Dear GOP, when you lie down with dogs....

Former O’Keefe Partner ‘Stalking’ Texas Republicans with Hidden Cameras

Joseph Basel of the American Phoenix Foundation has employed up to sixteen people to track Texas Republicans with hidden cameras in order to record potentially embarrassing or provocative footage. The groups aims to use the reported 800 hours of tape to unseat the lawmakers in favor of more rightward leaning candidates in the next election cycle.

The cases have legislators on edge, as there have already been confrontations this session with aggressive advocates, leading to the proposed installation of panic buttons installed in lawmakers’ offices.

Last week’s encounters at the Capitol were described by lawmakers as attempts to provoke responses on hot-button policy issues, along with questions about Republican House Speaker Joe Straus, a consistent target of criticism in tea party circles.

Lawmakers said cameras were disguised as lapel pins or hidden in a briefcase, and some characterized the incidents as harassment because the men repeatedly pursued legislators through the hallways of the Capitol and off Capitol grounds. One lawmaker was approached while eating dinner with his wife at a Tex-Mex restaurant in downtown Austin.

http://www.mediaite.com/online/former-okeefe-partner-stalking-texas-republicans-with-hidden-cameras/