Mary Landrieu

James O'Keefe: Portrait Of An Activist As A Campus Gadfly

Justin Elliott | January 29, 2010, 1:14PM

James O'Keefe

James O'Keefe and his brand of Candid-Camera activism first appeared on the national stage with last year's ACORN pimp scandal. But the origins of O'Keefe's methods go back to his time at Rutgers, where he launched an alternative newspaper, carried out his first video sting operations, and generally cultivated an image as campus conservative gadfly.

After graduating in 2006, but before he launched the stunt video career that landed him in jail in New Orleans this week, O'Keefe became one of those recent alumni who couldn't let go, hanging around Rutgers' New Brunswick, New Jersey, campus as resident right-wing agitator.

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Landrieu Phone-Tampering Scandal

Landrieu's New Orleans Office Swept For Bugs After Phone Incident

Justin Elliott | January 28, 2010, 6:26PM

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA)

What's a U.S. senator to do after a visit from a man known for planting hidden cameras?

Sweep the place for bugs, cameras, and any other listening devices, of course.

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Landrieu Phone-Tampering Scandal

Landrieu Calls Out Phone Tamper Crew For 'Feeble Explanation'

Justin Elliott | January 28, 2010, 5:30PM

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA)

Sen. Mary Landrieu is blasting the men charged with tampering with the phones at her New Orleans office, dismissing a new explanation from the attorney of one of the men as "feeble."

"Senator Landrieu believes this feeble explanation is a clear and calculated effort to divert attention away from the fact that his client stands accused of a federal crime that could land him in prison for up to 10 years," said Landrieu Press Secretary Rob Sawicki, in a statement to TPMmuckraker.

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Landrieu Phone-Tampering Scandal

Lawyer For Alleged Phone Tamperer: Plan Was To Embarrass Landrieu

Justin Elliott | January 28, 2010, 3:45PM

Robert Flanagan

The attorney for accused phone tamperer Robert Flanagan tells the AP that Flanagan, James O'Keefe, and co. were trying to expose Sen. Mary Landrieu for allegedly ignoring phone calls from health reform foes.

The comments from Attorney Garrison Jordan are partly in line with the theory we outlined earlier -- that the alleged plot arose from complaints that Landrieu's staff were not responding to constituents' calls.

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Landrieu Phone-Tampering Scandal

Judge Orders 25-Year-Old O'Keefe To Live With His Parents

Justin Elliott | January 28, 2010, 11:12AM

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA), James O'Keefe

As if James O'Keefe hasn't suffered enough indignity after botching an alleged phone tampering operation at a U.S. senator's office, getting arrested, and being photographed leaving jail, the judge in the case has now ordered that he reside with his parents until the next hearing.

Magistrate Judge Louis Moore made the order Tuesday as part of the conditions of release for O'Keefe, 25. (Read them here)

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Landrieu Phone-Tampering Scandal

NBC: Landrieu Plot Aimed To Test Sen's Response To Disabled Phone System

Justin Elliott | January 28, 2010, 9:07AM

James O'Keefe

Mystery solved? NBC is reporting that James O'Keefe and his three companions were carrying out a plan to gauge how the staff of Sen. Mary Landrieu would respond if their office phone system were disabled, following complaints by conservative constituents that anti-health reform calls were not getting through to the New Orleans office.

Republicans have slammed Landrieu in recent months over what they've dubbed the "new Louisiana Purchase" -- a reference to extra Medicare funding for the state she won in the Senate health care bill. And Rasmussen found just 34% of voters in the state, where tea partiers have targeted Landrieu for her support of reform, back the health plan.

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James O'Keefe

The Landrieu Phone Case: Not A Bugging After All?

Justin Elliott | January 27, 2010, 5:38PM

James O'Keefe

While initial media reports (including on TPM) described the episode at Sen. Mary Landrieu's New Orleans office as an attempted bugging, that term does not appear in the affidavit and the lawyer for one of the charged men tells TPMmuckraker, "the complaint is not about a wiretap."

It's still a mystery what exactly filmmaker James O'Keefe and his companions intended to do when they allegedly arrived at Landrieu's office. But the accurate way to describe what allegedly happened would be attempted phone tampering.

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Stan Dai

Alleged Phone Tamperer Plays Young Nat-Sec Expert (Video)

Zachary Roth | January 27, 2010, 2:28PM

Stan Dai

Before he hooked up with James O'Keefe in an alleged bid to tamper with Sen. Mary Landrieu's phone-lines, Stan Dai had developed an impressive resume as a precocious national-security expert.

The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports:

According to information Dai posted in September 2007 on the university's online alumni directory, he lived in Naperville, Ill., helped run a "Defense Deparment regional defense counterterrorism/irregular warfare program" and then became assistant director of the Intelligence Community Center of Academic Excellence at Trinity Washington University, which prepares undergraduates for careers in intelligence.

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Stan Dai

The Penis Monologues: Accused Phone Tamperer Blasted Feminists In Conservative College Paper

Justin Elliott | January 27, 2010, 1:20PM

Stan Dai

Earlier we outlined the background of the alleged Landrieu phone tamperers in the rarefied world of college conservative journalism, where three of the four got their start. Now, it's worth taking a look at one of the articles produced a few years back by one of the four, Stan Dai. Its title: The Penis Monologues.

Thanks to Lindsay Beyerstein who first noticed Dai's first-person parody, you can read the Penis Monologues in full here.

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Pelican Institute

Conservative Group With Ties To Alleged Landrieu Phone Tamperers Went After ACORN

Zachary Roth | January 27, 2010, 11:55AM

Kevin Kane

The conservative think tank to which James O'Keefe and at least one of his alleged co-plotters have ties enjoys a prominent voice in Louisiana politics -- and has lately gone hard after ACORN.

O'Keefe -- who gained national notoriety last fall for his ACORN sting -- and three other men were arrested Monday after allegedly trying to tamper with phones in the New Orleans office of Sen. Mary Landrieu. O'Keefe, was scheduled to give a speech last week on investigative journalism to the Pelican Institute. Robert Flanagan, who was arrested with O'Keefe, works at Pelican, according to his lawyer, and has written blog posts on policy issues on Pelican's website.

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James O'Keefe

Utah GOP Group Cancels James O'Keefe As Keynote Speaker At Lincoln Day Dinner

Eric Lach | January 27, 2010, 9:54AM

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA), James O'Keefe

Bad news for those planning to attend the Feb. 4 Lincoln Day Dinner of the Salt Lake County Republicans: the keynote speaker, James O'Keefe, won't be making it after all.

O'Keefe, the filmmaker famous for dressing up as a pimp in an ACORN video sting, was arrested with three other men Tuesday for allegedly attempting to tap the phones in Sen. Mary Landrieu's (D-LA) New Orleans office.

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James O'Keefe

Breitbart: I Pay A Salary To Alleged Landrieu Plotter O'Keefe

Justin Elliott | January 27, 2010, 9:03AM

Andrew Breitbart

Conservative new media figure Andrew Breitbart revealed last night on Hugh Hewitt's radio show that he pays a salary to James O'Keefe, the filmmaker who was charged yesterday in an alleged attempt to tamper witt the phones of Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA).

But Breitbart, who runs the Big Government site where O'Keefe's now-famous ACORN sting videos were posted, is maintaining that he had no "connection to" the incident at Landrieu's New Orleans office.

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James O'Keefe

Alleged Landrieu Phone Tamper Crew Emerged From World Of Conservative Campus Journalism

Justin Elliott | January 26, 2010, 8:33PM

James O'Keefe

Three of the four young men charged in the alleged phone tampering attempt at Sen. Mary Landrieu's New Orleans office Monday were involved in the well-funded, opportunity-rich world of conservative campus journalism in recent years, a link that provides potential clues about how the men knew each other and why they came to hatch the alleged plot.

James O'Keefe, Joseph Basel, and Stan Dai each founded or led the alternative conservative newspapers on their respective college campuses.

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James O'Keefe

Landrieu Phone Tampering Case: What Is The Pelican Institute?

Justin Elliott | January 26, 2010, 6:48PM

Filmmaker James O'Keefe

There's a lot we still don't know about the four men implicated in the alleged attempt to tamper with Sen. Mary Landrieu's phones yesterday, but a little-known organization called the Pelican Institute appears to be key to the story.

Located at 400 Poydras St. in downtown New Orleans -- half a block from Landrieu's office at 500 Poydras St. -- Pelican describes itself as a state policy think tank dedicated to advancing "sound policies based on the principles of free enterprise, individual liberty, and limited government."

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James O'Keefe

Filmmaker Behind ACORN Stings Arrested For Attempted Phone Tampering At Landrieu's Office

Justin Elliott | January 26, 2010, 3:38PM

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA), James O'Keefe

James O'Keefe, the young conservative filmmaker who was behind the undercover operations that led to the ACORN scandal last year, was arrested with three others for allegedly trying to tamper with the phones at the New Orleans office of Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) yesterday.

The FBI announced today the foursome have been charged with entering federal property under false pretenses for the purpose of committing a felony.

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