phone-jamming scandal "is gaining traction"

[renate]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12424467/site/newsweek/

The Republicans have built an enviable machine for winning elections, but governing is about bringing people together and the GOP’s divisive tactics are catching up with them. A little noticed scandal in New Hampshire about phone-jamming is gaining traction. Initially dismissed as a petty political trick, it led to the trial and conviction for telephone harassment last December of the New England political director for the Republican National Committee, James Tobin. That in itself would barely register on anybody’s radar except Tobin was represented by one of Washington’s white shoe law firms, Williams & Connolly, and his legal fees were $2.5 million. The Republican National Committee picked up the tab, which suggests this may not have been a rogue operation. Was Tobin’s high-priced defense an effort to keep him from ratting out his contacts in the Bush White House? The RNC has said it paid Tobin’s legal fees because he is a long-time supporter and because he has maintained his innocence. Tobin is appealing his conviction.

(From the same article, this little tidbit: Rove could lose his ground-floor West Wing office and have to settle for less prestigious quarters on the second floor. He might even be banished to the stately Old Executive Office Building, which is the equivalent of Siberia for tender White House egos. Aww.)
:nopity:

[Swamp Rat]

1. Hopefully Rove will end up where he belongs:

:D

[CrazyOrangeCat]

2. heheheee!

[flyarm]

9. FROG MARCHED TO THAT SHARKS MOUTH!!!!!!!!!!!

FROG MARCH, FROG MARCH, FROG MARCH...I DREAM OF SUGAR PLUMS AND ROVE FROG MARCHED!!

FLY

[Botany]

3. 2 things

1. Mr. Tobin was given a raise and a promotion after his 2002 actions of jamming the phones.
2. "They" did this in Ohio in 04 ..... i know i tried to call the voter fraud protection line and it
was jammed by crazy music and never ending hold ..... within 1 hour of Kerry conceding the jam
was replaced by a fast busy signal.

[TomInTib]

4. Reminds me of those "3rd rate burglars" that were caught...

in the Watergate Building and showed up in court the next day with the most powerful and expensive attorneys in DC.

[PublicWrath]

5. Is this the same guy who had multiple phone contacts with the White house

during the days before the election? Or maybe I'm thinking of a different phone-jamming operation, it seems like it was in Pennsylvania. It was on Countdown a few weeks ago. Does anybody remember?

I just hate cheaters.

[wryter2000]

7. That was the guy

I read somewhere that Mehlman's phone in the WH was at the other end of those calls.

[cali]

6. This is a much bigger deal

than most people realize. I have a strong feeling that this one could really catch the WH by the balls.
K&R

[PublicWrath]

8. Me too. I've been saying that this is the one thing ordinary work-a-day

bushites won't countenance. I'm originally from the Ozarks. Some of the folks there might be conflicted about wiretapping, and fighting terrorists "over there instead of over here", but they don't like cheaters. This I know.

[formercia]

10. awww shucks.

[northofdenali]

11. KKKarl, honey, is your tummy bothering you?

Do you need a Rolaids?