January 27, 2010
4 Charged With Trying to Tap Landrieu’s Phones
By LIZ ROBBINS

Four people were arrested on Monday for allegedly posing as telephone technicians and trying to tap the phones of Senator Mary Landrieu, Democrat of Louisiana, in her New Orleans office.

According to The New Orleans Times-Picayune, one of the men arrested was James O’Keefe, a filmmaker who produced videos purporting to document questionable practices at some field offices of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, known as Acorn. In the videos, Mr. O’Keefe and an associate, Hannah Giles, posing as a pimp and a prostitute, secretly filmed themselves seeking and receiving financial advice for a brothel from Acorn workers.

All four of the people arrested in New Orleans were charged with entering federal property under false pretenses with the intent of committing a felony. At least two of the four people were dressed in telephone company work clothes and construction hats when they were arrested.

Senator Landrieu, one of the last Democratic holdouts in the Senate to vote for the health care bill, first negotiated an increase in Medicaid funds before she voted in favor of the legislation.

"It was poor judgment," Robert Flanagan's lawyer, Garrison Jordan, said in a brief interview outside the courthouse. "I don't think there was any intent or motive to commit a crime."

It's still not clear if his original film was taken legally. Furthermore, the original film was heavily edited. This guy was a sham from the word go.

Interesting how he's just "dumb", as opposed to being, you know, a criminal. What he did here is not just innocently foolish, but illegal.

He shouted "the truth will set you free" from his cab after posting bail. Heh.

It's still not clear if his original film was taken legally. Furthermore, the original film was heavily edited. This guy was a sham from the word go.

Interesting how he's just "dumb", as opposed to being, you know, a criminal. What he did here is not just innocently foolish, but illegal.

He shouted "the truth will set you free" from his cab after posting bail. Heh.

nteresting how he's just "dumb", as opposed to being, you know, a criminal. What he did here is not just innocently foolish, but illegal.

You happy, jackass?

Actually, calling him a criminal is a violation of foundational ethical principles, until he is found guilty.

Well, that's true. Then again, getting caught red handed is a pretty good indicator of guilt.

I'm curious about the claims of "heavily edited"... being able to make such a claim implies that one knows the actual contents of "unedited" tapes prior to editing, or has alternate sources for what really transpired to compare/contrast with what was released.

One would think, assuming they weren't just parroting unsubstantiated claims for blogs, that if that were in fact the case and not just a claim to deflect attention, those sources would be make public, or at least made a reference to support such charges.

I'm curious about the claims of "heavily edited"... being able to make such a claim implies that one knows the actual contents of "unedited" tapes prior to editing, or has alternate sources for what really transpired to compare/contrast with what was released.

One would think, assuming they weren't just parroting unsubstantiated claims for blogs, that if that were in fact the case and not just a claim to deflect attention, those sources would be make public, or at least made a reference to support such charges.

I'm curious about the claims of "heavily edited"... being able to make such a claim implies that one knows the actual contents of "unedited" tapes prior to editing, or has alternate sources for what really transpired to compare/contrast with what was released.