Just days after it was learned that James O'Keefe and his associate Hanna Giles will face a lawsuit from a former ACORN employee involved in O'Keefe's 2009 undercover sting video, the James Madison Institute announced that next week it will sponsor a Tampa appearance by the conservative activist/"muckraker."
O'Keefe will speak on Tues., Aug. 28 during the lunch hour at 717 South, the fine-dining establishment located on Tampa's South Howard Avenue.
Whatever else he accomplishes in his life, the 28-year-old disciple of the late Andrew Breitbart will always have a lifetime pass to RNC events after his actions posing as a pimp in 2009 helped lead to the downfall of ACORN.
The sting video he set up seemed to show its members endorsing trafficking in children, among other illegal activities. The eruption that followed ultimately led Congress to defund the organization, leading to its bankruptcy. Of course, the California State Attorney General's Office and the US Government Accountability Office later released investigative reports that told a different story. The California Attorney General's Office found that O'Keefe had misrepresented the actions of ACORN workers and that the workers had not committed illegal actions. The GAO found that ACORN had managed its federal funds appropriately.
But that was the high-water mark for the conservative sleuth. His subsequent sting operations have not gone as well.
