Allen Raymond is a former

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

political consultant Political consulting is a form of consulting that consists primarily of advising and assisting political campaigns. Although the most important role of political consultants is arguably the development and production of mass media (largely tel ...

in the

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who spent three months in federal prison for his role in the

2002 New Hampshire Senate election phone jamming scandal The 2002 New Hampshire Senate election phone jamming scandal involved the use of a telemarketing firm hired by that state's Republican Party (NHGOP) for election tampering. The tampering involved using a call center to jam the phone lines of ...

, for which he was convicted of making harassing phone calls across state lines, a felony."Fallen star blames self, GOP tactics: Jail term served in N.H. phone plot"
By Michael Kranish, ''

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Gl ...

'' June 10, 2006. Raymond is the author of the book, ''How to Rig an Election: Confessions of a Republican Operative'' (2008).

Phone jamming scandal

Raymond told investigators that his former

Republican National Committee The Republican National Committee (RNC) is a U.S. political committee that assists the Republican Party of the United States. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican brand and political platform, as well as assisting in ...

colleague

James Tobin James Tobin (March 5, 1918 – March 11, 2002) was an American economist who served on the Council of Economic Advisers and consulted with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and taught at Harvard and Yale Universities. He ...

approached him with a plan to tie up the phones of New Hampshire Democrats on

Election Day Election day or polling day is the day on which general elections are held. In many countries, general elections are always held on a Saturday or Sunday, to enable as many voters as possible to participate; while in other countries elections ...

2002, during a close Senate race between Republican

John E. Sununu John Edward Sununu (born September 10, 1964) is an American politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives and United States Senator from New Hampshire. Sununu was the youngest member of the Senate for his entire ...

and Democrat

Jeanne Shaheen Cynthia Jeanne Shaheen ( ; née Bowers, born January 28, 1947) is an American retired educator and politician serving as the senior United States senator from New Hampshire since 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, Shaheen served as the 78 ...

. At the time, Raymond owned a Virginia-based GOP phone-bank company (

GOP Marketplace The Republican Party, also referred to as the GOP ("Grand Old Party"), is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States. The GOP was founded in 1854 by anti-slavery activists who opposed the Kansas–Nebraska Act, ...

) and also held a paid position as Executive Director of the

Republican Leadership Council The Republican Leadership Council (RLC or RLC-PAC) was founded in 1993 as the Committee for Responsible Government. It was a United States political advocacy group and political action committee that promoted Republican candidates who choose a pla ...

. Raymond then collected $15,600 from the New Hampshire Republican State Committee and paid a small Idaho telemarketing company $2,300 to make non-stop hangup phone calls to six New Hampshire phone lines, five of which were being used by the Democratic Party to get out the vote. The sixth phone line belonged to the

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

Firefighters' Union, which offers free rides to the polls. In an interview with the ''

'', Raymond said he took part in the phone-jamming because he "had been reluctant to turn down a prominent official of the RNC, fearing that would cost him future opportunities from an organization that was becoming increasingly ruthless."

''How to Rig an Election''

The closing paragraph of his book ''

How to Rig an Election IFC is an American premium television channel owned by AMC Networks. Original programming Comedy Animation Adult animation Unscripted Docuseries Reality Variety Co-productions Continuations Web series * ''Cutting Ties'' * ''Dead ...

: Confessions of a Republican Operative'' ends with a line that reflects on a conversation with his wife just before he entered jail; "After ten full years inside the GOP, ninety days amongst honest criminals wasn't any great ordeal."''How to Rig an Election: Confessions of a Republican Operative'' ()

Media appearances

* Appeared on '' Real Time with Bill Maher'' on October 24, 2008, talking about his book * Appeared on ''The Daily Show'' January 17, 2008 * Appeared on ''

The Rachel Maddow Show ''The Rachel Maddow Show'' (also abbreviated ''TRMS'') is an American liberal news and opinion television program that airs on MSNBC, running in the 9:00 pm ET timeslot Monday evenings. It is hosted by Rachel Maddow, who gained a public p ...

'' on January 27, 2009

Books

* ''

: Confessions of a Republican Operative'' ().

References

External links

*
February 10. 2003 ''PoliticsNJ.com'' "Consultant with NJ ties implicated as NH campaign trickster"

January 08, 2008 ''Democracy Now!'' "How to Rig an Election: Convicted Former GOP Operative Details 2002 New Hampshire Phone Jamming Scheme"

January 15, 2008 Raymond answers readers' questions at "Freakonomics blog"

Allen Raymond interviewed by Velvet Revolution, January 2008

Allen Raymond interviewed by Regal Literary, April 2008
{{DEFAULTSORT:Raymond, Allen American political consultants Year of birth missing (living people) Living people New Hampshire Republicans American male criminals New Hampshire politicians convicted of crimes