http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2005/12/05/former_bush_campaign_officials_phone_jamming_trial_begins/Former Bush campaign official's phone jamming trial begins
By Beverley Wang, Associated Press Writer | December 5, 2005
CONCORD, N.H. --When President Bush's former New England campaign chairman goes on trial Tuesday on charges he orchestrated an Election Day phone-jamming plot in New Hampshire, state Republicans say they'll be closing the book on a lengthy criminal investigation inherited from an old guard.
James Tobin, of Bangor, Maine, has pleaded not guilty to one count of conspiring against rights; one count of conspiring to commit telephone harassment; and two counts of aiding and abetting in telephone harassment.
Former state Republican Party chairman Chuck McGee and Allen Raymond, of Alexandria, Va.- based GOP Marketplace LLC, previously pleaded guilty for their role in the plot, which paralyzed get-out-the-vote phone banks run by the Democratic Party and Manchester's firefighter's union for more than an hour on Nov. 5, 2002. McGee and Raymond were sentenced to monthslong prison terms; both appear on government and defense witness lists for Tobin's trial, which is expected to last eight days.
While state Republicans look forward to the end, state Democrats will be watching the trial eagerly for details to cement their theory that the 2002 plot is connected to a larger web of Republican ethics scandals.