Why is the GOP lawyer gloating about the NH phone jamming case?

[madfloridian]

I thought the Democrats won this case last week. Maybe I read it wrong. :shrug: It surely is confusing.

And who in the world is this mysterious witness the Democrats can't call in order to try to get 4 million in damages? This is the most confusing case I have ever seen. First we hear they can sue the GOP for millions, then they can't.

Te GOP lawyer is sort of calling it a win for the defense. So confusing. Why wasn't this thing carried through? How high up in the White House does it go?

Why are the Democrats not pursuing it further?

http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2006/12/02/republicans_settlement_reached_in_phone_jamming_lawsuit/

Democrats settled their lawsuit against the Republicans Friday over the 2002 jamming of get-out-the-vote phone banks. They were looking for millions of dollars in damages.

Neither side is giving details, or saying whether any money changed hands, but Democratic Chairwoman Kathy Sullivan said the GOP paid in other ways.

And here is the GOP spokesman practically gloating...I don't understand it all.

GOP lawyer Ovide Lamontagne could not speak about the settlement on Friday, but hinted the Democrats did not do as well as they wanted, thanks to a ruling preventing them from using an expert witness they counted on to lay out the basis for initially seeking more than $4 million in damages.

"It was an unbelievable win, in a sense, for the defense side, and it eviscerated, really, their damage claim," he said. "They were scrambling in the last minute here to cobble together lay witnesses that would try to say how much they lost, and the theory didn't hold and the judge saw through it."

This article made it sound like they could collect more money than the GOP wanted them to.
http://www.forbes.com/business/feeds/ap/2006/11/30/ap3216632.html

State Democrats seeking compensation in an Election Day 2002 phone-jamming scheme can argue that the GOP plot hindered their get-out-the-vote efforts, a judge has decided.

Any damages would have to involve problems directly linked to the crippled communications and could not include the cost of signs, postage or other unrelated expenses, Judge Philip Mangones ruled Wednesday.

Republicans had wanted Mangones to limit the Democrats' claim to $4,974 - the cost of renting and using the phones. Democrats argued they should be able to seek more than $4 million, the cost of the Democrats' seven-month-long campaign to boost voter turnout.

And I had been keeping up with Ken Mehlman's role in this event, because we know he had to go to court to at the very least testify.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/484

But his name is seldom mentioned in regards to it.

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. They lie as often as the rest of us breathe

[rzemanfl]

2. Republicans and lawyers lie when their lips move, put the two

together and they are lying when their mouth is shut. What's new about negotiating an undisclosed settlement an then acting as if it was a trivial amount?

[Botany]

3. How can you tell a lawyer is lying? His lips are moving.

"It was an unbelievable win, in a sense, for the defense side, and it eviscerated,
really, their damage claim," he said. "They were scrambling in the last minute
here to cobble together lay witnesses that would try to say how much they lost,
and the theory didn't hold and the judge saw through it."

Pure spin here because:

1. Several GOP operatives have gotten jail time over this.
2. Direct links to the White House (Mehlman / Rove)
3. Criminal Records.
4. Settled the civil case rather then go to court .... with
a no doubt "confidentiality agreement" keeping the size of
the judgment a secret.
5. If their case was that good they would have WANTED TO
go to court.

[madfloridian]

4. Apparently criminal proceedings continue...

"This crime took place because the Republican Party was desperate to defeat her," Sullivan said. "Gov. Shaheen served this state well and deserved better than this."

The settlement ends the civil lawsuit, three days before the case was to go to trial. But criminal proceedings continue.

Former Republican National Committee operative James Tobin is appealing his telephone harassment conviction. (Wasn't Tobin working for McCain?)

Shaun Hansen, former owner of the defunct Idaho-based telemarketing firm hired to place the calls, pleaded guilty to telephone harassment charges and is to be sentenced in February."

[madfloridian]

5. Duplicated.

Wonder why that double posted?

[madfloridian]

6. They are settling for $135,000.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2006/12/02/gop-will-pay-135k-to-set_n_35422.html

Something is just not right about that. I wonder who the witness was the judge would not let them call on, per the OP.

Something is just not right about it.