Bush election official sent to jail for supressing votes!!

[~hellbaby~]

Surprise surprise, a Bush crony goes to jail for surpressing votes


Former Bush campaign official sentenced to prison By Jason Szep
2 hours, 12 minutes ago

A senior official in U.S. President George W. Bush's re-election campaign was sentenced to 10 months in prison on Wednesday for his role in suppressing votes in a key U.S. Senate race, a scandal that Democrats charge may involve the White House.

James Tobin, 45, one of three Republican campaign operatives convicted in a phone-jamming scheme designed to keep New Hampshire Democrats from voting in a 2002 election, was convicted in December of two telephone harassment charges.

Prosecutors had asked for a two-year sentence.

U.S. District Judge Steven McAuliffe described the crime as "extremely serious" and a threat to the U.S. political tradition of free and fair elections.

"People in your position need to know they cannot do these things and if they do the consequences are very, very serious," he said in handing down a sentence harsher than the six months home detention and community service sought by Tobin's lawyer.

Democrats want an investigation into 22 telephone calls made by Tobin and New Hampshire Republican Party officials to the White House on November 5 and 6, 2002, and say they believe national Republican officials may be involved in the scheme.

"I don't consider this sentencing to be the end of the matter. I consider this to be one more step in the process of uncovering exactly who knew about this," said Kathleen Sullivan, the New Hampshire Democratic Party chair.

"There are still unanswered questions," she said.

The national Republican Party, which has paid more than $2.5 million in legal fees to defend Tobin, has said the calls to the White House were routine during a tight state Senate race and had nothing to do with the phone-jamming.

800 HANG-UP CALLS

Get-out-the-vote hot lines set up by state Democrats and a firefighter's association to urge residents to vote were jammed by more than 800 hang-up calls. State Republican officials say they tried to stop it once they learned of the scheme.

Republican John Sununu beat then-Gov. Jeanne Shaheen in the election and state Republicans swept a number of close polls.

"This is going to continue to be an issue for a while," said Dean Spiliotes, director of research at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics.

He said it remained unclear why the national Republican Party spent millions of dollars defending Tobin.

"At first it seemed like he was a free agent working on his own with maybe one or two people. But then pretty quickly we saw that the Republican National Committee was spending millions to help with his legal defense. That shot us some pretty large red flags among people in the state," he said.

"Ever since then it's kind of grown slowly but surely. It hasn't gone away and I don't think it has peaked yet either."

Republican Party officials say they financed Tobin's defense because he had occupied a senior position in the national Republican Party when he was charged and because he had maintained his innocence.

Tobin, the former New England regional director of the Republican National Committee, stepped down as New England chairman of Bush's 2004 re-election campaign when he became subject of a federal criminal investigation.

The former executive director of the New Hampshire Republican Party, Chuck McGee, was also convicted after testifying that he had come up with the idea for the scheme.

Allen Raymond, former president of a Republican consulting firm in Virginia, was jailed after admitting to arranging for telemarketing company to make the calls.

"We need to find out how high this goes in the Republican Party," said Paul Twomey, an attorney for the Democratic Party who is leading a separate civil lawsuit that alleges Republican voter fraud and seeks monetary damages.

Tobin was denied bail and also fined $10,000 and given two years of probation. He plans to appeal, his lawyers said.​

 

[The Mutt]

Must be a fluke. Nobody involved with the Bush administration would ever lie. Never! Show me one shred of evidence that anyone involved with Bush or the Republicans have ever lied about anything. Ever!

 

[andystx]

I don't know anything about this story and am not that interested in searching it, but did I read it correctly, he was convicted for dialing a phone number 800 times?

 

[Wrong Element]

The national Republican Party, which has paid more than $2.5 million in legal fees to defend Tobin, has said the calls to the White House were routine during a tight state Senate race and had nothing to do with the phone-jamming...


"...At first it seemed like he was a free agent working on his own with maybe one or two people. But then pretty quickly we saw that the Republican National Committee was spending millions to help with his legal defense. That shot us some pretty large red flags among people in the state," he said.

I find that suspicious too. Of course, "Republicans work to suppress vote" is pretty much dog-bites-man territory, isn't it?

 

[1shmael]

You're happy?

Hell! Tobin is going to be jumping for joy! He's earned the Gay Redneck of the Week distinction because of all the manmeat he's gonna be busting his jaw on courtesy of Uncle Sam!

 

[The Mutt]

You're happy?

Hell! Tobin is going to be jumping for joy! He's earned the Gay Redneck of the Week distinction because of all the manmeat he's gonna be busting his jaw on courtesy of Uncle Sam!

As anti-gay as the administration claims to be, there seems to an awful lot of 'confirmed bachelors' working for them.

 

[1shmael]

As anti-gay as the administration claims to be, there seems to an awful lot of 'confirmed bachelors' working for them.

On the down low, no less.

 

[Cade Is Here]

On the down low, no less.

So Lt are you stil a member of the AAAW..
Whats the latest news?

 

[MakersandIce]

You mean there are people that have to be called and reminded to vote?

 

[~hellbaby~]

You mean there are people that have to be called and reminded to vote?

I don't know but I got a few recorded vote for me messages the other day, anyone who is too lazy to pick up the phone and call in person isn't getting my vote.

 

[Ulaven_Demorte]

I don't know anything about this story and am not that interested in searching it, but did I read it correctly, he was convicted for dialing a phone number 800 times?

He and others in the republican party in his state paid a tlemarketing company to jam the telephone lines of a democratic party 'get out the vote' center offering rides to the polls for democrats. So that people could not call for rides to vote. Thus the charge of voter supression.

 

[Ulaven_Demorte]

You mean there are people that have to be called and reminded to vote?

This was a call IN center, for people who needed rides TO the polls to vote. This idiot and his pals telephoned the call centers 800 times to keep the lines busy, and keep democrats from being able to get rides to the polls. Not to call voters to remind them of anything. Did you even read the story?

 

[MakersandIce]

This was a call IN center, for people who needed rides TO the polls to vote. This idiot and his pals telephoned the call centers 800 times to keep the lines busy, and keep democrats from being able to get rides to the polls. Not to call voters to remind them of anything. Did you even read the story?

Yes, I read the story. Here it is again:

800 HANG-UP CALLS

Get-out-the-vote hot lines set up by state Democrats and a firefighter's association to urge residents to vote were jammed by more than 800 hang-up calls. State Republican officials say they tried to stop it once they learned of the scheme.

I see nothing about a 'call-in' center. I see 'urge to vote.'

Did you read the story, or did you merely make an assumption and make reactionary accusations without bothering with such minutiae?

 

[busybody..]

How come THESE CREATURES aint goin to jail?

Democratic campaign workers convicted in tire slashing case
BY JOHN KEILMAN
Chicago Tribune

CHICAGO - Four Democratic activists from Milwaukee were convicted of a misdemeanor Friday for their alleged role in slashing the tires of Republican-rented vehicles on Election Day 2004, while a fifth was acquitted.

That ended a case highlighted by the defense suggestion that the local men were taking the rap for out-of-town political operatives who were aiding a nationwide campaign of Democratic dirty tricks.

The vandalism took place a few hours before the polls opened in Wisconsin, a hard-fought state in the 2004 presidential election. Twenty-five cars and vans rented by the Republicans were crippled, delaying the party’s plan to ferry observers and voters to the polls.

A security guard at the GOP’s office wrote down the license plate of a suspicious car, which led investigators to five young men working for the Kerry-Edwards campaign. Two of them were the children of prominent Milwaukee Democrats, including former Mayor Marvin Pratt and the city’s current congresswoman, Rep. Gwen Moore.

The evidence against them came largely from the testimony of campaign organizers who had arrived in Wisconsin from out of state to work for the Democratic ticket.

The imported campaigners said they had planned an election morning prank of papering the nearby Republican offices with Kerry-Edwards signs and bumper stickers, only to call it off when they spotted security. But some testified that they later saw the local men leave the office and return bragging about flattening the tires.

The defense attorneys tried to blame the out-of-towners, with some insinuating that the tire slashings were part of a coordinated effort to disrupt GOP operations. Democratic leaders said there was no such plan and even Republicans found the claim hard to swallow.

The trial lasted for eight days, and jurors were in their second day of deliberations when they sent out a note indicating that they had deadlocked.

That set the stage for a Friday afternoon plea deal. Four of the five, including the sons of the mayor and the congresswoman - Michael Pratt, 33; Sowande Omokunde, 26; Lewis Caldwell, 29; and Lavelle Mohammad, 36 - pleaded no contest to misdemeanor criminal damage to property.

Prosecutor David Feiss said he would ask for probation at an April sentencing hearing. The men also agreed to pay for the $5,300 in damage.

Soon after the plea deal, the jury announced a not guilty verdict for Justin Howell, 21. The charge he faced, felony criminal damage to property, could have put him in prison for 3 1/2 years.

Rick Graber, chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, was not happy with the outcome.

"I think on balance we’re disappointed that an effort to disrupt an election gets just a misdemeanor and probation," he said. "I think it sends absolutely the wrong message and I hope when it comes time for sentencing that (the judge) carefully considers what went on here."

But defense attorney Craig Mastantuono, whose client took the plea, said the case never would have gone to trial had not some of the defendants been from politically prominent families.

"There was pressure brought to bear that made a (pre-trial plea) deal impossible for the District Attorney’s office," he said. "… This jury forced that deal."

 

[busybody..]

GOP Operative Sentenced For Phone Jamming

May 18, 2006

CONCORD, N.H. — He says he’s tried to live his life "honestly and with integrity." But former Republican National Committee official James Tobin will serve 10 months in prison for his role in jamming the phones of New Hampshire Democrats on Election Day 2002.

Tobin is the third person sent to prison in the case. He was convicted in December for helping to arrange more than 800 hang-up calls. Those calls jammed get-out-the-vote phone lines set up by the state Democratic Party and the Manchester firefighters’ union for about an hour.

In that election, Republican John Sununu defeated then-Gov. Jeanne Shaheen in a Senate race many considered to be a cliffhanger.

In 2004, Tobin served as New England chairman of President George W. Bush’s 2004 re-election campaign but stepped down when Democrats accused him of playing a role in the jamming.





Cliffhanger? Sununu defeated Jeanne Shaheen 51 percent to 46 percent. But the AP never lets facts get in the way of a "dastardly Republican" story.

And notice how early and often the AP mentioned Tobin’s party affiliation. Compare and contrast that to any story of Democrat dirty tricks or corruption from our one party media. Such as this one from our archives.

Meanwhile, the DNC has recently tapped Kerry’s brother for a leading position. While working for John Kerry’s House campaign, Cameron broke into their rival candidate’s headquarters on election day to cut their phone lines.

And of course more recently, we have the case of the tire-slashers in Michigan, who prevented who knows how many from being able to vote. But they were "Democratic activists" as the papers called them. So they got probation.

Meanwhile, the Republican goes to prison for ten months for frustrating some (probably illegal) phone spamming by some hired union thugs for an hour.

 

[busybody..]

HE NEVER WENT TO JAIL

Why?

Heard of Watergate? Get ready for Lowellgate

Sept 16, 2003

On Sept. 18, 1972, the evening before the primary election during his second attempt for Congress, Kerry’s brother Cameron and one Thomas Vallely, both part of his current campaign team, were arrested by Lowell police at 1:40 a.m. and charged with breaking and entering with the intent to commit larceny. The two were apprehended in the basement of a building whose door had been forced open, police said. It housed the headquarters of candidate DiFruscia. The Watergate scandal was making headlines at this time, and it was called the Lowell Watergate.

"They wanted to sever my telephone lines," DiFruscia said recently. Had those lines been cut, Kerry’s opponent would not have been able to telephone supporters on Election Day to get out the vote and coordinate poll watchers, vital roles in a close election. "I do not know if they wanted to break into my office," says DiFruscia today. At the time he said, "All my IBM cards and the list of my voter identification in the greater Lowell area are in my headquarters."

Cameron and Vallely, along with David Thorne, who was Kerry’s campaign manager at the time and has been close to him since they attended Yale together, did not deny the two entered the building in which they were captured. They said at the time they were in the cellar of the building to check their own telephone lines because they had received an anonymous call warning they would be cut.

This reporter heard an allegation that another congressional candidate placed the alleged anonymous call, which was denied. But if the Kerry campaign was concerned about someone breaking and entering to cut off its telephone service, why didn’t they just call the police? Why break the law? And what does any of this say about Kerry’s mind-set? Kerry campaign officials did not answer important Lowellgate questions.

The case was transferred to superior court and continued without a finding, where it was dismissed about a year later. But since it happened at the last minute, and Kerry won the primary but went on to lose the general election, this ugly business did not receive intense media scrutiny. Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein were busy investigating another break-in.

 

[wazhazhe]

The national Republican Party, which has paid more than $2.5 million in legal fees to defend Tobin, ...[/INDENT][/I]

If I were donating money to the National Republican Party to help GOP candidates ellected to office, I would be seriously concerned about how my donations were being used.