CONCORD [-] The 2002 Election Day phone jamming case has taken a startling turn that could prolong it in the public eye much to the dismay of New Hampshire Republican leaders.

    The lead federal prosecutor in the case, Andrew Levchuk, told a federal judge in Portland Monday that former GOP strategist James Tobin is not the only one who could be charge with lying to investigators.

      According to his colleagues, Tobin helped instigate the idea of hang-up calls that tied up the phones at get out the vote centers in Nashua and six other locations around the state.

      Three have plead guilty and been sentenced to brief, federal prison terms for their involvement.

        Tobin beat his own conviction on appeal and federal prosecutors responded with this indictment for lying to the FBI in October 2003.

       Now, The Bangor Daily News reported Levchuk said in open court that at least four other people could be charged with offering their own lies to investigators.

      This came out in response to the move of Tobin lawyers to dismiss the two perjury counts against their clients.

       The feds have got to move fast because they acted on Tobin a month before a five-year statute of limitations ran out.  Prosecutors haven’t said when they had these other conversations with others linked to the probe that the feds don’t believe came clean.

   The question becomes could those other people ever be charged with lying only if Tobin one day cooperated with the government.

   Levchuk made a move on that score, telling the judge he’d dismiss one count if Tobin pleaded to the other and agree with federal sentencing guidelines that would result in a punishment of zero to six months in federal prison.

    In court, Levchuk didn’t name any of these individuals but for the first time in court said he believes Tobin, a Republican National Committee consultant at the time, told “a superior’’ about the plan.

    Wow!

     Meanwhile, NH Democratic Congressman Paul Hodes got House lead investigators in the last Congress to ask questions of Justice Department officials aimed at determining whether the Bush White House knew of the phone jamming scheme and if so, when did they know it.

By Kevin Landrigan

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