O’Keefe accomplice a Minnesotan?

Gawker’s been googling and finds that Joseph Basel, who was arrested with ACORN gotcha guy James O’Keefe yesterday, may be the same Joseph Basel who attended the University of Minnesota – Morris.

Someone with that name is listed on the UM-Morris College Republicans site, and on Facebook a 2008 Morris grad of the same name is shown to be friends with both O’Keefe and Stan Dai, who was also arrested in Lousiana yesterday.

A bit more (circumstantial) evidence: CampusReform.org recently interviewed Basel, founding editor of the conservative paper The Counterweight at Morris, alongside O’Keefe.

In that interview, Basel spoke of The Counterweight: “I think if you just make your agenda the truth or a fair chance at the truth on campus, you’d be surprised what falls in your lap if you work hard and keep doing it.”

This time around, what could fall in Basel’s lap is a felony charge.

Update: News outlets including the Star Tribune and Forum Communications’ papers are reporting that Minnesota’s Basel is the same one arrested with O’Keefe in New Orleans.