State: GOP had election lawyers poised

With lessons learned from the bitterly fought 2000 presidential election, Republicans crafted a legal battle plan that they were prepared to carry out with military precision. Initially caught off guard two years ago, the GOP was determined to be ready for anything this time.

The carefully designed effort was more elaborate than the hastily assembled legal team that helped George W. Bush win the White House.

While Democrats talked a lot about the need to remember what happened two years ago, it was the Republicans who formed a "legal response team" of 350 lawyers, stationed in every county in Florida.

They researched the political ties of local election officials. They prepared legal briefs that could be filed instantly in any courthouse in Florida. Then they waited for Democrats to make the first move.

The goal was to make sure that Gov. Jeb Bush 's re-election would not be threatened by lawsuits or recounts.

As with the campaign for governor, Republicans had vastly greater resources than the Democrats and left nothing to chance.

"You have to be on guard 24 hours a day," said Republican Party Chairman Al Cardenas.

In the two weeks leading up to Election Day, Republican lawyers in Tallahassee, Washington and Miami created a "virtual law firm" to deal with potential problems at the polls and in the courts if necessary. They set up a makeshift law firm at state party headquarters, a Tallahassee building named the George Bush Republican Center.

They were led by a Washington lawyer who headed George W. Bush's legal team during the marathon recount of 2000.

E-mail allowed lawyers to send and receive briefs and customize them, depending on the legal issues or the counties involved.

They drafted legal arguments to thwart any Democratic efforts to extend voting hours. They made lists of local canvassing board members and their contributions to candidates so they could try to bar Democrats from overseeing a manual recount.

Barry Richard, a Tallahassee lawyer who handled the Bush campaign's appeals during the 2000 recount, was recruited to do the same this year if the election shifted to the courts.

"It was just a reaction to what happened in the 2000 presidential litigation," Richard explained. "Both sides had to gear up literally overnight, and I think this time everybody just wanted to be ready."

In a memo to participating lawyers, Eric Buermann, counsel to the Republican Party of Florida, laid out a formal "chain of command" with "county team captains" and a "tactical unit."

George Terwilliger III, a partner in the Washington law firm of White & Case and a deputy U.S. attorney general under the first President Bush, directed the legal operation.

Terwilliger, the lead attorney on George W. Bush's legal strategy in Florida in 2000, was assisted by Reginald Brown, Gov. Jeb Bush 's former deputy general counsel.

"George will be responsible for overall legal strategy and have final signoff authority over any potential litigation and any formal protests or filings with state or federal officials," Buermann wrote in the Oct. 30 memo. "Tactical operations will be managed by a central legal support headquarters in Miami. . . . Your cooperation and support for the chain of contact and command is essential to our success."

Buermann made clear that he did not want GOP lawyers initiating lawsuits. "It is imperative," he wrote, "that we avoid unauthorized litigation and that major issues be brought to the attention of the tactical unit prior to any potentially high profile actions in the field."

Others involved in the effort included Gil Singer, attorney for the Hillsborough County Republican Party; Bill Scherer, a Fort Lauderdale lawyer and prominent GOP fundraiser; and Curt Kiser, a former Pinellas County lawmaker who works as a lawyer-lobbyist for Holland & Knight, the law firm formerly run by Democratic gubernatorial nominee Bill McBride .

Sally Bradshaw, Bush's senior campaign adviser, had dispatched a round of e-mails in late October, voicing concern that, if serious problems surfaced on Election Day, Republicans did not have enough lawyers in position.

Democrats had an elaborate operation, but it was focused on using "poll monitors" at voting stations to make sure machines worked properly and votes were counted. Republicans were determined to prevail in any courtroom confrontation.

"As a rule, Republicans are more efficient at getting themselves organized than Democrats are," Richard said. "Democrats tend to be a more loosely organized group."

Bush held a comfortable lead over McBride in polls, but Republicans were wary of long lines at precincts, especially in the two counties with the most Democratic voters and the most problems in the primary, Miami-Dade and Broward.

The Miami-based "tactical unit" was directed by Gov. Bush's former general counsel, Carol Licko, and Mark Wallace, a Floridian who is the general counsel to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

A branch of the operation in Tallahassee was directed by Hayden Dempsey, Bush's former legislative affairs director. That group was in charge of dealing with any problems concerning provisional, absentee or overseas ballots and canvassing boards.

Terwilliger faxed letters to the U.S. attorneys in Florida and to Harry Lee Anstead, the Florida Supreme Court chief justice, a few days before Election Day. "We will be prepared to appear promptly, telephonically or in person, to address any request for relief," Terwilliger wrote Anstead on Nov. 1.

At the same time, a 13-page legal memorandum was in the lawyers' computers, ready to be filed in court in case Democrats tried to keep the polls open late in Broward County.

In words reminiscent of the 36-day siege two years ago, the memo said that a "request at this late date for a selective extension of time and special balloting rules in a single heavily Democratic county bears all the hallmarks of a cynical attempt to use the courts to obtain an unfair partisan advantage. If granted, the relief sought would raise serious federal Equal Protection issues and threaten to enmesh the state of Florida once again in a protracted, divisive and unwarranted legal controversy."

Broward, the site of a Sept. 10 primary meltdown, was a new source of concern for the Republicans. Democratic U.S. Reps. Alcee Hastings and Peter Deutsch were asking elections officials to allow voters standing in long lines to use paper ballots. Republicans opposed that idea, but when Election Day came, the long lines didn't materialize.

"Most of our lawyers ended up sitting around, staring at each other," said George LeMieux, a Fort Lauderdale lawyer on the GOP team and chairman of the Broward County Republican Party. "Nothing happened."

Back to State news

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright

Special Links

Lucy Morgan

From the Times state desk