Waiting for the court

Legislature moving ahead to appoint Bush electors

By DIANE RADO and SHELBY OPPEL

© St. Petersburg Times, published December 12, 2000

TALLAHASSEE -- The state House intends to make history today, voting to appoint a slate of presidential electors to help put Texas Gov. George W. Bush in the White House.

Lawmakers on House and Senate committees put the plan into motion Monday, approving a controversial resolution appointing Florida's 25 electors for Bush.

The action came after five hours of conflicting testimony and mind-boggling legal scenarios that would make a first-year law student cringe.

The full House takes up the resolution today; the full Senate is scheduled to take it up Wednesday. Republicans have wide majorities in both chambers.

But some key senators on Monday were urging caution, preferring to wait until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on whether Florida should continue a statewide recount of thousands of votes.

"My advice was that we should proceed slowly and wait until after the (U.S.) Supreme Court rules," said Sen. Don Sullivan, R-Largo, who spoke to Senate President John McKay about the timing of a final vote. Sullivan is the sponsor of the resolution in the Senate.

Sen. Lisa Carlton, R-Sarasota, chairman of the Senate's Ethics and Elections Committee, also said Monday that she would like to read the U.S. Supreme Court ruling before taking final action.

The nation's highest court heard arguments Monday in the case involving Bush and Vice President Al Gore.

House Speaker Tom Feeney said he won't back off from taking action today. If the U.S. Supreme Court rules while lawmakers are in session, Feeney said he would take a recess to consult with attorneys.

"Absent they (Supreme Court justices) actually tell us to stop, I think we would proceed," he said.

Feeney also said some conservative Democrats are leaning toward supporting a Bush slate of electors.

In fact, Democratic Rep. Dwight Stansel, a tobacco farmer and nurseryman from Wellborn, voted with Republicans on Monday when the House committee approved the resolution by a 5-2 vote.

The Senate committee vote was 4-3, with all Democrats voting against the resolution.

Senate President McKay said: "My plan is to maintain exactly the same course set in session last Friday. We will be prepared to act. If we have to act, we will, if we don't, we won't."

Meanwhile, House Democrats were mounting aggressive resistance Monday:

Democratic leader Lois Frankel wrote a letter to Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, brother of George W. Bush. She asked Jeb Bush to request the Legislature not to interfere in determining Florida's electoral votes.

House Democrats said they will introduce their own resolution to block the Legislature from taking action, and held a news conference to plead with Republican leaders to back off.

The Legislature's appointment of electors would set a "dangerous precedent," the Democratic resolution states.

The Florida AFL-CIO, which supports Gore, is planning another rally for Wednesday, which will include a march through downtown Tallahassee to the Capitol. Last week, a rally organized by Democrats and labor leaders drew up to 2,000 people.

Republican leaders convened a special legislative session last Friday because the close presidential election between Bush and Gore remains unresolved. They fear Florida's 25 electoral votes won't be counted when the Electoral College meets Dec. 18.

But there is substantial dispute about whether a special session is necessary and whether it could add to the confusion or even create a constitutional crisis should the Legislature act.

On Monday, the arguments continued, with lawyers and professors for both sides offering their views to lawmakers on the two committees that approved the resolution: the Senate's Ethics and Elections Committee, and the House Select Committee on Electoral Certification, Accuracy and Fairness.

Yale University professor Bruce Ackerman told senators they are going down the wrong path.

"Legislative intervention will not do anything to eliminate the risk that Congress will refuse to count Florida's votes," he said. "If anything, it will increase this risk, and make the problem worse.'

He outlined a number of scenarios that would lead to Congress, Gov. Jeb Bush or even Vice President Gore playing a major role in deciding who the next president will be.

But U.S. Rep. Asa Hutchinson, R-Ark., told lawmakers in the House that failing to act would make it more likely that Congress would challenge Florida's slate of electors.

"I think it is incumbent . . . upon the Florida Legislature to do as you're doing, to prepare the stage," Hutchinson said.

Members of the public, some of whom attended at the request of the Republican or Democratic parties, also attempted to persuade lawmakers.

"Our country is the United States. Please don't divide us," said Michael Kenny, 41, a Democrat from Fort Lauderdale.

But Republican Richard Brenick, 57, of Jacksonville, pleaded for end to the controversy: "Let's put finality to this circus we've been living."

- Times staff writers Lucy Morgan and Julie Hauserman contributed to this report.

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