posted December 13, 2005 12:35 PM            

A jury on Monday began deliberations in the case of a former national Republican Party official accused of orchestrating an election day phone-jamming plot against New Hampshire Democrats.

Earlier in the day, lawyers concluded their arguments in the case of James Tobin, President Bush's former New England campaign chairman. Deliberations were to continue Tuesday.

Tobin, 45, is charged with one count of interfering with voters rights and several counts of telephone harassment. If convicted, he faces a maximum 17-year prison sentence and a $750,000 fine.

For nearly two hours on Election Day 2002, hundreds of hang-up calls overwhelmed Democratic get-out-the-vote phone banks and a ride-to-the-polls line run by Manchester's firefighters union.

The state GOP's former executive director, Chuck McGee, who admitted hatching the plot, has completed a seven-month sentence for conspiracy.

Allen Raymond, former president of Viginia-based GOP Marketplace LLC, pleaded guilty to organizing the jamming. He hopes a five-month sentence will be reduced in exchange for his cooperation with prosecutors.

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posted April 10, 2006 08:41 PM              

By LARRY MARGASAK, Associated Press Writer Mon Apr 10, 4:55 PM ET

WASHINGTON - Key figures in a phone-jamming scheme designed to keep New Hampshire Democrats from voting in 2002 had regular contact with the White House and Republican Party as the plan was unfolding, phone records introduced in criminal court show.

The records show that Bush campaign operative James Tobin, who recently was convicted in the case, made two dozen calls to the White House within a three-day period around Election Day 2002 — as the phone jamming operation was finalized, carried out and then abruptly shut down.

The national Republican Party, which paid millions in legal bills to defend Tobin, says the contacts involved routine election business and that it was "preposterous" to suggest the calls involved phone jamming.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/election_phone_jamming;_ylt=Al.RBR8HRfcGwzZVWAt ucqwDW7oF;_ylu=X3oDMTBhcml