Albert O’Gore and the Little People
David Limbaugh
Nov. 25, 2000
So, some of you are still buying into
Al Gore’s claim that he is fighting
for the little people?
Remember his speech following the
Florida Supreme Court’s decision
trying to hand him the election by
judicial fiat? Here is part of what
Mr. Gore told us:
"I want to thank the citizen
volunteers ... They are doing their
jobs diligently and seriously under
difficult conditions ... they are
rising to the occasion."
That was Tuesday night, when it
appeared things were going Gore’s
way. On Wednesday, the Miami-Dade
Canvassing Board unanimously decided
that they couldn’t complete a full
manual recount before the Supreme
Court’s Sunday deadline, so they
voted to discontinue the count and
revert to the vote totals they
certified on Nov. 8.
The Board’s reasoning was simple and
direct. Neither state law nor
fairness would countenance a partial
recount because that would
necessarily result in the
disenfranchisement of all other
voters whose votes could not be
counted in time.
Gore responded almost immediately
through his recount quarterback, Bill
"Bugsy" Daley, who said that they
would immediately seek a court order
compelling Miami-Dade to resume its
manual recount. Missing from Daley’s
statement was a reaffirmation of
Gore’s confidence and trust in the
"little people" on the canvassing
board. He made no mention of their
"diligence," the "difficult
conditions" under which they are
operating, or their "rising to the
occasion."
No. On the turn of a dime, the
"little people" are no longer Gore’s
allies, but his enemies, who he will
take to court because they will not
agree to proceed with an inherently
unfair process designed to secure his
victory.
To Gore, this is not about the
"little people," but the craven
pursuit of political power.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t be willing to
sacrifice the rule of law in his
relentless quest for the presidency.
Indeed, the most profound lesson to
emerge from the Florida follies is
the indispensability of the rule of
law to the stability of our system
and the preservation of our
liberties.
A corollary principle to the rule of
law is that governmental bodies,
including courts, must not change
rules in the middle of a process,
such as the election tabulation
process.
Due process and fundamental fairness
dictate that people have a right to
rely on currently existing laws and
rules. Those rules may not be
administered arbitrarily or
retrospectively.
But this post-election process has
revealed nothing, if not the
willingness of the Gore team to
subvert any rules or laws necessary
to achieve an election victory.
When the automatically mandated
machine recount didn’t go his way,
Gore requested a manual recount in
four of the most Gore-favoring
counties. Contrary to popular
opinion, the Florida statutes do not
permit a manual recount in the
absence of evidence of voter fraud or
machine error. When one of those
counties determined that the
statutory standard for a full recount
had not been met, Gore bullied its
canvassing board with the threat of
litigation into reversing itself.
When the votes weren’t going
sufficiently to suit him, Gore
pressured the boards to change the
rules to give him more votes. When
the Secretary of State acted
according to her statutory duty to
enforce the deadline for vote
certification, he sued to compel her
to ignore the deadline. When the
trial court ruled that the Secretary
of State properly exercised her
authority under the statute, he
appealed to the Florida Supreme
Court.
Gore’s essential argument to the
Court was that it should ignore the
laws duly enacted by the legislature,
and manufacture its own laws to
suspend the mandatory filing deadline
and permit a manual recount on a
whim. The Court’s decision
demonstrated the danger in courts
usurping the constitutional authority
of the legislature. Ostensibly to
safeguard the rights of the "little
people," the Court delivered Gore
exactly what he wanted, and in the
process, betrayed its sacred trust to
those very people to adhere to its
constitutionally assigned role and
the rule of law.
With all of its creative juices the
Court could not devise a way to keep
the counting going long enough to
complete the process in time for the
Florida electors to be selected and
participate in the presidential
election process. Ironically, it was
the "little people" who finally said
no. |
