4 charged in phone scheme at La. senator's office

[dbcooper41]

http://www.wral.com/news/national_world ... y/6889458/

4 charged in phone scheme at La. senator's office

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN
Associated Press Writer

Posted: Today at 4:21 p.m.
Updated: 42 minutes ago

NEW ORLEANS — A conservative activist who posed as a pimp to target the community-organizing group ACORN and the son of a federal prosecutor were among four people arrested by the FBI and accused of trying to interfere with phones at Sen. Mary Landrieu's office.

Activist James O'Keefe, 25, was already in Landrieu's New Orleans office Monday when Robert Flanagan and Joseph Basel, both 24, showed up claiming to be telephone repairmen, U.S. Attorney Jim Letten's office said Tuesday. Letten says O'Keefe recorded the two with his cell phone.

Flanagan, the son of acting U.S. Attorney Bill Flanagan in Shreveport, and Basel asked for access to a phone at the reception desk. Then they asked for access to a phone closet so they could work on the phone system. The men were directed to another office in the building, where they again said they were telephone repairmen.

They were arrested later by the U.S. Marshal's Service. Details of the arrest were not available. A fourth man, Stan Dai, 24, was also arrested, but Letten's office said only that he assisted the others in planning, coordinating and preparing the operation.

Federal officials did not say why the men wanted to interfere with Landrieu's phones or whether they were successful. Landrieu, a moderate Democrat, declined comment Tuesday. She has been in the news recently because she negotiated an increase in Medicaid funds for her state before announcing her support for Senate health care legislation.

Bill Flanagan's office confirmed his son was among those arrested, but declined further comment.

An FBI criminal complaint charging the men was unsealed Tuesday, and a magistrate set bond at $10,000 each after they made their initial court appearances wearing red prison jumpsuits.

None of the defendants commented on the allegations in court.

"It was poor judgment," Robert Flanagan's lawyer, Garrison Jordan, said in a brief interview outside the courthouse. "I don't think there was any intent or motive to commit a crime."

Eddie Castaing, who represented O'Keefe, Dai and Basel, said he had no details on the allegations.

"We are just grateful that they were not detained ... and they can go home to their families," he said.

O'Keefe was the brains behind a series of undercover videos that have caused major problems for ACORN - the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now.

He managed to do what Republicans have been trying to do for years - hurt the political affiliates of ACORN, which have registered hundreds of thousands of voters in urban and other poor areas of the country.

By producing undercover videos shot in ACORN offices, O'Keefe brought a firestorm of criticism that the group was helping its low-income clients break the law.

Using a hidden camera, O'Keefe, posing as a pimp and accompanied by a young woman posing as a prostitute, shot videos in ACORN offices where staffers appeared to offer illegal tax advice and to support the misuse of public funds and illegal trafficking in children.

Edited videos of those visits to ACORN offices were first posted on biggovernment.com, a site run by conservative Andrew Breitbart. Reached by phone Tuesday about the Landrieu allegations, Breitbart said, "I know nothing of it other than people are asking me questions."

In the past, Breitbart has said O'Keefe - now a paid contributor to biggovernment.com - is an independent contractor not an employee.

O'Keefe has been sued in Pennsylvania and Maryland based on the ACORN videos; he does not have an attorney of record in either case and attempts Tuesday to locate a lawyer who might represent him were not successful.

ACORN calls itself the largest grass roots community organization of low- and moderate-income people in the country, claiming over 400,000 families, more than 1,200 neighborhood chapters in about 75 cities.

Until the controversy last year over the videos at ACORN offices, 10 percent of ACORN's funds came from federal government grants. In September, Congress blocked previously approved funds from going to the group.

---

Associated Press Writers Pete Yost in Washington, Justin Pritchard in Los Angeles and Ben Nuckols in Baltimore contributed to this report.

Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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[dqueue]

Relevant update from [url=URL]Marcy Wheeler[/url]. She provides the following:

You see, Flanagan is the son of the acting US Attorney for Western LA, William Flanagan. Flanagan, Sr., had only been in charge for a week–since January 18, when Bush’s US Attorney for the district, Donald Washington, stepped down–when his son got busted on federal property elsewhere in the state.
...
It’s all very cozy, apparently, in Republican corruption circles.

Oh, and speaking of corrupt Republicans, you might be interested in knowing that Obama’s nominee to be US Attorney for LA’s Western District, Stephanie Finley, the woman who will replace Flanagan, Sr., is being blocked by LA’s other Senator, David “Diapers” Vitter. Why? Because he wants to make sure LA’s US Attorney for the Eastern District–the one who will be prosecuting Messrs. O’Keefe and Flanagan, now–stays in office for a while longer.

[seemslikeadream]

FEDERAL CRIME

NO MENTION ON CBS NBC OR ABC TONIGHT

CBS ONLINE CALLS IT A STUNT

WALL STREET ONLINE CALLS IT MESSIN WITH

FLASHBACK: 31 House Republicans Supported Resolution Honoring Alleged Felon James O'Keefe
January 26, 2010 5:19 pm ET by Matt Finkelstein
Today, the FBI arrested James O'Keefe, the conservative activist who posed as a pimp and filmed the undercover videos that led Congress to defund ACORN. O'Keefe is accused of participating in a conspiracy to wiretap the New Orleans office of Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA). According to NOLA.com:

Also arrested were Joseph Basel, Stan Dai and Robert Flanagan, all 24. Flanagan is the son of William Flanagan, who is the acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana, the office confirmed. All four were charged with entering federal property under false pretenses with the intent of committing a felony.

According to the FBI affidavit, Flanagan and Basel entered the federal building at 500 Poydras Street about 11 a.m. Monday, dressed as telephone company employees, wearing jeans, fluorescent green vests, tool belts, and hard hats. When they arrived at Landrieu's 10th floor office, O'Keefe was already in the office and had told a staffer he was waiting for someone to arrive.
As Dave Weigel notes, "O'Keefe had become a conservative media star since the ACORN sting." Rep. Pete Olson (R-TX) even introduced a resolution praising O'Keefe and his partner, would-be prostitute Hannah Giles, for "their diligent investigative journalism." In a statement announcing the resolution, Olson said, "Hannah and James should be applauded for their efforts to root out corruption and abuse of federal tax dollars." He also claimed O'Keefe was "setting an example for concerned citizens across America."


The following 31 House Republicans cosponsored Olson's measure, which declared that O'Keefe was "owed a debt of gratitude by the people of the United States":

Todd Akin [R-MO2]
Roscoe Bartlett [R-MD6]
Joe Barton [R-TX6]
Rob Bishop [R-UT1]
Jo Bonner [R-AL1]
John Boozman [R-AR3]
Paul Broun [R-GA10]
Henry Brown [R-SC1]
John Campbell [R-CA48]
John Carter [R-TX31]
Howard Coble [R-NC6]
Tom Cole [R-OK4]
Michael Conaway [R-TX11]
John Culberson [R-TX7]
Mary Fallin [R-OK5]
Trent Franks [R-AZ2]
Louis Gohmert [R-TX1]
Kay Granger [R-TX12]
Ralph Hall [R-TX4]
Jim Jordan [R-OH4]
Steve King [R-IA5]
John Kline [R-MN2]
Doug Lamborn [R-CO5]
Blaine Luetkemeyer [R-MO9]
Daniel Lungren [R-CA3]
Kenny Marchant [R-TX24]
Joseph Pitts [R-PA16]
Bill Posey [R-FL15]
Phil Roe [R-TN1]
Jean Schmidt [R-OH2]
John Shadegg [R-AZ3]
Read the full resolution below:

Whereas Hannah Giles and James O'Keefe III filmed investigatory videos uncovering the fraudulent and illegal practices of the Association of Community Organization for Reform Now (ACORN);

Whereas the House of Representatives voted to completely defund ACORN on September 17, 2009;

Whereas these videos resulted in the potential annual savings of millions of taxpayer dollars to organizations that contract with ACORN;

Whereas Hannah Giles and James O'Keefe III have displayed exemplary actions as government watchdogs and young journalists uncovering wasteful government spending; and

Whereas Hannah Giles and James O'Keefe III are owed a debt of gratitude by the people of the United States: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the House of Representatives-

(1) honors Hannah Giles and James O'Keefe III for their work as investigative journalists;

(2) commends Hannah Giles and James O'Keefe III for bringing to light the fraudulent behavior of the Association of Community Organization for Reform Now (ACORN) and helping save millions of taxpayer dollars that otherwise would have funded ACORN; and

(3) respectfully requests the Clerk of the House to transmit an enrolled copy of this resolution to Hannah Giles and James O'Keefe III.

[dbcooper41]

A fourth man, Stan Dai, 24, was also arrested, but Letten's office said only that he assisted the others in planning, coordinating and preparing the operation.

is this the same stan dai?

Please return this application and all supporting materials to:
Stan Dai
Assistant Director, Intelligence Center
Main 362
Trinity (Washington) University
125 Michigan Avenue, N.E.
Washington, D.C. 20017
202-884-9689
DaiS@trinitydc.edu

http://www.trinitydc.edu/programs/intel ... holars.pdf

anyone familiar with Trinity (Washington) University?

[seemslikeadream]

A fourth man, Stan Dai, 24, was also arrested, but Letten's office said only that he assisted the others in planning, coordinating and preparing the operation.

is this the same stan dai?

Please return this application and all supporting materials to:
Stan Dai
Assistant Director, Intelligence Center
Main 362
Trinity (Washington) University
125 Michigan Avenue, N.E.
Washington, D.C. 20017
202-884-9689
DaiS@trinitydc.edu

http://www.trinitydc.edu/programs/intel ... holars.pdf

anyone familiar with Trinity (Washington) University?

Is this the same Stan Dai arrested for trying to bug Mary Landrieu's office?

Stan Dai is one of the four men arrested with a failed attempt to bug Sen. Mary Landrieu's office.

I did some searching. Ten bucks says this is the little (would-be) bugger:


STAN DAI, Lisle, Ill., attends The George Washington University majoring in Political Science. He is editor-in-chief of The GW Patriot, an alternative conservative student newspaper, a Club 100 Activist of Young America’s Foundation, and an Undergraduate Fellow on Terrorism of the Foundation for the Defense of the Democracies. He is co-founder of GW’s Students Defending Democracy, a volunteer on several political campaigns, and active in the GW College Republicans and GW Colonials for Life. He was a 2003 Honorable Mention in the U.S. Institute of Peace Essay Contest.

One Stan Dai was listed as the Assistant Director of the The Intelligence Community Center of Academic Excellence (ICCAE) at Trinity (Washington) University. The ICAE prepares young people for careers in intelligence.

(Original reporting, please credit Lindsay Beyerstein.)

Update: Welcome, Politico readers. Many thanks to Laura Rozen for the link.

Stan Dai spoke about torture and terrorism at a CIA event in Langley, VA last June, according this event program I found online. Get this, according to the flier, Adam Brandon, the press secretary of FreedomWorks (Dick Armey's town hall mob outfit) was on the same program. David Mark of POLITICO also spoke at the event.

Some highlights from Stan Dai's bio.

B. Career History• Mr. Dai has been involved in JSA since 2001: after attending summer school at Yale, he founded the JSA chapter at Naperville North, served in various Midwest region positions, and was a resident assistant at Georgetown.

• Mr. Dai was the first Assistant Director of the Intelligence Community Center of Academic Excellence at Trinity in D.C.
• Prior to that, he served as the Operations Officer of a Department of Defense irregular warfare fellowship program.
• Mr. Dai graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the George Washington University. He was the editor-in-chief of The GW Patriot, an alternative conservative student newspaper, a Club 100 Activist of Young America’s Foundation, and an Undergraduate Fellow on Terrorism of the Foundation for the Defense of the Democracies.

In college, Stan Dai co-wrote a satirical work entitled The Penis Monologues, apparently a takeoff on the Vagina Monologues. Here's a taste:

My Angry Penis

MY PENIS IS ANGRY!!!!!!! You want to know what happened to my penis? Joan happened to my penis! There I was, sleeping peacefully when Joan stormed in and dragged me out for “an educational program.” I thought was going to see Mr. Rogers! But nooooooo! It turned out to be the “Whine-gina Monologues!”

From angry penises to irregular warfare. Would you be surprised to learn that a guy like this got arrested for dressing up like a telephone repairman and trying to bug a senator's office? I wouldn't.

[MinM]

James O'Keefe & Co: Hey DUers, is this the same guy? (Is this Stan Dai of illegal wiretap fame?) - Democratic Underground

Countdown: Landrieu Wiretapping UPDATE - Listening Devices Found Across Street - Democratic Underground

What Is The PELICAN Institute? The Landrieu PHONE BUGGING Case. - Democratic Underground

Who is behind James O'Keefe? - Democratic Underground

Landrieu Phone Bugging Case: What Is The Pelican Institute? - Democratic Underground

Landrieu Phone Bugging Case: What Is The Pelican Institute? | TPMMuckraker

***

rigorousintuition.ca - View topic - Facebook and the CIA

News Hounds: Hannah Giles - Who's Her Daddy?

Conservative Facebook Investor Funded Anti-ACORN Videographer - New York News - Runnin' Scared

[jingofever]

is this the same stan dai?

Most likely. Majikthise spotted that and more, here. In particular, "Stan Dai spoke about torture and terrorism at a CIA event in Langley, VA last June," and:

• Mr. Dai was the first Assistant Director of the Intelligence Community Center of Academic Excellence at Trinity in D.C.
• Prior to that, he served as the Operations Officer of a Department of Defense irregular warfare fellowship program.

[seemslikeadream]

THE AFFIDAVIT

[JackRiddler]

Schadenfreude alert!

The multiple higher-level connections here are interesting. Just look at what shook out in a couple of hours: a father who is a US Attorney, Dai (the likely handler) as an intel recruiter and junior ideological commissar already in some kind of CIA position, Pelican institute, O'Keefe's whole stinking prankster career to date.

The PDF is an application form for Dai's program.

Intelligence Community Center of Academic Excellence (ICCAE)
ICCAE Scholars Program
Application Form
The Intelligence Community Center of Academic Excellence (ICCAE) prepares students
for careers in intelligence. Its curriculum develops the skills relevant to intelligence
community careers, while also allowing students to pursue the major of their choice. The
ICCAE mission emphasizes enabling women, persons with disabilities, and minorities to
pursue professions in the intelligence community. The ICCAE Scholars Program is open
to undergraduate students in all majors who have a minimum GPA of 3.0, who are in
good academic standing, and who are U.S. citizens. Generally, students should apply to
the program no later than the end of their sophomore year.
The Application Process
1. Students should complete this application form including the following materials:
· A transcript of all work completed at Trinity (this may be an unofficial transcript).
· A typed two-page statement of purpose.
2. Students must obtain recommendations from two faculty members. One of the
recommendations should be written either by the Program Chair of the student’s major
program, or by the student’s advisor.
Questions
If you have any questions, please contact Mr. Stan Dai, Assistant Director, ICCAE at:
Phone: 202-884-9689
Email: DaiS@trinitydc.edu
Office: Main 362
Please return this application and all supporting materials to:
Stan Dai
Assistant Director, Intelligence Center
Main 362
Trinity (Washington) University
125 Michigan Avenue, N.E.
Washington, D.C. 20017
202-884-9689
DaiS@trinitydc.edu

[82_28]

Has anybody been able to find any kind of connection to Virginia Tech and/or Fort Hood yet? I did a cursory search. Nothing has turned up so far.

Not saying nothing. Honestly. But I am very curious. There seems to be an either subjective or objective subliminal thread. Again, only saying, seems to be.

The Penis Monologues is what piques my interest. Here are some of Seung-Hui Cho's "violent writings" courtesy Smoking Gun:

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/ye ... tech1.html

[JackRiddler]

Yes It's The Same Dai, O'Keefe, Basel - no pic of Flanagan yet (who in one report I read wants to claim he only met O'Keefe today - tough shit, kid).

And Vitter wants to stop the already planned replacement of the current (Republican) prosecutor. So what's his angle in this?

Creepy crew.

[jingofever]

For whatever it is worth, Landrieu was one of the senators who supported telecom immunity. Maybe she will recommend that the Feds be lenient with these guys too.

[dbcooper41]

i think this story is bogus. if i heard about it on wral.com, i was supposed to hear about it.
why?
so far they look like a mod squad gee haa'd!

[Nordic]

It would give me great satisfaction to watch these smug little fuckers' heads crushed under a giant rock.

[Uncle $cam]

Stan Dai is apparenty not new to political theater
http://www.democraticunderground.com//d ... 89x7580830