About
Learn More about our progressive online community for the Granite State.

Create an account today (it's free and easy) and get started!
Menu

Make a New Account

Username:

Password:



Forget your username or password?


Search




Advanced Search


The Masthead
Managing Editors


Jennifer Daler

Contributing Writers
elwood
Mike Hoefer
 susanthe
ActBlue Hampshire

The Roll, Etc.
Prog Blogs, Orgs & Alumni
Betsy Devine
Blue News Tribune (MA)
Democracy for NH
Live Free or Die
Mike Caulfield
Granite State Progress
Seacoast for Change
Susan the Bruce

Politicos & Punditry
Krauss
Landrigan
Lawson
Pindell
Primary Monitor
Scala
Schoenberg
Spiliotes
Welch

Campaigns, Et Alia.
Paul Hodes
Carol Shea-Porter
John DeJoie
Ann McLane Kuster
ActBlue Hampshire
NHDP
DCCC
DSCC
DNC

National
Balloon Juice
billmon
Congress Matters
DailyKos
Digby
Hold Fast
Eschaton
FiveThirtyEight
MyDD
The Next Hurrah
Open Left
Senate Guru
Swing State Project
Talking Points Memo

50 State Blog Network
Alabama
Arizona
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Missouri
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin

Phone-Jamming Settlement: $135K

by: Dean Barker

Sat Dec 02, 2006 at 20:18:07 PM EST
Well, that didn't take long.  The numbers are in: $125K from Wayne's World's state elephants, and $5K each from the national parties involved.

Seems a bit small to me, considering that they were angling for $4M and the judge was willing to let them try.  Still, I love this quote from Kathy Sullivan:

"Over the next five years, every time a Republican donor makes a donation to the Republican State Committee, they will know a portion of that is going to the Democratic Party," she said.

Talk about depressing the base.

Anyone out there surprised at how abruptly this thing ended, and by the amount?  Frankly, I thought the trial aspect of it was going to be a greater PR benefit than the damages, in the sense that it would keep Sununu's victory in question just as he gears up for a possible round two re-match.

Sunday Update: More context on the settlement from the UL:

Sullivan noted the civil suit might be settled, but the federal criminal investigation is on-going.

She said the U.S. Justice Department has far greater resources than the state Democratic Party to continue looking into the matter.

She noted that with two key witnesses refusing to incriminate themselves, their attorneys believed they had gone about as far as they could in identifying others involved in the scheme.
Dean Barker :: Phone-Jamming Settlement: $135K
Tags: , , , , , (All Tags)
Print Friendly View Send As Email
Phone-Jamming Settlement: $135K | 12 comments
I'm surprised (4.00 / 1)
I really wanted the trial.

Oh well - we still have the Bass robo calls - at $5000 per call, the fines could add up to millions.

NH Kucinich Campaign

WTF (0.00 / 0)
sellouts.

I can't believe how week-kneed the NHDP is...

The primary purpose of a lawsuit is to make a POINT, and if you're going to back down it better be for a damn good reason (ie: A LOT more than $135,000)

It's time we steer by the stars, and not the lights of every passing ship

I've never seen (4.00 / 1)
net present value used to justify a failure to defend one's reputation before. The GOP really IS the party of business.
Sullivan spinning? (0.00 / 0)
The following seems contradictory:

The state party will pay $125,000 over five years. The Republican National Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee will pay $5,000 each. Half of that money will go to a charitable organization benefiting Manchester firefighters, and half to a group that supports police officers, who investigated the case.

State Democratic Chairwoman Kathy Sullivan said the settlement will dent GOP contributions.

"Over the next five years, every time a Republican donor makes a donation to the Republican State Committee, they will know a portion of that is going to the Democratic Party," she said.


I'm Confused... (0.00 / 0)
Does this mean that all of the GOP settlement money is going to charity, or half of it?
[ Parent ]
I took the comment to mean (4.00 / 1)
that it's half of the nat'l money that's going to charity, or $5K.

Open to interpretation on purpose, or due to poor phrasing in the article?

[ Parent ]
UL clarifies (4.00 / 2)
Also under the agreement, the Republican National Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee will each make a payment of $5,000 to two charities: one affiliated with the Manchester Professional Firefighters and the other charity affiliated with the Manchester police.

So it's just the national money going to first-responder charities. The $125,000 goes to the Dems. I think Sullivan's line is a great one: Part of every donation to the NHGOP for the next five years will go to the Democrats.

Still, I sure as hell hope the criminal investigation gets to the bottom of this.

[ Parent ]
Wayne's World competition (4.00 / 2)
New Hampshire will now face Whalley World, previously mentioned in Dilbert.
Given the NHDP's success this year..... (4.00 / 3)
.....not only in the elections, but in consistently strategically outflanking and outpacing the GOP, I'm inclined to give them the benefit-of-the-doubt in accepting the settlement. It's tempting to say "damn the torpedoes" but competent legal counsel probably told our people to take-the-money-and-run, and unless we find out exactly the circumstances, I won't second-guess them.

 "We should pay attention to that man behind the curtain."
The most interesting part of the story (0.00 / 0)
may be that the New Hampshire Republican Party has to pay the $125,000 in installments, over five years.

They would presumably like to put the whole thing behind them and pay it off immediately. But they can't.

I wonder if they could sue the national party for damages over the 2006 robocalls? It hurt the local party, after all...

The race is on! (4.00 / 1)
Will the DCCC or the NH GOP sue the NRCC first?

The NH GOP using the NRCC's money to offset damages to pay the NHDP... now that is truly a zany Wayne and Whalley World.

[ Parent ]
Wish I had a link, but I saw a story (4.00 / 1)
that said some New Hampshire Republicans are hoping that they can recruit Kathy Sullivan to rebuild their party organization once her term with the state Dem party is over.

[ Parent ]
Phone-Jamming Settlement: $135K | 12 comments
Connect with BH
     
Blue Hampshire Blog on Facebook
Powered by: SoapBlox