-Caveat Lector-
TEAM GORE FIRES ON HARRIS
Sunday,November 19,2000
By BRIAN BLOMQUIST and DAREH GREGORIAN
Al Gore's legal team threw the gloves off yesterday, accusing
Florida's top election official of abusing her power in an
"extraordinary attempt to disenfranchise Florida voters."
Secretary of State Katherine Harris has made decisions regarding
manual recounts in the disputed presidential race that are
"astounding," "legally unjustified," "unlawful" and that make "no
sense at all," Gore's team charged in papers filed with the
Florida Supreme Court yesterday.
Gore's team filed the 62-page legal brief as part of the
campaign's bid to get the state's highest court to allow manual
recounts to continue in three Florida counties and for those
results to be included in the final election tallies.
"The outcome of Florida's presidential election will determine
who becomes the next president of the United States," the filings
said, making it essential "that the voters of Florida, and all of
the citizens of our country, have great confidence that the
individual declared the winner of the election here actually was
the choice of Florida's voters."
Harris, a Republican who co-chaired George W. Bush's Florida
campaign, has repeatedly tried to stop the recounts from going
forward, arguing they're unnecessary because there haven't been
any allegations of fraud or of voting machines malfunctioning.
Lawyers for Bush say she acted properly in sticking with a
deadline last Tuesday for counties to report final vote tallies -
other than overseas ballots - for state certification.
They also argue that recounting only in three Democratic-leaning
counties - Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade - is selective and
unfair, although they've turned down an offer by the vice
president for a statewide hand recount.
The state Supreme Court essentially froze the outcome Friday by
telling Harris she couldn't certify results pending a court
order, which would be made after a hearing and after both sides
submit written arguments.
In those arguments, the Gore team said that "manual recounts are
an essential part of the law of Florida," and that, because the
election could turn on 10,000 undercounted votes in Palm Beach
County, Harris has an obligation to wait for the recount results.
"Votes that are added in a manual recount are validly cast votes
that should have been counted in the first place," the papers
contend, adding that Harris "abused her discretion by deciding to
ignore the results of manual recounts even before she received
them."
They also charged it's disingenuous for Harris to ignore the
tallies because they're late when her orders delayed the starting
of the recounts in the heavily Democratic counties in the first
place.
To allow Harris to get away with that argument, the filing said,
would "reward her for her own wrongdoing."
Bush's legal team and Harris will file their responses to the
Gore brief today.
Bush spokeswoman Karen Hughes said the Democrats should drop
their legal fight because "the manual recount of ballots that
have already been machine-counted several times is flawed and is
subject to human error."
While the legal filing didn't make mention of Harris' party
affiliation or her role in the Bush campaign, many Democrats have
publicly accused her of bias. Harris' lawyer, Joe Klock, said
Friday she's just doing her job to the best of her abilities.
"The secretary does not have a horse in the race," he said.
Democrats hope that recounted ballots will add enough Gore votes
to erase Bush's 930-vote lead. The winner captures Florida's 25
electoral votes - and the White House.
=================================================================
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
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