Calif. opens ACORN investigation

SACRAMENTO, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- California is investigating conduct of ACORN employees and the secret videotaping of those employees by conservative activists, officials said Thursday.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger asked Attorney General Jerry Brown two weeks ago to investigate the matter. A spokesman for Brown told the Los Angeles Times an investigation is under way into whether employees of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now improperly offered advice on illegal behavior, including opening a brothel.

"I am outraged and deeply concerned by these allegations," Schwarzenegger said in a statement Thursday. "If these reports are true, they warrant prosecution under the fullest extent of the law."

Brown's spokesman, Scott Gerber, said the investigation will also look into the videotaping itself.

"We're going to look at the tapes, we're going to follow the facts without fear or favor, and we're going to see where it takes us," Gerber said.

ACORN is suing filmmakers James O'Keefe, 25, and Hannah Giles, 20, and the film's distributor, Breitbart.com, in Maryland for alleged violations of a state law prohibiting audio recording without the consent of the subject. The group, which is under investigation in several states, announced last week it has retained former Massachusetts Attorney General Scott Harshbarger to supervise its internal investigation of its practices.