In an attempt to discredit ACORN -- the national grassroots organization that, among other things, helps homeowners who are in trouble get banks to modify their mortgages -- a young filmmaker and female companion took a hidden camera into a number of ACORN offices around the country posing as a pimp and a prostitute asking for help with their "business."
Three of the resulting videos have aired on Fox News. In ACORN's Baltimore office, the two appear to get advice from a staff member how to set up their taxes. In video taken in Washington, D.C., an ACORN staff member apparently discusses a low-cost housing loan with them.
In a statement released last week, Bertha Lewis, ACORN's chief organizer, says the workers in the videos have been fired. "But it is clear," Lewis adds, "that the videos are doctored, edited and in no way the result of the fabricated story being portrayed by conservative 'filmmaker' [James] O'Keefe and his partner in crime. And, in fact, a crime it was -- our lawyers believe a felony -- and we will be taking legal action against Fox and their co-conspirators."