As we discussed earlier, ACORN has decided to move forward with a lawsuit against the independent filmmakers who showed its employees engaged in potentially unlawful conduct. While insisting that it is terribly sorry for the actions of its employees, ACORN is pursuing the people who forced the misconduct into the open: filmmakers James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles. It is curious method of contrition but ACORN is seeking massive damages for nonconsensual surveillance.
ACORN is itself under criminal investigation in New York and experiencing a cascading impact by agencies and organizations severing ties with the organization. There is also a bill in Congress to prohibit contracts by the government with ACORN, though that bill raises serious constitutional questions.
The lawsuit, filed in Baltimore, also names Breitbart.com, which is run by conservative commentator Andrew Breitbart and posted the videos. Breitbart released five similar videos that O’Keefe and Giles recorded in ACORN offices in Washington, D.C.; Brooklyn, N.Y.; San Bernadino, Calif., and San Diego, as well as the Baltimore office.
ACORN has fired the two employees shown in the recent undercover video by filmmaker James O’Keefe of Veritas Visuals— showing the staffers advising a faux pimp and prostitute (here) on how to get federal assistance and lie on federal forms. Now, however, it is threatening legal action in what would be part of a trend of cases involving companies and organizations suing investigative reporters and filmmakers.
In this video, Four ACORN workers appear involved in potential criminal conduct:
ACORN chief organizer Bertha Lewis immediately went on the offensive and threatened legal action:
“It is clear that the videos are doctored, edited, and in no way the result of the fabricated story being portrayed by conservative activist ‘filmmaker’ O’Keefe and his partner in crime. And, in fact, a crime it was — our lawyers believe a felony — and we will be taking legal action against Fox and their co-conspirators.”
In bringing the lawsuit, ACORN joins a rather ignoble group of businesses seeking to sue journalists and filmmakers for uncovering improper conduct:
In Food Lion v. ABC , a store was shown in an undercover segment engaging in unsanitary techniques and accused Food Lion of selling rat-gnawed cheese, meat that was past its expiration date and old fish and ham that had been washed in bleach to kill the smell. Food lion denied the allegations and sued ABC for trespass. A jury ruled against ABC and awarded Food Lion punitive damages for the investigation involving ABC journalists lying on their application forms and assumed positions under false pretenses. (here). The Fourth Circuit however wiped out the punitive damage award while upholding the verdicts of trespass and breach of loyalty with awards of only $1 for each.
This case would come closest to a case out of the Seventh Circuit. Judge Richard Posner wrote the decision in Desnick v. ABCwhere investigative reporters went undercover in 1993 to show that employees of the Desnick eye clinic had tampered with the clinic’s auto-refractor, the machine used to detect cataracts so that the machine produced false diagnoses to find cataracts (and require procedures). The court rejected wiretapping claims (based on the state’s one-party consent rules) as well as trespass and defamation claims. On trespass, the court noted that the reporters were allowed into areas open to new patients. Posner relied on the consent to the entry to negate the trespass claim even when the entrant “has intentions that if known to the owner of the property would cause him . . . to revoke his consent.”
That seems quite close to the ACORN case. However, Maryland does require the consent of all parties, which is a difference with the Illinois case. They are focusing on the nonconsensual surveillance aspect. Maryland’s Courts and Judicial Proceedings Code §§ 10-402(a) and 10-410, requires two party consent to all electronic surveillance. It allows for both criminal prosecution and civil lawsuits.
ACORN attorney Arthur Schwartz insists that the videos were “clear violations of Maryland law that were intended to inflict maximum damage to the reputation of ACORN, the nation’s largest grassroots organizer of low-income and minority Americans.” Well, it didn’t seem to take much to produce this self-inflicted wound. Moreover, ACORN’s tactics have been controversial for years and the organization has been the subject of continual allegations of improper and potential criminal conduct.
For her part, while trying to destroy the filmmakers who disclosed the misconduct, Lewis insists “[w]e were just as shocked and horrified as the American public was. I will not tolerate such behavior. It is incumbent upon me and my board to set things straight.”
The decision of ACORN to aggressively pursue the filmmakers is, in my view, a mistake and evidence of continued poor judgment by the organization’s leadership. These filmmakers may be properly prosecuted under state law and such charges are being contemplated, here. However, ACORN should confine its role to that of a witness and focus on cleaning up its tarnished organization.
Unlike Koresh and J. Jones, Mr. Pasteur used his God given talents to heal and enrich the world. Sadly, the gentleman you referenced used their destructive intelligence to instill terror and murder. I know not what the “biological” acumen of Jones or Koresh was, but I suspect Pasteurs were quite “keen” for his time. Just keep diggin’ your hole judge..
Billy:
“Thats’ what I love about most attorneys, “deception” is as welcome as “truth” if a favorable verdict can be had by either….”
**************
That may be true for some, but one thing we never engage in –unlike your pious friends–is self-deception. That takes more guile.
You would do well to remember that an expertise in one field does not imply an expertise in all fields. That Pasteur was a devout Christian tells me nothing about his expertise in microbiology. It’s also worth remembering that Jim Jones and David Koresh were equally devout to their religious delusions too. Wonder how they were at microbiology?
good night gents…
Louis Pasteur was a devout Roman Catholic. He prayed his rosary daily and contemplated the priesthood, in his youth. I guess when he was busy saving the world from contaminated milk, would you have dared say he was subscribing to “fairy tales”.
I know you are a brilliant man, thats’ why I would be more impressed with you Judge, if you would only be intellectually honest with me..
Thats’ what I love about most attorneys, “deception” is as welcome as “truth” if a favorable verdict can be had by either….
Sorry, billy you’ve got the wrong reference book. I bet yours has two columns, a cheap satin page divider, and lots of text printed in red. If it’s full of fairy tales, I know what it is. Not all beliefs are worthy of reverence because not all beliefs are of equal value. Recognizing that is not bigotry, just rational criticism of those who believe things for no good reason. BTW if you define “bigotry” as being unashamedly intolerant of fools, I’ll happily wear the t-shirt. I’ll even size Buddha up too.
I love your “definitions” Judge, you make them up to conform to your value system. How convenient and clever of you…
Its’ easy to talk about the bad in anything, religion or politics, this way we can feel good about ourselves when we do wrong…..
A bigot is a person who holds a prejudice against a religious group, because their beliefs are different than yours….
No judge, it makes you a bigot, by definition…
billy:
“When you mock Christians because of there beliefs you become a bigot.”
************
Not so billy. When you mock those who institutionalize child abuse you become an advocate, not a bigot. By the way mocking silly beliefs doesn’t make one a bigot either–just rational.
billy:
“verlander just won number 17 for the Tigers.”
********************
Justin Verlander is a fine man and was a great kid when I first saw him in Little League here in Richmond. He was coached by a good friend of mine, and through high school coached by another good friend. Both had nothing but great things to say. Now there is another brother on the horizon whom I predict will do great things, too. He was on my youngest son’s AAU team and he can throw too. Professor Turley might be interested to know (also Binx101–I know you’re there) that his mother is Italian. Good ball players, those gumbahs, per Billy Martin because “they take it personal.” Here’s to taking everything important, personal!
verlander just won number 17 for the Tigers. Magic number is now 8. The twins were idle. I’m smellin World Series. Maybe they will play the Dodgers and I can get some tickets comped to me. I would love to see the Tigers at Chavez Ravine. Go Tigers, Go Blue. Go Bruins…
“their”
If you are an atheist so be it. When you mock Christians because of there beliefs you become a bigot. If you have disdain for them because they believe in God you are not only a bigot, but may in fact be evil…
Yes, I knew all along it was merely a trap to get me to declare that I’m (gasp!) an atheist. Having been raised a Catholic and attended 12 years of parochial school, however, I neither fear nor hate Catholics in general. Having been an alter boy and never in any way treated badly by a priest (other than that one who insisted on ad-libbing while you were holding a 15 pound book up at shoulder height) I know abuse was not entirely endemic. Having personal knowledge of an abuse survivor (in starkly literal terms) however, I have little sense of humor about it, or how the Catholic Church enables it still. And at least some Catholics (Bill Donohue AKA the Catholic League comes to mind) insist on defending it, and those people, I hope we can all agree, deserve great heaping gobs of scorn.
The fact you despise them, for crimes that never affected you personally, only adds to your obvious bigotry. The Nazis in world war II said the same of the Jews. They claimed that the Jewish bankers were starving all the good gentiles of northern Europe and taking the bread out of the mouths of good teutonic children. They were wrong, as you are wrong. These imaginary crimes against humanity, are just that. Somehow you feel you have a “pass” to be a bigot, because in the circles you travel in you are all “bigots”. You are as revolting as the racist you have such derision for. Who gives you the right to mock Christians and there beliefs. You are a bigot, because you hate them for there beliefs. The racist who comes clean is more respectablt to me than you, who hides behind the guise of pseudo-respectability. You are a true coward, at least be intellectually honest enough to admit you are a bigot!
I saw nothing in tmaxPA’s posts that was illogical, unreasonable or disordered.
You profess to be logical and reasonable, your argument is disordered..