James O'Keefe strikes again! After his hit on ACORN, he's taking aim at any other groups that might be protecting people's right to vote. O'Keefe released a video in February which purported to show voter registration volunteers lifting people's phone numbers for something. What, I do not know.
Of course, this lit up Texas Republicans like a Christmas tree and got them shouting for the heads of volunteers for Battleground Texas. Media Matters explains:
In February, O'Keefe and his Project Veritas group released a video investigation of progressive organization Battleground Texas. In the video, O'Keefe accuses the group, which he labels "the new ACORN," of using "potentially illegal methods to change elections." The allegation hinged on O'Keefe repeatedly pointing to a part of the Texas Election Code, which states that "the registrar may not transcribe, copy, or otherwise record a telephone number furnished on a registration application."
An organizer from Battleground Texas -- which has worked to register voters in the state -- says in the video that the group has taken phone numbers from the applications, which they will use to reach out to people and encourage them to vote closer to the election. A quote from Texas Secretary of State Nandita Berry's office included in the video suggests that the Battleground Texas organizers may in fact have been in violation of the law.
Following outrage from Republican officials, complaints were filed with the secretary of state's office about the claims from the video. A Texas judge eventually appointed two special prosecutors -- one of whom is reportedly a Republican -- to investigate the allegations.
Alas for O'Keefe and his Freedomworks funders, it didn't pan out the way they'd hoped, though they did manage to bully Battleground Texas into backing away from their plan to phone bank close to the election with the phone information on voter registration forms.
Not only did the prosecutors recommend that the crazed Republicans' lawsuits be summarily dismissed, they characterized O'Keefe's claims as "little more than a canard and disinformation." That was right before they called his video "unprofessional."
We could have saved Texas some taxpayers' money and told them that before they involved special prosecutors.
A judge dismissed the case on Monday because there was no stated offense and no evidence of any potential offenses. In English, that means he made stuff up and then dropped the match in a room full of oily Texas Republicans.
No one took O'Keefe seriously when he rolled out this scam. You won't find mention of it here at all, because whatever he produces is always a twisted, distorted lie. No one took notice, but the Rabid Republican base who needs as many reasons as they can find to keep people angry and hateful used it to stir up their troops.
O'Keefe may see himself as some kind of crusader, but he's really just a scammer. Conservative billionaires may see him as useful, but really they're into tossing tens of thousands at a guy who can't even manage to find something even close to legitimate when he records his undercover videos. He reminds me of a kid playing spy without a clue.
Oh, did I mention that a very large chunk of his funding for 2012 came from the Koch-affiliated donor-advised fund, Donors' Trust? Yep. Whether it was the Kochs or one of their pals who paid for O'Keefe's video mutilations, I do not know. But goals align, so the Kochs deserve some of the credit no matter what.
