Betsy Devine: Funny ha-ha and/or funny peculiar

Bong! The bell finally summoned us at almost 5 p.m., after a second long day of waiting for the Tobin jury to reach a consensus. “Please go to Courtroom 5 for the jury verdict.” Gratefully, we (five real reporters plus Betsy) hustled into the courtroom and opened up notebooks.

“Please rise for the jury.” Would their faces give anything away as they filed in? Nope–all of the twelve looked serious and all looked tired. Their deliberation had lasted almost as long as the testimony itself.

The foreperson handed the verdict to the court clerk, who read it out loud:

With respect to the first count*: Not guilty.
With respect to the second count: Guilty.
With respect to the third count: Guilty.

Defense attorney Dane Butswinkas was out of his seat almost before the clerk had finished reading. He demanded to have the jury polled, one by one, to see if the verdict was truly unanimous.

The court clerk accordingly polled the jurors, one by one. “Juror Number One, is this your verdict?” “Yes,” each juror replied.

After thanking the jurors for their service, Judge McAuliffe said that sentencing would occur on March 21, 2006. Outside in the corridor, reporters gathered around US Attorney Levchuk, who said he was pleased with the verdict and planned to use it in pressing his investigation further. Questions to Butswinkas were met with a crisp “No comment.” ABC news already has the (short) AP story plus a photo of Tobin leaving the courthouse.

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* First count: Conspiracy Against Rights; 18 U.S.C. 241 (depriving citizens of their right to vote)
Second count: Conspiracy to commit telephone harassment in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371 and 47 U.S.C. § 223 (a)(1)(D),.
Third count: Aiding and abetting telephone harassment in violation of 47 U.S.C. § 223 (a)(1)(D) and 18 U.S.C. § 2
One count of the earlier Tobin indictment was dropped. Here’s the official US DOJ press release.

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One phone-jamming juror was rushed to the hospital suffering chest pains, after spending Tuesday (December 13) trying to reach a verdict on James Tobin.

Spending that whole day in the same courthouse’s corridors, I’d been surprised by the cheerful calm of Tobin’s attorneys and friends.

Thinking it over, I shouldn’t have been surprised. So what if this jury finds Tobin guilty? His defense (fully financed by the very deep pockets of the Republican National Committee) is primed to set off on appeal after appeal. Eventually, some diehard Republican judge will grab the chance to set Mr. Tobin free.

My guess–and it’s purely a guess–is that things are much tenser inside the jury room, as 12 NH jurors and 2 alternates try to live up to the responsibility on them. Surely the defense was successful in profiling* at least one juror who could be won over into a sympathy vote for Tobin and his young family. Surely at least one juror has been won over by the defense attempt to frame this case as “Don’t let mean Allen Raymond hurt nice Jim
Tobin.” And my guess is that at least one juror is holding fast to the evidence showing that Tobin, in fact, promoted McGee’s illegal scheme to disrupt an election.

The jury recessed all day today (Wednesday), but will resume tomorrow…

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* I asked one of the energetic young DC lawyers (EYDCL) watching the first day (“I represent one of the defendants in the civil suit”) if the defense had some ideal juror profile guiding its peremptory challenges. The EYDCL said in pitying tones, “Well, of course. They have a jury consultant.”

It’s a routine expense for big lawfirms to “profile” the kind of jury members they want. Even a full mock trial rehearsal with 60 “jurors” would cost less than $6,000 –less than one day’s worth of Tobin’s litigation team.

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Chuck McGee and Allen Raymond gave very different testimony in the NH phone-jamming trial of James Tobin.

The defense claimed that Raymond’s testimony was suspect because he was hoping for federal clemency if he could incriminate Tobin.

Chuck McGee, who had already spent 7 months in prison, had nothing to hope for from the prosecutor. He did have something to hope for from the NH Republican Party, if his testimony saved Jim Tobin’s hide. The NH Republican Party is a big client of Chuck McGee’s new post-prison employer, a “national, full-service, GOP direct mail firm.” And check out the rest of his new firm’s list of clients:

Governor Craig Benson

Republican former governor of NH, elected in 2002, defeated in 2004 in a campaign that focused on Benson’s ethics.

Governor James Douglas, Lt. Governor Brian Dubie

Republican governor and lieutenant governor of Vermont

Vermont Republican Party and New Hampshire Republican Party

Republican, obviously. Chuck McGee was Executive Director of the NH Republican Party when he ran the phone-jamming in 2002.

Americans for Job Security

Conservative “issue advocates” under investigation for using their tax-exempt millions of corporate money to influence elections.

US Senators Judd Gregg & John Sununu, US Congressmen Charlie Bass & Jeb Bradley

Republicans all, NH’s 4 representatives in DC

National Right to Work Committee

Conservative “issue advocates” who spent $1M in 2000 elections attacking Democrats.

Scott Paterno for Congress

Republican candidate, 2004, endorsed by George Bush, defeated by Democratic opponent.

NH Senate President Tom Eaton

Republican recently ousted from this job.

Elevare Communications

Republican NH State Senators Bob Clegg, Carl Johnson and Chuck Morse are promoted by this NH political PR firm.

The Dennehy Group

Former Republican National Committeeman Michael Dennehy runs this “government relations firm specializing in national grassroots strategy.”

When the civil trial comes around, I hope the Democrats will do a better job than the Federal prosecutor of making it clear that McGee as well as Raymond has conflicts of interest.

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United States of America v. James Tobin (Cr. No. 04-216-01-SM) — what story do these real-life numbers tell?

84

Number of pages (printout) of “Amended and supplemental proposed jury Instructions” submitted by James Tobin’s defense team

39

Number of pages (printout) of “Jury Instructions” delivered by judge

44

Number* of objections (including subheads) made by James Tobin’s defense team while the judge was delivering his 39 pages of jury instructions

61

Number of exhibits offered by the government as evidence against James Tobin

52

Number of those 61 exhibits against which James Tobin’s defense team offered one or more objections

886,632

Number of dollars paid to James Tobin’s defense team by the Republican National Committee before August 15, 2005

While waiting for Tobin’s jury to bring in a verdict ( they didn’t yet), I discovered (thanks to real reporter Judy L. Harrison) that I could view or print official case documents from computers downstairs in the Court Clerk’s Office.

This inspired me to pass on to you certain numbers–information that’s too “slanted” for a real news story, but too technical to fit into an editorial. So, maybe the kind of thing a blogger can tell you about–even one who’s still shivering, thinking about “sidewalk interviews.”

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* Hearsay in the hallway, but the same number heard from several say-ers.

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Brrrrr. We step out of the Warren Rudman Courthouse onto the ice-speckled sidewalk of Pleasant Street. A subzero breeze nearly pushes me off my feet.

“I’m not looking forward to trying to interview jurors outside the courthouse,” says one of the real reporters I’m headed to lunch with. “Yeah, sidewalk interviews,” agrees another. This mostly desk-bound blogger is very impressed!

I spent December 13 once again in Concord, NH, waiting for the verdict in James Tobin’s phone-jamming trial. (More about what happened there in my next post.)

My disappointment with celebrity journalists has received the strong antidote of meeting a bunch of real working journalists, whose curiosity, fair-mindedness, work ethic, and willingness to brave icy sidwalks in search of a story truly impressed me:

• John P. Gregg (Valley News)
• Judy L Harrison (Bangor Daily News)
• Eric Moskowitz* (Concord Monitor)
• Josh Roger (NHPR)
• Kevin Wack* * (Portland Press Herald)

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* Check out Eric’s December 13 story, “Last pitches in phone-jamming case.”

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* * Thought-provoking quote from Kevin Wack over lunch: “It’s hard to get outside the little demographic bubble you live in.”

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Dear Frank Paynter–

How do I blog? Ay caramba! ;-)

Here are just a few things I didn’t blog in the past week, because I didn’t have time to type out the words they deserved:

1) From the NH courtroom where James Tobin is on trial: Why does Tobin’s high-priced DC lawyer rhapsodize to the jury about how warm and wonderful Tobin is–while keeping aloof when given a chance to interact with the wonderful man himself? Why do thousand-buck-per-hour lawyers wear suits whose cuff-buttons have no buttonholes? Why do young lawyers take notes on legal pads while young reporters take notes on steno pads? Surely the human hand-wrist anatomy is the same for both.

2) From NYC: The American Museum of Natural History has a handsome exhibit on Darwin (live tortoises!) and a glorious IMAX movie about the Galapagos Islands–but both of them include too much repetitive preaching about evolution. Lighten up, guys. Also, I recommend the Millburn Hotel and nearby Niko’s Restaurant (“sensible eating at sensible prices”, 76th St. at Broadway.)

3) From last night’s party: Richard Oldenburg (former director of MOMA and brother of Claes) reads the NY Times cover to cover every day. He says “That’s my Internet.” He was shocked to hear how I read news online: “But so often the most fascinating thing you read is something that you weren’t looking for at all.” I admitted that the riches of Internet search are wiping out much of this real-life serendipity–the book on the library shelf that catches your eye because it is next to the book you wanted.

Tool-istically, I use Manila on weblogger.com because that’s where I started out. When I started blogging, Paul Boutin was the only blogger whose blog i had ever read–and he used Manila on weblogger.com. QED.

Although you have made me feel a whole lot less guilty by admitting that you haven’t had time to share audio of Dervala saying “posh totty.” Ha ha ha ha–at least I’m not holding back something so magnificent!

All best, you babe-magnet you,
Betsy

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…the accumulated wealth of science and literature, and the blessing of peace, often derive from efforts whose ultimate value isn’t immediately obvious. Even in cases where the real importance of some breakthrough is clear, it still might take years before the work yields any economic benefit; or, especially in literature, there may never be any conventional economic benefit at all. People who work toward increasing this special kind of wealth are devoting their careers to extremely long-term investments in the improvement of life for humanity as a whole. And what hardheaded businessperson or consumer will pay for that?

Yet history teaches us that such devotion to the long-term, and to the common good, pays off. The basic science of today becomes the technology of the future; the challenging literature of today provides the classics of the future; the difficult statecraft of today ensures the peace and prosperity of the future.

Of course, this excerpt is even better when read inside Frank’s amusing and touching after-dinnner talk at last night’s Nobel birthday dinner in NYC.

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Whew–what a party last night! At least this time, I got to taste what I was eating….

You see, the NYC Swedish consulate celebrates Nobel’s birthday (December 10) by serving the entire official dinner from the previous year’s Nobel feast.

Last December 10, what with the distraction of Frank’s new gold medal, Mozart’s music, and HRH Prince Carl Philip, I hardly noticed the actual dinner at all.

This year was much calmer–not even white tie, “merely” black tie. Such is my ongoing double life that I’ll bet I was the only person in Wikimania’s IRC planning meeting who was struggling into a full-length taffeta skirt and silver shoes in between typing remarks about opensource software.

Then again, maybe I was not the only one. Who was it who said, “The world is not only stranger than we know, it is stranger than we can know”?

A remark that surely goes double for Wikipedia and the Web…

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The past year has been extraordinary. A new era started for Betsy and me on October 5, 2004 at 5:11 AM when Betsy interrupted my shower to hand me our cordless telephone, saying “A lady with a beautiful voice wants to talk to you. I think she has a Swedish accent.” I had hoped to hear, some day, from the Nobel committee, anticipating that this conversation would be of the form “Congratulations, you’ve won the Nobel Prize, goodbye.” Now I can tell you, that isn’t how it happens. Quite a few dignitaries, friends, colleagues and journalists all wanted to talk, and under the circumstances I was happy to oblige them despite being completely naked and dripping wet. The next thing was to call my parents with the news; that was one of the high points of my entire life.

The festivities in Stockholm, last December, were a week of wonders. After each event, I’d think “Nothing can equal that,” and then the next event would equal it. It climaxed with the rites of the Order of the Ever Smiling and Jumping Green Frog. I was delighted to see that our invitation tonight indicated “Black Tie and Decorations,” since it gave me the opportunity to display my only decoration, which is the magnificent green metal frog I got there. To earn it, I had to pass a series of tests, similar in spirit to the Masonic rituals you see in The Magic Flute, but choreographed by the Marx Brothers, rather than Mozart. That, finally, was an event that couldn’t be equaled. From there we went north to Kiruna, where we stayed at the ice hotel before returning home.

From them until now has been a year full of many varied events, ranging from addressing elementary school classes to hobnobbing with the rich and famous. I’ll forego name-dropping here, with one exception: I got to meet Yogi Berra. Recently I remarked to Betsy that I feel we’ve lived half our lives in the past year. That might be an illustration of the theory of relativity, or maybe an exaggeration, but for sure more than half our photos are from the last year.

I’m extremely grateful to Alfred Nobel and the people of Sweden for making it all possible.

But now I’d like to probe a little deeper.

For all the fun, the most profoundly gratifying thing I’ve experienced since winning the Nobel prize has been an outpouring of interest and affection from the general public, and from my colleagues – even from my rivals and competitors. This is not meant for me personally, I know. I didn’t suddenly metamorphose into another kind of being on October 5, 2004, or do anything at all. And most people, even physicists, don’t really understand the work that the prize was for.

When Einstein arrived in New York in the early 20s, his boat was met by cheering crowds. Einstein was pleased, but also astonished by this phenomenon. He asked Charlie Chaplin, who was traveling with him, “What does all this mean?” Chaplin replied: “Nothing.” I think Chaplin was wrong about that.

So what does it mean?

Many kinds of rewards are given to people for tangible services rendered. These rewards take the form of salaries, profits, social status, and so forth. But the accumulated wealth of science and literature, and the blessing of peace, often derive from efforts whose ultimate value isn’t immediately obvious. Even in cases where the real importance of some breakthrough is clear, it still might take years before the work yields any economic benefit; or, especially in literature, there may never be any conventional economic benefit at all. People who work toward increasing this special kind of wealth are devoting their careers to extremely long-term investments in the improvement of life for humanity as a whole. And what hardheaded businessperson or consumer will pay for that?

Yet history teaches us that such devotion to the long-term, and to the common good, pays off. The basic science of today becomes the technology of the future; the challenging literature of today provides the classics of the future; the difficult statecraft of today ensures the peace and prosperity of the future.

Part of the genius of Alfred Nobel and his prizes, as perfected by his successors at the Foundation and the people of Sweden, was to find a special way to recognize and encourage that kind of devotion. And I think that is what Einstein and Chaplin’s crowd, and the many people who’ve treated me so warmly over the past year, are responding to. So in that spirit I thank all involved not just for myself, but on behalf of all humanity, and on behalf of future generations.

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Frank Wilczek, after-dinner remarks at the Swedish Consulate, New York City, 10 December 2005.

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“That all depends on what happens tomorrow and which direction we decide to ride.“

Yet another great story from TheZenOfMotorcycling…

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