This just in:
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, a former Republican Party chairman, arranged the startup financing for a GOP telemarketing company implicated in two criminal cases involving election dirty tricks.
. . . Barbour’s investment company arranged a quarter-million dollar loan to GOP Marketplace in 2000 and also gave a promotional plug to the telemarketer several months later.
. . . According to [an] operating agreement, the loan gave the investors a stake in the company.
Does that mean Barbour profited off the dirty tricks campaigns?
Also interesting: The company’s founder, Allen Raymond, once worked for Barbour at the Republican National Committee, according to the AP article. Raymond’s now serving a three-month prison term for jamming phones in New Hampshire on election day 2002. His company was implicated in an earlier scheme in New Jersey to make harrassing phone calls to voters.
(Ed. Note: Updated 8:26 AM.)
Late Update: There’s more at the Senate Majority Project.
