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themp
Supporter
Username: Themp
Post Number: 2904
Registered: 12-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 17, 2006 - 10:35 am: | 
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GOP Official Faces Sentence in Phone-Jamming
Democratic Lines Were Blocked in 2002 as New Hampshire Elected U.S. Senator
By Thomas B. Edsall
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 17, 2006; Page A10
In October 2002, Charles McGee, executive director of the New Hampshire Republican Party, was mailed a Democratic flier that offered Election Day rides to the polls. The circular listed telephone numbers of party offices in five cities and towns.
"I paused and thought to myself, I might find out -- I might think of an idea of disrupting those operations," McGee later testified. A Marine Corps veteran, McGee approached the situation like a combat operation: "Eventually the idea coalesced into disrupting their phone lines . . . [it's] military common sense that if you can't communicate, you can't plan and organize."
When voting began Nov. 5, McGee's plan worked like a charm. For two crucial hours, an Idaho telecommunications firm tied up Democratic and union phone lines, bringing their get-out-the-vote plans to a halt. The effort helped John E. Sununu (R) win his Senate seat by 51 to 47 percent, a 19,151-vote margin.
Well before Election Day ended, however, the scheme began to implode -- in ways that still echo nearly four years later.
McGee and two other participants -- Republican National Committee regional political director James Tobin and GOP consultant Allen Raymond-- have been found guilty of criminally violating federal communications law. Tobin will be sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Concord, N.H.
The New Hampshire Republican Party, burden by legal bills, is virtually broke, with $733.60 in its federal and state accounts.
The Republican National Committee, in turn, has paid $3 million in legal fees in criminal and civil cases growing out of the controversy. The RNC has paid at least $2.8 million to Williams & Connolly and other firms for Tobin's defense, and about $150,000 to Covington & Burling to defend the RNC in a civil suit brought by the New Hampshire Democratic Party.
The RNC's legal fees exceed the $2.4 million spent by Sununu, the winner of the U.S. Senate race.
Most tantalizingly to Democrats, evidence filed in Tobin's trial in December shows 22 phone calls from Tobin to the White House between 11:20 a.m. Election Day, two hours after the phone jamming was shut down, and 2:17 a.m. the next day, four hours after the outcome of the election was announced.
Democrats charge that these phone calls and the RNC payment of Tobin's legal fees suggest possible White House involvement or knowledge of the phone jamming plan. RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman was at the time serving as White House political director. He said he had no involvement or awareness of Tobin's scheme, and that it was not unusual that there would be lots of calls back and forth to the White House political office from a crucial state.
But the case has drawn complaints even from Republicans. By covering Tobin's legal fees, "the GOP appears to sanction and institutionalize corruption within the party," Craig Shirley, of Shirley & Banister Public Affairs, recently wrote in a commentary published by The Washington Post.
The phone-blocking occurred from 7 to 9 a.m. the crucial morning hours when many voters want to go to the polls before work.
"The phones were starting to ring, and as I would pick up one phone, it automatically bumped over to another line," testified Manchester firefighter Jeffery S. Duval, who was working the phones at union headquarters. "There was nobody on any of the phones. The phone lines were dead once we went to pick them up. . . . We gave the police department a call."
The local police began to investigate. Realizing that what seemed at first like a clever tactic could have criminal implications, state Republican officials hurriedly called their telecommunications consultants to stop the jamming, according to court testimony. But the case was soon turned over to the FBI and the Justice Department because the allegations involved violations of federal telecommunications law.
Tobin, a longtime GOP operative, was later appointed New England chairman for the Bush-Cheney '04 campaign, but resigned when he became a subject of the federal criminal inquiry. On Dec. 15, 2005, Tobin, 45, was convicted of two counts of telephone harassment.
Former RNC chairman Ed Gillespie decided to pay Tobin's legal fees. "He was accused of doing something in his capacity as an RNC consultant, and we believed him to be innocent," Gillespie said. While the RNC had no contractual obligation, "it's the custom, not written anywhere, that you covered your people," Gillespie said.
Gillespie said he informed the White House, but did not seek formal approval, before authorizing the payments. Mehlman said that under his chairmanship, consulting contracts now explicitly declare that independent contractors must be prepared to pay their own legal costs in civil and criminal cases.
In a pre-sentencing memo, federal prosecutors are seeking a prison term of 18 to 24 months for Tobin. "The 2002 U.S. Senate race in New Hampshire was hotly contested, and one of the main goals of the Republican Party was to retain that Senate seat," they wrote. "Overcome by his desire for success in the election, Tobin exercised his considerable authority to make the phone jamming scheme succeed, rather than to stop it."
Tobin's lawyers countered that he has suffered enough: "Mr. Tobin is a man with high ethical standards and a deep love for his family and community. Seeing his reputation destroyed, his family publicly humiliated and a profession [politics] he loves made unavailable to him has caused him great pain." |
Joe
Citizen
Username: Gonets
Post Number: 1233
Registered: 2-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 17, 2006 - 11:02 am: |
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Why do they hate freedom? |
themp
Supporter
Username: Themp
Post Number: 2908
Registered: 12-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 17, 2006 - 11:40 am: |
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This pot is still simmering, btw. |
The Notorious S.L.K.
Citizen
Username: Scrotisloknows
Post Number: 1413
Registered: 10-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 17, 2006 - 12:45 pm: |
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Yup, only Republicans hate freedom.
Liberals are the freedom masters (because they are pro-choice), as long as you don't say something that offends them, own a gun or smoke a cigarette.
For the love of God will someone get a clue...
-SLK |
Joe
Citizen
Username: Gonets
Post Number: 1234
Registered: 2-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 17, 2006 - 12:51 pm: |
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For the love of God will someone get a clue...
Ok. You go first. My comment wasn't serious. |
themp
Supporter
Username: Themp
Post Number: 2909
Registered: 12-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 17, 2006 - 12:57 pm: |
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Out of the US population, what percentage support George Bush? What percentage don't? And what percentqage is "liberal"?
I think that calling critics of the republican political machine "liberal" is a mental copout. It is effective in negating criticism, but you have to live with your own dishonesty.
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themp
Supporter
Username: Themp
Post Number: 2910
Registered: 12-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 17, 2006 - 1:08 pm: |
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By Richard Morin and Dan Balz
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, May 17, 2006; A01
"Public confidence in GOP governance has plunged to the lowest levels of the Bush presidency, with Americans saying by wide margins that they now trust Democrats more than Republicans to deal with Iraq, the economy, immigration and other issues, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll that underscores the GOP's fragile grip on power six months before the midterm elections.
Dissatisfaction with the administration's policies in Iraq has overwhelmed other issues as the source of problems for President Bush and the Republicans. The survey suggests that pessimism about the direction of the country -- 69 percent said the nation is now off track -- and disaffection with Republicans have dramatically improved Democrats' chances to make gains in November.
Democrats are now favored to handle all 10 issues measured in the Post-ABC News poll. The survey shows a majority of the public, 56 percent, saying they would prefer to see Democrats in control of Congress after the elections."
So is America 69% liberal? |
Robert Livingston
Citizen
Username: Rob_livingston
Post Number: 1891
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 17, 2006 - 1:15 pm: |
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In the end, in a resounding bit of karmic irony, Bush will fulfill his at-the-time dishonest claim of 2000 as being a "uniter." Most left-leaning and right-leaning Americans are coming together to agree that this is the worst president ever to sh-t all over the country. |
cjc
Citizen
Username: Cjc
Post Number: 5624
Registered: 8-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 17, 2006 - 1:18 pm: |
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No...he won't supplant Carter. |
Alleygater
Citizen
Username: Alleygater
Post Number: 2041
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 17, 2006 - 1:54 pm: |
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oh god, I despise Bush so much more than I ever did Carter. |
Rastro
Citizen
Username: Rastro
Post Number: 3152
Registered: 5-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 17, 2006 - 2:07 pm: |
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Carter was a failure, no doubt. But Carter can be slightly forgiven for having the best of intentions. Plus, he did do some good (at the time) in the Middle East. His legacy will always be long gas lines and an ineffective administration, but he was not the complete reverse of the Midas touch, as Bush is. It seems, especially lately, that everything Bush mentions or touches turns into a catastrophic failure. |
Robert Livingston
Citizen
Username: Rob_livingston
Post Number: 1895
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 17, 2006 - 2:19 pm: |
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Carter did end up winning the Nobel Peace Prize. When they make a Nobel War Prize, I'm certain Bush will be a shoe-in.
Bush's legacy will be so soiled that the word "Bush" will actually be synonymous with incompetence. Dems and Reps alike will be telling their grandkids of the most corrupt, inept, and dishonest president the country has ever seen. With the exception of a few holdouts here on MOL (you know guys, aren't you worried that it's getting late in the game for your loyalty to be rewarded?) |
themp
Supporter
Username: Themp
Post Number: 2911
Registered: 12-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 17, 2006 - 2:53 pm: |
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http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/ABC_uncovers_exCIA_executive_directors_12bedro om_0517.html |
Alleygater
Citizen
Username: Alleygater
Post Number: 2043
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 17, 2006 - 2:53 pm: |
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I do wonder what these "holdouts" are getting out of their blind loyalty?
I suppose Southerner's words lead me to believe that the Republicans are hoping that if they hold it together (not admit to the masses what a cluster-••• this presidency has been) that they can win another election of two. And keep the golden age of Republicans going for a longer period in time.
Oh wait, I got it, the holdouts are hoping that they will get more precious tax cuts and hold onto their oodles of cash. |
cjc
Citizen
Username: Cjc
Post Number: 5625
Registered: 8-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 17, 2006 - 3:00 pm: |
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Carter won the Nobel Prize not because of any accomplishments he might have had, but instead because the Nobel committee wanted to make a statement against Bush. If Bush wasn't around, Carter wouldn't be able to win it on his own merits. |
Hoops
Citizen
Username: Hoops
Post Number: 1370
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 17, 2006 - 3:04 pm: |
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right. Its the very well documented anti-Bush Carter vote.
I suppose they had to have some paradygm of evil to contrast with Carter's good. |
Dr. Winston O'Boogie
Citizen
Username: Casey
Post Number: 2102
Registered: 8-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 17, 2006 - 4:19 pm: |
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According to the poll which has generally been the one most favorable for Bush, 18% of Americans "strongly approve" of the president's performance. so who are the fringe wackos now?
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notehead
Supporter
Username: Notehead
Post Number: 3285
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 17, 2006 - 4:30 pm: |
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I think it's SLK, Straw, a few other MOL'ers, and some people in Kansas and Northern Texas. They may be confused, but they make a fine barbecue. |
themp
Supporter
Username: Themp
Post Number: 2912
Registered: 12-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 17, 2006 - 4:37 pm: |
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Some, like Southerner, are clearly political hacks and not real "people". |
Foj
Citizen
Username: Foger
Post Number: 1381
Registered: 9-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 17, 2006 - 10:40 pm: |
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