In the 2002 election, GOP operatives attacked a Democratic phone bank in New Hampshire by flooding it with inbound calls. This is illegal. A couple of underlings have already pled guilty and are serving time. James Tobin was the New England Regional Director of the Senate Campaign Committee, and has been indicted. But, Tobin has moved to have the indictment dropped for due process reasons. You see, the grand jury may have included... Democratic voters. The
Concord Monitor has the details. More below the fold.
Tobin suggests weeding out Dems with questions like: "Do you watch West Wing?"
Tobin's logic appears to be: "I am accused of interfering with the Democratic campaign. New Hampshire Democrats would be the victims of such a crime. So, the courts should keep Democrats off the jury."
I will leave legal analysis of this to the lawyers. But several aspects of this argument should be highlighted:
- His logic would result in a jury consisting of Republicans and independents. I guess it's bad to have the victim of theft on the jury, but good to include the recipient of stolen goods.
- Tobin seems to suggest that no Republican would be offended by the crime.
- He is not simply going by party registration, he wants to weed out independents who typically vote Democratic. He's asking the courts to get around that pesky secret ballot.