Activist touted 'project' before phone tamper case

[January 28, 2010]  NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Last month, protesters marched in front of Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu's office to criticize her support for health care legislation and complain that they couldn't get through on her office phones.

Now Landrieu's phones are at the center of federal charges against four men accused of trying to tamper with them. Among those arrested was conservative activist James O'Keefe, who gained notoriety last year with hidden-camera videos showing him dressed as a pimp exposing irregularities in offices of the liberal community-organizing group ACORN.

Authorities said O'Keefe was using his cell phone to try to capture video of two of his fellow defendants in Landrieu's office before their arrest. The two posed as telephone repairmen in hard hats, fluorescent vests and tool belts and asked to see the phones at Landrieu's office; one of them had a tiny camera in his helmet. The fourth is alleged to have waited outside in a car with a listening device to pick up transmissions.

O'Keefe has declined to discuss what he and the others, who shared a background as conservative ideologues, were doing in Landrieu's office. But late Wednesday he told his Twitter followers last night that the government "concedes no attempt to wiretap."

Their arrest Monday came a month after Landrieu tried to respond to complaints from protesters who marched outside her Baton Rouge office, some angry that their calls never got through. She said her office was "jammed" with a high volume of calls.

"Our lines have been jammed for weeks, and I apologize," Landrieu said in interview with The Advocate of Baton Rouge in December. "But no amount of jamming is going to keep me from supporting a good work for Louisiana and the nation."

On Wednesday, Landrieu's spokesman defended the staff against claims that her office was dodging critical callers.

"We did hear that complaint, but absolutely at no time did Sen. Landrieu or her staff intentionally avoid phone calls related to health care or any other topic," spokesman Aaron Saunders said.

O'Keefe, 25, hinted last week that he had a new, high-profile stunt in the works. Four days before he was charged in connection with the Landrieu incident, he promised his audience at a conservative think tank's luncheon they would be hearing about a project he was working on in New Orleans.

He wouldn't elaborate, according to people who heard his speech Pelican Institute's event last Thursday in New Orleans.

"He just sort of alluded to the fact that we would all find out real soon. And we did," said Audra Shay, a Mandeville resident and chairwoman of the Young Republican National Federation.

Democrats are calling it "Louisiana Watergate," but neither the FBI nor federal prosecutors are saying exactly what the four were up to in Landrieu's office.

All four men are free on $10,000 bail after being charged with entering federal property under false pretenses for the purpose of committing a felony, which carries up to 10 years in prison. They were not charged with wiretapping.

Charged along with O'Keefe were Joseph Basel, 24, of Minnesota, Stan Dai, 24, of the Washington, D.C. area, and Robert Flanagan, 24, of New Orleans. The four are due back in court Feb. 12.

During the luncheon last week, audience members peppered O'Keefe with questions about Landrieu, but he didn't indicate that she was a target of his project, said Robin Edwards, a Baton Rouge resident and co-founder of the Louisiana Tea Party Federation.

"He just said he had a project going in New Orleans, but he wouldn't say what it was," Edwards said. "I figured it had something to do with ACORN."

Shay said O'Keefe told audience members to "stay tuned" for the results of his New Orleans project.

"Everybody in the room knew something was going on, but nobody knew what the hell it was," she said. "I never thought it was going to be this."

Shay said O'Keefe repeatedly stressed that he hadn't done anything illegal on his earlier investigative projects.

"It's bizarre, because the guy is not stupid," she said.

Shay said she spoke with Basel, who attended the luncheon with O'Keefe, and asked him about booking O'Keefe for a leadership conference hosted by the federation. In the aftermath of O'Keefe's arrest, she didn't know if she would follow through with an invitation.

Michael Madigan, O'Keefe's lawyer, said Wednesday that his client was not trying to wiretap or interfere with Landrieu's phones, but he would not explain why O'Keefe was there. He also would not say whether O'Keefe was working for someone or was on his own.

"The truth will come out," said Madigan, a Washington lawyer who represented Sen. Howard Baker, the Republican who famously asked during the Watergate investigation, "What did the President know and when did he know it?"

O'Keefe once was exhalted by conservatives across the country for his ACORN expose. But now, many are distancing themselves from the young activist.

Hannah Giles -- who posed as a prostitute for the sting videos, in which ACORN staffers appeared to offer illegal tax advice and support the misuse of public funds -- said she was shocked when she heard about O'Keefe's arrest.

"I am well aware that following the law is an integral part of being a good investigative journalist," Giles said in a statement. "I take that responsibility and accountability very seriously. I certainly hope these reports are untrue."

Fox News' Glenn Beck, who made O'Keefe's ACORN expose a national phenomenon by championing the videos, said on his radio show that if the allegations against O'Keefe are true, the young man crossed the line.

"You don't do anything illegal. That's Watergate territory. You just don't do that," Beck said. "But besides that, I don't even think you go dressed up. I mean, it's a senator. For the love of Pete, it's a senator."

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On the Net:

Pelican Institute: http://www.pelicaninstitute.org/

BigGovernment.com: http://biggovernment.com/

Sen. Mary Landrieu's official site:
http://landrieu.senate.gov/

[Associated Press; By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN and BRETT J. BLACKLEDGE]

Associated Press writers Kevin McGill in New Orleans, Pete Yost in Washington, Justin Pritchard in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

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