N.H. phone jamming to get 2nd look, Scandal’s ties to the White House will come under scrutiny

[maddezmom]

Source: AP

Published: Thursday, Oct. 4, 2007

WASHINGTON – The House Judiciary Committee says it will investigate a GOP phone jamming scheme that tied up get-out-the-vote calls on Election Day in New Hampshire in 2002.

Even though the incident led to several convictions, “serious questions have been raised by members of Congress and the press about the (Justice) Department’s handling of this sensitive matter and, in particular, whether politics has improperly influenced the investigation,” Democratic Rep. John Conyers Jr., committee chairman, said in a letter dated Wednesday to acting Attorney General Peter Keisler.

Conyers first wrote about the case to former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in May 2006, asking for an independent special counsel to investigate it. The request was denied.

“The most important open issue is whether the possible role of White House officials and Republican Party political leaders has been sufficiently investigated,” Conyers wrote. “Twenty-two phone calls were exchanged between New Hampshire Republican officials and the White House Office of Political Affairs starting at 11:20 a.m. on Election Day 2002 and running past 2 a.m. on election night, and 110 calls were placed between James Tobin and the White House in the two months surrounding the election.”




Read more: http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071004/NEWS02/71004023

[texpatriot2004]

1. K & R nm

[gratuitous]

2. Golly, all those calls to the White House!

I wonder why this didn't catch the attention of the Republican-dominated House for four years? All those convictions of the folks involved, but not one Republican thought it worthwhile to ask the White House who was receiving calls from New Hampshire? All that "law and order" and "will of the people" talk the Republicans love so much must be meant to gull the gullible rather than reflecting their deepest, er, convictions. Ya think?

So, how will this play in the major media? Stirring up old muck? Bush-haters on a vendetta?

[Demeter]

3. I Think It's a Sin That the Nashua Telegraph Has More News

than the Ann Arbor fishwrap. I read the Telegraph when I lived in NH--of course, it isn't owned by a right-wing fundie like the AANews is. (Although anything looks liberal compared to the Manchester Union rag).

If something appears in the AA paper, it's Ann Coulter's speaking engagement in the next county over on the Front Page under the Masthead! Real news is verboten!

And the AANews wonders why its circulation in this town is so low.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

4. a b o u t t i m e ! ! ! !

finally.

[Judi Lynn]

5. They kept putting off investigating it originally, until well after the NEXT election

had taken place. Many of us thought, by God, that THEN someone would finally get to the bottom of it.

Short prison term for one or more of the scum involved, and it was all over. Most people still never knew a thing about it, when it was so obnoxious, so flagrant.

Anyone remember which White House official who was involved even left, disappeared, taking along with him a lot of the responsibility? You just forget! These guys have done so much intentional damage, it's hard to keep it all straight. Oh, here it is! Remember "Kenneth Mehlman?" Jesus!

This event even has its own Wikipedia by now:

2002 Election NH "Phone Jamming" Case
From SourceWatch
Jump to: navigation, search
The 2002 Election NH "phone jamming" case revolves around the hiring by the New Hampshire Republican Party of the Virginia-based telemarketing firm GOP Marketplace. Republican operative Allen Raymond, who was president of the firm at the time, then "subcontracted the deed" to Mylo Enterprises Inc., a Pocatello, Idaho, phone bank shop. <1><2>

Prosecutors allege that 'GOP Marketplace' "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, November 5, 2002. Six phone lines that were being run by Democratic "coordinated campaign offices," as well as phones in the offices of the Manchester firefighters union -- which was also doing a get-out-the-vote campaign that morning -- were jammed by 800 computer-generated hang up calls that tied up the lines for 1 1/2 hours. <3><4>

Voters' rights were violated as the "computer-generated calls went to lines set up for voters who needed rides to the polls in Manchester, Nashua, Rochester and Claremont." The calls were "stopped after then-Republican State Committee Chairman John Dowd ordered a halt because of concerns about their legality."
(snip/...)

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=2002_Election_NH_%22Phone_Jamming%22_Case



Republican Operative James "Public Service is my Life" Tobin!

[Bitwit1234]

6. If they could find something to lock roves ass up I would

be the happiest person going. Nothing except bush and cheney out of office would please me more.Then we could get back to saving this country.

[SpiralHawk]

7. republicons = skullduggery, greed, lies

And this is but one more of many foul examples proving the point that they are lacking in honor and have brought shame on America

[InkAddict]

8. Oh, bother...just more subpoenas to disregard...

Nothing to see here...move along!

[mindfulNJ]

13. Yup...another scandal...

*yawn*

[dkofos]

9. Let's waste more time on this. Not that anything will done about it.

[Judi Lynn]

10. Let's waste enough time that finally the American people are allowed to know what happened,

and how, and who did it.

They've been kept completely in the dark, unless they are disposed toward reading a lot more than most of them ususually are.

This filthy crime didn't get national exposure to the masses. It was kept very low key, very quiet, almost no one knew, considering the nasty seriousness of it. It went all the way to the White House, bled over into worktime paid for by American taxpayers, and affected the outcome of national politics.

It's no waste of time if it is finally exposed with nowhere to hide, nationally.

[dkofos]

11. Why?? So we can impeach?? Not going to happen with nancy in charge.

People have already been convicted and are serving time.

You and I both know that the WH (rove) was involved.
Why bother issuing more subpoenas to be ignored.

NOTHING IS GOING TO COME OF THIS INVESTIGATION and if anything does,
the M$M will continue to sweep it all under the rug.

[olddad56]

16. We can't impeach because we no longer live in a democracy.

You don't impeach Emperors, you just become loyal subjects or eventually you disappear.

[TomInTib]

14. The average American is too effing dumb to get it.

And therein lies the answer to many questions.

We, as a Nation, have been reduced to intellectual rubble.

Hell, the Roseanne Barr show was the most popular teevee show in the Country a couple of decades ago. What does that tell you about us?

And we have gone downhill from there.

[Judi Lynn]

15. Truly! In the Roseanne days, no one could have gotten us to believe it could get even WORSE!

Shorter attention spans, greater indifference. Looks irreversible, too.

[LanternWaste]

17. For my part...

For my part, I don't think the pursuit of justice is ever a waste of time, regardless of the outcome...

[robinlynne]

19. I'm with you.

[SharonRB]

12. I love Conyers!

I will see him at a dinner Saturday night and will be sure to thank him for this.

[HuffleClaw]

18. some faint hope the new AG will have the integrity gonzo didn't?

hard to get things done when the justice department is subordinate to those being investigated

[robinlynne]

20. Conyers for attorney general! or RFK!