NH: 3 Motions Seek to Keep Tobin the Phone-Jammer Quiet, er, I Mean, Free

[Wilms]

3 motions seek to keep Tobin free

March 18, 2006

CONCORD, N.H. - A Bangor man's hopes of avoiding prison for being part of a scheme to jam get-out-the-vote phone lines now rest with a federal judge after an hour-long hearing Friday.

U.S. District Judge Steven McAuliffe took under advisement three motions seeking to keep James Tobin, 45, from being sentenced in May on his conspiracy conviction. One motion asks the judge to set aside the verdict, another seeks a new trial, and a third asks that the indictment against Tobin be dismissed.

The longtime Republican political consultant was convicted in December after a six-day trial by a jury of 11 women and one man of conspiring to jam New Hampshire Democrats' get-out-the-vote phone lines three years ago and guilty of aiding and abetting the jamming of those phone lines.

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While the 2002 phone-jamming election scandal soon may be over for Windham native Tobin, Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Levchuk, out of Washington, D.C.,has said there will be a new indictment in the case later this month. A civil lawsuit filed by New Hampshire Democrats against Tobin, Allen, McGee and former state Republican officials also is pending in state court in Manchester.

Tobin's legal bill continues to be a hot topic in New Hampshire.

Last month, a New Hampshire newspaper reported that the most recent report filed with the Federal Election Commission indicated the RNC may have paid as much as $2.5 million for Tobin's legal defense since his indictment two years ago.

Tobin now works for a lobbying firm in Washington, D.C., but continues to live in Bangor.

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http://www.bangornews.com/news/templates/?a=130740


see also:

Election Tampering "at the Behest of...State...Federal Republican Parties"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...