ACORN Filmmakers Giles, O’Keefe Sued in Philadelphia Federal Court

From America’s Right:

Hannah Giles and James O’Keefe III, the independent filmmakers behind the series of videos which swept the nation in 2009 and exposed internal corruption and illegality within ACORN Housing Corporation, were sued today in federal court in Philadelphia by an ACORN employee featured in one of the pair’s films.

The plaintiff is Katherine Conway-Russell, a Philadelphia resident who has worked for ACORN since March 2008 as an office director.  It was Conway-Russell who met with Giles and O’Keefe, posing as a prostitute and pimp as they had in ACORN offices nationwide during other installments of the undercover video series, for a private interview in her office at ACORN’s facility in Philadelphia on July 24, 2009.  This is the first such suit filed against the filmmakers by an individual ACORN employee.

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Tags: ACORN, ACORN Housing Corporation, ACORN Philadelphia, acorn scandal, acorn video
Posted Jan 21st 2010 at 5:36 pm in ACORN, Featured Story, Justice/Legal, News | 63746229 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/publius/2010/01/21/acorn-filmmakers-giles-okeefe-sued-in-philadelphia-federal-court/ACORN+Filmmakers+Giles%2C+O%E2%80%99Keefe+Sued+in+Philadelphia+Federal+Court2010-01-22+01%3A36%3A42Publius

Telegraph: Breitbart #21 Most Influential US Conservative

From the U.K. Telegraph:

2009 was the breakout year for the irrepressible Andrew Breitbart, 40, a conservative firebrand operating deep in enemy territory in Los Angeles, and the sky will be his limit in 2010. A regular presence on Fox News and a Washington Times columnist, Breitbart cut his teeth working for Matt Drudge’s eponymous website and also had a spell with the Left-wing Huffington Post. He took on Hollywood in his group blog site BigHollywood and broke the ACORN scandal when the young unknown filmmakers Hannah Giles and James O’Keefe approached him with undercover footage of employees of the Left-wing community organising group condoning under-age prostitution by illegal immigrants. The mainstream media were slow to pick the story up but eventually they could not ignore it. (more…)

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Tags: ACORN, Andrew Breitbart, BigGovernment, BigHollywood, Breitbart.com
Posted Jan 14th 2010 at 10:17 am in ACORN, News | 5984682 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/publius/2010/01/14/telegraph-breitbart-21-most-influential-us-conservative/Telegraph%3A+Breitbart+%2321+Most+Influential+US+Conservative2010-01-14+18%3A17%3A30Publius

The Mediaite 50: Innovators And Influencers Who Shook Up 2009

From Mediaite:

14. Andrew Breitbart, Breitbart.com

Though he’s not exactly a household name, Andrew Breitbart has long been a power player in the sphere of Internet influence and opinion. The former editor of The Drudge Report, and lead researcher and developer for The Huffington Post, Breitbart has since set out on his own, creating a number of sites that both aggregate and report from what he describes as a center right point-of-view. When Breitbart provided an exclusive interview with Mediate this year, he revealed big plans to grow his “Big” network of sites beyond Big Hollywood and Big Government (which he launched this Fall.) Big Journalism is set to launch next January, with more to follow in the coming year.

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Tags: ACORN, ACORN videos, Andrew Breitbart, Big Government, Big Hollywood
Posted Dec 23rd 2009 at 10:41 am in Culture | 5143066 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/publius/2009/12/23/the-mediaite-50-innovators-and-influencers-who-shook/The+Mediaite+50%3A+Innovators+And+Influencers+Who+Shook+Up+20092009-12-23+18%3A41%3A55Publius

I Am Stage Right

It has been almost one year since I began writing here at the Big Blogs of Breitbart.com.  When it all began, I was motivated by the events that brought down Sacramento Music Theatre executive Scott Eckern.  Ironically, his story, which inspired this new avocation also served as a real-life lesson in the new political world we inhabit.  You see, Mr. Eckern was forced to resign his position because it was discovered that he donated money to the anti-same sex marriage Prop. 8 campaign.  Knowing that, I would have been a fool to put my name on the things I’ve written here.  So, “Stage Right” was born.

Since then, I have been fortunate enough to have free-reign on all things theatre at Big Hollywood (gently guided by the collective wisdom of Andrew Breitbart and John Nolte) and I’ve had a fantastic time writing about the industry, about the non-profit world… even about my favorite shows.  But now, things have changed just a bit.

It started with Patrick Courrielche’s now famous expose’ on the NEA Conference Call.  Just like the Scott Eckern story, what bothered me most at the time was the media and especially the left-leaning theatre writers’ attack on Patrick.   Instead of showing any level of skepticism over the appropriateness of staff members of the NEA and the White House coordinating discussions with artists about how they can help move the President’s agenda by creating works of art in favor of specific issues, Patrick was attacked and libeled for the sin of telling the truth and bringing the subject to light.

Next came the media’s reaction to James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles’ blockbuster series of videos exposing the corruption at ACORN offices from sea to shining sea.  Again, the venom and outrage is directed at the messenger while the message gets rationalized and obfuscated.  This story raised my ire to such a degree that I began posting at Big Government. (more…)

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Tags: ACORN, Adam Lambert, Andrew Breitbart, andrew lloyd webber, beauty and the beast
Posted Dec 23rd 2009 at 9:29 am in ACORN, Culture, News, Politics | 51350No Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/sright/2009/12/23/i-am-stage-right/I+Am+Stage+Right+2009-12-23+17%3A29%3A14Larry++O%26%2339%3BConnor

‘Independent’ ACORN Apologist Applauds ‘Independent’ Investigation Conclusion

Professor Peter Dreier, an ACORN apologist who portrays himself as an independent analyst, is really anything but.

As Andrew Breitbart articulated on BigGovernment November 25th, regarding a “study” Dreier produced critical of media coverage of ACORN:

At the end of the piece Professor Dreier offers the following biography: Peter Dreier, E.P Clapp Distinguished Professor of Politics and director of the Urban & Environmental Policy Program at Occidental College.

Why did Professor Dreier choose to leave out the critical information regarding his advisory relationship to ACORN? Isn’t sitting on an advisory committee of ACORN the definition of a conflict of interest in writing a fair and balanced piece on the organization? In fact, Dreier has been shilling for ACORN at least since 2003.

So when Dreier proclaimed ACORN “Not Guilty” in one of his recent columns on TalkingPointsMemo, I must admit I threw up a bit in my mouth.  Some of Dreier’s most pathetic conclusions:

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Tags: ACORN, ACORN Investigation, acorn scandal, Alliance for Justice, Andy Stern
Posted Dec 11th 2009 at 12:07 pm in ACORN, Big Labor, Media Criticism, News, Politics | 4474253 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/kolson/2009/12/11/independent-acorn-apologist-applauds-independent-investigation-conclusion/%27Independent%27+ACORN+Apologist+Applauds+%27Independent%27+Investigation+Conclusion2009-12-11+20%3A07%3A44Kyle+Olson

DOJ Defends ACORN Funding Ban While Gutting It

The Harshbarger investigation is getting a lot of attention this week; and rightly so.  ACORN hired former Massachusetts Attorney General Scott Harshbarger to conduct an “independent” review of the organization in an effort to provide ACORN some cover to show that they were serious about reform.  The Harshbarger report concludes that ACORN was not at fault, rather the blame should rest with its founder Wade Rathke, the intrepid aspiring journalists Hannah Giles and James O’Keefe who revealed ACORN’s most recent corruption, and the low level ACORN employees and members who were featured in the videos.

This attempt to whitewash ACORN and its employees’ wrongdoing has been appropriately decried by Representative Darrell Issa, the Republican National Lawyers Association, and contributors to Biggovernment.com.

ACORN’s pending litigation against the federal government has received less attention.  Last week, unbeknownst to all but avid court or ACORN watchers a pivotal moment occurred in the lawsuit.  Peter D. Leary, an attorney at the Department of Justice filed a brief defending the Congressional efforts to defund ACORN.  His brief defended the defunding, while severely narrowing its scope and application.

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Tags: ACORN, ACORN defunding, ACORN lawsuit, acorn scandal, acorn video
Posted Dec 8th 2009 at 3:21 pm in ACORN, Justice/Legal, News, Politics | 4303021 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/cberg/2009/12/08/doj-defends-acorn-funding-ban-while-gutting-it/DOJ+Defends+ACORN+Funding+Ban+While+Gutting+It2009-12-08+22%3A21%3A23Chris+++Berg

The Recycled ACORN Whitewash: Wade Rathke Responds

The internal report issued by former Massachusetts Attorney General is out. Clearly, here’s what the headline will be.

The high-profile lawyer hired to investigate ACORN has found no pattern of intentional illegal conduct in the community organizing group — a finding that was dismissed as “damage control” by one of the two filmmakers who, posing as a pimp and prostitute, videotaped staffers offering advice on how to operate a brothel .

This was immediately mocked by conservatives in the media.

Harshbarger has determined — wait for it — that ACORN engaged in no wrongdoing
depicted in the nationwide undercover stings conducted by BigGovernment.com / James O’Keefe III and Hannah Giles.

In fact, everyone is getting into word games here. ACORN did in fact engage in no criminal wrongdoing by offering advice to a “pimp” and “prostitute” about how to hide assets and their business practices. Simply offering such advice is not illegal. If that’s what Harschbarger was brought in to do, I could have saved everyone plenty of time. In fact, if that’s what he was investigating, then it’s clear they gave him a scope that would lead to a conclusion that would maximize their positive press. In fact, these videos occurred at no less than five offices. That’s a pattern of behavior for which management, and not merely those on the videos, must take some responsibility. That’s at the heart of the series of exposes by Giles and O’Keefe. It’s not about whether or not the behavior on the videos is or is not technically legal. It’s about what it says about an organization when a “pimp” and “prostitute” can so routinely walk into just about any office and be offered advice that the advisor knows is illegal if implemented. That reality is barely acknowledged and not really addressed.

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Tags: ACORN, ACORN 8, ACORN audit, ACORN Housing, acorn review
Posted Dec 7th 2009 at 2:17 pm in ACORN | 4219446 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/mvolpe/2009/12/07/the-recycled-acorn-whitewash-wade-rathke-responds/The+Recycled+ACORN+Whitewash%3A+Wade+Rathke+Responds2009-12-07+21%3A17%3A51Michael+Volpe

AP Whitewashes My Public Statement on Whitewashed ACORN Investigation

Pete Yost of the Associated Press asked for my comment regarding the findings of the ACORN “internal investigation.”  Here is what I emailed him:

ACORN is a corrupt and criminal organization, and anyone with open eyes can see this. Yet SEIU’s Andy Stern and left wing puppetmaster John Podesta, of the Soros-funded radical leftist think-tank, the Center for American Progress, chose to architect a whitewashed ‘internal investigation’ by a Democrat Party hack from Massachusetts, and have put immense efforts into launching a two-pronged propaganda  campaign and legal assault against the filmmakers of the ‘pimp and  prostitute’ exposé and the story’s publisher. BigGovernment.com  continues to expose ACORN’s illegal activity and has helped to  illuminate how corrupt organizations like ACORN, SEIU and HCAN are coordinating the efforts to shove radical health care reform down an unwilling  majority of Americans throats.

Here is the sole excerpt from the above statement chosen for the article:

The report is “a whitewashed ‘internal investigation’ by a Democrat Party hack from Massachusetts,” said conservative columnist Andrew Breitbart, who is being sued by ACORN along with James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles, who played the prostitute and her boyfriend in the videos. Breitbart posted the videos on his Web site.

I wanted the BigGovernment.com readers to see that’s it’s not just the internal investigators who are whitewashing the magnitude of the ACORN scandal, it’s the mainstream media writ large.

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Tags: ACORN, acorn scandal, Andrew Breitbart, Associated Press, Center for American Progress
Posted Dec 7th 2009 at 1:19 pm in ACORN, Media Criticism | 4220670 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/abreitbart/2009/12/07/ap-whitewashes-my-public-statement-on-whitewashed-acorn-investigation/AP+Whitewashes+My+Public+Statement+on+Whitewashed+ACORN+Investigation2009-12-07+20%3A19%3A03Andrew+Breitbart

The Complete ACORN Whitewash Report: Nothing to See Here Folks, Move Along…We Have to Pass ObamaCare

Well, ACORN retained a law firm to investigate its operations and, surprise, the law firm found that ACORN hadn’t done anything wrong in the undercover videos filmed by James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles. The review, overseen by former Massachusetts Attorney General Scott Harschbarger, a long-time ally of ACORN, found that any problems within ACORN are, gosh darn it, simply because ACORN was too successful, i.e. grew too big and too fast. The problems are also mostly, conveniently, the result of people who are no longer employed by ACORN, i.e. Wade Rathke.

Full report below:

ACORN Report –

The entire report can be summed up: Wade Rathke really made a mess of things. The current management, i.e. Bertha Lewis, has been trying to reform the organization and she is really, really committed to it now. ACORN has a “roadmap” for reform that, while it may take a while to implement, will really fix everything you thought was wrong with ACORN. Just trust them.

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Tags: ACORN, acorn scandal, Andy Stern, Bertha Lewis, Center for American Progress
Posted Dec 7th 2009 at 10:43 am in ACORN | 42122203 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/mikeflynn/2009/12/07/the-complete-acorn-whitewash-report-nothing-to-see-here-folks-move-along-we-have-to-pass-obamacare/The+Complete+ACORN+Whitewash+Report%3A+Nothing+to+See+Here+Folks%2C+Move+Along...We+Have+to+Pass+ObamaCare2009-12-07+17%3A43%3A26Mike+Flynn

Sweetheart, Get Me Frank Ross: Crouching ACORNS, Hidden Cameras

On Monday, I discussed some of the background in the ongoing journalistic argument about the tactics used by James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles in their ACORN takedowns, first released here at Big Government.  This is part two of that discussion.

Since the freewheeling days of the 1920s celebrated in The Front Page, there has been a profound shift in the way journalists view themselves and their societal role.  We might locate its origins in the 1947 report by the Commission on the Freedom of the Press, known today as Hutchins Commission after its chairman, Robert M. Hutchins, of the University of Chicago, and funded by Henry Luce of Time Inc.   In answer to the question, “is the freedom of the press in danger,” the commission answered yes, and issued “five ideal demands”:

1) A truthful, comprehensive, and intelligent account of the day’s events in a context which gives them meaning.

2) A forum for the exchange of comment and criticism.

3) The projection of a representative picture of the constituent groups in the society.  (“The Commission holds to the faith that if people are exposed to the inner truth of the life of a particular group, they will gradually build up respect for an understanding of it.”)

4) The presentation and clarification of the goals and values of the society.

5) Full access to the day’s intelligence. (more…)

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Tags: ACORN, acorn scandal, acorn video, Ben Bradlee, Bob Woodward
Posted Dec 2nd 2009 at 8:11 am in ACORN, Culture, History, Media Criticism, Obama, Politics | 3949016 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/mwalsh/2009/12/02/sweetheart-get-me-frank-ross-crouching-acorns-hidden-cameras/Sweetheart%2C+Get+Me+Frank+Ross%3A+Crouching+ACORNS%2C+Hidden+Cameras2009-12-02+15%3A11%3A14Michael+Walsh

Biggest Story of 2009: The Rise of the Virtual Newsroom

From the American Spectator:

It was the biggest story of 2009.

If you doubt, ask ACORN. Or Van Jones. Or the So We Might See campaign. You won’t need Timemagazine’s once clout-filled “Man of the Year” issue to figure it out, either. Just take a look back at the bestseller lists, the ratings of Fox News or simply turn on your local AM radio dial.

The single most important news event of 2009 was the emergence of The Virtual Newsroom. A newsroom run by a virtual army of conservative journalists famous and unknown, their individual and collective impact multiplied exponentially by millions of Internet users, radio listeners, readers and television viewers.

How did this happen? How does it work in practice?

First, perspective is needed here. Like other big news events, it didn’t happen overnight. There is history, lots of it.

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Tags: ACORN, acorn scandal, acorn video, Big Media, Hannah Giles
Posted Dec 1st 2009 at 6:39 pm in ACORN, Media Criticism, News, Politics | 3946667 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/publius/2009/12/01/biggest-story-of-2009-the-rise-of-the-virtual-newsroom/Biggest+Story+of+2009%3A+The+Rise+of+the+Virtual+Newsroom2009-12-02+01%3A39%3A09Publius

REVEALED: ACORN, NBC Worked Together in ‘Undercover Video Sting’

Since the undercover ACORN videos from James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles first broke, the grand pooh-bahs of journalism have gone into self-absorbed philosopher mode. Rather than report on the ACORN corruption playing out before our eyes, “journalists” have tsk-tsked their way through thousands of words and yards of column inches making certain that everyone understands that what James and Hannah did IS…NOT…JOURNALISM. (As if that is the existential question to make sense of the ACORN videos.) Undercover videos and assuming fake identities are things real journalists do not do…except when they do.

Below is a page from ACORN’s 2005 Annual Report. In it, they tell the story of how one of their employees teamed up with NBC Dateline to do a ‘video sting’ on tax-preparer Jackson Hewitt.

Pages from 2005-ACORN-Annual-Report-web -

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Tags: ACORN, acorn scandal, acorn video, Columbia Journalism Review, Hannah Giles
Posted Nov 30th 2009 at 11:41 am in ACORN, Media Criticism, News | 38594135 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/publius/2009/11/30/acorn-nbc-worked-together-in-undercover-video-sting/REVEALED%3A+ACORN%2C+NBC+Worked+Together+in+%27Undercover+Video+Sting%272009-11-30+18%3A41%3A23Publius

Sweetheart, Get Me Rewrite: ACORN and the James Rainey Saga

The hidden-camera videos by James O‘Keefe and Hannah Giles detailing the inner workings of the taxpayer-funded leftist racket known as ACORN have set off a storm of journalistic controversy, but not in the way one might think.  Rather than engaging the substance of the stories first made available on Big Government and later on Fox News – that ACORN, to put it generously, seems to be staffed by an inordinate number of employees blithely willing to aid and, if possible, abet criminal activity – the dinosaur media has reacted not by investigating the message but by attacking the messengers, all in the name of “journalistic ethics.”

Now, when a “journalist” – I prefer the days when we called ourselves “reporters” – starts lecturing his readers about the saintly nature of “journalism” you know that the entropic, self-referential MSM has just about hit bottom.  Long gone, apparently, are the days of the old Front Page, the 1928 play by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur – filmed four times – that lovingly limned the street-smart, ink-stained wretches (in the late Herb Caen’s famous phrase) who would stop at nothing to Get The Story.  For decades – and certainly when I started in “journalism” in 1971 – this was model of the enterprising reporter: check your conscience at the bar, get the story, go home, go to bed, get up the next morning and do it all over again.  These guys were our heroes:

Not pursuing a legitimate news story, as James Rainey and the rest of the Pecksniffian  bien-pensant staff of the once-great Los Angeles Times seem intent on doing, because the young reporters are “agents provocateurs” and “political guerillas,” is bad enough.  Who cares what they are?  It’s like saying Hildy Johnson and Walter Burns are scum-sucking bottom feeders who would steal milk bottles from babies and nickels from newsboys if they thought it was a Page One story; a badge-of-honor insult those old-school newshounds would have worn with pride, alongside the egg stains on their ties and the lipstick on their collars.

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Tags: ACORN, acorn scandal, ACORN videos, Andrew McCarthy, Hannah Giles
Posted Nov 30th 2009 at 10:21 am in ACORN, Media Criticism, News, Politics | 3847080 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/mwalsh/2009/11/30/sweetheart-get-me-rewrite-acorn-and-the-james-rainey-saga/Sweetheart%2C+Get+Me+Rewrite%3A+ACORN+and+the+James+Rainey+Saga2009-11-30+17%3A21%3A24Michael+Walsh

What Happens When a PI Dumpster Dives Behind a San Diego ACORN Office?

He strikes the flippin’ mother lode! At least that’s what happened to private investigator Derrick Roach at the National City (San Diego) ACORN office.  Yep, Roach scored big-time on the cockroaches of ACORN when he staked out their San Diego workplace.

According to señor Roach via BigGovernment.com, after the release of the San Diego ACORN sting videos—which my daughter Hannah, James O’Keefe, and Andrew Breitbart dropped on the Nation’s head—and following Governor Schwarzenegger’s call for a probe into this batty zoo, Roach took it upon himself to get busy and see if he could ferret out more funky filth from this nefarious gang.

And, as stated, Roach scored more than Dwayne Wade would playing hoops against blind five-year-old, one-legged narcoleptic midgets.

What did Papa Roach come across?  Well, my children, it was stuff like …

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Tags: ACORN, ACORN document dump, ACORN Investigation, ACORN National City, ACORN San Diego
Posted Nov 26th 2009 at 2:09 pm in ACORN, Featured Story, Media Criticism, News, Politics | 3740693 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/dgiles/2009/11/26/what-happens-when-a-pi-dumpster-dives-behind-a-san-diego-acorn-office/What+Happens+When+a+PI+Dumpster+Dives+Behind+a+San+Diego+ACORN+Office%3F2009-11-26+21%3A09%3A24Doug+Giles

ACORN Scandal, Part 2: The Evidentiary Phase

The last two months of the growing ACORN scandal have focused on the damning videos shot by James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles.

In seven out of eight offices, ACORN employees attempted to aid and abet O’Keefe and Giles’ illicit “scheme” to establish a brothel for underage illegal-immigrant prostitutes from Central America. .

That phase has been tabled for a future date, as I forthrightly stated last Thursday evening to Attorney General Eric Holder on FOX NEWS’ Hannity show.

The next phase will be the evidentiary phase.  Starting with, but not limited to an extraordinary document dump at the San Diego office that was one of the offices  O’Keefe and Giles exposed, causing the firing of a single employee.

(more…)

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Tags: ACORN, ACORN document dump, ACORN dumpster, ACORN San Diego, acorn scandal
Posted Nov 23rd 2009 at 12:14 pm in ACORN, Featured Story, Justice/Legal, Media Criticism, News, Politics, State Politics | 35602193 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/abreitbart/2009/11/23/acorn-scandal-part-2-the-evidentiary-phase/ACORN+Scandal%2C+Part+2%3A+The+Evidentiary+Phase2009-11-23+19%3A14%3A31Andrew+Breitbart

Why Isn’t Anyone Really Investigating ACORN?

As we rapidly approach December 18^th, the day when ACORN is again eligible to receive federal funds, we still have yet to see a meaningful investigation of ACORN.

Last week,  the Inspector General of the Department of Justice released a “Review of Department of Justice Grants to the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, Inc. (ACORN) and its Affiliated Organizations.”  Unsurprisingly this report “did not find any DOJ direct grants to ACORN.”  The report did however reveal approximately $200,000 in sub-grants to ACORN affiliates.  This number pales in comparison to the amount of federal money ACORN and its affiliates have received from other agencies.

ACORN and its affiliates have received over $54 million in federal grants from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).  These are the grants that the government should be investigating.  How did ACORN spend these federal tax dollars?  Were they used for their designated purposes?  Does ACORN owe the federal government a refund?

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Tags: ACORN, acorn scandal, ACORN videos, Andrew Breitbart, Bertha Lewis
Posted Nov 23rd 2009 at 10:38 am in ACORN, Justice/Legal, Politics | 3446671 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/cberg/2009/11/23/why-isnt-anyone-really-investigating-acorn/Why+Isn%27t+Anyone+Really+Investigating+ACORN%3F2009-11-23+17%3A38%3A42Chris+++Berg

ACORN Statement on Latest Los Angeles Video: The Hallway Defense

Over at the Los Angeles Times, naturally, we find ACORN’s statement on the latest video:

Los Angeles ACORN statement, as prepared by the organization:

1.    The tapes are clearly doctored and highly edited and it is our hope this will be responsibly reported on should this become a news story.

2.    The conversation took place outside of the ACORN office. The couple was taken outside of the office into the building-hallway (a common space) because the subject matter they were attempting to discuss was not appropriate and the employee made it clear that ACORN does not help with such things.

3.    The couple was brought to a neighboring agency that deals specifically with international abuse.

4.    The couple featured in the video did NOT portray themselves as a “prostitute” and a “pimp.”

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Tags: ACORN, ACORN LA, acorn scandal, ACORN South LA, acorn video
Posted Nov 21st 2009 at 11:37 am in ACORN, Politics | 3507862 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/publius/2009/11/21/acorn-statement-on-latest-los-angeles-video-the-hallway-defense/ACORN+Statement+on+Latest+Los+Angeles+Video%3A+The+Hallway+Defense2009-11-21+18%3A37%3A48Publius

Thanks for Paying Attention Big Journalism

In response to the Columbia Journalism Review’s accusing me of “blackmailing” the Attorney General of the United States, I must take notice that the mainstream media as a journalistic establishment IS paying attention to the ongoing ACORN scandal.  Good.  I thought so.

What the Columbia Journalism Review is doing is very similar to what Media Matters is doing: protecting the Democrat-Media Complex, the natural alliance of the Democratic Party and the mainstream media.  This ACORN investigation has been going on for two months and Hannah, James, and I have proven to be truth-tellers every step of the way, while the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now has been proven time and again to be liars.

Yet instead of engaging the real, newsworthy issues of ACORN’s possible corruption, malfeasance and illegal behavior, the CJR, like its more overtly political online counterpart Media Matters, and indeed every other MSM outlet, has been sitting it out on the sidelines, waiting – rooting – for Hannah Giles, James O’Keefe and me to make a mistake.  In fact, my appearance Thursday night is the only time in which the media has introduced itself into this ongoing narrative: proof that it’s paying attention and taking sides.

Neither, by the way, has the CJR challenged James Rainey, a reporter at the Los Angeles Times, who has consistently shaded his coverage favorably toward ACORN since we first broke the story back in September, evincing little interest in the truth but instead muttering about the standards of the Society of Professional Journalists (take link, be sure to read the comments).  “But the Society of Professional Journalists has set a standard that deception should be used only when every other reporting approach has been exhausted and only then in certain cases, most notably to reveal a severe social problem or to prevent people from being harmed.” (more…)

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Tags: ACORN, Attorney General Holder, Census, Columbia Journalism Review, Democrat-Media Complex
Posted Nov 21st 2009 at 7:16 am in ACORN, Featured Story, Media Criticism | 34894240 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/abreitbart/2009/11/21/thanks-for-paying-attention/Thanks+for+Paying+Attention+Big+Journalism2009-11-21+14%3A16%3A22Andrew+Breitbart

Columbia Journalism Review: Breitbart ‘Blackmailing’ Attorney General

From the Columbia Journalism Review:

Memo to Sean Hannity, who is calling for James O’Keefe, Hannah Giles, and Andrew Breitbart to get a “journalism award” for their video sting of ACORN: Generally, when in possession of what one believes to be newsworthy information, the journalistic thing to do is get it out to the public—not attempt to blackmail the attorney general.

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Tags: ACORN, ACORN LA, Andrew Breitbart, eric-holder, Hannah Giles
Posted Nov 20th 2009 at 4:54 pm in ACORN, Media Criticism, News | 34538200 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/publius/2009/11/20/columbia-journalism-review-breitbart-blackmailing-attorney-general/Columbia+Journalism+Review%3A+Breitbart+%27Blackmailing%27+Attorney+General2009-11-20+23%3A54%3A57Publius

The LA Story, Part IV: Program for Torture Victims

**Updated with Lavelle Stewart transcript**

Lavelle Stewart, of ACORN in South Central Los Angeles, tells us she thinks we have to hook up with “someone who’s on that international sex business level,” that “14 and 15 year olds been traveling overseas for years,” that she can do independent research for us, and that she has had meetings with Porn magnate Larry Flynt.  As for laundering the sex money into my faux political campaign, Lavelle says, “there are ways, people do it all the time.  Yeah there are ways, especially out here in California.”

Part I

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Tags: ACORN, ACORN LA, ACORN pimp and prostitute, acorn video, ACORN video scandal
Posted Nov 19th 2009 at 4:50 pm in ACORN, Featured Story | 34026302 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/jokeefe/2009/11/19/the-la-story-part-iv-program-for-torture-victims/The+LA+Story%2C+Part+IV%3A+Program+for+Torture+Victims2009-11-19+23%3A50%3A47James+O%26%2339%3BKeefe

Los Angeles Robocall Proves ACORN ‘Internal Review’ Is a Scam

Just a few weeks after the first undercover ACORN videos were released, Big Government received a recording of a robocall from ACORN that ran in the Los Angeles area. Around this time, ACORN’s Chief Organizer Bertha Lewis went before the National Press Club to stress that the actions of her employees revealed in the videos “made her sick.” She reiterated that she fired the employees involved and promised a thorough internal review and reform of ACORN.

So, the robocalls were a mea culpa and promise that ACORN would do better in the future? Hardly. Away from the kleig lights of the national press, ACORN continued to deny wrongdoings and deflect attention to “extremists” attacking her. On the calls, ACORN even reiterates the lie that James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles were turned away in Los Angeles.

Listen for yourself (in English and Spanish):

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Transcript and more after the jump.

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Tags: ACORN, ACORN corruption, ACORN internal review, ACORN Los Angeles, ACORN video scandal
Posted Nov 18th 2009 at 6:59 am in ACORN, Featured Story, Media Criticism, News, Politics | 8802112 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/capitolconfidential/2009/11/18/los-angeles-robocall-proves-acorn-internal-review-is-a-scam/Los+Angeles+Robocall+Proves+ACORN+%27Internal+Review%27+Is+a+Scam2009-11-18+13%3A59%3A57Capitol++Confidential

The LA Story, Part III: ACORN Employee of the Year, Felix D. Harris

Although Mr. Felix D. Harris of Los Angeles ACORN told us he didn’t care about our prostitution business in regards to a housing loan, he drew the line when we spoke about the underage girls.  Although he did not kick us out, he was the only employee in our nationwide ACORN child prostitution investigation who would not assist us.

For his leadership, superior ethics, unwavering integrity, compassion for young women, and for serving as a shining beacon of inspiration for his fellow ACORN employees, I am honored to present Felix Harris, program director at ACORN Housing, with the humble award of ACORN EMPLOYEE OF THE YEAR.

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Tags: ACORN, ACORN Housing, ACORN Los Angeles, acorn prostitute, acorn prostitution
Posted Nov 16th 2009 at 5:06 pm in ACORN, Featured Story | 3189098 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/jokeefe/2009/11/16/acornthe-la-story-part-iii-acorn-employee-of-the-year-felix-d-harris/The+LA+Story%2C+Part+III%3A+ACORN+Employee+of+the+Year%2C+Felix+D.+Harris2009-11-17+00%3A06%3A21James+O%26%2339%3BKeefe

The Hypocrisy of Jerry Brown, California’s Top Cop

The Communications Director for California Attorney General Jerry Brown resigned last week after admitting he regularly taped telephone conversations with reporters without their permission.  Under California state law, the recording of private telephone conversations without consent is illegal.  Although the Attorney General’s Office worked to shut down the story by calling it an internal personnel matter, the potentially illegal behavior of a senior staff member to California’s top cop raises some serious questions.

Here’s one: How can one of the most powerful law enforcement officials in America not know his communications director routinely engaged in activities that may have been unlawful?

Or, how is it that only this senior member of the staff knew this was occurring as they currently claim?

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Tags: ACORN, ACORN video scandal, democratic nomination, Gavin Newsom, Hannah Giles
Posted Nov 12th 2009 at 1:03 pm in ACORN, Justice/Legal, News, Politics, State Politics | 2977435 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/rnehring/2009/11/12/the-hypocrisy-of-jerry-brown-californias-top-cop/The+Hypocrisy+of+Jerry+Brown%2C+California%E2%80%99s+Top+Cop2009-11-12+20%3A03%3A30Ron+Nehring

Calbuzz: Jerry Brown Must Fire Flack Who Secretly Taped Reporters

From the Calbuzz Blog:

The stunning news that a spokesman for Attorney General Jerry Brown secretly taped a conversation with SF Chronicle reporter Carla Marinucci, admitting that this something he did routinely, leaves Brown with one and only option: fire the flack immediately.

The paper reported Friday that Brown press spokesman Scott Gerber acknowledged taping the call, apparently in direct violation of California Penal Code Section 632, which says that conversations may not be taped without notice to all parties.

Dick Nixon must be rolling over in his grave.

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Tags: ACORN, acorn scandal, ACORN videos, Carla Marinucci, Hannah Giles
Posted Oct 31st 2009 at 12:02 pm in ACORN, Featured Story, Media Criticism, Politics, State Politics | 2343428 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/publius/2009/10/31/calbuzz-jerry-brown-must-fire-flack-who-secretly-taped-reporters/Calbuzz%3A+Jerry+Brown+Must+Fire+Flack+Who+Secretly+Taped+Reporters2009-10-31+19%3A02%3A29Publius

Washington Post: ACORN Video Creates New Conservative Star

From the Washington Post:

Breitbart wins following Web sites provide outlet to the right

By Perry Bacon Jr.
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, October 31, 2009

Andrew Breitbart blew into Washington recently for what amounted to a victory lap.                             

The Internet entrepreneur spent last week soaking up accolades from conservatives for having offered guidance to the two twenty-somethings who posed as a pimp and prostitute and took a hidden camera into several ACORN offices. The pair filmed workers from the national liberal community group appearing to aid them as they inquired about starting a brothel — a move that has put ACORN on the defensive and made the activists, James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles, instant conservative heroes.

But in the end it’s Breitbart who may be the biggest winner.

It was the 40-year-old Breitbart who masterminded the strategy of releasing the videos one at a time on his Web site, Big Government, as a way of maximizing exposure of the campaign against ACORN. And it is Breitbart who is being heralded as the conservative movement’s new Web wizard and the answer to liberal sites such as the Huffington Post and Talking Points. (more…)

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Tags: ACORN, acorn scandal, ACORN videos, Andrew Breitbart, bloggers
Posted Oct 30th 2009 at 10:41 pm in ACORN, Featured Story | 2329899 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/publius/2009/10/30/washington-post-acorn-video-creates-new-conservative-star/Washington+Post%3A+ACORN+Video+Creates+New+Conservative+Star2009-10-31+05%3A41%3A41Publius

LameStream Media: Why Did You Bypass These Juicy ACORN Nuggets?

The “Pimp and Pro” ACORN story hit America hard a few weeks ago. It is a ripe story with endless angles to report on, and yet the Mainstream Media’s favorite approach seems to be the method in which James and I orchestrated and gathered the information.

It’s like going fishing, but instead of taking a picture and raving about the 750lb Mako shark you caught, you blather on about the bait that was used.

What happens when people get bored? They stop paying attention. What happens when people stop paying attention to an already suffering press industry?

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Tags: ACORN, acorn scandal, ACORN videos, Big Media, Hannah Giles
Posted Oct 28th 2009 at 10:30 am in ACORN, Culture, Featured Story, Media Criticism | 22038121 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/hgiles/2009/10/28/lamestream-media-why-did-you-bypass-these-juicy-acorn-nuggets/LameStream+Media%3A+Why+Did+You+Bypass+These+Juicy+ACORN+Nuggets%3F2009-10-28+17%3A30%3A19Hannah+Giles

BREAKING NEWS: Sarah Palin Supports ACORN Refunding

The only way the fringe “news” outlets would ever report on ACORN in an antagonistic manner would be if Sarah Palin somehow supported this creepy cabal.  

Sarah, if you’re reading this column, maybe you should throw your name behind ACORN for a month or two just to get the White House/ACORN’s lap dogs to finally join with FOX and bark down the despicable ACORN clowns until they’re properly vilified, permanently defunded, and eternally ensconced in American history as nothing more than a bad, bad memory—a veritable proverb for corruption. 

After lending your name, Mrs. Palin, to ACORN for say, uh, 60 days or so, you could then say you were just BSing everyone to get the tools on the left to finally do the job these limp noodles are supposed to be doing: namely getting to the bottom of ACORN’s odious, braying deception.

This past Wednesday at the National Press Club, Andrew Breitbart, Hannah Giles and James O’Keefe once again released more ACORN footage that showed Bertha and her buddies to be lying through their taxpayer-funded, coffee-stained teeth.  They shot holes in Berth’s bunkum. I’m talking .50 cal BMG holes.

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Tags: ACORN, ACORN Philly, acorn scandal, acorn video, Andrew Breitbart
Posted Oct 25th 2009 at 10:30 am in ACORN, Culture, Media Criticism, News | 2068268 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/dgiles/2009/10/25/breaking-news-sarah-palin-supports-acorn-refunding/BREAKING+NEWS%3A+Sarah+Palin+Supports+ACORN+Refunding2009-10-25+17%3A30%3A25Doug+Giles

ACORN Filmmakers Batting 1.000 But Media Matters Says It’s “Statistically Insignificant”

As damning video after video is released showing ACORN’s willingness to counsel lawbreakers, no one has been more willing to assassinate the character of ACORN’s opponents than the hired guns at the left-wing group Media Matters for America.

As I noted yesterday, thin-skinned Jamison Foser of Media Matters wrote Oct. 16  that “some conservative activists induced a statistically insignificant number of the organization’s low-level employees to behave badly.” [emphasis added]

Setting aside the question of whether the ACORN employees were “induced” by activists James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles to do things they wouldn’t have already been willing to do, was the number of ACORN personnel behaving badly statistically insignificant? Let’s take a look at that claim.

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Tags: ACORN, Bertha Lewis, Democracy Now, Hannah Giles, James O'Keefe
Posted Oct 23rd 2009 at 8:30 am in ACORN, Media Criticism | 200149 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/mvadum/2009/10/23/acorn-filmmakers-batting-1000-but-media-matters-says-its-statistically-insignificant/ACORN+Filmmakers+Batting+1.000+But+Media+Matters+Says+It%27s+%22Statistically+Insignificant%222009-10-23+15%3A30%3A47Matthew+Vadum

Maryland Shouldn’t Prosecute ACORN Filmmakers

It recently came to light that individuals employed by ACORN have been apparent accomplices with regard to the conduct of alleged criminal activities.  Surprisingly, it was the investigative ingenuity of ordinary citizens who brought this information to the attention of the public.  As a Member of Congress, these revelations are of interest to me in that ACORN is the beneficiary of substantial federal funding.  As the former Attorney General of my state of California, this story is of great concern to me for an entirely different reason.  Ironically, it is those who revealed the alleged illegal acts, rather than the perpetrators of those acts, who find themselves under threat of criminal prosecution.  To anyone with a modicum of common sense, this would seem to turn justice on its head.

How could this happen?  Certain states, such as Maryland, have statutes prohibiting the recording of conversations without the consent of the other party.  Unfortunately for the young investigative entrepreneurs, their disclosure of alleged illegal activities carried out by the ACORN employees took place in these so-called “two party consent states” which prohibit the recording of confidential communications without the permission of all parties.

There have been comments released by the State’s Attorneys Office for Baltimore that:

If it is determined that the audio portion now being heard on YouTube was illegally obtained, it is also illegal under Maryland Law to willfully use or willfully disclose the content of said audio.  The penalty for the unlawful interception, disclosure or use of it is a felony punishable up to 5 years.

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Tags: ACORN, acorn scandal, acorn video, Attorney General, Hannah Giles
Posted Oct 23rd 2009 at 6:00 am in ACORN, Featured Story, Justice/Legal, News, Politics, State Politics | 199225 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/dlungren/2009/10/23/maryland-shouldnt-prosecute-acorn-filmmakers/Maryland+Shouldn%27t+Prosecute+ACORN+Filmmakers2009-10-23+13%3A00%3A40Rep.+Dan+Lungren+%28R-CA%29