Republican Official Convicted in Phone Jamming Case

Most Republicans I have known in my life are honest. The same cannot be said about the current Republican leadership and many of the people they hire. There is particularly an erosion of ethics among those Republicans who handle politics and public relations. Here, via Truthout, is the AP story by Anne Saunders in the Times Daily:

A former top Republican Party official was convicted on telephone harassment charges Thursday for his part in a plot to jam the Democrats' phones on Election Day 2002.

The federal jury acquitted James Tobin of the most serious charge against him, of conspiring to violate voters' rights.

Tobin, 45, of Bangor, Maine, was President Bush's New England campaign chairman last year. He could get up seven years in prison and $500,000 in fines when he is sentenced in March.

Given the convictions of Republicans like Tobin and Rep. Cunningham, and the ethics problems of Republicans like Libby, DeLay, Frist, Abramoff and others, we may be seeing more convictions in the coming months. Of course, the corruption of the current Republican party has two faces: corruption that is illegal and corruption that is all to legal. As long as Republicans remain unchallenged, the second kind of corruption will become more prevalent and the first kind will become all that more difficult to prosecute (keep in mind that it was sheer luck and the dilligence of a reporter that uncovered Cunningham's shennigans; and isn't it odd that it's often the beat reporter rather than the media big guns who uncover these stories?).

Falling poll numbers and letters to Congress and newspapers do have an effect and sometimes check the worst abuses of legalized corruption, but the only truly effective way to reform Washington is to vote the current Republicans out of office. Even honest Republican voters need to recognize this.