The Obamacare enrollment group linked to Kathleen Sebelius still has not announced whether or not the employee stung in James O’Keefe’s latest video has been fired but said that it is “taking appropriate action.”
Enroll America’s Texas state communications lead Christopher Tarango conspired to provide a list of potential Obamacare enrollees, obtained through the “commit cards” that the group hands out door to door to help them pick insurance plans, to an O’Keefe investigator posing as the representative of a political action committee.
As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Enroll America is prohibited from engaging in political activity.
“I can’t confirm anything,” Tarango said when reached by The Daily Caller and asked if he is still employed by Enroll America. “I didn’t know who this number was” when he returned my phone call, Tarango said, hanging up after I mentioned O’Keefe.
Though Enroll America is not happy with Tarango, the group is defending itself from O’Keefe’s expose.
“Though the video from Project Veritas does not show any violations of our non-profit status, even the suggestion by any of our staff that such activity could occur is inappropriate. We’re reviewing those statements, and will take appropriate action,” Enroll America national press secretary Justin Nisly told KCEN TV in central Texas.
“I still don’t think we can get a list from Enroll America because of the 501(c)(3) status. How do you suppose we get around that?” Tarango told the investigator from O’Keefe’s group Project Veritas, who tried to purchase the list from Tarango on November 8.
“Okay, I will talk to one person that I think might be open to having this conversation behind closed doors and I will get back to you on that,” Tarango said.
“The answer is this guy has access to this list. Is he willing to play ball? That’s another conversation… I don’t know if he’s willing to play ball. But I’m willing to have that conversation with him. Yes,” Tarango said. “So, in the meanwhile, what I’ll do is have that conversation with this individual.”
Tarango also admitted in the video that someone tried to export a list from the nonprofit pro-Obama advocacy group Organizing for Action [OFA] last year to a political campaign, but that the attempted leaker was caught.
Sebelius admitted in testimony before a House ethics panel in June that she personally asked the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and H&R Block to contribute to Enroll America. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation owns more than $1 billion across 13 million shares of stock in Johnson & Johnson, which is regulated by HHS.
The Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) open audit of Sebelius’ communications on behalf of Enroll America is still pending, though a GAO spokesman declined to provide details to The Daily Caller about the status of the audit.