Phone scheme was meant to embarrass Landrieu, suspect’s lawyer says

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A lawyer for one of four conservative activists accused of tampering with a Louisiana senator’s phones says they hoped to embarrass her over claims her staff ignored calls critical of her stance on healthcare reform.

J. Garrison Jordan is an attorney for suspect Robert Flanagan. He denies the men sought to disable or wiretap the phones in Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu’s office at a federal building in New Orleans.

Jordan said today that they were trying to document allegations that Landrieu’s staff has been ignoring phone calls about her healthcare position.

Among those arrested Monday was 25-year-old James O’Keefe. He gained notoriety last year with hidden-camera videos showing him dressed as a pimp and exposing irregularities in offices of the liberal community organizing group ACORN.

-- Associated Press