We The People ...

Thundering silence from Washington

Portsmouth Herald Editorial
4-17-2006

The basic facts of the now-infamous Election Day phone-jamming episode are not in dispute. On Nov. 5, 2002, New Hampshire Republicans used a Virginia telemarketing company to tie up telephone hot lines for about 90 minutes to thwart get-out-the-vote efforts by state Democrats and a firefighters union in Manchester.

At stake was a U.S. Senate seat and possibly control of the closely divided legislative body. Republican John E. Sununu, then the 1st District member of Congress, defeated Gov. Jeanne Shaheen by about 20,000 votes.

A major federal investigation into this disgraceful episode has yielded three convictions, including two GOP officials - former state GOP executive director Charles McGee and James Tobin, at the time the New England political director for the Republican National Committee.
Tobin, who was President Bush’s New England chairman before stepping down in 2004 when he became a target of the investigation, has appealed his conviction.

What we don’t have is the complete story - namely, just how high the chain of command went in this electronic-mugging operation.

[snip]

Is it too much to ask for Sen. Sununu to call for full and absolute disclosure? Or the same from Sen. Judd Gregg, his Republican colleague who also represents us?

Is it too much to ask the White House and the RNC to do what they can to resolve remaining questions? Are we to believe that a White House obsessed with control and discipline knew nothing about the scheme?

It probably is too much to ask from a party that controls everything in Washington, but increasingly gives the perception that it holds itself accountable to no one, including "We the People." (full story)