Uh oh. Police report filed against ACORN video makers, right wing conveniently "forgot" about it

[ck4829]

Makers of the controversial ACORN video, Hannah Giles and James O’Keefe, as well as Andrew Breitbart and Mike Flynn, are now under fire for falsely stating that the filmmakers were never rebuffed by anyone at ACORN offices they visited. However, in a newly released video, ACORN Housing Corp.’s Katherine Conway Russell directly rebuts those claims, citing a police report ACORN filed as evidence that she asked the filmmakers to leave the ACORN office in Philadelphia and called the police after the filmmakers asked suspicious questions.

Congress has yanked federal funding from the civil rights action group since the video, which looks like a prank participated in by everyone on camera, depicted an ACORN employee coaching a ‘prostitute’ and ‘pimp’ in obtaining federal assistance, surfaced days ago. Congress has also eliminated ACORN’s involvement in census reporting. Let’s see how quickly Congress will act to correct the scores of well-documented corporate abuses in health care and banking, including adhesion contracts, pre-existing condition clauses, userous interest rates, and over draft and late fees that are out of step with the level of risk or cost of credit.

http://www.popdecay.com/2009/09/police-report-debunks-right-wing-attack-on-acorn/

It looks like this happened back in late July, and when the police were called, O'Keefe quickly dropped the act and confessed who he really was.

What's the matter James, couldn't keep up the charade anymore?



By the way, right wingers are already trying to debunk this report, they're calling it fake. Yes, they are calling a police report fake. They know that Media Matters for America and ACORN could not legally get away with that and judging by their incredible powers of intuition on other documents (Like a certain Kenyan birth certificate for example), I'd say they've done their little victory jig and they've ended up right into a mine field because of it.

[Democrats_win]

1. It would be really fun if the right wing prostitutes were arrested for this.

[rasputin1952]

37. If that happened, a good portion of the R side of the congress would

look like a ghost town...:D

[tridim]

2. I keep wondering how many times they tried this scam before getting the footage they needed

I bet there is much more to the story that we don't yet know about.

I mean they could have tried it 100 times. Will we ever know?

[gmoney]

5. well, they could probably only try it once per office

maybe twice if they somehow knew that the people they talked to the first time weren't in the office.

I mean, a couple upscale looking white folks in "Huggy Bear and Friend" halloween costumes I'm sure are going to raise red flags in ANY type of business they'd wander into.

[malaise]

3. Sweet

This is going to backfire big time.

[Eric J in MN]

4. Juan Carlos Vera of the San Diego office also phoned the police.

http://www.10news.com/news/20975217/detail.html

[Cass]

14. Damn!! I knew it!! It was crystal clear Juan intended to contact authorities

about it. He told O'Keefe and his girlfriend point blank that he worked with the District Attorney and said one or more of his family members were police officers.

I hope he will get his job back, he didn't do anything wrong. The video was very obviously edited, too. I'd sure like to see the whole thing uncut.

[Cid_B]

6. Meh...

It may or may not be being ignored but honestly it just isn't a very solid counter attack. The power that came from the initial ACORN videos came from the fact that they were from different locations and showed similiar results. Also, the timing of the distribution was well executed. Everyone kept wondering.. Whens the next one coming and lo and behold the next day there it was. It had a strong psychological effect and that's what your seeing the unified attack that you are.


The only real defense would be not one report but literal dozens. Something that would show that this was tried in a multitude of places and that the offices all called the cops. It raises a gut reaction in most people "Well, if someone came into my office for tax advice about child prostitution, I'd call the cops in a second".

Even if the report is true ( and Im not saying its false ) then what the public sees at best is 5 out 6 ACORN offices helped enable child prostitution and tax fraud and one office didn't.

If you are going to get into the weeds about whether or not they were "thrown out" or " asked to leave" it just comes across as really weak.

[ck4829]

7. Then why did O'Keefe say that he didn't encounter any problems?

He has been recorded saying on Fox News that he did not encounter a snag anywhere in his operation.

On the September 16 edition of Fox News' Hannity, Sean Hannity interviewed Giles, a Townhall.com columnist, and Andrew Breitbart, founder of BigGovernment.com, the website that first posted the ACORN videos. During the interview, Hannity asked Giles: "hen you go to Baltimore and D.C. and New York and San Bernardino and San Diego, and this all happened, were there any cities you went to where you just didn't get any videotape not worthy to air?" Giles replied: "We are airing it. It's pretty worthy. Everyone seems to be -- ." Hannity then asked: "In other words, you didn't go into one office, and they said, 'We're not going to help you do anything like that?' " Giles responded, "No."

http://mediamatters.org/research/200909170031

The right wing's new messiah lied on national television about something that drew a very emotional response from a lot of people, and I'm willing to admit it.

[drm604]

8. The only real defense

The only real defense to what? Heavily edited tapes that show interactions that could easily be out of context? It does not take a lot of visits to be able create tapes that totally misrepresent what really went on in an office.

The fact that, in a few instances, the followup actions of the employees are at odds with what the tapes seem to be showing should raise questions about all of the tapes. These instances make it obvious that the people making and editing these tapes aren't to be trusted.

[Cid_B]

10. To be more clear...

I'm talking about defense in the sense of restoring the validity of ACORN in the eyes of the public and gaining enough support to cause the attacks to cease ( frozen funding, investigations etc.. etc.. )

The psychological aspect dragging ACORN down right now is huge. Second by second breakdowns of the film ... squabbling about words or interviews after the fact... none of that is going to restore ACORNs credibility.

The only thing that really would, as I stated above, would be the literal dozens of police reports that support the "bad apple" theory. Right now in the public's eye there are 5 child prostitution enabling offices for every one that didn't buy it ( at best .)

[drm604]

13. Proper media coverage might help.

Showing what this has done to the lives of those employees along with pointing out that the tapes are heavily edited and prove nothing might help. Criminal charges against O'Keefe and friends for violation of wiretap laws might help, especially if it could lead to a plea which includes an admission of dishonest editing of the tapes.

Not that I expect to see any of that, but we have to fight for the truth here. Throwing up our hands and saying that the only possible defense is something that doesn't exist isn't helpful.

I think what's really needed is to concentrate on the employees rather than on ACORN. If we can shift the conversation to the individuals and how they're being convicted in the public eye based on faulty evidence then we might be able to raise some sympathy for them. Not in the crazy Republican base, they're a lost cause, but I think that the public at large might be a little more sympathetic if they understood what is going on.

[ieoeja]

18. Should prostitutes also not be allowed to purchase groceries?

On edit...

Also, the transcript I read on the DC visit made no metion of "child" prostitution.

And we know that in one of the others the ACORN staffer was playing with them by claiming to be an ex-prostitute who killed an ex-husband (police have verified that her ex-husbands are alive and well proving what utter bullshit that one was).


So now you're down to 3 out of 6 ignoring "child prostitution". I haven't seen transcripts for the others. I am taking your word for it that those three mention child prostitution.

[Cid_B]

21. Is that the "defense" that you want to throw out?

"Only three out of five offices will enable child prostitution, the rest draw the line at normal prostitution and tax fraud"

"Oh, we didn't mean it, we were just having a giggle with these folks instead of telling them what they were doing was illegal. Also, as part of the aforementioned giggle we talked about killing cops"

Remember that I am talking about public support here and the what the masses are thinking.

My first point still stands. Dozens upon dozens of police reports are the only thing that will save ACORN and I'll bet they can't provide them. Also, refusing to appear before congressional committee calling for open investigation.... not a good idea.

[ieoeja]

24. There was no tax fraud in the DC transcripts.

So we have:

1 - ACORN staffers turned FOX jokers into police for trespassing
1 - ACORN staffer proven to have joined FOX in the joke
1 - ACORN staffers did nothing wrong
3 - ACORN staffers did something wrong (I assume having not seen the transcripts)

Again, the staffers allegedly did something illegal in only 50% of the offices we know about.

You may be right in the political perspective department that we need dozens of police reports to counteract the false perspective presented by FOX. But I agree that is unlikely to exist. Let's face it, most ACORN staffers probably just told them to take a hike and then got up and walked away from them.

Note: the only reason ACORN staffers called the police in the one known incident was because the FOX jokers refused to leave. Aside from that, the FOX jokers did nothing that warranted a call to the police.

[sabrina 1]

22. It was a stunt. The media, led as usual by Fox treated it

seriously without even invesigating it. Now, CNN at least, is questioning it. Laws were violated also. If those two came into my office dressed like they were going to a hallowe'en party, I would probably have laughed at them.

It didn't take long to take a look at the tape with Juan Carlos Vera, eg, to see that he in no way went along with them, even with all the editing they did, you could see that he let them know he worked with DA's on issues like this.

As for the way the Fox et al fell for the joke made by one of the ACORN workers that she was a murderer, and reported that ACORN was hiring murderers, that was pathetic. And when they were asked finally, if they had checked out the story, O'Keefe's answer was 'we're working on it'. It was like a comedy sketch, reported in our media seriously to their ever-lasting shame.

The first rule should be, if it's coming from anyone connected to Morton Blackwell/Karl Rove et al, take it with a grain of salt, spend at least an hour googling, and your story would be entirely different.

But Fox led the story. It was all well-prepared, just like the Swift Boat garbage and the Dan Rather affair, same tactics, same liars and the media fell for it again.

Now, their duty is to completely expose these people. To follow them around with cameras and microphones asking them who funded them, eg. Why they will not hand over the tapes, why they lied about no one throwing them out (there are two police reports) and why O'Keefe scrubbed all the racist comments from his own website.

There never was any believability to the story to anyone who has a small degree of intelligence, sorry. I have kindergarten students who would have done a better job than this little stunt. How shameful and what a statement on our media, that they fell for it.

[drm604]

9. The video makers may be facing REAL criminal charges.

See the first post in this DU thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=6595141

It's way past time to start a thorough investigation into this operation. The Baltimore State's Attorney is considering an investigation into their activities in MD where they may have violated laws. She issued this statement last week:

STATEMENT OF STATE’S ATTORNEYS OFFICE FOR BALTIMORE CITY RELATIVE TO THE ALLEGED BALTIMORE ACORN INCIDENT

Baltimore, MD – September 11, 2009 – We have received inquiries from citizens and the media asking whether the Baltimore City State’s Attorneys Office would initiate a criminal investigation for acts allegedly committed at ACORN offices located in Baltimore. The only information received in reference to this alleged criminal behavior was a YouTube video. Upon review by this office, the video appears to be incomplete. In addition, the audio portion could possibly have been obtained in violation of Maryland Law, Annotated Code of Maryland Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article §10-402, which requires two party consent.

If it is determined that the audio portion now being heard on YouTube was illegally obtained, it is also illegal under Maryland Law to willfully use or willfully disclose the content of said audio. The penalty for the unlawful interception, disclosure or use of it is a felony punishable up to 5 years.

Baltimore City State’s Attorney Patricia Jessamy can be reached by email: [e-mail]
or by phone [phone].

[madmusic]

11. California requires two party consent too nt

[fascisthunter]

12. good!

[hootinholler]

23. Yes, they sent Linda Tripp to jail on that charge. n/t

[FBaggins]

42. IIRC, Tripp was charged but never convicted

Most of the evidence was impermissible due to the immunity agreement with Starr. The remaining evidence against her (Lewinsky's testimony) was ruled unreliable since Lewinsky was not credible.

All charges were dropped.

[WoodyD]

15. userous

usurious. Fixed.

[drm604]

19. You're point being what?

Who is being usurious?

[ieoeja]

25. You are point being what? (nt)

[drm604]

27. Sure, post simply to point out my typo.

:eyes:

[sasquuatch55]

41. R W Trolls don't like their lies exposed so they distract on another issue.

nt

[ieoeja]

44. Irony = a grammatical error in your reply to a post noting a misspelling in the OP. nt

[Wizard777]

16. Doesn't this report document trespassing?

Once you are asked to leave refusing to leave constitutes trespassing. So where are the charging documents?

[Screwball]

17. What about the date?

Haven't followed this very close, but did anyone else notice, and comment on the one video (at least one, didn't watch them all) had a date from August of 2005 on the tape?

Has there been anything said about that?

[drm604]

20. I think it's known

that some, or all, of these "stings" were made several years ago.

[Petrushka]

33. I just did a google search for "acorn video 2005 date" and found that the camera used . . .

. . . automatically resets itself to the 2005 default date
when the battery goes dead. There's mention at one site
that O'Keefe claims it's too much trouble to change the date
when he uses that camera.

:eyes:

[Scurrilous]

26. K & R

:thumbsup:

[sabrina 1]

28. K&R n/t

[secondwind]

29. Giles and O'Keefe are not serious journalists. They should have worked for

Acorn for six months, to prove any wrongdoing. Instead, they misrepresented themselves and trapped unsuspecting people. They are not professionals, by any means.

[Johonny]

32. shh Jon Stewart says they are great journalists

and TDS is never wrong. J Stew how did you guyz get so suckered?

[Turborama]

30. Katherine Conway Russell's video & the MediaMatters article was posted in the videos forum...

Here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x373378

:kick: & R

[defendandprotect]

31. Rec & Kick -- ever forget to rec an article?

Unfortunately, the information that redeems ACORN is coming out very s l o w l y --

going to be difficult to see any justice arrive for them, I think!!

[Petrushka]

34. K & R

[NecklyTyler]

35. Too bad the police were not called while Giles and O'Keefe were in the office

They could have had tape of law enforcement hauling their sorry rear ends away

[NecklyTyler]

36. K&R

[SpiralHawk]

38. Typical REPUBLICON perverted family values

eom

[onlyadream]

39. The gov't had a knee jerk reaction to these wannabe

journalists. It wasn't EVEN a REAL investigation, for Christ's sake! Once again, we see the double standard based on race.

[goclark]

40. So what will happen? Will ACORN get back their funding?

This should be all oer the TV and I see nothing/ :shrug:

[FBaggins]

43. It doesn't look "fake", but it also doesn't demonstrate what is claimed.

This doesn't provide much help to the Acorn defense.

It's being offered as evidence that they're lying when they said that nobody called the cops on them. Perhaps they did... perhaps they didn't, but this doesn't demonstrate it. A few points:

1) The date. This is over a year ago - well before their current scheme was set in motion.

2) The people - It's a different girl. We can't say that Giles is lying (at least not on this) when she says that nobody called the cops on them, because this wasn't even "them".

3) The story. This appears to be an early attempt on O'Keefe's part to come up with something "gotcha". There's no prostitute or sex slaves.

4) The police report. It just claims there was a "disturbance". We're looking for evidence that, when faced with criminal behavior, Acorn turned them in rather than facilitated it. They were turned in for disturbing the business... not for trying to bring in people illegally.

5) The claim of lying - The supposed lie is that nobody ever called the cops on them. How would they know in this case? Unless the police contacted them to follow up they would have no way of knowing. IOW... at best they were "wrong" - not "lying" unless more evidence comes forward. On the other side of the coin... Acorn early on gave a list of places they had gone where they were turned away... a list that shrank as new videos were released.

Now, in Acorn's defense, it looks like the Philly office handled this just fine... but there wasn't much to handle.

[Turborama]

45. "Over a year ago" - 07/24/09 is this year, as clearly written in the police report posted in the OP.

It's being offered as evidence that they're lying when they said that nobody called the cops on them. Perhaps they did... perhaps they didn't, but this doesn't demonstrate it. A few points:

1) The date. This is over a year ago - well before their current scheme was set in motion.

07/24/09 is this year, as clearly written in the police report posted in the OP.

2) The people - It's a different girl. We can't say that Giles is lying (at least not on this) when she says that nobody called the cops on them, because this wasn't even "them".

If it was a different girl it means that the whole thing was O'Keefe's idea from the get go and Giles came in later. That would mean she is lying shen she says the whole thing was her idea.

3) The story. This appears to be an early attempt on O'Keefe's part to come up with something "gotcha". There's no prostitute or sex slaves.

See my response to 2)

4) The police report. It just claims there was a "disturbance". We're looking for evidence that, when faced with criminal behavior, Acorn turned them in rather than facilitated it. They were turned in for disturbing the business... not for trying to bring in people illegally.

The OP is about O'Keefe & Co. "falsely stating that the filmmakers were never rebuffed by anyone at ACORN offices they visited", not about why they were kicked out or what the police report says. They were kicked out. They have told Faux on multiple occaisions that they weren't.

5) The claim of lying - The supposed lie is that nobody ever called the cops on them. How would they know in this case? Unless the police contacted them to follow up they would have no way of knowing. IOW... at best they were "wrong" - not "lying" unless more evidence comes forward. On the other side of the coin... Acorn early on gave a list of places they had gone where they were turned away... a list that shrank as new videos were released.

No, the actual lie is http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x373378">O'Keefe telling Faux on multiple occasions that he wasn't kicked out of any ACORN offices. Nice try at spinning, though.