James Tobin
James Tobin was the former New England Regional Political Director for the Republican National Committee. He served simultaneously as the Northeast political director for the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC).
On December 15, 2005 Tobin was convicted of two counts: Conspiracy to commit the commission of interstate telephone harassment, and Aiding and abetting the commission of interstate telephone harassment. He was acquitted of a third count: Conspiracy against voters' rights. Tobin appealed the verdict on December 21, 2005. On May 17th, that appeal was denied, and he was sentenced to 10 months in prison, 2 years probation, and a $10,000 fine.
Tobin was due to enter prison on June 23, 2006. However, shortly before he reported to prison a federal appeals court overturned the district court decision and granted Tobin's request for release pending appeal. On March 30, 2007 a US Court of Appeals reversed the judgment of conviction and sentence and remanded the case to the district court. Tobin is scheduled for trial on December 4, 2007.Tobin was the ranking Republican official involved in the New Hampshire phone-jamming operation. He reported to Chris LaCivita, the NRSC's National Political Director, and to Sen. Bill Frist (R-TN), the Senate Majority Leader.
Tobin also served as the Bush-Cheney New England campaign chairman, from which he resigned on October 15, 2004.
See Tobin's Grand Ole Docket entry for ongoing court dates.
Key Points:
Tobin played an instrumental role in arranging the phone-jamming operation in New Hampshire on Election Day 2002.
In October of 2002, Charles McGee came to Tobin with a plan to jam the phone lines of New Hampshire Democratic get-out-the-vote efforts on Election Day 2002. Tobin directed McGee to Allen Raymond of GOP Marketplace, who was a former colleague of Tobin's. GOP Marketplace then hired Shaun Hansen's Mylo Enterprise to place the actual hang-up calls on Election Day morning.
Tobin placed several calls to the White House in the days leading up to, on the day of, and in the days following Election Day, November 5, 2002.
Tobin called the White House Office of Political Affairs, which was run by now-RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman, more than 75 times from September 30 to November 22, 2002.
On Election Day Tobin placed 12 calls to the White House between 11:20 a.m. and 11:42 p.m. EST. Mehlman has denied that any of the conversations that took place between the White House and New Hampshire officials on Election Day 2002 had anything to do with the phone-jamming scheme.
The Republican National Committee has paid all of Tobin's legal fees.
The RNC has paid Tobin's legal bills relating to the phone-jamming case for going on three years - at least $2.8 million to date.
Research by Ben Craw and Amram Migdal
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