Dems Allege Interference in Phone-Jamming Case

[appleannie1]

Questions about political pressure in the Justice Department are spilling over into the New Hampshire phone-jamming case.

Five years ago, New Hampshire Republicans jammed the phones of Democratic offices on Election Day, disrupting the Democrats' get-out-the-vote efforts and blocking phone calls from voters seeking rides to the polls. More than two years later, the New England coordinator for the Republican National Committee — who green-lighted the scheme — was charged with a felony and convicted.

But last week, a federal appeals court overturned the conviction.

Democrats allege that Justice Department officials in Washington interfered in the case, and they want Congress to investigate.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9145439&ft=1&f=1014

[berni_mccoy]

1. Holy Cow! I did not know that case was OVERTURNED?!?!? WTF?!?!

This is outrageous. This case was air-tight, prosecution made its case. I'd be interested on what grounds it was overturned...

[AllegroRondo]

14. Overturned on procedural grounds

a question of whether the defendant was charged under the correct statute. He can be re-tried.

[Tesha]

15. But there are no plans to do so.

> He can be re-tried.

But there are no plans to do so.

Tesha

[madfloridian]

2. Recommended. There is just so much outrage.

.

[yorgatron]

3. K&R

:kick:

[appleannie1]

4. the decision

The appellate court determined that a jury could find Tobin guilty of conspiracy and that Tobin's role in aiding and abetting in the crime was clear. However, the court found that a jury instruction on intent was overly broad and thus remanded the case to the trial court for further proceedings over Tobin's "unattractive conduct."


Unanswered questions, including the role of the White House, ratchet up the significance of the high-profile case. The Associated Press has reported that Tobin made over a hundred phone calls to the White House political affairs office, headed by Ken Mehlman, who has also served as chair of the Republican National Committee, between September 17th and November 22nd. Of most interest are the two dozen calls by Tobin in a three-day period while the plot was being hatched. Another questionable election day call to the White House was a 17 minute call by Jayne Millerick, then a GOP consultant and later New Hampshire Republican Chairwoman, who told the AP she couldn't remember what she talked about
http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_michael__070326_federal_court_ruling.htm

[appleannie1]

6. another link

Phone-jamming case may haunt Republicans

March 26. 2007 8:00AM


J
ames Tobin, the former regional chairman for President Bush's re-election campaign, could be the gift that keeps on giving for Democrats. Whether he is will depend on what happens to his conviction for meddling in the 2002 U.S. Senate race between Jeanne Shaheen and John Sununu.

Last week, citing flawed instructions to the jury from U.S. District Court Judge Steven McAuliffe, the federal appeals court in Boston sent the case back for a new trial or an end to Tobin's prosecution.

Three participants in the phone-jamming scheme, including the then-director of the state Republican Party, pleaded guilty. Tobin didn't but was later convicted of telephone harassment. Whether he is guilty of harassment, the Boston judges said, could hinge on his intent. If Tobin knew that by putting key players in the plot together he would help harass Democrats, he would be guilty. His acts were proven, the appeals court said, but his intent in making them was not.

http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070326/REPOSITORY/703260305/1037/NEWS04

[appleannie1]

7. He was proven guilty

but it was not proven if he intended to do what he did? No, he intended to go have a beer and just happened to makes tons of phone calls instead.

[sandnsea]

5. How did I miss this?

When did this get over-turned? I was out and about a couple days last week, but I didn't think I had missed something so enormously important. What the heck happened.

[Lasher]

11. We're up to our eyeballs in GOP scandals

I didn't miss this important development but you're right, it didn't seem to have been discussed much - even here at DU. Now that the lid is blowing off this corruption it's hard to make sure you get a sniff of all the stench.

Edit: Here's the March 22 thread I saw on the subject. It wasn't noticed much but this one was in LBN and it made it to the greatest page.

[aquart]

8. What flaming brass balls they have.

Overturning the conviction in the middle of a justice scandal. The scoundrels burning in hell must be impressed.

[nicknameless]

9. Nom. #5

[ClayZ]

10. Damn, I am going to by Popcorn Stock!

:popcorn:

[Lasher]

12. Democrats expressed these concerns a week ago

Here is a good writeup at TPMmuckraker. It was published on the same day word got out that the verdict had been overturned, but it does not mention the appeals court decision. It discusses Democratic concerns over DoJ interference, in a little more detail than the source cited in your OP.

[johnnydrama]

13. Repubs don't want this

He was going to be tucked away nicely, long forgotten in the scheme of things, and now it's rehashed, and if there's another trial, it'll go on with a Democratic congress watching what's going on, not a Republican Congress pushing it all aside.

[dkofos]

16. The LOYAL BUSHIES strike again!!

[BuyingThyme]

17. I suspect this is why Sununu quickly called for Gonzo to step down.

He needs this to go away.

[Supersedeas]

18. Al Gonzo....New Hamshire is calling.

[appleannie1]

19. The basic facts

in the case are not in dispute. For more than an hour a well orchestrated scheme conducted by Republican Party telemarketing operatives tied up the phone lines of the N.H. Democratic Party and the Manchester firefighters union during get-out-the-vote operations on election day. Republican John Sununu won a tight contest against then-Democratic Gov. Jeanne Shaheen.

In total, the phone-jamming investigation has led to four criminal prosecutions and a civil lawsuit that was settled with Republicans paying the Democrats $135,000.

Among its findings, the appeals court ruled that the statute under which Tobin was convicted was not a "close fit" to the alleged crime and that the judge's interpretation of the law was too broad.

Though it's impossible to determine whether these election day dirty tricks affected the final outcome of the election, we do know this was a disgraceful assault on the electoral system.

It seems fitting that a case steeped in political intrigue should now find itself trapped in even deeper political controversy given the recent revelations about how the Department of Justice rated its U.S. attorneys on political reliability and played political hardball with those who did not toe the administration line.

Even before the appeals court ruling, the N.H. Democratic Party had called on congressional Democrats to hold hearings to get to the bottom of the case - which some allege reaches to the highest levels of the Republican National Committee and the White House.

They have also raised doubt about prosecutorial foot dragging to avoid trials during the 2004 presidential election.

"These questions must be answered to be sure that justice has been fully served and a congressional investigation may be the only way to answer these questions," N.H. Democratic Party Chairman Kathy Sullivan said just recently.

The Department of Justice dismissed the claims, saying the case had been fully investigated and prosecuted. But that was before the appeals court ruling, and now the DOJ has not revealed whether it will retry the Tobin case.

It's also worth noting that the Department of Justice under Attorney Generals John Ashworth and Alberto Gonzales was intent on investigating and prosecuting voter fraud cases. This has proven to be one of the bigger cases in the country this decade.

The DOJ and the U.S. Attorney's Office in Concord are under heightened political scrutiny and deservedly so.

We urge U.S. Attorney Colantuono to convince his superiors in Washington that retrying this case is a priority and in the best interests of justice for the people of New Hampshire.
http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/03252007/opinionletters-p-edit-325.html

[populistdriven]

20. fallout from this case would have bankrupted the GOP

they had to make it go away