Posted on 01/23/2003 2:49:24 PM PST by Willie Green
For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The former executive director of Virginia's Republican Party was indicted Thursday on federal charges he eavesdropped on conference calls among Democratic legislators last year.
Edmund A. Matricardi III, 34, was accused of using a telephone number and access codes to listen in on the teleconferences.
He was charged with five counts involving the interception of electronic communications. Each count carries up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Matricardi resigned over the scandal but was later hired as operations director of the South Carolina Republican Party. On Thursday, after he was indicted, he resigned that post, too.
His attorney, Steven Benjamin, criticized the timing of the indictment. He said he had asked prosecutors to hold off on any charges until after the Virginia General Assembly had adjourned Feb. 22. He said any legal proceedings would probably require legislators to testify.
Matricardi was indicted in April on state charges, but the charges were dropped when state and local authorities asked federal investigators to take over the case.
Claudia Tucker, a former aide to the state House speaker, pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to a misdemeanor charge in the case and was sentenced to a year of probation and fined $1,000. She was accused of secretly listening to 22 minutes of a Democratic conference call over legislative redistricting.
Prosecutors said Matricardi used his telephone at state GOP headquarters and a telephone number and access code he had been given by a former Democratic Party staffer to call into an interstate conference call of the Joint Democratic Caucus last March.
``Without disclosing he was on the line, he secretly listened for approximately 2 1/2 hours and recorded the call on a tape recorder,'' U.S. Attorney Paul McNulty said.
The indictment said Matricardi disclosed the contents of the call the next day to an official in the office of Republican Attorney General Jerry Kilgore, who alerted the Virginia State Police.
Two days later, Matricardi allegedly eavesdropped on an interstate conference call of state Democrats for about two hours.
Former Democratic Party field director Jacquelyn Daniel has told reporters that she gave Matricardi the phone number and access codes after losing her party job during a reorganization.
Just out of curiousity, why is this considered illegal? It's hardly a wiretap, or a bug placed in someone's office.
From what I remembered, he blamed an aide, fired his campaign manager, gave the Wellstone Memorial Eulogy to rehabilitate his image, then won back his Senate seat.
Were charges ever filed?
-PJ
Back in the cobwebs of my FReeper memory, I can vaguely recall a thread where several people had gained access to some kind of 'Rat conference call. The thread was chock-full of adolescent suggestions to make belching noises and other organic sounds, etc. (you can imagine). Anyway, I don't think it was the situtation mentioned in this article since my fuzzy recollection places it a least a couple years prior to this. I could be wrong, but perhaps another "old-timer" can help us out.
I don't for one minute believe that this couple had anything to do with the taping of Gingrich. I do believe, however, that government resources were used to make these recordings, which would fit in perfectly with the Clintonian abuses of power that took place during the 90's. It was just another method used to intimidate the Republicans, like the FBI files that were acquired by "accident".
This statement makes it sound like Kilgore shouldn't have turned in someone accused of suspicious activity. Kilgore, as Attorney General, had no choice but to do what he did. If Matricardi is innocent, then he would have been exonerated. Otherwise, Kilgore would be accused of a cover-up. Kilgore is the most conservative statewide elected official we've had in Virginia in recent memory in addition to being a straight arrow. That's a winning combinatin in my book.
Amen to that! Jerry Kilgore will be the next great governor of Virginia!
When this happened last year, I'm pretty sure it was in the news within hours and Matricardi was out at the RPV in less than a week.
IIRC, the state charges were dismissed. These are the federal charges that apparently have just been filed.
Kilgore didn't sit on anything.
My memory is fuzzy, but I think that's why the state charges were dismissed. What Matricardi did was unethical and stupid, but I don't know if they can make these charges stick.
It wasn't a wiretap. He was listening in on a call to which he had been given access.
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