Maybe those weren't "pants" being mailed back after all...: http://www.dallasnews.com/latestnews/304241_tape06e.html

Texas woman indicted in connection with release of debate tape p>03/06/2001

<Associated Press

WASHINGTON – A federal grand jury today indicted a former employee of a media company that handled ads for President Bush's campaign in connection with the release of a Bush debate tape to Vice President Al Gore's campaign.

Juanita Yvette Lozano of Austin, Texas, was charged with mail fraud, false statements to the FBI and perjury. If convicted, she faces 15 years in prison and a $750,000 fine. The indictment was handed up by a federal grand jury in Texas.

Lozano worked for Maverick Media, an Austin company that handled Bush's political ads.

The indictment alleged that Lozano secretly copied more than 120 pages of debate preparation documents and a 60-minute videotape of a debate preparation session with Bush and his advisers and sent it to the Gore campaign under a different name.

She lied to FBI agents investigating the matter and testified falsely before the grand jury, the indictment said.

Attempts to reach Lozano in Austin were not immediately successful, and her attorney, Christopher Gunter, was not immediately available, his office said.

Lozano sent the package to former Rep. Tom Downey, who was helping Gore prepare for debates, with a note bearing the name "Amy Smith," the indictment alleged.

It quoted the note as saying: "I will call you soon to find out what other materials can be useful to the VP."

Downey turned the package over to the FBI, which began an investigation.

The FBI obtained a videotape from a surveillance camera at the post office where the package was mailed. The tape showed Lozano mailing a package at a time that corresponded to when the debate package was mailed, law enforcement officials have said.

At the time, Lozano said she was mailing a pair of khakis back to The Gap for her boss, Mark McKinnon, a top Bush adviser.

Democratic officials in Austin have said that Lozano was a precinct chairwoman for the Democratic Party.

Lozano denied mailing the package to Downey when she was interviewed by the FBI in September and when she testified before the grand jury, the indictment said.

Contrary to her statements, it said, Lozano schemed "to use her position as a trusted employee of Maverick Media ...to obtain access to the Bush Campaign's confidential and sensitive debate preparation materials ... to assist Gore in his preparation for the presidential debates."

In charging her with mail fraud, the indictment said Lozano defrauded the Bush campaign of confidential work products and defrauded Maverick Media of her "honest services."

The case is being prosecuted by the public integrity section of the Justice Department.

-- Anonymous, March 06, 2001