REPUBLICAN EFFORTS TO STEAL A SENATE SEAT FOR JOHN SUNUNU IN NEW HAMPSHIRE WERE ORCHESTRATED BY KEN MEHLMAN AND THE WHITE HOUSE

Can someone who lives and breathes a lie every single day of his life-- gay Republican closet queen/Party Chief Ken Mehlman-- even know when he's telling the truth or making up stories? Although Mehlman swore to the press that the GOP has a "zero-tolerance policy" for any Republican official caught trying to block legitimate voters, the case of voter fraud showed clearly that Mehlman is as likely to lie to the public about electoral matters as he is to lie to the GOP homophobic "Christian conservative" base about his sexual orientation. "The position of the Republican National Committee is simple: We will not tolerate fraud; we will not tolerate intimidation; we will not tolerate suppression. No employee, associate or any person representing the Republican Party who engages in these kinds of acts will remain in that position." It was all a big lie. In fact, they have paid millions of dollars in hush money (in the form of legal bills-- exactly what Mehlman suggested the RNC would not do) to keep the New England Republican campaign staffers from linking electoral shenanigans directly to the Bush White House. Their efforts failed.

The Republican Party policy of subverting democracy by tampering with the electoral process has lead to several convictions of GOP honchos in New Hampshire. Yesterday the mainstream media reported (at once wide but shallow) how successful Republican efforts-- led by former BushCheney New England campaign chairman/convicted felon James Tobin-- to steal a senate seat in New Hampshire for right-wing rubber-stamper John Sununu in 2002 were coordinated from the White House-- by Mehlman himself, then a White House political operative.

This morning Howard Dean-- as chairman of the DNC, Mehlman's counterpart-- sent Mehlam a letter, asking "No Tolerance" Ken for some explanations about his and the Republican Party's conduct in this matter.

Dear Ken,
Yesterday, the AP ran a story entitled "Phone Jamming Records Point to White House." This story provides new details about the role of the New Hampshire Republican Party in the phone-jamming scandal and raises serious questions as to whether the RNC and the White House were actively involved.
As you know, on Election Day, a telemarketer hired by the New Hampshire GOP jammed telephone lines at five state Democratic and one firefighters union get-out-the-vote phone banks. The AP noted yesterday that the "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 AP story also stated that virtually all the calls to the White House went to the same number (202-456-6173) which currently rings inside the political affairs office. Although the White House declined today to say which staffer was assigned that phone number in 2002, you may be able to shed some light on the subject, as you were the White House Political Director during that time.
You have often spoken of the importance of making sure that every vote counts. In that spirit, we hope that you will take the necessary steps to clear up the lingering confusion surrounding the RNC and the White House's role in this scandal by answering these questions:
* James Tobin called the White House two dozen times in three days. Whom was he calling? With whom did he speak? Whom did he work with in the office of political affairs?
* Tobin worked directly with Terry Nelson, who was then political director at the RNC. When will Mr. Nelson answer questions about his role in the scandal? Whom else at the RNC did Tobin work with?
* Did the White House authorize this phone jamming scheme and, if so, who specifically did so? Or was the phone jamming authorized by the RNC?
* Was anyone on the White House staff or at the RNC involved in concocting, authorizing, implementing or concealing this scheme?
The overt effort by the New Hampshire Republican Party to suppress the vote on Election Day in 2002 is unconscionable. The people of New Hampshire deserve an apology. And America deserves to know exactly how deeply the White House and the RNC were involved in the planning and execution of this scheme. We hope you will provide the answers we need so we can move forward together.

Sincerely,

Governor Howard Dean, MD
Chairman

This is not a case of Schadenfreude. It's far more serious. It crossed the minds of many progressives that one of our heroes, Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone, may have been murdered when a small private plane crashed while he was campaigning for re-election. Some will always believe it was a rightist conspiracy. For others it is too horrible to contemplate. Meanwhile, all evidence proves without any doubt that BushCheney efforts at vote rigging stole the 2000 presidential election in Florida (where Al Gore had thousands of more votes than Bush but where Katherine Harris in her outrageous dual role and Secretary of State and head of the BushCheney Florida campaign was able to subvert the will of Floridians) and again in Ohio in 2004 (where Ohio Secretary of State/BushCheney Campaign Chairman Kenneth Blackwell did the same thing). As desperate as the already illegitimate Bush Regime was to control the U.S. Senate would it come as a great shock to you that they managed to steal the election for a loyal party hack?

If you really want to get into the details of this particular episode of a weak and thoroughly corrupt Republican Party trying to undermine the will of the voters, you can find the raw documents and evidence right here. Isn't the internet an amazing thing? God knows what they must have gotten away with in the past!