[JURIST] The Republican National Committee has spent over $722,000 on lawyers from the highly-regarded Washington firm Williams & Connolly [firm website] to defend James Tobin on vote tampering charges, an RNC spokesperson confirmed Wednesday. Tobin, President Bush's 2004 campaign chairman for New England, faces four felony charges that he conspired [JURIST report] to jam phone lines and block Democratic voting drives during the 2002 Senate election in New Hampshire, which Republican John Sununu won in a tight race. Earlier this week RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman reaffirmed the party's commitment to a zero tolerance policy on voter interference but the RNC is footing Tobin's legal bills because they say they believe Tobin's assurances that he committed no crime. AP has more.