Senate Vote Inquiry Widens as Democrats Probe White House Link

By Heidi Przybyla

April 24 (Bloomberg) -- To Republicans, the New Hampshire phone-jamming incident is an isolated case of political dirty tricks that took place more than three years ago.

To Democrats, it's a scandal with echoes of Watergate that may reach all the way to the White House.

Republican leaders are facing questions stemming from a criminal case involving efforts to suppress voter turnout in a U.S. Senate election in the state in 2002. Republican John Sununu won that race over Democrat Jeanne Shaheen, helping Republicans retake control of the Senate.

The facts, on the surface at least, are suspicious: dozens of phone calls to the White House by a man later convicted in the case; the national Republican Party agreeing to pay more than $2.5 million in legal bills; phones jammed on Election Day, not only of Democrats but of a firefighters' group, in the first U.S. congressional elections since the Sept. 11 attacks. Democrats say that disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff may even be involved.

``The calls to the White House and the relationship with White House staff are a real eye-opener and should be a cause for concern on all fronts,'' said Sheila Krumholz, acting executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington- based research group. ``It calls into question who the person was on the end of that telephone line.''

Democratic Senators Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts wrote U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on April 20 seeking information on any links Abramoff or the White House may have had to the phone-jamming scheme.

Seeking Answers

Republicans said the calls to the White House didn't involve discussion of phone-jamming. And they said they only paid the legal bills of James Tobin, 45, who was convicted in December of conspiracy to commit telephone harassment because the Republican National Committee's previous leadership had agreed to do that.

``Democrats are trying to stir up crap,'' said Joe Gaylord, a Republican consultant.

New Hampshire Democrats have filed a civil lawsuit against the Republican state committee, the Republican National Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee. They're seeking to find out from officials such as RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman who else might have been linked to the incident.

Firefighters Targeted

Two New Hampshire Republicans who were involved pleaded guilty in 2004. Tobin -- who led the Republican National Committee's New England effort in 2002 and later became the region's director for President George W. Bush's re-election campaign of 2004 -- was convicted in connection with the plot to jam the lines on Election Day at five Democratic get-out-the-vote banks. Also obstructed were the phones of the firefighters' group, which was offering voters rides to the polls.

Tobin placed numerous phone calls to the White House -- including about two-dozen from the day before the Nov. 5 election to the day after. That's according to phone logs Democrats recently uncovered in court records posted on the Web site of the Senate Majority Project, a Washington-based Democratic group.

New Hampshire Republicans paid $15,600 to a consulting company to obstruct the phone lines, prosecutors said. The lines were cleared after about 90 minutes of repeated hang-up calls.

The incident took place during what both parties had expected to be one of the closest Senate races. Sununu, 41, beat Shaheen, 59, winning 51 percent of the vote to her 46 percent.

No Normal Activity

``The issue is that the White House was so closely involved in a race where the top Republicans broke the law to prevent people from voting,'' said Christy Setzer, communications director for the Senate Majority Project. ``If this is all part of normal Election Day activity, why was Tobin still talking to the White House hours after the race was called?''

White House spokesman Ken Lisaius said the administration doesn't comment on ongoing investigations.

The Democrats have asked Judge Philip Mangones in New Hampshire Superior Court to allow them to widen their inquiry so they can question Mehlman, 39, who was White House political director in 2002.

In an April 11 statement to the media, Mehlman said Tobin's calls to an aide in his office were routine correspondence regarding a close election. He said his deputy responsible for the Northeast at the time, Alicia Davis, frequently communicated with the New Hampshire Party and Republican National Committee.

Mehlman has also said the RNC paid the legal bills for Tobin because he had assured the committee's previous leadership that he was innocent.

The RNC's previous chairman, Ed Gillespie, didn't return phone calls seeking comment.

Tobin Appeals

Tobin, who is awaiting sentencing, is appealing the conviction. Robert Kelner, outside counsel to the Republican National Committee, said he's unsure if the committee will continue to foot Tobin's legal bills.

``We take very seriously the jury's determination that he committed these crimes,'' Kelner said. ``At the same time, we understand and will not interfere with his right to appeal the case to a higher court.''

Tobin's lead attorney, Dane Butswinkas of the law firm of Williams & Connolly LLP in Washington, didn't return phone calls seeking comment.

Kelner called the Democrats' plans to request testimony from Mehlman ``baseless.'' ``This is just a classic example of people looking to find conspiracies in mundane facts,'' he said.

The Republican National Committee's decision to pay Tobin's legal fees ``raises a red flag,'' said Finis Williams, a lawyer for the Democrats. ``It's comparable to Watergate, when the burglars showed up and there was a lawyer in a nice pressed suit defending them.''

Corruption Charges

Republicans have been trying to fend off Democratic criticism over corruption charges for months. Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, under indictment in Texas on charges of money laundering, is resigning his Texas seat rather than risk losing it; Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is facing an insider-trading investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission; and former Representative Randy Cunningham of California is in prison for bribery.

Even if the investigation goes nowhere, it may create problems for Republicans facing tight election battles, particularly in the Northeast, said Gaylord, the Republican consultant. ``It's not pretty out there, and this doesn't add to the beauty of the landscape,'' he said.

Abramoff

Fueling the controversy is evidence that New Hampshire Democrats uncovered showing that two of lobbyist Abramoff's Indian-tribe clients cut checks to the New Hampshire Republican Party roughly equal to the costs of the phone jamming.

``The fact that there were Indian-tribe contributions tells us nothing about a phone-jamming scheme in New Hampshire,'' said Kelner, the Republican lawyer. New Hampshire doesn't have federally recognized Indian tribes or gambling.

In January, Abramoff pleaded guilty to fraud and conspiring to corrupt public officials.

Kathy Sullivan, New Hampshire's Democratic chairwoman, said the party searched the records and found that the only cases where the tribes gave donations to state parties instead of individual candidates ``were when the states actually had Indian gaming, except for New Hampshire and one other state'' with a close election.

``It was highly unusual,'' she said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Heidi Przybyla in Boston at hprzybyla@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: April 24, 2006 00:17 EDT

		Email this article Printer friendly format