Budge: - -from my recall of the numbers, you could say the same of the
- -SWP, but nobody ever blames them for throwing the election
- -to Bush.
I blame the WWP candidate. And the Socialist candidate. I'd forgotten about the SWP. And Buchanan, who ran so strongly among the Jewish retirees of Palm Beach County. There were about eight presidential candidates on the Florida ballot, at least four of them to the left of the Dems. Each received more votes than the declared margin of 'victory'.
Nathan:
>Only within the micro numbers that pitched the decision into the courts.
>Without Nader in the race, the Gore totals would have been so decisive that
>the vote would have never been disputed.
Nathan, you're assuming Nader voters would've still dragged themselves to the polls to vote for Gore. I know several who would not have. What's the idea o f contesting this narrow center ground when the majority is not voting at all? Isn't that the story of the 2002 elections?
>Were you doing anything in Florida to try to salvage the situation in
>the late fall of 2000?
I was, but by then it was way too late. Jeb Bush, Katherine Harris and Div. of Elections Dir. Clayton Roberts had already purged at least 75,000 likely Democrats from the rolls in the previous year. They were not allowed to vote because their names bore a passing resemblance to those of ex-felons. Also, Budge is right, I made calls, went to the rallies, the Dems threw the fight.
Here's a piece about the film "Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election"
(www.unprecedented.org) ___
Documentary exposes Jeb Bush administration subversion of elections
Jenny Brown, Gainesville Iguana, October 2002
As we gear up to vote on whether Jeb Bush should continue as Florida's governor, a new film exposes the premeditated Jeb Bush administration strategy of eliminating voters from the rolls in preparation for the 2000 elections, and then details the anti-democratic machinations of the Republican party as they tried to seize Florida's 25 electoral votes for George W. Bush. In the end, even that failed, and the campaign had to rely on the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the count.
Filmmakers Joan Sekler and Richard Ray Perez presented "Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election" at two separate showings in Gainesville on September 24. It was part of a statewide tour that met with enthusiastic audiences from Miami to Jacksonville. The hourlong documentary will be shown again at the Hippodrome on Monday, October 28, at 7:30 and 9:00 p.m. presented by the Iguana and the Civic Media Center.
The film finds smoking-gun memos which prove that Florida election officials set out to purge the voting lists long before the election. A private company, hired to find ex-felons who might be on the voting rolls, was directed to 'cast a wide net' and include people in the purge list even if their names, birth dates, race, and other characteristics did not match. This resulted in the election day discovery by many voters that they had simply been disappeared from the rolls. The film illustrates the premeditated nature of the thousands of 'errors' by uncovering memos from the private company to Florida's elections office in which they warn Florida that the procedures set up will create numerous 'false positives.' Elections officials replied that they wanted that.
Caught in the sweep was Gainesville Pastor Thomas Johnson, who spoke at the Gainesville showings of the film. Mr. Johnson was denied the right to vote even though his felony conviction was in another state. By Florida law, you are eligible to vote here under these circumstances. He directs House of Hope, a program for ex-felons.
The film interviews him and many other disenfranchised voters, and investigative reporter Greg Palast confronts the director of the Florida Division of Elections on why legitimate voters were purged and never had a chance at the polls. Palast is among many reporters and writers interviewed in the film who have spent the intervening time putting together the pieces and analyzing what really went on behind the scenes.
The picture is grim. Florida's governor Jeb Bush and Secretary of State Katherine Harris are shown to have reigned over a deliberate effort to disenfranchise black voters and Democratic voters and steal the presidency. They did not simply use a "too close to call" election to squeak by, they created the circumstances for it to be close by targeting voters in the state early and often.
Then, having created a hostile environment for voters, Republicans used mob tactics to push through their agenda. Among memorable moments, the film freezes a shot of an angry mob crowded in the hall outside the manual recount room in Miami-Dade--a demonstration which supposedly represented spontaneous local sentiment. Then each person in the photo is identified as one or another Republican congressional aid, shipped in to stop the vote count. The mob action worked as panicked officials halted their work.
It's hard to conclude from the film that Jeb Bush should simply no longer be governor, what becomes clear is that he should be under indictment along with several members of his administration.
The film also tackles Democratic Party timidity. Rather than taking the position that every vote should be recounted, Gore and his lawyers advocated a narrow recount strategy. Meanwhile, civil rights and union protesters were saying, "Count Every Vote." A later recount conducted by a group of newspapers concluded that if the recount had been conducted the way Gore wanted, he would have received fewer votes than Bush. But, according to the newspaper recount, Gore did receive more votes overall and did win Florida.
After the film showing in Gainesville, audience member Bill Gilbert stood up during the question period to state that this was a coup d'etat in America. The filmmakers agreed, and said that this had been the working title of the film, but they were told it would be too inflammatory. They're currently working on a broadcast deal.
You can also buy a copy of the video to share with friends in the run-up to the election, go to www.unprecedented.org for more information.
And, as W. Bush leads us into war, it's good to be reminded that no, we didn't elect the thug.
The Gainesville Iguana P.O. Box 14712 Gainesville, FL 32604 http://www.afn.org/~iguana ____