I spent December 6, 2005 front row center in NH Federal District Court, just a couple of yards behind James Tobin and his three very high-priced litigators.
The spectator benches were half-full of young DC lawyers, taking notes as their seniors put on one heck of a show. If you’ve given money to the Republicans lately, many thousands of RNC dollars per hour are burning away on the defense counsel benches in Concord, NH–and (I suspect) on the spectator benches as well.
Tobin is looking at 19 years in prison and a fine of up to $1M–if the jury finds him guilty as charged–unless he can make a deal with the US Attorney. Such a deal would require Tobin to “flip” and give evidence against somebody who’s done something even worse.
Josh Marshall has suggested that Tobin’s case may be tied to the Abramoff scandal. If Tobin had information on higher-level RNC involvement with Abramoff, the Feds would most likely love to make a deal.
I can’t help wondering how seriously “Tobin’s” lawyers are taking their duty to consider Tobin’s interests first and the RNC’s interest second. If Tobin has information that could save his hide–but those high-priced attorneys torpedo his deal possibilities and slide him into a long prison sentence–well then, Tobin and his young family will (like Charles McGee) end up victims of the
“politics is war” meme that has corrupted their party’s leadership.