James Tobin, a Republican campaign worker who was convicted of jamming Democratic phone lines during the 2002 New Hampshire Senate election, was sentenced to 10 months in prison on Wednesday. In December, Tobin was found guilty of two counts of telephone harassment. Tobin was also given two years’ probation and ordered to pay a $10,000 fine. Tobin’s lawyers have asked for a new trial, according to the Associated Press.
According to reports, Tobin and New Hampshire GOP executive director Chuck McGee retained GOP Marketplace, a Republican consulting firm based in Virginia, and Mylo Enterprises, a telemarketing firm located in Pocatello, ID, to repeatedly call Democratic offices and a local union headquarters, both of which had set up phone rooms for get-out-the-vote efforts.
Both McGee and Alan Raymond, who ran GOP Marketplace, pled guilty to charges stemming from the phone jamming in 2004, and in 2005 received sentences of seven and five months, respectively. Shaun Hansen, who co-owned Mylo Enterprises before it closed in 2003, was indicted on two counts of conspiracy and telephone harassment in March. The case has not yet been resolved.
The Senate seat was ultimately by Republican John E. Sununu, the son of former New Hampshire governor and White House chief of staff John H. Sununu, in a 51-47 percent split.
