NH Operative Fingers GOP Brass in 2002 Phone Scam

A political operative jailed in a scheme to jam Democratic phones during 2002's Senate race in New Hampshire claims the scandal originated in the upper reaches of the Republican Party, McClatchy Newspapers report. Allen Raymond’s book, How to Rig an Election, accuses the party of an “old-school cover-up,” but the author also alleges Republican National Committee attorneys OK'd the scheme.

A top state GOP official and the RNC’s regional director were convicted in the phone plot, and a Democratic lawyer points out calls to the White House even as phoners disrupted efforts to shuttle voters to polls—in an election Republicans won by 19,000 votes. The RNC said “it would be hard to find two less credible individuals" than Raymond and his co-author. (More scandal stories.)