Whatever happened about Ken Mehlman and the NH phone jamming? [View All]

[madfloridian]

Whatever happened about Ken Mehlman and the New Hampshire phone-jamming case from 2002? I did a search in news at Google, and also a web search. I don't see anything since April of this year.

Here is what I wrote about it in April, when Howard Dean was on with Sam Seder talking about it and other things. The DNC had just requested records. Haven't heard anything since April.

NH phone-jamming scandal getting wings..Mehlman may testify.

SAM SEDER: Now I got to ask you ...a couple of stories of the Republicans..I never cease to be amazed. This latest story, the New Hampshire phone jamming case, tell us a little about that. It has been going on for a couple of years, but they just started sending people to jail for this.

DEAN: And there may be a lot more that go. I think my counterpart, Ken Mehlman will end up in court over this...testifying at least. What happened was that the Republicans jammed the GOTV efforts on the phone. Tied it up, they broke the law. Couple of people have gone to jail. The RNC has paid all their legal bills which makes one think this was not just someone just acting on their own. And as often happens in these scandals, the net is getting wider and wider and wider.

Turns out there were many many many phone calls made to the White House political office on the day this stuff was going on and right before it. And the question is who did they talk to in the White House? And nobody will say of course...so it does remind a little bit of Watergate.

And I also saw this at a Democracy for America site for New Hampshire. I know the New Hampshire Democratic party was really pushing this, had been working hard on it.

NHDP refutes Mehlman statements on phone jamming

"One of the closest and most contested campaigns was the New Hampshire Senate race. And my deputy was in touch with them repeatedly about all kinds of questions on that day." -- RNC Chair Ken Mehlman, 4/13/06, CNN's "The Situation Room"

Phone calls from James Tobin to Ken Mehlman's office, AFTER the race was over:
11:09 pm
11:10 pm
11:40 pm
12:25 am
12:40 am
12:46 am
12:58 am
12:59 am
1:01 am
1:04 am
1:09 am
2:17 am.

CONCORD, NH - National Republican Party Chairman Ken Mehlman's statements to CNN yesterday about the nature of the phone calls between the White House and convicted phone-jammer James Tobin on election day 2002 contradict the official phone records documenting those calls.

"On one end of the phone was Jim Tobin, who has now been convicted of crimes that occurred on election day, 2002. On the other end of the phone was the White House Political Affairs office, headed by Ken Mehlman, whose story contradicts the official phone records. Add the fact that the Republican National Committee has spent $2.8 million to keep James Tobin off the witness stand, and you can see why so many questions have been raised about who said what to whom on election day 2002."

I did find this post from a liberal blog from Cornell University. There is no date on it, but the title is interesting.

Back Burner:Watergate Bush-Cheney Style

And some interesting portions from it.

Going back to the last midterm elections, one event, or rather scheme stands out in this young perverted undergraduate’s mind: the New Hampshire phone-jamming scandal and the horrible parallels it draws to Watergate, quite possibly the most damaging event to American political perception and attitudes in our history With the 2002 midterm elections approaching, Rove et al found themselves determined to regain a majority in the Senate, which had been split right down the middle until that weenie Jim Jeffords switched party allegiance to Independent. Cue James Tobin, a field operative in the northeast. Tobin got in touch with GOP Marketplace, ostensibly a non-partisan firm, to head up a plan that would jam phone calls coming out of one of the headquarters of then Senate Democratic-nominee and former Governor of New Hampshire Jeanne Shaheen. And jam they did. From 11:30am until 1:30pm, phone lines at Gov. Shaheen’s get out the vote operation were jammed by repeated calls to each line that would hold on the line for five seconds and then disengage. After Shaheen lost (to be fair, her margin of loss was calculated to have not been effected by the phone-jamming), the details began to trickle out.

Tobin was subsequently sued by the Democrats in New Hampshire. For those that haven’t been sued lately, court costs are a bitch, so when Tobin racked up $2.5 million in legal fees who was there to pay for it? The Republican National Committee. Why you would ask? Who cares, because that’s money they can’t use to bash liberal pussies who oppose the war. But for the sake of the article, let’s delve further. As court proceedings went on, the phone calls of the Republicans themselves were brought into speculation as it came out that Tobin made repeated phone calls to then White House Director of Political Affairs, Ken Mehlman, from 11:00am until 2:00am on the infamous day. Kenny said the phone calls concerned the state of the election in New Hampshire – not exactly a magnanimous denial of events And then as Ken was promoted to director of the RNC, he made the decision to keep funding Tobin’s legal adventure, saying “it was right to honor that decision.” The White House, of course, has been mum on the subject. Ken Lisasius claims “we don’t comment about ongoing legal proceedings, unless it’s Tom DeLay’s indictments, which we have a running folder of.” OK, that last part was made up, but the White House, as per always, has nothing to add. So what does this all add up to?

Did this just fade away? I did a Yahoo search as well, and still found nothing newer on it.

Amazing, isn't it?