Les Jones

Patterico catches the LA Times getting suckered by ACORN criminals

Friday, November 20th, 2009 | Media Behaving Badly | Permalink | No Comments |

Patterico - L.A. Times Columnist Uncritically Quoted Star of Latest ACORN Video:

In September, L.A. Times columnist James Rainey wrote a column in which he uncritically quoted ACORN worker Lavelle Stewart suggesting that she had turned Hannah Giles and James O’Keefe out of her office:

[V]isits to other ACORN offices have gone almost entirely unmentioned. Lavelle Stewart, a fair-housing coordinator in the group’s Los Angeles office, told me this week that she tried to get the “prostitute,” who claimed she had been beaten by her pimp, to go to a women’s center.

“The fact she was not taking the help I offered her made me think something was not right,” Stewart said. “It raised a red flag.”

I wasn’t so sure — and I publicly declared that Rainey had likely been suckered and would end up with egg on his face.

And sure enough, Rainey’s completely innocent ACORN worker Lavelle Stewart is caught on video offering advice on setting up an international prostitution ring and hiding the profits so that the pimp can run for elected office:

Patterico is the number one factchecker for the Los Angeles Times. I told him once that I wish there was someone like him in every big city in America keeping the newspaper honest.

Tags: acorn, youtube