In the 2002 election, the GOP hired a consulting firm that used automatic dialers to jam the Democratic 'get out the vote' operation in New Hampshire. Two GOP operatives have pled guilty in the case and a third goes to trial in November.
Today's Boston Globe reports that the money for the illegal phone jamming apparently came from Tom DeLay and Jack Abramoff. The consulting firm was paid $15,600 by the state party within weeks of the party receiving $15,000 in contributions from the two.
So far, Sen. John Sununu -- who won a close race against Jeanne Shaheen in 2002 -- has not been implicated or tainted in the scandal. But, he clearly was a beneficiary of the dirty tricks campaign.
Republican Governor Craig Benson was tossed out in 2004 after a single two-year term, very unusual in NH. He had his own scent of corruption, for example reassigning a state environmental worker who had fined him for violations at his oceanfront home. Rep. Charlie Bass is refusing to return some $15,000 in contributions from DeLay.
Fellow sufferers of Pre-Indictment Stress Syndrome, do not despair. There is plenty of activity on the scandal front while we await Fitzgerald's next move.