Phone-Jamming Scheme Designed To Disenfranchise N.H. Democrats Tied To White House...

James Tobin leaves U.S. District Court in Concord, N.H. with his wife Ellen Thursday, Dec. 15, 2005 after a jury acquitted him of violating voters rights during an election day phone-jamming plot against New Hampshire Democrats in 2002. The jury convicted him on two counts of telephone harassment. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)

Associated Press Larry Margasak April 10, 2006 at 10:47 PM
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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.

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