Group files FOIA for Justice Dept. findings on White House involvement in 'phone-jamming scandal'

RAW STORY
Published: Tuesday April 18, 2006

A Democratic group has filed a Freedom of Information Act request to obtain all findings by the Department of Justice in the probe of White House involvement in New Hampshire's "phone jamming scandal," RAW STORY has found.

"Nearly four years after high-level Republican officials broke the law to prevent people from voting, we still don't know the answer to the question: how high does this go?," Senate Majority Project Executive Director Mike Gehrke said in a press release. "One thing is for certain, the Department of Justice does not investigate the White House after 'normal Election Day activity.'".

Last Tuesday, Robert Kelner, the Washington lawyer representing the Republican National Committee, told New Hampshire TV station WMUR-TV that "[i]n regards to the White House calls, the Department of Justice had known about them for a long time, investigated those calls, and did not bring any charges."

"[Phone] records show that Bush 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 phone jamming operation was finalized, carried out and then abruptly shut down," The Associated Press reported last week.

"There was enough evidence that the Justice Department saw fit to investigate the White House," SMP's Gehrke said in the press release. "If the investigation clears them, why not just release the findings? Why is it so hard to people tell the truth?"

The Senate Majority Project (www.senatemajority.com) was launched in March with support from former Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle as "the first concerted attempt by Democrats to create a permanent opposition-research arm focusing on all Republicans," as reported in The Boston Globe.

Senate Majority Project press release follows.

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The Senate Majority Project announced today that it would file a Freedom of Information Act request for any findings from the Department of Justice's investigation of White House involvement in the 2002 New Hampshire phone-jamming scandal.

Senate Majority Project Executive Director Mike Gehrke said, "Nearly four years after high-level Republican officials broke the law to prevent people from voting, we still don't know the answer to the question: how high does this go? One thing is for certain, the Department of Justice does not investigate the White House after 'normal Election Day activity.'"

Senate Majority Project learned of the investigation when Robert Kelner, a Washington attorney representing the Republican National Committee in the New Hampshire Democrats' civil trial on phone-jamming, told WMUR-TV in Manchester:

"In regards to the White House calls, the Department of Justice had known about them for a long time, investigated those calls, and did not bring any charges."

Convicted felon James Tobin, in 2002 a regional director at the RNC and the National Republican Senatorial Committee, traded over 100 calls with Alicia Davis, then the White House Associate Director of Political Affairs under Ken Mehlman, in the month prior to Election Day. Mehlman has argued that the calls were part of normal Election activity and not about phone-jamming.

"A $3 million-dollar army of Republican-financed lawyers has tried to block the truth at every turn. Now we know beyond a reasonable doubt that a national operative, working under the direction of White House and national party officials, committed a felony aimed at ensuring the election of John Sununu. There was enough evidence that the Justice Department saw fit to investigate the White House. If the investigation clears them, why not just release the findings? Why is it so hard to people tell the truth?" continued Gehrke.

The FOIA request specifically called for access to any correspondence with the Executive Office of the President regarding the investigation, interviews with White House, RNC/NRSC, and New Hampshire Republican State Committee personnel on the matter, and any written memos or findings from the investigation.

The FOIA was sent to Thomas McIntyre, the head of the FOIA unit of the Justice Department's Criminal Division.

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