Charles McGee, the former executive director of the New Hampshire Republican State Committee, admitted yesterday to jamming Democratic party phone lines on election day in November 2002.

McGee, 34, was the second person to plead guilty to a felony for the more than 800 hang-up phone calls that an Idaho company made to five state Democratic party offices and the Manchester Professional Firefighters Association, a group that was offering rides to the polls. The calls blocked phone lines for 85 minutes.

Earlier this month, Allen Raymond, who was president of the Virginia-based GOP Marketplace, pleaded guilty to the same charge: conspiring to make harassing telephone calls without identifying the caller's identity. Raymond admitted to paying the Idaho firm $2,500 to make the phone calls.

U.S. Trial Attorney Todd Hinnen said the investigation into the phone-jamming was ongoing but declined to say whether anyone else would be charged.

McGee's attorney, Patrick Donovan, said that McGee pleaded to the charge because he wanted to take responsibility for what happened and would cooperate with investigators.

"It was criminal and not Christian, and he's looking forward to putting this to an end and moving on with his life,"Donovan said.

McGee came up with the phone-jamming plan as a way to give Republicans an edge over Democrats, using a lesson from his days in the military, Hinnen told the U.S. District Court Judge Joseph DiClerico. "One of the best ways to disrupt the enemy is to disrupt their ability to communicate," Hinnen said.

McGee contacted several vendors that the state party had used before, but the vendors were either unwilling or unable to make the repeated hang-up calls that McGee wanted, Hinnen said. Then, a visiting official from a national political organization suggested that McGee contact GOP Marketplace. Hinnen did not name the official.

Hinnen told the judge that McGee discussed his plan with a high-ranking state Republican Party official before sending a $15,600 check to GOP Marketplace. He said the same official later called the plan off.

In a phone interview yesterday, John Dowd, the former chairman of the New Hampshire Republican State Committee, said McGee told him of the phone-jamming plan late in the afternoon of Nov. 4, the day before the election.

Dowd said that he told McGee that the plan troubled him and he needed to think about it. Dowd said yesterday that he had no idea that the plan was illegal.

Dowd said that he discussed the plan with his wife and that they consulted an attorney. Early on the morning of Nov. 5, Dowd heard back from the attorney and decided to cancel the phone-jamming, he said. "I told Chuck to stop it," he said.

According to Hinnen, the Idaho company made more than 800 calls before the order to stop.

Dowd said that he did not sign the $15,600 check to GOP Marketplace.

McGee faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. He will be sentenced in October. The judge released him yesterday on personal recognizance bail.

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