Phone Jammer Blames Self And GOP “win at all cost” Tactics

[kpete]

Fallen star blames self, GOP tactics
Jail term served in N.H. phone plot
By Michael Kranish, Globe Staff | June 10, 2006

WASHINGTON -- For nearly a decade, Allen Raymond stood at the top ranks of Republican Party power.
He served as chief of staff to a cochairman of the Republican National Committee, supervised Republican contests in mid-Atlantic states for the RNC, and was a top official in publisher Steve Forbes's presidential campaign. He went on to earn $350,000 a year running a Republican policy group as well as a GOP phone-bank business.

But most recently, Raymond has been in prison. And for that, he blames himself, but also says he was part of a Republican political culture that emphasizes hardball tactics and polarizing voters.

Raymond, 39, has just finished serving a three-month sentence for jamming Democratic phone lines in New Hampshire during the 2002 US Senate race. The incident led to one of the biggest political scandals in the state's history, the convictions of Raymond and two top Republican officials, and a Democratic lawsuit that seeks to determine whether the White House played any role. The race was won by Senator John E. Sununu , the Republican.

In his first interview about the case, Raymond said he doesn't know anything that would suggest the White House was involved in the plan to tie up Democrats' phone lines and thereby block their get-out-the-vote effort. But he said the scheme reflects a broader culture in the Republican Party that is focused on dividing voters to win primaries and general elections. He said examples range from some recent efforts to use border-security concerns to foster anger toward immigrants to his own role arranging phone calls designed to polarize primary voters over abortion in a 2002 New Jersey Senate race.

more at:
http://www.rawstory.com/showarticle.php?src=http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/06/10/fallen_star_blames_self_gop_tactics?mode=PF

[BlooInBloo]

1. It would be so awesome if DUers believed such tactics were wrong...

... and refused to condone their use - even by their own side...

[Hoping4Change]

3. Please cite an instance of Democratics doing this.

[BlooInBloo]

4. Is that against the rules? You can search for threads with me in em...

... over the last week... Not the fat threads tho...

[Hoping4Change]

6. Why should I search? You are making the claim, you should back it up.

[sandnsea]

7. What would we search for??

I'm curious to know what you're talking about too. How would I know when I'd found what I'm looking for if I don't have an inkling what I'm looking for.

[Moochy]

5. What's with the broad brush

Is it Free Broad Brush Saturday here at DU?

I better think of an pet issue that DU is all wrong about soon, so I can paint all of DU posters with my big brush:

[Orsino]

2. Loyal to the end.

Not gonna give up his handlers. Republican omerta.