During the run up to last year’s Presidential election, conservatives rejoiced that some film maker named James O’Keefe managed to turn a community organizing group that was virtually unknown prior to the 2008 election cycle into a lightning rod for the budding tea party movement. O’Keefe walked into an ACORN office and managed to convince some of the staff that he was a prospective pimp and solicited advice in setting up a brothel. Stupid? Yes. But probably funnier than criminal.
Anyway, O’Keefe became a hero and 31 house representatives loved this conservative Michael Moore so much that they wanted the United States Congress to declare a proclamation praising him for “saving taxpayers millions of dollars” (that are now being paid to more expensive organizations) when he helped make ACORN a pariah to any elected official. Of those 31 co-sponsors were, you might want to sit down because this is going to utterly not shock you — Oklahoma representatives Tom Cole and Mary Fallin.
Why is this supposed to be embarrassing? Well, while Fallin and her cohorts might call ACORN’s advice to a fake pimp “illegal activities” it really isn’t. You know what is illegal? Wire tapping a United States senator. That’s what O’Keefe has just been accused of doing.
That, by itself, probably isn’t really enough to accuse Representative (and Governor hopeful) Fallin of impropriety. On the other hand, having one of O’Keefe’s co-conspirators, Robert Flanagan, on her payroll suggests some influence. Even better is that Flanagan, the son of one of the U.S. Attorneys who feels that warrantless wiretapping was constitutional, had ACCORDING TO HIS LINKED IN PROFILE the role of advising Congresswoman Fallin’s STAFF on matters of national security. Now he’s accused of using that practice for the purpose of helping a documentary film maker and targeting a political opponent of Flanagan’s former employer.
I’d go into more detail, but I suspect The Oklahoman is going to do an in depth investigative report on the topic.
(UPDATE: This article was updated to make it clearer that the national security briefing claim was from Flanagan’s resume on his Linked In profile.)
Should be interesting, looks like he was a paid staffer, http://www.legistorm.com/person/Robert_J_Flanagan/79909.html
hehehe — if you google mary fallin acorn this obscure social blog is the first result.
Looks like he was an intern . . . which makes the wiretap that much more remarkable,considering that he did not have a phone of his own to practice on.
According to the Federal statute, wiretapping or attempting wiretapping of this sort carries a punishment of an unspecified fine or that one be “imprisoned not more than five years,” or both (US 18-I-119 §2511).
Those ACORN pimp videos are hilarious. Pure genius. What got me was the fact that they had more than one video interview of the ACORN workers giving advice. I wonder if Michael Vick visited ACORN to find out if he could qualify for any tax write-offs.
dear clark,
excellent post.
luv, jen
p.s. jari askins for gov
Actually Eliot, I read something that said they were charged with, “entering federal property under false pretenses for the purpose of committing a felony, which carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.”
http://bit.ly/9Vtb7M
I hope they didn’t have plans for the ’10s.
I haven’t checked the Oklahoman to see if they “blew this story wide open!”. My suspicion is….. no, they didn’t deem in “news”.
Political Outrage: Catch It!
@Michael: nice . . . now, I wonder how the boy feels about sentencing guidelines and mandatory minimums?
It’s ok. Their pastor told them so.
Do you think when the 10 commandment monument is erected Mary will tingle with randy nasty forbidden rememberances of violating rule #6 with a subordinate?
I think it is pretty clear that Robert Flanagan is the kind of entitled, immature, opportunistic user who will embellish anything to aggrandize himself.
Anyone who has been to any congressional office, including Fallin’s, knows that interns get to copy, collate, cut and paste, answer phones, and sit in the back of hearings trying to look like they know what is going on. If they get anywhere in the ballpark of the Member of Congress, it is because Mommy and Daddy were donors and even then, the only contact comes at social events or state caucus events. Maybe you get to drive the car on the way to the event.