Little (would-be) bugger Flanagan interned for Sen. Lamar Alexander, Rep. Mary Fallin

One of the four men arrested for allegedly trying to bug Mary Landrieu's office interned for Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) in 2007, according to his LinkedIn profile. The following year, Robert Flanagan worked as a paid intern for Republican Rep. Mary Fallin of OK. His duties included "brief[ing] legislative staff on issues of national security and international relations." In the summer of 2008, Flanagan volunteered for Chris Gorman's campaign in Shreveport, LA.

As you may have read, Robert's father, William, is an acting U.S. Attorney based in Shreveport.

Like his co-accused James O'Keefe, Stan Dai, and Joseph Basel, Flanagan appears to be a well-connected movement conservative.

I'm reposting Robert Flanagan's LinkedIn profile below the fold.

(Original reporting, please credit Lindsay Beyerstein.]

Robert Flanagan’s Summary

ROBERT J. FLANAGAN [email protected]

EDUCATION
Missouri State University, Fairfax, Virginia (2008 – present)
Master of Science – Defense and Strategic Studies (GPA: 3.67)

Rhodes College, Memphis, Tennessee (2004 – 2008)
Bachelor of Arts – International Studies

EXPERIENCE
Paid Intern, Representative Mary Fallin (OK-5), Washington, DC (August 2008 – May 2009)
•Briefed legislative staff on issues of national security and international relations
•Drafted mail and electronic correspondence on behalf of Rep. Fallin
•Performed research projects for legislative staff, assisted with day-to-day constituent services, and helped manage Rep. Fallin’s front office

Campaign Volunteer, Chris Gorman for Congress, Shreveport, LA (Summer 2008)
•Assisted with implementation of voter recruiting campaigns
•Distributed media communications and represented candidate at campaign events, incorporating political and policy perspectives

Intern, Senator Lamar Alexander, Memphis, TN (August 2007 – December 2007)
•Responsible for general case research projects and basic constituent services
•Contributed to the planning and implementation stages of campaign fundraiser attended by President George W. Bush and other prominent political figures

Resident Assistant, Rhodes College, Memphis, TN (August 2006 – May 2008)
•Responsible for the general acclimation of forty undergraduate students
•Organized social programs for undergraduates, mediated disputes between roommates, and served as primary liaison between campus officials and student body

Rhodes College Baseball, Rhodes College, Memphis, TN (2004 –August 2008)
•Served as Team Captain (2008)
•Received All-American Honors (2007)
•All-Conference, All-South Region, and All-South Regional All-American (2006, 2007)
•“Pitcher of the Year” (SCAC Conference), “Tennessee Pitcher of the Year” (2006, 2007)

Robert Flanagan’s Specialties:

Related Coursework: Nuclear Strategy and Arms Control, International Security Affairs, Analysis of International Security Politics, Defense Policy Analysis: Congress and US National Security, International Terrorism and Security, Emerging Strategic Threats, Instruments of State Power, International Law

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Robert Flanagan’s Experience

• Intern

  United States Senate

  (Government Administration industry)

  August 2007 — December 2007 (5 months)

  Assisted with constituent inquiries. Performed case research. Helped to plan and implement fundraiser attended by President Bush.

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Robert Flanagan’s Education

• Missouri State University

  MS , Defense and Strategic Studies , 2008 — 2009

• Rhodes College

  BA , International Studies , 2004 — 2008

  All-American baseball honors 2007

  Activities and Societies:

  Rhodes College baseball team. Resident Assistant. Recycling coordinator.

Comments

[Alon Levy]

Break into a Blue Dog's office, you'll get caught. Break into a climate scientist's office, you'll get away with it.

[(O)CT(O)PUS]

Break into a climate scientist's office, you'll get away with it.

Worse. You will praised and raised to hero status.

[Mark Anderson]

Always change the topic when your friends go felonious.

[Fisa Waybill]

It was just a PRANK, guys. There's no way these poor benighted kids with no experience in the real world would understand that they were breaking the law, since the law does not apply to republicans and illegal spying is not a crime anyway.

[JD]

Interns on Capitol Hill are not paid.

Who was paying this gentleman while he was an intern while in Mary Fallin's office?

Members of Congress are not allowed to augment their official office budgets with outside contributions, yet this little fella seems to have been a "paid" unofficial member of her staff, performing official duties.

[JD]

Mr. Flanagan claims to be student at Missouri State - in Fairfax County, VA.

I found that a little odd, owing that Missouri State University should be in Missouri.

Sure enough, there is a MIZZOU presence in Fairfax, very small, here:
http://dss.missouristate.edu/

The program is called 'Department of Defense and Security Studies.'

Now, the other bugger Stan Dai listed working as an Operations Officer at a Department of Defense warfare thingy. My guess is he meant the Missouri State school, and not DoD.

The address of this Department of Defense is 9302 Lee Hwy Suite 760, Fairfax, VA. Interestingly, at that same address, next door in suite 750, resides the National Institute for Public Policy, NIPP, (http://www.nipp.org/). Some neocons NIPP's staff (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Institute_for_Public_Policy).

So Dai and Flanagan have connections and apparenltly interests in weapons, war, nonproliferation, etc. And both may trace back to this odd little Missouri institution.

[M.]

witch hunt anybody?

[Weaseldog]

Witch Hunt?

Isn't that meant to apply to falsely accusing accusing and punishing an innocent person in public?

It's not a witch hunt when the person of interest has committed a felony.

Dang it, I forgot, these are Republican Felons. The good kind, like Tom Delay and John Wayne Gacy. Good guys because they have an (R).

Nevermind.

[Mike the Mad Biologist]

Dumber than the Watergate plumbers...

[Markos]

Wait, you're Googling for a name, re-posting it, calling dibs, and then claiming it's "original reporting" that you deserve credit for?

[Bad Wolf]

Don't forget to add to Tom Delay and John Wayne Gacy, the only convicted felons to ever serve as President and Vice President, George W. Bush (one conviction on drunken driving charges - a felony) and Dick Cheney (two convictions on drunken driving charges). And, my favorite Republican mass murderer of all time, Ted Bundy, who was active in the Republican party in Washington State, going as a delegate to the Republican convention, working on Republican campaigns and working as an aide to Republican Governor Daniel J. Evans. Bundy was even being groomed for a run for office himself by West Coast Republicans, even as he was going out after work in the Governor's office and torturing, raping, and murdering young women (and not always in that order...).

Yup, you don't have to be a psychotic or psychopath to be a conservative, but it does seem to be a strong recommendation.

[Richard]

My big question in this was they were allegedly investigating the phones in Senator Landrieu's office not being answered and that people could not get through. Any chance these knuckleheads organized the phone system meltdown so they would have something to investigate? Tying up a few phones is pretty easy stuff using autodialers etc and at some point a small office switch will overload. Then traipse in these guys to see people sitting around while the phones either are ringing (but no one is on the other end) or not ringing. A little mixing of phones ringing and you have a good faked piece.