ACORN 2009 undercover videos controversy

In 2009, workers at offices of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), a non-profit organization that had been involved for nearly 40 years in voter registration, community organizing and advocacy for low- and moderate-income people, were secretly recorded by conservative activists Hannah Giles and James O'Keefe – and the videos "heavily edited" to create a misleading impression of their activities.

The edited videos were released on Fox News and the website BigGovernment.com from September into November 2009, generating extensive, negative publicity for ACORN, and leading to the U.S. Census Bureau and the IRS ending their contracts with ACORN, the U.S. Congress suspending its funding – and ACORN losing most of its private funding, despite several independent investigations that by December 2009 began to reveal no criminal activity by ACORN staff had taken place.

ACORN filed for Chapter 7 liquidation on November 2, 2010, effectively closing the organization.

Hannah Giles (born March 15, 1989) is an American conservative activist. Her father is a conservative Christian pastor, Doug Giles. She came to national attention with James O'Keefe in the United States in September 2009 as a featured player in videos they had filmed secretly in encounters at offices of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). At the time, Giles was studying journalism at Florida International University. Following the videos' release and extensive media coverage, she dropped out of college to "pursue demands to keep up with public appearances and job offers." Giles and O'Keefe spent $1,300 to accomplish what Washington Post reporters called a "Mission to Fell ACORN."

James E. O'Keefe III (born June 28, 1984) is an American conservative activist-filmmaker who came to national attention in the United States in September 2009 with the release of his ACORN undercover videos. O'Keefe worked for about a year at the Leadership Institute, led by Morton Blackwell. O'Keefe has described his politics as "progressive radical,” although media coverage and his own activities consistently paint him as a conservative. He has expressed admiration for the philosophies of British writer G.K. Chesterton and Soviet dissident writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. He has made additional secret videos since then, also found to have been heavily edited to misrepresent his subjects, or present them in the worst light. On January 26, 2010, O'Keefe was arrested with three colleagues, including Robert Flanagan, the son of the acting U.S. Attorney of the Eastern District of Louisiana, and initially charged with a federal felony for attempting to maliciously interfere with the office telephone system of U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu and to tape conversations of her and her staff. They later pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges and were given minor sentences including community service.

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