Hey Zonkie! If all else fails, THIS is how you steal an election:
(Cry your heart out.)
Jeb Bush Is Said to Be Willing to Sign Bill
Ensuring Republican Victory in Florida
By DAVID BARSTOW and SOMINI SENGUPTA
nytimes.com
(Registration for online NY Times is free.)
TALLAHASSEE, Fla.,
Nov. 27 — The
president of Florida's
Senate said today that Gov.
Jeb Bush had indicated his
willingness to sign special
legislation intended to
award Florida's 25 Electoral
College votes to his brother
Gov. George W. Bush of
Texas even as the election
results were being
contested.
Though George W. Bush,
the Republican presidential
nominee, has been certified
the winner of the Florida
vote, talk of a special
legislative session
continued unabated here
today as local Republicans
fretted about the possibility
that the justices on the
Florida Supreme Court, all
appointed by Democrats,
might uphold the challenge
by Vice President Al Gore,
ultimately awarding him the
state's electoral votes.
The driving force behind the
calls for a special session is
the Republican desire to use
the Legislature to trump the
state's Supreme Court,
should the need arise.
Hours after Mr. Gore, the
Democratic nominee, filed
papers here formally
contesting Florida's election
results, John McKay, the
Republican who is the
Senate president, told
reporters about a
conversation he had had
with Jeb Bush last week in
which they discussed whether Mr. Bush should sign the bill.
Such a bill would automatically become law after seven days without
the governor's signature. But with Republicans and Democrats racing
against a Dec. 12 deadline to name Florida's electors, Mr. McKay said,
he told Mr. Bush it would not be useful for legislation to languish.
"I didn't think there was any advantage to laying a bill on his desk for 7
or 10 days," Mr. McKay said of their conversation. "I thought that
would be a mistake. I think we all need to stand up and take
responsibility."
Asked how Mr. Bush responded to the suggestion, Mr. McKay replied,
"I would say that he tended to agree with that."
But Katie Baur, a spokeswoman for Jeb Bush, said the governor had
not yet made a decision.
"I don't think he's made up his mind," Ms. Baur said, noting that the
Legislature had not even said whether it would convene a special
session to write such legislation. "It's too early to speculate."
The governor's reported willingness to sign such a bill is significant
because it gives the Legislature's leaders more time as they weigh the
political risks of calling a special session, and as they join with George
W. Bush in asking the United States Supreme Court to overturn the
results of Florida's manual recounts. Today, lawyers for the Legislature
filed a friend-of-the-court brief at the Supreme Court that argued the
Legislature's right to appoint electors when the results of an election
are in dispute.
On a political level, the comments Mr. McKay attributed to Jeb Bush
would further indicate an increasingly bold effort by the governor to
deliver Florida to his brother. After initially taking a low-key, hands-off
approach to the dispute about Florida's election results, Mr. Bush has
gradually emerged from near-seclusion as a significant player in the
unfolding struggle for power.
Last week, in a conversation with Tom Feeney, the speaker of the
House, Mr. Bush said Republican legislators would need to
demonstrate political courage in calling a special session. Such a
session, he predicted, would exact "a certain price" on the Legislature.
Mr. Bush has also moved quickly to notify the federal government that
Florida's 25 electors have been won by his brother.
On Sunday night, barely an hour after the state canvassing commission
declared George W. Bush the winner in Florida, Jeb Bush's two most
senior lawyers — who had taken leave in recent weeks to work on the
Bush recount campaign — delivered the certified election results to the
governor's mansion.
Mr. Bush then signed a
"certificate of
ascertainment," a vital
ministerial document by
which the state formally
delivers its electors to the
federal government, in this
case the Federal Register of
the Archivist of the United
States.
Only two other states have
delivered certificates. Just
today, the archivist received
papers from Idaho,
conferring four electoral
votes, and Louisiana,
conferring nine.
Federal law grants states
some discretion over when
to submit these certificates.
The laws says that states
should send them "as soon
as practicable" and does not
specify whether a state
should hold off until a
contest is resolved.
Governor Bush could have
waited until Dec. 12 to send
the document about
Florida's results. "It takes
three to four weeks even for
routine certifications to
come in," said Michael
White, director of legal
affairs at the Office of
Federal Register. "I don't
think the law is that
specific."
Should Mr. Gore succeed in
contesting the results,
Florida could send an
updated certificate. "It
wouldn't be out of the
question to initially certify
and to amend that certification subsequently," Mr. White said.
Representative Lois Frankel, leader of Florida's House Democrats, said
today that Jeb Bush had acted like an "overanxious brother" in sending
the certificate to Washington, even as Mr. Gore contested the final
results.
In so doing, Ms. Frankel said, Mr. Bush had raised the possibility that
Florida would send dueling slates of electors to the Electoral College.
She said, "He's saying, `If my brother gets evicted by the Florida
Supreme Court, boys, go ahead and we'll get him elected another way.' "
Meanwhile, as a necessary step toward calling a special session, a new
select committee from the state Senate and House is to meet on
Tuesday to discuss the Florida election. The session is to include
testimony from a team of legal experts retained by Mr. Feeney and Mr.
McKay, both of whom are also listed on the slate of official Bush
electors submitted by Jeb Bush.
The team is led by Charles Fried, the Harvard law professor and former
United States solicitor general during the Reagan and Bush
administrations. Another Harvard law professor, Einer Elhauge, has
been hired by the House. Roger J. Magnuson, a litigator from
Minneapolis, has been hired by the Senate.
The team spelled out the Legislature's legal position today in a friend-
of-the-court brief submitted to the United States Supreme Court. The
brief argues that the Florida Supreme Court overstepped its authority
last week when it ruled that the manual recounts could continue.
Citing the federal code governing the appointment of electors, the brief
contends that if the normal process breaks down — and if there is no
clear agreement on which candidate's electors should represent the
state — the Legislature is responsible for assuring that the state's
voters are not shut out of the Electoral College tabulations.
"The Legislature itself, and not the courts, is the arbiter of when a
failure to make such a choice has occurred," according to the brief. "If
the courts must step in," it continued, "the Supreme Court of Florida
cannot have the last word on what is, after all, a question of federal
law."
Democrats in the Legislature have complained bitterly about the hiring
of the legal team, characterizing the move as a brazen effort to turn the
Legislature into an arm of the Bush campaign. By all accounts, the
Democrats have been excluded from telephone calls and meetings with
the lawyers and the Republican leaders .
Today, in a letter to Mr. Feeney, Mrs. Frankel objected to using state
funds to pay the lawyers. Under the retainer agreement with Mr.
Elhauge, for example, the House has agreed to pay $350 an hour, up to
$60,000, plus expenses.
In her letter, Mrs. Frankel said the money could be better spent
upgrading Florida's antiquated voting machinery, and she warned that a
special session would "place a dark partisan stain on our Legislature."
"The votes have been cast," she wrote. "They just need to be fairly and
accurately counted as will now be determined by the courts of Florida
and the United States Supreme Court. The State Legislature should not
become an arm of any one presidential campaign."
The complaints have had no apparent impact on the disciplined and
determined group of Republicans, who control the House by a 77-to-43
margin and the Senate 25 to 15. Mr. Feeney has said that he feels no
obligation under House rules to include Democrats in his discussions
with the legal team. |
