James O’Keefe, ‘new sheriff in town,’ targets Battleground Texas
It is fitting that Battleground Texas officials first learned that they were being targeted by James O’Keefe, the wunderkind of undercover video, thanks to a chance act of eavesdropping. It was mid-September on a New York commuter train when a passenger found himself sitting near “a weirdly familiar-looking character” conversing with a companion.
The commuter recognized the character as activist James O’Keefe, and he emailed a warning to the general Battleground Texas mailbox: “I could not hear exactly what he was talking about, but it seemed to me he kept mentioning `videography’ and `Battleground Texas.’ It was definitely him, and I wish I could give you more details but the train was pretty loud. I am sure you guys are in his sights.”
The tip was on target, and the months since have seen an elaborate cat-and-mouse game across Texas between O’Keefe’s Project Veritas and Battleground Texas, a Democratic effort to turn heavily Republican Texas into an electoral battleground.
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New video expected soon
Late last year, O’Keefe and Jones {Lawrence Jones III - age 21} turned their attention to Austin, approaching the Battleground Texas office, the office of Travis County voter registrar Bruce Elfant, and the First Unitarian Universalist Church, where every Saturday Elfant trains and deputizes deputy voter registrars who can help potential voters register – nonpartisan training that is open to anyone but has included many volunteers with Battleground Texas, which now has about 5,000 deputy voter registrars statewide.
This time, O’Keefe, Jones and a third person with a camera rolling, arrived as themselves, not undercover.
“I thought he was a college kid doing a project. He asked if I knew who he was,” recalled Elfant, a Democrat. “I didn’t know who he was. He said, ‘I’m the guy who brought down ACORN.’ They seemed disappointed that I didn’t know them.”
More at http://www.mystatesman.com/news/news/james-okeefe-new-sheriff-in-town-targets-battlegro/nc3Db/?icmp=statesman_internallink_invitationbox_apr2013_statesmanstubtomystatesmanpremium# . This lengthy article is behind the paywall at the Austin American-Statesman. Please send me a DU Mail if you would like additional details.
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