Phone-Jamming Scandal Reaches White House

The Republicans are accused of jamming phones in New Hampshire to keep Democrats from being encouraged to vote in 2002.

And now the accusations have gone all the way up to the White House.

The phone-jamming operation has led to three federal convictions and a pending indictment. Prosecutors have not raised questions in court about the White House conversations - but records of the calls were available to them as criminal court exhibits.

The records show that Republican campaign operative James Tobin, who recently was convicted in the case, made two dozen calls to the White House within a three-day period around Election Day 2002 - as the jamming operation was finalized, carried out and then abruptly shut down.

I've said it before, but I still think that it is true - many Republicans will put their party above everything. Everything including the laws of the land and the good of the country.  They will do anything to advance their party, even if it breaks the law (see Jack Abramoff).

It's not known who the contact in the White House was.

Virtually all the calls to the White House went to the same number, which currently rings inside the political affairs office. In 2002, White House political affairs was led by now-RNC chairman Ken Mehlman. The White House declined to say which staffer was assigned that phone number in 2002.
[...]
Whatever the reason for not using the White House records, prosecutors "tried a very narrow case," said Paul Twomey, who represented the Democratic Party in the criminal and civil cases. The Justice Department did not say why the White House records were not used.

While the White House records were not needed to convict Tobin, it still would be nice to know who the 'inside man' was in this phone-jamming operation.  It would be nice to know just how high up this went.  Was this a Rovian scheme, or was it one of Rove's underlings that OKed and planned the deal?  I don't think that Bush or Cheney had anything to do with this - I'm sure that they weren't sitting at that phone on election night.

But the Democrats are right to want to know who the White Houser was on the other end of that phone with Tobin.  They have asked for this in their civil case.