Recently, former RNC chairman Ed Gillespie was recently was named as general chairman of Bob McDonnell's campaign for governor. That got me to wondering; whatever happened with this?A judge yesterday allowed state Democratic attorneys to question a former Republican national chairman and other high-ranking GOP officials about an illegal election day 2002 phone-jamming operation.
Attorneys for the national and state Republican parties did not object to the Democrats’ request in Hillsborough County Superior Court prior to the ruling by Hillsborough County Superior Court Judge Philip Mangones. But targets of soon-to-be-issued Democratic subpoenas will have the legal option of trying to have those subpoenas quashed in court, attorneys said.
The targets include former Republican National Chairman Ed Gillespie, former White House political affairs official Alicia Davis and two former Republican Party officials who are now consultants well-known in political circles. The Democrats also want to examine cell phone records of former White House political affairs director Ken Mehlman, the current RNC chairman.
The Democrats want to know what the officials knew — and when — about the operation that jammed get-out-the-vote phone lines at Democratic and union headquarters for nearly two hours on election morning nearly four years ago.
Gillespie did not return a call yesterday seeking comment and Mehlman referred an inquiry by The Associated Press to the U.S. Justice Department.
For more information on former Enron lobbyist Ed Gillespie, see SourceWatch. For even more about Ed Gillespie's career as an "embedded lobbyist," see Public Citizen's 2003 report subtitled, "New Chairman Brings Corporate Loyalties to Top Job in the GOP." Of course, I'm sure that Bob McDonnell "doesn't recall" any of this. Heh.
