Phone Jamming Cover-up at DoJ? Conyers Wants Answers

[L. Coyote]

Election irregularity investigations are moving forward, and back in time too!

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Phone Jamming Cover-up at DoJ? Conyers Wants Answers
By Paul Kiel - October 5, 2007
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004376.php


It happened nearly five years ago, but House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) still has plenty of questions about the New Hampshire phone jamming case.

In a letter Wednesday, he asked Acting Attorney General Peter Keisler a number of questions about the case, focusing in particular on whether the Justice Department has "adequately investigated and prosecuted" the case. You can read the letter here.

On Election Day, 2002, remember, Republicans schemed to jam Democratic get-out-the-vote phone banks (here's our timeline of the scandal). The executive director of the New Hampshire GOP, Charles McGee, who hatched the scheme, subsequently explained that he'd gotten the idea from his time in the Marines, where he was taught to jam the enemy's communications. Both McGee and Allen Raymond, who ran the consulting firm that arranged the jamming, pled guilty and have served their time.

The case moved slowly -- the pleas not occurring until June of 2004. And it wasn't until after the 2004 election that James Tobin, who'd been the Republian National Committee's New England Regional Political Director, was indicted for his role in the conspiracy. He was ultimately convicted, ...........

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Archived: NH Rep. Paul Hodes (D-NH) Pushes for Phone Jamming Investigation
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1750605

[Bitwit1234]

1. Hell we rants and raves, but never gets them and doesn't care

that he doesn't. If he really really wanted answers, he would go after the republicans and not fiddle faddle around.

[2rth2pwr]

2. Conyers doesn't want answers, his job is

to pacify the "base".

[L. Coyote]

3. Where have you been for the last 40 years? While Conyers has be in Congress

serving and representing his district with the highest distinction.

[ThomWV]

4. I want to point out - the Marine Corps has never jammed anything

It is a pure and simple lie that he learned something about jamming communications in the Marine Corps. The Marine Corps does not jam any sort of communications and never has. In fact even the NSA, our electronics intercept gurus (which has daughter operations in each of the military services), has very little (possibly none) jamming capability.

[L. Coyote]

5. Oliver North was a career Marine Corps officer too, and Marines don't sell missles to terrorists

Sometimes, members of the services are tasked outside of the service's area of operations by the chain of command

and, sometimes, they are tasked outside the law, as was the case with Iran-Contra.
North was protecting us from those demon pinko Sandinista terrorists :rofl:
so the law was of no real concern to him or his chain of command, I guess.

[babylonsister]

6. 5 years? What took him so long? Rec'd anyway. nt

[L. Coyote]

7. The DEMs have been after this since it happened. 2006 put DEMs in charge

of the Committees and now they can do something more. The DEMs had to file a civil action. Check this out:

NEW HAMPSHIRE DEMOCRATS MOVE TO DEPOSE FORMER RNC CHAIR GILLESPIE, TOP RNC, NRSC AND WHITE HOUSE OF

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NH Phone Jamming
NEW HAMPSHIRE DEMOCRATS MOVE TO DEPOSE FORMER RNC CHAIR GILLESPIE, TOP RNC, NRSC AND WHITE HOUSE OFFICIALS IN PHONE JAMMING CASE
Submitted by Hilary Sargent on June 8, 2006 - 10:09am.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Senate Majority Project
Contact: Mike Gehrke 202-204-9054 or Christy Setzer 617-512-7572
Thursday, June 8, 2006
http://www.senatemajority.com/taxonomy/term/65?page=1


NEW HAMPSHIRE DEMOCRATS MOVE TO DEPOSE FORMER RNC CHAIR GILLESPIE, TOP RNC, NRSC AND WHITE HOUSE OFFICIALS IN PHONE JAMMING CASE

Dems seek White House phone records of Ken Mehlman, others

Today, the New Hampshire Democratic Party filed documents outlining a bold move in its legal strategy against the Republican phone jamming criminals. Based on evidence and testimony from the criminal trial of convicted RNC, NRSC and former Bush campaign official James Tobin, the NHDP asked the court to allow it to depose top Republican officials in Washington, D.C.

“You can run from New Hampshire, but you can’t hide in Washington, DC,” said Senate Majority Project Executive Director Mike Gehrke. “It looks like the multi-million dollar stonewall strategy of Ken Mehlman and the Republican National Committee is crumbling. Top Republican party officials will finally have to answer, under oath, whether they knew about the plan of national operatives to stop New Hampshire voters from going to the polls on Election Day 2002, and whether they helped carry out or conceal the conspiracy.”

Those named in the motion include former Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie, former White House political director (and current RNC Chairman) Ken Mehlman, and Terry Nelson, a top strategist in the political operation of Sen. John McCain.

Others who the New Hampshire Democrats are seeking to depose: .............

[L. Coyote]

8. May 2006: John Conyers (D-MI) asks Attorney General to Appoint Special Counsel to Investigate

John Conyers (D-MI) asks Attorney General to Appoint Special Counsel to Investigate Phone Jamming:
http://www.senatemajority.com/node/227

* On May 12, John Conyers (D-MI), the ranking minority member on the House Judiciary Committee, called on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to appoint a special counsel to investigate the GOP New Hampshire phone jamming scandal.
o Conyers wrote: "A special counsel outside of the Department is needed, however, because there are possible connections between the plot and the White House, as well as potential federal election law violations stemming from state Republican Party reporting of Native American tribe donations connected with Jack Abramoff, that have yet to be examined."
o The letter went on to say: "As you are aware, under the Department's regulations, you are required to appoint a special counsel when (1) a criminal investigation of a person or matter is warranted, (2) the investigation by a United States Attorney's Office or litigating Division of the Department of Justice would present a conflict of interest for the Department,� and (3) it would be in the public interest to appoint an outside Special Counsel to assume responsibility for the matter. There is little doubt that all three factors are met in this case."
o Read the entire letter here. http://www.senatemajority.com/files/CONYERSLETTER_5_12_06.pdf

[L. Coyote]

9. 2004: Senators ask Ashcroft to let phone-jamming suit go forward

Senators ask Ashcroft to let phone-jamming suit go forward
10/19/2004 = http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/nation/2004-10-19-phone-jamming_x.htm

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Two Democratic senators asked U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft on Tuesday to stop interfering in a civil suit over phone-jamming by New Hampshire Republicans during the 2002 elections.

U.S. Sens. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts and Patrick Leahy of Vermont wrote a letter demanding that the Justice Department, which is pursuing a separate criminal case, withdraw its request to put the civil case on hold for six months.

Lawyers for the Democratic Party were scheduled to take sworn testimony from Republican witnesses last week about a national GOP official who allegedly approved the phone-jamming operation.

At the last minute, Justice Department lawyers involved in the criminal case called and said they were going to ask for a stay. The GOP witnesses did not show up, despite a state court order requiring them to do so. ..........

[L. Coyote]

10. House Judiciary Committee Press Release

Immediate Release - 10/3/2007
Judiciary Members Seek Answers on "Phone Jamming," Voter Suppression Cases
http://judiciary.house.gov/newscenter.aspx?A=857

(Washington, DC)- Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) and Subcommittee Chairpersons Robert C. Scott (D-VA), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), and Linda Sánchez (D-CA) sent a letter to Acting Attorney General Peter D. Keisler seeking answers about allegations of voter suppression in battleground states across the country, using a technique called "phone jamming," as well as failing to register Democratic voters and destroying Democratic voter registration cards. The committee's interest in this issue peaked recently as allegations of Justice Department and White House officials engaging in selective prosecution and other efforts to affect political outcomes arose out of the U.S. Attorney investigation.

"These cases – the notorious “phone jamming” case that arose in New Hampshire in 2002 and the equally troubling activities of a firm known as Sproul & Associates during the 2004 election cycle – present extremely disturbing allegations regarding interference with voters’ rights," the members write. "Serious concerns remain, however, regarding whether the department has adequately investigated and prosecuted these cases."

In 2002, New Hampshire Republican operatives jammed the phone lines of the New Hampshire Democratic Party and a Manchester Fire Fighters Association to hamper get-out-the-vote efforts on election day. In the letter, Conyers and his colleagues review charges regarding subsequent investigative failures in the FBI and Justice Department.

In 2004, Sproul and Associates was hired for voter registration efforts in several states but allegedly "engaged in serious misconduct such as declining to register Democratic voters and destroying registration cards collected from Democratic voters in several states prior to the national elections in 2004," the letter states. However, the lawmakers state that they have not been made aware of any "enforcement action, criminal or civil, by the Department on this matter."

The members are requesting answers about the cases by October 19. Click the link below for full text of the letter:
Member's Letter to AG Re: Voter Suppression
http://judiciary.house.gov/Media/PDFS/Conyers-Nadler-Scott-Sanchez071003.pdf

[L. Coyote]

11. visibility kick