BreakingTobin (New Hampshire phone jammer) Guilty on 2 counts

[Dr.Phool]

Details to come.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/

[Betsy Ross]

1. YeeeeeeeeeeHa! n/t

[stepnw1f]

2. YESSSS!!!!!!

That rat bastard tried like hell to get off the hook. The audacity of these GOP criminals is staggering.

[swag]

3. Wow, I wonder which two. Tobin might do some real time

From a recent news report:

"Tobin has been charged with conspiracy to violate voters' rights,
conspiracy to commit telephone harassment and aiding and abetting
telephone harassment.

If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in federal prison on the conspiracy
to violate voters' rights."

[Crazy Dave]

11. >>If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in federal prison

Damn! They should lock him up in a state prison where there are more ASS-RAPE squads prevalent.

[aquart]

12. Please God, they don't slap his wrist.

[Botany]

4. They did it in Ohio in 04 too.

http://www.thousandreasons.org/get_article.php?article_id=13

# 4 and they also hacked into a blocked lines of the Kerry Campaign too.

Tobin legal bills are being paid by the RNC & he was given a raise along with
a promotion after this came out.

[sojourner]

16. links to the promotion and legal bill claims?

this kind of info needs to be trumpteted far and wide!!!!!!!!!!!! Maybe if it gets "out there" it can be added to the "culture of corruption" charges taking hold on the republican party.

notice...not just the election fraud (they'll claim dems do it too) but, that the RNC actually rewards it! Let them prove that the dems do something this despicable. (i'm praying as i write this that it's impossible for dems to stoop this low).

[Warpy]

5. DUPE

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5607796

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nat-gen/2005/dec/15/121507426.html

It's BAD NEWS, folks.

[AuntiBush]

10. No Justice!

It is a disgrace, a serious shame and it's enough to make one want to :puke:

[drm604]

15. Not necessarily bad news.

From TPM:

DOJ lawyers plan to lean on him to flip on folks higher up the ladder in the GOP.

This guy is possibly facing 5 or 10 years in prison and half a million or more in fines. I imagine he'll tell a lot to reduce or eliminate that.

[sojourner]

17. now that's what i like to hear!

[Demeter]

24. RICO the GOP!

Fitz is doing it to Canrad Black, and he could lose everything--asset stripping, baby, that's where the power to make meaningful reform of the political system lies!

[Supersedeas]

28. this guy need to talk--someone in Washington must have known

[cal04]

6. Jurors Return Mixed Phone-Jamming Verdict

A former top Republican Party official was convicted on telephone harassment charges Thursday for his part in a plot to jam the Democrats' phones on Election Day 2002.


The federal jury acquitted James Tobin of the most serious charge against him, of conspiring to violate voters' rights.

Tobin, 45, of Bangor, Maine, was President Bush's New England campaign chairman last year. He could get up seven years in prison and $500,000 in fines when he is sentenced in March.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1410618&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

[Wordie]

9. How could this NOT be considered conspiracy?

I guess he had a lot of RW money that bought him the acquittal on that charge. grrrr.

Still, it's another RW criminal biting the dust. That part's nice, even if he slithered out of the more significant charges.

[Greyskye]

7. Seriously lame

The jury acquitted James Tobin of the most important of three charges - violating voters rights - and convicted him on two counts of telephone harassment.

telephone harassment??? :wtf:


What the hell was that jury smoking? :banghead:

[Demeter]

25. It's New Hampshire

We should be glad they convicted him on anything. I'm sure that they had to do some remedial English work to explain it all to the jury.

[Supersedeas]

29. Unbelieveable -- telephone harrassment????

[Zan_of_Texas]

8. Do you know who was paying Tobin's legal bills?

Despite their assurances they have zero tolerance for this sort of behavior?

I see a hand in the back. Yes? You are correct.

The Republican Party

As of August, over $700,000! Note that this info is NOT included in the current article.


GOP Paying Legal Bills of Bush Official

By JOHN SOLOMON, Associated Press Writer
Thu Aug 11, 3:08 AM ET

http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-bush-voter-suppression,0,5619445.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines

ALSO posted at: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0811-08.htm

Despite a zero-tolerance policy on tampering with voters, the
Republican Party has quietly paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to
provide private defense lawyers for a former Bush campaign official
charged with conspiring to keep Democrats from voting in New
Hampshire.

James Tobin, the president's 2004 campaign chairman for New England,
is charged in New Hampshire federal court with four felonies accusing
him of conspiring with a state GOP official and a GOP consultant in
Virginia to jam Democratic and labor union get-out-the-vote phone
banks in November 2002.

A telephone firm was paid to make repeated hang-up phone calls to
overwhelm the phone banks in New Hampshire and prevent them from
getting Democratic voters to the polls on Election Day 2002,
prosecutors allege. Republican John Sununu won a close race that day
to be New Hampshire's newest senator.

At the time, Tobin was the RNC's New England regional director,
before moving to President Bush's 2004 re-election campaign.

MORE

[sojourner]

18. Thanks for this link!!

get this out to msm...KO connections, anybody? Randy Rhodes? who else? See my post above. Let's get this linked to the rest of the "culture of corruption" of the republican party.

[texpatriot2004]

13. Woo Hoo

:woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:

[RazzleDazzle]

14. Such a shame you can't provide the real link

It takes so very little effort to do so:

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/007262.php

[WhiteTara]

19. Yippee F*cking Skippy

Good News Today! They are not above the law.

[CornField]

20. GOP consultant convicted of telephone harassment during election

More fodder for the culture of corruption fire...

http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/articles/2005/12/16/gop_consultant_convicted_of_telephone_harassment_during_election/

A Republican political consultant from Maine who has been a leading fund-raiser for President Bush was found guilty of telephone harassment yesterday by a federal jury in New Hampshire in connection with an Election Day plot to disrupt Democratic operations during a 2002 Senate race.

James Tobin of Bangor, a former official of the Republican National Committee, was acquitted of the most serious charge against him, interfering with voters' rights. He faces a maximum penalty of 7 years in prison when he is sentenced in March.

The charges stemmed from his role in a Republican plot to bombard Democratic Party offices in New Hampshire with hang-up calls on Nov. 5, 2002, as the state's governor, Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat, faced off against US Representative John Sununu, a Republican, for an open Senate seat.

...

New Hampshire Democrats have filed a civil lawsuit against Tobin, Raymond, McGee, and the state Republican Party, in part to force further disclosure about who was involved in the plan, party leaders said.

[jamesinca]

21. Did this help get Sinunu in?

Will this make him vulnerable? My mind is just running in circles because of the possibilities.

From the San Francisco Chronicle back in August of this year:


Despite a zero-tolerance policy on tampering with voters, the Republican Party has quietly paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to provide private defense lawyers for a former Bush campaign official charged with conspiring to keep Democrats from voting in New Hampshire.

James Tobin, the president's 2004 campaign chairman for New England, is charged in New Hampshire federal court with four felonies accusing him of conspiring with a state GOP official and a GOP consultant in Virginia to jam Democratic and labor union get-out-the-vote phone banks in November 2002.

A telephone firm was paid to make repeated hang-up phone calls to overwhelm the phone banks in New Hampshire and prevent them from getting Democratic voters to the polls on Election Day 2002, prosecutors allege. Republican John Sununu won a close race that day to be New Hampshire's newest senator.

At the time, Tobin was the RNC's New England regional director, before moving to President Bush's 2004 re-election campaign.
(snip/...)

[Demeter]

26. Sununu Dates Back to Reagan

He's NH GOP Establishment, the whole family is. One thing you can say for the Lebanese, they are loyal.

[jamesinca]

30. I know he was with Reagan

was his first term as Senator in '02?

[Judi Lynn]

22. Phone Jamming Conviction Confirms Republican Contempt for Voters, Says Dem

Phone Jamming Conviction Confirms Republican Contempt for Voters, Says Democratic National Committee

12/15/2005 7:07:00 PM

To: National Desk

Contact: Damien LaVera of the Democratic National Committee, 202-863-8148

WASHINGTON, Dec. 15 /U.S. Newswire/ -- President Bush's 2004 New England campaign chairman James Tobin today was convicted on two criminal charges for his role in an Election Day phone- jamming scheme that disenfranchised countless New Hampshire voters during the 2002 election. The conviction of Tobin, a former Republican National Committee political director, follows guilty pleas by two other prominent Republicans who joined Tobin in conspiring to overwhelm Democratic phone banks and ride-to- the-polls lines run by a New Hampshire firefighters union. The RNC paid more than $722,000 in Tobin's legal bills.

Democratic National Committee Spokesman Damien LaVera today issued the following statement on the Tobin verdict:

"Today's conviction shows just how far Republicans are willing to go to win elections, and reveals the inherently undemocratic core of their electoral strategy. Whether it is a criminal phone- jamming operation or a national voter ID campaign aimed at disenfranchising poor, minority and elderly voters, the Republican Party is clearly committed to its strategy of winning elections by keeping people from voting.

"The right to vote is the most fundamental, basic right we enjoy as citizens. America can do better than leaders who build their entire Election Day game plan around finding ways to keep people from voting and a political party that pays more than $722,000 in Tobin's legal bills.

"Today, I applaud the jurors in New Hampshire for holding James Tobin accountable for his role in a criminal voter suppression operation and urge Republicans across America to join Democrats in fighting to make it easier, not more difficult, for Americans to vote."
(snip/)

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=58275

~Click for a view of the lovely Tobin~

http://cmimg.us.publicus.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=CM&Date=20051207&Category=REPOSITORY&ArtNo=512070354&Ref=AR&Profile=1001&border=0&MaxW=240


Bush New England reelection director, Republican James Tobin

[lakeguy]

23. too late.

nice that justice was served in the end but what about the voters?

[Vinca]

27. As a New Hampshire voter, I'll be very disappointed if this character

gets off without serving some quality jail time.