Some conservatives are defending O'Keefe's criminal behavior.
Conservatives react to charges against ACORN foe
By Carol D. Leonnig
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 27, 2010; 2:33 PM
The day after charges against filmmaker James O'Keefe became public in an alleged plot to tamper with the phone system in the office of Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), some conservative leaders distanced themselves from the controversy while others came to O'Keefe's defense.
The 25-year-old O'Keefe, hailed as a conservative hero last fall for his undercover videos that damaged a liberal group, was among four arrested and charged Monday in New Orleans with entering a federal office on false pretenses. Documents outlining the charges were unsealed by prosecutors Tuesday.
Conservative supporters of O'Keefe claim he and two others entered Landrieu's office in an effort to conduct another undercover video sting -- to show on video that citizens trying to call the senator's phones to complain could not get through. Two of O'Keefe's partners, prosecutors allege, pretended they were telephone repair workers to get access to the office receptionist's phone, while O'Keefe was inside the office and using a cellphone to record them trying to call the line.
Opponents of the health-care reform legislation had complained earlier this year that they repeatedly heard busy signals when they tried to call Landrieu's office to register their views. In the recent incident, prosecutors allege, both of the men impersonating repair technicians, Joseph Basel and Robert Flanagan, tried to call the unused telephone with their cellphones and Basel stated that he could not get through.
A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in New Orleans declined to comment on the allegation or the details of what O'Keefe and the others were attempting to do. A law enforcement source said investigators are still sorting through the evidence and conducting interviews.
An earlier Washington Post story incorrectly reported that O'Keefe and his partners were charged with entering the building under false pretenses as part of a plot to bug Landrieu's phone. They are charged with entering the building under false pretenses to commit a felony, but as part of a plot to tamper with Landrieu's phone.
The news of O'Keefe's arrest and the allegations against him rippled through Democratic and Republican circles Tuesday and Wednesday. If O'Keefe and his partners are convicted, they could face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The Salt Lake City Republican Party announced Wednesday it was canceling O'Keefe's appearance as keynote speaker at a Feb. 4 fundraiser, after local party leaders learned of the charges. "The allegations and arrest today certainly change our plans," county GOP Chairman Thomas Wright told the Salt Lake Tribune. "He doesn't necessarily represent the Republican Party."
Michelle Malkin, a well-known conservative pundit and syndicated columnist, wrote late Tuesday that exposing wrongdoing is not an excuse to break the law, and that O'Keefe's alleged actions should be taken seriously.
"Let it be a lesson to aspiring young conservatives interested in investigative journalism: Know your limits. Know the law," she wrote. " Don't get carried away. And don't become what you are targeting."
Rick Moran, host of a conservative talk radio show, told his listeners that it appeared that O'Keefe had ignored the requirement that journalists be objective.
"It appears to me that all of this notoriety went to the kid's head and he began to see himself as some kind of avenging angel for the right. . . . But this guy is no journalist -- conservative or otherwise. He's a glory hound."
O'Keefe gained prominence last year when he and fellow activist Hannah Giles secretly videotaped several regional offices of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). Posing as a pimp and a prostitute, the two created videos showing ACORN staffers appearing to offer them help in concealing their purported prostitution business.
In the wake of release of the videos, Congress in September recommended banning all federal funding for the group. ACORN, which launched an internal audit, accused O'Keefe of doctoring some of the videos, including removing comments indicating that ACORN staff did not take seriously the claims of a prostitution business.
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