GOP Paying Legal Bills of Bush Official

[Judi Lynn]

GOP Paying Legal Bills of Bush Official
By JOHN SOLOMON, Associated Press Writer

Thursday, August 11, 2005

(08-11) 00:08 PDT WASHINGTON (AP) --

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/...)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/08/10/national/w231835D50.DTL

[Tesla]

1. They get away with murder..

every damn one of them should be lockup on charges of Murder!

They have murdered all of our voting rights.

They have murdered our freedom.

They have murdered innocent people for OIL!!

[leftchick]

11. yes they do

imagine if they were Democrats... :argh:

[Theduckno2]

2. Zero tolerance!

In this case zero tolerance translates to plausible deniability and a few "bad apples". Sound familiar? It is good to be reminded of what we are up against and hear a little drip, drip, drip.

[Mabus]

16. According to their game plan

"zero tolerance" only applies to non-GOP supporters. Dems, Greens, etc are held to higher standards. It's part of "business as usual" with the GOP, here they are relying hypocrisy (again).

[truthisfreedom]

3. talking point: GOP financially supports vote-rigging behind the scenes

[annabanana]

4. nominated

zero tolerance my sweet aunt fanny..

[Fridays Child]

5. They're complicit. Otherwise, they would distance themselves.

[formercia]

6. So, was James Tobin on official business?

Perhaps we should ask Bill Frist, who was his boss at the time.

[Tigress DEM]

25. Legal bills near 3/4 a MILLION Dollars, I'd say some BIG bidness...

was going on. Air America said it was 7 hundered some odd thousand, 500,000 is half a mil.

[cally]

7. I think they are trying to ensure silence

If the GOP don't pay the legal bills, then GOP officials in NH and oh say Ohio may talk about what happened. It could get expensive keeping all their misdeeds quiet.

[formercia]

14. How come they paid for him and not for me?

I can hear them whining already. lol

[LiberalVoice]

8. This needs to be nominated and sent to all the major news outlets. nt

[gademocrat7]

9. Corruption at it's best

The rethugs have perfected evil. Will the nightmare ever end??

[dethl]

10. One by one the crap the GOP pulls piles higher

How long before we get the straw that breaks the camel's back?

[Real Texan]

12. kick

:kick:

[Supersedeas]

13. and telephone firms are on your side too.

[Judi Lynn]

15. Kick!

:kick: :kick:

[sellitman]

17. GOP Paying Legal Bills of Bush Official

Looks like Mehlman lied. He is in good company!- Kevin



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

WASHINGTON - 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.


More: http://babyurl.com/U7jWeY

[tabasco]

18. Legal bills???? Lawyers???

If they don't have anything to hide, why do they need lawyers??

Why don't they just tell the truth??

I thought that was the right-wing position on lawyers :shrug: At least it was when Clinton had a lawyer.

[sellitman]

20. The whole rats nest in washington has so many lawyers on retainer ...

It would make your head swim.

[emulatorloo]

19. if mehlman's mouth is open, he is lying EOM

[jarab]

21. kick

...O...

[Bluebear]

22. GOP pays $722,000 to defend New Hampshire vote-tamperer

WASHINGTON - The Republican Party says it still has a zero-tolerance policy for tampering with voters even as it pays the legal bills for a former Bush campaign official charged with conspiring to thwart 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.

The Republican National Committee already has spent more than $722,000 to provide Tobin, who has pleaded innocent, a team of lawyers from the high-powered Washington law firm of Williams & Connolly....

Charles McGee, the New Hampshire GOP official who pleaded guilty, told prosecutors he informed Tobin of the plan and asked for Tobin's help in finding a vendor who could make the calls that would flood the phone banks.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/bush_voter_suppression&printer=1

[Tiggeroshii]

23. Haha!

ANNNNNNND we won in New Hampshire....

[goforit]

24. LOL!!!.....As Cheney has always said ...They've got money to burn!!!

[papau]

26. National GOP paid more than $700K in accused conspirator's legal bills

"A New Hampshire member of the Republican National Committee was 'uncomfortable' to learn that the RNC has used its donors' contributions to pay more than $700,000 in legal bills for accused 2002 GOP phone-jamming conspirator James Tobin."

"'It was a surprise to me,' said Nancy Merrill. She noted that RNC Chair Ken Mehlman recently pledged a zero-tolerance policy on tampering with voters, and said, 'If this kind of expenditure deflects from that policy, then I'm uncomfortable with it.'"


http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_showa.html?article=58981

National GOP paid more than $700K in accused conspirator's legal bills
From Staff and Wire Reports


Despite a zero-tolerance policy on tampering with voters, the national Republican Party has quietly paid more than $700,000 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 federal court in Concord 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 on Election Day 2002. <snip>

[Nite Owl]

27. The race was close

shouldn't it be called an invalid election and a special election be held? Money is nothing to them, they still got the seat. We shouldn't have to wait until '08 to 'try again'.