Attorney general went against 1978 standard to avoid election advice
News-Journal wire services
TALLAHASSEE - When he issued a legal opinion helpful to Al Gore in Florida's election dispute, Democratic Attorney General Bob Butterworth went against a 22-year-old office standard to avoid giving advice on election issues.
The principle that election opinions should be deferred to the Florida secretary of state was written in 1978 by a Butterworth predecessor, Attorney General Robert Shevin.
Butterworth said Wednesday, however, that he was simply giving advice to election officials in Volusia County, not acting in his role as Gore's Florida campaign manager as Republicans have charged.
"No good deed ever goes unpunished," said Butterworth, skewered by Republicans for what they said was exerting undue influence.
"I'm asked for advice a lot of times from a lot of people, and there is nothing wrong with that. It's my job."
But the strictures written by Shevin were even displayed on Butterworth's official Web site when he intervened in the presidential cliffhanger Tuesday.
"Questions arising under the Florida Election Code should be directed to the Division of Elections in the Department of State," Butterworth's Web site said.
His World Wide Web page on legal opinions also promised that "opinions are not rendered on questions pending before the courts." At the time he intervened, the Florida dispute over hand vote recounts was pending in several courts.
Butterworth defended his decision. "If I had let this thing go, I'd have been derelict in my duties," he said in an interview. "This is an extraordinary issue."
Butterworth angered Republicans by issuing an opinion Tuesday supporting Gore's request to allow a hand recount to be finished Palm Beach County. His opinion conflicted with that of Florida's Republican secretary of state, Katherine Harris.
"I thought they wanted to do it right," Butterworth said.
"I said every ballot has to be recounted," he said. "I did not say what method they had to use."
Republicans tried to make hay about the opinion Wednesday.
"I question whether that was appropriate for the attorney general himself and not somebody else in his department to be dealing with this matter," state Republican Party Chairman Al Cardenas said. He said Butterworth's actions "warrant a review."
Butterworth's opinion "violates his own written standard as published on the Attorney General's web page," Bush campaign spokesman Ari Fleischer said. "He has neither the authority nor the jurisdiction to provide advisory opinions on election issues."
Shevin declared in 1978 that the attorney general was not authorized to offer opinions in disputes arising out of Florida election law.
"When an opinion request is received on a question falling within statutory jurisdiction of some other state agency, the request will either be transferred to that agency or the requesting party will be advised to contact the other agency," Shevin wrote 22 years ago. "Opinions are not rendered on questions pending before the courts."
Butterworth described Shevin's writing as "an office policy that would defer in certain areas to other agencies" but added, "It's not a legal restriction on my authority."
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