A right-wing activist behind the infamous undercover sting against the community group ACORN has now targeted National Public Radio. On Tuesday, James O’Keefe released video of a secretly recorded meeting between two NPR executives and two people posing as donors for a fake Muslim group. The impersonators requested the meeting under the guise of wanting to donate $5 million, an offer NPR rejected. On the tape, NPR executive Ronald Schiller criticizes the Tea Party and fringe Republicans.
Ronald Schiller: “The current Republican Party, particularly the Tea Party, is fanatically involved in people’s personal lives, and very fundamental Christian. And I wouldn’t even call it Christian. It’s this weird evangelical kind of move.”
Schiller was scheduled to leave NPR for a new job next month but has resigned effective immediately. In 2009, O’Keefe disguised himself as a pimp and secretly videotaped ACORN employees appearing to offer him advice. The scandal led to a congressional measure stripping ACORN of federal funding. The release of the new video comes as NPR is facing the threat of major cutbacks. In a statement, Republican Majority Leader Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia said, “This disturbing video makes clear that taxpayer dollars should no longer be appropriated to NPR.”