Unprecedented mid-decade redistrictings in Colorado and Texas orchestrated by the White House.
An unprecedented effort by a Congressman to recall a governor who was re-elected less than a year ago.
A county commissioner found guilty of violating state campaign finance rules in working to oust three Florida Supreme Court justices after the 2000 Presidential election fiasco.
[S]tate administrative law judge Harry L. Hooper, who presided over [Palm Beach County Commissioner Mary] McCarty’s hearing in February on the campaign finance charges, concluded on May 1 that the former Palm Beach County Republican Party chairwoman was little more than a front for a Washington, D.C.-based campaign against the justices, which was organized during the 2000 presidential election recount battle.That campaign, Judge Hooper found, was orchestrated by Roger J. Stone Jr., a Republican lobbyist and political operative who has said he worked for President Richard Nixon’s Watergate-era re-election committee and served as a campaign strategist for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. Stone, who owns a $2.2 million bayfront mansion in Surfside, received $1.8 million from the Miami-Dade County Commission last year for political work he did for the county.
During McCarty’s two-day hearing, the FEC’s lawyer argued that Stone and McCarty established the Committee to Take Back Our Judiciary to pressure the state Supreme Court to rule in favor of then Texas Gov. George W. Bush in his ballot recount battle with Al Gore. McCarty testified that the committee began to take shape six to nine days after the Nov. 7 election. The Florida Supreme Court was first asked by Gore to order hand recounts in the decisive Florida race on Nov. 15.
“This was an attempt to let the justices know, who were going to eventually decide the presidential election, that they were going to be watched,” commission assistant counsel Eric M. Lipman said in his opening arguments. “And it was an attempt to influence what they were going to do.”
You forgot unprecendented Surpreme Court intervention in a Presidential election.
Posted by: Rob on July 9, 2003 3:38 PMThe scary thing about the Mary McCarty/Roger Stone story is that the Florida officials aren't looking very hard to find out who provided Roger Stone with $150,00 to try and intimidate the Florida Supreme Court into ruling in Bush's favor. The RNC? Bush-Cheney? Isn't trying to imtimdate a court to rule in one party's favor obstruction of justice? And isn't moving money back and forth between different entities (one of which appartently didn't actually exist at the time all of this took place) to obscure the origin of the money called money laundering?
Posted by: AJ on July 9, 2003 3:49 PMYou're paranoid. Oh, and a Mr. Ashcroft on line two would like to speak to you about the Patriot Act.
Posted by: Patrick on July 10, 2003 8:16 AMWhat we need right now is an Elliott Ness to counter there Al Capone tactics.
(Goes and rewatches the Untouchables).
Incidentally, Sharpton was on Hannity and Colmes last night for calling Bush an inner-city gang leader or something like that.
As usual, Hannity (were he and Gov. Goodhair seperated at birth?) did his typical bait-the-liberal routine with the good Reverend.
I hope Faux News knows that everytime they do this I find myself actually liking Al Sharpton, or at least feeling mighty sorry for him.
Normally I don't watch Fox, but my parents are still on the get-Clinton bandwagon (my stepmother broke into her "Clinton was narcissistic white trash lecher" rant last night... and Bush isn't an arrogant blue blood bumbler? Hello McFly!)
~ Jimbo
Posted by: Jim D on July 10, 2003 6:45 PMYou are * not* paranoid, so lose the tinfoil hat and do pay attention. Congratulations on outing part of the Bush-Cheney Campaign ‘04
re-selection strategy!
They were pretty heavy handed last time, blatantly using racially targeted tactics in Jeb’s state to tip the scales. They were so desperate for the electoral votes in FL, which Gore had already sewn up.
They have played their U.S. Supreme Court hand,
a one time only option,
and they can't do the overt FL thing again, so this coming election year they desperately need all the electoral votes in TX, CA and CO to win.
Remember, they * lost* the election last time despite :
1. Purging the voter elegibility lists in FL to ensure that African-American voters who vote overwhelmingly Democratic would not be able to cast ballots. (Still not been rectified, so many may still be disenfranchised.)
2. Intimidating minority voters by having Jeb’s state troopers set up roadblocks to "check ID's.”
3. Creating the butterfly ballot in a Democratic jurisdiction. It was no accident it was designed that way. (I'm a graphic designer--it was deliberate)
4. Intimidating the Gore campaign (or forgive my paranoia-maybe infiltrating his
campaign) by
a.)accusing Gore of being "unpatriotic" for wanting to disqualify illegal overseas military votes.
b.) setting arbitrary time limits on the recount, so that his lawyers advised only partial recounts—then skewering him for requesting only partial recounts.
5. Allowing a known mail-in vote fraudster (of Miami (?) mayors' election infamy)
to set up in a Republican controlled district’s election offices and "help" send out absentee ballot request forms to registered Republicans.
6. Persuading over 400 registered New York City Republicans to commit voter fraud by double voting in New York *and* Florida. (I strongly suspect Ms. Harris reminded them that under FL state law, if they did not vote in FL they would have to pay property taxes on their vacation homes.)
7. Moving polling places without informing voters, some were actually re-located to gated communities—keeping out the riff-raff!
8. As is now coming to light, trying to intimidate the FL Supreme court, which must not have been too successful—so they instead got Poppy’s Sumpreme appointees to select Dubya.
Next election the Bush-Cheney team face the
consequences of their failed extremist policies which are beginning to alarm even their own
usually lock-step loyalists. They are pulling
out all the stops, all right. If they fail in
getting their way in CA, will N. Korea "attack"
requiring a suspension of the elections and
martial law in the ensuing crisis? Well, that's
one way to finally get rid of Gray Davis!