Coming from WaPo (not online yet):
Interesting fact: In its latest filing to the Federal Election Commission, the campaign of Sen. Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I., lists $386,000 in payments for "consulting services" to a firm called Northeast Strategies LLC, listed on Kenduskeag Avenue in Bangor, Maine.
Tantalizing fact: The same Kenduskeag Avenue address is home to James Tobin, a former regional official of the Republican National Committee.
Eyebrow-raising fact: James Tobin was found guilty last year of criminally violating federal elections law, having participated in a scheme by New Hampshire Republicans to jam Democratic get-out-the-vote phone lines on Election Day 2002.
First of all:
$386,000 is NOT chump change! (in the context of a Rhode Island Senate race)
More to the point:
TELEGRAM:
Urgent memo to Rhode Island Democrats:
CHANGE YOUR PHONE NUMBERS!!!!
More from WaPo:
Campaign manager Ian Lang said that Tobin has no role in the company or the Chafee campaign. Instead, he said, Northeast Strategies is made up of Tobin's wife, Ellen, and a political consultant, Kathie Summers.
James Tobin--who is appealing his December 2005 conviction--"is not involved at all," Lang said. He said that, in addition to Summers' expertise, the money pays for mailings and phone calls, as well as additional staff.
Summers confirmed Lang's account Friday. She said that she had worked on campaigns all over New England and that her company was built on her expertise in targeting and reaching nonaffiliated voters.
So if you can't hire a reputed hatchet man like James Tobin outfront -- after all he IS
a convicted criminal -- just hire his wife.
In case you don't recall ...
James Tobin was sentenced to 10 months in jail for his role in the phone-jamming scheme, which helped Sen. John Sununu (R) win a tight race against Democrat Jeanne Shaheen. Phone records show that Tobin called the White House more than 20 times after the scheme began--conversations that Democrats are seeking to learn more about in a civil lawsuit. The Republican National Committee has spent $3 million in legal fees in criminal and civil cases growing out of the controversy.