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Florida House approves Bush slate
By SHELBY OPPEL © St. Petersburg Times, published December 13, 2000 TALLAHASSEE - The state Legislature began Tuesday by taking its first steps into the history books. By the end of the day, Republican lawmakers were struggling with whether they would need to finish the job they had started. About seven hours before Tuesday night's U.S. Supreme Court decision, the state House had voted 79-41 to approve 25 electors pledged to Texas Gov. George W. Bush. But Tuesday night, leading GOP lawmakers said they doubted that it would be necessary for the Senate to do the same. On behalf of Senate President John McKay, spokeswoman Karen Chandler gave a brief statement shortly after 11 p.m.: "It appears that we have finality and perhaps our cautious approach has paid off. But to make sure, we'll read the opinion in the morning and come to a definitive conclusion." Chandler said McKay had not read the opinion yet. Until the ruling, the Senate had been set to take up the resolution on electors today. Similarly, a veteran lawmaker from Pinellas County suggested the court had ended the long running election recount. "It looks like a Bush victory, but I'm not a lawyer," Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Palm Harbor, said Tuesday night, minutes after the court decision. "It looks like this will bring us to the end, but that's about all I can say." One alternative interpretation came from Sen. Jim Horne, R-Orange Park, who said the ruling probably would not deter the Senate from taking up the resolution. The "soupy, middle of the road" decision by the U.S. Supreme Court might not change how quickly the Republican-controlled Senate acts, he said, though it will raise senators' anxiety level. "It probably, clearly throws it in our lap," Horne said. "Our worst fears are sort of coming true, that constitutionally it may be our role to do this. . . . We still continue on this path, but it makes it very heavy lifting." All along, the state Legislature's intervention in the election was a backstop. Republicans feared that Vice President Al Gore's legal challenges would tie up Florida's 25 electors, pledged to Gov. George W. Bush, and thereby give Gore a chance of winning when the Electoral College meets Monday. McKay and House Speaker Tom Feeney issued the call for the special session last week, and the lawmakers gathered at a cost of $45,000 a day on Friday. They held committee meetings on Monday, and the full House voted Tuesday. Both chambers must approve a resolution naming the electors before those names can be sent to Washington. The resolution, because it is not a bill, would not require action by Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, brother of the Texas governor. Before Tuesday night's decision, key senators said they were willing to delay until the U.S. Supreme Court determined whether statewide recounts of disputed ballots should resume. If the high court ruled against recounts and Gore conceded, lawmakers said, pressure would build for both Republican-controlled chambers to abandon their efforts to name their own slate of electors pledged to Bush. Florida has already sent a Bush slate to Washington, but Republicans fear those electors are in jeopardy because of the Democrats' legal challenge. "I would hope that the United States Supreme Court may render moot what we did today," Feeney said at the close of the session. But Feeney kept the pressure on senators to follow through, if necessary, saying, "I hope the Senate does not render moot what we did today." The debate that began at 10 a.m. Tuesday on the House floor was tempered and tightly controlled, with none of the jokes or ribbing about college football rivalries that have punctuated more ordinary sessions. Instead, lawmakers invoked God and grandparents and civil rights leaders to bolster their views, as news cameras from around the world filmed them from the public galleries. Two electronic timers -- red for the Democrats, blue for Republicans -- ticked off the 21/2 hours alloted to each side on a large screen behind Feeney's rostrum. "The 2000 election is spiraling out of control and we must stop it now," said Rep. Paula Dockery, a Republican from Lakeland. Republicans presented their case as a do-or-die proposition, describing the vote to appoint Bush electors as a constitutional duty that legislators must not abdicate. To do so, they argued, would risk allowing Floridians' votes to go uncounted. "It is simply unconscionable that we could leave here today without absolutely and finally guaranteeing that Florida's 15-million people are represented," House Majority Leader Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, said on the House floor. Democrats, outnumbered 77-43 in the House, urged lawmakers to accept an alternative resolution calling for the Legislature to await the U.S. Supreme Court's decision and then to "congratulate the next president of the United States." That measure failed by a 79-41 vote. Democratic Reps. Dwight Stansel and Will Kendrick, both from North Florida districts that Bush won, voted with Republicans against the measure, and later to approve the electors for Bush. "This is unprecedented. This is extraordinary. This is unfair. This is unnecessary. And I'm sorry to say, I believe that it is unlawful," said House Democratic Leader Lois Frankel of West Palm Beach. "We do not have a right to be doing this." Black, Hispanic and female Democrats, in particular, emphasized the danger of appointing electors before the U.S Supreme Court had determined whether all legal ballots have been counted. They compared the House's appointment of electors to past efforts to deny the right to vote to women and minorities. Rep. Philip Brutus, a Miami Democrat and the state's first Haitian-American legislator, said he represented Haitian-born Americans who fled their homeland so they could vote without fear of violence. To them, Brutus said, "our action today could be seen as a coup d'etat." Brutus is one of 63 new lawmakers in the House, all but two without legislative experience. The House resolution states that the Nov. 7 presidential election in Florida "ultimately failed to make a choice," an argument Republican House leaders have relied upon heavily to justify the appointment of Bush electors. The Senate resolution does not include that language. While every Democrat had the option to speak Tuesday, a few, including state Rep. Charlie Justice of St. Petersburg, waived their time. Justice said he knew his "two minutes of fame" wouldn't change any votes, so he gave it to colleagues whose good will might benefit his constituents later. He described the Republicans' reasoning this way: "If the courts do what we agree, we're not going to act. If the courts don't do what we agree, we are going to act." "It just blows my mind," Justice said.
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