-Caveat Lector-
Kings of Chutzpah
The American Spectator
by Evan Gahr
He vouches for O.J. Simpson, but Harvard Law School professor
Alan Dershowitz sure rushes to judgment with Katherine Harris. On
CNN November 14, Dershowitz called the Florida secretary of state
a "crook." He suggested -- falsely -- that she had laundered
money some years back.
Interviewed by TAS the next morning, Dershowitz reiterated his
quite possibly slanderous remarks. "She is bought and paid for by
the Bush campaign. If that's not the definition of a crook I
don't know what is." But Harris's only crime is that she may keep
Gore from "winning" Florida.
The current election results give Bush a 300 vote lead in the
sunshine state. The plain reading of the law -- plus a Florida
judge's decision -- affords Harris wide latitude to certify those
results, without further recounts. Last night, she rejected
requests by four Florida counties for more time to modify their
official results. She is everything we feared, groaned the
non-partisan Geraldo Rivera on CNBC. He meant, of course, that
Harris's decision proved her a partisan hack. Actually, Harris
really is the left's worst nightmare. She is unswayed by their
politics of personal destruction.
Dershowitz's broadside against Harris bordered on character
assassination. Dershowitz, who represents some of the voters who
have filed lawsuits charging voting irregularities in Florida,
declared "She's a crook. She's had all kinds of corruption
allegations about expenditures of money. . . She's not one to
exercise discretion" about which votes should be recounted.
Giving her discretion is "not the American way." There's a new
one -- a Republican called un-American by a liberal.
These comments proved too much for anchor Wolf Blitzer, who
corrected Dershowitz: "We want to point out some of the things
you were saying were allegations." Dershowitz, however, wasn't
about to stop. He mentioned an insurance company's donation to
Harris's 1994 campaign for state senate. "She returned the
$20,000 after it was proven she laundered it. That was proof." It
was?
Yesterday, the New York Times reported what actually happened:
"Ms. Harris accepted more than $20,000 in contributions that
prosecutors later said had been illegally 'bundled' together by
executives of Riscorp, an insurance company based in Florida.
Executives with the company, federal prosecutors charged,
funneled money to Ms. Harris and several other Florida
politicians through their employees, relatives and associates in
order to evade laws limiting the amount of money that companies
can donate to candidates.
"Ms. Harris -- who had pressed for legislation favorable to
Riscorp -- was never charged with any crime. The founder of
Riscorp, William D. Griffin, pleaded guilty to a federal
conspiracy charge and was sentenced to a five-month prison term."
"'In hindsight,' she was quoted as saying by the Sarasota
Herald-Tribune in 1997, 'I wish I had been more aware of how much
money they were giving me.'"
Well, that certainly rings more true than Gore's excuses for the
Buddhist fundraiser.
Dershowitz's key assertion -- that "it was proven" that Harris
had laundered money -- was manifestly false. As Dershowitz and
other defense lawyers endlessly remind us, there's a big
difference between being accused and actually convicted.
Dershowitz also likened Harris -- an elected official -- to a
Republican "functionary." On the "Today Show" this morning, David
Boies, the latest of Al Gore's lawyers to descend upon Florida,
continued on that theme. He asked if "Harris stops the process
now will anyone believe she did it for anything but a partisan
purpose?"
Two can play this game, counselor. If she allows the recounts to
go forward will anyone believe she acted impartially, when it
would certainly appear she had succumbed to the partisan wishes
and high-pressure tactics of Democrats? By what measure is only
Harris's reading of the law tainted by ideology? Are the
Democrats who claim she must allow the recount to continue
impartial? Can only Republicans be biased?
Yes, Harris is a Republican and even campaigned for George W.
Bush. But her obvious sympathies don't necessarily mean her
forthcoming decision about the election is necessarily biased or
otherwise illegitimate. To claim that she is animated by bias
rather than a strict reading of the law is a self-serving assertion
which Democrats have yet to prove.
The real political functionaries here are liberal lawyers, who
have descended upon the Sunshine state to handcraft the election
results.
Dershowitz tells TAS his remarks were entirely justified. "I was
very consciously making a personal attack on her integrity. I see
what's going on in Florida . It's a scam. " He says the
controversy over her prior campaign contributions is relevant
because it speaks to her integrity. But by what logic can he
assert that money laundering allegations against Harris were
proved? "Of course it was proved. She returned the $20,000. She
admitted she took the money in error. The allegations of money
laundering were proved. She got money laundered for her by
Riscoff . She acknowledged" that.
Returning money is by no means an admission of wrongdoing. Don't
savvy defense lawyers remind us of that constantly? "I was not
speaking as a defense attorney," Dershowitz now says.
He wasn't? Dershowitz, who represents some of the voters who have
filed lawsuits alleging voting irregularities in Florida, made
his name as a celebrity defense attorney. His whole claim to fame
is his defense of big name accused criminals. He certainly would
not let a prosecutor play as fast and loose with the facts as he
does now.
But this is the man who (literally) wrote the book on chutzpah.
His 1991 book by that title urges American Jews to have more of
it. Whether they need more is debatable. But the GOP certainly
does. How else to counter the naked demagoguery of a defense
lawyer who pronounces the GOP guilty of crimes for which
conceding the election is the only acceptable punishment?
It's clear Al Gore has read Dershowitz book. Yesterday, he
offered the Bush campaign a "compromise": Swell guy that he is,
Gore 'would have Bush agree to everything Gore has so failed to
obtain. Gore proposed the two sides agree to either a complete
statewide recount or accept manual recounts in a handful of
Florida counties. Gore also suggested that he and Bush meet in
person "not to negotiate but to improve the tone of our dialogue
in America."
Notice the progression: Gore keeps quiet as Chris Lehane, his
official spokesman, likens Harris to a "Soviet commissar" and his
unofficial spokesman, Dershowitz, unilaterally convicts her of
money-laundering. Then, the veep suddenly emerges to propose a
meeting with Bush to foster civility, as if both men are equally
culpable for the poisonous atmosphere or just above the fray.
Sounds like an arsonist offering to discuss fire safety.
Talk about chutzpah.
Evan Gahr is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute.
(Posted 11/16/00)
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