Gulf Coast Oil Spill

Administration Lifts Drilling Moratorium; Landrieu Won't Lift Hold

Rachel Slajda | October 12, 2010, 2:26PM

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar

The Obama administration announced today that it is lifting the moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

But Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA), who has been holding the nomination of a new director for the Office of Management and Budget in protest of the moratorium, said she will not release her hold.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who announced the early end to the moratorium today, said that oil companies who comply with new, stricter safety rules will be able to apply for permits.

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Landrieu Phone-Tampering Scandal

O'Keefe Pleads Guilty In Landrieu Phone-Tampering Case, Gets Three Years Probation

Justin Elliott | May 26, 2010, 12:29PM

James O'Keefe

Conservative filmmaker James O'Keefe and three compatriots today pleaded guilty to entering real property belonging to the United States under false pretenses for the January incident in which they entered Sen. Mary Landrieu's New Orleans office and claimed to be from the telephone company, the Times-Picayune reports.

O'Keefe was sentenced to three years of probation, a fine of $1,500 and 100 hours of community service. The others -- Stan Dai, Joseph Basel, and Robert Flanagan -- got the same fine, two years of probation, and 75 hours of community service.

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Landrieu Phone-Tampering Scandal

Charges Reduced Against O'Keefe In Landrieu Case

Justin Elliott | March 26, 2010, 3:36PM

James O'Keefe

Charges have been reduced against activist filmmaker James O'Keefe and the three other men charged in the alleged Landrieu phone tampering case, the Justice Department announced today.

The four men "were charged in a one-count bill of information with entering real property of the United States under false pretenses, a misdemeanor," the DOJ announced in a press release today. Read the bill of information here.

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Landrieu Phone-Tampering Scandal

ACORN Comes Out Swinging In Wake Of Landrieu Phone-Tamper Scandal

Justin Elliott | February 10, 2010, 2:16PM

A screenshot of ACORN's "Sting the Stinger" fundraising e-mail.

After a tough 2009 in which ACORN's reputation sustained considerable damage, the community organizing group is suddenly on a public relations offensive.

Things started to turn around two weeks ago the day that James O'Keefe, the young filmmaker behind the undercover stings that brought national scrutiny to ACORN, was arrested at Sen. Mary Landrieu's New Orleans office. He is charged with entering a federal office under false pretenses for the purpose of committing a felony -- tampering with the phones.

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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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Mary Landrieu

CREW Files Complaint Over Landrieu Camp's 'Mysterious' $25K Donation

Zachary Roth | November 20, 2009, 11:04AM

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA)

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has filed its complaint with the FEC over that mysterious $25,300 donation made to the US Treasury by Sen. Mary Landrieu's campaign -- framing the issue as one of transparency.

The Landrieu camp continues to refuse to reveal the reason for the donation, citing the need to protect the privacy of the original contributors. That's prompted CREW to suggest that the campaign may have feared a federal probe into the source of the money.

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Mary Landrieu

More Questions On Landrieu Camp's Donation To Treasury -- CREW Filing Complaint

Zachary Roth | November 18, 2009, 3:27PM

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA)

The campaign of Sen. Mary Landrieu violated campaign-finance rules by making an unexplained donation of over $25,000 to the US Treasury, a good-government group is alleging. The campaign calls the payment routine, but one expert says that's "bullshit."

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington plans to file a complaint with the FEC, charging that the $25,300 donation, made in August 2008, ran afoul of the agency's regulations governing the handling of contributions of questionable legality, the group's executive director, Melanie Sloan, told TPMmuckraker.

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Mary Landrieu

Landrieu Camp Mum On $25K "Donation" To U.S.

Zachary Roth | November 16, 2009, 10:10AM

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA)

So here's an intriguing mystery...

Why did Sen. Mary Landrieu's campaign last year donate $25,300 to the U.S. Treasury Department? The donation was buried in the campaign's lengthy FEC report, from which it was picked out by CREW, the tireless good-government watchdog.

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Media

Newsweek And Oil Lobby Team Up To Host Climate Change Event With Lawmakers

Zachary Roth | November 4, 2009, 11:29AM

Jack Gerard, CEO of the American Petroleum Institute

Newsweek magazine is teaming up with an oil-industry lobbying group to host an event on climate-change and energy issues involving lawmakers, just as the Senate gets set to take up legislation on the subject.

The panel discussion, entitled "Climate and Energy Policy: Moving?," will feature Jack Gerard, CEO of the American Petroleum Institute, and, as moderator, Newsweek columnist Howard Fineman, according to an email invitation sent by a Newsweek business staffer and obtained by TPMmuckraker.

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