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(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
SALT LAKE CITY -- Salt Lake County Republicans are scrambling to find a new guest for a big event next month because the original guest has been arrested.
James O'Keefe, 25, and three others are accused of attempting to tamper with phone lines at Democratic U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu's office inside a federal building in Louisiana.
Related:
4 men accused of phone plot had conservative ties
The four men accused of trying to tamper with Democratic U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu's office phones share a common experience as young ideologues writing for conservative publications.New Orleans Times columnist Stephanie Grace says they're shocked by what happened.
"It actually happened in the state building, so it really does seem like amateur hour," she says.
O'Keefe became well-known among Republicans after his expose films showed corruption in the ACORN organization. But now he has been arrested for trying to bug the Louisiana senator's phone in what looks like an effort to make a new film.
O'Keefe was supposed to be in Utah next week as the keynote speaker for the Salt Lake County Republicans Lincoln Day Dinner fundraiser. The group says its plans have changed and it hopes to announce a new keynote speaker shortly.
Federal officials say they're not sure why the four men wanted to interfere with Landrieu's phones or whether they were successful.
