Talking Points Memo has put together quite a detailed timeline.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/phonejamming.php----
October, 2002
Sometime in October of 2002, Charles McGee, the Executive Director of the New Hampshire Republican State Committee (NHRSC), informs James Tobin - then the New England Regional Director of the Republican National Committee and Northeast political director for the National Republican Senatorial Committee - that he wants to hire a telephone services company to jam Democratic phone banks on Election Day. (Tobin's May 18, 2005 indictment)
October, 2002
Sometime in October of 2002, after hearing McGee's plan, James Tobin provides McGee with the contact information for Allen Raymond, a former colleague of Tobin's and president of a Virginia-based telephone services vendor called GOP Marketplace. Tobin "recommended that McGee call Raymond to seek his help with the described plan." (Tobin's May 18, 2005 indictment)
October 10, 2002
The Mississippi Choctaw, a tribal client of Jack Abramoff's, writes a $10,000 check to the NHRSC.
October 28, 2002
The NHRSC deposits $5,000 from the Choctaw (why they didn't deposit all $10,000 then isn't known), along with another $5,000 from the Agua Caliente tribe of California, also an Abramoff client.
October or early November, 2002
Sometime in October or early November of 2002, Chris Cupit, Allen Raymond's partner and vice president of GOP Marketplace, contacts Shaun Hansen, co-owner of Mylo Enterprises. Mylo Enterprises is a telemarketing firm based in Sandpoint, Idaho and had performed work for GOP Marketplace in the past. Cupit tells Hansen that GOP Marketplace wants to hire Mylo Enterprises to place hang-up calls repeatedly to certain phone numbers in the New Hampshire area throughout Election Day. "Hansen agreed to accept the job for $2,500, to be paid before the job was done." (Hansen's February 22, 2005 affidavit)
November 1, 2002
The NHRSC deposits a $5,000 contribution from Tom DeLay's political committee, Americans for a Republican Majority.
November 4, 2002, one day before Election Day
Charles McGee sends a check for $15,600 drawn on the account of the New Hampshire Republican State Committee to GOP Marketplace as payment for placing hang-up calls repeatedly throughout Election Day. As per the agreement between Cupit and Hansen, GOP Marketplace then tenders a check for $2,500 to Mylo Enterprises to place the calls. (Tobin's May 18, 2005 indictment)
Also on the afternoon November 4, Charles McGee informs John Dowd, then the New Hampshire Republican Party Chairman, of the phone-jamming plan.
November 5, 2002, Election Day:
Early Morning
John Dowd has a conversation with then-party legal counsel David Vicinanzo of the law firm Nixon & Peabody, regarding the legality of the phone-jamming operation. Vicinanzo allegedly tells Dowd that the plan violates federal law. Dowd then contacts Charles McGee and tries to tell him not to start the phone-jamming operation.
7:45 a.m. - 9:10 a.m. EST
Between approximately 7:45 and 9:10 a.m. EST, employees of Mylo Enterprises in Idaho call six telephone numbers in New Hampshire area. Five of the telephone numbers were associated with the New Hampshire Democratic Party and its local affiliates. The sixth number was for the Manchester Professional Firefighters Association, which number had been made available to the public to provide voters transportation to and from polling stations on Election Day. The numbers were called several hundred times, "causing them to ring repeatedly and continuously until answered, and then hung up without disclosing their identities." (Tobin's May 18, 2005 indictment)
The calls eventually stop after Verizon is contacted, frees the phone lines, and identifies the caller as Mylo Enterprises.
8:01 a.m. - 8:50 a.m. EST
By the time McGee receives Dowd's order to stop the phone-jamming, the operation is already underway. Between 8:01 and 8:50 a.m., McGee places several calls to Allen Raymond in an attempt to relay the halt order.
8:59 a.m. EST
At 8:59 a.m., Allen Raymond calls McGee and then immediately contacts his partner, Chris Cupit, to tell him to put a stop to the operation.
9:08 a.m. EST
After speaking with Raymond, Cupit contacts Hansen at Mylo Enterprises in Idaho and tells him to stop the calls into New Hampshire.
Approximately 9:15 a.m. EST
Officer Michael Boufford of the Manchester Police Department is dispatched to the Manchester Professional Firefighters Association to investigate a report of harassing telephone calls. (Hansen's February 22, 2005 affidavit)
10:32 a.m. EST
Jayne Millerick, then a Republican Party consultant, calls the law firm of Nixon & Peabody, the firm where attorney David Vicinanzo works. Millerick then places three calls (between 10:36 am and 10:40 am) to David Horan, a New Hampshire criminal defense attorney.
11:20 a.m. EST
James Tobin places his first call of the day to the White House. The call lasts for five minutes. Tobin calls the White House again at 11:46 a.m., 2:34 p.m., 5:37 p.m., and 7:42 p.m. He calls seven additional times between 9:41 p.m. and 11:42 p.m.
2:59 p.m. EST
Millerick places a call to the White House herself, this one lasting for 17 minutes.
January 2003
Shaun Hansen shuts down Mylo Enterprises. Hansen says he dissolved Mylo Enterprises because the company wasn't profitable.
February 7, 2003
The Manchester Union Leader first reports the story of the New Hampshire phone-jamming operation. Jayne Millerick and Chuck McGee both deny that either one of them had anything to do with the jammed phone lines. Millerick, who had been elected State Republican Chairman two weeks earlier, tells the paper that the state committee hired GOP Marketplace, but not to jam opposition phone lines. She says the $15,600 the party paid GOP Marketplace was for telemarketing services to encourage people to vote Republican and claims she knew nothing about the phone-jamming scheme. Chuck McGee tells the paper he had "vaguely heard of GOP Marketplace and did not hire the firm." Millerick later calls the paper to tell them that McGee was mistaken and that he had in fact hired the firm.
Later the same day Chuck McGee resigns as Executive Director of the New Hampshire Republican Party, the immediate cause for which being his lie to the Manchester Union Leader.
February 12, 2003
Amid increasing national attention, Millerick decries the phone-jamming scheme and announces the institution of a new Republican "Code of Ethics" which forbids GOP staffers, consultants or vendors to engage in "false or misleading attacks" and from indulging "in any activity which would corrupt or degrade" the political process.
Millerick also demands a refund of the $15,600 paid to GOP Marketplace.
February 20, 2003
Millerick drops the request for a refund of the $15,600, preferring instead to "move forward."
June 30, 2004
Allen Raymond pleads guilty to one count: Conspiracy to engage in interstate telephone communications with the intent to annoy or harass.
July 28, 2004
Chuck McGee pleads guilty to one count: Conspiracy to engage in interstate telephone communications with the intent to annoy or harass.
October 11, 2004
Talking Points Memo identifies James Tobin as the probable unnamed "key player" referred to in court documents for the phone-jamming case.
October 15, 2004
James Tobin resigns as Bush-Cheney New England campaign chairman.
February 8, 2005
Allen Raymond is sentenced to five months in prison. He later makes a motion to reduce his sentence and on February 2, 2006 his sentence is reduced to three months in prison, even though the prosecution only asked for house arrest.
March 11, 2005
Chuck McGee is sentenced to seven months in prison. He begins serving his term on April 26, 2005.
December 15, 2005
James Tobin is found guilty of two counts: Conspiracy to commit the commission of interstate telephone harassment and Aiding and abetting the commission of interstate telephone harassment. He is acquitted of a third count, Conspiracy to violate voters' rights. He appeals the verdict December 21, 2005. He is scheduled to be sentenced May 17, 2006.
March 8, 2006
Shaun Hansen is indicted on charges of conspiring to commit and aiding the commission of telephone harassment. He is set to stand trial October 3, 2006.
April 11, 2006
Ken Mehlman- White House political director at the time of the phone-jamming and current chairman of the Republican National Committee - denies that any of the conversations that took place between the White House and New Hampshire officials on Election Day 2002 had anything to do with the phone-jamming scheme.
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(452 posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
