Basel, J

=

Conservative activist James O'Keefe plotted a potential voter

fraud sting of the Service Employees International Union in 2010 in

Massachusetts — a sting that, had it been carried out, could have been

funded by Rick Santorum patron Foster Friess.

The plot is elaborated on and eventually ruled out in an email chain started by conservative writer John

Fund, who emailed Republican National Lawyers Association executive

director Michael Thielen that the union was "contracting for buses on

election day."

"If you're black or brown they'll rope you in and take you to the

polls, registration can be worked out," Fund wrote, per his "Boston

source." His email was forwarded on to others, forming the basis for the

plans.

The email exchange, parts of which may be missing, is below. Read

from the bottom. The last email is from James O'Keefe to associates Stan

Dai and Nadia Naffe, who later filed harassment charges against O'Keefe.

Others on the

thread include Heather Higgins, the founder of the conservative

Independent Women's Voice and the late Andrew Breitbart.

Naffe told BuzzFeed she flew to Boston to investigate, but that

they never uncovered anything of interest and the project fizzled.

From: "James E. O'Keefe III" Date: January 13, 2010 12:21:54 PM EST

To: xxxxxxx@gmail.com, xxxxxx@aol.com Subject: Fwd: brainstorm of sorts,

here - far-fetched? Maybe not?...

Your thoughts Nadia?

---------- Forwarded message ----------From: Heather Higgins Date:

Wednesday, January 13, 2010 Subject: Re: brainstorm of sorts, here -

far-fetched? Maybe not?... To: Steve Friess , James O'Keefe

xxxxxxxxxx@gmail.com, Andrew Breitbart Cc: Foster Friess

Andrew and James, I'm forwarding what could be a very clever idea from Steve Friess

in response to the intel below from John Fund re SEIU's intentions in

Tuesday's election in MA. Don't know what it would cost, but you all

should talk.

Warmest regards -Heather Higgins

On Wed, Jan 13, 2010 at 12:25 AM, Steve Friess wrote:

Wouldn't it be great if a "ACORN sting video" could be produced about these busses?

Dad - maybe bounce this off Breitbart?

Some black /Latina conservatives could be wired for video, and get

picked up on one of these busses, and show what goes on. My guess -they

are offering cash, (which I am pretty sure is illegal), and I also would

wager that at least some of these busses are making more than one stop

with the same people - ie getting them to vote twice -though I don't

know the mechanics of that.

Perhaps some private detective types would be needed to help track

down the busses, and a block or two ahead of them to drop our cameramen

off...

Too much to dream? Imagine pulling this off - legal / image problems

for SEIU would be a good thing... think there's upside to this?

Brietbart would know, and Fund would know - 'if we catch them doing

X, it could mean Y' - I just don't know what the stakes are...

On Jan 12, 2010, at 12:46 PM, Heather Higgins wrote:

Foster --See below from John Fund re SEIU -Acorn is in MA as well. It

would be hugely helpful if you would assist with our non-glamorous but

highly effective GOTV effort. If you could possibly let me know today,

that would be helpful to our planning. This is such a great opportunity

for making trouble in the best sort of way - I hope you can help us

really capitalize on it.

Many thanks, Heather

-------- Original Message --------Subject: FW: John Batchelor From:

"Fund, John" Date: Tue, January 12, 2010 8:25 am To: 'Michael Thielen'

Tip from Boston source (normally reliable)

Seiu contracting for buses on election day and heading to roxbury,

mattapan, roslindale and jamaica plain. If you're black or brown they'll

rope you in and take you to the polls, registration can be worked out.

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

</blockquote>

In the next installment, O'Keefe, who appears to have contacted Fund at this point, starts setting up

From: "James E. O'Keefe III" > Date: January 13, 2010 4:16:14 PM

EST> To: "mikeroman.com" > Subject: Re: ACORN videos / seiu /

election>> what time zone are you in. I'm assuming you mean 8Est.

That works.> I'm 201-637-0564>> On Wed, Jan 13, 2010 at 1:10

PM, mikeroman.com wrote:>>>> Have time to talk around

8?>>>>>> On Jan 13, 2010, at 3:41 PM, James E. O'Keefe

III wrote:>>>> > Mike,>> >>> > Got

your info from John Fund.>> > I was the producer of the ACORN

Videos>> > Would like to know whereabouts of the busses in

Boston SEIU, et al are using in order to bus people in to vote in the

Tuesday special election.>> > Thinking about sending some

undercover folks up there.>> >>> > James

</blockquote>

Then O'Keefe proposed sending Nadia Naffe up to Boston:

From: "James E. O'Keefe III"

Date: January 14, 2010 11:10:49 PM EST

To: xxxxxxx@aol.com

Cc: Stan Dai

Subject: Boston

Nadia,

We're willing to book you a plane ticket to Boston to get some footage from the SEIU busses.

Joe will be joining you taking care of logistics/equipment--- but i'll be in new orleans causing trouble.

im confident your training will take you far.

Interested in making some more video history?

James

</blockquote>

A couple days later, O'Keefe has booked travel for Naffe, who was to

do the operation. This email included an Orbitz booking confirmation:

From: "James E. O'Keefe III" > Date: January 15, 2010 2:46:09 PM

EST> To: nknaffe@aol.com, Stan Dai , Joe Basel > Subject: Fwd:

Travel Document - Boston 1/18/10>> Nadia,>> here's what I

could come up with- one stop but its along the way - no 12 hour flights,

more like 4-5 hour flight.> leaving tampa mon at noon> leaving

boston wed at 2pm so you can sleep.>> keep in mind Wed morning is

for additional work - if the polls are continuing if its close..>>

I'll also get you a hotel room for the mon night - Joe is flying in

overnight from San Francisco and arrives at 6:30am.>> Joe will be

picking you up shortly thereafter. But you will have to wake up around 7

on tuesday - your country needs you.>> More details to

follow.> James

</blockquote>

He also set up a place for her and Joe Basel, one of the men later

arrested with him after the Senator Landrieu affair, to stay in Boston

(Naffe and Basel are copied on the email):

From: "James E. O'Keefe III"

Date: January 16, 2010 10:59:14 PM EST

To: Amy Contrada

Cc: xxxxxx@aol.com, Joe Basel

Subject: Boston election day,

Amy,

Two of my collegues are coming to Boston to infilrate the SEIU on election day. One of them is a female.

Would you be able to put them her up Monday night?

James

</blockquote>

The video from the trip, if it was ever made, was never published.

"I believe there was discussion of doing something but O'Keefe's

office will tell you nothing was done," said Fund, reached by email.

"This is a classic example of someone trying to breath life into a three-year old dead horse," said Fund.

He said that other reporters had contacted him about it in the past

and that some "pointed out the email thread looked truncated and

edited." .

Reached by email, Naffe said the emails were authentic: "Fund and

Steve Friess, the son of billionaire Foster Friess, introduced the idea

to O'keefe that SEIU would fraudulently register anyone with brown skin

to vote."

"James flew me out to Boston to find the SEIU busses, just days after

that email was sent," Naffe said. She claimed that "Congressman Steve

King from Iowa was waiting at the hotel when we arrived to take us to

dinner. He gave us a pep talk about illegal voting."

"O'keefe has the footage, though I'm doubtful he would share any of

it. Since, he was arrested a week later in New Orleans while attempting

to wire tap Senator Mary Landrieu," Naffe said.

O'Keefe didn't respond to a request for comment.

Update: Fund emailed to say that he thinks his original email was

altered: "I maintain the email was edited to take out the fact I was

referring to what someone told me might be happening and that I was

asking a source (whom I have quoted in the past) if they had heard

anything about it."

He also wished to clarify that he did not personally tip O'Keefe to the busing. That has been reflected above.

</div>

=== liberal St. Louis blogger passes on this <a rel="nofollow noreferrer" target="blank" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VW_x3frSEmg" class="css-1l5qyix e1g3beu90">November 29, 2009 </a>video of James O’Keefe and Joseph Basel — who would be <a rel="nofollow noreferrer" target="blank" href="https://washingtonindependent.com/74832/acorn-investigator-james-okeefe-arrested/" class="css-1l5qyix e1g3beu90">arrested two months later</a> for a still-mysterious hidden camera operation they attempted in the New Orleans office of Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.).Blogger Adam Shriver <a rel="nofollow noreferrer" target="_blank" href="http://stlactivisthub.blogspot.com/2010/02/newsflash-james-okeefe-is-not-nice.html" class="css-1l5qyix e1g3beu90">argues</a>

that the video reveals the activists to be “jerks” who moved

conspiratorially around a rally protesting the Catholic Church’s

donations to an anti-gay marriage initiative. I’m just wondering what

Basel was doing there. We know that O’Keefe was in St. Louis <a rel="nofollow noreferrer" target="_blank" href="http://thedanashow.wordpress.com/2009/11/29/letting-off-steam-the-st-louis-tea-party-1128/" class="css-1l5qyix e1g3beu90">on November 28</a>

to speak at a Tea Party rally. But here we see O’Keefe and Basel

working together — on an apparently unsuccessful project — long before

New Orleans.===As Media Matters' Eric Hananoki noted, O'Keefe's <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/201001260052" title="http://mediamatters.org/blog/201001260052">three alleged accomplices</a> -- Joseph Basel, Robert Flanagan, and Stan Dai -- are right-wing activists as well. Basel was the founder of a conservative campus publication at the University of Minnesota-Morris, which, like the campus publication started by O'Keefe at Rutgers University, received funding from the conservative Leadership Institute's "Balance in Media" grant. Flanagan, the son of acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana William Flanagan, reportedly <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/201001260060" title="http://mediamatters.org/blog/201001260060">works</a> at the conservative Pelican Institute in New Orleans, just half a block from Landrieu's office. Dai received $5,000 from the right-wing Phillips Foundation's Ronald Reagan Future Leaders Scholarship Program. Additionally, during his time as a campus conservative, Dai reportedly co-wrote "a satirical work entitled The Penis Monologues, apparently a takeoff on the Vagina Monologues."

All 4 men were welcomed as rock stars at last week's CPAC.

---

https://www.mediamatters.org/james-okeefe/okeefes-three-alleged-accomplices-conservative-activists-dai-basel-and-flanagan

yesterday, conservative activist James O'Keefe was <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2010/01/26/okeefe-reportedly-arrested-by-fbi-in-alleged-pl/159556">arrested</a> for allegedly <a href="http://neworleans.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel10/no012610.htm">plotting</a> "to wiretap Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu's office in downtown New Orleans." O'Keefe was arrested along with Stan Dai, Joseph Basel and Robert Flanagan. Here's a look at who O'Keefe's alleged accomplices appear to be:

<h3>Joseph Basel</h3>

College conservative. CampusReform.org's Adam Weinberg <a href="http://rutgers-newbrunswick.campusreform.org/group/80/blog/campusreformorg-interview-with-james-okeefe">wrote</a> that "O'Keefe became the founding editor of <a href="http://rucenturion.com/home.html">The Centurion</a> at Rutgers. Around the same time, frustrated conservative student Joe Basel started <a href="http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&gid=2203395620">The Counterweight</a> at the University of Minnesota-Morris. Both papers were started with assistance from the <a href="http://www.campusreform.org/contact">Leadership Institute 'Balance in Media' grant</a>, which is still available for students starting conservative and libertarian campus publications today."

Basel was interviewed with O'Keefe for the January 14 article. Weinberg writes of O'Keefe and Basel: "To protect their ongoing investigations, I can't say exactly when or where the interview was conducted."

In the interview, Basel states of the origin of his conservative activism: "Once I got to that liberal of a university they basically pushed me to it. It was more in response to their hegemony on campus." Basel also describes his style of journalism:

Basel: I guess I wouldn't call it activist journalism either. I think the only real agenda with what I did at the University of Minnesota was to pursue truth and to hold the administrators and hold the professors' feet to the fire. To hold them accountable for what they were getting away with, what they were doing in the classroom and out of the classroom, in the community.

So, I think if you just make your agenda the truth or a fair chance at the truth on campus, you'd be surprised what falls in your lap if you work hard and keep doing it.

</blockquote>

A Twitter <a href="http://twitter.com/JEBasel">account</a> ("JEBasel") for "Joseph E Basel" lists just two tweets (last made on December 18) and shows JEBasel <a href="http://twitter.com/JEBasel/following?page=1322445565262032393">following</a> Andrew Breitbart and James O'Keefe.

<h3>Robert Flanagan</h3>

According to <a href="http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&ct2=us%2F0_0_s_2_0_t&usg=AFQjCNGRGHPvAvkZUYji0r0-2slMZJ7wHw&sig2=rRJyF_TmyO7hHgma74uUmw&cid=8797492636242&ei=hWxfS9COKuCclQfPgPSEAQ&rt=SEARCH&vm=STANDARD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fcontent.usatoday.com%2Fcommunities%2Fondeadline%25">several</a> <a href="http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&ct2=us%2F0_0_s_0_0_t&usg=AFQjCNF3LX5cr1351KZfZqGNkLCYGwsu0Q&sig2=f53BXdYo_hM-NyjL7ppPmA&cid=8797492636242&ei=hWxfS9COKuCclQfPgPSEAQ&rt=SEARCH&vm=STANDARD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.npr.org%2Fblogs%2Fpoliticaljunkie%2F2010%2F0">media</a> <a href="http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/01/26/four-men-charged-with-senate-office-infiltration/">outlets</a>, Robert Flanagan is "the son of William Flanagan, the <a href="http://www.justice.gov/usao/law/aboutus/history.html">acting</a> U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana." The Times-Picayune <a href="http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2010/01/acorn_gotcha_man_arrested_for.html">reported</a> that "Robert Flanagan's attorney, J. Garrison Jordan, said he believes his client works for the Pelican Institute."

Robert Flanagan is a <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&hs=QXu&q=+site:www.thepelicanpost.org+%22Robert+Flanagan%22+pelican+post&ei=GG5fS_TWKIzRlAf22OHYCw&sa=X&oi=manybox&resnum=2&ct=all-results&ved=0CAIQqAQwAg">frequent blogger</a> for The Pelican Post, where he has <a href="http://www.thepelicanpost.org/?p=247">written</a> <a href="http://www.thepelicanpost.org/?p=449">about</a> Landrieu. The Pelican Post is the <a href="http://www.thepelicanpost.org/?page_id=2">blog</a> of The Pelican Institute for Public Policy, "a non-profit research and education institution that conducts scholarly research and analysis of Louisiana public policy. The Institute's mission is to advance sound policies based on the principles of free enterprise, individual liberty, and limited government."

<h3>Stan Dai

</h3>

A "Stan Dai" is based in the Washington D.C. area and has frequently been involved in conservative causes.

College conservative. In 2005, The Phillips Foundation <a href="http://www.thephillipsfoundation.org/index.php?q=node/23387">awarded</a> Dai a $5,000 scholarship under its Ronald Reagan Future Leaders Scholarship Program and cited his work on conservative causes. From the foundation's 2005 <a href="http://www.thephillipsfoundation.org/index.php?q=node/20">biography</a> of Dai:

STAN DAI, Lisle, Ill., attends The George Washington University majoring in Political Science. He is editor-in-chief of The GW Patriot, an alternative conservative student newspaper, a Club 100 Activist of Young America's Foundation, and an Undergraduate Fellow on Terrorism of the Foundation for the Defense of the Democracies. He is co-founder of GW's Students Defending Democracy, a volunteer on several political campaigns, and active in the GW College Republicans and GW Colonials for Life. He was a 2003 Honorable Mention in the U.S. Institute of Peace Essay Contest.

</blockquote>

Freelance consultant, former assistant director for intelligence center. According to a <a href="http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:YTF9E_m3P6UJ:www.jsa.org/georgetown/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/june-23-24-2009-agenda-packets.pdf+Young+America%E2%80%99s+Foundation+stan+dai&hl=en&gl=us&sig=AHIEtbQNR6D_fJbB6nJrDPejV30gzoVQLw">packet</a> provided for the <a href="http://www.jsa.org/">Junior Statesmen</a> Summer School speakers program, Dai is currently a "Freelance consultant" after previously <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&hs=byZ&q=site%3Awww.trinitydc.edu+Dai&aq=f&aql=&aqi=&oq=">serving</a> as "the first Assistant Director of the Intelligence Community Center of Academic Excellence at Trinity in D.C."

The Intelligence Community Center of Academic Excellence states that it "prepares students for careers in intelligence. Its curriculum develops the skills relevant to intelligence community careers, while also allowing students to pursue the major of their choice." In 2008, the Junior State of America podcast <a href="http://jsacast.podomatic.com/">wrote</a> of Dai's background:

Stan Dai is the Assistant Director of Trinity's Intelligence Community Center of Academic Excellence in DC. He was formerly the Assistant Operations Officer at a Department of Defense irregular warfare fellowship program and a Fellow on Terrorism at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. Stan graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the George Washington University.

Stan's main interest is the intersection of political mass movements, culture, and violence. He has discussed these topics as a guest lecturer at the George Washington University and on media outlets including C-SPAN's Washington Journal and Voice of America.

Stan has been involved in JSA since 2001: after attending summer school at Yale, he founded the JSA chapter at Naperville North, served in various Midwest region positions, and was a resident assistant at Georgetown.

</blockquote>

Majikthise blogger Lindsay Beyerstein further <a href="http://majikthise.typepad.com/majikthise_/2010/01/is-this-the-same-stan-dai-.html?cid=6a00d8341c61e653ef0120a813e410970b">wrote</a> of Dai:

In college, Stan Dai co-wrote a satirical work entitled <a href="http://74.125.93.132/search?q=cache:nG5622o9lDYJ:www.gwumc.edu/cahh/pdf/gw_patriot_bieber.pdf+gw+patriot+stan+dai&cd=8&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a">The Penis Monologues</a>, apparently a takeoff on the Vagina Monologues. Here's a taste:

</blockquote>

My Angry Penis

MY PENIS IS ANGRY!!!!!!! You want to know what happened to my penis? Joan happened to my penis! There I was, sleeping peacefully when Joan stormed in and dragged me out for "an educational program." I thought was going to see Mr. Rogers! But nooooooo! It turned out to be the "Whine-gina Monologues!"

</blockquote>