DNC: McCain Dodges Phone Jamming Connections in New Hampshire Speech

[ProSense]

DNC: McCain Dodges Phone Jamming Connections in New Hampshire Speech

Mon May 22, 3:31 PM ET

To: State Desk

Contact: Damien LaVera of the Democratic National Committee, 202-863-8148

WASHINGTON, May 22 /U.S. Newswire/ -- This morning, Arizona Republican Senator John McCain returned to New Hampshire, but failed to explain why his New Hampshire State Director filed a letter with the court urging leniency on convicted phone-jammer James Tobin. Sen. McCain failed to even mention the criminal campaign to disenfranchise New Hampshire voters in his remarks, despite the fact that one of his senior strategists was Tobin's supervisor at the time of the conspiracy.

Last week, Republican lobbyist Mike Dennehy, Sen. McCain's New Hampshire state director, sent a letter to Judge Steven McAuliffe that asked the judge for a lenient sentence and called Tobin the "the most ethical man I know" despite the fact that Tobin was convicted of multiple felonies over his role in the 2002 phone-jamming crime. The letter was the only such letter from any Granite Stater.

Dennehy's appeal on behalf of Tobin comes weeks after Senator McCain hired Terry Nelson -- Tobin's supervisor at the Republican National Committee and National Republican Senate Committee -- as a senior political strategist. Even after learning about Nelson's possible involvement in the phone jamming scheme, McCain later said that he had "no qualms" about Nelson's ethics and that he considers Nelson to be "a fine man" who was "very helpful to President Bush." (Cox News Service, 4/3/06)

"Senator McCain's decision to join RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman in stonewalling on the criminal campaign to disenfranchise New Hampshire voters is the latest stop on the Double Talk Express," said Democratic National Committee spokesman Damien LaVera. "Not only did Senator McCain hire the man who supervised James Tobin while he orchestrated the criminal phone jamming scheme, but his New Hampshire State Director actually asked the judge to be lenient on Tobin.

"The time has come for Washington Republicans like Ken Mehlman and John McCain to answer the critical unanswered questions on this matter, and join Democrats in protecting the rights of all Americans to vote and have their votes counted," LaVera concluded.

Among the unanswered questions about the links between the New Hampshire Republican Party, the Republican National Committee (RNC) and the Bush White House regarding the illegal, Election Day phone-jamming scheme are the following:

-- Did the White House and the RNC discuss the phone-jamming scheme prior to its implementation?

-- After the scheme came to light, who did then-Chairman Gillespie talk to at the Bush White House when he informed them that the RNC would be paying Tobin's legal bills?

-- What did the White House staffer(s) say? Did the White House approve or disapprove of the payments?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20060522/pl_usnw/dnc__mccain_dodges_phone_jamming_connections_in_new_hampshire_speech126_xml

[wordpix]

1. my guess is WH is involved all the way, as in DeLay-Abramoff -Plamegate et

al

[UrbScotty]

2. Good to see the DNC going after McCain (nt)

[ProSense]

3. Ah, yes, the "Double Talk Express." n/t