A federal judge gave a stern talking to this morning to the Rightwing dirty trickster James O’Keefe III and his three fellow conspirators — one of whom is the son of the Acting U.S. Attorney in Louisiana — for their attempt to access the telephone system of Democratic U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu in her New Orleans office, by impersonating phone company employees.
While describing the Republican activists’ actions as “unconscionable” and “extremely serious,” Judge Stanwood Duval Jr. stopped short of ordering a trial, according to AP today:
U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval Jr. said Wednesday he isn’t exercising his right to hear the case even though the four defendants are charged with an “extremely serious” crime involving a security breach at a federal building.
“Deception is alleged to have been used by the defendants to achieve their purposes which in and of itself is unconscionable,” Duval wrote.
In January, O’Keefe and accomplices were arrested on a number of felony charges, but after intercession by superstar Republican Party attorneys, the charges were reduced to misdemeanors.
O’Keefe is infamous for having worked with Rightwing media activist Andrew Breitbart to publish and disseminate deceptively edited videotapes of secretly taped meetings with ACORN employees in a number of their offices around the country. Breitbart, O’Keefe and his accomplice in the videos, Hannah Giles, lied to the media about the content of the interviews which were released to appear as if O’Keefe had dressed as, and represented himself as a cartoon versions of a 70’s-era Blaxploitation pimp. In fact, he never did, and the shots of him dressed as a pimp were shot later and deceptively inserted into the highly edited videos as published by pretend “journalist” Breitbart.
Mainstream corporate media outlets such as Fox “News” and the New York Times promoted and/or reported uncritically and inaccurately on the videos which law enforcement officials from New York to California unanimously found to have been be deceptively edited and revealing no criminal wrongdoings by any of the ACORN employees seen in the tapes.
Nonetheless, despite a minor and begruding correction from the New York Times for repeatedly misreporting on the ACORN “Pimp” Hoax — following more than three months of The BRAD BLOG’s coverage of the entire O’Keefe/Breitbart/Giles scam, and how the so-called “paper of record” shamefully fell for it — the publicity from the hoax led to a precipitous drop off in financial support for the four-decade old, pro-democracy, anti-poverty community organization, resulting in the closure of ACORN offices around the country.
O’Keefe was also allowed to escape personal accountability in California as well, for secretly taping ACORN employees, after he struck a deal to turn over unreleased copies of the unedited videos to the state Attorney General, for the first time, in exchange for avoiding criminal prosecution.
In short, ACORN paid a serious price for a phony political operation that was run against them, despite having broken no laws, largely as a GOP vendetta for their work in legally registering millions of low- and middle-income, largely Democratic-leaning voters. While the Republican perpetrator of the scam look to pay no serious price for either it, or his subsequent “extremely serious” dirty tricks in the office of a sitting Democratic U.S. Senator.
UPDATE 5/26/10: As expected, O’Keefe and fellow conspirators plead guilty to misdemeanor charges, receive light sentences. Details now here…
The New York Times is a truly despicable fascist rag in liberal clothing.
I had said early on this story had legs, daddy-long legs. Guess they been chopped off. Apparently whoever financed and organized the phone buggery and could pay for the “superstar” lawyers, had enough left over for the judge. AAhhh, American justice.
The same deep pocket criminals were most likely pulling the strings behind the ACORN travesty.
Pimple faced punks don’t get Congress to jump to their tune like an organ grinder and his monkey.
I am working from memory here but doesn’t that James O’Keefe bear a striking resemblence to Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber???
Magginkat @ comment #3
Yes
IOIYAR (or a Democrat)–the culture of impunity. Fifty years from now, if a judge tries to look into the war crimes of the Bush and Obama administrations or the dirty tricks of government and political party operatives, they’ll be removed like Judge Garzon was in Spain.
That’s why I’ve been saying for years that it isn’t enough to elect new and different representatives, we need a system in which we can hold representatives and anyone else accountable.
Without accountability, there is tyranny with impunity.
I’ve got a little blog post over on Znet that I think explains the problems:
http://www.zcommunications.org/can-our-constitution-allow-us-a-republic-by-mark-e-smith
And another one about voting:
http://www.zcommunications.org/did-you-consent-by-mark-e-smith
Strange that people keep consenting to be governed under a system where the powerful and those who work for them can get away with anything they want, but ordinary citizens can’t even ensure that their votes are counted.
I’m glad there’s plenty of outrage, but why keep consenting to an outrageous system?
Gee, just a dressing down?
I knew nothing would come of it. I knew he’d get away with it. I said as much in comments on this site. But still… God damn it. God-fucking-damn it. There is no justice in this country. None. God damn it to hell.
They’ll put a kid with a crack rock in his pocket in the state penn. for years, but this like taint-licker just walks away clean. God-FUCKING-Damn it!
Did the judge give him a “stern frowning”, too???
Steve @ #7 ~
…or, they’ll charge a hero whistle-blower with three felonies for releasing documentation proving Diebold / Premiere lied to the State of CA and taxpayers by using un-certified software resulting in a multimillion dollar pay out and admission of guilt by the corp. only to then prosecute said hero to the fullest extent of the law just for doing the right thing.
Same system that then lets a fellow Taint-licker off the hook, scott-free. With something stern like words.
I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkhXzW32Rrs
I
..what the…oh! I see what it’s not liking.
The rest went: “I love you, Steve Heller. I’m so glad you’re not a taint-licker. Certainly there must be some dividends and treasures awaiting you somewheres for managing that now challenging feat!”
(Sorry for the stutter.)
RULE OF LAW?
Not a chance for connected criminals.
America sucks.
I agree 100% with Steve Heller above… there are people serving far greater time for far less than the noxious crimes of James Okeefe.
Nevertheless, I had a feeling this would happen. Okeefe is a wealthy brat tied in with political high-rollers… a small imp among big monsters. Having Flannagan’s son at his side made a good buffer, but having the likes of Karl Rove or Peter Thiel paying his way makes all the difference.
All the same… BOOO!!!!
I am glad Duval made it clear that Okeefe was wrong, and I agree that James represents an “unconscionable†and irresponsible framework that makes everyone loose in the end. But Duval does a great disservice to the very meaning of Justice by not seeing these charges through. BOOO!!!
Here’s the irony— ACORN was defamed and defunded on the basis of falsified internet video whose authors adamantly refused to provide their unedited “evidence†until forced by the promise of immunity from prosecution.
Without a second thought, congress and the mainstream media bought Okeefe’s lies hook, line and sinker, and impulsively acted upon that lie.
Without a fair trial, and solely on the basis of Okeefe’s doctored videos, ACORN was convicted of crimes it never committed (in the morbid hallucinations of the Tea Bag movement, that lie still lives.) Despite its imperfections, ACORN did indeed do fine work serving lower income communities.
Meanwhile O’keefe, who never did a single thing to help his fellow human being, get’s any number of shadey deals and under-the-table bargains to equivocate the very real crimes which he DID, in fact, commit.
FOR SHAME!!!!!
hey brad,
you left your cock ring under my bed last week. the maid found it. lol.
call me,
m/f
wtf, that was probably mine, xxx, don’t worry about it, your mom said she would return it next week on our date. Sorry about your sheets.
At least you didn’t change the subject, xxx, after all, we *were* talking about that cock-ring O’Keefe.
How could O’Keefe and his buddies not get in more trouble for this? There are terrorists running around, and they thought this was a great idea to pose as telephone repair men, and attempt to break into the phone system of a senator and do god knows what? And no one even goes to trial for anything? What a terrible precedent.
How about prosecuting him for willfully destroying US currency as shown above?
Dan
For those of us who are not experts in the CJS, I looked at the AP article. They still face sentencing for their crimes. The judge did not have to issue any sort of admonishment and could have left it procedural. Waiving the right to hear the trial is not the same as dismissing the case. A magistrate will do the sentencing, which probably would have been mitigated by a trial.
A case could be made for a very tough sentence. Whether or not these guys were crusaders for righteousness, a weak sentencing will only encourage terrorists to attempt to gain access to federal buildings under false pretenses. Terrorists could become emboldened by what they perceive is a weak criminal justice system in the US. Even though these guys may have meant well, very harsh sentences must be given to protect the USA from terrorism.
Chris: comment #14 – that’s O’Keefe talking to Breitbart in code. Breitbart likes to be called “Brad” when Breitbart has conjugal visits with him. “Maid” is code word for “prison guard”.
@ James Stroud #’s 18 & 19,
Hi James,
You make a good point.
I honestly have but a partial understanding of the Criminal Justice Sytem, so I will admit that my own conclusions may have been too premature.
Nevertheless, it does seem like O’Keefe & co are being given too many breaks on this one.
Around 2006, I read an article about an impoverished elderly woman who was whisked to jail for using the extra $90 in food stamps which the government had mistakenly sent her. She used the money to feed the kids in her charge, and was convicted as a criminal for welfare fraud.
Again, not knowing all the in’s and out’s of the legal system, I am all the same saddened that this women gets put away tout-suite, while people like James O’keefe (who attempted, post 9-11, to enter a federal building under false pretenses, and access its phone system) get a slap on the wrist.
Nevertheless, I hope he meets some justice. He should do his time.
And it might be fitting if he should be made to do community service among the impoverished Americans who are the real victims of his antics (as per the moving statement from Mike Stark.) At the same time, that would be like keeping a wolf among chickens.
I certainly believe that Okeefe and co deserve a very harsh sentence… if only for being so lacking in awareness as to attempt this stunt in the post 9-11 world. One would hope that a real “investigative journalist†might consider the basic context surrounding her/his own “research method  but O’keefe’s not an investigator nor a journalist… he’s a paid liar, and a careless one at that.
At the same time, I am glad Duval leveled some pretty strong words at O’Keefe and his pals. As light as the “chiding†was, it wont be something any of those 4 will live down any time soon.
@ James Stroud,
Hi again James,
I just wanted to share with you that I checked out the link to your website, and i REALLY LIKE it!!!! Its super cool!!!!
Coincidently enough, i’m making enchiladas for a get-together this weekend, and I think I’ll give your tomatillo sauce a try!
Anyhow, have a wonderful spring!!3aa9b
@ Steve Heller #7
Steve,
I have just now learned about you through Jeanie’s youtube link.
I just want to say how humbled and inspired I am by your story, in addition to being shocked by what you have endured. It is an honor to share this forum with you.
We cannot thank you enough for having strong ethics and a back-bone in an ungrateful world.
What do you notice about the photos of these four criminals? Of course it’s the unnaturally small distance from their eyes to the top of their head, much unlike normal, law-abiding people. Very typical of subnormal intelligence criminal types. I predict a long criminal future for these amoralists.
@Jeannie Dean, #11: Wow, love, eh? Nice. What’s that get me? With you, pro’lly something very funny, and hopefully just a wee bit dirty.
@SreeBee, #23: Thanks for your kind words. If interested, more on my case here including a link to a great article about it written by our very own Brad Friedman for Hustler Magazine. Having an article about me in Hustler is still just about the coolest, most kitschy thing that’s ever happened to me. Brad Rules!
the freakin’judge is gay too? ooooh very scary a good dressing down! who got it off ? did the judge cum down hard on o’keefy in his chambers? maybe a little spanky spanky from the silly judgee poo too.
I don’t get it. The AP article doesn’t say that O’Keefe is getting off without a trial. It just said that the judge didn’t want to conduct the trial personally since it only involved misdemeanors, so he assigned the case to a magistrate. There hasn’t been any “deal” yet.
I betcha’ 20 bucks that judge was a conservative appointee by a GOP slimebag.