A teachers union
Teachers union president sues over Orlando recording
president files federal suit in Orlando against Breitbart News and conservative website Project Veritas over a hidden-camera recording made at the Hilton Orlando in 2015, which he says was illegal and taken out of context.
A teachers union president from Wichita, Kan., has filed a federal suit in Orlando against Breitbart News and conservative website Project Veritas over a hidden-camera recording made at the Hilton Orlando in June 2015, which he says was illegal and taken out of context.
The recording became part of a national news story because it showed the union president, Steve Wentz, saying he once locked a student in a classroom and told the student he would “kick your [expletive],” among other things.
Wentz doesn’t deny he said that, but he says the recording was taken out of context and that Project Veritas made false statements in the article accompanying the video, according to the suit. Breitbart, another conservative news outlet where Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe started his career, ran stories about Wentz based on the video.
Project Veritas operates within both the letter and the intent of the law, spokesman Stephen Gordon said.
“In what possible context could the statements made by Mr. Wentz be either acceptable or justified?” he said in an email.
Project Veritas specializes in undercover operations, which it says are aimed at uncovering wrongdoing, but the group has been criticized for its methods. O’Keefe has been criticized by Time and NPR for selective editing that misleads viewers.
O’Keefe was arrested in pursuit of a story in 2010 on a felony charge of break-in at the New Orleans office of Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor.
The Wentz lawsuit came as Project Veritas made national news again Tuesday because of a hidden-camera recording of a CNN producer saying he thinks news coverage of ties between Russia and President Trump are “mostly [expletive]” and CNN is running them because they get good ratings.
After Breitbart and Veritas published the CNN article
Florida’s wiretapping law is a “two-party consent” law. Florida makes it a crime to intercept or record a “wire, oral or electronic communication” in Florida, unless all parties to the communication consent.
Tuesday, Trump tweeted, “So they caught Fake News CNN cold, but what about NBC, CBS & ABC?” Trump’s foundation donated $10,000 to Project Veritas in 2015.
In the Veritas lawsuit, Wentz says he only threatened the student because the student had threatened him first, and he was responding with a “tough love” message. The lawsuit claims that the student turned his life around after the confrontation. Wentz kept his job with the union.
His lawsuit accuses Project Veritas of making inaccurate statements on a Facebook post and in three website articles that state Wentz ‘physically assaulted children in the classroom’ which he did not do.”
The lawsuit says the woman who made the video, Alison Maass, pretended to be a teacher at the same conference. Another video used in the report was shot in Wichita, and showed Wentz denying he ever threatened a student.
Wentz did not respond to emails requesting comment about his lawsuit. The National Education Association said the union is not involved in the suit.
Florida’s wiretapping law is a “two-party consent” law. Florida makes it a crime to intercept or record a “wire, oral or electronic communication” in Florida, unless all parties to the communication consent. The law makes exception for in-person communications when the parties do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy, such as when talking in a public place where they might be overheard.
Florida law against such recordings also makes exceptions if there is expectation that it will be used in a criminal investigation, or if the other party intends to commit physical violence against a child.
“There’s no question that, for a hidden camera with hidden audio, in a bar, the Florida Statute would apply,” said Miami attorney Tom Julin, who focuses on First Amendment and media lawsuits. “It’s not about being in a public place; it’s about having a reasonable expectation that you weren’t being recorded.”