https://www.dailykos.com/news/phonejamming News Community Action Copyright 2005 - Steal what you want Mon, 27 Jan 2020 01:12:36 +0000 Mon, 27 Jan 2020 01:12:36 +0000 Daily Kos rss@dailykos.com (Daily Kos) Daily Kos rss@dailykos.com (Daily Kos) https://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/1/17/825974/-The-deafening-silence-of-Erick-Erickson-and-RedState <p>When I first read <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/1/16/14450/1176">this diary</a> about RedState apparently organizing an effort to jam Martha Coakley's phone banks, I hoped that we'd badly misread that post. &nbsp;However, even if the diarist was wrong, Erickson has shown his true colors by what he's done in response to several comments explicitly stating intent to jam the lines. &nbsp;Or rather, what he hasn't done. &nbsp;</p> <p>So far, this has been Erickson's response to the RedStaters since he made his original post on Friday night:</p> <blockquote> <p>(sound of crickets chirping) </p> </blockquote> <p>Fellow Kossack Snapples <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/comments/2010/1/16/162349/157/183#c183">gave Erickson a chance</a> to condemn any attempts to jam Coakley's phone lines, and also reminded him that this was highly illegal. &nbsp;Erickson could have replied, "Yes, I made that post, but I in no way approve of phone jamming or any form of harassment--and anyone who advocated that in the comments will be banned." &nbsp;But no--he only said, "I am well within my rights to post what I posted." &nbsp;And Erickson proved he didn't get it in <a href="http://www.redstate.com/blog/2010/01/15/union-phonebanking-for-coakley-on-saturday">a post this morning</a>.</p> rss@dailykos.com (Christian Dem in NC) DirtyTricks Erick Erickson ErickErickson MA-Sen phonejamming Redstate _825974 Sun, 17 Jan 2010 14:31:05 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/1/16/825847/-ACTION-ITEM-RedState-trying-to-jam-Coakley-phone-banks <p>Erick Erickson has posted the addresses of Coakley phone banks at <a href="http://www.redstate.com/blog/2010/01/15/union-phonebanking-for-coakley-on-saturday/ ">redstate.com</a>.</p> rss@dailykos.com (pinback) DirtyTricks MA-Sen MarthaCoakley massachussetts phonejamming Recommended Redstate Scott Brown ScottBrown _825847 Sat, 16 Jan 2010 19:57:01 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/2/13/696949/-Judd-Gregg-his-Abramoff-Problem <p>We were lucky.</p> <p>A few weeks ago on a Friday, <a href="http://anticorruptionrepublican.blogspot.com/2009/01/todd-boulanger-guilty-plus-staffer-f.html">Todd Boulanger</a> pleaded guilty for his role in the ongoing Abramoff corruption scandal. He was a key member of Team Abramoff and before that he worked for former NH Senator Bob Smith (one of Jack&rsquo;s go-to Senators). &nbsp;Boulanger&rsquo;s plea identified a Legislative Director for a US Senator as "Staffer F" and laid out the many favors Team Abramoff did for this staffer and some of the deeds done in return.</p> <p>Over that weekend, a network of scandal researchers had concluded that "Staffer F" was <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/2/6/01921/61981/755/693850">Kevin Koonce</a> and that the Senator was Judd Gregg. The rumor was that Gregg would soon be nominated to be President Obama&rsquo;s Commerce Secretary. It was too late for Gregg&rsquo;s link to scandal to filter up and stop it. The day after Gregg was nominated; the Koonce story broke in the AP, Washington Post, NYTs and elsewhere.</p> <p>Today, Gregg backed out and we dodged a bullet.</p> <p>OTOH, Gregg and the GOP still have some problems.</p> <p>Let&rsquo;s jump...</p> rss@dailykos.com (dengre) Barack Obama BarackObama CNMI CommerceDepartment CultureofCorruption DepartmentofJustice EricHolder Jack Abramoff JackAbramoff JohnAshcroft JuddGregg KevinKoonce KevinRing New Hampshire NewHampshire phonejamming Recommended RobertCoughlin Saipan Scandal Sweatshops TanFamily ToddBoulanger TomDeLay _696949 Fri, 13 Feb 2009 08:30:40 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/2/5/693850/-Judd-Gregg-Jack-Abramoff-and-Barack-Obama <p>It is not a slow news week. A lot has and is happening. It is easy for an important story to slide by quickly. That is just what happened in the last 24 hours.</p> <p>On Tuesday, President Obama named Republican Senator Judd Gregg to be his Secretary of Commerce. Yesterday, it was reported that a <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/washingtonpostinvestigations/2009/02/former_gregg_staffer_may_be_li.html?hpid=topnews">former staffer of Senator Gregg is linked to the Jack Abramoff corruption scandal</a>.</p> <p>This story was buried in an avalanche of other news and missed by the posts and comments on Daily Kos. I guess I&rsquo;ll have to take care of that.</p> <p>Judd Gregg brings the taint of the Abramoff Scandal with him to President Obama&rsquo;s Cabinet. Senator Gregg needs to answer some questions about Abramoff&rsquo;s influence on his staff and policy positions. The role of his staffers in this scandal must be explored in his Confirmation Hearings. Some hard questions should be asked and answered.</p> <p>But more than that, we need a commitment from President Obama to fully investigate this ever expanding corruption scandal. We need a Special Prosecutor.</p> <p>To the jump...</p> rss@dailykos.com (dengre) Barack Obama BarackObama CommerceDepartment CultureofCorruption DepartmentofJustice EricHolder Jack Abramoff JackAbramoff JohnAshcroft JuddGregg Karl Rove KarlRove KevinKoonce New Hampshire NewHampshire phonejamming RobertCoughlin Scandal ToddBoulanger TomDeLay _693850 Fri, 06 Feb 2009 07:13:47 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/10/19/635282/-Evidence-Links-McCain-to-Organization-Involved-in-Widespread-Electioneering <p>John McCain has based his political future on tying Barack Obama to William Ayers and to ACORN, a group he says <a href="http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/10/mccain_presses_1.html">"maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy."</a></p> <p>In light of these attacks, it is very troubling to find that Mr. McCain is not merely 'linked', but indeed has been a longtime member of an organization that has engaged in actions that have systematically worked to unravel the same 'fabric of democracy' he claims to be so concerned about.</p> rss@dailykos.com (Sylvester McMonkey Mcbean) ACORN Barack Obama BarackObama John McCain JohnMcCain phonejamming votecaging voterpurges WilliamAyers _635282 Sun, 19 Oct 2008 14:59:36 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/10/14/630226/-NH-phone-jammer-Tobin-indicted-for-lying-to-FBI <p>James Tobin, the 2002 poster child for vote suppression for the phone jamming hijinks that helped John Sununu win his (presently endangered) Senate seat, has spent a long time (and a lot of RNC money) trying to evade prison for his actions. &nbsp;</p> <p>The RNC's stooge is back in trouble again, indicted on two counts of lying to the FBI. &nbsp;The charges, and what they might mean for the Republican Party's attempt to disenfranchise American citizens, below the fold.</p> rss@dailykos.com (Nuisance Industry) Disenfranchisement ElectionIntegrity JamesTobin New Hampshire NewHampshire phonejamming RNC _630226 Tue, 14 Oct 2008 16:59:11 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/1/14/437025/-Confessions-of-a-GOP-Hitman <p>Over at TPMCafe, Allen Raymond, the former GOP operative who was convicted for the phone jamming operation during the 2002 New Hampshire elections, lays bare his soul in his post, entitled <a href="http://www.tpmcafe.com/blog/tableforone/2008/jan/14/morality_vs_politics_and_my_job_as_a_gop_operative">Morality vs. Politics and My Job as a GOP Operative</a>.</p> <p>It&rsquo;s not long, but it fully reveals what most of us here already know, and the rest suspect: your typical high-level Republican is a morally incapacitated prick whose only real problem with the law is getting caught. The money quotes are below the skip.</p> rss@dailykos.com (NBBooks) AllenRaymond New Hampshire NewHampshire phonejamming RepublicanDirtyTricks _437025 Tue, 15 Jan 2008 06:13:59 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/1/3/429946/-Does-Romney-more-Bush-and-Rove <p>Once upon a time, Karl Rove was working in Texas politics, for Bob Clement against Mark White, in the Texas Governor's race. &nbsp;A bug was found in Rove's office. &nbsp;The implication was that White's campaign placed, but as the story played out over time, increasingly people came to believe that Rove had bugged his own office.</p> <p>Please keep that in mind. &nbsp;And remember, that when Romney went to give his speech on religion, it was at the presidential library of George H. W. Bush.</p> <p>So, how does all this add up to my title? &nbsp; Well . . . .</p> rss@dailykos.com (teacherken) DirtyTricks GeorgeHWBush JebBush Karl Rove KarlRove Mitt Romney MittRomney New Hampshire NewHampshire phonejamming _429946 Thu, 03 Jan 2008 22:51:43 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/1/3/429913/-BIG-news-regarding-NH-Romney-Mormon-push-polls <p>Quick diary, then back to work. &nbsp;Today the New Hampshire Attorney General, Kelly A. Ayotte, <a href="http://doj.nh.gov/publications/nreleases/010308poll.html">held a press conference from New Hampshire</a> to discuss the anonymous push polls a few weeks back. &nbsp;The substance of the push polls was basically that Romney was a crazy Mormon, and that Mormons are crazy. &nbsp;And did you know that Romney was a Mormon and that Mormons were crazy?</p> <p>Here's the fun thing. &nbsp;The NH AG has named the push polling outfit, and it's <a href="http://www.moore-info.com/campaign.html">Moore Information</a>.</p> <p>More after the jump.</p> rss@dailykos.com (Ajax the Greater) New Hampshire NewHampshire phonejamming RepublicanPresidentialPrimary Shaheen Sununu _429913 Thu, 03 Jan 2008 21:30:47 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/1/3/429741/-Watch-in-real-time-dirty-tricks-to-kill-tell-all-book <p>It won't be in bookstores for another week but that didn't stop Amazon "reviewers" last week from posting low-ball reviews. The book is phone-jammer Allen Raymond's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Rig-Election-Confessions-Republican/dp/1416552227/"><em>How to Rig an Election: Confessions of a Republican Operative</em></a>, a colorful, profane, and surprisingly frank memoir of sleazy politics.</p> <p>It would be quite a job to track <a href="http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/mixed-media/2007/12/21/its-on-ex-sixer-spars-rnc-over-book">GOP lowballers</a> around the two-way web but you may find it an interesting hobby. (On <a href="http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&amp;EAN=9781416552222&amp;tabname=custreview&amp;itm=1">Barnes and Noble</a>: "Pitiful and poorly written," some reviewer with future-vision claimed on Christmas Day.)</p> <p><a href="http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&amp;ned=us&amp;scoring=n&amp;q=allen-raymond+book&amp;btnG=Search">Media mentions of Allen Raymond's book</a> have mostly talked up his phone-jamming, for which his RNC pals threw him under the bus, but ....</p> rss@dailykos.com (Betsy Devine) AllenRaymond Book Review BookReview ElectionIntegrity New Hampshire NewHampshire phonejamming Republicans _429741 Thu, 03 Jan 2008 16:38:21 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/12/20/424653/-Phone-jamming-rats-pour-out-of-the-woodwork-this-morning <p>The first advance reviews of the <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/11/15/1279/5348/1018/410877">juicy tell-all book</a> on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_New_Hampshire_Senate_election_phone_jamming_scandal">NH phone-jamming scandal</a> hit newspapers this morning.</p> <p>Former GOP rising star <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen_Raymond">Allen Raymond</a> doesn't hold back on the inner details of Republican telephone trickery--for example, "angering union households with calls in which people with Latin-sounding voices talked favorably about a rival candidate's support for the North American Free Trade Agreement" or using "the voice of an angry black man, posing as a Democrat, to stir up 'fear, racism, bigotry' in white neighborhoods."</p> <p><a href="http://www.kansascity.com/news/nation/story/411098.html">A second story, also new, may embarrass Republicans even more</a>: &nbsp;McClatchy Newspapers say an unnamed Administration source told them that the <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/3/11/0835/06745/678/310526">slow-walk of prosecuting top phone-jammers</a> was orchestrated within the Department of Justice. More links and quotes below the fold.</p> rss@dailykos.com (Betsy Devine) 2002elections AllenRaymond New Hampshire NewHampshire phonejamming Recommended Scandal VoterSuppression _424653 Thu, 20 Dec 2007 10:54:13 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/12/19/424546/--How-To-Rig-An-Election <p>Too bad this won't be out in time for Christmas. &nbsp;It would make a great present for your favorite Republican neocon. &nbsp;"How to Rig an Election: Confessions of a Republican Operative," by Allen Raymond, is due to come out in <a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/23357.html">January.</a></p> <blockquote> <p>WASHINGTON &#8212; A former GOP political operative who ran an illegal election-day scheme to jam the phone lines of New Hampshire Democrats during the state's tight 2002 U.S. Senate election said in a new book and an interview that he believes the scandal reaches higher into the Republican Party.</p> <p>Allen Raymond of Bethesda, Md., whose book Simon &amp; Schuster will publish next month, also accused the Republican Party of trying to hang all the blame for a scandal on him as part of an "old-school cover-up."</p> <p>Raymond's book, "How to Rig an Election: Confessions of a Republican Operative," offers a raw, inside glimpse of the phone scandal as it unraveled and of a ruthless world in which political operatives seek to win at all costs. </p> </blockquote> rss@dailykos.com (Jensequitur) AllenRaymond GOP phonejamming Riggingelections _424546 Thu, 20 Dec 2007 01:37:07 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/12/19/424524/-Official-DoJ-Delayed-Phone-Jamming-Indictment-for-04-Election <p><em>Crossposted on <a href="http://bluehampshire.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=2815">Blue Hampshire</a> with different title.</em></p> <p>I know we're smack in the middle of primary madness at the moment, but <a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/23444.html">this is a huge advance</a> (h/t <a href="http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/061525.php">TPM</a>) on what we all suspected about the snail's pace of the investigation of the phonejamming felony that helped propel Senator* Sununu to victory in 2002. </p> <blockquote> <p>The Justice Department delayed prosecuting a key Republican official for jamming the phones of New Hampshire Democrats until after the 2004 election, protecting top GOP officials from the scandal until the voting was over. </p> </blockquote> rss@dailykos.com (Dean Barker) 2002elections AllenRaymond DepartmentofJustice JamesTobin John Sununu JohnSununu New Hampshire NewHampshire NH-Sen phonejamming ToddHinnen _424524 Thu, 20 Dec 2007 00:42:52 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/12/18/424081/--After-10-full-years-inside-the-GOP-90-days-among-honest-criminals-wasn-t-really-any-great-ordeal <p>That quote comes direct from Allen Raymond's new tell-all book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Rig-Election-Confessions-Republican/dp/1416552227">How to Rig an Election: Confessions of a Republican Operative.</a></p> <p>In it, according to Josh Marshall at <a href="http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/061356.php">TPM</a>, "upon a limited initial perusal, the normally low-key and laconic Paul Kiel concludes that it is 'awesome.' So that's saying a lot."</p> rss@dailykos.com (DelicateMonster) AllenRaymond Corrupt jailtime New Hampshire NewHampshire phonejamming PhoneJammingscandal _424081 Wed, 19 Dec 2007 03:02:39 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/12/18/423989/--How-to-Rig-an-Election-Confessions-of-a-Republican-Operative <p>All I can say is Holy Shit, Batman!</p> <p>Over at <a href="http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/061356.php">TPM</a> there's a short blurb about the new book by Allen Raymond, one of the main players in the New Hampshire phone-jamming scandal, and the only one that just took his medicine and did his time. According to Josh Marshall, this is an actual tell-all...</p> <p>The money quote about his time in jail??</p> <blockquote> <p>After 10 full years inside the GOP, 90 days among honest criminals wasn't really any great ordeal. </p> </blockquote> rss@dailykos.com (The Baculum King) phonejamming Republicans _423989 Tue, 18 Dec 2007 22:59:48 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/11/15/410877/-Breaking-Phone-jammer-writes-book-on-rigging-elections <p>Sounds like a page-turner, out soon from Simon and Schuster--<a href="http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&amp;EAN=9781416552222&amp;itm=5">How to Rig an Election: Confessions of a Republican Law Breaker</a>.</p> <p>Allen Raymond was a Republican rising star in 2002, until "pushing the envelope" for his GOP clients landed him in a three-month sentence in jail. He has not been making his former colleagues happy since he got out--<a href="http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/06/10/fallen_star_blames_self_gop_tactics?mode=PF">for example telling the Boston Globe</a> that Republicans have turned so "ultra-aggressive" &nbsp;and "ruthless" that he feared saying no to James Tobin about jamming phones would shut him out of future business with the RNC.</p> <p>The RNC, which paid millions in legal bills for Tobin, but nothing for Raymond, is no doubt regretting that decision as they wait for Raymond to publish a much longer version of his bitter memories...</p> rss@dailykos.com (Betsy Devine) AllenRaymond Corruption New Hampshire NewHampshire phonejamming Republicans Scandal _410877 Thu, 15 Nov 2007 18:05:27 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/10/22/401018/-Latest-phone-jamming-funny-biz-from-Justice-Department <p>Amazingly, even under the <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/10/4/7027/71368">threat of Congressional oversight</a> and the (occasional) spotlight of <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/17/opinion/17mon3.html?ex=1347681600&amp;en=3d06243a2695fb14&amp;ei=5088&amp;partner=rssnyt&amp;emc=rss">national press</a>, the Justice Department continues its <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/3/22/17319/1010">pattern of slow-walking</a> &nbsp;their <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/17/opinion/17mon4.html">phone-jamming</a> "investigation."</p> <p>Their latest trick seems to be keeping <del>Andrew Levchuk, the federal prosecutor</del> &nbsp;the federal prosecutors overseeing the case of James Tobin occupied elsewhere with nearly full-time demands. Recent court documents (quotes below the fold) make this clear.</p> <p>This is of course the same Justice Department that <a href="http://betsydevine.com/phonejamdoc/Senator%20Leahyltr.pdf">assigned exactly one FBI agent to work part-time investigating the phone-jamming and then prevented said agent from following any leads that led to Washington, DC</a>.</p> rss@dailykos.com (Betsy Devine) DepartmentofJustice JamesTobin New Hampshire NewHampshire PaulKrugman phonejamming Scandal U.SAttorneys usagate _401018 Mon, 22 Oct 2007 15:44:37 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/10/4/393852/-Breaking-Pulling-the-DC-end-of-NH-phone-jamming-string <p>The House Judiciary Committee has a new, &nbsp;better way to unravel the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_New_Hampshire_Senate_election_phone_jamming_scandal">phone-jamming</a> coverup.</p> <p>Thats the real news in <a href="http://betsydevine.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/judiciary-committee-letter-to-the-attorney-general-on-phone-jamming.pdf" title="071003PhoneJamming">this letter from Conyers to Attorney General (pdf)</a>--something <a href="http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/10/04/house_committee_to_investigate_02_gop_phone_jamming/">reporters seem to have missed</a>, so far.</p> <p>No, Associated Press, the House Judiciary Committee is not headed back to NH in 2002. It will not be re-asking old questions of the old suspects, all of whom seem to have <a href="http://betsydevine.com/phonejamdoc/20061013Darrell%20HenryDepositionTranscript.pdf">lawyered up</a> and/or <a href="http://betsydevine.com/blog/2006/04/16/the-slooww-pace-of-the-phone-jamming-investigation-plus-alicia-davis/">lost their memories</a>.</p> <p>"What did the White House know and when did they know it?" &nbsp;</p> <p>That's what we want to know--and it's why Conyers will start from the Washington, DC end of the phone-jamming tangle.</p> rss@dailykos.com (Betsy Devine) Corruption Cover-up DepartmentofJustice FBI JohnConyers New Hampshire NewHampshire PaulHodes phonejamming Republican Scandal U.SAttorneys _393852 Thu, 04 Oct 2007 11:15:47 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/9/17/386375/-Breaking-NYT-hits-NH-voter-fraud-Plus-Tobin-trial-news <p>"The Bush administration has spent a lot of time talking about mythical cases of voter fraud and election improprieties," says <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/17/opinion/17mon3.html?ex=1347681600&amp;en=3d06243a2695fb14&amp;ei=5088&amp;partner=rssnyt&amp;emc=rss">the editorial in today's <em>NY Times</em></a>, "but the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/17/opinion/17mon4.html?ex=1302926400&amp;en=95d7f18eb564ed89&amp;ei=5090&amp;partner=rssuserland&amp;emc=rss">New Hampshire phone jamming case</a> was the real thing."</p> <p>Amen!!</p> <p>The <em>Times</em> is endorsing the recent <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/9/9/6110/56882">request by Representative Paul Hodes</a> for a Congressional investigation, citing multiple actions by the now-disgraced Department of Justice that left many avenues unexplored or even blocked.</p> <p>In other phone-jamming news, James Tobin's lawyers filed a motion (on September 14) for a<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/betsythedevine/1396895797/">Judgment of Acquittal</a> on grounds that seem to me completely outrageous...more below the fold.</p> rss@dailykos.com (Betsy Devine) Corruption New Hampshire New York Times NewHampshire NewYorkTimes PaulHodes phonejamming Scandal _386375 Mon, 17 Sep 2007 16:32:49 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/9/9/382575/-Breaking-US-House-to-target-NH-phone-jamming <p>What did the White House know and when did they know it? Several million Republican dollars and lots of Department of Justice &nbsp;<a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/3/22/17319/1010">slow-walking</a> went into an effort to wall off investigation of any higher-ups in the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/17/opinion/17mon4.html?ex=1302926400&amp;en=95d7f18eb564ed89&amp;ei=5090&amp;partner=rssuserland&amp;emc=rss">NH phone-jamming scandal</a>.</p> <p>What's new is that <a href="http://hodes.house.gov/PRArticle.aspx?NewsID=1411">Representative Paul Hodes (D-NH)</a>--a member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee--is asking his own committee to investigate.</p> <p>And with an overwhelming Democratic majority in the House (233 of 435 members), this request from Hodes is likely to get more traction than <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/3/21/11153/1708">a request to the Senate Judiciary Committee</a>, which never went forward.</p> rss@dailykos.com (Betsy Devine) Corruption George W. Bush GeorgeWBush JamesTobin New Hampshire NewHampshire PaulHodes PaulKrugman phonejamming Recommended Scandal U.SAttorneys _382575 Sun, 09 Sep 2007 11:05:22 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/8/2/365810/--BREAKING-CNN-gives-phone-jammer-a-job <p>Many organizations and people were concerned that partisan strategies to suppress the vote, such as voter challenges, illegal disinformation campaigns and misallocation of voting equipment, would influence the outcome of the 2006 mid-term elections. To counter these schemes, the Democratic Party and a number of groups independently set up hot lines that voters could call and seek help on any problems they experienced the polls.</p> rss@dailykos.com (Project Vote) CNN ElectionIntegrity LauraIngraham New Hampshire NewHampshire PatrickLeahy PaulaZahn phonejamming VoterSuppression _365810 Thu, 02 Aug 2007 19:35:02 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/7/23/361291/-Breaking-NH-phone-jammer-Tobin-to-face-new-trial <p><a href="http://unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Granite+Status%3a+Primary+remains+wide+open&amp;articleId=a9c2ec83-d877-41ae-bb53-d93bda1dedef">Thursday's <em>Union Leader</em> has the only news so far</a>: </p> <blockquote> <p>A new trial for accused 2002 GOP phone jamming conspirator James Tobin is expected in either December or January. Tobin's conviction on phone harassment and conspiracy charges was reversed by a federal appeals court in March and remanded to the trial court... Briefs will begin to be filed in September. </p> </blockquote> <p>This could be a lot more interesting than Tobin's first trial, for a number of reasons.</p> <p>If you're wondering how a crime in 2002 leads to a trial in 2007 or 2008, here's why Paul Krugman sees the NH phone-jamming prosecution as a "<a href="http://select.nytimes.com/2007/03/12/opinion/12krugman.html?_r=1&amp;oref=login&amp;pagewanted=print">slow-walk</a>" with links to US Attorney-gate.</p> rss@dailykos.com (Betsy Devine) Corruption George W. Bush GeorgeWBush JamesTobin New Hampshire NewHampshire PaulKrugman phonejamming U.SAttorneys _361291 Mon, 23 Jul 2007 16:37:36 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/5/4/330979/-Robert-E-Coughlin-Prince-of-the-Right-GOP-Scandal-Protector <p>Last week a BIG story broke. So far it is under the radar, but that will change.</p> <p>Of course, the Daily Kos community was on top of the story with <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/4/25/15367/6125">a recommended Diary by Bink</a> about the resignation of the Abramoff-connected DoJ official, <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/tag/Robert%20Coughlin">Robert E. Coughlin II</a>.</p> <p>McClatchy Newspapers broke the story, and <a href="http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/17145877.htm">explained why this might be a problem</a> for the Bush DoJ:</p> <blockquote> <p>Making the situation more awkward for the embattled Justice Department, Robert E. Coughlin II was deputy chief of staff for the criminal division, which is overseeing the department's probe of Abramoff. </p> </blockquote> <p>Coughlin resigned on April 6 and since then the probe of the Abramoff scandal has been reinvigorated&mdash;as if an obstacle or a blockage to justice has been removed.</p> <p>It was.</p> <p>Coughlin was a gate keeper, a Republican scandal traffic cop. He made sure that everybody did the slow walk in slow motion.</p> <p>But he was more than that; he was a young Prince of the Right.</p> <p>To the jump...</p> rss@dailykos.com (dengre) AK-AL CA-04 CNMI Cover-up CultureofCorruption DepartmentofJustice DonYoung EdBuckham FL-24 frederickblack George W. Bush GeorgeWBush Guam gwb43.com Jack Abramoff JackAbramoff John McCain JohnAshcroft JohnDoolittle JohnMcCain Karl Rove KarlRove KevinRing NativeAmericans New Hampshire NewHampshire phonejamming RobertCoughlin Saipan Scandal SenateIndianAffairsCommittee TanFamily TomDeLay TomFeeney U.SAttorneys _330979 Fri, 04 May 2007 12:29:23 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/4/5/319949/-Breaking-DOJ-urged-to-re-try-phone-jamming-as-civil-rights-case <p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_New_Hampshire_Senate_election_phone_jamming_scandal">Trying to shut down NH Democrats on Election Day, with non-stop hangup phone calls</a>--was that or wasn't it "telephone harassment"?</p> <p>Maybe not, says the <a href="http://news.bostonherald.com/national/northeast/view.bg?articleid=190133">US Court of Appeals</a>, overturning <a href="http://betsydevine.com/blog/2005/12/20/james-tobin-trial-in-chronological-order/">James Tobin's December, 2005, conviction</a> for his role in the 2002 phone-jamming of get-out-the-vote lines run by NH Democrats and by the Manchester Firefighters. They remanded the case to NH for further action.</p> <p>But what action? NH's US Attorney Thomas Colantuono is now <a href="http://select.nytimes.com/2007/03/12/opinion/12krugman.html?_r=1&amp;oref=login&amp;pagewanted=print">under national scrutiny for his slow-walk</a> of the phone-jamming prosecutions. <a href="http://unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Granite+Status%3a+Bodi%27s+past+will+be+issue+for+liquor+commission+nomination&amp;articleId=1c6528bc-0d0b-4235-b9ff-f7d2a33c0f7a">John DiStaso in today Union Leader</a> reports some news.</p> rss@dailykos.com (Betsy Devine) DepartmentofJustice JamesTobin New Hampshire NewHampshire phonejamming ShaunHansen ThomasColantuono U.SAttorneys _319949 Thu, 05 Apr 2007 22:38:01 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/4/3/318925/-Scandal-of-DOJ-slow-walk-of-GOP-scandal-NH-phone-jamming <p>Many new voices are now asking why the Federal investigation of the&nbsp; NH's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_New_Hampshire_Senate_election_phone_jamming_scandal">2002 phone-jamming scandal</a> moved so slowly. (<a href="http://select.nytimes.com/2007/03/12/opinion/12krugman.html?_r=1&amp;oref=login&amp;pagewanted=print">Paul Krugman</a> called it a "slow-walk.") <p> <br />How long should it take the US Department of Justice--and NH's Bush-appointed US Attorney Thomas Colantuono--to investigate phone-jamming? Just for comparison, in <a href="http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/113189594.html?dids=113189594:113189594&amp;FMT=ABS&amp;FMTS=ABS:FT&amp;date=APR+10%2C+2002&amp;author=R.H.+Melton&amp;pub=The+Washington+Post&amp;desc=Va.+GOP+Official+Is+Indicted%2C+Quits%3B+Director+Charged+With+Eavesdropping&amp;pqatl=google">Virginia in 2002</a>, a GOP official was indicted in April of 2002 for a phone-crime committed in March of 2002.<p> <br />If you're new to this angle, or wondering where to dig further, this post would be a very good place to start.</p> rss@dailykos.com (Betsy Devine) AlbertoGonzales Corruption DirtyTricks JohnAshcroft New Hampshire NewHampshire phonejamming Republicans Rescued ThomasColantuono U.SAttorneys _318925 Tue, 03 Apr 2007 08:18:02 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/3/22/315003/-Needle-in-haystack-or-not-160-set-phone-jammer-free <p>On March 21, 2007 the <a href="http://news.bostonherald.com/national/northeast/view.bg?articleid=190133">US Appeals Court overturned</a> phone-jamming conspirator <a href="http://betsydevine.com/blog/2005/12/20/james-tobin-trial-in-chronological-order/">James Tobin's conviction</a> for his role in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_New_Hampshire_Senate_election_phone_jamming_scandal">2002 Election Day GOP scandal</a>.</p> <p><a href="http://betsydevine.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/20070321opinion.rtf">The court's 20-page opinion</a> turns on narrow legalism, clearly rejecting the idea that Tobin was innocent:</p> <blockquote> <p>That Tobin assisted in the substantive crime is patent; his call to Raymond was integral to the accomplishment of the scheme. ...We think it fair to add that despite the unattractive conduct, this statute is not a close fit for what Tobin did. </p> </blockquote> <p>One tiny claim hidden <a href="http://betsydevine.com/blog/?p=2551">by RNC lawyers inside a "haystack" of other claims.</a> bought this surprise ending...</p> rss@dailykos.com (Betsy Devine) Corruption DirtyTricks New Hampshire NewHampshire phonejamming Republicans Rescued ThomasColantuono U.SAttorneys _315003 Fri, 23 Mar 2007 01:46:10 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/3/22/314737/-Phone-Jammer-Conviction-Overturned <p>James Tobin, convicted of jamming phones in New Hampshire during the 2002 campaign, which put John Sununu in the Senate, has had his conviction overturned by a federal appeals court! More <a href="http://www.bangordailynews.com/news/t/news.aspx?articleid=147771&amp;zoneid=500">here.</a> Is this a case of activist Republican judges?</p> <p>It's obvious that dirty tricks in politics mean nothing. &nbsp; And now they are sanctioned by the federal courts. &nbsp; But I think that John Sununu is reaping the fruits of his efforts.</p> rss@dailykos.com (Dash Riprock) JamesTobin New Hampshire NewHampshire phonejamming _314737 Thu, 22 Mar 2007 15:24:56 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/3/21/314498/-Breaking-USAgate-takes-phone-jamming-to-US-Senate <p>Breaking--In a damning 10-page letter to Senator Patrick Leahy, Chair of the Senate Juciciary Committee, NH Democrats spell out step by step the evidence against what Paul Krugman called the <a href="http://select.nytimes.com/2007/03/12/opinion/12krugman.html?_r=1&amp;oref=login&amp;pagewanted=print">"slow-walk investigations"</a> of the NH phone-jamming. Thanks to Josh Marshall <a href="http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002839.php">breaking this story</a> and for posting <a href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/docs/nh-dems/?resultpage=1&amp;">the 10-page letter (pdf)</a>.</p> <p>Well, I had my own small breakthrough on this written up--so, after pointing you toward Marshall's big news, let me just also post my latest piece of the puzzle. <br />*********** <br />As 2003 rolled slowly onward, the GOPMarketplace website vanished and memories had lots of time to get cloudy. By the time the FBI got a statement in Dec. 2003 from their chief suspect Chuck McGee, more than a year had gone by since the crime itself.</p> <p>Today, I stumbled on an new piece of that puzzle, evidence that NH's<a href="http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/3/11/0835/06745">US Attorney Thomas Colantuono didn't swing into gear</a> until a green light came from Washington.</p> rss@dailykos.com (Betsy Devine) AlbertoGonzales Corruption DirtyTricks New Hampshire NewHampshire phonejamming Recommended Republicans ThomasColantuono U.SAttorneys _314498 Wed, 21 Mar 2007 22:00:44 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/3/17/313084/-RNC-phone-jamming-lawyer-spills-disturbing-beans <p>How do our new Democratic Senate and Congress look to the many who have so much to hide?</p> <p>Scarily revealing is the <a href="http://www.cov.com/files/Publication/72182424-2fe2-4626-af94-7f3e94d5ff28/Presentation/PublicationAttachment/417d318f-eeeb-40b4-88c3-85089046bd1e/704.pdf">oh-so-subtle promo (pdf)</a> for DC white-shoe lawfirm Covington and Burling co-authored by one of the many high-priced DC lawyers who worked for the RNC on the NH phone-jamming, one <a href="http://www.cov.com/biographies/detail.aspx?attorney=11446&amp;morepubs=true">Robert Kelner</a>. (Quotes etc. below the fold.)</p> <p>Phone-jamming fans may recall that Kelner let slip <a href="http://betsydevine.com/blog/2006/04/13/damn-good-question/">some embarassing info to a TV station in NH</a>--making it clear that the RNC's defense lawyers were fully informed about DOJ investigations into the phone-jamming's White House connection, although said investigations were kept a deep secret from Democrats.</p> <p>Kelner's remark inspired <a href="http://www.senatemajority.com/node/221">a Freedom of Information Request</a> to the DOJ (<a href="http://www.senatemajority.com/files/DOJFOIA.pdf">pdf here</a>), filed on April 18, 2006 but not yet answered by the DOJ.</p> rss@dailykos.com (Betsy Devine) AlbertoGonzales Corruption DirtyTricks New Hampshire NewHampshire phonejamming Recommended Republicans RobertKelner ThomasColantuono U.SAttorneys _313084 Sun, 18 Mar 2007 04:26:30 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/3/14/311608/-Abramoff-Prosecutor-Purges-and-the-Need-for-a-Special-Prosecutor-to-unravel-the-Corruption <p>I have been tracking the Republican Culture of Corruption for some time now. &nbsp;For almost three years, <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/user/dengre">my Diaries</a> have focused on the growing Jack Abramoff scandal. I think of this scandal as just a core sample taken from a glacier of Republican corruption. Drilling down a few feet over would hit Plamegate, Cunningham, Haliburton, Stephen Griles or any of the endless entry points into the Republican Culture of Corruption.</p> <p>These days, almost any sample will be connected to the other scandals frozen in the interwoven layers of Corruption at the heart of the Gingrich/DeLay/Bush years.</p> <p>Take the ongoing and breaking <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/tag/Prosecutor%20Purge">Prosecutor Purge</a> story. It touches virtually all the scandals of the Bush years and the Gingrich/DeLay Congress. Running through this new scandal are dozens of threads that tie back to Jack Abramoff and his 25 years as a bag-man for the Republican Party.</p> <p><strong>We NEED an independent Special Prosecutor to unravel the intertwined scandals and reveal the truth</strong>.</p> <p>A good place to start would be Abramoff... &nbsp;</p> rss@dailykos.com (dengre) AlbertoGonzales AttorneyGeneral CNMI CultureofCorruption DepartmentofJustice frederickblack George W. Bush GeorgeWBush Guam Jack Abramoff JackAbramoff JohnAshcroft Karl Rove KarlRove KenMehlman New Hampshire NewHampshire NoelHillman phonejamming ProsecutorPurge Rescued Saipan U.SAttorneys VoterSuppression _311608 Wed, 14 Mar 2007 07:18:10 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/3/13/311471/-Hillary-calls-bullshit-on-VRWC-NH-Phone-Jammers <p>Caveat: I am not supporting Hillary (nor opposing her - I consider ANY of our candidates to be a million percent better than any of the Republicans and will do what I can to help which ever one of them who is nominated win the general. &nbsp;Truth be told, my first choice is Wes Clark, and there is no clear indication he will run right now...)</p> <p>That being said - we interrupt today's dailykos Hillary-bashing to bring you this news flash from New Hampshire -</p> <p>Hillary is telling it like it is about the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy and tying the criminals who jammed phones in the 2002 election in New Hampshire to the VRWC. &nbsp;She has also been speaking out, loud and strong, about the racist voter suppresion tactics by the Republicans in recent elections, a point she made strongly in her Selma speech as well.</p> <p>We should give credit where it's due, and I do like the fact that Hillary is willing to fight the Republicans with the tough tactics that it takes to beat them, a lesson that she learned very well from Bill Clinton.</p> rss@dailykos.com (markusd) Hillary Clinton HillaryClinton New Hampshire NewHampshire phonejamming VoterSuppression _311471 Tue, 13 Mar 2007 22:46:34 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/3/11/310803/-NH-US-Attorney-ignores-GOP-crime <p>Trying to board a plane with a loaded gun--think that might get you in trouble?</p> <p>Not if you are a NH Republican state legislator--at least, not when NH's <a href="http://betsydevine.weblogger.com/2006/05/03">US Attorney Tom Colantuono</a> is on the job.</p> <p>When the x-ray machine found a loaded revolver in the carry-on bag of NH Republican state legislator Howard Dickinson, TSA and airport officials asked Colantuono to file federal charges. He refused.</p> <p>Gun-toting Howard Dickinson--veteran GOP strategist Dave Carney -- former NH House Speaker Gene Chandler -- NH racetrack owner Richard Hart--what do these NH people have in common? All have ties to Colantuono or to Republicans, all showed up in my search of NH newspaper archives for various kinds of publicized wrong-doing, and none faced any charges from Tom Colantuono.</p> <p>I've complained before that the <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/17/20834/122">NH phone-jamming was pursued incredibly sloowwwwly by Colantuono</a>--but that may be just part of the story of <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/3/11/0835/06745">how Colantuono made Krugman's list of shame</a>, the list of US Attorneys who didn't get fired.</p> rss@dailykos.com (Betsy Devine) AlbertoGonzales Corruption DirtyTricks IOKIYAR New Hampshire NewHampshire phonejamming Recommended Republicans ThomasColantuono U.SAttorneys _310803 Mon, 12 Mar 2007 05:35:59 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/3/11/310614/-The-New-York-Times-gets-played-and-we-all-lose <p>So, the great Gray Lady has at last come to the conclusion that Alberto Gonzales is a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/11/opinion/11sun1.html?_r=1&amp;pagewanted=print&amp;oref=slogin">"failed Attorney General."</a></p> <p>Huzzah. Can't say I disagree.</p> <p>But I'd call it a little bit anti-climactic at this point, though surely still a welcome pronouncement.</p> <p>It's become clear that the "personnel matters" underlying the firing of eight U.S. Attorneys who wouldn't "play ball" &nbsp;-- and the retention of those who would -- is actually quite connected to the political manipulation of the use and timing of federal investigations of elected officials. U.S. Attorneys, as employees of the Department of Justice under the Bush "unitary executive" were expected to accelerate and/or conveniently time the launch of investigations of anyone on the "political enemies" list (read: Democrats) and either delay or simply bury anything implicating friends (read: Republicans).</p> <p>This naked use of executive power (and resultant perversion of the judicial system) was encouraged as a method of warping the outcome of elections for the legislative branch -- an outcome that was simultaneously the goal of the DoJ's entirely political "approval" of facially discriminatory redistricting and photo ID requirement schemes in Texas, Georgia, and elsewhere. It is indicative of a corruption so thoroughgoing and all-pervasive that one wonders whether there's any actual governance going on in between the "politics" -- a term I use loosely, and which should call to mind for you the caterwauling and rending of garments exhibited by Republicans and their apologists in the punditry when, not so long ago, they were accusing anyone who questioned the "administration" of wanting to "criminalize" it.</p> <p>Turn over any rock, and you expose more such corruption. The New Hampshire <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/3/11/0835/06745">phone jamming case</a>. The political "approval" of those <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/3/9/231256/6397">redistricting plans</a>. The ouster of San Diego U.S. Attorney Carole Lam, who headed up the <a href="http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002335.php">investigation of Duke Cunningham.</a> The <a href="http://citizensforethics.org/press/pressclip.php?view=541">demotion of U.S. Attorney for Guam</a>, Frederick A. Black, for pursuing an investigation of disgraced "lobbyist" and now convicted felon Jack Abramoff. The <a href="http://bocaguy.blogspot.com/2007/03/department-of-injustice.html">pre-election launch</a> of an investigation of Sen. Bob Menendez.</p> <p>This last one stands out as particularly egregious, and particularly relevant, in light of what <em>The Times</em> has to say today. The U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, Bush "Pioneer" Chris Christie, issued subpoenas in an investigation of Menendez two months prior to the November elections. Unfortunate timing, perhaps? Justice, after all, must be served regardless of political considerations. Right?</p> <p>Well, keep in mind that this is the same "administration" that talked our newly awakened friends at <em>The Times</em> into <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/13/opinion/13pubed.html?ex=1313121600&amp;en=25fe8b7823ab0043&amp;ei=5088&amp;partner=rssnyt&amp;emc=rss">sitting on the story</a> of the NSA's illegal domestic activities for more than a year. And why? Oh yes, there were the usual excuses about "national security," to be sure. But what was the kicker? The paper shouldn't <em>unduly influence</em> the outcome of the elections.</p> <p>Heavens, no!</p> <p>So while we surely welcome the awakening of the oversleeping Gray Lady, let's not forget that nobody has been as publicly and embarrassingly pantsed -- and perhaps with more consistency, at that -- than the Guardians of Civil Society at <em>The New York Times</em>.</p> <p><strong>UPDATE:</strong> My disappointment with <em>The Times</em> should not be mistaken for any confusion about who's at fault here. The "administration's" clearly dishonest and corrupt approach to these matters is what's driving the destruction of American politics and constitutional governance, and that's where, without a doubt, the blame lies.</p> <p><strong>UPDATE II:</strong> The issue that moved me to write this was not so much that the <em>Times </em>did or didn't exhibit sufficient opposition to Gonzales' nomination, and not even so much that their call for his dismissal is or isn't sufficient. What I want to call attention to is that the <em>Times</em> was asked in 2004 to hold its story because the "administration" didn't want them to influence the elections, even as that same "administration" was busy doing exactly that. While I can appreciate the call for Gonzales' ouster, the Times would, I think, do well to rethink the nature and magnitude of their decision in 2004, and the propriety of the "administration's" now clearly hypocritical request that they forbear.</p> <p>That would go considerably further for me.</p> rss@dailykos.com (David Waldman) 2004elections 2006elections AlbertoGonzales DomesticSpying MediaBias New Hampshire New York Times NewHampshire NewYorkTimes NSA phonejamming U.SAttorneys WarrantlessSurveillance _310614 Sun, 11 Mar 2007 16:01:07 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/3/10/310526/-US-attorney-scandal-and-NH-phone-jamming <p>Hey--what about the US Attorneys who <strong>didn't</strong> get fired? <a href="http://select.nytimes.com/2007/03/09/opinion/09krugman.html?pagewanted=print">Paul Krugman is asking</a> (<a href="http://bocaguy.blogspot.com/2007/03/department-of-injustice.html">free link here</a>)--and it's a good question.</p> <p>Check out the US Attorney in charge of the NH phone-jamming, <a href="http://betsydevine.weblogger.com/2006/05/03">Thomas Colantuono</a>. Does Gonzales give prizes for slow response to Republican dirty tricks? It took Colantuono's people more than a year before the FBI questioned their top/only suspect in the NH phone-jamming, a crime by Republicans.</p> <p>But in other matters, Colantuono could move fast. &nbsp;Just before the 2004 elections, he moved fast to block Democrats from questioning phone-jamming suspects--and fast again to file corruption charges against a NH Democrat.</p> <p>In 2006, right after the Democrats' landmark electoral victory, Colantuono also moved fast to shut down his phone-jamming enquiries, making a <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/11/17/20834/122">guilty plea deal with the last defendant</a> that gave the Feds nothing and the Republicans everything. Let me back this sordid story up with more detail.</p> rss@dailykos.com (Betsy Devine) AlbertoGonzales Corruption DirtyTricks New Hampshire NewHampshire phonejamming Recommended Republicans ThomasColantuono U.SAttorneys _310526 Sun, 11 Mar 2007 05:08:35 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/1/28/295968/-Laura-Ingraham-got-away-with-it <p>Yesterday I was flipping past C-SPAN and saw Laura Ingraham blathering on about how conservatives were defeated in the midterms because they strayed from their core values (which, to Ingraham, probably include slavery, poll taxes, titles of nobility, and whatnot). &nbsp;Disregarding the substance of what she was saying (which is always wise when one encounters Ingraham), her very apperance reminded me of something we all sadly seem to have forgotten about. &nbsp;</p> rss@dailykos.com (skralyx) 2006elections LauraIngraham phonejamming _295968 Mon, 29 Jan 2007 06:08:56 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/12/4/277517/-Republican-Corruption-Fallout-Continues-8211-The-New-Hampshire-Election-Phone-Jamming-Scandal <p>New Hampshire voters saw just how much Republicans respect those values they are always talking about and they did not like what they saw. Voters nationwide need to understand that when Democrats talk about issues with elections and how the GOP seem to play fast and loose (I am being generous) with election laws, there is something behind what we are talking about.</p> rss@dailykos.com (StevenLeser) 2002elections 2006elections electionanalysis New Hampshire NewHampshire phonejamming _277517 Mon, 04 Dec 2006 19:05:16 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/12/3/277102/-To-Enforce-the-Law <p>In commenting on the settlement of the lawsuit brought by the New Hampshire Democratic Party against the state Republican Party for the effort to jam get-out-the-vote phones during the November elections in 2002, Wayne Semprini, the GOP chair, explained to the <a href="http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/12/03/gop_to_pay_135000_to_settle_phone_case/ttp://">press</a> that the matter had distracted "the public at large from the real issues that affect real people in New Hampshire."</p> rss@dailykos.com (hannah) Corruption Democrats New Hampshire NewHampshire phonejamming Republican Party RepublicanParty Rule of Law RuleofLaw _277102 Sun, 03 Dec 2006 13:01:33 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/11/17/272355/-Phony-guilty-plea-in-phone-jamming-case-November-16-2006 Ten days after the Democrats' national landslide victory, Bush-appointed US Attorneys in both NH and Idaho pledged not to question Shaun Hansen any further about his role in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_New_Hampshire_Senate_election_phone_jamming_scandal">jamming NH phones on Election Day 2002</a>.</p><p> I was there (and "real reporters" were not) in NH Federal District Court on November 16, when 34 year-old <a href="http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/articles/2006/11/15/former_telemarketer_pleads_guilty_in_gop_phone_jamming/">Shaun Hansen pled guilty</a> to two felony counts arising from the 2002 NH phone-jamming scandal.</p><p> Hansen's deal with the feds, and his vague and evasive "factual plea" warrant scrutiny which the press has not given it, so .... rss@dailykos.com (Betsy Devine) AlbertoGonzales New Hampshire NewHampshire phonejamming RepublicanDirtyTricks _272355 Sat, 18 Nov 2006 01:08:34 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/11/17/272268/-Patrick-Leahy-On-Fire-Next-Up-Laura-Ingraham I'm not quite sure why one has to wait to become a majority member to do the right thing (i.e. other senators could <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/14/AR2006031401752.html">take notes from Russ Feingold</a>...but I digress). &nbsp;Patrick Leahy, however is on fire since coming back for the lame duck session of congress. &nbsp;First he's trying to get <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/11/11/181243/88">Habeas Corpus reinstated</a>, then he's going after the <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/11/17/132649/91">torture czar</a>, now he's taking on one of the right wing noise machine smear merchants.</p><p> I wonder what anatomically impossible action Dick Cheney will call on him to do now?</p><p> Details below... rss@dailykos.com (MLDB) LauraIngraham PatrickLeahy phonejamming VoterSuppression _272268 Fri, 17 Nov 2006 19:51:02 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/11/12/270564/-Combating-Dirty-Tricks <i>[Cross-posted to <a href="http://www.washblog.com/story/2006/11/12/112332/51">WashBlog</a>.]</i><p> Rick Perlstein of The American Prospect just posted <a href="http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&amp;name=ViewWeb&amp;articleId=12205">Look Back in Anger</a> detailing two strategies used this last election cycle: robo-calling and phone jamming.<p> I'm curious if there are technical tools and approaches to help combat these techniques. Like having spam filters for our email.<p> More... rss@dailykos.com (zappini) ElectionIntegrity phonejamming Robocalls _270564 Sun, 12 Nov 2006 16:37:49 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/10/19/259089/-Cyberterrorism-Against-Kos-et-al-What-are-the-Countermeasures Yesterday, for a while, access to Kos was painfully slow. I was thinking. Suppose we get successful? We'll be up against the beast; the beast that <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/search?offset=0&amp;old_count=30&amp;string=NH+phone+jamming&amp;type=both&amp;sortby=relevance&amp;search=Search&amp;count=50&amp;wayback=525600&amp;wayfront=0">did that phone jamming scam in NH</a>. &nbsp;We could be targetted from Republican cyber-terrorism.</p><p> We are an organized community; I have seen candidates respond and officials respond in hours to what goes on here. &nbsp;There is great power here.<br> rss@dailykos.com (Mumon) CrashingtheGate New Hampshire NewHampshire phonejamming Republicancorruption _259089 Thu, 19 Oct 2006 12:25:48 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/7/27/231197/-New-Hampshire-GOP-takes-a-bold-stand-for-ethics Various GOP operatives conspired to jam get-out-the-vote phone lines sponsored by the New Hampshire Democrats on election day two years ago. &nbsp;Some have already been convicted; more are likely to go down as well.</p><p> No doubt they'll be able to sell tickets by the table now that they've cleared this up (tongue in cheek):</p><p> <blockquote><a href="http://www.unionleader.com/columns.aspx/Opinion?channel=139832ce-97eb-4460-bf99-b71df3b7f0cc">http://www.unionleader.com/...</a></p><p> [New Hampshire] GOP state chair Wayne Semprini reports that the party "is having a fundraiser and not a penny is going toward legal fees" related to the phone-jamming scandal....</blockquote> Imagine having to assure your donors that their support will not go to corruption cleanup. rss@dailykos.com (Leewah) Ethics New Hampshire NewHampshire phonejamming Republicans Scandal _231197 Fri, 28 Jul 2006 01:03:46 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/7/19/228857/-The-scandal-that-won-t-quite-die It appears that the NH Phone Jamming scandal of 2002, involving the Senate race of now ex-Governor Jeanne Shaheen and John E. Sununu has gotten the OK to hit the civil court system. </p><p> Not a pleasant ride, as the NH Democratic Party is targeting Melhman, Ed Gillespie and former associate director of the <b>White House</b> Political Affairs Office, Alicia Davis, and the former executive director of the Republican Party's political operations, Terry Nelson for depositions in this civil suit. </p><p> <blockquote>BOSTON (Reuters) - High-ranking Republicans including former White House officials can be questioned in a civil suit over jamming Democratic party phone lines in a key U.S. Senate race, a New Hampshire judge ruled on Thursday.</blockquote><br /> <a href="http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=politicsNews&amp;storyID=2006-07-14T003410Z_01_N13197397_RTRUKOC_0_US-CRIME-REPUBLICANS-NEWHAMPSHIRE.xml&amp;pageNumber=1&amp;imageid=&amp;cap=&amp;sz=13&amp;WTModLoc=NewsArt-C1-ArticlePage1">http://today.reuters.com/...</a> rss@dailykos.com (shpilk) Corruption Felon Fraud New Hampshire NewHampshire phonejamming Republican Party RepublicanParty _228857 Thu, 20 Jul 2006 03:06:46 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/7/7/225516/-NH-Phone-jammer-The-White-House-made-me-do-it The last defendent in the NH phone jamming case, James Tobin, had his entire defense paid for by the Republican National Committee, to the tune of several million. He kept quiet. Shaun Hansen, left to his own devices, will seek to <a href="http://www.senatemajority.com/node/425">pin blame on the White House and the RNC</a>.</p><p> <blockquote></p><p> According to a recent court filing, indicted phone jammer Shaun Hansen may offer an affirmative defense at his upcoming fall trial, arguing that the phone jamming scheme which his company carried out had the seal of approval of both the Republican National Committee and the White House.</p><p> Apparently, Hansen's defense strategy is not going to focus on whether or not he jammed Democratic phone lines on Election Day in 2002. Rather, his defense strategy will be to persuade a jury that he may have been persuaded not just that the phone jamming was legal, but that he would be carrying out the scheme on behalf of the United States government.</p><p> </blockquote> rss@dailykos.com (kos) New Hampshire NewHampshire phonejamming RNC _225516 Sat, 08 Jul 2006 05:20:18 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/7/7/225422/-Granite-Phone-Jammer-Points-Finger-to-Avoid-Slammer Remember <a href="http://www.senatemajority.com/node/217">James Tobin</a>? &nbsp;He was the guy who ran Phone Jammergate: disruptive multiple calls made to New Hampshire's Democratic Party calling center, preventing them from calling likely voters on election day.</p><p> Turns out Tobin, who has gotten plenty of help with his legal bills from the Republican National Party, wasn't the only one hit by this. &nbsp;Tobin hired Shaun Hansen to make the actual jamming calls. <a href="http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/001074.php#more">Shaun Hansen</a>. &nbsp;But Hansen isn't getting his legal bills paid by anyone except himself, so he's doing some entreprenurial advancement. &nbsp;That is, he's finding someone else to blame, and his finger's pointing at the White House.</p><p> I'm pointing over at extended. &nbsp;Follow me there for more. rss@dailykos.com (madhaus) AllenRaymond DirtyTricks JamesTobin New Hampshire NewHampshire phonejamming Republicans Rescued ShaunHansen _225422 Fri, 07 Jul 2006 21:37:14 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/6/16/219504/-NH-GOP-Phone-Jamming-Case-Still-Alive-w-POLL Good news today for any Democrat who wants to ensure election reform: The 2002 NH Phone Jamming case is still alive after a State Superior Court judge upheld 3 of 5 charges brought against the GOP. rss@dailykos.com (nhcollegedem) New Hampshire NewHampshire phonejamming Republican Party RepublicanParty _219504 Fri, 16 Jun 2006 19:48:18 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/6/10/217710/-Former-GOP-official-speaks-out-against-the-party Another GOoPer has come to speak out against his party's ruthless tactics, and he accuses the GOP of using its rule to set up, in effect, a pay-to-play system. &nbsp;Allen Raymond, convicted of phone-jamming in New Hampshire in the 2002 Senate race, has just finished his prison term and spoke to the <a href="http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/06/10/fallen_star_blames_self_gop_tactics?page=1">Boston Globe</a>:<br> rss@dailykos.com (skralyx) AllenRaymond Ethics New Hampshire NewHampshire phonejamming Republicans _217710 Sun, 11 Jun 2006 04:06:00 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/6/10/217518/-Is-Raymond-an-Idiot Allen Raymond, the fellow convicted for arranging the jamming of New Hampshire phones on election day in 2002 is out of prison and talking to the Boston Globe.</p><p> Maybe his having been "raised in a liberal Democratic family," accounts for his spilling the beans about what Republicans are up to. rss@dailykos.com (hannah) Karl Rove KarlRove phonejamming RNC Sununu _217518 Sat, 10 Jun 2006 11:53:02 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/6/6/216524/-Their-Pyrrhic-Victory-Plan Some very important numbers have been floating around here lately. The percentage by which Tester beat Morrison. The percentage by which Busby outperformed her district's partisan lean. Bush's ever-tanking approval rating. GDP, foreclosure rates, unemployment rates, page hits, you name it. I saw a couple of numbers earlier that made me curious, though.<br> The Republicans had to spend about a million dollars, all told, to eke out a miniscule win for Mean Jean in a district that went for Bush to the tune of sixty percent. They had to spend three million (and counting) to defend some high muckety-mucks from phone-jamming charges in New Hampshire. And now they had to spend ten million dollars defending the ridiculously right-wing CA-50.<br> <a href="http://www.fec.gov/press/press2001/051501partyfund/051501partyfund.html">It all adds up.</a> rss@dailykos.com (realnrh) CA-50 Campaign Finance CampaignFinance New Hampshire NewHampshire PaulHackett phonejamming _216524 Wed, 07 Jun 2006 05:33:04 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/5/30/214351/-NH-Phone-Jammer-to-offer-free-campaign-course You may remember Charles McGee, the man who plead guilty for conspiring to block the New Hampshire Democrats GOTV phone banks in 2004. Now that he has been rehabilitated, he is <a href="http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/state/060530phonejamming.shtml">back</a> as a political consultant:</p><p> <blockquote>The Republican operative who came up with the idea of jamming Democratic Party and union get-out-the-vote phone lines on Election Day 2002 is back in the political swim. Charles McGee, vice president of political and corporate communications at Spectrum Monthly &amp; Printing Inc., sent out an e-mail recently inviting Republican candidates to a free "GOP Campaign School" hosted by the company, which publishes Republican mailers and fliers, the New Hampshire Union Leader reported.</blockquote></p><p> My question is: can they limit this seminar to only GOP candidates? rss@dailykos.com (Spud1) CharlesMcGee phonejamming Republican Party RepublicanParty _214351 Tue, 30 May 2006 12:42:04 +0000