McGee admits to jamming phones (Former Republican official in New Hampshire)

Concord Monitor ^ | 29 July 2004 | Sarah C. Vos

[Vigilanteman]

McGee admits to jamming phones
He could face up to 5 years in prison

By SARAH C. VOS
Monitor staff

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July 29. 2004 8:11AM

C harles McGee, the former executive director of the New Hampshire

Republican State Committee, admitted yesterday to jamming Democratic

party phone lines on election day in November 2002.

McGee, 34, was the second person to plead guilty to a felony for the

more than 800 hang-up phone calls that an Idaho company made to five

state Democratic party offices and the Manchester Professional

Firefighters Association, a group that was offering rides to the polls.

The calls blocked phone lines for 85 minutes.

Earlier this month, Allen Raymond, who was president of the

Virginia-based GOP Marketplace, pleaded guilty to the same charge:

conspiring to make harassing telephone calls without identifying the

caller's identity. Raymond admitted to paying the Idaho firm $2,500 to

make the phone calls.

U.S. Trial Attorney Todd Hinnen said the investigation into the

phone-jamming was ongoing but declined to say whether anyone else would

be charged.

McGee's attorney, Patrick Donovan, said that McGee pleaded to the

charge because he wanted to take responsibility for what happened and

would cooperate with investigators.

"It was criminal and not Christian, and he's looking forward to putting

this to an end and moving on with his life,"Donovan said. McGee came up with the phone-jamming plan as a way to give Republicans

an edge over Democrats, using a lesson from his days in the military,

Hinnen told the U.S. District Court Judge Joseph DiClerico. "One of the

best ways to disrupt the enemy is to disrupt their ability to

communicate," Hinnen said.

McGee contacted several vendors that the state party had used before,

but the vendors were either unwilling or unable to make the repeated

hang-up calls that McGee wanted, Hinnen said. Then, a visiting official

from a national political organization suggested that McGee contact GOP

Marketplace. Hinnen did not name the official.

Hinnen told the judge that McGee discussed his plan with a high-ranking

state Republican Party official before sending a $15,600 check to GOP

Marketplace. He said the same official later called the plan off.

In a phone interview yesterday, John Dowd, the former chairman of the

New Hampshire Republican State Committee, said McGee told him of the

phone-jamming plan late in the afternoon of Nov. 4, the day before the

election.

Dowd said that he told McGee that the plan troubled him and he needed

to think about it. Dowd said yesterday that he had no idea that the

plan was illegal.

Dowd said that he discussed the plan with his wife and that they

consulted an attorney. Early on the morning of Nov. 5, Dowd heard back

from the attorney and decided to cancel the phone-jamming, he said. "I

told Chuck to stop it," he said.

According to Hinnen, the Idaho company made more than 800 calls before

the order to stop.

Dowd said that he did not sign the $15,600 check to GOP Marketplace.

McGee faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000

fine. He will be sentenced in October. The judge released him yesterday

on personal recognizance bail.

Outside the courthouse, a handful of protesters held signs that called

for the investigation into the phone-jamming to continue.

"The inquiry doesn't end here,"said Finis Williams, an attorney for the

state Democratic Party who attended the hearing. "We still want the

Republican State Committee to come forward and say who was behind it,

where the money came from, why it happened and that it will never

happen again."

(Sarah C. Vos can be reached at 224-5301, ext. 321, or by e-mail at

scvos@cmonitor.com.)

[Vigilanteman]

Meanwhile, roving busloads of multiple voters go unreported and unpunished because they benefit the other party. Let's say the phone line disruption cost them 85 votes (1 per minute) or a total of 85 votes. There are more than that many dead people voting in one Chicago Ward alone. No, two wrongs do not make a right. But one wrong shouldn't be punished to the full extent of the law while the other isn't even questioned.

[plain talk]

This is stupid. Five years for this? He should have pleaded innocent, never admitted anything and said he was dialing the dems because he was truly interested in their perspective and wanted to learn more about them, etc etc Another Republican wimp.

[steplock]

WHY is it considered illegal for a republican to do what the democrat extremists do all the time?

Did those involve actually do anything other than make telephone calls? Did they destroy? Did they physically hurt? What was the REAL crime?

Any time the leftist - socialist - communists say "please call", or "write for your free ...", etc, I pass this on to everyone I know so they can call, write, as REQUESTED by the leftists.

[OldFriend]

Want to know how many years Sandy Berger will spend behind bars.

[Political Junkie Too]

Want to know how many years Sandy Berger will spend behind bars.

I believe Berger refers to them as "taverns."

-PJ

[OldFriend]

Touche........or is it tushie!

[dennisw]

Want to know how many years Sandy Berger Bill Clinton will spend behind bars for treasonously helping China to our military technology including secure satphone communications and MIRV missile technology.

[weegee]

What exactly was the charge here? I am at a loss to understand.

There was a concerted effort by Democrats last year (or maybe 2002) to jam the phones, faxes, and email of several Republican congressmen.

The only thing I ever heard to come out of that was several Rats were fired by their bosses when someone pointed out that they were bragging about wasting several hours of company time/resources to engage in this practice.

[ladyinred]

Incredible! Only in this country could a republican get time for this while democrats can break election law right and left (no pun intended) and be praised for it in the media!