Election2000: Judge: Turn over ballots

Judge: Turn over ballots

Republican lawmakers are interested in picking new electors, but Democrats oppose the idea.

By LUCY MORGAN and JULIE HAUSERMAN

TALLAHASSEE -- Gov. Jeb Bush says he's keeping his nose out of lawmakers' discussions over a possible special legislative session that could pick electors who would designate his brother as Florida's choice for president.

"If it's not necessary to have a special session, they shouldn't have it," Bush told the St. Petersburg Times on Tuesday. "If we don't have electors on Dec. 12, it's clear the Legislature has the authority to determine electors."

But -- even without Jeb Bush's direct involvement -- the prospect of the Republican-run Legislature selecting a new set of electors who would send George W. Bush to the White House dominated the capital Tuesday. A special joint committee convened; no decisions were announced.

Republicans in the House were particularly interested in intervening, but it would take leaders of both chambers to call a session. "I want to have our electors in place on Dec. 12," House Speaker Tom Feeney said. "I believe we have a constitutional duty to appoint electors, but I'm only half the Legislature."

In dire-sounding speeches at the Capitol on Tuesday, attorneys hired by the Legislature urged Florida lawmakers to call a special session to pick electors for George W. Bush as soon as possible -- or risk having Congress do the job.

Outraged Democrats, who are in the minority, are opposing the idea. They said the committee that met Tuesday to explore the idea was a political sham by Republicans who want to guarantee that Florida's 25 electors go to Bush -- not Vice President Al Gore.

The legal experts hired by Republican leaders made this argument: Even though Florida has already sent its certified list of electors to Washington, Gore's court challenges could put that list in limbo or even force Florida to send in two separate lists of electors. The only way to guarantee that the current list stays as is, the lawyers argued, is for the Legislature to pick it.

Leading Florida Republicans said the move would come only as a last resort.

"It's bad for everyone," said Florida Republican Party Chairman Al Cardenas. "It creates animosity, harbors ill feelings. It's a definite thing to avoid at all costs."

Orange Park Republican Sen. Jim Horne agreed.

"I think we're all sitting here with our knees crossed and our fingers crossed, hoping this won't happen," Horne said.

But Tuesday, the political rhetoric rose for the Legislature to step in before the Dec. 12 deadline for certifying electors.

"Recommendation -- Be Prepared," read a PowerPoint slide that hung above lawmakers as they listened to a briefing by Harvard law professor Einer Elhauge, whom the House hired to handle a "friend of the court" brief that the Legislature filed as a companion to George W. Bush's U.S. Supreme Court challenge. "Given the present risks of losing its votes in the Electoral College, (the) Florida Legislature should call a special session on whatever date is early enough to allow it to take decisive action in a timely fashion."

"It is your constitutional duty in the end and nobody else's," argued John Yoo, a University of California law professor who once worked as a clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Senate Democratic leader Tom Rossin of West Palm Beach protested: "There is no constitutional crisis. The only way there could be one is if the Legislature creates one for the wrong reasons. I certainly hope we are not here simply because the Bush campaign needs a backup."

Gov. Jeb Bush has made a point of staying out of the election dispute playing out in his state. He gave a brief interview Tuesday on a sidewalk in front of Tallahassee's City Hall.

Though he has kept a distance from the matter, six of his aides took leaves of absence to help in the GOP effort shortly after Election Day, though they have since returned to his office.

Bush said his only conversation with legislators on the issue took place over the Thanksgiving weekend when he exchanged holiday greetings with House Speaker Feeney and Senate President John McKay, said Katie Baur, communications director for the governor.

Baur said Feeney called the governor to wish him a happy Thanksgiving and the governor later called McKay. In both conversations, they also discussed the ongoing drama surrounding Florida's presidential vote.

"They just briefly touched on this political circus, and the governor asked if they are likely to have a special session," Baur added.

Feeney said the governor made no attempt to direct him on what to do.

"He acknowledged concerns and sort of an unhappiness that fate has put us in a position where we may have to deal with this," Feeney said. "Jeb wants to get out of the blocks and go to fixing things for Floridians."

Neither Feeney nor McKay were willing to predict that the Legislature would go into special session. Lawmakers typically would need 24 to 48 hours notice to get to Tallahassee in time.

McKay said Bush talked with him briefly about the possibility of a session but didn't encourage him to have one.

McKay said he's waiting to get a recommendation from the joint committee, which meets again today, and may have further meetings if business isn't finished.

"It is clear we have a constitutional and statutory responsibility to designate electors on the 12th in the event legal contests are going on," McKay said. "But it would be premature to say that conclusion has been drawn."

Looking down the road, Bush said he doesn't know whether it would be a problem for him to sign a bill assigning a new set of electors. But there are other scenarios: The governor wouldn't have to sign the measure if the Legislature passed a joint resolution instead of a bill.

"I'm letting them do what they think is right," Bush said.

The joint committee meets from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Tallahassee today and has pledged a brief -- and hastily called -- public comment session from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. After that, the committee will deliberate the Legislature's next move.

"We've had three weeks of partisanship and lawsuits, and Americans are looking at us for some solutions and finality," argued Rep. Johnnie Byrd, a Plant City Republican.

Quipped Rossin, the Senate Democratic leader: "Probably the fairest way to do this would be to give 121/2 electoral votes to (George W.) Bush and 121/2 electoral votes to Gore. That's probably not constitutionally possible, and it's not politically possible, given the makeup of the Florida Legislature."

- Times staff writer Diane Rado and Times researcher Stephanie Scruggs contributed to this report.