Hannah Giles
Hannah Giles is a 20 year old journalism student who became interested in what she describes as "exposing social injustice and abuse of power" when she attended a conference in Washington, D.C. in 2007. She is currently studying journalism at Florida International University and is a columnist for BigGovernment.com.
ACORN video controversy
In 2009, Hannah Giles collaborated with James O'Keefe in a series of undercover videotapes that found several employees willing to foster illegal or immoral activities. Ms. Giles has been lauded by conservative commentators for what they characterized as a series of investigative encounters with staff at the "prominent" community organization. Giles conceived of, and with her partner O'Keefe, implemented an investigation that revealed unethical behavior at ACORN offices in five locations: Baltimore, Washington, DC, Brooklyn, San Bernardino and San Diego.
Giles conceived of this scheme during a summer jog. While being interviewed by Sean Hannity of FoxNews, she said:
It's amazing what girls think about when they are jogging. And that was just something that popped into my head. I had never seen an ACORN office, I really didn't even know that they existed and I jogged into the wrong part of town, saw some homeless people and street ladies and I put two and two together when I turned around to get back into a safe neighborhood.
And it's like — what if these people went into ACORN — a prostitute and what would come from that? No bills, no nothing — would they get a house? Could they start a business? So we put it to the test."
Giles and O'Keefe met when she called him to discuss her idea and suggested that together the two portray the prostitute and her pimp. The two spent $1300 on the investigation.
As a direct consequence of these videotapes, ACORN's relationship with the U.S. Census Bureau and IRS were terminated. In addition, bipartisan legislative action is now underway to bar ACORN from receiving funds from the U.S. government and at least one real criminal probe has been launched. In September 2009, ACORN announced that it had suspended advising new clients pending an audit of its activities.
Just after the first video was made public, Baltimore City State's Attorney Patricia Jessamy released a statement indicating that the filming that occurred in the Baltimore office may have been obtained illegally and that at least O'Keefe may face legal action. On September 23, 2009, ACORN filed suit in a Baltimore court against O'Keefe and Giles, and further stated intent to file against Breitbart.com and Fox News for posting and airing the videos. The suit alleges that the videos were obtained illegally in violation of the privacy rights of the workers.
Reception
For her work on the ACORN videos, Hannah Giles has been called an "American hero" by Glenn Beck. James Rainey, writing for the LA Times, said Giles had "abundant chutzpah and guile." According to one editorial favorably comparing her exploits to that of the traditional media:
Joe Conason labeled Giles and O'Keefe's effort as "highly exaggerated and even falsified to create demonic image".
ACORN video controversy
In 2009, Hannah Giles collaborated with James O'Keefe in a series of undercover videotapes that found several employees willing to foster illegal or immoral activities. Ms. Giles has been lauded by conservative commentators for what they characterized as a series of investigative encounters with staff at the "prominent" community organization. Giles conceived of, and with her partner O'Keefe, implemented an investigation that revealed unethical behavior at ACORN offices in five locations: Baltimore, Washington, DC, Brooklyn, San Bernardino and San Diego.
Giles conceived of this scheme during a summer jog. While being interviewed by Sean Hannity of FoxNews, she said:
It's amazing what girls think about when they are jogging. And that was just something that popped into my head. I had never seen an ACORN office, I really didn't even know that they existed and I jogged into the wrong part of town, saw some homeless people and street ladies and I put two and two together when I turned around to get back into a safe neighborhood.
And it's like — what if these people went into ACORN — a prostitute and what would come from that? No bills, no nothing — would they get a house? Could they start a business? So we put it to the test."
Giles and O'Keefe met when she called him to discuss her idea and suggested that together the two portray the prostitute and her pimp. The two spent $1300 on the investigation.
As a direct consequence of these videotapes, ACORN's relationship with the U.S. Census Bureau and IRS were terminated. In addition, bipartisan legislative action is now underway to bar ACORN from receiving funds from the U.S. government and at least one real criminal probe has been launched. In September 2009, ACORN announced that it had suspended advising new clients pending an audit of its activities.
Just after the first video was made public, Baltimore City State's Attorney Patricia Jessamy released a statement indicating that the filming that occurred in the Baltimore office may have been obtained illegally and that at least O'Keefe may face legal action. On September 23, 2009, ACORN filed suit in a Baltimore court against O'Keefe and Giles, and further stated intent to file against Breitbart.com and Fox News for posting and airing the videos. The suit alleges that the videos were obtained illegally in violation of the privacy rights of the workers.
Reception
For her work on the ACORN videos, Hannah Giles has been called an "American hero" by Glenn Beck. James Rainey, writing for the LA Times, said Giles had "abundant chutzpah and guile." According to one editorial favorably comparing her exploits to that of the traditional media:
Joe Conason labeled Giles and O'Keefe's effort as "highly exaggerated and even falsified to create demonic image".
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