In the past few days, we have seen breathless reports about the “break in” of Senator Mary Landrieu’s office or the “Louisiana Watergate” scandal. It seems that many of the initial reports were misleading to say the least. Four people were arrested and face charges that could land them in jail for ten years.
According to investigative journalist James O’Keefe, “no one tried to wiretap or bug Senator Landrieu’s office. Nor did we try to cut or shut down her phone lines. Reports to this effect over the past 48 hours are inaccurate and false.”
O’Keefe said he was responding to complaints that Landrieu was not responding to her constituents regarding the healthcare issue. Specifically, the charge was that her office was not answering phone calls from constituents. O’Keefe said that his team set out to “dig out and reveal the truth.”
He wanted to find out whether Landrieu’s phone lines were really “jammed” by a high volume of calls or something else. Some people believe that there is a jamming device installed on the lines or that Landrieu staffers are just neglecting phone calls.
O’Keefe now realizes that he employed poor judgment in the way he attempted to investigate the accusations. Two of his associates dressed as phone repairmen, complete with tool belt and hard hats. O’Keefe attempted to video the activities and another associate was in a nearby vehicle with a listening device.
Obviously, this scheme was a dreadful idea. With security concerns in federal buildings at an all time high and worries about the safety of government officials, no journalist should break the law to uncover wrongdoing. O’Keefe should have reported his concerns to the proper authorities. If he had any evidence of wrongdoing in the office, he should have contacted U.S. Attorney Jim Letten. Now, Letten will be investigating O’Keefe and his friends and they could face jail time or at least probation and a fine.
There are proper ways to investigate complaints about elected officials. Instead, O’Keefe and company tried to play the role of a “special agents” on a mission. It seems he has been watching too much television.
O’Keefe says that all of his group’s activities were captured on a hidden camera and that the government has the tapes. O’Keefe wants the video tapes released to “refute the false claims” about what he did. Whether they validate O’Keefe or not, the tapes need to be released so the public can determine what is really going on at Landrieu’s office. The people of Louisiana have a right to know whether some of these accusations about the phone lines have merit.
In the meantime, O’Keefe is in a heap of trouble. The fact that he exposed ACORN may have boosted O’Keefe’s ego so much that he thought he was invincible. He did all taxpayers a favor by posing as a pimp and exposing corruption at ACORN, but, in this case, he did not harm Landrieu, he only caused himself embarrassment and potentially much, much more.
Jeff Crouere is the Host of “Ringside Politics,” which airs at 7:30 p.m. Fri. and 10:00 p.m. Sun. on WLAE-TV 32, a PBS station, and 7 till 11 a.m. weekdays on WGSO 990 AM in New Orleans and the Northshore. He is the Political Analyst for WGNO-TV ABC26 and a Columnist for selected publications. For more information, visit his web site at RingsidePolitics.com. E-mail him at jeff@ringsidepolitics.com..
Hopefully the Federal government will show these misguided kids the same courtesy as the kids showed those folks over at ACRON. The prosecutors need to edit those tapes to show giant wiretap devices and the use of AK-47s by these harmless young boys. They were just having fun, is that a crime. Yep. and hopefully, they get all 10 years!!! Written by Mary Peitrowski
on 1/30/2010
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I'm glad to see you condemning the actions of O'Keefe and his cohorts; why, however, use his own quote regarding the non-existent wiretapping charge when more reliable sources - like, say, the arrest affidavit, which is available online - do the same? According to the witnesses in the affidavit, J.O'Ke's fellow conspirator Basel did pick up a phone and manipulate it. Reading the applicable US Code (Title 18 §2, 1036, and particularly 1362) should make the guilt of these individuals pretty clear. This doesn't seem like the place to air his voice.
As far as your assertion that the tapes should be released: why? Wouldn't you then be implicitly advocating others to perform similar stunts, just so SOMETHING could be captured on tape? Shouldn't the fact that the footage was illegally obtained bar it from public display?
How about this: if the government agrees to release the footage that J.O'Ke believes will exonerate him, then he should similarly release ALL of the raw, unedited footage from his ACORN "stings", at least that which was obtained legally (as some of the states he conducted his investigations in hold such covert filming to be illegal) This, of course, would only be of value if he hasn't already erased the footage which does not comport with his agenda. . . which, of course, he probably already has. Written by Grigori Som
on 1/29/2010
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In the past few days, we have seen breathless reports about the “break in” of Senator Mary Landrieu’s office or the “Louisiana Watergate” scandal. It seems that many of the initial reports were misleading to say the least. Four people were arrested and face charges that could land them in jail for ten years. 
