Larger Truths
by digby
Another AG says no criminal wrongdoing:
California Attorney General Jerry Brown determined Thursday that ACORN broke no criminal laws, after reviewing videotapes that sparked a recent political firestorm.
Brown's office said it would not pursue charges against the now-defunct community organizing group. But it said ACORN engaged in inappropriate behavior that may prompt other state agencies to take a look, such as dumping 500 pages of confidential records into the trash and failing to file a state tax return.
"A few ACORN members exhibited terrible judgment and highly inappropriate behavior in videotapes obtained in the investigation," Brown said in a statement. "But they didn't commit prosecutable crimes in California."
[...]
Rather than give advice on prostituting underage girls, human trafficking and cheating on taxes, the attorney general's office found ACORN members at times caught on to the scheme and called the police in the portions of the videos that were cut.
"Sometimes a fuller truth is found on the cutting room floor," Brown said.
To obtain the full tapes, Brown's office agreed not to prosecute conservative activists James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles, who played the pimp and prostitute in the video, even though the report found they likely violated state privacy laws.
First of all, we know that O'Keefe didn't always "pose as a pimp," so the story perpetuates this false claim, which most people undoubtedly thinks means he was in those offices dressed in that ridiculous get-up --- which makes the workers look even stupider.
And by editing the tapes to only show those who went along with the ruse or simply gave dumb advice, they gave the impression that this must have been an organizational policy. If they had shown those who called the cops or tossed the two of them out of the office, it would have put the foolish ones in perspective, right? Wouldn't want to do that.
This whole episode makes me sick. It was drenched in racist stereotypes from conception and the reaction from the media and the politicians revealed more about this country than those tapes revealed about ACORN.
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