After a three-month stint in federal prison for political dirty tricks, Allen Raymond has written a tell-all book about his 10 years as a Republican political consultant: “How to Rig an Election: Confessions of a Republican Operative.” A specialist in “robo-calls” used by campaigns, Raymond hired a firm to make endless calls to a Democratic phone bank to prevent outgoing calls urging voters to head to the polls in the 2002 New Hampshire Senate election. The 42-year-old Bethesda claimed he was acting at the behest of another operative who was later convicted of similar charges. That conviction was later overturned on appeal. He spoke with The Examiner about how his mistakes changed him, and the ethics that guide him.
Do you consider yourself to be of a specific faith?
I’m baptized as an Episcopalian and I’m a member of a parish in D.C., but my faith is more of a blend of Buddhist philosophy and Walt Whitman-type deism. Most important to me is trying, every day, to be a moral person.
Did anyone or any event especially influence your faith or your path in
life?
The event that most influenced my life was pleading guilty to the charges that stemmed from the phone jamming scandal. My mother always taught me, to a fault sometimes, to tell the truth. So I didn’t hesitate. I had an obligation to my government – and more importantly to my family – to tell the truth. And now I live with the consequences of that every day, mostly with the difficulty of starting anew in finding another career path.
In a positive way, it’s taught me that one perseveres. And I do that every day with the blessing of a loving family who has been incredibly supportive. In the aftermath of everything, a lot of people said to my wife, “You didn’t get divorced?” I don’t know – I’m the luckiest guy on the planet.
How did the process of writing the book affect the way you thought about yourself in relation to the actions that led to your conviction?
I think everyone should write a book about his or her life, even if it doesn’t get published. The process was very healthy. It allowed me to take stock of myself, while at the same time shining a light on political campaigns. I’ve always agreed with Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, who said that sunlight is the best disinfectant. Every life needs some disinfecting.
I had allowed my career aspirations to trump my values. And I had learned that if one is immoral enough to lie, without hesitation or regret, he or she can get away with almost anything. Writing the book allowed me to confront my conduct, and be faced with the consequences of my mistakes.
What are some of society’s biggest misconceptions about convicted criminals having been one, and having known some?
The biggest misconception is that anyone who’s incarcerated deserves to be. That’s just not true – the federal sentencing process is deeply flawed and in need of reform. I met numerous people in prison who simply shouldn¹t have been there, mostly young urban kids, or inmates who caught a case and got an egregious sentence because they didn¹t have decent legal resources.
America may be Judeo-Christian nation, but when it comes to the treatment of our offenders, particularly the nonviolent ones, those values are rarely personified. There’s not a lot of compassion.
I used to be that political campaign manager-guy who’d go after my opponent with a tough-on-crime message, three strikes and you¹re out, and inmates shouldn’t have TVs or weight rooms. And then I found myself on the other side of the coin, and I saw how damaging and poorly conceived those ideas are. I saw lives being wasted, and that¹s an awful, terrible thing.
At your core, what is one of your defining beliefs?
My defining belief is in humility. And by that I don’t mean modesty, which is easy to achieve and equally easy to discard when times get tough, but humility that begins with empathy. This world could use more humility, and the examples of the harm that can be done in its absence abound in this town. I would couple with humility the need always to be curious, but also diligent in knowing that some questions should never be asked without already knowing the answer. I believe in cautious curiosity – I’ve learned
that.
