Hi Ken:
Howz' things going over at "Last Mile?" Need to get over there and catch-up. Any in response to . . .
Are you seriously suggesting she is not biased? Are you seriously suggesting her discretion was not influenced by her obvious bias and she was able to set aside her political opinion in making her decision?
That's not the issue, Ken. The question is not whether she is biased. Practically every single person in the State of Florida, if you voted for Bush or Gore, is arguable biased. Again, that's NOT the issue.
The issue is whether she APPROPRIATELY exercised her DISCRETION in accordance with not only the statute, but also with J. Lewis ruling. What many pundits FAIL to appreciate that in addition to the DISCRETION provided in statute, there is mandatory scheme imposed upon her to bring finality to the election results. In other words, in exercising her discretion the excuse or reason for submittal of late ballot results MUST be weighed against the interests of finality.
I think the off again, on again nature of the hand account in all three remaining counties is something that she likely weighed in her decision, and IMHO, the court MUST weigh in its forthcoming opinion on appeal. ALSO, I think what needs to be weighed here, is the effort by the Democratic campaign to UNDERMINE the WILL of the people as evidenced by its legal action against certain canvassing boards asking a court to compel them to conduct a manual count. Presently, Miami-Dade Co. has held steadfast in its decision not to conduct a full hand count. Broward Co. voted likewise but was sued by the Democratic Campaign to compel the canvassing board to conduct the full manual count, and they obliged.
In the TOTALITY of these CIRCUMSTANCES, a meritorious argument may very be made that the Secretary of State did in-fact exercise her DISCRETION in rejecting these hand count as it is questionable, if not indisputable, that such a recount is NOT the EXPRESSED will of the people of Florida as manifested by the INDEPENDENT decisions of these canvassing boards, but rather the Democratic Campaign.
So, in sum the lack of diligence by these canvassing boards in proceeding with the manual counts, and the lack of certainty as to whether these manual counts truly express will of the people as required by Florida law, IMHO, serves to detract from the interests here of the manual count, not to mention their disputable improved accuracy against the interests of finality. Such balancing and determination is truly an exercise of DISCRETION and certainly anything but arbitrary, and that's the standard imposed upon her. |
