=@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= Hynes Communications: Swatgate =@+ =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= What involvement does Romney's online rapid response consulting firm, Hynes Communications, have with the Swatgate conspiracy theory? What connections do they have to the actual perpetrator of these false police reports which appear to endanger conservative activists? Hynes was just revealed to have racist James Richarson on staff, as well as working against Tea Party Texas Senate candidate Ted Cruz http://pastebin.com/Xui25m6h I found this write up on SPLC listed hate talker Robert Stacy McCain's site. http://theothermccain.com/2012/08/06/exclusive-kimberlin-associate-neal-rauhauser-accuses-brandon-darby-of-fake-swat-calls-obstruction-of-justice/ So not only did Brandon Darby and Lee Stranahan make the Occupy Unmasked smear movie, they appear to also be involved in multiple obstruction of justice efforts, and a key part of Romney's campaign operation is in on it. Here is the full text of the report, in case McCain decides to scrub it: =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= =@= Brandon Darby Swatting Calls
 There are four false police reports I find particularly interesting, because they seem to be tied to an extortion attempt by Mike Grimm, Congressman from NY-13, an obstruction of justice attempt intended to deflect attention from James O’Keefe, and the whole thing is being wrapped up by Hynes Communications in an attempt to create another “Bill Ayers” for the 2012 election. Mike Stack – Montgomery Township, June 23rd 2011:
 Stack was used to push the message that a New York Democrat was going to have a sex scandal starting around the beginning of May 2011 and he was left holding the bag for what happened to Anthony Weiner. He was a liability after Weiner’s June 16th resignation, particularly since the news came out June 18th that the “teen girls” Weiner had been talking to were entirely fabricated. The false report seems calculated to shut him up. 
A false report was made and the voice of the source seems to be Brandon Darby. This YouTube video is a composite of three false report calls and interview audio of Darby.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pe4NCaz4NgM The underlying motivation for the Weiner stalk/smear is his reporting of Grimm’s extortion attempt in the fall of 2010. John Patrick Frey – Los Angeles, June 30th/July 1st 2011:
 Frey engaged former Raw Story editor Ron Brynaert in a call that straddled the midnight hour June 30/July 1. During this time there was an alleged false report made on him, again the voice is Brandon Darby. Frey banned Lee Stranahan from his blog, patterico.com, within about 36 hours. It should be noted that Darby and Stranahan own http://darbystranahan.com. Frey has been a vocal defender of James O’Keefe. 
The best source for picking this apart is Lane Lipton aka @qritiq. She’s dug deeper into the details of the event’s timeline, Frey’s shifting, implausible explanations, and his use of an audio forensics expert to try to pin it all on Brynaert. 
My read is that Darby and Stranahan did this on their own initiative, Frey was furious about it, but that he realized he was in deep and attempted to help with the cleanup by shifting the blame to Brynaert. Ron can’t make a false report call to save his life – he had a mental breakdown in the fall of 2010 and is incapable of remaining lucid during phone calls – I spoke to him once, and it was 30 seconds of me trying to answer questions and five minutes of him yelling at me. Erick Erickson – somewhere in Georgia, May 27th 2012: 
Erickson wrote about swatting, motivated by a conflict between Brett Kimberlin and Robert Stacy McCain. He also happened to contact his local sheriff’s department and warn them that such a thing was likely. A false report call, again the voice of Brandon Darby, was made. He tweeted about it, two minutes later he had a short blog post about it, and then he was off and promoting the smear – claiming that this was done by Brett Kimberlin or an ‘associate’ – an un-subtle way of saying ‘Neal Rauhauser’. If I were investigating this, which I am, I would be focused on Hynes Communications in general and James Richardson in particular. This company, now Romney’s online rapid response vendor, seems a very likely candidate as the architect behind what has been directed at Kimberlin. Specifically: • James Richardson is a Hynes Communications staffer
• James Richardson is a former contributor to Red State, Erickson is founder
• GA Senator Saxby Chambliss has been pushing for investigation into swatting
• Richardson and Brandon Howell run GeorgeTipsheet.com
• GeorgiaTipsheet.com has a Capitol Hill source -Dome Confidential
• We’re working on the assumption Dome Confidential = Chambliss staffer
• O’Keefe was funded by American For Prosperity
• Darby and perhaps Stranahan were funded by Americans For Prosperity
• O’Keefe money/front man is Erick O’Keefe of Sam Adams Alliance
• Emily Zanotti is a Hynes Communications staffer
• Emily Zanotti was formerly the online strategy person for Sam Adams Alliance There are plenty of non-trivial business, personal, and financial links between a small group of people.
They’ve got a history of criminality involving complex deception. Aaron Walker, Manassas Virginia, June 25th
 Walker was outed as the operator of the Islamophobic Everyone Draw Mohammed blog January of 2012, he was arrested for assaulting Brett Kimberlin on January 9th at a contempt hearing for Seth Allen, whom either he or Frey had been guiding to smear Kimberlin. He was arrested again for a peace order violation in June, and this triggered the massive “Everyone Blog About Brett Kimberlin” smear, publicly announced by Lee Stranahan and promoted by Ali Akbar/National Bloggers Club. 
I have some information regarding connections between Hynes Communications, Romney online rapidly response, and Ali Akbar, founder of the National Bloggers Club. The public information about ties are tenuous, but the tight coordination seen between NBC and Saxby Chambliss’s office makes this all very interesting. 
It should also be noted that Walker is another former contributor to Frey’s blog, also banned under mysterious circumstances.
 We don’t have audio of the call but I know it did occur – I’ve spoken to the officer who responded. I am presuming we’re going to find Brandon Darby’s voice again. So, the things you are seeing here are: • Grimm extortion attempt reported, Weiner set up in response
• O’Keefe grand jury in New Hampshire, lots of antics because I carried documents for the AAG on the case into a hearing in New Jersey.
• Hynes Communications attempting to solve several problems at once, turning Brett Kimberlin into Bill Ayers for 2012, protecting Eric O’Keefe/Sam Adams Alliance, etc.
• Frey faces a civil suit from Nadia Naffe, witness to O’Keefe’s behavior, and I’m the one who got her the lawyer handling the case. 
What happened to Stack was real from what I can see. What happened to Frey was a soft pitch from Darby, and Frey either knew before it happened, or they informed him right after the fact. Erick Erickson’s event is clear and intentional fabrication and I want to know what role James Richardson and Emily Zanotti of Hynes Communications played in it. 
I am assuming that Walker’s false report call was also Darby – they have pointedly not released audio. 
Given the timing, immediately after a hearing against Brett Kimberlin, this is fabricated even if they did manage to get someone other than Darby to make the call.