Phone-Jamming Linked to Possible Voter Fraud in New Hampshire

The White House and Republican Party is allegedly involved in denying Democratic votes in New Hampshire during the 2002 November elections. The phone calls occurred before the Congressional race between Republican John Sununu and Democrat Jeanne Shaheen. Sununu won with a 5 percent margin. The phone-jamming scheme concerned making an unlimited amount of calls to Democratic "Get Out the Vote" lines and hanging up. This action created a busy signal so that information to potential voters would not get through. Although the GOP dismisses the accusations, James Tobin was convicted in the scheme. Mr. Tobin served as New England Regional Campaign Manager for the Bush Re-election bid in 2004.




This article conveys more interesting news related to "election shenanigans" . Do you think that the New Hampshire election might have Watergate-esque implications?


UPDATE: Here are some stories that supplement the phone-jamming scandal. Unfortunately, the original article has expired on Yahoo.com:

Ex-Bush Aide Denies Calls on Phone Jamming
Wikipedia.org
2002 Election NH "Phone Jamming" Case
A Small-Time Crime With Hints of Big-Time Connections Lights Up the Net

Edit: link had to be changed due to the expiration date of article

Edit: Title changed at author's request.


[edit on 11-4-2006 by intrepid]



[edit on 25-4-2006 by ceci2006]

The article really makes me think about what happened in Broward and Dade counties concerning the chads. This latest article makes me really suspicious about the "funny business" that was played around the 2000 or 2004 election.

I saw this article on Huffington Post and my first thought was "Why haven't I heard of this before?" This James Tobin has apparently been convicted of this and yet I still hadn't heard of it before. There isn't even a Wikipedia article about him.

See the movie "bushes brain" to see the various dirty low down, unethical, borderline illegal, activities that republicans and democrats indulge in...

there ought to be a law!
Oh, there already is... it just sucks because the people making it, also had interest in making loopholes...

Cheaters always cheat... liars always lie, and politicians will always be liars and cheaters as long as they get away with it, and it works...

So stop the ability to cheat, or punish it severely...

This was a news story hot off the press as of last night as far as I can tell. But I find it seriously interesting that this item was kept silent until it could not be anymore--especially when it has to do with the election of a longtime GOP faithful, John Sununu. But as I know now, the Justice Dept. has three convictions and a continual investigation on its hands. They'll be more of this story before it is through.

I just want to ask as the information trickles out of the continuing investigation: where is the outrage? This should bother people on both sides of the aisle that our voices aren't being counted properly.

Why aren't people mad that their right to vote is being hijacked by unfair tactics?

The Justice Department has secured three convictions in the case but hasn't accused any White House or national Republican officials of wrongdoing, nor made any allegations suggesting party officials outside New Hampshire were involved

Unless the content of the calls is known, there is NO link between the case and the White House. Anyone involved in a campaign makes a lot of calls around election time.

ATSNN seems more and more like the mainstream media these days. Take a small exaggeration of a fact, write a sensational headline, and blow it out of proportion. For instance, the "Valerie Plame leak" headline is still incorrect.

If these stories are a portent of the "new direction" of ATSNN, I am not impressed.

Edit: Ok, the headline was fixed while I was ranting. And yes, I'm mad at the tactics that both sides have used throughout history and continue to use.



[edit on 4/11/2006 by eaglewingz]

How the White House was allegedly implicated in the scheme is that Tobin made 24 phone calls in a series of three days to White House officials. Tobin is convicted. How he will be penalized is up to the sentencing portion of his trial.

What else is important is that Mr. Tobin was New England Regional Campaign Manager to the Bush Re-election Campaign.

It is still an on-going investigation.



[edit on 11-4-2006 by ceci2006]

The proofs keep stacking up of a concerted effort in both 2000 and 2004 by the Republicans to rig the elections (a polite way of saying steal) and so far the most egregious examples are Florida in 2000 and New Hampshire and Ohio in 2004...it is a real pity that those who so adamently support this administration (and the Republican party), don't have greater concern for the good of our nation instead. I am not saying back Democrats, I am saying place nation before party, and stand up for a wrong no matter which side does it....and that goes for Democrats as well. I am bloody sick of party politcs and these so called culture wars...it is these very distractions that allow these type of people slip in through the cracks and sieze power. I have said it once and i will say it again...the people in control of the Republican party are neither conservatives (whom I can respect even if we disagree) or patriots...they are, from Bush on down scum...the very bottom of an already scummy politcal polical barrel.

Imho, I am very frustrated by the story because of these "dirty tactics". How can we truly say that we are in a democracy when votes are being manipulated in the favor of one candidate over the other? Like grover said, both sides are probably responsible for this.

But because they participate in these machinations, it hollows out the promises held by the Voting Rights Act of 1965: to enforce the law to make sure that people of all persuasions have a chance to vote.

Btw, what can everyday people do in order to voice their dissent over matters like this?

Ain't it amusing how threads like this one, which is about something far more important than many gets next to no responses, while others that are in the long run really trivial get hundreds of responses. Guess the Rupugnicans and wrong wingers don't want to draw attention to the depradations and criminal acts of their gods.

I am just sad because people are not truly outraged by this story. I, for one, am mad because people have fought too long and hard for the right to vote for it to end up like this. I just wonder how the people who paved the way to ensure voting rights for all would feel about this matter.

I'd hate to sound like a defeatist, but I'm tired and worn down. Apathetic even. For years I've seen stories of voter fraud and stolen elections on this board, and instead of outrage, you get people with their fingers in there ears and eyes squeezed shut. They just don't want to believe it. Maybe it's because they have so much faith in the government, or a certain political party, that if they found out that either was corrupt, they would lose their identity.

I know that what I feel is wrong, and I wish I could get motivated to be outraged, but I'm tired of debating with people who simply refuse to see the truth. I guess in a way, they won. They have their corrupt government, and one less voice to try to save the US from itself.

I now just accept it as business as usual, and hope that my political candidate is more criminal than the other so that they can come into power and to change the system from within. The US of our Founding Fathers is dead. Sure each side talks about freedom and liberty and all that jazz, but in the new US it's all about money. You just have to try to get the right candidates that will balance their criminal behavior with serving the American people. If you just get candidates that are criminal, and serve their financial masters more than American people, the US and it's people get hurt.

Originally posted by grover
Ain't it amusing how threads like this one, which is about something far more important than many gets next to no responses, while others that are in the long run really trivial get hundreds of responses. Guess the Rupugnicans and wrong wingers don't want to draw attention to the depradations and criminal acts of their gods.

It seems like we're into a phase where real conspiracies such as this one and the AT&T/NSA domestic spying aren't important to ATS members for some odd reason. I suppose it may be more fun to wax poetic on wild speculative theories ... but when real conspiracy meat shows up, we're shying away.

Why is that?

Originally posted by curme
I know that what I feel is wrong, and I wish I could get motivated to be outraged, but I'm tired of debating with people who simply refuse to see the truth. I guess in a way, they won. They have their corrupt government, and one less voice to try to save the US from itself.

And with more and more people, such as myself, accepting this mindset it’s no wonder they’ve gotten to where they’re at…

The evidence of what you speak being the truth is right in front of us with this thread…

How DO we regain control? Especially when voting seems to be increasingly completely insignificant!

I completely know where you’re coming from curme, and I regretfully stand by you and lament the passing of a once great country…

I can hear the ultra conservative replies now….No – Not over this single incident – Can’t you see the big picture and where this country is heading

I have to admit that news like this makes me more cynical about the system. But, I do have the outrage. My outrage is because more people aren't mad. I continue to wonder why haven't more people seen the light that the entire six years of the present administration has been based on a manipulation of the system?

I know that this board is filled with wonderfully, thoughtful people. I know that they have the smarts to see that this little story mirrors the shenanigans that happened in Ohio and Florida. With stories like these, you can't deny that "something funny" is going on with the tampering of votes. And with people being convicted for it, that further confirms the fact that this is not a rumor or speculation, but fact.

I am especially furious that there are situations that have come up in which disenfranchise other voters so that their rights to vote are not counted for greedy, superficial gain.

Unless there is a way to do away with national elections, it seems we are stuck with the phone-jamming, tire-slashing, arm-breaking incidents from the major parties and their supporters. Even with the parties gone, people will do a lot for power.

Unfortunately, even individuals will even stoop to shenanigans when it comes to elections. I've seen plenty of local elections, where the power isn't nearly as great, with campaign sign and polling site violations.

And for anyone who's interested, here's a good list of phone and other tricks played by Democrats and Republicans.

Disgusting


[edit on 4/17/2006 by eaglewingz]

I think there is a difference between acts of vandalism and a concerted effort to prevent people from voting.

As I read the Democratic transgressions, nearly all the offenders were people who acted on their own instead of being "told" to do any of the violations mentioned. (If someone finds something else, please post it). But, in my opinion, even in the case in which the Congresswoman's son and cohorts were prosecuted for "tire slashing", these were acts of vandalism. And in another voting precinct, the person in charge of the campaign callers told the persons making the misleading phone calls to stop. Even in the moveon.org case, this organization acted on their own for the interest of the Democratic Party, not because they were told by the Democratic party to do these things.

As for the Republicans, the problem of the all their acts of disenfranchising voter rights, is that they did it and no one told them to stop. They did it with a specific goal in mind: to prevent Democratic voters from voting. And in the case of Florida, there were two CD-ROMS filled with false information about voters--branding them as felons. The voters in Dade and Broward county were turned away because they were falsely linked with a felony. And, in some polling precincts, people had to wait for hours before they were able to vote. That is a quite different thing than "slashing tires" and "preventing someone from having coffee".

But in the end, there should be punishments meted out on both sides, until there is a process to enforce the Voting Rights Act of 1965. If one of the SCOTUS justices would have the courage to do something, let alone a member of the Congress then perhaps democracy might have a chance.

I may be wrong about the interpretation of the each transgression between the parties. But, that's my .02 in the matter.






[edit on 18-4-2006 by ceci2006]

wonder if political contributions were used to fund the tire slashings and such, because telemarketing companies don't come cheap. and my guess would be that the phone jamming (which a telemarketing company was hire to harass these get out to vote centers) was funded with campaign contibutions.

remember the good ole days of our youth......
phone rings...and person answers.

"Hello"
"hi, I was just wondering, is your refrigerator running?"
"Ummm...don't know." pauses for a few minutes while they run to the kitchen to check..."Ya seems to be running fine, why?
"Well....don't you think you should go chase it down?"

seems to me that the republican party might have way to much money given to them if they are hiring telemarketing firms to play such childish games!!!

glad none of my money was wasted on such things..

Originally posted by SkepticOverlord

Originally posted by grover
Ain't it amusing how threads like this one, which is about something far more important than many gets next to no responses, while others that are in the long run really trivial get hundreds of responses. Guess the Rupugnicans and wrong wingers don't want to draw attention to the depradations and criminal acts of their gods.

It seems like we're into a phase where real conspiracies such as this one and the AT&T/NSA domestic spying aren't important to ATS members for some odd reason. I suppose it may be more fun to wax poetic on wild speculative theories ... but when real conspiracy meat shows up, we're shying away.

Why is that?

Because it's old news. To imply that only the Republicans (Rupugnicans ??) do it is looking at the world with blinders on. For every instance of Republican wrongdoing I can supply an equal instance of a Democratic misdeed. After the initial outrage, the thread inevitably turns into just another spitting contest.

Or, maybe people don't want to respond since being told that Republicans will not "control" ATSNN any longer.

Originally posted by jsobecky

Because it's old news. To imply that only the Republicans (Rupugnicans ??) do it is looking at the world with blinders on. For every instance of Republican wrongdoing I can supply an equal instance of a Democratic misdeed. After the initial outrage, the thread inevitably turns into just another spitting contest.

Or, maybe people don't want to respond since being told that Republicans will not "control" ATSNN any longer.

Wow, an equal instance of phone jamming by the Dems. Please expose these crooks!