I know you all think Im wacky when I state that the Dems are going all out to
steal the election but the truth is it is real. Partisans are making partisan
subjective decisions to try to somehow stealk this lection for Gore.
JOHN FUND'S POLITICAL DIARY
Wall Street Journal
A Blatant Conflict of Interest
Theresa LePore should recuse herself from the Palm Beach vote-count process.
Sunday, November 12, 2000 1:03 p.m. EST
If you would like to know exactly how your next president will be determined,
read this Saturday night dispatch from the Associated Press:
During the manual count of votes in Palm Beach County, Fla., officials
switched tests mid-count to decide the validity of the ballots.
In the morning, the canvassing board said that they would count a vote if any
of the corners of the bits of paper punched out of the cards called "chad"
were punched.
The board then decided that they would instead use the "sunlight test" if
they could see sun come though an indentation, it would count.
About a quarter of the way through the counting, however, a board member
determined that the light test was flawed and told the other members to go
back to the first test.
The change in procedures will undoubtedly slow down the hand count as board
members had to go back and recount all of the votes previously counted using
the new rules.
After six hours of playing Carnac the Magnificent, holding up ballots and
trying to divine the "intent" of the voters who cast them, the three-member
Palm Beach County election canvassing commission completed its hand count of
four sample precincts and took up the question of whether they had turned up
enough "errors" using the new liberalized new standard to justify a complete
recount of the county's ballots.
County Judge Charles Burton, the commission's chairman, urged caution. He put
forth a motion to ask the Florida Secretary of State's office for advice
before proceeding with a full hand count. But he was overruled. The vote for
the complete recount, which came after 2 a.m. today, was 2-1.
The two other members of the canvassing board are Carol Roberts, a county
commissioner, and Theresa LePore, the county elections supervisor. Ms.
Roberts is a highly partisan Democrat who met with President Clinton in Palm
Beach last year while she was contemplating a run for Congress. Ms. LePore,
an elected Democrat, is the designer of the infamous "butterfly ballot" that
both Democrats and impartial observers say caused confusion on Election Day.
Ms. LePore says she designed the ballot to make the print bigger for seniors,
the group complaining the loudest about it. But she sent sample ballots to
every voter and all candidates before the election and didn't receive any
complaints. Nonetheless, she has come in for bitter criticism. The AP says
she "might be the most reviled Democrat in the country" because her ballot
"may have cost Al Gore the election." Ms. LePore has gone into near-seclusion
and has hired a lawyer to defend herself against lawsuits.
It is for that reason that Ms. LePore should have recused herself from the
decision to launch an unprecedented hand count of all presidential ballots in
Palm Beach--and why she should recuse herself from all subsequent decisions
about this election. She has a blatant conflict of interest. Ms. LePore has
worked in the Palm Beach election office since she was 16. As an elected
official, she obviously would like to continue in office. If she did not
approve the controversial hand count in the heavily Democratic county, it's
obvious she would have no political future.
Two months ago, the same Palm Beach County election commissioners rejected a
request for a hand count in a disputed GOP primary election for a state
legislative seat. Beverly Green begged for a hand count of her 13-vote loss
but was rebuffed. "It wasn't that close. The manual count is historically
when it's single digits," said Ms. LePore at the time. A state House district
is smaller than Palm Beach County, but a single-digit margin in such a
district would be the equivalent of only about 100 votes countywide. Clearly
Ms. LePore & Co. are applying a double standard.
The decision to proceed with the hand count was made by a single vote--Ms.
LePore's. Do the American people want a single low-level politician who fears
for her job to decide who will be the president of the United States?
