11/19/2009
Rep Bonner, Jo [AL-1] – 11/19/2009
Rep Boozman, John [AR-3] – 11/19/2009
Rep Broun, Paul C. [GA-10] – 10/13/2009
Rep Brown, Henry E., Jr. [SC-1] – 10/13/2009
Rep Campbell, John [CA-48] – 11/19/2009
Rep Carter, John R. [TX-31] – 11/19/2009
Rep Coble, Howard [NC-6] – 11/19/2009
Rep Cole, Tom [OK-4] – 11/19/2009
Rep Conaway, K. Michael [TX-11] – 11/19/2009
Rep Culberson, John Abney [TX-7] – 11/19/2009
Rep Fallin, Mary [OK-5] – 11/19/2009
Rep Franks, Trent [AZ-2] – 11/19/2009
Rep Gohmert, Louie [TX-1] – 11/19/2009
Rep Granger, Kay [TX-12] – 11/19/2009
Rep Hall, Ralph M. [TX-4] – 11/19/2009
Rep Jordan, Jim [OH-4] – 11/19/2009
Rep King, Steve [IA-5] – 11/19/2009
Rep Kline, John [MN-2] – 11/19/2009
Rep Lamborn, Doug [CO-5] – 11/19/2009
Rep Luetkemeyer, Blaine [MO-9] – 11/19/2009
Rep Lungren, Daniel E. [CA-3] – 11/19/2009
Rep Marchant, Kenny [TX-24] – 11/19/2009
Rep Pitts, Joseph R. [PA-16] – 11/19/2009
Rep Posey, Bill [FL-15] – 11/19/2009
Rep Roe, David P. [TN-1] – 11/19/2009
Rep Schmidt, Jean [OH-2] – 11/19/2009
Rep Shadegg, John B. [AZ-3] – 11/19/2009
If I’m Nancy Pelosi, I’m bringing that resolution to the floor TODAY and forcing the GOPers to vote on it.
And what of the right wing media who showered O’Keefe with praise when they thought he’d taken down their nemesis, ACORN? MediaMatters catalogues their nowhere near faint praise:
Beck: Giles’ “partner in crime” O’Keefe is “courageous.” …
Breitbart: O’Keefe “is already well on his way to being one of the great journalists” and deserves a Pulitzer. … (Breitbart is now trying to portray the potential 10 plus year sentence felonies as “just a prank…”)
Hannity: O’Keefe is a “pioneer in journalism.” …
O’Reilly: “Frank and Conyers should be giving Ms. Giles and Mr. O’Keefe congressional medals.” …
Coulter: O’Keefe and Giles are “so magnificent.” …
Lowry: O’Keefe deserves “award for impactful guerilla journalism.” …
Examiner.com’s Dupray: “Looks like a Pulitzer might be in order.” …
Wallace featured “fascinating character” O’Keefe as “Power Player of the Week.” …
And that’s just a few of them. Any updates on those Pulitzer calls, guys? Rush? Are you there, Rush?
Meanwhile, NOLA asks: why target Landrieu, who is hardly one of the hated “liberals” in Congress…
Below: Jonathan Turley explains the federal charges, and why the other three men may be “charge stacked” into cooperating against O’Keefe, and why young Mr. Flanagan may not be able to get a favorable plea deal:
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