Here’s what some New England voices are saying about Maine-resident James Tobin, after his conviction by a Concord, NH federal jury:
- Tobin deserves severe punishment for phone jamming…In the end, Tobin’s deceit and brazen efforts to influence the outcome of an election would make him a criminal who, like the others involved in the phone-jamming plot, deserves to pay a steep price.
- Maine Morning Sentinel
- Any effort to rig an election or to thwart voter turnout, no matter how incompetent or unsuccessful, is an assault on democracy…Tobin had the power to make the phone-jamming possible. Only he knew instantly where a Republican operative could go to get such dirty deeds done. He also had the power to prevent the crime. Instead, he abetted it.
- Concord (NH) Monitor editorial titled “Jail time appropriate for election tampering”
- Elections should be decided on the merits of the ideas and candidates the parties put forward, not on which side can hatch the more devious plot to hamper the other’s effort. Serious punishment for those involved in this type of nonsense lets perpetrators know that voters have little tolerance for their schemes.
- Daily News of Newburyport (MA)
- He could get a seven-year term when he is sentenced in March. There could also be a fine, but maybe the Republican National Committee will pick that up; it has already spent about a million dollars on Tobins defense. For whatever reason, the jury acquitted Tobin of a charge that he had conspired against voters rights. But McGee, Raymond and Tobin certainly conspired to disrupt the electoral process that day, and for a while they succeeded.
- Keene (NH) Sentinel
Tobin’s neighbors may agree he was guilty as charged, but if he just keeps quiet, he can probably look forward to many years of paid political activism for some wing group or other* of the GOP.
* After being outed for his role in the phone jamming, Tobin’s co-conspirator Chuck McGee quickly found a new job as NH Executive Director for the conservative think tank Citizens for a Sound Economy. Since returning from 7 months in federal prison, McGee has been employed by “a national, full-service GOP direct mail firm.” James Tobin can probably look forward to similar jobs if he stays in the good graces of the RNC.