-Caveat Lector-
New York Times
EDITORIAL
November 17, 2000
Rule of Law in Florida
The unanimous ruling by the Florida Supreme Court to allow the
hand counting of votes to resume in Palm Beach County brought a
note of order and reason to the last act of the presidential
election. Today, in a State Circuit Court in Tallahassee, Judge
Terry P. Lewis needs to put teeth in the State Supreme Court
ruling by directing Katherine Harris, the secretary of state, to
accept the hand counts from Palm Beach and other disputed
counties before she certifies the statewide vote that will
determine the next president.
Only another forceful court action will keep Ms. Harris from
single-handedly manipulating the decision in Florida. Earlier
this week, Judge Lewis ordered her not to use her powers
arbitrarily. She immediately defied that ruling by declaring that
she would not accept any late hand-counted votes. Even as those
counts proceeded under the authority of the State Supreme Court,
Ms. Harris's lawyers declared yesterday that she would certify
the machine-counted vote on Saturday if she had the authority.
The state and federal judiciary cannot tolerate such defiance on
a matter of paramount national importance. Today, Judge Lewis
must take away Ms. Harris's powers to bring the election to a
premature end in order to claim the election for a candidate,
Gov. George W. Bush, for whom she worked as a state campaign
co-chairwoman.
The need for court supervision of the final count between Mr.
Bush and Vice President Al Gore goes beyond curbing the hubris of
a minor state officeholder placed by fate at the hinge of
history. Florida's justices, as well as the state and federal
jurists handling other aspects of the case, have a clear legal
foundation. Florida law is built around protecting "the voter's
intent." That intent cannot be known unless all ballots are
counted under legislation that specifically recognizes hand
counts as the ultimate level of accuracy.
The right to vote is the most fundamental civil right, and judges
who act decisively to protect the franchise are not meddling in
the political process. They are protecting it in much the same
way that leading jurists of the 1960's, like Frank M. Johnson
Jr., the Alabama federal judge, did with powerful rulings that
curbed biased, overreaching local officials. In this case, the
motives are not racial. But Secretary of State Harris is acting
with obvious partisan motives to place a a choke hold on the
democratic process in the state of Florida. By that act, she is
interfering with the rights of millions of Americans to see the
contest between Mr. Bush and Mr. Gore decided by the best count
available under imperfect circumstances.
The Florida Supreme Court's ruling yesterday was, astonishingly,
the fourth rebuke to Ms. Harris and the Bush lawyers in as many
days. On Monday, a federal judge denied the Bush campaign's
request to block the disputed hand-counted votes. On Tuesday,
Judge Lewis ruled that Ms. Harris was wrong to say that she was
required to ignore any late hand- counted returns except when the
delay was caused by an act of God. On Wednesday the Florida
Supreme Court denied Ms. Harris's request to block the hand
counts. Yesterday's ruling rejected the reasoning of Ms. Harris's
office that only a mechanical breakdown of the voting machines
could justify the recount. The justices upheld the authority of
Palm Beach County � and by extension other counties � to proceed
with the manual tabulations.
The Bush strategy is obvious. The governor's aides do not want to
risk a complete statewide count. That is the reason Mr. Bush
refused Mr. Gore's offer on Wednesday for both of them to forgo
future litigation in exchange for a definitive recount. In his
brief television speech on Wednesday night, Mr. Bush belittled
the accuracy and fairness of hand counts. But he repeatedly
ignores the fact that hand counts are used in his own state and
that voluntary hand counts in several Florida counties actually
increased his vote.
Events in Florida this week add up to this. After a slow start,
the courts are now acting properly to draw fair rules for the
vote count at a time when Ms. Harris has been making up new rules
on the run through the purposeful misinterpretation of state law.
If the pattern of principled court rulings continues today, the
hand counts will produce a reliable vote and a presidency that
will not have a cloud over it when claimed by either Mr. Bush or
Mr. Gore.
=================================================================
Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT
FROM THE DESK OF:
*Michael Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends
=================================================================
<A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A>
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html
<A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of
[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A>
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
<A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A>
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
