MOST BASIC BASICS
- Wikipedia story on “2002 New Hampshire Senate election phone jamming scandal”
- Sourcewatch story on “2002 Election NH “Phone Jamming” Case”
- Betsy Devine’s timeline, giving dates for events starting with the formulation of the plan in 2002.
WHO’S WHO? ** INDICTED AND/OR CONVICTED **
- Sean Hansen
- Idaho telemarketer and owner of Mylo Enterprises. Hansen took $2,500 and a set of six NH phone numbers from Allen Raymond, and instructed his employees to make repeated hang-up calls to those numbers on November 5, 2002, the day of a Federal election. Manchester (NH) Police contacted Verizon to get the calls stopped, and by February, 2003 had called in Federal prosecutors because Mylo Enterprises was based in Idaho, not NH. Three and a half years later, the feds finally got around to charging Sean Hansen with a crime.
- Allen Raymond
- Allen Raymond’s company “GOP Marketplace” worked for GOP candidates as a telemarketing broker, sharing its expertise and negotiating prices with telemarketers around the country. Allen Raymond and/or his company had recently escaped indictment for their telemarketing work on behalf of James Treffinger in a NJ Republican primary. In that case, telemarketers called thousands of voters during the 2002 Superbowl game, attacked one of Treffinger’s Republican rivals, and claimed to be calling on behalf of a different Treffinger rival. Raymond asked for (and got) $15,600 to jam NH phonelines but paid Mylo Enterprises only $2,500 to do the actual calling.
- Chuck McGee
- In 2002, Chuck McGee was a former Marine and an enthusiastic young Republican working as the (paid) Executive Director of the NH State Republican Party. McGee got the idea of jamming Democrats’ phones after receiving a brochure in the mail with rides-to-the-polls phone numbers. Unable to find a telemarketer to implement his idea, he asked James Tobin to help him. When the phone-jamming story emerged into newspapers in February, 2003, McGee resigned his position with NH Republicans and got a similar job working for conservative thinktank CSE but later resigned after problems with election laws. He currently heads a “national, full-service, GOP direct mail firm.” In July, 2004, McGee pled guilty to one count of phone harassment and served a seven-month sentence in federal prison.
- James Tobin
- In 2002, James Tobin was working for DCI Group and serving as New England regional director of the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee (Tobin’s contract). When Chuck McGee approached him about jamming Democrats’ phones, Tobin gave him Allen Raymond’s number, then phoned Raymond to urge him to give McGee a hand with phone-jamming the Democrats. After the phone-jamming occurred, Tobin had several more conversations with Raymond. Both Chuck McGee and Allen Raymond told Federal prosecutors how Tobin brought them together, but the feds did not indict him or even name him until after NH Democrats filed a lawsuit that revealed Tobin’s name in 2004. By then, Tobin was New England campaign chairman for Bush-Cheney ’04. He quickly resigned, was not indicted until December, 2004, and was convicted on two counts of conspiracy in December, 2005. His RNC-paid lawyers have filed three separate appeals of that conviction.
- Update
- The Senate Majority Project has compiled more detailed biographies on all four.
WHO’S WHO ** UNINDICTED BUT PART OF THE PHONE-JAMMING STORY **
- John Dowd
- State Chairman (an unpaid position) of NH Republicans at the time of the phone-jamming and Chuck McGee’s boss, John Dowd first heard Chuck McGee’s plan the night before Election Day, 2002. Uncomfortable with the idea, he asked if the plan could be called off the next morning, once he’d had time to consult with a lawyer. McGee took this to mean that he could proceed with the plan unless Dowd said to stop. Early on the morning of November 5, Dowd got back to McGee and told him the phone-jamming was off. The phone-jamming did not stop, however, until after multiple attempts by McGee to reach Allen Raymond.
- Jayne Millerick
- State Chairman of NH Republicans in early 2003, when the phone-jamming first made the news. During the 2002 election, Jayne Millerick was in charge of Karl Rove’s 72-hour project for NH. (Her 17-minute call to the White House on the afternoon of Election Day 2002 has aroused some comment.) In 2003, Millerick gave multiple contradictory statements to reporters, working hard to switch the conversation to a new “code of ethics” she urged NH Democrats to join her in promoting.
- Darrell Henry
- Darrell Henry, a lobbyist for the American Gas Association, is described in James Tobin’s October 23, 2002, expense account as “Sununu Effort.” Chuck McGee testified that Henry knew about the phone-jamming effort as of Election Day, 2002, and said that he’d ask some people to keep it going after John Dowd had pulled the plug.
- Chris LaCivita
- According to his contract with the NRSC, James Tobin reported directly to Chris LaCivita in 2002. LaCivita later became more famous for a different political effort that harnessed the enthusiasm of political amateurs to push the envelope of campaign laws, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.
- Chris Cupit
- Allen Raymond’s only employee at GOP Marketplace, a former associate of Steve Stockman (TX).
WHO’S WHO ** IN THE NH COURTROOMS **
- Judge Steven McAuliffe
- Judge McAuliffe presided over the December. 2005, trial of James Tobin. McAuliffe was appointed to the federal bench by Bush Senior in 1992, six years after the death of his wife Christa McAuliffe in the Challenger disaster.
- Attorney Dane Butswinkas
- Butswinkas, a partner in the DC law firm of Williams and Connelly, represented that James Tobin was a small-town family man who was being railroaded by overzealous prosecutors as a result of perjured testimony from Allen Raymond. Several other Williams and Connelly lawyers were named as participants in the case, but Butswinkas did the voir dire, opening and closing statements, and most of the questioning of witnesses that I saw.
- Attorney Tobin Romero
- Also a partner in Willams and Connelly, Romero’s only public role in the Tobin trial seemed to be making a few of the defense team’s many objections.
- US Attorney Andrew Levchuk
- US Attorney with the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section, he was Head Counsel for the prosecution of Tobin. Levchuk was assigned to the case in August, 2005, after former head counsel Todd Hinnen was reassigned within the Department of Justice.
- US Attorney Nicholas Marsh
- A trial attorney with the Public Integrity Section of the Department of Justice Criminal Division, he was part of the DOJ team at James Tobin’s trial.
- Hillsborough County Superior Court Judge Philip P. Mangones
- Judge Mangones has been presiding over NH Democrats’ civil suit regarding the phone-jamming. At the moment (April, 2006) he is expected to give a ruling soon on Republican demands that the suit be dismissed before trial. He acceded to the October, 2004, demand of DOJ prosecutor Todd Hinnen that the Democrats be blocked from questioning suspects under oath while the criminal trials were in process. In the past, both Republicans and Democrats have praised Mangones for his efforts to treat both sides fairly.
Many bloggers have written good analyses and updates on this story. Josh Marshall’s TalkingPointsMemos has been a consistent source of good information since the scandal broke in 2003. If you’re looking for recent updates on the story, the level of interest remains high in 2006 at these three sources:
- Marshall’s TPM Muckraker and Paul Kiel have exclusive interviews, links to documents, and almost daily updates in in their NH PHone-Jamming category.
- Mike Gehrke at Senate Majority Project–their analysis of Tobin phone calls to the White House attracted national media attention.
- And, of course, the New Hampshire section of this weblog, with photos and transcripts of many original documents as well as first-hand reporting from NH courtrooms.