Wonkette: Once "Absolutely Independent" James O'Keefe Was Bankrolled by Andrew Breitbart
In the fall of 2009, Jame O'Keefe was just coming on the scene with a video which would successfully, if deceitfully and dishonestly, dismantle ACORN. 
Drew Friedman We doubt this is the last we'll hear from beyond the grave from Andrew Breitbart
At that point in time, O'Keefe was railing that he was "absolutely independent." In the first investigative piece we wrote for this publication, the Voice showed this was hokum. Working with a tip from Liz Farkas, O'Keefe's classmate at Rutgers, we were able to trace O'Keefe's financial support back to conservative Silicon Valley venture capitalist Peter Thiel and to the Leadership Institute, the breeding ground of Ralph Reed, Grover Norquist and Karl Rove.
Well, it turns out O'Keefe was even less "absolutely independent" than that. Writing for Wonkette, Farkas and Matthew Phelan reveal that O'Keefe and his partner Hannah Giles were in touch with Andrew Breitbart before their cross country "Pimp N' Prostitute" tour, and that each were on Breitbart's bankroll by September, 2009...when the ACORN videos came out and O'Keefe was still claiming his autonomy.
It wouldn't be the first time O'Keefe, shall we say, played a bit fast and loose with the truth.
Farkas and Phelan find all kinds of great nuggets from legal depositions. Read their fascinating and well reported piece at Wonkette.
@steven_thrasher | sthrasher@villagevoice.com
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