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Official: Justice Dept. Slowed Probe Into Phone Jamming
WASHINGTON - The Justice Department delayed prosecuting a key Republican official for jamming the phones of New Hampshire Democrats until after the 2004 election, protecting top GOP officials from the scandal until the voting was over.
An official with detailed knowledge of the investigation into the 2002 Election-Day scheme said the inquiry sputtered for months after a prosecutor sought approval to indict James Tobin, the northeast regional coordinator for the Republican National Committee.
The phone-jamming operation was aimed at preventing New Hampshire Democrats from rounding up voters in the close U.S. Senate race between Republican Rep. John Sununu and Democratic Gov. Jeanne Shaheen. Sununu's 19,000-vote victory helped the GOP regain control of the Senate.
While there were guilty pleas in the New Hampshire investigation prior to the 2004 presidential election, involvement of the national GOP wasn't confirmed. A Manchester, N.H., policeman quickly traced the jamming to Republican political operatives in 2003 and forwarded the evidence to the Justice Department for what ordinarily would be a straightforward case.
However, the official, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, told McClatchy that senior Justice Department officials slowed the inquiry. The official didn't know whether top department officials ordered the delays or what motivated those decisions.
The official said that Terry O'Donnell, a former Pentagon general counsel who was representing Tobin, was in contact with senior department officials before Tobin was indicted.
In October, the House Judiciary Committee opened an investigation to determine whether partisan politics undermined the federal probe.
The official said that department officials rejected prosecutor Todd Hinnen's push to bring criminal charges against the New Hampshire Republican Party.
Weeks before the 2004 election, Hinnen's supervisors directed him to ask a judge to halt action temporarily in a Democratic Party civil suit against the GOP so that it wouldn't hurt the investigation, although Hinnen had expressed no concerns that it would, the official said.
Paul Twomey, a lawyer for the state Democratic Party, said the delay spared Republicans embarrassment at the peak of the campaign because a pending deposition would have revealed that several state GOP officials knew about the scheme, which was hatched by their executive director, Charles McGee. The delay also stalled the case beyond its statute of limitations, depriving Democrats of full discovery, he said.
Citing longstanding policy, spokesman Peter Carr said the Justice Department wouldn't comment on its investigation.
Four men have been convicted in the scandal, including McGee and Republican consultant Allen Raymond, who arranged to jam the phones. Their cooperation led to Tobin's indictment.
In mid-October 2004, Tobin resigned as the Bush-Cheney campaign's regional director after a news report disclosed allegations of his involvement. Bush narrowly lost New Hampshire, the only state he won in 2000 that went for Democrat John Kerry.
Hinnen, now an aide to Democratic presidential candidate and Delaware Sen. Joseph Biden, said he couldn't comment on the investigation.
Tobin was convicted in December 2005 of charges related to the scheme, but won a new trial on appeal. His lawyers didn't respond to e-mailed questions.
National Republican committees have paid more than $6 million to Washington law firms to defend Tobin and fight the civil suit, raising suspicions that there's more to the scandal.
Rep. Paul Hodes, a New Hampshire Democrat who requested the House inquiry, said he considers the delay in indicting Tobin to be ``a miscarriage of justice.''
At the outset, the federal investigation hit a snag when Thomas Colantuono, the U.S. attorney for New Hampshire, withdrew from the case in early 2003 because his wife was a Bush-Cheney campaign worker. Justice Department officials then assigned the case to Hinnen, a prosecutor in the Computer Crimes Section.
HOW THE INVESTIGATION BEGAN
The official with detailed knowledge of the case gave this account of how the case unfolded:
In early 2004, Hinnen got approval from John Malcolm, the deputy chief of the Justice Department's Criminal Division, in early 2004 to investigate Tobin. Malcolm left the department soon afterward.
Hinnen then sought approval from Malcolm's successor, Laura Parsky, to prosecute Tobin but wasn't told until late summer to write a formal, detailed prosecution memo, which he did in early September.
On Oct. 1, 2004, Hinnen got the green light to prepare an indictment, but was directed to first give Tobin lawyer O'Donnell a chance to make his client's case. O'Donnell requested delays and then told Hinnen, Parsky and other senior officials that an unidentified lawyer had advised Tobin that the jamming was legal.
Hinnen argued to his superiors that it was irresponsible for the department to allow Tobin to serve as a Bush campaign official when it had evidence that he'd hindered people from voting.
In late October 2004, Justice Department officials told Hinnen it was too close to the election to bring such a politically sensitive indictment, putting it off until late November.
In early 2005, Hinnen submitted a lengthy memo arguing for a criminal indictment treating the New Hampshire Republican State Committee as a corporate entity. Hinnen noted that the party lacked an ethics policy at the time of the phone jamming and that its officials had refused to share with prosecutors the results of an internal investigation of the scheme.
Craig Donsanto, the chief of the department's Election Crimes Branch, objected to an indictment, arguing that the state GOP's ``shareholders'' are the voters.
Ultimately, John Keeney, a career deputy assistant attorney general, directed Hinnen to drop the idea.
Keeney, Donsanto and Parsky, now a San Diego County judge, didn't respond to phone calls.
In August, 2005, Hinnen was detailed for 18 months to a National Security Council job in the White House, leaving other prosecutors to handle Tobin's trial.
© 2007 McClatchy Newspapers
23 Comments so far
Show AllThe Democrats go beyond turn the other cheek. They bend the taxpayer over and spread the cheeks so the Republicans can make use of their wide stance.
Actually I did some more research on that "drunk" link, and it appears that it's a joke and that they slowed down the video.
Looks like we just have to settle for a dry drunk for president. But, he still has this daddy hauling his irons out of the fire - when he listens to him, which lately he hasn't been doing.
Ah yes. The Republicans seem to have an iffy relationship with ethics or morality. To wit, they impeach Clinton while Gingrich is having an affair. They tout family values while soliciting homosexual sex in airport bathrooms. They lie and cheat to remove blacks from the voting books in Ohio and Florida. They remove supposedly independent federal judges who do not agree with them. Then they lie about that. They plant gigolo reporters to ask soft-ball questions. They go hunting after drinking, shoot friends in the face and then don't allow the sheriff's investigation anyone else would have to go through. They hand out no bid contracts to companies still paying the vice president. A president who says he does not drink shows up for a press conference obviously drunk. He is still lying about his government service and his community service. Didn't Laura Bush kill an ex boyfriend at an intersection in a collision? Was she drinking? They fabricate reasons to invade countries and continue lying. These are nasty, greedy, shallow,dishonest, and violent people. I would venture to say that they are also mostly alcoholics who are innately incapable of telling the truth. They are diseased. The Grand Old Party indeed.
Fair's fair. The GOP isn't the only party lacking an ethics policy. But while the Republicans are attacking the Democrats, the Democrats are busy attacking their base. Oh, I forgot. Progressives aren't the base anymore. The have mores have become the new Democratic base.
Jesus-loving conservatives also have a monopoly on honesty, fairness, truth, kindness, love, democracy, freedom, and integrity. Just ask them.
It is nice to know Republicans realize they have to cheat to win. They know their anti-democratic message of stressing religious and market values can only win as long as there is monopoly control of the media. Their time is coming to an end. They can no longer pick on gays like they used to because people now are more gay friendly. Now they are picking on immigrants in a losing strategy of playing to the fear, bigotry, and racism of their base. This too will not work in the long run. Democracy is having a comeback as the internet allows more of us to share information and get involved. This scares the hell out of Republicans.
Free the RNC Seven!
Free the Telecom 500!
Immunity Nation; No Crime Left Behind.
Nice work, commondreams -- keeping the focus on James Tobin.
It's like finding a fissure.... there's gold in them hills!
anyway,
DOJ official policy is to wait after the election to investigate. So, a question might then be, why did the DOJ not wait a fter the elections in regard to ACORN mid-term 2006 example? Five days before the 2006 mid-term elections, Bradley Schlozman, then the U.S. Attorney for Western Missouri, filed indictments against four voter registration recruiters for the community orga nization group ACORN.
re: http://thinkprogress.org/2007/06/07/schlozman-indictments/
Now, you all remember the dismissal of US attorneys controversy? Well, that whole scandal is typically linked to election/voter-fraud --- remember?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S._attorneys_controversy
Who else out there tainted by this fiasco?
Pete Domenici and Heather Wilson Republican Senator and Representative from NM?
Wilson was reelected, winning against New Mexico Attorney General Madrid by 875 votes. Wilson intends to replace Domenici in the Senate come 2008.
earlier, In 2004,Heather Wilson's campaign was a top recipient of $$ from Tom Delay's ARMPAC. She return less than a 1/4 of the money.
This is a bunch of lairs and heartless greedy bastards. They are shameless. The republicans seem to use the government for their selfish ends, but at the same time do not like government when goverment wants to help the others, less fortunate in our society. These people in the GOP, are not human beings, rather they are monsters. May God help us if they ever come to power again.
The "democracy" which "teaches" the world how to run "clean and fair" elections now needs to be taught. The U.N. should send a special commission of observers to the U.S. to make sure that the elections are really fair and clean and that the Republican party does not steal them as it has done at least in the past two elections.
The Republican Party is a crime syndicate.
The Democratic Party is the Keystone Kops.
We, the People, are the screwed.
Next time someone chimes in defending either party, remember the last part. If you like being screwed, keep supporting the former.
Don't worry about the Repugs stealing the elections next year, instead worry about the dumbercraps who have learned so well.
All hail Billary, the First Empress of the United States of Israel. She will see to it that ALL of taxes her empire collects will go to the issues i.e. paying back all the generous campaign contributers.
It's still funny to see that people still are decieved by this "so-called" democracy. What a farce!
That a real investigation of election wrong doing was obfuscated is not surprising. What is surprising is how consistently Democrats let these misdeeds pass with rather little public noise. Such actions merely feeds into the tweedledum and tweedledee arguement.
The Dumacrats are the real Christians, not the Repulsives. The Dumbs have taken to heart the advice of Jesus, who said if someone strikes you on the cheek, turn the other cheek to him also. The Repugs spend all of their time in the old Testament, reading about war and vengeance and the Ten Commandments, which Hucksteree said he would hang up in the White House if he was president. It is plain to see, it is the Dumbs that are going to heaven, not the Repugs. That may account for why they seem to not care what happens here on earth, the good times are ahead if you just love everyone and don`t make trouble.
And don't let us forget the news today says W is checking with his "advisors" to see what HE can do about all the earmarks included in the omnibus spending bill just passed. You just wait until we hear that in his attached signing statement he exercises a "line item veto" for every program that helps we the people, but of course, the war funding that the complicit Dems handed him on a silver platter will probably be doubled. Things are completely out of hand folks!
Raulmax says the U.N. "should send a special commission of observers to the U.S. to make sure that ... the Republican party does not steal [the elections] as it has done at least in the past two elections." Jimmy Carter said in early 2001 that if the Carter Center had been asked to monitor the Florida election, it would have refused to participate. "The Center will not take part in election monitoring when a country fails to follow certain procedures to guarantee the fairness and integrity of elections." He knows that monitoring Florida elections would be an exercise of putting lipstick on a pig.
Porcupine,
When did Bush show up for a press conference drunk?
How any person with moral's manages to go into the voting booth and vote for this bunch of snakes in the grass into office once more. Only leaves me to wonder where moral's have gone in this country??????
I realize Democrat's aren't perfect. But they are saints compared to this bunch. Everyday it's some new corruption that's uncovered.
"The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict." Martin Luther King, Jr. (using Dante's words)
If the Democrats are saints, they're going to be saints in a much warmer place. That they have focused on the next election rather than confronting the Republicans for their numerous high crimes is a black mark on them.
A pox on both their houses.
Woody, check it out. Google Bush Drunk and there's a hilarious segment from Letterman along with a few less damning segments. The segment is Bush on camera answering questions and he's obviously snookered. I'm surprised it ever made it out, but it's there. There has been talk around Washington for quite a while now that Bush is back on the bottle.
As much as I hate what Bush has done in the last eight years, not only more narrowly as executive, but also in his strong-arming of the Republican majority, I think it's important to focus on individuals and groups that have done wrong. Otherwise the Democrats have too many skeletons in the closet, so when you condemn a party for the actions of some, then the Dems are going to get a blanket condemnation too.
We have to recognize that we're seeing signs of splintering within the Republican party. Both major parties are coalitions of people with sometimes conflicting agendas, and sometimes you get defections and whistleblowers from within a party even when too many are going along with the status quo.
Note Rep. John Duncan (R) of TN and his early opposition to the Iraq war on traditionally conservative grounds. Note Ron Paul. Note Sen. Olympia Snowe (R) of Maine, joining with Sen. Rockefeller to condemn Exxon's global warming disinformation campaign.
Some Republicans are Neocons and seek global military-economic empire under the guise of "spreading democracy."
- Some are more traditional conservatives who feel betrayed/hijacked by the Neocons, and would prefer not to get involved in foreign entanglements, in part on principle, and in part because it's not fiscally conservative.
- Some are mostly economic conservatives, and of these, some favor abortion rights (why have all those welfare kids to support if it would be more cost-effective to let poor women abort them?).
- Some are Libertarian, favor small government, fiscal responsibility, and more individual freedoms, and of these, some are pro-choice, some pro-life, etc.
- Some are part of the "Christian" right, and of these, many are pro-life, but increasingly, many are concerned about global warming as an indication of poor "stewardship" of God's earth (there's a crack here, an opportunity for cooperation that has not been used for the mutual benefit of those concerned about global warming).
- Some are gay or lesbian Republicans whose attraction to the Republican party might come under a variety of headings, but who are at odds with the Christian Right.
People have observed for many years that the Democrats are a loose coalition: Unions, women's rights, more public investment, more progressive taxes, minority rights, etc. But the Republicans are just as loose.
I'm fine with going after the scum and lawbreakers, investigating them vigorously to see how far up the corruption goes, or sideways, where the tentacles reach. Bring charges against everyone the evidence points toward. Agressive investigation and charges in the Nick Smith scandal too:
http://www.buzzflash.com/editorial/04/01/edi04002.html
But the worst thing to do is to condemn all 'publicans. We sometimes need some of their votes thanks to some of the conservative Dems who vote with the Repugs. If the Dems were better at building bridges and coalitions, they might attract more interest in their party.
As starofthesea wrote, "Things are completely out of hand folks!" Bush is clearly departing further and further from the law and from the constitution. There is a good article at
http://consortiumnews.com/2007/121907.html
which explains that Mr. Bush has access to information regarding all of the Clintons' skeletons. So as long as he feels the next president will be Hillary or a Republican (not much difference) he has no fear of facing any consequences and feels he has a free hand.
woody, here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHSiqQpg7Uc&NR=1
Looks drunk to me. I can't believe his handlers let him out in public in that condition, but maybe he insisted. Of course, as a nurse, I would only say, "slurred speech, incoherent sentence structure". Too bad he doesn't drive, then he could be arrested. Oh, I forgot. They already tried that. Didn't work. You see, he's got this daddy...