Congenital Liar James O’Keefe Makes False Charges Of Illegality Against Battleground Texas

James O’Keefe has just released the latest of his long-running series of intentionally deceitful videos. In this episode O’Keefe returns to one of his favorite themes: harassing civic-minded volunteers who commit their time to registering voters and honoring America’s tradition of democracy. If there is one thing that extremist conservatives like O’Keefe hate, it’s people participating in the electoral process or helping others to do so. Especially if they are minorities, the poor, and other disenfranchised citizens.

James O'Keefe

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The new video purports to have captured illegal activity engaged in by volunteers for Battleground Texas, a local organization that promotes voter participation. O’Keefe’s hidden camera records a volunteer named Jennifer Longoria describing a part of the process for engaging voters and encouraging them to turn out on election day. Longoria explains that Battleground Texas keeps contact information gathered from the voter registration forms they collect. It is this practice of saving names and phone numbers that O’Keefe alleges is illegal.

The only problem with O’Keefe’s allegation is that it is utterly false. What O’Keefe did was to clip a portion of the Texas election code that says “The registrar may not transcribe, copy, or otherwise record a telephone number furnished on a registration application.” What he either fails to understand, or is deliberately misrepresenting, is that this section of the law applies only to the Registrar of Voters and other county officials. It does not apply to the volunteers or organizations that distribute and collect voter registration forms. In fact, the Texas Secretary of State website addresses this matter directly in their “Frequently Asked Questions” for volunteers:

Q: May I photocopy a completed application before turning it in to the county voter registrar?

A: No. Section 13.004(c-1) of the Code requires the county voter registrar to ensure that certain information, such as the telephone number, on a registration application is redacted from photocopies of voter registration applications from her office. In our opinion, this means that a photocopy of an application must come directly from the county voter registrar’s office, so that he or she may ensure the required information has been blacked out or otherwise obscured. With that said, we believe that a volunteer deputy registrar may photocopy the receipt. You may also copy the relevant information from the application in writing just as you would be able to do if you went to the registrar’s office and pulled a copy of the original application.

So actual photocopies are not allowed, but manually recording the data is expressly permitted. And that’s all that Battleground Texas is doing. The purpose of the applicable code is to prohibit confidential voter information from being published or otherwise made public by people on the government payroll who could have motive and opportunity to abuse their power. But Battleground Texas is not a government agency, nor are they publishing any of the data. Also, the information defined as confidential is specified in the code and includes things like the social security number and driver’s license number, but not the phone number.

The fact that James O’Keefe is thoroughly shredding the most basic standards of ethical journalism should not surprise anyone. His previous escapades have resulted in his arrest and conviction in a Louisiana senator’s office, and a legal order to pay a $100,000 settlement to a former ACORN employee he defamed. He himself has broken voter registration laws in a failed attempt to defend suppressive voter ID legislation. And let’s not forget his sleazy plot to seduce a CNN reporter aboard his “Love Boat,” or harassment allegations by a former associate that he tried to drug and kidnap her. His videos have been criticized by a broad array of media analysts for editing that blatantly misrepresents reality. Even Glenn Beck condemned his deceptive tactics.

However, what is truly disturbing is that, after having established a reputation as a shameless scam artist, there are still media outlets that provide a platform for his lies. Almost as soon as O’Keefe posted the new video it was picked up by Fox News on their Fox Nation website. From there it was swept up into the conservative media vortex that includes National Review, Breitbart News, WorldNetDaily, NewsBusters, FreedomWorks, The Daily Caller, Townhall, Human Events, TeaPartyOrg, and conspiracy kingpin Alex Jones’ Infowars.

Despite sensationalistic headlines about “Busted Dems,” none of these so-called news enterprises bothered to actually look into the law and ascertain whether a violation had occurred. They have simply taken the word of a known purveyor of falsehoods. That’s because their role is to distort and confuse rather than to inform. And that’s why O’Keefe can always find an outlet through the wingnut-o-sphere to peddle his phony investigations that invariably attack disadvantaged Americans and are a coordinated part of the Republican war on voting. The state of Texas has one of the lowest rates of voter participation in the nation, and O’Keefe and his GOP allies want to keep it that way.

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11 thoughts on “Congenital Liar James O’Keefe Makes False Charges Of Illegality Against Battleground Texas

  1. “Credible” is not a word used in conservative political speak, ugh?

  2. I’m sorry, but you have completely misread what the Texas Secretary of State wrote in that FAQ section.

    From the part you highlighted:

    “You may also copy the relevant information from the application in writing just as you would be able to do if you went to the registrar’s office and pulled a copy of the original application.”

    So, if you were a volunteer deputy registrar and went to the registrar’s office and pulled a copy of an application, would the phone number be available for you to copy?

    The answer is “no”, based again on the FAQ you posted:

    “…requires the county voter registrar to ensure that certain information, such as the telephone number, on a registration application is redacted from photocopies of voter registration applications from her office. In our opinion, this means that a photocopy of an application must come directly from the county voter registrar’s office, so that he or she may ensure the required information has been blacked out or otherwise obscured”

    So the answer from the SoS actually says, that they will allow organisations like the one the woman in the video worked for, to photocopy an application, but they must redact, black out, or obscure the applicants private information, including their phone number, just as the state registrar is required by law to do to protect an applicants confidential information.

    That also means that they can not transcribe any informaion from voter registration applications, that they could not transcribe from a copy they received from the state.

    Bottom line:

    It is illegal for any organisation to obtain and keep a record of phone numbers from voter registration applications PERIOD.

    • You are conflating separate parts of the text that refer to different things. Also you are ignoring other parts such as section that defines confidential data but does not list the phone number.

      You might want to ask yourself why the Republican Attorney General of Texas declined to investigate any of this when asked by reporters following the release of the video. Maybe because no laws were broken.

      • That’s another false argument I’ve been running into all day. Aparently someone over on the Democratic Underground decided to post part of the Texas Election code and leave out the part just a few sentences above that didn’t fit his or hers political agenda.

        Texax Election Code, Chapter 13, section 13.004 states:

        RECORDING AND DISCLOSURE OF CERTAIN INFORMATION BY REGISTRAR.

        (a) The registrar may not transcribe, copy, or otherwise record a telephone number furnished on a registration application.
        (b) The registrar may transcribe, copy, or otherwise record a social security number furnished on a registration application only in maintaining the accuracy of the registration records.
        (c) The following information furnished on a registration application is confidential and does not constitute public information for purposes of Chapter 552, Government Code:
        (1) a social security number;
        (2) a Texas driver’s license number;
        (3) a number of a personal identification card issued by the Department of Public Safety;
        (4) an indication that an applicant is interested in working as an election judge; or…

        So you see Mark, the law couldn’t be any more clear.

        Also, the last I heard, the Lt. Gov of Texas was in fact investigating this issue… Of course things may have changed or I could be mistaken, but the one thing I am not mistaken about, is the fact that laws were in fact broken.

        Now what was it you were saying again Mark, about me “conflating seperate parts of the text?”

        Texas Election Code

        • Yep, you’re still doing it. The code proscribing permissible behavior for “the Registrar” does not apply to volunteers who sign people up to vote. That’s why section (c) of what you quoted is separate from sections (a) and (b).

          And the right-wing Lt. Governor Dewhurst (also known as the guy who lost the GOP primary to Ted Cruz) has no authority to conduct legal investigations. His involvement, if any, can only be political.

          It is more notable that the AG (also a conservative Republican), who’s job it is to carry out the law, isn’t even investigating.

          Give it up, dude. Your defense of scumbag James O’Keefe is lame and in vain. His record, which I summarized above, is that of an unrepentant liar, and this affair is just another of his partisan smear jobs.

          • The law applies to “registrars” and there is no legal exception stated anywhere in Texas law for volunteer registrars. If I’m wrong, then please link me to the statute.

            There was a specific reason behind the Secretary of State addressing that question in the Q&A section in first place. She did so for the benefit of people like yourself who might not understand that privacy laws apply across the board, meaning that the collection of people’s private information is not permissable by anyone.

            What could possibly lead you to believe in the first place, that when a person fills out a voter registration form, that their legal right to the privacy and confidentiality of their personal information, only applies selectively? Does that really make any sense to you at all?

          • And btw, I have not defended James O’Keefe or anyone here… All I have done is defend the law and people’s privacy rights.

  3. Wow… I can’t believe you haven’t taken down that post… I know if I had misread that letter the way you did, I would have removed it not only because it’s the honest, right thing to do, but also because of the embarrasment.

    Politics must really mean a lot to you, to allow your name to continued to be tied to such an embarrasing display of reading comprehention skills.

    • Wow… I can’t believe you still cling to the utterly absurd and unfounded interpretations of the law that you’ve posted here, even after I debunked them.

      Your fantasy world must really mean a lot to you. And your projection re: comprehension skills is hilarious.

      • Do you understand the difference between a “Receipt” and an “Application?”

        A Receipt:
        That is what the people who sign members of the public up to vote, give the person who just sign up. It’s so the people who have registered to vote through organizations like the one that woman on the video works at, can prove to the state that they have in fact registered to vote. It’s proof they submitted their application through a licensed 3rd party organization

        An Application:
        That is official state form that members of the public fill out, wich includes their personal and private information, so they can be approved by the state to vote on election day.

        Now read the part of that Q&A that YOU highlighted… It says that a volunteer deputy registrar may photocopy the receipt and also says they may copy the relevant information from the application in writing.

        Now here’s the part that just seems to fly right over your head… A volunteer deputy registrar may copy the information off an application just as they would be able to do if you went to the registrar’s office and pulled a copy of the original application.

        What does the first sentence of that reply state about copies of applications at the registrars office?

        It says the Code requires the county voter registrar to ensure that certain information, such as the telephone number, on a registration application is redacted from photocopies of voter registration applications from her office Si if you can’t get it from the Registrars office, you can’t have it

        So I guess the ball is in your court… You either choose politics and stand by a lie… Or you choose honesty, and correct your error. Having a dozen years of dealing with folks like you under my belt, I know what I’m betting on… Let’s just say that it’s been my experience with similar minded people, that politics wins over honesty 99% of the time.

        • Well, I can say one thing for you – you’re persistent. And persistently obtuse. You are the one who is predictably political and stuck in your myopic and wrong-headed interpretation.

          This is going nowhere, so it ends here.

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