The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, has faced a flood of criticism after a series of videos from hidden cameras caught staff members giving advice about tax evasion, human smuggling and child prostitution to James E. O'Keefe and Hannah Giles, who were wearing disguises.
ACORN announced it would sue Mr. O'Keefe and others involved in the video on Thursday in Maryland District Court, charging that he recorded the staff members without their consent, which is illegal. ACORN and two former employees of its Baltimore office filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit Wednesday against the makers of a hidden-camera video that showed the employees giving tax advice to a man posing as a pimp and a woman posing as a prostitute.
The liberal activist group contends that the audio portion of the video was obtained illegally because Maryland law requires the consent of both parties to record private conversations.
The employees seen in the video, Tonja Thompson and Shera Williams, were fired after it was posted online. Thompson and Williams are plaintiffs in the lawsuit, which says they suffered "extreme emotional distress with attendant physical symptoms and injury to their reputations."
O'Keefe and Giles could not immediately be reached for comment. Asked by Fox News earlier this month about the possibility of a lawsuit, O'Keefe said, "Bring it on."
"It's not in their interest to attack me and Hannah," O'Keefe told Fox News. "If they want to equate sex trafficking of young girls with videotaping someone without their consent, that's their moral prerogative, but that just shows you how low they are."
Maryland's wiretap law is sometimes called the "Linda Tripp law." Tripp, a Maryland resident at the time, was indicted, but not prosecuted, for secretly recording telephone conversations with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky, in which they discussed Lewinsky's affair with former president Bill Clinton.
Also on Wednesday, the Internal Revenue Service announced that it would no longer include ACORN in a groups approved to offer free tax preparation.
"It is absolutely critical that taxpayers have trust in our Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program partners," said a statement from the agency. "In light of recent events, the I.R.S. has decided to terminate its relationship with Acorn."
ACORN disputed the characterization of the split, pointing out that the group sent a letter to the I.R.S. on Monday, withdrawing itself from the program for the 2009 tax season amid an internal investigation.
ACORN has fired the employees caught giving inappropriate advice in the videos and hired Scott Harshbarger, a former Massachusetts attorney general, to oversee the review. But that has not stopped the calls for investigations, especially from Republicans. Even with Democratic control of Congress, the group has lost some financing, and the Census Bureau also has cut its ties to the group.
A spokesman for the I.R.S. said that of the roughly three million individual tax returns that volunteer organizations prepared last year, ACORN had been responsible for about 25,000, fewer than 1 percent.
But Brian Kettenring, an ACORN spokesman, said the group had a substantial tax operation. "ACORN is now one of the I.R.S.'s largest free tax assistance providers, and we are disappointed that we won't be able to serve the tens of thousands of families that would look to us this coming tax season," Mr. Kettenring said. "For those that count on ACORN every day, we must look to the future."
Brietbart said he would respond with his lawyer to a request for comment. He told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday that he looked forward to a lawsuit because he expects unsavory details about ACORN to be unearthed in the discovery process.
In the video, the pair claimed they planned to employ teenage girls from El Salvador as prostitutes, and one of the ACORN employees suggested that up to three of the girls could be claimed as dependents.
O'Keefe and Giles made similar videos at ACORN offices in Washington, New York and San Diego, but the lawsuit, filed in Baltimore Circuit Court, involves only the Baltimore recording.
The lawsuit claims the video damaged ACORN's reputation and asks for injunctions barring its further broadcast or distribution. It seeks $2 million in compensatory damages - $1 million for ACORN and $500,000 for each of the two former employees - as well as $1 million in punitive damages from each of the three defendants.
Andrew D. Freeman - another attorney for ACORN, Thompson and Williams - said the former employees did not wish to comment but that the emotional distress claim, "is not an exaggeration."
"They're doing their best not to watch television. They've sort of been prisoners in their own homes," Freeman said. "While everyone, including them, agrees that some of the things they said were dumb, in Maryland we have a right to say dumb things in the privacy of our homes and offices without fear of being taped and without fear of being splashed all over the Internet."
ACORN bills itself as the nation's largest advocacy group for the poor. It started in 1970 in Arkansas and is now a national, multimillion-dollar conglomerate.
The videos sparked outrage on Capitol Hill, where the House and Senate voted last week in separate bills to deny federal funding to ACORN. The state of Maryland does not fund the group.
A community organizing group stepped up efforts to defend its tainted reputation on Wednesday, filing a lawsuit in Maryland against a conservative activist, as yet another government agency sought to distance itself from the group.
JP Bender is a retired award winning investigative reporter with 35 years experience in the profession. He now spends his retirement living in Maryland with his children and grandchildren. He still reports on issues of national interest, while his peers claim he does not fully understand the meaning of the word“retired.”
I am so glad that the underhanded dealings of a group like this is being reported. Todays media seems so afraid to say anything negative about these organazations especially the ones with close ties to Obama. Thanks for reporting facts and not policical propaganda
Acorn, Acorn, Acorn for me and you. Acorn, Acorn, another way to say "I'm screwed!" We are just so fortunate to live in a country where the general public can keep tabs on large organization and through the written / spoken word keep 'em honest. Thanks for keepin' 'em honest, Abe . . . errr, JP. (Hope you're feeling fine).
I had been hearing snippets on this incident on the news, JP. But, I never knew all of this was actually going on. Thanks for enlightening a sleepy journalist (smile).
I had heard of this case earlier and it was very interesting to learn more regarding the details. It's a shame that ACORN has turned into such an organization. I believe the origianal idea of the service was helpful. Shame on the people in management at ACORN
I am continually surprised by the amount of people who try to evade their taxes. Don't they know that AlCopone was only caught for tax evasion and fraud. You can hide many things but money and the effect of having alot of money will always show up on the IRS' radar.
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