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A “shadowy group pouring untraceable millions into this fall’s campaign”–that’s how one reporter describes “Progress for America.”
One thing that isn’t shadowy about this group? Close ties to the felons who brought us the PhoneJammerGate: |
- The names of president of Progress for America Brian McCabe and its executive director Chris LaCivita both figured in reports of the trial of convicted phone-jamming felon James Tobin.
- Convicted phone-jamming felon Chuck McGee made a point of contacting “veteran strategist Brian McCabe” to describe his idea of blocking Democrats’ phone lines. (John DiStaso, Manchester Union Leader, August 11, 2006) Of course, as Tobin’s lawyers repeatedly told the jury, knowledge that a crime is being planned is not, in itself, a criminal offense.
- Tobin’s phone records show multiple phone calls and attempted phone calls with Brian McCabe’s NH-based company.
- Chris LaCivita was James Tobin’s boss at the National Republican Senatorial Committee in 2002, (although he’s more often mentioned for his later work with the Swift Boat Vets.)
- McCabe, LaCivita, and Tobin are all current or former associates of Washington’s powerhouse GOP lobbying firm DCI Group, most recently outed for trying to pass off a polished hit-job on Al Gore as an amateur YouTube video.
More about the DCI Group and its phone-jamming ties from a recent New York Sun:
Progress for America’s fund-raising and ad buying is run by employees of a Republican political consulting firm, DCI Group, which also helped run another anti-Kerry organization, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth…DCI Group is a regular landing spot for Republican Party loyalists. The firm has employed some people other GOP firms might have turned away, such as a former Northeast regional political director for the Republican National Committee, James Tobin.
Tobin took a job at DCI Group while under investigation for involvement in a scheme involving jamming of Democratic get-out-the-vote phone banks in New Hampshire during the 2002 election. Last year, he was convicted on two felony charges relating to the case and sentenced to 10 months in prison. Tobin is free pending appeal, but a DCI employee said yesterday that he is no longer working for the firm.
…Mr. McCabe, who was not available for an interview for this article, was not charged in connection with the voter-suppression scheme.
Yes, the moral values that brought us NH phone-jamming are now spreading millions all over the current election.