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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Wharf Rat who wrote (60818)	10/15/2004 9:23:03 AM
From: Wharf Rat	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

Democrats name GOP official in phone jamming By NANCY MEERSMAN Union Leader Staff CONCORD — Federal prosecutors yesterday called a halt just 20 minutes before Democrats were to question a Republican official under oath over the identity of a Bush-Cheney official allegedly implicated in an illegal phone-jamming operation. Computerized telephone calls jammed five Democratic get-out-the-vote phone banks, plus a sixth run by Manchester firefighters, for about an hour and a half during the 2002 election. The U.S. Justice Department will ask a judge as soon as today to stay depositions that Democrats had scheduled yesterday and today in their civil lawsuit against the GOP in connection with the scheme launched in the 2002 New Hampshire election. "These depositions, if they took place at this particular time, would interfere with our criminal investigation," said Bryan Sierra, a spokesman for the justice department. Decrying last minute "interference" by federal officials, Democrats in court filings yesterday identified the alleged co-conspirator as Jim Tobin, director of the 2004 New England regional Bush-Cheney campaign. Tobin was the regional director of the Republican Senatorial Committee during the 2002 election when Democrat Jeanne Shaheen was defeated in a close race by John Sununu. Tobin did not return telephone calls yesterday and Wednesday. Attorney Ovide M. Lamontagne said yesterday that no one in the Republican State Committee knew there was an intermediary or an unnamed co-conspirator in the phone jamming investigation before reading a transcript of the plea agreement made by Allen Raymond, a former Virginia telemarketer, and Charles McGee, former director of the Republican State Committee. McGee and Raymond have both pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy charges in the phone-jamming case, but have not been sentenced. Lamontagne said no federal officials have confirmed that Tobin is the unidentified co-conspirator cited in the plea agreement. Lamontagne said the efforts by Democrats to speed up events in the civil case are "intended to harass the Republican State Committee" while the state committee is trying to cooperate in the federal investigation. Hillsborough County Superior Court Judge Phillip P. Mangones had given the go-ahead yesterday for the depositions. He denied a request by Republicans to stay all discovery in the civil case until the criminal case concluded. Federal prosecutors did not take any position when the matter was heard in court Wednesday. They called lawyers for the Democrats and Republicans yesterday afternoon and notified the court they would be filing motions to stay the depositions while the criminal case proceeds. A Republican witness had been expected to show up for a deposition at the Shaheen and Gordon law offices in Concord at 2 p.m. yesterday. Lamontagne arrived without the witness, whom he has declined to identify. Today, the Democrats expected to depose McGee. The Democratic Party yesterday asked the superior court for an immediate hearing on the stalled depositions. The Democrats say they want the Republican official involved in the phone jamming to be publicly identified and "possibly removed from his position because of his alleged involvement in electoral fraud." The Democrats are also asking the court to hold the Republican State Committee in contempt of court for not producing records and a witness pursuant to a court order. "Somebody made a decision to try to assist the Republican Party in stonewalling us," said Democratic Party Chairman Kathleen N. Sullivan. She said it was "shocking" that the justice department would "interfere in this small New Hampshire case" when federal prosecutors haven't stopped discovery in civil cases against Enron, Tyco and WorldCom while parallel criminal cases are under way. "We find this late intervention by the Department of Justice to be a sorry and sad reflection upon that department," said Steven M. Gordon, attorney for the Democratic Party. "Its actions at this late hour to prevent public disclosure of a matter of great public concern is so transparent that it deserves the condemnation of our community." theunionleader.com

To: Wharf Rat who wrote (60818)	10/15/2004 3:59:54 PM
From: denizen48	Respond to of 89467