Judge says Dems can seek more than just phone costs in jam case - Boston.com

Judge says Dems can seek more than just phone costs in jam case - Boston.com: "He said Democrats can't include the entire cost of their seven-month-long, get-out-the-vote operation. The costs of 'postage, signs, rent and other such expenditures that were not proximately (almost directly) impacted by the telephone system interference would generally not be recoverable,' he ruled.

In rejecting Republicans' arguments, Mangones said jamming the phone lines prevented Democrats from communicating with field offices, volunteers and voting sites.

'To the extent that the (Democrats) can establish a direct link between the precluded communications and the hindered (voter turnout) activity, such evidence would warrant consideration for purposes of damages,' he said.

The Republicans hired a telemarketing firm to place hundreds of hang-up calls to phone banks for the Democratic Party and the Manchester firefighters union, a nonpartisan group offering rides to the polls. The election featured a hotly contested U.S. Senate race in which U.S. Rep. John Sununu defeated Democratic Gov. Jeanne Shaheen.

Two Republican operatives served prison time after pleading guilty to criminal charges in the case, and Shaun Hansen, the telemarketer whose firm placed the calls, agreed this month to plead guilty. Hansen is scheduled to be sentenced in February.

A national GOP campaign official, James Tobin, was convicted by a jury and sentenced to 10 months in prison, but is appealing."