Is ACORN Intentionally Structured As a Criminal Enterprise?

[PJABBER]

I go to a number of National Press Club events, they are great ways to get to listen to and meet some of the movers and shakers coming to Washington. Working on my self-imposed deadlines I missed this one with James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles.

I look forward to seeing the Philadelphia video posted online in its entirety, but I don't think it will be much different than the other videos we have seen of the oh so helpful ACORN staffers.

Filmmakers Show Video of ACORN 'Sting' in Philadelphia

Filmmakers Show Video of ACORN 'Sting' in Philadelphia

By Joshua Rhett Miller
FoxNews
Wednesday, October 21, 2009

The two independent filmmakers who posed as a pimp and a prostitute and received advice from ACORN employees in five cities on how to skirt tax and immigration laws claim the community organizer group lied when it said the pair were shown the door without receiving assistance from staffers in its Philadelphia office.

James O'Keefe, 25, and Hannah Giles, 20, played a heavily-edited video on Wednesday depicting their visit to ACORN's Philadelphia office on July 24. Giles, clad in a fur coat and leather skirt, posed as a prostitute, while O'Keefe played the role of her pimp. The pair claim they were not "kicked out" of the office without assistance from ACORN employee Katherine Conway-Russell, as has been reported.

"At no point were we kicked out and at no point were we asked to leave," O'Keefe told reporters at the National Press Club in Washington. "Why did the Philadelphia press report were we kicked out?"

The new eight-minute video depicts O'Keefe and Giles entering ACORN's Philadelphia office and meeting with Conway-Russell. O'Keefe and Giles are seen speaking with Conway-Russell, but audio portions of the video are missing or edited in some portions. O'Keefe is heard mentioning he doesn't "want to get in trouble with authorities," and he mentions individuals will be frequently coming in and out of the building they hoped to secure, an apparent reference to the purported prostitution business to operate there. Clips of news reports featuring Conway-Russell and ACORN's chief executive, Bertha Lewis, claiming the pair were kicked out of the office were then shown.

The video was not immediately posted online, unlike the five previous tapes.

Scott Levenson, a spokesman for ACORN, reiterated a Sept. 14 statement issued by Carol Hemingway, the president of ACORN's Philadelphia chapter, saying O'Keefe and Giles were asked to leave the office and that a police report was subsequently filed.

"This is another example of Fox Entertainment treating concocted video as if it's actually news," Levenson told Foxnews.com. "The police report we filed contemporaneously proves our clear understanding of this scam that was being portrayed."

Levenson declined further comment.

O'Keefe and Giles were joined by Andrew Breitbart, a conservative commentator who publishes Breitbart.com and BigGovernment.com, which first posted the videos last month.

"I can't think of one moment where ACORN has told the truth about what James and Hannah have done," Breitbart said. "ACORN has lied every step of the way ? We are here to dispel those lies."

Breitbart said more videos connected to the undercover probe may be released at an unspecified date. "There are more," he said.

Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, called for congressional probes into ACORN and praised the young filmmakers for their "insight" and courage.

'This is what happens in America when people stand up for what's right," he said.

The first five videos ? made public on BigGovernment.com ? depicted ACORN employees in Washington, Brooklyn, N.Y., Baltimore, San Diego and San Bernardino, Calif., offering advice to O'Keefe and Giles on how to skirt tax laws and avoid detection by authorities while operating a brothel. The footage led to the firing of four employees and the suspension of two others.

The undercover operation prompted the IRS and the Census Bureau to sever all ties to the organization, which bills itself as the nation's largest grassroots organization of low- and moderate-income families. A criminal probe was launched by the Kings County District Attorney's Office to investigate activities at ACORN's Brooklyn office, and the Treasury Department's inspector general agreed on Sept. 24 to conduct a review of ACORN, and IRS oversight of nonprofit organizations as a whole. Other probes into the group include investigations by the attorneys general of California and New York.

Lewis, ACORN's chief organizer, announced on Sept. 16 that the organization would stop taking "new intakes" immediately, essentially freezing its service programs. Scott Harshbarger, a Boston attorney and former attorney general of Massachusetts, was hired late last month to conduct an "independent and comprehensive" investigation into the liberal activist group.

ACORN has filed a lawsuit against O'Keefe, Giles and Breitbart.com. The lawsuit, filed in a Baltimore court, stems from an undercover video showing ACORN employees Shera Williams and Tonja Thompson providing advice on how to skirt tax laws to O'Keefe and Giles as they posed as a pimp and prostitute.

 

[piasabird]

Yes Acorn is run by thugs and organized criminals. So force them to pay back all the government money. You would be better off spending that money on the poor.

 

[PJABBER]

Ask and you shall receive - here is the video that the daring duo showed at their National Press Club press conference -

ACORN Philadelphia Prostitution Investigation Part I

They promise in the video to show the entire half hour unedited Philadelphia video real soon now.

BTW, it is hilarious to see the statements of the Philadelphia Office Director contradicted over and over again by her own videotaped comments.

 

[Patranus]

Just saw that new video...classic.....
Why would you go on tap saying that you didn't help them when you KNOW they have tape saying something completely opposite?

 

[PJABBER]

I love the call out of MediaMatters at the end.

 

[bfdd]

Originally posted by: Robor

Originally posted by: Bowfinger

Originally posted by: PJABBER

Originally posted by: Bowfinger
You need to give your over-inflated ego a rest. My use of "you" was collective, not personal. The RNC's increasing reliance on fear-mongering and dishonest propaganda attack campaigns is a cancer on democracy, a cynical exploitation of the fact that most Americans are poorly-informed and easily manipulated. It shows a repugnant party-before-country, we will win at any cost immorality. There is nothing wrong with winning on the issues. There is everything wrong with lying and cheating one's way into power.

I am not of the "collective." I also do not belong to any political party, though the commentary being made on this forum and the actions of the One Party government is driving me, like many independents, toward voting against the Democrats, not "for" the Republicans the next time around.

I get it, you are a Democrat Party hack. You don't have repeat it ad infinitum with this "my Party is better is than yours," crap. I pretty much tune it out as I do all of the other polarizing nonsense that is spewed in the pursuit of entrenching personal power.

What you and your fellow travelers don't get is that the voting population is entitled to change their minds every couple of years and vote you bums out if you don't deliver something a damn sight better that the other guy.

So far, I have not seen anything delivered but a rush toward "collectivism" and a surge to suppress the voices of opposition. So, I am going to vote to throw you out. And I plan on urging and encouraging all of my friends to do the same - because I am a Constitutionally protected loudmouth and getting better at it every day. :laugh:

Right, whatever you say. You have about as much credibility as Baghdad Bob. Regardless of your purported lack of party affiliation, actions speak louder than words. You have been an unfailingly loyal party-line toady for the RNC. If you've voted for a Democrat, at least in recent history, I'm betting it's only because you accidentally pushed the wrong button. On the other hand, I've been critical of both Democrats and Republicans, and have split my votes fairly evenly over the years between Dems, Reps, and third-party candidates. I do agree today's Republican party has managed to make itself even more repugnant and corrupt than the Dems, with propaganda-spewing shills like you pushing me farther and farther away.

This.

PJ is just another faux Independent (R) in sheeps clothing. A member here for 8 1/2 years and he's suddenly politically enlightened? All was good before but *NOW* there's something wrong with our government? Right. Save it for your freaking blog, dude. GAFL.

I finally turned in my (R) card last year because of the social conservative fundie's who have taken over the party. That and the outright dishonesty I see and hear from right wing media. I would have gone (I) but I wanted to send a message and let them know they pushed another moderate to the (D) party.

So you gave up one evil for another, that's not exactly "progress." I would of respected you if you had stayed out of the two major parties.

 

[PJABBER]

The MediaMatters "report" that O'Keefe calls out at the end of the first Philadelphia video -

MediaMatters - "Police report filed by ACORN exposes false claims by individuals behind videos"

So, is MediaMatters going to do a retraction? How about the Philadelphia press?

 

[PJABBER]

The Media?s Complicity: Analysis of ACORN Coverage

The Media?s Complicity: Analysis of ACORN Coverage
by Billy Hallowell

Billy Hallowell?s career in journalism and commentary began at an early age. Following the Columbine shooting in 1999, the then 15-year-old launched Teen Web Online, a web site intended to address violence, discrimination and other social issues facing America?s young generation. ?At the time, I was so stunned. I founded Teen Web as an outlet for my generation to get relevant information, while becoming empowered to make change in local communities.?

From 2008-2009, he served as the director of content and Chief Executive Officer of VoterWatch, a non-partisan non-profit that focused on issues pertaining to U.S. government transparency. During this time, he was the founder of the 2008 Presidential Debates Project, featuring Dick Morris, Sophia Nelson, The Heritage Foundation, Public Agenda and other prominent political figures and organizations. Additionally, he joined Lawrence Lessig?s Open Debates Coalition to urge both presidential campaigns to make the 2008 debates more open and engaging.

During the 2008 election cycle, Hallowell joined co-host Stephen Nichols (MTV?s Real World) for Static News, a weekly political radio show. Subsequently, Hallowell?s experience on Election Day was recorded for the upcoming documentary American Reality (from the producers of Control Room).

Media outlets he has been featured in or produced works for include: The Democrat & Chronicle, COSMO Girl Magazine, NY Teen, Teenage Buzz Magazine, Positive Teens Magazine, SNAP, Many Voices, Many Visions, NBC?s The John Walsh Show and Radio Disney, among many others.

The mainstream media were complicit in their coverage of the ACORN scandal. Their behavior was and continues to be an insult to democracy and journalistic responsibility as the Fourth Estate has ignored facts, engaged in one-sided sourcing, and avoided basic and inherently important journalistic questioning.

First, there was avoidance. Some media outlets simply ignored the story. On Sept. 15, five days after the Maryland tape was released, ABC?s Charlie Gibson said, ?I don?t even know about it? so you?ve got me at a loss? and said that the story might be ?just one you leave to the cables.? But, Gibson was not alone in his lack of knowledge. The New York Times did not cover the story for nearly a week. On Sept. 26, Clark Hoyt, The Times? Public Editor, acknowledged the paper?s tardiness, but insinuated that the story was lacking in facts:

But for days, as more videos were posted and government authorities rushed to distance themselves from Acorn, The Times stood still. Some stories, lacking facts, never catch fire?But others do, and a newspaper like The Times needs to be alert to them or wind up looking clueless or, worse, partisan itself.

Then, there were cases of gratuitously sloppy journalism. Some of the outlets that did cover the story simply skipped over basic interview questions. In several instances, Bertha Lewis made the false claim that the filmmakers were turned away in ?dozens of cities.? In a CNN interview with Rick Sanchez, Lewis said, ??the filmmakers went to dozens of offices. They were turned away.? In a more flagrant example of corroborating untruths, Lewis reiterated her ?dozens? on MSNBC, stating, ??They were thrown out of dozens of offices. And, in fact, in Philadelphia, we called the police, filed a police report.?

Similarly, Wolf Blitzer, failed to adequately question Lewis. While on his show, Lewis made the following statement: ?This sort of notorious crew went around to dozens of our offices. What you don?t see are the offices that threw them out? offices that filed police complaints.?

The lack of depth of these interviews with Lewis has been egregious. Upon hearing of the ?dozens,? even the most unseasoned journalist would know to ask, ?What were the cities where filmmakers were thrown out?? And, what about the police reports (plural) that were filed by multiple ?offices?? Like Sanchez?s treatment of the ?dozens,? Blitzer failed to ask for a list of cities that took such action. Lewis was granted a free pass, as no probing questions were asked about the issues in question.

On Sept. 12, just two days after the Maryland tape was made public, Lewis released a statement on ACORN?s Web site, writing, ?This recent scam, which was attempted in San Diego, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia to name a few places, had failed for months before the results we?ve all recently seen.?

Following subsequent video releases, New York and San Diego were dropped from ACORN?s list of cities where the filmmakers were allegedly ?turned away? and the aforementioned statement was removed from ACORN?s Web site, thus erasing evidence of inconsistency. Big Government copied her statement and posted it in it?s entirety at the time of it?s release (notice the broken link to the ACORN website in the Big Government post). This change can also be viewed in a story published on Sept. 17 by The Washington Post. According to the Post, ?An ACORN spokesman said they were turned away in Miami, Los Angeles and Philadelphia, where workers called police and filed a report.? Notice the missing cities.

Where were the media to catch this glaring glitch in ACORN?s own reporting? The answer: Nowhere to be found. And, it was on the same day (Sept. 17), that Lewis appeared on MSNBC to discuss the fact that ?dozens? of cities turned the filmmakers away.

And who could forget the glaring corrections that were issued by The Associated Press and The Washington Post. Both the AP and the Post published stories that attributed an incorrect, racially-driven motive for O?Keefe?s decision to conduct the ACORN investigation . Fortunately, the outlets were forced to correct their journalistic faux pas. Here is the Post?s correction:

A Sept. 18 Page One article about the community organizing group ACORN incorrectly said that a conservative journalist targeted the organization for hidden-camera videos partly because its voter-registration drives bring Latinos and African Americans to the polls. Although ACORN registers people mostly from those groups, the maker of the videos, James E. O?Keefe, did not specifically mention them.

Despite the fact that Bertha Lewis? credibility had been completely compromised on September 14th with with the release of the New York ACORN investigation (not to mention the San Diego videos released on Sept. 17), she was granted a forum with The National Press Club on Oct. 6; the conference was broadcast on C-SPAN. In that presser, Lewis used the debunked information from the Associated Press and Washington Post articles that had since been corrected . Yes, the NPC gave her a platform to continue touting untruths that were previously purveyed by the supine media. She said, ?O?Keefe, himself, told The Washington Post, ?They?re registering too many minorities. They usually vote Democratic. Somebody?s got to stop them???

Perhaps the most perplexing media coverage ? or lack thereof ? surrounds a video that ACORN Housing?s Philadelphia office released back in September. On Sept. 16, a YouTube account was created and on Sept. 17, a video featuring Philadelphia Office Director Katherine Conway Russell was released. The video, which is intended to respond to O?Keefe and Giles while defending the Philadelphia office?s handling of the filmmakers went largely unnoticed by the mainstream media.

In the video, Russell describes a July meeting with O?Keefe and Giles and uses a police report filed after the filmmakers left the office as evidence that the Philadelphia office was taken aback by the prostitution story line. Aside from the fact that the series of events that lead up to the police filing described in the video lead to more questions, the police report itself does not mention anything about discussion content; the report merely claims that O?Keefe was responsible for a verbal ?disturbance.?

While the media vastly ignored this important video, many outlets did delve into the police report. According to The Washington Post, ?ACORN emailed a copy of a Philadelphia police report dated July 24 to The Post to verify its account that police were called and the couple was shown the door.? And concerning the Philadelphia office?s involvement, WPVI Philadelphia wrote, ??by every account, the Philadelphia office is not part of the problem.? And, WBUR-FM wrote, ??in ACORN Housing?s North Philadelphia office, the scene is far from the one seen in the videos, which were made by a conservative activist?

Here, the media takes sides without interviewing or speaking with O?Keefe and Giles. Aside from the issue of ignoring ACORN?s own video, such selective sourcing is disturbing. Nowhere in the police report is ACORN?s rejection of any subject matter mentioned, therefore the report, in itself, does not prove wholeheartedly what ACORN?s officials in that city have said.

And finally: The insinuation that the videos were creatively edited was repeated in a plethora of mainstream news media. In an opinion piece for True/Slant, Allison Kilkenny wrote,

The videos are edited very creatively ? if I?m being generous ? to show only the ACORN employees who engaged in shady behavior, and not the dozens of other ACORN offices from which O?Keefe and Company were ejected, and in a few cases, ACORN employees called the police on the duo.

Aside from the fact that the videos weren?t edited in any way to deceive the viewers, that dozens of offices did not dispel O?Keefe and Giles, and only one office has come forward with a report, entire audio and transcript versions of the investigations are available on BigGovernment.com, right at the top of the homepage. This falsehood (that full versions are not available) has been repeated by Lewis herself on CNN and in other mainstream outlets (and, surprise, virtually no journalist has corrected her).

The ACORN story has, once again, shown the media?s inability to fulfill its duties. The media should adequately inform the public while asking the questions needed to provide a full and robust picture of what is occurring. ACORN coverage has been biased, incomplete, and sloppily mishandled. Let?s hope the aforementioned examples help to set the record straight.