Consultant for GOP admits to jamming

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-24-2003
Consultant for GOP admits to jamming
33
Thu, 07-01-2004 - 8:55am
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http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_showa.html?article=40105

By MARK HAYWARD

Union Leader Staff





The former head a Republican consulting group pleaded guilty yesterday to jamming Democratic telephone lines in several New Hampshire cities during the 2002 general election.

Allen Raymond, former president of the Virginia-based GOP Marketplace LLC, waived indictment and pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Concord yesterday. Judge Joseph A. DiClerico Jr. released Raymond him on his own recognizance pending sentencing and ordered him not to apply for a passport.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Justice Department, which prosecuted the case, said an investigation into the telephone jamming continues.

According to court papers released yesterday, Raymond plotted with unidentified co-conspirators to jam Democratic Party telephone lines established so voters could call for rides to the polls in Manchester, Nashua, Rochester and Claremont. Manchester firefighters’ union phone lines also were affected.

The jamming involved more than 800 calls and lasted for about 1½ hours on Nov. 5, 2002, the day New Hampshire voters went to the polls to decide many state and federal races, including the closely watched U.S. Senate race between outgoing Gov. Jeanne Shaheen and then Congressman John Sununu. Sununu, a Republican, won the race.

Democrats, who pushed for an investigation for two years, said they were glad to see a prosecution has begun.

“There is, short of murder, not much that is more horrific in America than purposely trying to stop people from voting,” said Raymond Buckley, vice chairman of the state Democratic Party. He said the jamming was obviously an organized effort, taking place across the state.

He expects to see more charges.

“Somebody hired them, somebody paid them to do this crime,” Buckley said. “I do not believe this investigation should stop until every single person who had knowledge of this and paid for this is prosecuted.”

In early 2003, state Republicans acknowledged they hired GOP Marketplace of Alexandria, Va., for telemarketing services in the 2002 election. But Republican Party Chairman Jayne Millerick has maintained the company was paid $15,600 for telemarketing services to encourage people to vote Republican, not to jam lines.

Chuck McGee, who was executive director of the state Republican Party at the time, resigned his post after news broke of the matter. McGee had told The Union Leader he had only vaguely heard of the company; Millerick has said McGee was mistaken.

“The New Hampshire Republican State Committee was pleased to cooperate fully with the Department of Justice investigation,” Millerick said in a statement released late yesterday. “These allegations have been extremely troubling and we are happy that it appears they are coming to a just conclusion.”

Raymond pleaded guilty to a crime that prohibits “harassing telephone calls in interstate communication without disclosing the caller’s identity and with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass any person at the called number ....”

A criminal information complaint filed in court yesterday charges that Raymond worked with “co-conspirators known to the government,” but did not identify them.

The complaint said he paid a “vendor co-conspirator” $2,500 to make the actual calls. In previous articles, Manchester police have said that GOP Marketplace hired Idaho-based telemarketer Milo Enterprises to jam the lines.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 04-16-2003
Thu, 07-01-2004 - 12:16pm
Sad, More dirty tricks from the Republicans. Are they afraid of fair elections? (rhetorical)
Avatar for mrsed4
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-22-2003
Thu, 07-01-2004 - 4:08pm
So, Florida isn't alone on the list...wonder how many more there are?
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-24-2004
Thu, 07-01-2004 - 4:43pm
Just waiting for the Republicans in this forum to stand up and defend this. You think after defending Bush all these years with life and limb, they would get tired. Kind of reminscent of Richard Nixon's dirty tricks huh? He was a republican right?
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-24-2003
Thu, 07-01-2004 - 5:24pm
He was. What surprised me was that the story was buried in the other section of the news of this paper... but the Union Leader is a conservative newspaper.

To me it is a red flag. This guy didn't suddenly dream this up just for this small state. Why is it that Republican administration after administration leaves dirty marks on our government? Bill Clinton wasn't messing with our system, he was being stupid. We look at Nixon, Reagan and Bush Sr with Iran Contra...

I don't care if someone is conservative or liberal, you can't condone this stuff.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-24-2003
Fri, 07-02-2004 - 10:03am
Telemarketer told which numbers to jam

http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_showa.html?article=40146

By JOHN DiSTASO

Senior Political Reporter





CONCORD — A Republican State Committee employee told a telemarketer what telephone numbers to jam to stop Democratic and firefighters’ “get-out-the-vote” efforts on Election Day 2002, according to a federal prosecutor.

Todd Hinnen of the U.S. Justice Department’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section did not identify the employee in federal court this week.

Former Republican State Committee Executive Director Chuck McGee and state GOP chairman Jayne Millerick yesterday declined comment on the continuing federal investigation into the phone-jamming incident.

Allen Raymond, former president of GOP Marketplace in Alexandria, Va., on Wednesday pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Concord to jamming the lines of Democratic party offices in Manchester, Rochester, Claremont and Nashua, as well as the headquarters of the non-partisan Manchester Professional Fire Fighters Association.

According to court documents, Raymond’s firm was paid $15,600 by the Republican State Committee “for his services in identifying and engaging” a “vendor co-conspirator repeatedly to call without disclosing its identify with the intent to annoy, abuse, threaten and harass persons at the identified telephone numbers.”

Manchester police have said Raymond’s firm hired Idaho-based Milo Enterprises to make the calls, but federal court documents did not identify the caller hired by Raymond.

Court documents say the vendor was paid $2,500 by GOP Marketplace “in exchange for providing the service of repeatedly calling without disclosing its identity . . .”

Federal law says it is unlawful to conspire in “making harassing telephone calls in interstate communications without disclosing the caller’s identity and with the intent to annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass any person at the called number or who receives the communications.”

McGee resigned the day after The Union Leader first reported in February 2003 that Manchester police had alerted the U.S. Justice Department to the phone-jamming operation.

Millerick said at the time the party had in fact hired GOP Marketplace. But she said it was hired for telemarketing services to encourage people to vote Republican, not to jam telephone lines.

She also said that despite McGee’s resignation, they maintained that neither he nor the state committee had anything to do with the operation. She said he resigned because the had become a distraction.

Millerick yesterday had no comment when asked about the prosecutor’s charge that a state committee employee was in fact involved.

Hinnen told Judge Joseph A. DiClerico Jr. on Wednesday that Raymond received an e-mail from the Republican State Committee containing six telephone numbers that should be jammed on Election Day.

McGee referred a Union Leader reporter to his attorney, who did not return calls seeking comment. Former GOP state chair John Dowd, who was chairman during the 2002 election cycle, also did not return a reporter’s call.

DiClerico released Raymond on his own recognizance pending sentencing in November. Raymond faces up to a 5-year prison term, a $250,000 fine, or both.

The Justice Department said the investigation is continuing. It said the jamming involved more than 800 computer-generated calls and lasted for about 1½ hours on Nov. 5, 2002, the day New Hampshire voters decided many state and federal races, including the U.S. Senate race between outgoing Gov. Jeanne Shaheen and Republican Rep. John E. Sununu, who won.

William Clayton, president of the Manchester firefighters union, said he was pleased that investigators were pursuing the case.

“Sometimes, we get blended in with the Democratic Party,” said Clayton. “We are non-partisan and have endorsed Republicans in the past.”

In 2002, the union endorsed Republican Craig Benson for governor over Democrat Mark Fernald.

Clayton said the union has been providing rides to the polls for 14 years, “and we have repeat customers in the elderly high-rises. We never ask them who they are voting for, and ultimately, it was those people who got hurt.

“When you start taking votes from the elderly, who work hard to get to the polls, it’s unfortunate,” said Clayton. “And it made us look bad. Some got the feeling we let them down. I just hope (investigators) keep pursuing this and bring those responsible to justice.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-18-2004
Fri, 07-02-2004 - 10:30am

<>


Defend?

Miffy - Co-CL For The Politics Today Board

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-17-2004
Fri, 07-02-2004 - 10:52am

What makes you think that any of us would defend election fraud? Rule of law is one of the most important conservative concepts.

Renee ~~~

Avatar for mrsed4
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-22-2003
Fri, 07-02-2004 - 11:33am
Yet you stay with the party that has time and again been proven to break the law at any time that doing so serves the party's (not the people's) best interests...

Watergate

Iran-Contra

Florida

Halliburton

Lying about WMDs

and now we find out about New Hampshire...

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-24-2004
Fri, 07-02-2004 - 7:41pm
How nice of YOU to point out that it cant be defended. Actually I was waiting to here from those people who seem to think that everything that comes out against anyone who is republican is a lie, or comes from trashy news sources, or with a smart comeback as "Well the democrats done it first" or "Clinton did this or Kerry that".

Examples:

Bush's use of Hitler was defended because the left or the democrats made the comparison first.

They behead our people so the abuse at the prison is not bad in comparison.

The very simple fact that Timothy McVeigh was republican.

Certain Republicans defending Bush's inaction in his military profile while making Kerry's action seem to be unpatriotic.

Defending Bush on his case for war (WMD, alleged links of al-quaida to sadam)

Defending Bush when he makes inacurate claims in his speeches (Iraq's uranium link, finding WMD in Libya).



There is more I am sure, but you get the point. For some reason people defend parties not the issues, and you come across as one who defends the party no matter what the party does--legal or illegal.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-24-2004
Fri, 07-02-2004 - 10:59pm
Not illegal, but definately underhanded!!

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=544&e=5&u=/ap/20040703/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_campaign_churches

Baptists Angry at Bush Campaign Tactics

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Southern Baptist Convention, a conservative denomination closely aligned with President Bush (news - web sites), said it was offended by the Bush-Cheney campaign's effort to use church rosters for campaign purposes.


"I'm appalled that the Bush-Cheney campaign would intrude on a local congregation in this way," said Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.


"The bottom line is, when a church does it, it's nonpartisan and appropriate. When a campaign does it, it's partisan and inappropriate," he said. "I suspect that this will rub a lot of pastors' fur the wrong way."


The Bush campaign defended a memo in which it sought to mobilize church members by providing church directories to the campaign, arranging for pastors to hold voter-registration drives, and talking to various religious groups about the campaign.


Other religious organizations also criticized the document as inappropriate, suggesting that it could jeopardize churches' tax-exempt status by involving them in partisan politics.


Campaign spokesman Scott Stanzel said the document, distributed to campaign staff, was well within the law.


"People of faith have a right to take part in the political process, and we're reaching out to every supporter of President Bush to become involved in the campaign," Stanzel said.


One section of the document lists 22 "coalition coordinator" duties and lays out a timeline for various activities targeting religious voters. By July 31, for example, the coordinator is to:


_Send your church directory to your state Bush-Cheney '04 headquarters or give to a BC04 field representative.


_Identify another conservative church in your community who we can organize for Bush.


_Recruit 5 people in your church to help with the voter registration project.


_Talk to your pastor about holding a citizenship Sunday and voter registration drive.


The Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said the effort "is a shameless attempt to misuse and abuse churches for partisan political ends." Lynn said his organization would be "watching closely to see how this plays out in the pews."


The Rev. Welton Gaddy, president of the Interfaith Alliance, a Washington advocacy group that has been critical of the Christian right, said the document was "totally inappropriate."


"We are alarmed that this initiative by the Bush-Cheney campaign could lure religious organizations and religious leaders into dangerous territory where they risk losing their tax-exempt status and could be violating the law," Gaddy said.


Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (news - web sites), said "efforts aimed at transforming houses of worship into political campaign offices stink to high heaven."


None of those groups, however, has been as supportive of the Bush administration as the Nashville-based Southern Baptists.





Bush spoke to the Southern Baptists' recent national convention, by video link, for the third year in a row. Outgoing SBC President Jack Graham called the president "a man of personal faith whose leadership is great for America."

On Friday, Land said: "It's one thing for a church member motivated by exhortations to exercise his Christian citizenship to go out and decide to work on the Bush campaign or the Kerry campaign. It's another and totally inappropriate thing for a political campaign to ask workers who may be church members to provide church member information through the use of directories to solicit partisan support."



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