State: Election inquiry summons Bush

TALLAHASSEE -- The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has subpoenaed Gov. Jeb Bush to testify next week in hearings to determine if any Floridians' voting rights were denied in the presidential election.

The commission, appointed primarily by President Clinton, will meet in Tallahassee next week on Thursday and Friday. Additional hearings will occur on subsequent days in Miami, Jacksonville and Tampa.

The hearings were scheduled as a result of complaints made to the Department of Justice by the Rev. Jesse Jackson and others who allege that they were the victims of discrimination.

Charles T. Canady, general counsel for the governor, said Bush is "committed to ensuring that no Floridian is deprived of the right to vote on account of discrimination or fraud" and is willing to assist the commission investigation.

"Gov. Bush would be pleased to appear and testify at the Commission hearing," Canady wrote the commission Wednesday.

The subpoena issued for Bush directs him to produce copies of all documents and communications relating to the state's preparations for the Nov. 7 election and any document created after the election that refers to alleged irregularities.

The commission also wants to see all of the communications between the governor and Secretary of State Katherine Harris, the campaigns of his brother, President-elect George W. Bush, and Vice President Al Gore, Attorney General Bob Butterworth, the Republican and Democratic parties.

Bush was also directed to produce copies of all documents pertaining to his decision to create a task force to look into problems that surfaced during the election.

That task force, scheduled to meet for the first time next week, is headed by former Secretary of State Jim Smith and University of Miami President Tad Foote.

Jackson, in one of several appearances in Tallahassee last month, accused the governor and Harris of organizing the state to target African-American voters and compared Florida to Selma, Ala., in the 1960s.

Black legislators have also leveled accusations at Bush in response to the governor's One Florida plan to eliminate racial set-asides in college admissions and state contracts.

A year ago Sen. Kendrick Meek, D-Miami, and former Rep. Tony Hill, a Jacksonville Democrat and union leader, staged a sit-in overnight in the governor's office, demanding the repeal of One Florida.

In April, the U.S. Civil Rights Commission condemned Jeb Bush's One Florida policy. The commission's majority criticized the governor for abandoning affirmative action, even though he was not under any court order to do so.

As for the elections controversy, Gov. Bush has said he appointed the task force because he, too, is concerned about election problems and wanted the group to recommend solutions for the problems.

Bush has also acknowledged a need to mend fences in the state's black community. In a televised holiday address to the state last month, Bush said deep divisions in the state cross racial and partisan lines.

"One person cannot heal them," Bush said. "All of us must refocus the terrific energy that is Florida by ensuring that we rebuild our political and electoral structures so that no one feels disenfranchised, so that all of us feel confidence in our system of elections; so that we can move beyond politics to possibilities of a better and brighter future."

In a legal notice last month in the Federal Register, the commission said it wants to hear from any who were denied the right to vote or to have their vote counted during the presidential election.

Although Bush has indicated he will appear at next week's hearing, he has questioned a commission suggestion that he is in charge of the state's elections. Edward A. Hailes Jr., acting general counsel for the commission, in a letter asking Bush to testify, described the governor as having "statutory authority over election and voter related issues."

In his letter to the commission Wednesday, Canady noted that Florida law gives the authority for conducting elections to the secretary of state.

Bush's only role in the election process is traditionally as a member of the state board that certifies the results of an election. Bush recused himself from that board last year because his brother was on the ballot.

The commission has asked Bush to appear as a final witness late Friday afternoon, Jan. 12, but Canady said the governor has a longstanding obligation to be in Jacksonville and St. Petersburg that day and offered to testify a day earlier.

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Lucy Morgan

From the Times state desk