Posted on 06/23/2002 12:38:38 AM PDT by Johnny Shear
MIAMI (AP) - Gov. Jeb Bush and Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris criticized the chairwoman of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission on Friday for saying they have not done enough to ensure Florida's flawed presidential election isn't repeated.
Bush called the Mary Frances Berry's commission "a badly discredited institution" and saying it is reopening a controversy "that most Floridians have long forgotten." President George W. Bush, the governor's brother, won the White House in 2000 after a partial recount of the state's ballots.
"Florida is indisputably a national leader in election reform," Bush said, saying the state will spend $30 million to ensure future elections run smoothly. "The commission appears stubbornly determined to ignore the progress our state has made."
A statement issued by Harris' office called Berry the "doctor of distortion" and said the chairwoman "maintains the absurd pretension that she possesses the moral authority to speak regarding the fairness of elections in Florida."
"Florida remains the only state in the nation that has passed and funded comprehensive election reform legislation," Harris said, saying election reform has been her top priority.
Berry, who was in Miami to assess legislative and policy changes adopted since the 2000 election, had said Thursday she believes the election reforms go only about a third of the way toward addressing problems the commission examined after the U.S. Supreme Court stopped the recount.
Berry had said she was "especially disappointed" that no state officials attended the meeting and blamed Bush and Harris for "shrugging off" responsibility for voting reforms.
When contacted Friday, Berry said she was "flabbergasted" by Harris' comments.
"It's not a question of moral authority, it's an issue of practicality and our hope that everything will go well for the September primaries," Berry said. "We are sounding an alert and hoping she and other officials get the system fixed."
The U.S. Justice Department, which also examined Florida's elections, decided earlier this month to sue and immediately settle with three counties. No other suits were planned because the department didn't expect it could get much more than the new state laws provide.
Democratic National Chairman Terry McAuliffe said Friday that the Justice Department has not addressed all the allegations in Florida and that President Bush should look into this.
"If he remains passive and uncommitted, the country will see a repeat of voter disenfranchisement in 2002," he said.
No, not by *my* definition...
A Dutch-Rub is just as has been explained...A nuckle into the skull with side-to-side rubbing pressure...
A Noogie utilizes the same nuckle but it's a brisk tapping motion.
You don't have to tell me about Berry's tactics. From a thread about Bush appointee Peter Kirsanow's first day being recognized on the Commission, after being literally treated as a non-entity by Berry and the left side of the group in January:
I was watching that January meeting on C-SPAN over the net. What a piece of work Mary Frances Berry is. She runs that committee like Stalin (or at least Dean Wormer), constantly interrupting when she wants and enforc[ing] Robert's Rules of Order when she wants to close off debate or shut up someone on the right.I never felt like I wanted to belt a old lady before I saw Berry in action.
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