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

Before Caper, O'Keefe And Co. Crashed At House Of Activist 'Mentor'

Justin Elliott | February 1, 2010, 11:12AM

From left to right: Joseph Basel, Stan Dai, Robert Flanagan, and James O'Keefe

A 28-year-old Loyola law school student and conservative activist named Ben Wetmore has emerged as the Fifth Beatle of the Landrieu phone-tampering case.

Wetmore, who hired alleged phone tamperer James O'Keefe at the Leadership Institute a few years back to help launch conservative media outlets on college campuses, this month offered up his New Orleans house as a crash pad for O'Keefe and co-defendants Joseph Basel and Stan Dai, the New York Times reports.

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Stan Dai

'Penis Monologues' Scribe Worked At Program To Recruit Female Spies

Justin Elliott | January 29, 2010, 9:34AM

Stan Dai

Stan Dai, the accused Landrieu phone tamperer who penned an anti-feminist parody called The Penis Monologues as a conservative activist in college, went on to work for a program designed to get women and minority students interested in espionage work.

Newsweek reports:

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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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Leadership Institute

The Leadership Institute: The Group That Helped Launch The Conservative Careers Of Two Alleged Phone Tamperers

Ben Frumin | January 27, 2010, 2:15PM

James O'Keefe

We know that at least two of the young men charged in connection with attempts to tamper with Sen. Mary Landrieu's office phones led conservative college newspapers that received seed money from The Leadership Institute. But what's the Leadership Institute?

On its website, the nonprofit boasts that it "prepares conservatives for success in politics, government and the news media." It's trained more than 79,000 students over the years, and employs 58 people. The group is led by longtime Republican player Morton Blackwell, who was elected to the RNC's executive committee in 2004.

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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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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

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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