Blogged by Brad Friedman on 12/15/2005 8:10PM  
Another GOP Operative Facing Up to 7 Years Prison Time, $500,000 Fine
ALSO: Voter Registration Groups Cleared of Wrong Doing as Accused by Phony GOP 'Voting Rights' Group...

From AP...

A federal jury this afternoon returned a mixed verdict against a former national Republican Party official accused of orchestrating an election day phone-jamming plot against New Hampshire Democrats.

The jury acquitted James Tobin of the most important of three charges --- violating voters' rights --- and convicted him on two counts of telephone harassment.

Tobin, 45, of Bangor, Maine, was President Bush's New England campaign chairman last year.

Tobin faces a maximum seven-year prison term and $500,000 in fines when he is sentenced in March.

Please note that Tobin's crime occured in the 2002 election. He was known to be under investigation for the crime thereafter, but was hired anyway by Bush/Cheney '04 to run their NE campaign until he was indicted and the "honesty and integrity" campaign decided they better get rid of him. People might talk. More background on that particular GOP scandal here. And another update here, including info on the $722,000 that the RNC paid to defend their man, Tobin!

This is all counter, of course, to the horseshit put forth by the GOP front group calling themselves the "non-partisan" American Center for Voting Rights (ACVR). As you'll recall, they and their other Rightwing operative cronies had released reports, propaganda and all sorts of unsubstantiated claims about Democrats and various non-partisan Voter Registration groups such as ACORN having committed all forms of Voter Registration Fraud (which they tried to suggest was "Voter Fraud" --- which is something quite different).

You'll be surprised to learn, no doubt, that ACVR and friend were full of shit. It turns out that one year later, the organizations they scurrilously attacked --- in a transparent attempt to smokescreen the real Election Fraud that they were neck deep in perpetrating --- have been vindicated of the various bogus charges, as virtually all of the frivolous lawsuits and investigations the GOP liars made so much noise about have simply collapsed. See this for more [PDF].

Sorry for both the vulgarities and the terse report on both of these items. Too much to cover for the huge BRAD BLOG "Staff" (that would be me and an occasional helping hand from one or two similarly overworked and patriotic helpers!) that isn't adequately being covered by the "real" media. And that means I'm both way too busy, and way too cranky and just a little too foul-mouthed this evening. Don't fucking like it? Go read the fucking NY Times instead. By next week, they oughta have a great story on Wally O'Dell resigning from Diebold! :-) (There, now I feel better).

For more information on the "non-partisan" tax-exempt ACVR scam and the snake-oil salesmen who invented it, Bush/Cheney '04 National General Counsel Mark F. "Thor" Hearne and RNC Communications Director Jim Dyke, please see BRAD BLOG's full Special Coverage of the "American Center for Voting Rights" at http://www.BradBlog.com/ACVR.
Buzz this story! C2NN: Submit it!


READER COMMENTS ON
"Bush/Cheney New England Chair Found Guilty of Election Day 'Phone Jamming' Charges"
(18 Responses so far...)

COMMENT #1 [Permalink]
... merifour said on 12/15/2005 @ 8:40 pm PT...


Brad.....it's a full moon...don't cha know! Everyone I know gets a little cranky when the moon is full..me included! Wish I was more computer friendly so I could help, I can only imagine your days and nites and helplessness you must feel at times. Okay by me that you rant, perfectly normal to me. M4


COMMENT #2 [Permalink]
... martha said on 12/15/2005 @ 9:09 pm PT...


Potty mouth or not, you are number 1. Everybody gets discouraged sometimes...you've been neck deep for a long time. I f we have a history after the Bush's, you should be in the books. You've always seen that if we didn't have fair elections we didn't have democracy. Wish I could help you.


COMMENT #3 [Permalink]
... hearya said on 12/15/2005 @ 9:40 pm PT...


Sometimes an emoticon just doesn't cut it.

Brad, you keep on it. We need someone who hasn't drunk the koolaid. Your reporting is a lifeline to our drowning democracy.

Fuck these arrogant creeps who think they can get away with treason and torture and every other goulish act they take a fancy to. America is waking up to smell the rancid coffee. I rant about this to everyone I meet, all day long.


COMMENT #4 [Permalink]
... Doug Eldritch said on 12/15/2005 @ 10:10 pm PT...


Seriously, I'm amazed at the amount of hypocrisy of these guys.

So is this the "moral family values" we've all heard about for so long?!???

I think I get the gist of what that means now, especially after seeing Michael "Conservative" Scanlon convicted and sentenced for prison!!

Now now, there must be ALOT of Voter Fraud somewhere....Just let Jeb Bush or some other mafia GOP hack find the charges, they'll come.

Or how about someone get out the "RICO" act for this dispute....the entire RNC has turned into a criminal enterprise on elections, and the DLC has become its co-conspirators.

Convict them all....And oh yeah, then there's that little Diebold court battle going on in the background....6 or 7 of us ought to check in on that and watch as Wally O' Dell and his friends fly the coop.....

Doug E.


COMMENT #5 [Permalink]
... Floridiot said on 12/15/2005 @ 10:20 pm PT...


Brad,
"Don't fucking like it",

I fucking love it

When is ACVR going to start spinning the Hack story I wonder?


COMMENT #6 [Permalink]
... Doug Eldritch said on 12/15/2005 @ 10:48 pm PT...


PS:

Here's another great history refresher and documents about how these voting companies got started to begin with.

The Government GAO concluded that the "evolution" of characters in these vote companies, CEOs, owners, and maintence workers is the worst security risk anyone has ever seen. The way their report said it made it clear this could be treason if this gets all the way untangled, each voting company is tied right at the top to these guys.

Doug E.


COMMENT #7 [Permalink]
... czaragorn said on 12/16/2005 @ 3:33 am PT...


Give 'em hell, Brad! You the man! And there isn't any combination of words you could come up with that would come close to matching the utter obscenity of every act by the democracy plunderers. So vent away! Wish I could lend a hand somehow...


COMMENT #8 [Permalink]
... A Concerned Citizen said on 12/16/2005 @ 4:00 am PT...


Hey Brad. I think I share your frustration (on a much smaller scale) as to the cover-ups. Seems their blunders in covering up are done to cover the actual crimes. Everyone knows this, but they keep getting away with it. They offer up a sacrificial lamb every now and then, but just continue down their paths of corruption.

My New Year's resolution this year is to quit saying the "F" word, so until then I'm with Floridiot - I fucking love it! You certainly deserve to vent.

Hearya summed it up with the fantastic comment, "Your reporting is a lifeline to our drowning democracy." It really is. Thank you!


COMMENT #9 [Permalink]
... Dredd said on 12/16/2005 @ 6:16 am PT...


Perhaps they are going for a record number of indictments in history for a party controlling the congress and the white house?

There is so much domestic spying I can't keep track of it anymore (link here).

There is so much corruption Fitzgerald had to pull off the Plame/Wilson case to go to Chicago to indict a neoCon who once owned a chunk of the MSM and "managed" a lot of presstitutes (link here).

Some in congress are fighting back (link here).


COMMENT #10 [Permalink]
... Dredd said on 12/16/2005 @ 6:50 am PT...


Perhaps a bit OT ...

I am tired of the apologists for the MSM and the party in congress that controls and rubber stamps what the corrupt admin wants.

I have a beef with Chris Matthews of Hardball on MSNBC. Even tho he has been, of late, doing some good hardball on the madness of the philosophy of the neoCons, he seems to continually blame the democratic party for not doing something about the tragedy that is this administration.

But have we completely forgotten the rules of accountability? The "buck stops here" should not only be on the president's desk, but on the desk of each congressman and congresswoman of the controlling party!

Those who have the power also have the responsibility when they use their power. That would be the Republican party at the current time. Not the democrats and independents.

Chris Matthews, get off it. You too Pat Buchanan. The controlling party and therefore the party responsible for becoming a rubber stamp to a decidedly fascist regime is the Republican party. It is not the democratic party.

In saying this I do not mean to take attention off the democrats who have failed to protest the sinking of the ship of state of the US by the current neoCon admin and neoCon led congress.


COMMENT #11 [Permalink]
... Judge of Judges said on 12/16/2005 @ 8:00 am PT...


Remember: HOWARD STERN

Today Free Radio Died.


COMMENT #12 [Permalink]
... m3 said on 12/16/2005 @ 8:55 am PT...


The use of vulgarities or calling this rampant GOP vote-related fraud 'shit'.. is pretty damn accurate.

And no doubt, the media will drag their heels when it comes to reporting the truth about what went on. - or even do anything to redress the balance for the damage they caused by reporting the GOPs out-and-out lies in the first place.

When will the MSM learn to report on what the GOP does... rather than what the GOP says!!?? As the old saying goes... actions speak louder than words.


COMMENT #13 [Permalink]
... Robert Lockwood Mills said on 12/16/2005 @ 9:15 am PT...


Profanity diminishes us all. We shouldn't use it, because God weeps when he hears it and wants us to stop. Besides, it lowers us to the level of a troll...
and every other fucking asshole who defends this administration.


COMMENT #14 [Permalink]
... Dredd said on 12/16/2005 @ 9:41 am PT...


YES!!!

The neoConvicts are having a positive effect!!!

The Senate just voted (I watched and listened to each vote) to deny cloture on the "Patriot" Act.

That means there were not 60 votes to send it on. And it means that moderate Republicans are rejecting the neoConvicts.

Good! And the democrats held firm! Good!


COMMENT #15 [Permalink]
... big dan said on 12/16/2005 @ 11:36 am PT...


Curse away, Brad, if you feel like it.


COMMENT #16 [Permalink]
... Grizzly Bear Dancer said on 12/16/2005 @ 5:47 pm PT...


Brad you rock!!! It's a little sad to see these fckers get low end sentences for their Bushit crimes. Today the bastards in Congress tried to add digging in the Arctic Oil refuge to a defense spending bill for the Iraq war which was previously defeated. Call your Senators and Representatives to express your feeling on this Bushit outrage which must be fillabustered. These Muther fckers do not represent the US people. They represent the elite oil companies in control of this country. Instead of getting our military out of a war the lying murderer Bush and co. got us into, they have done a Bushit trickery move characteristic of these Neocon loser scumbags. Justice in this country will finally ring out when Bush and Cheney go to court and then jail for their actions. Maybe you are one of the only people to report the truth in this country but you hold a flashlight on the real political stories that matter. THANK YOU.


COMMENT #17 [Permalink]
... Mugzi said on 12/17/2005 @ 3:59 am PT...


Brad, you do so much good, it can't be put into words - so alittle cussing works!! You get to so many people - including the trolls - and converts. I love it when the trolls respond! They read some truth, get angry cause it strikes a nerve, and write some really silly shit, which is so laughable - I only thought they were stupid, then when they write, they prove it! Sometimes victories come in small packages, but they are victories none the less!


COMMENT #18 [Permalink]
... Brad Turner said on 12/17/2005 @ 3:30 pm PT...


Go get 'em Brad! You are one of the most tenacious pitbulls I have ever seen. The work you're doing might just be the edge to tilt the scales back to normal. You have the support of this Brad, my hat is off to you.


-=- Comments on this item are now closed. -=-


BRAD BLOG'S 2008 ELECTION INTEGRITY FUND DRIVE!
SUPPORT DEMOCRACY!
GET COOL STUFF!

Click here for details!
Only you keep us going!
COLLECTORS EDITION PREMIUMS for just $5!

BRAD BLOG Featured Stories

Brad to Guest Host 'Randi Rhodes Show' Monday, Details Soon...

Pima County (Tucson)'s John Brakey gets "frog marched" from counting room after noting ballot bags missing security seals. Incident latest in growing list of arrested and/or barred citizen advocates, and the latest in a string of disgraces for Pima's Brad "Election Director Gone Wild" Nelson...


Brad's Upcoming Appearances
(All times listed as PACIFIC TIME)
Media Appearance Archives...
VotersUnite.org's Daily Voting News 'Daily Voting News' For September 07, 2008
by John Gideon

Today’s featured article is, again, from Palm Beach Co Florida. The quotes in this article make it clear that failing elections supervisors are going to blame the transition from DRE voting systems to optical-scan voting systems for any failures they encounter this election season.

“It was extremely challenging to make the transition" from touch screens to optical scanning of paper ballots in just three months, Elections Supervisor Arthur Anderson said”. Yes, I’m sure it was a challenge. Just as much a challenge as the successful move from DRE to Optical-Scan accomplished by the state of New Mexico a couple years ago or the same change made by Cuyahoga Co. Ohio prior to this year’s presidential primary. New Mexico and Cuyahoga Co didn’t seem to have anywhere near the problems that Palm Beach Co had.

“[County Judge Barry] Cohen said there were no numbers on the documents he signed to certify the judicial race on Tuesday. County Commissioner Addie Greene said she didn't notice whether vote totals were listed.” This judge has now admitted to signing legal documents without having all of the numbers filled-in. Now, I’m not an attorney but this seems to me to be an admission of misfeasance on the part of a county election official and probably the whole canvassing board on which Mr. Cohen serves.

And then there is this gem; "I decided whatever system (Palm Beach County) buys next time, I'm not buying it," joked Kay Clem, elections supervisor for Indian River County, the only other county in the state with Sequoia equipment. "I feel bad for them, it's tough. I can't imagine dealing with all those paper ballots. It must be a nightmare." This quote from an elections supervisor who allowed an experiment to be done with real votes in a real election and that resulted in over 10,000 votes being mis-reported....

Click for links to all of today's notable voting news headlines...

BRAD BLOG'S 2008 ELECTION INTEGRITY FUND DRIVE!
SUPPORT DEMOCRACY!
GET COOL STUFF!

Click here for details!
Only you keep us going!
COLLECTORS EDITION PREMIUMS for just $5!
Support The BRAD BLOG
Please visit our advertisers




Spend your advertising dollars wisely! And support the good guys at the same time! or Advertise with the good guys! We're it!













OTHER SITES
Groomsmen Gifts - Pub signs can be personalized for a unique gift for your wedding party.

Support The BRAD BLOG
Please visit our advertisers
Brad Friedman's
The BRAD BLOG



Go to front page...

Recent Entries

Archives
Important Docs
Categories