Unedited ACORN Videos Reveal O'Keefe, Hannity Lied At Great Cost To Taxpayers

[Joanne98]

For OpEdNews: Gustav Wynn - Writer

Undercover "pimp" videographer James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles were found to have been deceitful in the editing of their infamous ACORN videos, according to California Attorney General Jerry Brown who acquired the full, unedited versions of the tapes. Brown's office arranged a deal to see the originals after agreeing not to prosecute O'Keefe and Giles for violating the privacy rights granted to all Californians under state law. Brown recently made public the raw footage to show how O'Keefe distorted the truth - and how his Fox-TV media benefactor Sean Hannity ran with the distortions.

The specific instances of deceit included taking answers to questions out of their original context, misinterpreting the statements of the employees and using creative editing to imply they were dressed in flagrant pimp and ho gear when they were not (The New York Times finally issued their retraction about the falsely reported pimp costume last month).

Although Brown's investigation did confirm four instances of possible voter registration fraud by ACORN, his findings absolved other ACORN workers who were falsely framed. Juan Carlos Vera, an employee at the San Diego ACORN offices was fired for apparently condoning human trafficking but turned out to have been merely playing along with O'Keefe, extracting information from him.

Vera called his brother in the police department as soon as O'Keefe left the San Diego office, but this crucial fact was edited out of the story by Fox's Sean Hannity who repeated and amplified the libelous personal attack against an honest man. Indeed, after Vera notified his brother, O'Keefe's made-up claims were turned over to the San Diego Police Department's human smuggling specialist.

Significant manpower and taxpayer dollars funds were eaten up investigating O'Keefe's sex trafficking hoaxes, especially after Governor Shwarzennegger instructed the Attorney General to complete a full investigation, it's not inconceivable the cost reached into the hundreds of thousands of tax dollars wasted by O'Keefe's gonzo fabrications. Another investigation took place after a San Bernadino ACORN employee saw through O'Keefe's tall tales and mockingly claimed she murdered her abusive husband.


Though you funded verification of O'Keefe's claims, Hannity did nothing to assure any accuracy to his audience and fails daily to issue retractions.

Although Brown granted O'Keefe and Giles criminal immunity for turning over the unedited tapes, civil lawsuits could go forward against the two for violating privacy laws, particularly in light of the damage done to the workers whose words and meanings were twisted on national TV and syndicated radio over and over by Hannity. "I never done anything wrong in my life," Vera said. "They destroyed my family." According to Attorney General Brown, "the ACORN employees may be able to bring a private suit against O'Keefe and Giles for recording a confidential conversation without consent."

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http://www.opednews.com/articles/Unedited-O-Keefe-Videos-Re-by-Gustav-Wynn-100408-983.html

[jaksavage]

1. This should be front page news

Not that other drivel that is front page news.
Damn their lying eyes.

[tosh]

2. Please....

unleash those civil suits NOW!!

[mzmolly]

3. Good to see this getting some attention, but it's too little too late I fear.

K and R.