Former James Harris Associate Eager to Get His Named Removed from Fraudulent Scott E-Mail Story: Shawn M. Bell Calls Blogger Begging to Remove Reference of His Name to Fraudulent E-mail Story

A taped telephone conversation between former James Harris associate Shawn M. Bell and a blogger has been turned over to the Eckersley campaign's attorney after an anonymous e-mail was sent to the media claiming Scott Eckersley dropped out of the Congressional race. James Harris, a Billy Long strategist, encouraged the news of Eckersley dropping out on Twitter shortly after the story ran on Friday morning, and Bell retweeted the news without verifying the facts.

As news began to break, bloggers began looking for connections to Billy Long's campaign. Within an hour both Harris and Bell deleted the tweets but issued no formal correction. This soon hit the blogosphere and Bell began to franticly attempt to contact bloggers demanding his name be removed from the story with some sense of nervousness. Federal officials are examining the source of the e-mail, which may be connected to a Glendale Heights, Illinois political consulting firm that has ties to Billy Long and Springfield, Missouri.

The tape is about 12 minutes and features Bell trying to justify why he doesn't have anything to do with the story. However, all that has been reported about Bell is he has retweeted the Harris tweet, and a reminder a similar tactic was used by Harris, Bell, and Jeff Roe of a similar tactic they used against Brian Nieves, a Republican from the St. Louis area.

When asked if Billy Long was involved in the scandal, Long said, "hot diggity dawg." Roe has also denied involvement. It's the actions of Bell and Lakefront Strategies Patrick Binning that are raising lots of questions. Binning has not returned any attempts to contact him for comment.

Bell is currently working in Washington for US Senate candidate Dino Rossi (R).

Bell was told the conversation between him and the blogger was being recorded. The tape mentions that Bell tried to contact other bloggers, but I have not record of any e-mail sent to me.