Posted on 09/12/2009 1:09:59 PM PDT by Behind Liberal Lines
James O'Keefe's foray into filmmaking may cost him a few years in the slammer.
O'Keefe and fellow conservative activist/budding investigative journalist Hannah Giles were the ones who dressed up like a pimp and a prostitute, respectively (or not), and went to the offices of the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now (ACORN) in D.C. and Baltimore looking for advice on how to buy a house.
The resulting video caused quite a commotion and resulted in the firing of four ACORN employees, as well as other repercussions for those who support the organization.
In Maryland, it's against the law to tape a person without their prior permission. It's also illegal to "willfully use or willfully disclose the content of said audio," Baltimore City State Attorney Patricia Jessamy said in a statement released late Friday.
She added: "The penalty for the unlawful interception, disclosure or use of it is a felony punishable up to five years."
The Baltimore City State Attorney's Office is investigating the matter.
IIRC this was the “law” that was used against Linda Tripp.
Re your #15:
“...Baltimore could be Ft.Sumter II “
Well, since your post seems to be still up, I guess I can respond in kind, sort of;
...Going back from Fr. Sumter a ways, I’m thinking “Bastille”. Would that fit too, D’ya think?
The only people afraid to be taped are criminals and politicians. That seems to be two subsets of the same group these days.
Apparently the dummie State Attorney hasn’t heard of Whistleblower laws.
Now we know why Maryland has that kind of law. NEED to protect the corrupt at all costs.
Is that the ACORN woman that is “so fired?”
Federal and State Laws Protect Whistleblowers
Federal and State Laws Protect Whistleblowers
When Congressional investigators were pouring over documents flowing from the wreckage of Enron, they came across a memo written by a little known executive named Sherron Watkins. The memo, written to Enron Board Chairman Ken Lay, outlined concerns that she had with the company’s accounting. After testimony before Congress and write-ups in some of the nation’s largest magazines, Watkins became one of the nation’s most famous whistleblowers.
Subsequent to the Enron debacle, Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Law which provides protections for whistleblowers like Watkins. The provisions of Sarbanes-Oxley add to a web of other federal statutes protecting whistleblowers. While some of these federal statutes are listed below, it important to note that employees may be protected by one or more statutes and therefore it is important to consult an attorney to determine one’s specific rights.
Whistleblower or Retaliation
Statute Legal Citation Statute of
Limitations Intake Agency or Judicial
Forum
Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA)
29 U.S.C. § 623(d) 180-300 days
EEOC/state employment discrimination agency; private cause of action in federal court
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
42 U.S.C. § 12203(a)
29 C.F.R. Part 1640 180-300 days
EEOC/state employment discrimination agency; private cause of action in federal court
Civil Rights Act of 1964 (”Title VII”)
42 U.S.C. § 2003(a) 180-300 days
EEOC/state employment discrimination agency; private cause of action in federal court
Clayton Act (antitrust)
15 U.S.C. § 15(a) 4 yrs-see
15
USC § 15(b) Federal District Court, generally no standing recognized for employees
Clean Air Act
42 U.S.C. § 7622
29 C.F.R. Part 24 30 days DOL/OSHA
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (”Super Fund”) 42 U.S.C. § 9610
29 C.F.R. Part 24
30 days DOL/OSHA
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)
29 U.S.C. § 1132(a), 1140 3 years Federal District Court
Energy Reorganization Act
42 U.S.C. § 5851
29 C.F.R. Part 24 180 days DOL/OSHA
Equal Pay Act
29 U.S.C. § 206(d) 2 yrs; 3 yrs
if willful violation DOL or Federal District Court
Fair Labor Standards Act (wage & hour, child labor, minimum wage, overtime)
29 U.S.C. § 215(a)(3)
29 C.F.R. Part 783 2 yrs; 3 yrs if
willful violation
DOL, Federal District Court, or state court
False Claims Act
31 U.S.C. § 3730(h) See most applicable state law for statute of limitations Federal District Court
Family and Medical Leave Act [“FMLA”] 29 U.S.C. § 2615 2 yrs; 3 yrs if
willful violation DOL, Federal District Court, or state court
National Labor Relations Act 29 U.S.C. § 158(a)(4) 6 months NLRB
Occupational Safety and Health Act 29 U.S.C. § 660(c)
29 C.F.R. Part 1977
(”Part 11(c)”) 30 days DOL/OSHA-no private cause of action
Safe Drinking Water Act 42 U.S.C. § 300j-9 30 days DOL/OSHA
Sarbanes Oxley Act 18 U.S.C. § 1514A 180 days DOL/OSHA
Solid Waste Disposal Act
42 U.S.C. § 6971
29 C.F.R. Part 24 30 days DOL/OSHA
Toxic Substances
Control Act 15 U.S.C. § 2622
29 C.F.R. Part 24 30 days DOL/OSHA
Since that prosecution is sure to happen, I guess you're the first to say: "That police officer acted STUPIDLY."
OR This:
A whistleblower is a person who publicly alleges concealed misconduct on the part of an organization or body of people, usually from within that same organization. This misconduct may be classified in many ways; for example, a violation of a law, rule, regulation and/or a direct threat to public interest, such as fraud, health/safety violations, and corruption. Whistleblowers may make their allegations internally (for example, to other people within the accused organization) or externally (to law enforcement agencies, to the media or to groups concerned with the issues).
Whistleblowers frequently face reprisal - sometimes at the hands of the organization or group which they have accused, sometimes from related organizations, and sometimes under law.
If that's the case, ACORN needs to go into the tanning business because its members are the tannest whiteys I have ever seen...
and, it seems to me that the Aporn office was a PUBLIC place...govt santioned and paid for....
we need to catch them with illegal ballots....
Good job to the young people....you stirred the pot...
Yup !
Re your #137;
Good points all, but if these tapes were obtained in violation of some law (assuming that the State could prove that they were in violation) would they then be admissible as evidence in the course of prosecution against ACORN?
Rush L. mentioned this problem the day after it broke, while Glen and Judge Napalitano were gleefully talking about all the jail time that the ACORN gang was going to get.
I hope I’m wrong, but felt at the time that Glen and the Judge might be getting prematurely optimistic about this, and predicted that the young couple would face retaliation from the left, not the least of which would be abuse of the criminal INjustice system.
I also hope I’m being paranoid here, but I am expecting the same or similar wrath of the dragon to burst forth upon them as it did upon former Border Patrol Agents Ramos and Compean, who were dragged out of bed at gunpoint in the wee hours of the morning in front of their families by a goon squad of DHS Gestapo, and spent a particularly unpleasant term of solitary confinement after one of them was nearly beaten to death (and would have been had not other inmates saved him). All the Guards apparently decided to go on break at the same time just before the attack - how convenient!
Bush, or whoever he was taking his orders from at the time, wanted to make an example of a couple of dedicated BP Agents who took their job just a little “too seriously”.
If these brave young Patriots are allowed to be locked up in a MD prison, I predict that they will be savagely beaten and gang raped at least once, and if they come out alive with a shred of sanity left intact, it will be a miracle.
Are the Prison Guards in MD SEIU Members? Wouldn’t that be another fat coincidence?
ACORN and their very powerful Gangster sycophants (like the organized Criminal Syndicate currently posing as our legitimate Constitutional “Government”) want to make an “Example” of these two, and if Angels and a lot of good Americans don’t intervene, they probably will.
And I can guaren-damn-tee you, it won’t be pretty!
I think previously proffered advice for them to go into hiding would be well accepted, as the brutality will start with the nocturnal visit from the black-suited heavily armed DHS SWAT Team. Then it will probably be all downhill from there.
Those with more courage than sense rush in where Angels and “real” Journalists fear to tread... for darned good reason!
They have poked the Dragon in his big fat raunchy A$$ and pi$$ed him off pretty well; Those who do that sort of thing are very liable to get burned... torn asunder, and/or eaten alive.
They may not have had any idea of what they were getting themselves into... but they are about to find out...
...The hard way.
These two brave, beautiful kids could well become martyrs to the cause of American Liberty.
They wouldn’t be the first, and they won’t likely be the last.
But it would sure be a flaming pity.
Holy crap! It was there earlier.....it’s been scrubbed.
OMG...that DOES look like Alfred E. Newman!!
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