Republicans settle phone jam case

State and national Republicans will pay $135,000 to settle a suit involving a scheme to jam Democratic get-out-the-vote calls on Election Day 2002, officials said Saturday.

“Although we believed our case was very strong, the cost of the trial as well as expected appeals by the New Hampshire Democratic Party would have easily matched or exceeded the present value of the settlement,” state Republican Chairman Wayne Semprini said.

Republicans had 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. Service was disrupted for nearly two hours.

Democrats had wanted more than $4 million in damages – the cost of seven months’ work for the get-out-the-vote effort.

Woodbridge, Va.

Boy drowns in river in escape attempt

A handcuffed Virginia teenager drowned early Saturday after he fled from a Virginia State Police cruiser during a traffic stop and plunged more than 60 feet off a bridge into the Occoquan River, state police said.

Rodger Rodriguez, 16, of Woodbridge, Va., somehow escaped from the front seat of a locked police cruiser and jumped over a thigh-high concrete barrier into the river, state police said. The river is about 400 feet wide where the Interstate 95 bridge crosses it, and it separates Prince William County from Fairfax County.

Rodriguez, who immigrated to the United States from Honduras 16 months ago, had been arrested on suspicion of drunken driving shortly before 3:20 a.m., after a state trooper clocked him going 90 mph on I-95.

Trooper Joshua Smith handcuffed Rodriquez’s hands behind his back, put him in the front passenger seat of the cruiser and fastened his seat belt, Sgt. Terry Licklider said.

Rodriguez got out of the cruiser and fled as the trooper turned to the 2001 Nissan Pathfinder that Rodriguez had been driving, accompanied by a friend.

Des Moines, Iowa

State vows to stay neutral in caucuses

Iowa Democrats declared on Saturday the party would remain neutral in the state’s leadoff presidential caucuses in 2008 even though popular Gov. Tom Vilsack is seeking the nomination.

“We like fair and contested elections,” said the state party’s new chairman, Scott Brennan.

Vilsack, who is leaving office after two terms, made official his candidacy last week, putting many top Iowa Democrats on the spot. They relish the attention the state gets by its first-in-the-nation status in the election calendar. Yet they worry that Vilsack’s presence in the race could persuade potential rivals to skip Iowa, rendering the caucuses meaningless.

Brennan, a Des Moines lawyer picked for the Democratic post on Saturday, sought to ease those concerns, pushing the party’s governing board to adopt a resolution declaring neutrality.