CONCORD, N.H. – A Spokane man has been charged with taking part in a Republican phone-jamming scheme in New Hampshire two years ago.

Shaun Hansen of Spokane headed an Idaho telemarketing company hired by Republican operatives to jam get-out-the-vote phone lines run by Democrats and the Manchester firefighters union. Mylo Enterprises of Sandpoint, Idaho, made hundreds of calls over an hour and a half on Election Day 2002.

Hansen is charged with breaking a federal law against making anonymous, harassing phone calls.

Former state Republican Party executive director Chuck McGee has already pleaded guilty in the phone-jamming scheme and been sentenced to seven months in federal prison. A Virginia-based Republican consultant also has pleaded guilty and been sentenced to five months in prison.

James Tobin of Maine, a former regional director of the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee is fighting similar charges in federal court. He was President Bush’s New England campaign chairman until he was forced to step down over the phone-jamming allegations last fall.

Associated Press

Seattle: Unopened absentee ballots found

King County elections workers have discovered 87 unopened absentee ballots that were not counted in the disputed November election for governor, officials said. The newly discovered ballots have been locked up and will not be opened or counted without a court order, elections officials said Friday. Workers discovered the first of the overlooked ballots March 24 while reviewing absentee ballot mail envelopes, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported Saturday. Lawyers for the Democratic party asked them to go through the envelopes to determine whether alleged felons cited by the GOP had voted illegally.

Associated Press

Former Friday Harbor postmaster sentenced

A federal judge on Friday sentenced the former postmaster of Friday Harbor on San Juan Island to one year and one day in prison for stealing $129,000 from the Postal Service. Carmen L. Dixon, 47, has already paid back about half the money, and U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour ordered her to repay the rest – though he said the $30,000-$35,000 worth of sick leave and vacation time she accrued in her 27 years with the Postal Service would partially offset the amount she owes. Dixon pleaded guilty in December and admitted she issued money orders worth $58,000 to herself and her family from bulk mailing fees. She also took $71,000 from the sale of stamps. The money was diverted between January 2002 and last May.

Associated Press

B.C.: Canadian Tourism Commission moving

The headquarters of the Canadian Tourism Commission will be moved from Ottawa to Vancouver at a cost of more than $12 million, Prime Minister Paul Martin said. The idea has long generated opposition from tourism officials in Ontario and some members of Parliament, but Martin said Thursday his minority Liberal government wants to show British Columbia “speaks very, very loudly on the national stage.” Tourism is a big source of revenue in Canada’s westernmost province, which was chosen to host the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and this mountain ski resort town. The tourism commission, headed by Charles Lapointe of Quebec, employs about 85 people in Ottawa and has offices in the United States and abroad with a budget exceeding $65 million a year.

Associated Press