# ACORN "pimp" arrested for illegally accessing Senate office; tampering with phone system **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 26, 2010, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acorn-pimp-arrested-for-illegally-accessing-senate-office-tampering-with-phone-system/526586 "2010-01-26T23:13:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acorn-pimp-arrested-for-illegally-accessing-senate-office-tampering-with-phone-system/526586/161 "2010-06-02T13:25:25Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > I cannot imagine how he could be convicted of any crime for the timesheet hours, since he has \*\*proof \*\*he was directed to fill out the timesheet the way he did, and brought his concerns to at least three different people, all in the supervisory chain, with at least one in writing. (bolding mine) **Bricker** , given this guy’s past actions, are you willing to accept \*anything \*he says or shows on video as **proof** of anything? ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acorn-pimp-arrested-for-illegally-accessing-senate-office-tampering-with-phone-system/526586/162 "2010-06-02T13:35:10Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > So with that canard out of the way … no concerns at all about the apparent systemic practice of overpaying workers? IIRC, it was a bunch of Tea Partiers and Republicans who were so adamantly against giving the Census Bureau any information when they received their Census forms in the mail. ISTM, those are the people who are responsible for any and all costs incurred in sending out enumerators to their homes. If they are upset about this, they have nobody to blame but themselves. As for the video and accusation, they are clearly edited and Mr. O’Keefe really doesn’t have much credibility at this point. Who knows what really went down? As to timesheet fraud, what are you going to do: send a supervisor with every enumerator to make sure the hours reported are factual? How about just nip it in the bud the fiscally responsible way and fill out your freakin’ forms in full? I did. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acorn-pimp-arrested-for-illegally-accessing-senate-office-tampering-with-phone-system/526586/163 "2010-06-02T14:07:26Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I’m not buying _anything_ this little dipshit sells, considering his practice of deceptively editing footage. > [@Lightnin](#): > > **Bricker** , given this guy’s past actions, are you willing to accept \*anything \*he says or shows on video as **proof** of anything? Therein lies the problem – there’s simply no way to take **any** evidence he might present (given that he faked a video, the default assumption must be that he is equally willing to forge documents, etc) seriously. He might as well be reporting that the Census is illegally counting grey aliens from Zeta Reticuli. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acorn-pimp-arrested-for-illegally-accessing-senate-office-tampering-with-phone-system/526586/164 "2010-06-02T14:17:50Z")
> [@Lightnin](#): > > (bolding mine) > > **Bricker** , given this guy’s past actions, are you willing to accept \*anything \*he says or shows on video as **proof** of anything? If it were his alone…? No. But when his evidence is consistent with other “[exposés](http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/two_more_census_workers_blow_the_OqY80N3DBTvL17VmxKKR0O)” and [complaints](http://www.allgov.com/Where_is_the_Money_Going/ViewNews/10000_Census_Workers_were_Paid_to_do_Nothing_100219), I give more credence to [the subject](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/16/AR2010021605479.html). ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acorn-pimp-arrested-for-illegally-accessing-senate-office-tampering-with-phone-system/526586/165 "2010-06-02T14:19:13Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > Therein lies the problem – there’s simply no way to take **any** evidence he might present (given that he faked a video, the default assumption must be that he is equally willing to forge documents, etc) seriously. He might as well be reporting that the Census is illegally counting grey aliens from Zeta Reticuli. Seriously – on this issue, do you believe he faked anything substantive? Or let me ask it another way – do you believe that what he reported is something that actually happens? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acorn-pimp-arrested-for-illegally-accessing-senate-office-tampering-with-phone-system/526586/166 "2010-06-02T14:39:36Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > If it were his alone…? No. But when his evidence is consistent with other “[exposés](http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/two_more_census_workers_blow_the_OqY80N3DBTvL17VmxKKR0O)” and [complaints](http://www.allgov.com/Where_is_the_Money_Going/ViewNews/10000_Census_Workers_were_Paid_to_do_Nothing_100219), I give more credence to [the subject](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/16/AR2010021605479.html). In what sense is his evidence consistent with any of that? Census workers were paid for training, and some of them quit, and somehow that’s a scandal? > [@](#): > > Seriously – on this issue, do you believe he faked anything substantive? > > Or let me ask it another way – do you believe that what he reported is something that actually happens? For all I know, he may be telling the purest truth. It doesn’t matter; he has no credibilty. You might as well ask if I think Baghdad Bob occasionally told the truth. For the record, I’m sure there is waste in the Census Bureau. There’s waste in _every_ agency, private and public - and one which has to hire a million temporary workers in a matter of weeks can hardly be expected to be less wasteful than others. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acorn-pimp-arrested-for-illegally-accessing-senate-office-tampering-with-phone-system/526586/167 "2010-06-02T14:44:36Z")
I think that what he reported has segments of reality attached. Sadly, I can not say that the segments are tied together in any meaningful manner. Further, thanks to his drawing attention to himself, he may be prosecuted for an offense that would not be prosecuted in other circumstances. I think it can be established he did not honestly intend to perform census duties, and I have no idea what sort of oaths he may or may not have taken prior to training that he may have broken. Or what offenses he may have committed video taping a federal official, and so on, and so on. Perhaps he did not fully disclose his felony charges. I don’t know, but I do know he’s on probation, has essentially given the middle finger to the judge who let him off, and that’s just never a _wise_ thing at all. If it is possible for him to be screwed by this, I’m fairly sure he will be. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acorn-pimp-arrested-for-illegally-accessing-senate-office-tampering-with-phone-system/526586/168 "2010-06-02T15:10:02Z")
It looks like it was probably illegal for him to tape the trainings as well. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acorn-pimp-arrested-for-illegally-accessing-senate-office-tampering-with-phone-system/526586/169 "2010-06-02T15:12:14Z")
Census-gate! I call it! It’s mine! Ok. So some census workers got an extra $18 in their paycheck and 40 extra minutes on their lunch break. Stop the fucking presses. What really cracks me up is that if this yahoo had run the same scam under George W, or Clinton, or Bush I, or Reagan, or Carter, or Ford, or Nixon, … {snipped for brevity} … or John Q, or Monroe, or Madison, or Jefferson, or Adams I, or Washington, he would have found the same level of government waste. It’s just a frickin’ miracle that the country didn’t collapse down around itself 200 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acorn-pimp-arrested-for-illegally-accessing-senate-office-tampering-with-phone-system/526586/170 "2010-06-02T15:15:15Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > It looks like it was probably illegal for him to tape the trainings as well. How so? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acorn-pimp-arrested-for-illegally-accessing-senate-office-tampering-with-phone-system/526586/171 "2010-06-02T15:23:42Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > Census-gate! I call it! It’s mine! > > Ok. So some census workers got an extra $18 in their paycheck and 40 extra minutes on their lunch break. Stop the fucking presses. Okay, except that’s far more illegal activity than ACORN ever committed, right? **Bricker** , you lost this one long ago, okay, Sport? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acorn-pimp-arrested-for-illegally-accessing-senate-office-tampering-with-phone-system/526586/172 "2010-06-02T15:23:48Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > How so? [Commerce Department regs on monitoring conversations](http://www.osec.doc.gov/omo/dmp/daos/dao207_9.html): > [@](#): > > SECTION 2. POLICY. > > Except as provided in Section 4 of this Order, under no circumstances shall a Department officer or employee in the course of his official duties use electronic or mechanical devices secretly to overhear, transmit or record telephonic and oral non-telephonic communications. In keeping with this policy, the Department shall not own, lease, or otherwise have possession of, and it is further forbidden for any officer or employee of this Department to have in his possession or under his control at any time in connection with his official duties, any device or equipment designed or commonly utilized for secret monitoring, transmission or recording of conversations, except as provided in Section 4 of this Order. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acorn-pimp-arrested-for-illegally-accessing-senate-office-tampering-with-phone-system/526586/173 "2010-06-02T15:25:16Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > How so? [This](http://www.osec.doc.gov/omo/dmp/daos/dao207_9.html) > [@](#): > > Except as provided in Section 4 of this Order, under no circumstances shall a Department officer or employee in the course of his official duties use electronic or mechanical devices secretly to overhear, transmit or record telephonic and oral non-telephonic communications. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acorn-pimp-arrested-for-illegally-accessing-senate-office-tampering-with-phone-system/526586/174 "2010-06-02T15:25:48Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > do you believe that what he reported is something that actually happens? “Wolf! Wolf! Are you denying that wolf attacks are something that actually happen?” ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acorn-pimp-arrested-for-illegally-accessing-senate-office-tampering-with-phone-system/526586/175 "2010-06-02T15:31:36Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > It looks like it was probably illegal for him to tape the trainings as well. It was a violation of Commerce Department regulations, but not necessarily _illegal_, per se. The regulation probably does not have criminal penalties attached. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acorn-pimp-arrested-for-illegally-accessing-senate-office-tampering-with-phone-system/526586/176 "2010-06-02T15:34:39Z")
> [@Gangster\_Octopus](#): > > [This](http://www.osec.doc.gov/omo/dmp/daos/dao207_9.html) That is a policy promulgated by the Commerce Department. Violation of it may cause the Commerce Department employee to be terminated. Is that what you meant by “illegal?” ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acorn-pimp-arrested-for-illegally-accessing-senate-office-tampering-with-phone-system/526586/177 "2010-06-02T15:46:11Z")
Oh, well that just makes it fine and dandy then. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acorn-pimp-arrested-for-illegally-accessing-senate-office-tampering-with-phone-system/526586/178 "2010-06-02T15:54:00Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > That is a policy promulgated by the Commerce Department. Violation of it may cause the Commerce Department employee to be terminated. > > Is that what you meant by “illegal?” True, not illegal, what about the fact that he lied on his application about never working for the Census before? Or the fact that he accepted the job under false pretenses with no intention of completeing the work? The bottom line is the guy is on parole, he is a convicted criminal, a known liar, a grandstanding charlatan who goes fishing at the bottom rungs of these organizations hopin he can find an unscrupulous employee or at least to edit to make look unscrupulous. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acorn-pimp-arrested-for-illegally-accessing-senate-office-tampering-with-phone-system/526586/179 "2010-06-02T15:55:20Z")
Judge: “Thank you Mr. O’Keefe for bringing to the attention of this court the fact that it is possible for temporary census workers to defraud the government . You can be assured that the courts will deal with those who defraud the government very harshly, in order to send a message. That will be 10 years in Federal Prison for you. Next case.” ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acorn-pimp-arrested-for-illegally-accessing-senate-office-tampering-with-phone-system/526586/180 "2010-06-02T16:16:15Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > Judge: “Thank you Mr. O’Keefe for bringing to the attention of this court the fact that it is possible for temporary census workers to defraud the government . You can be assured that the courts will deal with those who defraud the government very harshly, in order to send a message. That will be 10 years in Federal Prison for you. Next case.” Or he could be lucky and get the same judge he did this last time, who will probably congratulate him for using his talents to expose government scandal, pat him on the bottom and send him on his way. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acorn-pimp-arrested-for-illegally-accessing-senate-office-tampering-with-phone-system/526586.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acorn-pimp-arrested-for-illegally-accessing-senate-office-tampering-with-phone-system/526586.md?page=10)