[CTRL] Investigate Bush

[William Shannon]

http://www.onlinejournal.com/Commentary/Ticker052501/ticker052501.html Florida's election mess and Bush's deeds as Texas governor warrant investigations By Bruce S. Ticker   May 25, 2001—We never learned why John Kennedy died and there are so many other political mysteries which will never be solved. But six months ago, I hoped to learn the truth about the election mess in Florida. There was substantial reason to question if the election was stolen. The facts needed sorting out. Disenfrancisement of thousands of voters, whether intentional or inadvertent, is far more important than whether a president lied under oath about his sex life. So you would think that Congress might investigate the Florida situation. No chance, not with a Republican-controlled Congress. But now we have a silver-platter opportunity. With Sen. James Jeffords' defection from the Republican Party, the Democrats are now in the process of taking control of the Senate with a 50–49 majority and the new independent from Vermont. The Senate majority should take advantage of its power to launch investigations where they are warranted. It should use that power sparingly, so each investigation will be effective. The Florida election is one of two situations which should be the focus of investigations. The second one is an ethics inquiry into George W. Bush's success in using the power of the Texas governor's office to avoid jury duty and thus testifying about his drunk driving conviction in Maine. The first matter screams for an investigation. You have heard some of the allegations that suggest a pattern of an orchestrated effort to swing an election by preventing presumed supporters of Democrat Al Gore from voting. This in a state run by Bush's governor brother, Jeb. African-American voters complained of being denied their right to vote because their names were not on the voting rolls despite being longtime registered voters. It came to light later that the state had hired a private firm to purge voter rolls of felons' names and in the process might have removed the names of legitimate voters. Was this intentional? State police squads mysteriously showed up near voting booths in African-American neighborhoods which slowed traffic and scared off black voters who feared problems with the law. Even the butterfly ballots are suspect. Although the Palm Beach County clerk who designed them was a Democrat, there are reports that she has unusual contacts with Republicans. Republican party regulars were allowed to alter election office forms in several county election offices. We deserve answers. In 1996, the current president was called for jury duty in Austin and was considered for sitting on a jury in a drunk driving trial. According to news accounts, he told the prosecutor and the judge that his position as governor might constitute a conflict of interest. What he left out was his brush with the law in Kennebunkport, Maine, in September 1976, when a police officer stopped him and charged him with drunken driving. The man who pledged to restore dignity and respect to the White House lied to two officers of the court, perhaps more. Maybe he did nothing illegal, but he clearly acted unethically. But I wonder if he committed any crimes. Of course, he did not lie under oath by denying that he was ever arrested and convicted of drunken driving. That's because he already lied his way out of it. While I am not familiar with Texas criminal law, I do recall such terms elsewhere as hindering the administration of justice or obstructing justice. Some people might argue that the jury duty incident was petty stuff. Not as petty as spending millions of dollars on a president's sex life. More importantly, Bush could have killed someone in his condition that night and manipulated the system to cover it up. Whether or not Bush committed a crime, this episode merits an ethics inquiry. Of course, the Senate does not need to stop with these situations. There is also a matter of lying about White House vandalism, the Secret Service's level of protection of Jenna Bush when she bar-hops . . .