Bangor Man On Trial For Jamming Democratic Party Lines

December 8, 2005

Bangor Man On Trial For Jamming Democratic Party Lines

Two men involved in a plot to jam New Hampshire Democratic phone lines on Election Day 2002 are telling different stories of a third man's role in the plan.

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) -- In federal court today, Chuck McGee, former executive director of the state Republican party, testified that James Tobin of bangor only provided a phone number for a possible phone-jamming contact. But the contact -- Allen Raymond -- told jurors Tobin told him about the plan about two weeks before Election Day. Raymond, who says he acted as the middleman, says he and Tobin spoke about the phone jamming many times before and after Election Day.

But McGee and Raymond agree on one point -- that the phone jamming couldn't have happened without Tobin. McGee says he wouldn't have pursued the plan if Tobin had told him to stop. Raymond says he wouldn't have helped McGee without a reference from Tobin.

Tobin faces up to 19 years in prison and one million dollars in fines if convicted on all four counts.
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http://www.wlbz2.com/newscenter/article.asp?id=29354

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Today's developments

By ERIC MOSKOWITZ
Monitor staff

December 07. 2005 5:28PM

In the phone jamming trial Wednesday in Concord, the Department of Justice called Allen Raymond to the stand to testify against James Tobin, the former high-ranking Republican Party official who has been charged with four counts of violating federal law in relation to a plot to jam Democratic phone banks on election day 2002.

Raymond has already entered a guilty plea on one count related to the case and faces a five-month prison sentence. In direct examination, he testified that Tobin played an active role in connecting Raymond with Chuck McGee, the former state Republican Party executive director, so the plot could be put into action. Raymond said Tobin was aware that the plan involved phone jamming, and he testified that he would not have participated if McGee had not gone through Tobin.

In cross-examination, the defense tried to distance Tobin from Raymond and McGee. Raymond spent several hours on the witness stand, with defense attorney Dane Butswinkas – whose fees are being paid by the Republican National Committee – focusing on chronological discrepancies between earlier statements Raymond gave to the federal government and to a grand jury and the statements he gave Wednesday.

The government is expected to call several witnesses Thursday, with a list that includes Democratic state Rep. Jane Clemmons and former state Republican chairwoman Jayne Millerick. Tobin faces up to 19 years in prison and $1 million in fines if convicted.
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http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051207/REPOSITORY/51207003/1031

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File: Former state GOP official sentenced
McGee to serve 7 months for 2002 phone jamming


By DANIEL BARRICK
Monitor staff

December 07. 2005 8:00AM

(Originally published March 11, 2005)
The former executive director of the New Hampshire Republican Party was sentenced to seven months in prison yesterday for conspiring to block telephone lines used by state Democrats on Election Day 2002.

Chuck McGee pleaded guilty to a federal felony charge of conspiracy last year for his role in orchestrating the phone-jamming scheme. He is the second person involved in the case to be sent to prison in the past month.

James Tobin, former Northeast director of the Republican Senatorial Committee, has also been charged in the case and will go on trial in June. Tobin has denied involvement in any crime.

Moments before Justice Joseph DiClerico sentenced him in U.S. District Court in Concord, McGee offered an emotional plea for leniency. He apologized to his wife and infant daughter, to his friends and colleagues at the Republican Party, to state Democrats and the voters of New Hampshire - even to the judge and the attorneys prosecuting his case. He said his decision to break the law was driven by an intense but misguided desire to win elections.
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http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051207/REPOSITORY/312070002/1031

Just like a bank robbery is driven by an intense but misguided desire to have more money? PLEASE. "An intense but misguided desire" is just what us pointy-headed liberal types call, uh, "criminal intent" ... and so does pretty much the rest of the world. :eyes: