Phone-Jamming Records Point to White House

Bush campaign operative James Tobin of Bangor, Maine, arrives at U.S. District Court in Concord, N.H., Dec. 6, 2005, for trial on charges of helping jam Democrats get-out-the vote phone lines in New Hampshire on Election Day 2002. Democrats are scheduled to ask a federal judge Tuesday, April 11, 2006, to order GOP and White House officials to answer questions about the phone jamming in a civil lawsuit alleging voter fraud. (AP Photo/Jim Cole/File)

This is also off Yahoo News:

WASHINGTON - Key figures in a phone-jamming scheme designed to keep New Hampshire Democrats from voting in 2002 had regular contact with the White House and Republican Party as the plan was unfolding, phone records introduced in criminal court show.

The records show that Bush campaign operative James Tobin, who recently was convicted in the case, made two dozen calls to the White House within a three-day period around Election Day 2002--as the phone jamming operation was finalized, carried out and then abruptly shut down.

The national Republican Party, which paid millions in legal bills to defend Tobin, says the contacts involved routine election business and that it was "preposterous" to suggest the calls involved phone jamming.

You know, I really shouldn't be surprised about this story, since I've heard rumors of it through the liberal blogosphere. And this phone scam is certainly a perfect trick for Karl Rove to hatch up, in his own quest for complete Republican dominance. And you want hypocrisy? How about the Republican Party paying millions in legal bills to defend Tobin--what the FRACK is that all about? Why is the Republican Party paying for Tobin's defense? Who in the Republican Party decided to foot Tobin's legal bill? Continuing on:

The Justice Department has secured three convictions in the case but hasn't accused any White House or national Republican officials of wrongdoing, nor made any allegations suggesting party officials outside New Hampshire were involved. The phone records of calls to the White House were exhibits in Tobin's trial but prosecutors did not make them part of their case.

Democrats plan to ask a federal judge Tuesday to order GOP and White House officials to answer questions about the phone jamming in a civil lawsuit alleging voter fraud.

Repeated hang-up calls that jammed telephone lines at a Democratic get-out-the-vote center occurred in a Senate race in which Republican John Sununu defeated Democrat Jeanne Shaheen, 51 percent to 46 percent, on Nov. 5, 2002.

Besides the conviction of Tobin, the Republicans' New England regional director, prosecutors negotiated two plea bargains: one with a New Hampshire Republican Party official and another with the owner of a telemarketing firm involved in the scheme. The owner of the subcontractor firm whose employees made the hang-up calls is under indictment.

I hope the prosecutors offer deals to Tobin and the other two party officials. The best thing the prosecutors can do is offer reduced jail sentences, in exchange for testimony against higher-up Republican officials who were in on this scam. And this scam is also pointing at the White House--why is Tobin calling the White House? Continuing on:

The phone records show that most calls to the White House were from Tobin, who became President Bush's presidential campaign chairman for the New England region in 2004. Other calls from New Hampshire senatorial campaign offices to the White House could have been made by a number of people.

A GOP campaign consultant in 2002, Jayne Millerick, made a 17-minute call to the White House on Election Day, but said in an interview she did not recall the subject. Millerick, who later became the New Hampshire GOP chairwoman, said in an interview she did not learn of the jamming until after the election.

A Democratic analysis of phone records introduced at Tobin's criminal trial show he made 115 outgoing calls — mostly to the same number in the White House political affairs office — between Sept. 17 and Nov. 22, 2002. Two dozen of the calls were made from 9:28 a.m. the day before the election through 2:17 a.m. the night after the voting.

There also were other calls between Republican officials during the period that the scheme was hatched and canceled.

I so want these guys thrown into jail--the whole lot of them. I am so angry at the scams, scandals and dirty tricks that have come from the corrupted Bush administration. And we still have about three years to go before we can get rid of their ilk.

Update: This is off Boston.com:

By Nov. 4, 2002, the Monday before the election, an Idaho firm was hired to make the hang-up calls. The Republican state chairman at the time, John Dowd, said in an interview he learned of the scheme that day and tried to stop it.

Dowd, who blamed an aide for devising the scheme without his knowledge, contended that the jamming began on Election Day despite his efforts. A police report confirmed the Manchester Professional Fire Fighters Association reported the hang-up calls began about 7:15 a.m. and continued for about two hours. The association was offering rides to the polls.

Virtually all the calls to the White House went to the same number, which currently rings inside the political affairs office. In 2002, White House political affairs was led by now-RNC chairman Ken Mehlman. The White House declined to say which staffer was assigned that phone number in 2002.

So all the calls that Tobin made were to the White House political affairs office, which was led by Ken Mehlman--who is now the Republican National Committee chairman! Now, let's make another connection here:

[T]he Republican National Committee said it paid for Tobin's defense because he is a longtime supporter and told officials he had committed no crime.

What the Republican National Committee doesn't want you to know is that they were paying for Tobin's defense so that Tobin would not be forced to sing to federal prosecutors, and ultimately implicate Mehlman in this phone scam. The Republican National Committee is trying to save Mehlman's ass from indictment!

Unbelievable! I sincerely wish that Tobin does sing to the federal prosecutors, and that the feds indict Mehlman on this scandal. It would be nice to see Mehlman thrown in jail for his corruption.