CONCORD, N.H. — The former head of a Republican consulting group was sentenced Tuesday to five months in prison for jamming Democratic phone lines in several New Hampshire cities during the 2002 election.
Allen Raymond, 37, then president of GOP Marketplace LLC in Alexandria, Va., made no comment as he left U.S. District Court for sentencing. He was also fined $15,600.
He pleaded guilty in June.
Court documents say Raymond and his co-conspirators conspired to block routes where Democratic voters could take buses to polling places in Manchester, Nashua, Rochester and Claremont. Routes operated by the nonpartisan Manchester firefighters union were also blocked.cell phone jammer
Voters decided the outcome of races for governor, U.S. Senator and hundreds of other offices on Nov. 5, 2002, with more than 800 computer-generated calls that lasted about 90 minutes.
State Republicans acknowledged they hired GOP Marketplace two years ago. But then-GOP Chairwoman Jayne Millerick said the company was paid $15,600 for telemarketing services meant to encourage people to vote Republican, not to jam the phone lines.
Chuck McGee ( search ), former executive director of the New Hampshire Republican Party, also pleaded guilty. He is scheduled to be sentenced next month.
James Tobin, 44, who served as a regional chairman for Bush's campaign last year, was indicted in December and has pleaded not guilty. Tobin, of Bangor, Maine, resigned from Bush's New England campaign in October after the allegations against him became public. In 2002, he served as Northeastern political director for the Republican Senatorial Election Committee.
