Andre News

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Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida)

January 3, 2014 Friday
Palm Beach Edition

Candidate to skip debate;
Anthony Majhess, running for mayor of Boca, says he won't take part in Gold
Coast Tiger Bay Club event

BYLINE: Anne Geggis, Staff writer

SECTION: LOCAL; Pg. 1B {ZONE} PN

LENGTH: 420 words

The first Boca Raton mayoral debate later this month will be a monologue -- City Councilman Anthony Majhess is not
participating in the verbal spar scheduled for Jan. 21.
Gold Coast Tiger Bay Club organized the event that will also include candidates for Boca Raton City Council. Barry
Epstein, president of the club, said he'll have Deputy Mayor Susan Haynie debate an empty chair.
"If a candidate intends to be the mayor and leader of a major city, he should not be fearful to articulate his positions in
any public forum," Epstein said.
Epstein said his club is nonpartisan and straddles the northern part of Broward County and the southern part of Palm
Beach County. It started in November and now has about 60 members.
When contacted, Majhess said: "For the remainder of the campaign, I am focusing my time and energy on visiting those
organizations and civic groups that have a history of involvement within the city and Boca Raton elections. I will con-
tinue to campaign actively and will be attending numerous forums throughout the community with Mrs. Haynie.
"I look forward to discussing the issues of concern to our city with my opponent and the voters of Boca Raton at the
Federation of Homeowner Associations debate that is scheduled as well as the other traditional city forums hosted by
groups such as the Boca Chamber."
For her part, Haynie said the choice to debate was up to Majhess.
The Boca Raton Federation of Homeowner Associations has scheduled its mayoral debate for Feb. 4.
Epstein said he originally picked the Jan. 21 date because of Majhess' work schedule.
"We were moving dates merely to accommodate him," Epstein said.
How many of the seven City Council candidates will participate in the club's debate is not known yet. Epstein said he
intends to send out invitations after candidates officially qualify to be in the election.
Andre Fladell, a Delray Beach political activist, is set to be the first debate's moderator.
Tiger Bay Clubs are located all over Florida, although they do not have official relationships with one another. Gold
Coast's charter prevents the club from endorsing one particular candidate over another or having political candidates or
elected officials serving on its board of directors.
Epstein said the forum would focus on development and Boca's finances.
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Candidate to skip debate; Anthony Majhess, running for mayor of Boca, says he won't take part in Gold Coast Tiger
Bay Club event Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) January 3, 2014 Friday

Advance admission to the debate and luncheon at Bogart's Bar & Grille costs $25 for members and $35 for nonmem-
bers and $10 more at the door.
The event will not be televised, Epstein said.
Ageggis@tribune.com or 561-243-6624

LOAD-DATE: January 3, 2014

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

GRAPHIC: Photo(s)
Photo: Majhess

PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newspaper

Copyright 2014 Sun-Sentinel Company
All Rights Reserved
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Palm Beach Post (Florida)

October 6, 2013 Sunday
FINAL EDITION

'Prince Andre' rankles new guard in Delray

BYLINE: By Joe Capozzi Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

SECTION: A SECTION; Pg. 1A

LENGTH: 1598 words

DATELINE: DELRAY BEACH

Of the 250 wooden cabana lounge chairs available for rent at the city's public beach, only one has a sign that reads "Re-
served for Prince Andre."
Andre Fladell, a political power broker who has helped shape Palm Beach County elections for 30 years, said the
wooden reservation sign is an inside joke among regulars who hold court on the same patch of sand every weekday
morning at Delray Municipal Beach.
"You want to know the funny part? I've never, ever sat in that chair," Fladell, a 67-year-old retired chiropractor, said
with a laugh. "It's not comfortable. There's no back support. I can't do my crossword puzzles."
But for one new Delray Beach city commissioner, the sign represents a larger concern about political influence in city
hall and might help explain why one company has enjoyed exclusive rights since 2002 to rent out chairs and umbrellas
at the beach.
"It is the symbol down at the beach of who is running things, and I think those symbols need to come down because of
the fact we have had voters rise up and say, 'no more,'~HOA~128~128~" said Commissioner Shelly Petrolia, who de-
feated a Fladell- backed candidate in the March election.
"This is a public beach. This isn't Andre's beach."
No one disputes the fact that Fladell has clout. His influence with south county condominium communities makes him a
go-to guy for any politician seeking votes, from would-be school board members to potential congressmen.
Palm Beach County commissioners in 1985 passed an honorary resolution crowning him the "Prince of Palm Beach
County," a nod to his political hero, Machiavelli. The auditorium at the South County Civic Center bears his name.
He's particularly powerful in Delray Beach, his longtime base, where he has endorsed many city commissioners, past
and present.
New anti-Fladell bloc
But power on the city commission shifted in March when two decidedly anti-Fladell candidates, Petrolia and Mayor
Cary Glickstein, took seats and quickly forged a three-vote majority with Commissioner Al Jacquet.
Petrolia and Glickstein campaigned on a pledge for government transparency after the commission issued no-bid con-
tracts, such as the $65 million extension that Waste Management received last year.
Once she took office, Petrolia called for an examination of the beach contract -- and the removal of the "Reserved for
Prince Andre" sign on the beach chair.
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'Prince Andre' rankles new guard in Delray Palm Beach Post (Florida) October 6, 2013 Sunday

Fladell, an avid volleyball player, admits his daily trips to the beach spawned a friendship years ago with Michael No-
vatka, whose Singer Island-based Oceanside Beach Services is in line to win another concessions contract.
But Fladell said he was friends with other vendors at the city's beach long before Novatka arrived in 2002. In fact,
Fladell said, regulars in what he calls his loose circle of beach "characters" have been posting hand-made "Andre" signs
on rental chairs for the past 20 years and "no one ever said anything."
As for Petrolia's perception that Fladell influenced city hall on behalf of Oceanside, he said: "That's absurd. This con-
tract has nothing to do with me and Michael."
12 beaches served
Oceanside Beach Services, which started in 1986 at the Holiday Inn on Singer Island, has service contracts at 12 beach-
es in South Florida, including public beaches in Lake Worth, Boynton Beach and Jensen Beach.
In April, the new city commission started questioning how Oceanside retained a renewal to the Delray Beach contract,
which calls for the company to pay the city an annual franchise fee of $170,000 for the right to rent out chairs and um-
brellas.
In 2012, then-City Manager David Harden signed off on renewing a three-year contract awarded to Oceanside in 2009,
but commissioners this spring said they should have voted on the renewal and decided to put the contract back out to
bid.
Harden, who retired in January after 23 years as manager, said in an interview last week that he did nothing improper
last year by renewing the beach contract. He said the renewal was questioned only when the new commissioners took
office.
But nearly six months after the commission voted to re-bid the contract, the issue isn't settled.
Michael Weiner, an attorney for Oceanside, has argued the commission's decision to rebid the contract is not fair to the
company and will leave the company's customers who have seasonal contracts in limbo.
The company over the summer offered an additional one-time payment of $45,000 to the city if commissioners let
Oceanside keep the contract until it expires in 2015.
Glickstein took exception to the offer, calling it "extortion" and "whoring the city" during a contentious meeting in Au-
gust. Commissioners voted 3-2 to reject the payment. Casting dissenting votes were Angeleta Gray and Adam Frankel.
The request for proposals finally went out in August.
When the commission first voted in April to bid the project, Petrolia told city staff to "cast a wide net" and attract as
many companies as possible.
Bidder disqualified
Two companies -- Oceanside and Miami-based Boucher Brothers -- offered proposals, but city staff disqualified Bou-
cher Brothers because the company failed to attend a mandatory pre-bid conference, scheduled for just nine days after
the city issued the request for proposals.
Jim Boucher said his firm was never told about the conference. He said he left messages with the city's purchasing de-
partment earlier in the summer expressing his interest in bidding and giving his company's new address and phone
numbers.
Pasty Nadal, the city's purchasing manager, said the city accepts address changes only in writing and Boucher never
sent written notification.
A selection committee in late September recommended that Oceanside receive a five-year contract extension for $1.5
million, but Harden's replacement, City Manager Louie Chapman, said Thursday that he will recommend later this
month that the commission put the contract back out to bid again because the city received only one qualified bid.
Arrest a new wrinkle
There could be another potential wrinkle. Novatka, Oceanside's president, was arrested Aug. 20 on a felony charge of
possessing 40 grams of marijuana in his truck outside a Riviera Beach convenience store, according to a Palm Beach
County Sheriff's report.
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Novatka, who was released the next day after posting $3,000 bond , is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday, according to
court records.
"We are denying the charges at this time and we are entering a plea of not guilty," said Steve Sessa, Novatka's attorney.
Chapman, who learned about the arrest from The Palm Beach Post, said he wasn't sure whether it would hurt
Oceanside's efforts to win another beach contract because the arrest pertains to "the individual, not the entity."
Chapman said he would ask the city attorney for an opinion on whether the arrest violates any city policies.
Contract bid concerns
This summer isn't the first time Boucher questioned Delray's bidding process. In 2009, the contract went out to bid three
different times because of concerns raised by both Boucher Brothers and Oceanside Beach Services.
Ultimately, Oceanside won the bid, a deal that gave the city $510,000 over three years, after Boucher's $595,000 bid
was disqualified on a technicality: It was placed by Boucher Brothers Delray Beach LLC but listed the assets of the
parent company, Boucher Brothers Management Inc.
"I don't care who puts chairs on our beach, as long as the process is open, honest, transparent and competitive. Why
there is resistance to that is the overarching question," Glickstein said in an interview. "We continue to have challenges
here because there are people out there who continue to try to influence the outcome."
Similarly, Petrolia said, "My concern is the people didn't get a chance at the bid process, and that's a large reason I'm
sitting here today because there has been no transparency with things like that."
On the question of Fla- dell's influence, Harden said: "During my tenure as manager, I had very little interaction with
Andre Fladell. As far as how he may have lobbied individual commissioners, I have no knowledge of that."
Frankel, an Oceanside supporter who plays volleyball with Fladell at the beach, said he has asked Fladell for his opinion
about the beach contract.
Fladell in the know
"If you want to know what's going on at the beach, if the equipment works well, if the beach attendants are doing their
job, why not talk to the guy who's there every day?" said Frankel, who said he also went to Fort Lauderdale Beach to
view Boucher Brothers' operation.
"With all due respect to Ms. Petrolia, I have never seen her at the beach."
Oceanside's latest bid would pay the city more than $1.5 million over five years -- an average of $302,800 a year. But it
also calls for an increase in rental rates that visitors would pay, said Novatka, who said the increases would be the first
since 2002.
Chairs currently are rented for $10 an hour and $30 a day, with annual memberships of $400.
Fladell said the higher fees can be blamed on the commission's decision to re-bid the contract.
"Why would you want to take something that works perfectly and screw it up on some political vendetta?" he said. "It's
an example of dysfunctional government."
As for the move to get rid of the "reserved for Prince Andre" sign, Fladell said, "that shows how ignorant and petty
they are. The whole thing is comical. It doesn't define anything but them."
Fladell offered a suggestion for removing the sign:
"If someone would make a good contribution to charity," he said, "I will burn it."
Staff researcher Niels Heimeriks contributed to this story. jcapozzi@pbpost.com Twitter: @jcapozzipbpost

LOAD-DATE: October 6, 2013

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

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Copyright 2013 The Palm Beach Newspapers, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
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JimRomenesko.com

September 12, 2013 Thursday 7:49 PM EST

Sun-Sentinel reporter walks out of meeting after speaker criticizes journalists

LENGTH: 218 words

Sep 12, 2013 (JimRomenesko.com:http://jimromenesko.com/ Delivered by Newstex)
http://jimromenesko.com/2013/09/12/sun-sentinel-reporter-walks-out-of/reporterwalkout/
Palm Beach County political operative Andre Fladell[1]'s knocks against journalists -- 'no respect for their own pro-
fession ... no respect for their country' -- were too much for Sun-Sentinel reporter Marci Shatzman[2]. She interrupted
Fladell (aka 'The Prince of Palm Beach County') and walked out of the meeting. I've invited her to comment.

Shatzman: 'I totally disagree [with the criticism of journalists]. I'm a member of the press and I'm not going to sit and
listen to this crap. I'm leaving. ...You won't have a goddamn bit of coverage. Goodbye.'
Fladell: 'The press does not know its bounds.'
Shatzman [to the audience]: 'Don't listen to him. He doesn't know what he's talking about.'
* Watch the video[3] on YouTube
* Sun-Sentinel reporter storms out of town meeting (bizpacreview.com)[4]
[1]: http://gossipextra.com/2012/06/22/andre-fladell-democrat-child-support-1588/ [2]:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sfl-marci-shatzman-blog-bio,0,2868774.htmlstory [3]:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTnD3sXJlRkfeature=youtu.be [4]:
http://www.bizpacreview.com/2013/09/11/sun-sentinel-reporter-storms-out-of-town-meeting-screaming-threatens-boyc
ott-83172

LOAD-DATE: September 12, 2013

LANGUAGE: English

PUBLICATION-TYPE: Web Blog

JOURNAL-CODE: STGO-121465

Copyright 2013 Newstex LLC
All Rights Reserved
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Mediaite


Florida Reporter Goes Off on Tea Partier Criticizing the Media: Don't 'Listen to
This Crap'

LENGTH: 307 words

Sep 12, 2013 (Mediaite:http://www.mediaite.com/ Delivered by Newstex)
The subject of discussion at a recent West Boca Community Council meeting in Florida did not sit well with Sun Sen-
tinel reporter Marci Shatzman. When one councilman began to strongly criticize the American press, Shatzman stood
up and stormed out of the meeting she was covering. She urged the rest of the attendees to do the same.

RELATED: Obama Presser On Gun Control Devolves Into Fiscal Cliff Questions, Twitter Freaks Out[1]
'Journalists have no respect for their own profession,' insisted guest speaker Andre Fladell after listing a series of
grievances he had with the political media. 'No respect for their country.'
'I totally disagree,' Shatzman interjected. 'I'm a member of the press. I'm not going to sit here and listen to this crap. I'm
leaving.'
After threatening the Council with the prospect of withholding her paper's coverage of their meetings, Shatzman im-
plored the audience to ignore Fladell.
'He's full of you know what,' she exclaimed.
Fladell concluded by saying that Shatzman's outburst proved his point about the media's lack of respect for dissenting
viewpoints in America.
Watch the video below via YouTube[2]
http://videos.mediaite.com/video/Florida-Reporter-Goes-Off-on-Co/player?layout=read_more=1[3]
h/t NewsBusters[4]
[Photo via screen grab ]
-- -
gt; gt;Follow Noah Rothman (@NoahCRothman) on Twitter[5]
[1]:
http://www.mediaite.com/online/obama-presser-on-gun-control-devolves-into-fiscal-cliff-questions-twitter-freaks-out/
[2]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTnD3sXJlRk#t=108 [3]:
http://videos.mediaite.com/video/Florida-Reporter-Goes-Off-on-Co/player?layout=read_more=1 [4]:
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/pj-gladnick/2013/09/12/reporter-goes-berserk-while-covering-event-where-press-criticized
[5]: https://twitter.com/noahcrothman


LANGUAGE: English


JOURNAL-CODE: ABRM-8284

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Florida Reporter Goes Off on Tea Partier Criticizing the Media: Don't 'Listen to This Crap' Mediaite September 12,
2013 Thursday 6:31 PM EST

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Newsbusters.org


Reporter Goes Berserk While Covering Event Where Press Criticized

LENGTH: 308 words

Sep 12, 2013 (Newsbusters.org:http://newsbusters.org/ Delivered by Newstex)
A little thin-skinned, aren't we?

One thing the press can't stand is criticism. And sometimes the reaction of members of the press to criticism goes so
over the top that the results are absolutely hilarious. Such was the case of Marci Shatzman[1], a reporter for the Fort
Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel Forum Publishing Group who was covering a routine meeting of the West Boca Community
Council in Florida. What set Marci off to act completely unprofessional at the 43 second mark of this video[2] was
guest speaker Andre Fladell daring to criticize members of the press for acting...unprofessional.

//www.youtube.com/embed/KTnD3sXJlRk[3]

First Fladell says, "Journalists have no respect for their own profession...no respect for their country."

This was too much for Shatzman who went into full berserk mode with this outburst: "I totally disagree! I'm a member
of the press! I'm not going to sit here and listen to this crap! I'm leaving!"

As she stormed out, Shatzman threatened to boycott any future meetings of the community council that she claimed
won't receive "one goddamned bit of coverage!"

When Fladell calmly continued to speak, Shatzman briefly returned with this encore screech: "DON'T LISTEN TO
HIM! HE DOESN'T KNOW WHAT HE'S TALKING ABOUT! ....HE'S FULL OF YOU KNOW WHAT!"

Fladell again returned to speaking but Shatzman provided one final bit comedic entertainment in the form of a couple
of primal screams that could be heard through the walls from outside.

H/T: Bizpac Review[4]
[1]: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sfl-marci-shatzman-blog-bio,0,2868774.htmlstory [2]: http://youtu.be/KTnD3sXJlRk
[3]: //www.youtube.com/embed/KTnD3sXJlRk [4]:
http://www.bizpacreview.com/2013/09/11/sun-sentinel-reporter-storms-out-of-town-meeting-screaming-threatens-boyc
ott-


LANGUAGE: English


JOURNAL-CODE: NBST-6588
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Reporter Goes Berserk While Covering Event Where Press Criticized Newsbusters.org September 12, 2013 Thursday
2:47 PM EST

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September 9, 2013 Monday
FINAL EDITION

business calendar

BYLINE:

SECTION: LOCAL BUSINESS; Pg. 5D

LENGTH: 2106 words

BUSINESS GROUPS WITH MULTIPLE CHAPTERS AND MEETINGS:
BUSINESS NETWORK INTERNATIONAL (BNI) has a number of breakfast and lunch meetings in Palm Beach,
Martin and St. Lucie counties. Founded in 1985, the networking organization allows only one person in each profession
to join a chapter. For more information, visit www.BNISouthFlorida.com or call 561-333-7555 ext. 1.
NETWORK PROFESSIONALS INC., A 20-year-old Florida networking organization has breakfast and lunch chapters
throughout Palm Beach, the Treasure Coast and Broward counties. Each NPI chapter allows one man or woman repre-
senting each professional category. For more information, contact Charlie Martin at 561-213 1502, Email char-
lie@npiflorida.com or visit www.npiflorida.com.
BEST OF THE BEST NETWORK INTERNATIONAL, allowing one person to represent each profession. Breakfast
and Lunch meetings throughout Palm Beach, Martin and St. Lucie Counties. For more information, call 561-316-7709
or visit: info@bestofthebestnetwork.com
Today
Wellington Toastmasters Club, 7 p.m. at the Wellington Community Center, 12165 W. Forest Hill Blvd., Wellington.
Contact: Reuben Henry at rahenry@optonline.net
Tuesday
SCORE Palm Beach Writing A Winning Business Plan Workshop , 5:30 p.m., at Belle Glade Chamber of Commerce,
540 S. Main St., Belle Glade. $30 in advance; $50 at the door. Register at: http://palmbeach.score.org or call
561-833-1672.
Boca Raton Noon Toastmasters Group, 12:15 p.m., Old Train Station, 747 S. Federal Highway, Boca Raton. Call
561-243-0051.
Kiwanis Club of Boynton Beach, noon, at Duffy's Sports Grill, Hypoluxo Rd. and Congress Ave. in Boynton Beach.
Call 561-737-5427.
West Boca Community Council Meeting, 7:30 p.m., at Boca Lago County Club. Speakers: Jack Furnari and Andre
Fladell, regarding Politics and Power! Visit: info@westbocachamber.com
Referral Networking Solutions, 11:30 a.m., Abacoa Golf Club, 105 Barbados Drive., Jupiter. $20. Call 561-307-4978 or
email: Brenda@referralnetworkingsolutions.com
Rotary Clubs of the Northern Palm Beaches, 7:30 a.m., Doubletree Hotel, 4431 PGA Blvd., Palm Beach Gardens. Call
561-625-3465 or visit lafishman@comcast.net
Kiwanis Club of Palm Beach Gardens, noon, at Paddy Mac's Restaurant, 10971 N. Military Trail, Palm Beach Gardens.
Visit: www.pbgkiwanis.com
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business calendar Palm Beach Post (Florida) September 9, 2013 Monday

Rotary Club of Jupiter/ Tequesta, 12:15 p.m., Mangrove Bay, 110 Mangrove Bay Way, Jupiter. Call 561-746-9251
Palm Beach Flagler Rotary Club, 7:45 a.m., at The Chesterfield, Palm Beach.$20. Visit Kim-
parkey@parkeyenterprises.com
Palm Beach Toastmaster Club, 12:30 p.m., at The Breakers Human Resources Offices, 40 Cocoanut Row, Palm Beach.
Call 561-737-7388 or 561-653-6679.
Elite Business Associates & The Business Connectors , 7:30 a.m., Borland Center, 4885 PGA Blvd., Palm Beach Gar-
dens. Call: 561-623-5349 or visit: john@jrcconsultinggroup.com
Networking to Help Children, 5:30 p.m., at Carmines Ocean Grill, 2401 PGA Blvd., Palm Beach Gardens. $10 mini-
mum donation. Visit: www.networkingtohelpchildren.com
Elite Business Associates & The Business Connectors , 11:30 a.m., at Manero's in Palm City. Call: 561-623-5349 or
visit: john@jrcconsultinggroup.com
The Rotary Club of Port St. Lucie, 12:15 p.m., at Tutto Fresco Italian Grill, 1180 SE Port St. Lucie Blvd., Port St.
Lucie. $10. Call 772-418-8185.
Associated Business Connections Inc., networking, 7:45 a.m., Ed Morse Honda, 3790 W. Blue Heron Blvd., Riviera
Beach. Call 561-616-0092
Free Networking International - Wellington Group, 8:00 a.m. at TooJay's Restaurant & Deli, Inside the Mall at Wel-
lington Green, 10300 W. Forest Hill Blvd. Wellington. Visit: www.coffeenewsPBCounty.com or call 561-847-5319.
Talk of the Town Toastmasters, 12:15 p.m., 1003 Allendale Road, West Palm Beach. Call 561-748-1377.
Kiwanis Club of Westside West Palm Beach, 12:15 p.m., at Crowne Plaza, 1601 Belvedere Road in West Palm Beach.
$20. Call 561-845-8238.
Economic Forum, 11: 30 a.m., at Cohen Pavilion, Kravis Center, 701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach. Speaker:
George Gentile of Gentile Glas Holoway O'Mahoney & Associates. $45 members and their guests; $60
non-members.Visit: www.economicforumpbc.com or call 561-373-5488.
The Rotary Club of West Palm Beach, noon, Cohen Pavilion, Kravis Center, 701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach.
Call 561-254-4789 or visit:www.rotarywestpalmbeach.org
Sunset Speakers Toastmasters Club, 6:15 p.m., at Forum No. 3 Building, 1655 Palm Beach Lakes Blvd., Suite 300,
West Palm Beach. Call 561-318-3048 or email: president-5222@toastmastersclubs.org .
Executives' Association of the Palm Beaches, 7:25 a.m., at Bear Lakes Country Club. Guests must be pre-approved by
calling 561-802-4310.
Hobe Sound Toastmasters Club, 7 p.m., Hobe Sound Bible College, Archie Coons Fine Arts Center, 11295 S.E. Gomez
Ave., Hobe Sound. Call the Chamber at 772-546-4724; or email: jotten@hobesound.org
Strategic Business Institute, 8 a.m., WindWard-The Preserve, 3701 W. McNab Road, Pompano Beach. $5. Call
561-477-1484 or email: SBI@bsbiedu.org
Central Palm Beach Chamber of Commerce Tuesday Leads Group, 7:30 a.m., at the Chamber West Office, 13901
Southern Blvd., Loxahatchee Groves. $50 membership. Call 561-790-6200, email: makingconnec-
tions@cpbchamber.com
Successful Women's Mastermind Alliance Breakfast Meeting, 8 a.m., at Mitch's Westside Bagels Too, 2465 US 441,
Suite 100, Wellington. $5 plus breakfast. Call 561-312-5278 or visit www.successfulwomensmastermindalliance.com
Lions Club, Palm Beach County North, 11:30 a.m. (second Tuesday); 6:30 p.m. (fourth Tuesday), at Abbey Road Grill,
10800 North Military Trail, Palm Beach Gardens, Call 561-844-4017 or 561-207-6083 for details.
Wednesday
The West Boca Leaders, 5:30 p.m., at PBC West Boca Library, 18685 State Road 7, on 441, Boca Raton. $60 per quar-
ter. Call 561-852-0000 or visit: www.westbocaleaders.com
Page 14

Boca Business Connection Networking Breakfast, 8:00 a.m., at TooJays 3050 Champion Blvd., Boca Raton. Visit:
http://www.YourLinkToLocalBusiness.com
Level Up Networking Breakfast, 8 a.m., at Speranza Restaurant, 41 E. Palmetto Park Road, Boca Raton. $10. Call:
561-742-3537; or visit: www.levelupnetwork.com
Boca Toastmasters, 7 p.m., Olympic Heights Hig h School, 20101 Lyons Road, Boca Raton. Call 561-716--6816.
Palm Beach Business Associates, 7:30 a.m., Abacoa Golf Club , 105 Barbados Drive, Jupiter. Call 561-339-6464 or
visit: bradv@onconsultinggroup.com
Lake Worth Rotary Club, noon, at Brogues, 621 Lake Avenue, Lake Worth. Call: 561-601-4436.
Kiwanis Club of the North Palm Beaches , 7:15 a.m., at Fellowship Hall at First Presbyterian Church of NPB, 717
Prosperity Farms Road, North Palm Beach. Call: 561-626-3076.
Northern Palm Beach Chapter of the American Business Women's Association, 6 p.m., PGA Embassy Suites Hotel,
4350 PGA Blvd., Palm Beach Gardens. Speaker: Kathy Andio, a decluttering organizer. $20. Visit:
www.abwanpbflorida.org or call: 561-329-4485.
Palm Beach Executive Networking Group Meeting, 7:30 a.m., Friendly's Restaurant, 1001 N. State Road 7, Royal Palm
Beach. Contact: 561-795-3240 or email: kendra.rosenfeld@mynycb.com
Western Communities Business Associates Inc. , 7:30 a.m., at Hilary's Restaurant, 650 Royal Palm Beach Blvd., Royal
Palm Beach. Call 561-793-3270.
Wellington Business and Community Alliance Networking Group , 8:30 a.m., at the Coffee Shack in Kobosko's Cross-
ing, 9108 Forest Hill Blvd., Wellington. Call 561-441-4221 or email: laurichdc@aol.com
LeTip Power Partners -- West Palm Beach Chapter , 7:30 a.m., Phillips Point Club, 777 S. Flagler Dr., Club Level,
West Palm Beach. Call 561-704-3093. or email: sean@westpalmaccounting.com
Kiwanis Club of Northside West Palm Beach , 7:30 a.m., at Holiday Inn Express, 2485 Metrocentre Blvd. in West Palm
Beach $8. Call 561-633-5561.
The Business Referral Club, 7:30 a.m., at Panera Bread, 771 Village Boulevard, West Palm Beach. Call 561-541-3387
or visit www.wpbbrc.com
West Palm Beach Kiwanis (Downtown Club) , noon, Club 10, at the Airport Hilton, Southern Blvd. and Australian
Ave., West Palm Beach. Call 561-688-2530, ext. 102; Email: bpaty@navarrolowrey.com or visit: wpbkiwanis.com
West Boca Business Connection Networking Meeting, 8:00 a.m., at the Bagel Tree Restaurant, 9080 Kimberly Blvd.,
Boca Raton. $7. Call 561-716-3481 or visit WestBocaBusCon@gmail.com
South Florida Business Builders Networking lunch, 1 p.m., Sushi Masa Japanese Steakhouse, 2200 Glades Road, Boca
Raton. First lunch is free. Visit www.SFBusinessBuilders.co
Central Palm Beach County Chamber Wednesday Leads Group , 8:00 a.m, at Toojay's Deli, 419 Lake Avenue, Lake
Worth. $50 membership. Email: makingconnections@cpbchamber.com or call 561-790-6200.
Strategic Business Institute , 8 a.m., Brookdale -The Classic , 6100 Common Circle, West Palm Beach. $5. Call
561-477-1484 or email: SBI@bsbiedu.org .
Palm Beach County Chapter of Paralegal Association of Florida Inc. , 5:30 p.m., at the Hilton Palm Beach Airport Ho-
tel, 150 Australian Ave.,West Palm Beach. $27 members; $32 non-members. Contact Maggie Day at maggie-
day@bellsouth.net or visit www.pafinc.org
Thursday
Strategic Business Alliance , 7:45 a.m., at Executive Conference Center,offices of Terry Donoghue, Opus Financial,
2nd floor, 4400 N. Federal Hwy., Boca Raton. Call: 561-997-4073.
Rotary Club Boynton Beach-Lantana, 12:15 p.m., Westchester Country Club, 12250 Westchester Club Drive, Boynton
Beach. Call 561-732-8220, or email: jbc8594@comcast.net
Page 15

Network Link, 7:00 a.m., at Abacoa Golf Club, 105 Barbados Dr., Jupiter. Members and guests each have 60 seconds to
promote themselves and their business. Contact jcosta8888@bellsouth.net
Secure Speakers Toastmasters, noon, at G4S America, 1395 University Blvd., Jupiter. Call: 561-691-6556. Palm Beach
Noon Toastmasters Club, 12:15 p.m., Brogue's on the Avenue, 621 Lake Ave., Lake Worth. Call 561-737-7388 or
561-965-4421.
Business Executives Inc., 7:30 a.m., North Palm Beach Country Club, 951 U.S. 1, North Palm Beach. Call
561-881-1631
Rotary Club of Palm Beach, 12:00 p.m., The Breakers, 1 South County Road, Palm Beach. Call 561-799-6154 or visit
www.palmbeachrotary.org .
Rotary Club of Royal Palm Beach Breakfast Meeting, 7:30 a.m., at I'm Greek Today, 11051 Southern Blvd. in Royal
Palm Beach. $10. Call 561-422-8890.
Business Ideas Group (BIG), 7:30 a.m., The Gallery Grill, 383 Tequesta Drive, Tequesta. Call 561-746-9171 or email:
gay@trtravel.net
Wellington Business Connection , 7:45 a.m., TooJays , 10300 W. Forest Hill Blvd., Suite 239 in Wellington Mall. Call:
561-557-1324.
The Rotary Club of Wellington, 12:15 p.m., at The Wanderers Club, 1900 Aero Club Drive, Wellington. Call
561-252-4426.
Wellington Chamber of Commerce After Hours Networking Reception, 6:00 p.m., at Wellington View, 760 Edgebrook
Lane, West Palm Beach. $10. RSVP to 561-792-6525 or visit: www.wellingtonchamber.com
Executive Club of West Palm Beach, 11:30 a.m., Duffy's Sports Grill, 721 Village Blvd., West Palm Beach. Call
561-688-1820 or visit www.ExecutiveClubWPB.com
The Networking League, 7:45 a.m., at the Palm Beach Airport Hilton, 150 Australian Ave., West Palm Beach. $18.
RSVP required. Call 561-312-9775, or visit:www,NetworkingLeague.com
Palm Beach SCORE Free Seminar , 5:30 p.m. at SCORE, 500 S. Australian Ave., Suite 115, West Palm Beach. Topic:
Starting A New Business. Register at: www.palmbeach.score.org or call 561-833-1672.
Gold Coast Chapter of the American Business Women's Association, 6 p.m., Ruth Chris' Steakhouse, 225 Mizner Blvd.,
Boca Raton. Call 561-866-0893.
Goldcoast Toastmasters, 7 p.m., Strayer University, 11025 RCA Center Dr., Rm. 301, Palm Beach Gardens. Call
561-676-1375 or visit http://club2727.freetoasthost.info/index.html
Friday
West Boca Chamber Leads Group "A", 7:45 a.m., at City National Bank, 2301 Glades Rd., Boca Raton. Email: al-
lenb@wgscorp.com, visit: info@westbocachamber.com or call: 561-953-2007.
First Quality Networking International, 8:00 a.m., at TooJay's, 801 Congress Ave. Inside the Boynton Beach Mall. Call
(561)676-2075 or email: robertgottesman2001@yahoo.com
Bill Gove Golden Gavel Toastmasters Club, noon, at Duffy's, 4746 N. Congress Ave. at Hypoluxo, Boynton Beach.
Call 561-737-7388 or visit www.billgovetoastmastersclub.com
Elite Networking Pros & The Business Connectors, 11:30 a.m., at Cantina Laredo, PGA Blvd., Palm Beach Gardens.
Email cmudloff@goldstarfinancial.com or visit: www.elitenetworkingpros.com, or call 954-993-5092.
Rotary Club of Singer Island, 12:15 p.m., at Sailfish Marina, 98 Lake Dr., Palm Beach Shores. Call 561-848-0559 or
visit www.singerislandrotary.org
Boynton Beach Chamber of Commerce - Leads 2 Success Group, noon, at Slainte Irish Pub, 1500 Gateway Blvd.,
Boynton Beach. Call 561-637-1749.


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7 of 456 DOCUMENTS


December 12, 2012 Wednesday
FINAL EDITION

Wrong return for McCarty


LENGTH: 431 words

Because former Palm Beach County Commissioner Mary McCarty went to prison for dealings behind closed doors, it's
hard to see what McCarty or business leaders affiliated with the Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce expect to gain
from a closed-door session with McCarty scheduled for Friday.
Developer Scott Porten, who invited McCarty to speak at the chamber's government affairs committee meeting, told
Post reporter Jane Musgrave that the disgraced politician did not ask for the public to be shut out. "Our meetings," he
said, "are never open to the media."
But this isn't just any meeting in any city. McCarty got her start in Delray politics and is rumored to be angling to revive
her influence in the city, after getting out of prison last year. Recently, she has been working for a consulting company
started by her husband, Kevin, who also went to prison for his role in Mary McCarty's crimes. Those crimes included
steering bond business to her husband. Federal prosecutors said Delray Beach issued some of the tainted bonds, and the
city has changed its bonding procedures.
Andre Fladell, a Delray-area political operative, maintains that McCarty took Delray from "a one-horse town and
turned it into a city." In fact, Delray's progress began after McCarty left the city commission, and the vicious political
infighting that she had been part of subsided. It's more accurate to say that, with Tony Masilotti and Warren Newell, she
turned Palm Beach County into "Corruption County." McCarty also established herself as one of the most caustic poli-
ticians in recent memory.
McCarty has done her time. Delray Beach City Commissioner and mayoral candidate Tom Carney's vehement denial
that she's helping him in the March election, though, demonstrates that the former felon's name remains toxic. That will
remain the case until the public can judge what the post-prison McCarty is like.
At her sentencing on June 4, 2009, McCarty said: "My carelessness and irresponsible behavior have humbled me. I
never thought of myself as a criminal, but I am one." Since then, the county has added an ethics commission and the
Office of Inspector General. In 2010, voters by nearly 3-to-1 approved the inspector general's oversight of all Palm
Beach County cities. Yet this year, Delray Beach ignored advice from the inspector general and doled out a no-bid
trash-hauling contract.
The public does not want a return to back-room deals. A private audience between McCarty and members of the Delray
Beach Chamber of Commerce does not provide that assurance.
Jac Wilder VerSteeg for The Post Editorial Board

LOAD-DATE: December 13, 2012

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

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Wrong return for McCarty Palm Beach Post (Florida) December 12, 2012 Wednesday

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8 of 456 DOCUMENTS


December 9, 2012 Sunday
FINAL EDITION

Is Mary McCarty making a comeback?;
Speech to business leaders prompts buzz about ex-commissioner.


LENGTH: 875 words

Three years after a sobbing Mary McCarty told a judge she used her Palm Beach County Commission seat for personal
gain, the longtime politician will speak to Delray Beach business leaders about the roughly two years she spent in fed-
eral lockup.
In what some are calling an eyebrow-raising coming out party and others say is just a sly way to boost numbers at a
little-attended event, McCarty on Friday will talk at a closed-door meeting of the government affairs committee of the
Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce.
McCarty didn't return a phone call for comment last week about her first semi-public appearance since she was sent to
prison in June 2009. But tongues are wagging throughout the city that launched her political career in 1987 when it
elected her to the city commission and then was tarred by allegations that it helped perpetuate her misdeeds.
"This is her inauguration. Mary McCarty 2," said Vincent Dole, a retired venture capitalist who blogs about city go-
ings-on. "It's a concerted effort to try to help her rehabilitate her image. She wants back in and this is her first step."
Developer Scott Porten, who invited McCarty to speak, disputed the notion that he is allowing her to use the chamber to
jump-start what appeared to be a dead political career. He said his motives were selfish.
"Frankly, I look to people who have been involved in government and would attract a crowd," he said.
As vice chairman of the committee, he said he's been trying to persuade McCarty to speak at one of its meetings since
shortly after she was released from prison in March 2011. Finally, she agreed. He said the meeting isn't closed to the
press at her request.
"Our meetings are never open to the media," Porten said. "We're not there to launch someone's career."
As to claims that the 57-year-old McCarty could use the friendly setting to get back in the good graces of the city's
power elite, Porten said: "I don't get the impression she's interested in getting back in politics."
Others aren't so certain. They say they have seen McCarty's fingerprints on various issues. Her brother, Tallahassee
lobbyist Brian Ballard, on Tuesday won a $15,000 contract to persuade state lawmakers to help the city regulate sober
houses.
She has long been close with outgoing Mayor Woodie McDuffie. Some say she is advising attorney Tom Carney in his
upcoming March mayoral race. Carney vehemently denied it.
Andre Fladell, a longtime south county power broker who proudly calls the disgraced commissioner his friend, said
McCarty is getting involved in local elections. That, he said, is her right.
Likewise, he said he sees nothing wrong with McCarty's upcoming chamber appearance. Like Porten, he said it promis-
es to draw a crowd.
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Is Mary McCarty making a comeback?; Speech to business leaders prompts buzz about ex-commissioner. Palm Beach
Post (Florida) December 9, 2012 Sunday

"She's got name identification. She's almost like Justin Bieber," Fla-dell said. "I wouldn't go to hear him sing but I might
go to see the performance."
Further, he said, despite her criminal record, there is much current or wannabe city officials can learn from her. "She
took this from a one-horse town and turned it into a city," he said.
That's why real estate agent Kurt Lehmann said he's eager to hear what McCarty has to say. When she was elected in
1987 at age 32, she was one of the youngest commissioners in city history, said Lehmann, who is running for commis-
sion on the March ballot. In addition to her historical perspective about the city, he said he is also interested in hearing
about her fall from grace.
"The ethics stuff is scary," he said. "I think people are reluctant to get involved because they are afraid of getting
slapped with a lawsuit. Let's bring in someone who's been there. I like to learn from other people's mistakes and mis-
haps."
Still, leaders of other chambers privately questioned why a business group would want to give a forum to someone con-
victed of abusing the public trust. Neither former Palm Beach County Commissioners Tony Masilotti nor Warren New-
ell, who also pleaded guilty and were sent to prison for honest services fraud, have gotten similar invitations. Nor have
former West Palm Beach Commissioners Jim Exline or Ray Liberti been asked to describe their prison lives.
Since her return, records show McCarty has been working for her husband's newly formed business, Cypress Consult-
ing. With an office in downtown Delray Beach, it claims to offer business development and strategic planning services.
The couple had to rebuild their lives. McCarty's conviction, in large measure, was linked to Kevin McCarty's work as a
bond underwriter.
In addition to admitting that she took free resort stays from a company she helped win a contract to build a convention
center hotel, she also admitted that she steered bond awards to her husband.
Kevin McCarty, a former chairman of the South Florida Water Management District, was sentenced to eight months in
prison for failing to report the crime.
Federal prosecutors said some of the bonds involved ones that were floated by Delray Beach. An independent auditor
later cleared city officials of wrongdoing but, in the aftermath, the city changed its system of selecting underwriters.
All that, Dole said, brings back bad memories for city residents.
"She continues to divide the community as she did before she went to jail," he said.
jmusgrave@pbpost.com


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November 19, 2012 Monday
FINAL EDITION

Karen Marcus: The north-county commissioner leaves a 28-year legacy of land
preservation.


LENGTH: 1520 words

When Palm Beach County Commissioner Karen Marcus made her first run for office in 1984, opponents painted her as
a pro-development candidate beholden to the builders and special-interest groups that contributed to her campaign.
But after 28 years on the dais, she is heralded by many county residents for controlling growth -- not promoting it.
Marcus leaves office Tuesday as a result of the county's decade-old term-limit rule. Republican Hal Valeche, a former
Palm Beach Gardens councilman, will take her place.
Marcus, 60, leaves a legacy as one of the most influential figures in Palm Beach County. She has successfully fought
business leaders, developers, priests and politicians to prevent development from rising in areas where she felt it didn't
belong -- and even stared down her party's governor, Jeb Bush, over one of his legacy issues, The Scripps Research In-
stitute, and where in the county it should be built.
She is credited with shaping development in the county's north end, keeping buildings off thousands of acres of envi-
ronmentally sensitive land and oceanfront property now in public ownership.
"I always look at it like a picture," Marcus said of her conservation efforts. "These are the things that are important and I
will draw around them."
Bush backed plans to build Scripps on the 1,920-acre Mecca Farms property advocated by influential county business
interests, several miles west of Florida's Turnpike. Marcus was adamant that the sprawling site was needed to help re-
store the Loxahatchee River, and she successfully fought to build the project farther east instead in Jupiter. The shift
could bring many of Scripps' coveted spin-off businesses to Marcus' north county district.
Environmentalists consider Marcus one of their strongest allies. With her departure, some political observers question
whether environmental concerns will take a back seat to other issues, such as job growth or the economy.
"There isn't anybody on the commission who knows as much or who cares as much about what happens policywise,"
said Joanne Davis, with the environmental group 1000 Friends of Florida. "She is the voice of reason."
Proud of her legacy
Looking back on her time in office, Marcus said she is most proud of her work to promote a series of voter-approved
bond issues to buy environmentally sensitive and agricultural lands in the county.
Marcus, who grew up in North Palm Beach, remembers when village residents could walk across U.S. 1 to the beach.
She said she fought to protect that kind of access for her children and grandchildren.
"I can drive up U.S. 1 and see all of the beachfront property we acquired in the early '80s," Marcus said. "Right after I
got elected, there was a recession. We pretty much bought whatever wasn't developed. It still remains a lot of the way I
remember it."
Page 22
Karen Marcus: The north-county commissioner leaves a 28-year legacy of land preservation. Palm Beach Post (Florida)

Marcus said she plans to continue to work on environmental issues after leaving office. She has begun meeting with
local farmers, fearing there will be a push to build more homes in the county's 20,500-acre Agricultural Reserve after
she leaves office.
"Karen really believes the Ag Reserve is a special piece of property and we can't replace it," said Dagmar Brahs, a
western Boynton Beach resident who has worked to shield the area from development. "Even though Karen was repre-
senting the north end, she watched out for the whole county, not just her district."
The reserve, west of Boynton Beach and Delray Beach, is the last agricultural enclave of its kind in the state. It was
created in 1980 and strict rules were put in place to control development there. In 1999, voters passed a bond issue that
provided $100 million to buy land in the reserve.
Marcus has suggested the possibility of another bond issue to buy more land in the reserve, but says that is just one op-
tion. Many farmers in the reserve need to expand their crops to keep pace with demand, she said.
"The message we got was that we need more land," Marcus said. "They just need folks to understand that."
A former Palm Beach County employee who spent eight years working as an aide to then-County Commissioner Den-
nis Koehler, she began her political career at the urging of Democratic political activist Andre Fladell. Fladell and a
group of south county leaders encouraged Marcus to run for the commission seat, which at the time was decided by
voters throughout the county.
Marcus, then a Democrat, faced environmentalist Leah Schad, who was backed by Commissioner Dorothy Wilken.
Schad and Wilken painted Marcus as a pro-growther who took contributions from "profit-seeking special-interest
groups."
"Karen gets elected and does everything, except everything they accuse her of," Fladell said. "She becomes the leading
figure for 'don't chop down the tree.'~HOA~128~128~"
In 1988, voters approved single-member commission districts, which expanded the board to seven seats and required
commissioners to be elected only by residents living in their individual districts.
A year later, Marcus changed political parties. Her north county district was heavily Republican, but Marcus said her
party switch had nothing to do with the makeup of the district. At the time she said that she had become "increasingly
dissatisfied with local Democrats."
In 1985, the Palm Beach County Democratic Party censured her and Commissioner Jerry Owens because they cast
votes to elect the lone Republican on the commission as chairman. It was the first time the local party had voted to cen-
sure elected Democrats.
Political problems
Marcus faced her toughest re-election challenge in 1992, after angering developer E. Llwyd Ecclestone and an allied
group of business leaders. Ecclestone, who developed PGA National, helped bankroll the campaigns of her opponents,
arguing that Marcus failed to block the extension of Jog Road through his community.
Marcus said that the two have since "gotten over" the contentious campaign. But there were other bumps.
During her tenure, Marcus was dogged by accusations that her husband's construction company, D.B. Marcus Construc-
tion, benefited as a result of her position with the county.
In 2001, federal investigators subpoenaed information about a construction contract approved by the Paradies Shops
Inc., a concessionaire at Palm Beach International Airport. County records show that D.B. Marcus Construction com-
pleted $50,000 worth of renovations under the 1997 contract. But nothing came of the federal probe.
Marcus was in the spotlight again in 2006, after questions were raised about a developer's $50,000 contribution to a sea
turtle sanctuary she supported shortly before a controversial zoning vote.
Marcus acknowledged she had encouraged Sam Klein, a co-owner of Palm Beach Aggregates, to contribute to the Log-
gerhead Marinelife Center of Juno Beach in April 2004. Later that month, she had joined Commissioners Tony Masilot-
ti and Mary McCarty in a push to rezone Palm Beach Aggregates' property, a swift decision that allowed 2,000 homes
on land that had been restricted to just 120.
Marcus said that Klein's contribution to the turtle sanctuary had nothing to do with the zoning decision.
Page 23
Karen Marcus: The north-county commissioner leaves a 28-year legacy of land preservation. Palm Beach Post (Florida)

The questions about the contribution came during one of the county's darkest periods. Federal investigators had set their
sights on the county's leadership. When their probes were over, three county commissioners and two West Palm Beach
commissioners had been sent to prison.
Marcus said she questions whether the current crop of commissioners "learned their lesson."
"I am a little worried," she said.
In April, Marcus pushed the commission to make it harder to approve more development on Peanut Island, coun-
ty-owned environmentally sensitive land and publicly owned property in the Agricultural Reserve. She asked the com-
mission to require super-majority votes on land-use changes that would ease building restrictions in those areas, but the
board voted against her request.
Marcus contends that term limits approved overwhelmingly by voters in 2002 have left new commissioners unfamiliar
with the long-term history behind major decisions. Single-member districts, she said, have been bad for the county,
causing many commissioners to focus solely on their individual districts.
Marcus fears the term limits and single-member districts together will be a "nightmare" for the county, ultimately re-
sulting in a new breed of commissioners who lack a historical knowledge of countywide issues.
"I think the business community is starting to figure that out," she said.
jsorentrue@pbpost.com
Marcus: Looking back
High points
Fought Gov. Jeb Bush to build The Scripps Research Institute in Jupiter.
Supported voter-approved bond issues to buy environmentally sensitive and agricultural land.
Became a champion for environmentalists who turned to her to fight development.
Low points
Faced accusations that her husband's company, D.B. Marcus Construction, benefited as a result of her position with the
county. Nothing came of the allegations.
In 2006, faced questions about a developer's $50,000 contribution to a sea turtle sanctuary she supported. The contribu-
tion was made shortly before a controversial zoning vote, but she was not sanctioned.

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FINAL EDITION

Burt Aaronson: The 20-year south-county commissioner can rally armies of
supporters for issues.


LENGTH: 1065 words

Palm Beach County Commissioner Burt Aaronson will be forced to walk away from office on Tuesday as a result of the
county's decade-old term-limit rule, but don't expect him to give up his spot as one of the region's top Democratic lead-
ers.
Aaronson already is planning his future in politics. At 84, he said it likely won't include another run for office.
"I don't see that in the near future," Aaronson said, joking. "Maybe in another 10 years."
Instead, Aaronson said, he will concentrate on helping others in the party. "I will be working on a Democratic gover-
nor's campaign," Aaronson said. "I will be involved in local and state politics working for Democratic candidates."
But first, Aaronson said, he plans to visit his son in New Jersey and to spend the next month or so doing "nothing but
playing golf."
Aaronson was elected in 1992, riding an anti-incumbent wave that unseated two veteran commissioners.
After two decades in office, the retired furniture executive has become one of the most powerful leaders in the county,
wielding the ability to assemble a militia of residents to support his political causes.
"Burt is a gladiator," said Andre Fladell, a Democratic Party activist. "He picks up some cause and he fights to the end
against everything that stands in front of him."
Aaronson's south county region is the only commission district that doesn't include any municipalities. Instead, it is
comprised of a network of tightly knit neighborhood groups and associations, including the powerful Coalition of
Boynton West Residential Associations.
"Burt can turn around and within 24 hours mobilize infantry, army and navy. He is the leader of these massive popula-
tions who will do battle for him," Fladell said.
And they do.
COBWRA leaders routinely attend county commission meetings, sounding off on issues that Aaronson supports.
"Everybody loves him," COBWRA President Stuart Caine said. "If you have a problem in the area, he is the first one to
help."
Aaronson, who got his start in local politics by serving on his condo association board, will be replaced by his longtime
commission aide, Mary Lou Berger.
Aaronson threw his political muscle behind Berger during her campaign, arguing that she was the only candidate who
understood the history of the county and the needs of the district's constituents.
Berger said that Aaronson is respected because he knows how to get things done. "He is assertive and he is insistent
when he needs to be," Berger said.
Page 25
Burt Aaronson: The 20-year south-county commissioner can rally armies of supporters for issues. Palm Beach Post
(Florida) November 19, 2012 Monday

Noted achievements
Aaronson points to a list of accomplishments during his time in office, including the county's Special Olympics athletic
and therapeutic center in suburban Lake Worth. "If I have a legacy, that would be the legacy," said Aaronson, who led
the fundraising effort to help build the facility.
He also founded the Palm Beach International Film Festival and is credited with shaving more than $70 million off the
fees that residents in the unincorporated areas pay for garbage service.
Aaronson fought to prevent the county's Solid Waste Authority from building a landfill and incinerator on 1,662 acres
west of Boca Raton and was the first commissioner to install illuminated street signs in his district.
He supported a bond issue that provided $100 million to buy land in the county's 20,500-acre Agricultural Reserve, west
of Boynton Beach and Delray Beach. And he pushed to build a golf course at the South County Regional Park west of
Boca Raton.
He also has fought to reduce the number of foreign guest workers in the Palm Beach County country club and hospital-
ity industry. Last year, he formed a task force of state employment officials, local secondary and college educators, and
country club and hospitality managers, setting a goal of eliminating foreign guest workers in the county hospitality field
within four years -- 25 percent per year.
Aaronson said he plans to continue that push after leaving office, arguing that those jobs should go to local workers.
Controversies
He also has faced controversy.
In 2001, Aaronson was named in an FBI probe concentrating on a "smart bucks" $20,000 payoff by real estate broker
Lloyd Hasner.
Hasner said the 1997 payoff was supposed to be funneled to Aaronson's associates. In return, the commissioner would
support a controversial zoning change for a self-storage warehouse and automotive repair complex west of Delray
Beach, Hasner reportedly said on an FBI tape.
But Aaronson never supported the project and denied involvement in the alleged scheme. During a news conference to
clear his name, Aaronson, bordering on tears, called Hasner "deplorable."
Nothing came of the federal probe.
"A lot of innuendoes have been made," Aaronson said Thursday. "I survived everything. I fought any charges made
against me. I never committed any wrongdoing."
Aaronson points to a complaint filed with the county's ethics commission questioning $400 in gala tickets he accepted
from a paving company.
The county's ethics commission ruled last year that Aaronson did not violate the county's ethics rules, but issued a "let-
ter of instruction" cautioning Aaronson to "be more diligent in the future about investigating the source of any gift."
"I fought the ethics commission and I won," Aaronson said.
Aaronson admits that the commission went through a "period with corruption." Three county commissioners and two
West Palm Beach commissioners were sent to prison after federal investigations.
But Aaronson said the creation of a countywide inspector general and ethics commission have repaired the county's
tainted image.
"I am getting sick and tired of hearing about corruption because it never stops," Aaronson said. "We are not Corruption
County anymore."
The moniker hampers the county's ability to attract businesses, he said.
"There was corruption in the county," Aaronson said.
"It was a horror, but it should be over."
jsorentrue@pbpost.com
Page 26
Burt Aaronson: The 20-year south-county commissioner can rally armies of supporters for issues. Palm Beach Post
(Florida) November 19, 2012 Monday

Aaronson: looking back
High points
Headed fundraising to build the county's Special Olympics athletic and therapeutic center in suburban Lake Worth.
Founded Palm Beach International Film Festival.
Pushed for golf course at the South County Regional Park, west of Boca Raton.
Low points
Named in a 2001 FBI probe focusing on an alleged $20,000 payoff. Nothing came of the probe.
Investigated by the county's ethics commission for accepting $400 in gala tickets from a paving company. The commis-
sion ruled Aaronson did not violate the county's ethics rules.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

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11 of 456 DOCUMENTS


November 11, 2012 Sunday
Palm Beach Edition

Delray mayoral race heating up

BYLINE: Maria Herrera, Staff writer


LENGTH: 515 words

The election frenzy may be over, but not in Delray Beach. As the 2012 votes are still being counted in Florida, in this
city of 64,000, candidates are shifting into high gear for the 2013 election.
And they're off to a good start. Both mayoral candidates, Vice Mayor Tom Carney and local developer Cary Glickstein,
have raised nearly $50,000 each.
"That's a pretty good war chest for a mayoral campaign," said Kevin Wagner, associate professor of political science at
Florida International University.
Wagner said the amount in contributions doesn't necessarily speak to how enthusiastic voters are about the election but,
"Money does correlate to victory and it helps you build enthusiasm if you have it."
Glickstein announced he was running for mayor in July, while Carney announced in late September after calls from
residents asking him if he would run, he said.
Carney will serve as mayor from Jan. 1 until the March election, after Mayor Woodie McDuffie resigned earlier this
year to make an unsuccessful run for the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections job.
Up for grabs are also seats 1 and 3 on the City Commission. So far residents Shelley Petrolia, Kurt Lehman and political
activist Victor Kirson have filed to run for Seat 1, which Carney is vacating to run for Mayor. City Commissioner Adam
Frankel remains unchallenged for Seat 3.
Local political strategist Andre Fladell said the amount of money raised is not as important as how early the race for
the mayor's seat began.
"When city races start before Thanksgiving, I think it's unhealthy," Fladell said. "When a March race starts in August or
September then you know the groups that create the campaigns are usually driven by emotional and personal vendettas,
or they wouldn't make that type of political error."
Fladell said as races at the national level get more expensive, so do others at the local level.
"The dollar amount is not unusual or offensive anymore," He said. "What people need to ask is who stands to make a
living or yield revenue out of being elected. Just look at each campaign and follow the money."
Blake MacDiarmid, another local political strategist, said the amount of money raised already is a sign it will be a hotly
contested race.
"It's not a surprise that an incumbent can raise that amount of money," he said. "But when a challenger can raise that
much, it shows that there is clearly unrest in the city."
The most amount of money raised in Delray Beach in recent history was by candidate Nick Loeb, who ran for Seat 2 of
the City Commission in 2006 and raised more than $200,000. Loeb lost to former City Commissioner Fred Fetzer, who
raised about $55,000.
Page 28
Delray mayoral race heating up Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) November 11, 2012 Sunday

For Carney and Glickstein, however, the election is more about the future direction of the city than who raises the most
money.
"It really isn't about the money," Carney said. "It's about the message. Money is just a means by which candidates get
their message out."
"At the end of the day money is one thing, votes are another," Glickstein said. "I'm hopeful that money isn't going to
define this election."
meherrera@tribune.com or 561-243-6544


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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12 of 456 DOCUMENTS


September 30, 2012 Sunday
Broward Metro Edition

Is Delray Beach going all horse-and-buggy?


SECTION: LOCAL; Pg. 5B {ZONE} SB

LENGTH: 371 words

If the quaint, old-town feel of some of Delray Beach's downtown historic landmarks is not enough to bring you back to
the days of yore, don't worry: horse-and-buggy rides may be on the way.
The service, which would offer rides around the downtown area for a fee, was proposed by the Downtown Development
Authority as a way to boost tourism during the holiday season.
"We would like to see it happen," said Laura Simon, associate director of the DDA. "Our board approved the sugges-
tion."
Delray Beach would join West Palm Beach, which has been offering horse-drawn carriage rides at CityPlace for 12
years, as the only two cities in South Florida to offer the service as a form of transportation for visitors.
"Unless you live in a vacuum, most people know what a horse-drawn carriage is," said Bob Stitt, owner of Horse and
Carriage Rides Inc., which operates out of CityPlace. "This is not new. We stay very busy here."
Stitt said he only works with West Palm Beach and at private events such as weddings and parades. He said he didn't
know of any other Florida cities, except for St. Augustine and Fort Myers, that offered horse-and-buggy rides.
"Delray is a nice place for carriages, but it's too congested," Stitt said of Atlantic Avenue.
In 2002, the City Commission first approved horse-and-buggy rides. Downtown Horse & Carriage Inc. operated horse
carriages then along East Atlantic Avenue and Northeast Second Avenue during the winter holiday.
The city contracted with the company until 2008. Sarah Martin, executive director of the Delray Beach Marketing Co-
operative, said it also hired the company to offer rides during special events.
"The idea was to introduce people to Pineapple Grove Arts District," Martin said. "We used them for several other
events."
Martin said the service was discontinued by the owners of the company for personal reasons.
Not everyone is thrilled with the idea of bringing the buggy rides back. Political activist Andre Fladell called the idea
passe and inhumane to the animals.
"They're absurd and ridiculous for the city of Delray Beach. It's the wrong thing to do in every respect, including the
treatment of the animal," Fladell said.
"This is what you do in a sleepy little town like St. Augustine."


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

Page 30
Is Delray Beach going all horse-and-buggy? Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) September 30, 2012 Sunday


All Rights Reserved
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13 of 456 DOCUMENTS


September 29, 2012 Saturday
Palm Beach Edition

'New' transportation may be coming to Delray: horse-drawn carriage



LENGTH: 438 words

If the quaint, old-town feel of some of Delray Beach's downtown historic landmarks is not enough to bring you back to
the days of yore, don't worry -- horse and buggy rides may be on the way.
The service, which will offer rides around the downtown area for a fee, was proposed by the Downtown Development
Authority as a way to boost tourism during the holidays.
"We would like to see it happen," said Laura Simon, associate director of the Downtown Development Authority. "Our
board approved the suggestion."
Delray Beach would join West Palm Beach, which has been offering horse-drawn carriage rides at CityPlace for 12
years, as the only two cities in South Florida to offer the service as a form of transportation for visitors.
"Unless you live in a vacuum, most people know what a horse-drawn carriage is," said Bob Stitt, owner of Horse and
Carriage Rides, Inc, which operates out of CityPlace. "This is not new. We stay very busy here."
Stitt said he only works with West Palm Beach and at private events such as weddings and parades. He said he didn't
know of any other cities in Florida, except for St. Augustine and Fort Myers, that offered horse and buggy rides.
"Delray is a nice place for carriages, but it's too congested," Stitt said of Atlantic Avenue.
In 2002, the City Commission first approved the horse and buggy rides. Downtown Horse & Carriage Inc. operated
horse carriages then along East Atlantic Avenue and Northeast Second Avenue during the winter holiday.
The city contracted with the company until 2008. Sarah Martin, executive director of the Delray Beach Marketing Co-
operative, said they also hired the company to offer rides during special events.
"The idea was to introduce people to Pineapple Grove Arts District," Martin said.
Not everyone is thrilled with the idea of bringing the buggy rides back. Political activist Andre Fladell called the idea
passe and inhumane to the animals.
"They're absurd and ridiculous for the city of Delray Beach. It's the wrong thing to do in every respect, including the
treatment of the animal," Fladell said. "This is what you do in a sleepy little town like St. Augustine. Delray Beach is a
pristine jewel, and you don't need to bring back something that was good in the 19th century."
But Simon said visitors and residents enjoyed the service and it enhanced the nostalgic feel of the city's historic down-
town.
"In the fast-paced technical world we live in, it's nice to see those simple pleasures people cherish and remember," Si-
mon said. "We're still a small town and there are a lot of things, like this, that keep that spirit alive."
Meherrera@tribune.com or 561-243-6544

Page 32
'New' transportation may be coming to Delray: horse-drawn carriage Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) September
29, 2012 Saturday


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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14 of 456 DOCUMENTS


August 11, 2012 Saturday
Palm Beach Edition

Mischief afoot for primaries

BYLINE: Anthony Man, Staff writer


LENGTH: 599 words

More than 600,000 voters in Broward and Palm Beach counties are shut out of some elections this year, deprived of any
say in who will run key parts of county government and represent them in the Florida Legislature.
It's all legal. The culprit is a campaign law loophole that is frequently exploited by political insiders, who use it to ma-
nipulate election results.
"It stinks," said Delray Beach political activist Andre Fladell, who's advised both Democrats and Republicans for dec-
ades. "It's supposed to be an honest process, and the law allows it to be a dishonest process. It eliminates half the elec-
torate through a dishonest act. You're undoing people's right to vote."
Here's how it works: Primary elections, like those on tap Tuesday in Broward and Palm Beach counties, are for Demo-
crats and Republicans to choose their parties' nominees to run in the Nov. 6 general election. When there aren't any op-
posing candidates in the general election, a 1998 amendment to the Florida Constitution says the primary should be
open to all voters because that's the contest that really decides who gets the government job and salary.
Enter then-Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris, known mostly for her controversial role in awarding the state's
electoral votes to George W. Bush in the 2000 presidential election. That same year, as Florida's top elections official,
she ruled that write-in candidates in November count as opposition. And when there's opposition, the primary becomes
closed to everyone but that party's voters.
That's where the mischief starts: Candidates who benefit from a one party-only election in August arrange for a write-in
candidate to challenge them in November, to keep voters they don't like from being able to cast ballots in the primary.
"The write-in isn't a real candidate. It is often a stalking horse," said political scientist Kevin Wagner of Florida Atlantic
University. "It basically disenfranchises half the electorate, whether it's done on the Democratic side or the Republican
side."
History bears him out: a write-in candidate has never won a Florida election. In fact, their names don't even appear on
the November ballot.
On Tuesday, the Sun Sentinel has determined, 135,000 voters in Broward and 469,000 voters in Palm Beach County
will be kept from voting in some primary contests because of write-in candidates who may have been encouraged to run
by the very politicians they will "oppose" in November.
In some cases, the write-in candidate is a virtual phantom. Take Tuesday's primary for Palm Beach County tax collec-
tor, which is now closed to everyone but Democrats.
It's unclear why Allison R. Schuler is a write-in candidate. The voice mail on Schuler's phone hasn't been activated and
she didn't respond to an e-mail.
The Democratic candidates, incumbent Anne Gannon and challenger Peter Carney, said they don't like the write-in
gambit and have no idea who may be behind Schuler.
Page 34
Mischief afoot for primaries Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) August 11, 2012 Saturday

"You'll have to find her. I've never seen her. I've never met her," Gannon said.
Another Palm Beach County primary open only to Democrats because of a write-in candidate is the fiercely contested
District 27 state Senate seat between Mack Bernard and Jeff Clemens, both of whom are currently state representatives.
The practice isn't confined to Democrats. A five-candidate primary contest for state representative in District 82 in
northern Palm Beach County is open only to Republicans voters because of a write-in candidate.
aman@tribune.com or 954-356-4550
Inside
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Mischief afoot for primaries;
Write-ins close some races and shut out many voters


SECTION: LOCAL; Pg. 1B {ZONE} SB

LENGTH: 651 words

It's all legal. The culprit is a campaign law loophole that is frequently exploited by political insiders, who use it to ma-
nipulate election results.
"It stinks," said Delray Beach political activist Andre Fladell, who has advised both Democrats and Republicans for
decades. "It's supposed to be an honest process, and the law allows it to be a dishonest process. It eliminates half the
electorate through a dishonest act. You're undoing people's right to vote."
crats and Republicans to choose their parties' nominees to run in the Nov. 6 general election. When there aren't any op-
Enter then-Secretary of State Katherine Harris, known mostly for her controversial role in awarding the state's electoral
votes to George W. Bush in the 2000 presidential election. That same year, as Florida's top elections official, she ruled
that write-in candidates in November count as opposition. And when there's opposition, the primary becomes closed to
everyone but that party's voters.
That's where the mischief starts: Candidates who benefit from a one-party-only election in August arrange for a write-in
candidate to challenge them in November, to keep voters they don't like from being able to cast ballots in the primary.
"The write-in isn't a real candidate. It is often a stalking horse," said political scientist Kevin Wagner, of Florida Atlan-
tic University. "It basically disenfranchises half the electorate, whether it's done on the Democratic side or the Republi-
can side."
History bears him out: a write-in candidate has never won a Florida election. In fact, their names don't even appear on
the November ballot.
On Tuesday, the Sun Sentinel has determined, 135,000 voters in Broward County and 469,000 voters in Palm Beach
County will be kept from voting in some primary contests because of write-in candidates who may have been encour-
aged to run by the very politicians they will "oppose" in November.
Ken Keechl, one of three Democratic candidates in Broward County Commission District 7, acknowledged that he ar-
ranged for write-in Clifford Swearingen because a closed primary would help him in a district where Republicans and
Independent and unaffiliated voters make up half the population.
Page 36
Mischief afoot for primaries; Write-ins close some races and shut out many voters Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale,
Florida) August 11, 2012 Saturday

Political insiders figure another Democratic candidate, Charlotte E. Rodstrom, would benefit if Republicans and Inde-
pendents could vote because she has lots of support from the business community and her husband, whom she's running
to succeed, used to be a Republican.
No one is claiming responsibility for a second write-in candidate, Jessica Heinecker.
One of the Democratic candidates, Tim Ryan, said the write-ins were "obviously" put in by someone -- not him -- be-
cause "write-in candidates just don't appear." Heinecker has family ties to political consultant Judy Stern, who's helping
Ryan.
Other Broward primaries closed by write-in candidates include the District 9 County Commission race and state House
contests in districts 102, 103 and 105.
Even when the pols are cagey, it's often possible to connect the dots.
In 2010, state House candidate Justin Flippen billed himself as the true Democrat and thought he'd do better with just
Democrats voting. He said he didn't know how Arthur Williams materialized as a write-in.
The two lived in the same building.
Vote early
Today is the last day you can vote early in Broward County. See where the polling places are. 5B


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16 of 456 DOCUMENTS

Broward Politics

August 10, 2012 Friday 9:38 PM EST

BLOG: Broward Politics: Candidate mischief locks out voters

BYLINE: Anthony Man

LENGTH: 1153 words

Aug. 10--More than 600,000 voters in Broward and Palm Beach counties are shut out of some elections this year, de-
prived of any say in who will run key parts of county government and represent them in the Florida Legislature.
It's all very legal. The culprit is a campaign law loophole that is frequently exploited by political insiders, who use it to
manipulate election results.

"It stinks," said Delray Beach political activist Andre Fladell, who's advised both Democrats and Republicans for
decades. "It's supposed to be an honest process, and the law allows it to be a dishonest process. It eliminates half the
electorate through a dishonest act. You're undoing people's right to vote."
Here's how it works: Primary elections, like those on tap Tuesday in Broward and Palm Beach counties, are for Dem-
ocrats and Republicans to choose their party's nominees to run in the Nov. 6 general election. When there aren't any
opposing candidates in the general election, a 1998 amendment to the Florida Constitution says the primary should be
Enter Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris, known mostly for her controversial role in awarding the state's elec-
toral votes to George W. Bush in the 2000 presidential election. That same year, as Florida's top elections official, she
ruled that that write-in candidates in November count as opposition. And since there's opposition, the primary becomes
And here's where the mischief starts: Candidates who benefit from a one party-only election in August arrange for a
write-in candidate to challenge them in November, to keep voters they don't want from casting ballots in the primary.
"The write-in isn't a real candidate. It is often a stalking horse," said political scientist Kevin Wagner of Florida Atlan-
tic University. "It basically disenfranchises half the electorate, whether it's done on the Democratic side or the Republi-
can side."
History bears him out: a write-in candidate has never won a single Florida election. In fact, their names don't even ap-
pear on the November ballot.
will be kept from voting in primary elections due to write-in candidates who, in some cases, were encouraged to run by
the candidates they theoretically will oppose in November.
tor, which is closed to everyone but Democrats.
It's unclar why Allison R. Schuler is a write-in candidate. The voice mail on Schuler's phone hasn't been activated and
The Democratic candidates, incumbent Anne Gannon and challenger Peter Carney, said they don't like the practice and
have no idea how it happened.
Carney called it "a political maneuver, which effectively disenfranchises voters who do not fall within that political
party."
Bernard, who has support from conservatives and business groups, could benefit from an open primary against Clem-
ens, who has more backing from the liberal wing of the party.
Page 38
BLOG: Broward Politics: Candidate mischief locks out voters Broward Politics August 10, 2012 Friday 9:38 PM EST

The practice isn't confined to Democrats. A five-candidate contest for state representative in District 82 in northern
Palm Beach County, is open only to Republicans because of a write-in candidate.
Ken Keechl, one of three Democratic candidates in District 7, said in an interview he arranged for write-in Clifford
Swearingen, because a closed primary would help him in a district where Republicans and independent/no party voters
make up half the population and could have swayed the outcome.
Political insiders figured Democrat Charlotte E. Rodstrom would benefit if Republicans and independents could vote
because she has lots of support from the business community, and her husband, who she's running to succeed, used to
be a Republican.
No one is claiming responsibility for a second write-in candidate, Jessica Heinecker,
One of the Democratic candidates, Timothy "Tim" Ryan, said the write in candidates were "obviously" put in by
someone -- not him -- because "write-in candidates just don't appear." Heinecker has family ties to political consultant
Judy Stern, who's helping Ryan's campaign.
Other Broward primaries open only to Democrats because of write-in candidates include the District 9 County Com-
mission race and state representative contests in District 102.
Two state representative contests, in districts 103 and 105 taking in parts of South Broward, are open only to Republi-
cans because of write-in candidates.
Even when participants are cagey, it's often possible to connect the dots.
In 2010, state House candidate Justin Flippen billed himself as the true Democrat in a Broward primary and thought
he'd do better with just Democrats voting. He said he didn't know how Arthur Williams materialized as write-in to close
the primary, which Flippen lost.
Flippen lived in unit 201 and Williams in unit 110 in the same Wilton Manors condo building.
In 2004, when Jean Enright was running for Port of Palm Beach Commission, the write-in candidate who closed the
primary, Ruby Landfair, was her own mother.
Defending the status quo, many political veterans say all primaries should be closed.
Mark Alan Siegel, Palm Beach County Democratic chairman, said primaries should be for voters who are registered in
the party, period. If there isn't competition in November, the solution in his view isn't to open the primary to everyone.
Instead it's to get the other party to field a candidate.
Broward Property Appraiser Lori Parrish, a Democrat who arranged for a write-in to close the 2008 primary for her
office, said she thinks primaries are only for voters who are registered in the party. "Primaries are primaries. Period. I
think Democrats get to choose their standard bearer. I think Republicans get to choose theirs," she said.
Stern, who said she didn't know who was responsible for the County Commission District 7 write-in candidates, said
there's a tactical reason for closed primaries: It saves money for candidates running campaigns with limited money.
With a closed primary they can concentrate on targeting the small number of party members, called supervoters, who
vote in each primary.
Besides, she said, the write in maneuver is allowed by state law.
Attempts to change the system have repeatedly failed in the Legislature, where many members were elected using the
write-in maneuver to close their own primaries, and in the courts.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


JOURNAL-CODE: FL-2066

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Page 39

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Broward Politics

August 10, 2012 Friday 9:28 PM EST

Candidate mischief locks out voters

BYLINE: Anthony Man

LENGTH: 1146 words


Here's how it works: Primary elections, like those on tap Tuesday in Broward and Palm Beach counties, are for Dem-
ocrats and Republicans to choose their party's nominees to run in the Nov. 6 general election. When there aren't any
opposing candidates in the general election, a 1998 amendment to the Florida Constitution says the primary should be
side."
party."
Page 40
Candidate mischief locks out voters Broward Politics August 10, 2012 Friday 9:28 PM EST

be a Republican.
One of the Democratic candidates, Timothy "Tim" Ryan, said the write in candidates were "obviously" put in by some-
one not him because "write-in candidates just don't appear." Heinecker has family ties to political consultant Judy
Stern, who's helping Ryan's campaign.
Other Broward primaries open only to Democrats because of write-in candidates include the District 9 County Commis-
sion race and state representative contests in District 102.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH



All Rights Reserved
Page 41

18 of 456 DOCUMENTS


August 10, 2012 Friday
Online Edition

Candidate mischief locks out voters

BYLINE: Anthony Man August 10, 2012 04:55 PM

SECTION: LOCAL; Pg. Web {ZONE} SB

LENGTH: 1146 words

crats and Republicans to choose their party's nominees to run in the Nov. 6 general election. When there aren't any op-
side."
Page 42
Candidate mischief locks out voters Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) August 10, 2012 Friday

party."
be a Republican.
One of the Democratic candidates, Timothy "Tim" Ryan, said the write in candidates were "obviously" put in by some-
one ? not him ? because "write-in candidates just don't appear." Heinecker has family ties to political consultant Judy
Stern, who's helping Ryan's campaign.
Other Broward primaries open only to Democrats because of write-in candidates include the District 9 County Commis-
sion race and state representative contests in District 102.

Page 43
Candidate mischief locks out voters Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) August 10, 2012 Friday


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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19 of 456 DOCUMENTS

Miami Times (Florida)

August 8, 2012 - August 14, 2012

Campaign tactics draw fire

BYLINE: Man, Anthony

SECTION: Pg. 7A Vol. 89 No. 50 ISSN: 0739-0319

LENGTH: 1073 words

ABSTRACT
"Appealing to voters along religious lines is divisive," the ADL's Boca Raton-based regional director, Andrew
Rosenkranz, wrote in a letter to Lisbon. "A candidate's religious beliefs - or lack thereof - should never be used as a test
for public office or as a shorthand summary of a candidate's qualifications."
Appeals to voters based on ethnic or religious affiliation are as old as politics in America, said Charles Zelden, a pro-
fessor of history and legal studies who specializes in politics and voting at Nova Southeastern University. "It's the reali-
ty of politics," said Zelden, who grew up in Chicago and where, he said, "if you had an Irish name, there were parts of
the city you won."
"Racial and ethnic and religious politics has been around forever, and it's never going to go away," [Dan Gelber] said.
"Generally a candidate to appeal to the Jewish community will show a picture of them in front of an Israeli flag or at
temple or in a yarmulke. But the idea that you can directly tell somebody you need to vote for me because of my reli-
gion or my race is not something that is permissible anymore. Right-thinking people have to frown upon that and reject
it outright because it's not even a close call."

FULL TEXT
Using religion to gain votes attacked by many leaders
Political and religious leaders are condemning moves by two South Florida candidates to attract Jewish voters by re-
minding them that they're Jewish - and their opponents aren't.
The candidates themselves say they don't think they did anything wrong.
In a Democratic state House primary in South Broward, candidate Sheldon Lisbon sent an email telling supporters that a
vote for him "is a vote for the Jewish community." Lisbon is Jewish; his primary foe, state Rep. Joe Gibbons of Hallan-
dale Beach, is Black.
In a Democratic County Commission primary in southwest Palm Beach County, a campaign mailing from Steven Mey-
er points out that he's Jewish and describes another candidate, Mary Lou Berger, as Christian.
Each district is home to a large number of Jewish Democrats who will be decisive in determining the winners of the
Aug. 14 primary.
State Democratic Party Chairman Rod Smith, in an unusual letter last month to candidates and party leaders, con-
demned what he called the "disturbing trend" shown by the Lisbon and Meyer campaigns.
Smith said he normally wouldn't criticize Democratic candidates' campaign tactics, but that these cases were different
because "appeals for votes based up on religious affiliation are unacceptable."
Page 45
Campaign tactics draw fire Miami Times (Florida) August 8, 2012 - August 14, 2012

U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasser - man Schultz of Weston, who is Jewish and the chairwoman of the Democratic National
Committee, said Lisbon's email was inappropriate. So did the Anti-Defamation League, an organization devoted to
combating antiSemitism.
Rosenkranz, wrote in a letter to Lisbon. "A candidate's religious beliefs - or lack thereof - should never be used as a test
Lisbon was elected to the Surfside Town Commission, his first public office, in March, but resigned to challenge Gib-
bons in the newly crafted 100th state House district primary. The district takes in territory south of Fort Lauderdale in-
cluding all or parts of Dania Beach, Hallandale Beach and Hollywood and northeast Miami-Dade County.
U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, who is Jewish, said Meyer's mailer was inappropriate. So did Mark Alan Siegel,
chairman of the Palm Beach County Democratic Party, and Andre Fladell, a Delray Beach Democratic activist. Deutch
and Fladell are Berger supporters.
"When you say my church is better than your church it offends the voters. When you list your religion and the other
person's religion, what purpose could that have? Fladell said.
The Anti-Defamation League, an organization devoted to combating antiSemitism, in a letter to Lisbon, said "appealing
to voters along religious lines is divisive."
The ADL's position on religion in political campaigns states: "A candidate's religious beliefs - or lack thereof - should
never be used by voters, nor suggested by political candidates, as a test for public office or as a shorthand summary of a
candidate's qualifications."
In the Palm Beach County contest, voters are choosing a replacement for term-limited County Commissioner Burt
Aaronson to represent communities west of Boca Raton, Delray Beach and Boynton Beach. The district is so over-
whelmingly Democratic that the primary winner is likely to win the November election.
Besides Meyer and Berger, the primary field includes Rick Neuhoff.
the city you won."
He said such the rationale of such appeals is easy to understand. "You want to vote for someone who you think under-
stands you," he said. "You can go overboard."
Former state Sen. Dan Gelber is a Jewish Miami Beach Democrat who represented part of South Broward. He supports
Gibbons.
"Racial and ethnic and religious politics has been around forever, and it's never going to go away," Gelber said. "Gener-
ally a candidate to appeal to the Jewish community will show a picture of them in front of an Israeli flag or at temple or
in a yarmulke. But the idea that you can directly tell somebody you need to vote for me because of my religion or my
race is not something that is permissible anymore. Right-thinking people have to frown upon that and reject it outright
because it's not even a close call."
Lisbon said he didn't think there was anything wrong with his email, which included the line, "This district is primarily
a Jewish district composed of residents like us."
He said when he needed to raise money, he went to people he knows, and they happen to be Jewish. "That doesn't mean
the people I'm going to represent after Aug. 14 are only the Jews. Of course not," he said.
Lisbon said race isn't an issue for him. Before moving to South Florida in 2006, Lisbon said he taught in a Washington,
D.C., public school and received a master's degree from Howard University, an historically Black institution.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

Page 46
Campaign tactics draw fire Miami Times (Florida) August 8, 2012 - August 14, 2012

ACC-NO: 58544

GRAPHIC: Photographs

DOCUMENT-TYPE: News


JOURNAL-CODE: MMTM

Copyright 2012 ProQuest Information and Learning
All Rights Reserved
Copyright 2012 Miami Times
Page 47

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August 6, 2012 Monday
Palm Beach Edition

Campaign tactics draw fire;
Using religion to gain votes attacked by many leaders



LENGTH: 635 words

minding them that they're Jewish - and their opponents aren't.
dale Beach, is black.
Aug. 14 primary.
person's religion, what purpose could that have?" Fladell said.
The Anti-Defamation League, an organization devoted to combating anti-Semitism, in a letter to Lisbon, said "appeal-
ing to voters along religious lines is divisive."
The ADL's position on religion in political campaigns states: "A candidate's religious beliefs -- or lack thereof -- should
never be used by voters, nor suggested by political candidates, as a test for public office or as a shorthand summary of a
candidate's qualifications."
Page 48
Campaign tactics draw fire; Using religion to gain votes attacked by many leaders Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale,
Florida) August 6, 2012 Monday

the city you won."
Gibbons.
Read Sheldon Lisbon's full email and the ADL's statement on religion in politics at SunSentinel.com/
BrowardPolitics.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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21 of 456 DOCUMENTS

Broward Politics

August 4, 2012 Saturday 9:37 PM EST

BLOG: Broward Politics: Pitch for votes along religious lines draws sharp criti-
cism

BYLINE: Anthony Man

LENGTH: 837 words

Aug. 04--Political and religious leaders are condemning moves by two South Florida candidates to attract Jewish voters
by reminding them that they're Jewish -- and their opponents aren't.

In a Democratic state House primary in South Broward, candidate Sheldon Lisbon sent an email telling supporters that
a vote for him "is a vote for the Jewish community." Lisbon is Jewish; his primary foe, state Rep. Joe Gibbons of
Hallandale Beach, is black.
In a Democratic County Commission primary in southwest Palm Beach County, a campaign mailing from Steven
Meyer points out that he's Jewish and describes another candidate, Mary Lou Berger, as Christian.
Aug. 14 primary.
U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Weston, who is Jewish and the chairwoman of the Democratic National
Committee, said Lisbon's email was inappropriate. So did the Anti-Defamation League, an organization devoted to
combating anti-Semitism.
Rosenkranz, wrote in a letter to Lisbon. "A candidate's religious beliefs -- or lack thereof -- should never be used as a
test for public office or as a shorthand summary of a candidate's qualifications."
Lisbon was elected to the Surfside Town Commission, his first-ever public office, in March, but resigned to challenge
Gibbons in the newly crafted 100th state House district primary. The district takes in territory south of Fort Lauderdale
including all or parts of Dania Beach, Hallandale Beach and Hollywood and northeast Miami-Dade County.
the city you won."
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BLOG: Broward Politics: Pitch for votes along religious lines draws sharp criticism Broward Politics August 4, 2012
Saturday 9:37 PM EST

Gibbons.
"Racial and ethnic and religious politics has been around forever, and it's never going to go away," Gelber said. "Gen-
erally a candidate to appeal to the Jewish community will show a picture of them in front of an Israeli flag or at temple
or in a yarmulke. But the idea that you can directly tell somebody you need to vote for me because of my religion or my
He said when he needed to raise money, he went to people he knows, and they happen to be Jewish. "That doesn't
mean the people I'm going to represent after Aug. 14 are only the Jews. Of course not," he said.
Lisbon said race isn't an issue for him. Before moving to South Florida in 2006, Lisbon said he taught in a Washing-
ton, D.C., public school and received a master's degree from Howard University, an historically black institution.
Meyer said he didn't think there was anything wrong with his mailer to people who requested absentee ballots. "It
wasn't meant to be anything but to convey in the whole context I'm a better candidate than she is," he said. "I am just
trying to tell people who I am."


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Broward Politics


Pitch for votes along religious lines draws sharp criticism

BYLINE: Anthony Man

LENGTH: 832 words

minding them that they re Jewish and their opponents aren t.
The candidates themselves say they don t think they did anything wrong.

vote for him is a vote for the Jewish community. Lisbon is Jewish; his primary foe, state Rep. Joe Gibbons of
Hallandale Beach, is black.
er points out that he s Jewish and describes another candidate, Mary Lou Berger, as Christian.
Aug. 14 primary.
demned what he called the disturbing trend shown by the Lisbon and Meyer campaigns.
Smith said he normally wouldn t criticize Democratic candidates campaign tactics, but that these cases were different
because appeals for votes based up on religious affiliation are unacceptable.
U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Weston, who is Jewish and the chairwoman of the Democratic National Com-
mittee, said Lisbon s email was inappropriate. So did the Anti-Defamation League, an organization devoted to combat-
ing anti-Semitism.
Appealing to voters along religious lines is divisive, the ADL s Boca Raton-based regional director, Andrew
Rosenkranz, wrote in a letter to Lisbon. A candidate s religious beliefs or lack thereof should never be used as a
test for public office or as a shorthand summary of a candidate s qualifications.
U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, who is Jewish, said Meyer s mailer was inappropriate. So did Mark Alan Siegel,
When you say my church is better than your church it offends the voters. When you list your religion and the other
person s religion, what purpose could that have? Fladell said.
fessor of history and legal studies who specializes in politics and voting at Nova Southeastern University. It s the real-
ity of politics, said Zelden, who grew up in Chicago and where, he said, if you had an Irish name, there were parts of
the city you won.
He said such the rationale of such appeals is easy to understand. You want to vote for someone who you think under-
stands you, he said. You can go overboard.
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Pitch for votes along religious lines draws sharp criticism Broward Politics August 4, 2012 Saturday 4:26 PM EST

Gibbons.
Racial and ethnic and religious politics has been around forever, and it s never going to go away, Gelber said.
Generally a candidate to appeal to the Jewish community will show a picture of them in front of an Israeli flag or at
temple or in a yarmulke. But the idea that you can directly tell somebody you need to vote for me because of my reli-
gion or my race is not something that is permissible anymore. Right-thinking people have to frown upon that and reject
it outright because it s not even a close call.
Lisbon said he didn t think there was anything wrong with his email, which included the line, This district is primarily
a Jewish district composed of residents like us.
He said when he needed to raise money, he went to people he knows, and they happen to be Jewish. That doesn t
mean the people I m going to represent after Aug. 14 are only the Jews. Of course not, he said.
Lisbon said race isn t an issue for him. Before moving to South Florida in 2006, Lisbon said he taught in a Washington,
D.C., public school and received a master s degree from Howard University, an historically black institution.
Meyer said he didn t think there was anything wrong with his mailer to people who requested absentee ballots. It wasn
t meant to be anything but to convey in the whole context I m a better candidate than she is, he said. I am just trying
to tell people who I am.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH



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Online Edition

Pitch for votes along religious lines draws sharp criticism

BYLINE: Anthony Man August 4, 2012 11:53 AM


LENGTH: 831 words

minding them that they're Jewish ? and their opponents aren't.
dale Beach, is black.
Aug. 14 primary.
U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Weston, who is Jewish and the chairwoman of the Democratic National Com-
mittee, said Lisbon's email was inappropriate. So did the Anti-Defamation League, an organization devoted to combat-
ing anti-Semitism.
Rosenkranz, wrote in a letter to Lisbon. "A candidate's religious beliefs ? or lack thereof ? should never be used as a test
Page 54
Pitch for votes along religious lines draws sharp criticism Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) August 4, 2012
Saturday

the city you won."
Gibbons.
He said when he needed to raise money, he went to people he knows, and they happen to be Jewish. "That doesn't mean
the people I'm going to represent after Aug. 14 are only the Jews. Of course not," he said.
Lisbon said race isn't an issue for him. Before moving to South Florida in 2006, Lisbon said he taught in a Washington,
D.C., public school and received a master's degree from Howard University, an historically black institution.
Meyer said he didn't think there was anything wrong with his mailer to people who requested absentee ballots. "It wasn't
meant to be anything but to convey in the whole context I'm a better candidate than she is," he said. "I am just trying to
tell people who I am."


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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August 2, 2012 Thursday
FINAL EDITION

Jacobs takes on Frankel machine ;
Party backing, money separate candidates.

BYLINE: By Dara Kam Palm Beach Post Capital Bureau

SECTION: LOCAL & BUSINESS; Pg. 1B

LENGTH: 1431 words

Anyone remotely familiar with former West Palm Beach Mayor Lois Frankel knows she's the pit bull in the Democratic
primary for a new Broward/Palm Beach congressional seat against underdog Kristin Jacobs, a Broward County com-
missioner.
Frankel has a who's who of supporters, including Emily's List and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee,
throwing their weight behind her. She's out-raised Jacobs 10 to 1. And she's a tough-as-nails veteran politico with a
yearlong campaign head start over her opponent.
"Anyone who opposes Lois has to expect a no-holds-barred fight," said Delray Beach Democratic political activist An-
dre Fladell. "She's relentless."
Frankel launched her U.S. House bid last year in an effort to unseat tea party icon U.S. Rep. Allen West.
But this spring, after the GOP-dominated legislature redrew his district with a more Democrat-leaning tilt, West opted
instead to run for a safer, northern Palm Beach County-Treasure Coast seat.
That's when Jacobs, of Pompano Beach, entered the race, drawing criticism from Frankel and her backers for not being
gutsy enough to take on West.
National Democrats have made the District 22 seat, and Frankel, one of their highest priorities in the quest to retake a
majority in the House. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee named Frankel one of only eight "majority
makers" -- candidates they hope can convert GOP-held seats. New York Rep. Steve Israel, the DCCC chairman, ap-
peared with Frankel this year at a campaign event. She's one of the nation's top non-incumbent Democratic fundraisers,
collecting more than $2.2 million.
As of July 1, Frankel had more than $1.3 million in the bank. Jacobs had $75,000, according to campaign finance re-
ports.
Jacobs "has been fighting the money game all along. But she's out there aggressively and making phone calls through-
out the district," said Ron Book, a Broward County lobbyist who contributed to her campaign. "She's honest. She's got
integrity. She's different than a lot of others that are in the game, for what it's worth."
Frankel has spent 26 years in politics, beginning with a six-year stint in the Florida House. She vacated the seat to wage
a losing battle for Congress in 1992, then went back to the House where Frankel, who also once toyed with running for
governor, capped her career as the minority leader before serving two terms as mayor of West Palm Beach.
She's got a well-oiled campaign machine operating in both counties and launched her second television ad this week.
"I have a record I'm very proud of," Frankel says. "So that's my story. I think I'm sticking to it."
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Jacobs takes on Frankel machine ; Party backing, money separate candidates. Palm Beach Post (Florida) August 2,
2012 Thursday

Jacobs was a community activist before making her entree into politics 14 years ago by winning a seat on the Broward
County Commission. She laughed when asked the question that leaves many observers scratching their heads: Why did
she decide to challenge Frankel in the first place?
"I believe in the power of what could be in Washington and I always have wanted to go. And when I ran the first time I
ran against a pit bull. The same thing," Jacobs said. "This is about character. It's about vision and energy. And that's
what I bring."
Plus she has nothing to lose. Under a Florida law crafted to help then-Gov. Charlie Crist remain in office while running
for the U.S. Senate, Jacobs is not required to resign from her county commission seat to run for Congress. Jacobs says
she intends to fulfill the remaining two years in her term if she loses the primary.
The two Democrats are similar on the issues. Both support maintaining Medicare and Social Security and doing away
with the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. And both say they identify with middle-class voters worried about
health care, jobs and how to pay for college for their children.
But the two, both single mothers at one point in their lives, couldn't be further apart in style and demeanor.
Campaigning on a shoestring budget, Jacobs travels door-to-door on a Segway, a cheap and efficient method of getting
around in the summer heat and a way to showcase her commitment to the environment and green energy.
She's nipping at Frankel's heels, demanding that the two debate face-to-face before the Aug. 14 primary. On her cam-
paign website, a "debate clock" counts the "amount of time elapsed since I agreed to debate with no response from my
opponent." The count was 48 days as of Wednesday.
Although Frankel says she's taking the primary seriously, she has focused almost exclusively on defeating Adam Has-
ner, a conservative Boca Raton Republican and former state representative, in the Nov. 6 general election. Hasner has
no primary.
"There's such a difference between me and Adam Hasner and what's at stake, and I have to keep my focus on that,"
Frankel said.
In Tallahassee and as mayor of West Palm Beach, Frankel earned a reputation as an in-your-face, tenacious politician
who bulldozed opponents to get her way.
"When a man does that, they're called strong leaders. When a woman does that, they're called a five-letter word. That's a
sexist remnant of the past," said Palm Beach County Democratic Party Chairman Mark Alan Siegel, who supports
Frankel but says his support is as an individual, not as a party leader.
If the GOP retains control of the House, "you're going to need someone in there who's going to really give it to them
and that would be Lois," Siegel said.
Frankel also is unapologetic.
"Anybody who knows what West Palm Beach was like before I was mayor and knows how it is now knows that it is a
safer, more vibrant place to be," she said.
And she, like Jacobs, says she has what it takes to end the Washington gridlock deplored by many voters.
She points to her success working with conservative Republicans early in her tenure in the state House to pass legisla-
tion dealing with HIV-AIDS treatment and sex education in public schools. Frankel also has adopted a gentler approach
in the primary, pressuring Jacobs to sign a pledge to run a positive campaign to avoid giving the GOP ammunition in
the fall.
Jacobs points to her service as head of the White House National Ocean Council's Governance Coordinating Committee
and has run ads touting a history of "bringing people together to create change" and knowing "how to work with oth-
ers."
But Jacobs points out that Frankel refused to compromise with locals unhappy about her City Center plan and ignored
court orders to hold a referendum on the project until it was complete. She also notes that while Frankel was mayor, two
city commissioners went to prison and a grand jury concluded the commission was dominated by "an appearance of
pay-to-play" governance.
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Jacobs takes on Frankel machine ; Party backing, money separate candidates. Palm Beach Post (Florida) August 2,
2012 Thursday

"I have never had a conflict of interest on the county commission," Jacobs said. "I've never had a single ethics complaint
filed against me. I went through the White House vetting process and I came out clean on the other side."
dkam@pbpost.com
about this story
This is the latest story in a series covering the races on the Aug. 14 ballot.
The series concludes Friday, the day before early voting begins.
Inside
U.S. House District 22 Democratic candidate bios Coming Friday
Early voting schedule, locations
List of all candidates in Palm Beach and Martin counties
u.s. house diStrict 22
Term: Two years
Salary: $174,000
About this election: Only registered Democrats can vote in this Aug. 14 primary. Early voting is Saturday-Aug. 11. The
winner will face Republican Adam Hasner in the Nov. 6 election.
Lois Frankel
Personal: 64, of West Palm Beach; divorced, one child.
Education: Bachelor's degree, psychology, Boston University; law degree, Georgetown University Law Center.
Professional: Attorney.
Political: Elected twice as mayor of West Palm Beach, serving 2003-11; explored gubernatorial race, 2002; elected state
representative seven times, serving 1986-92 and 1994-2002, including a term as state House minority leader, 2000-02;
lost run for Congress, 1992.
Issues: Supports terminating tax cuts for those earning more than $250,000; opposes cuts to Social Security and Medi-
care; supports maintaining strong alliance with Israel; supports women's rights to contraception and health care.
Kristin Jacobs
Personal: 52, of Pompano Beach; divorced, remarried, three children.
Professional: Broward County commissioner.
Education: Attended Southwestern College in San Diego and Broward Community College.
Political: Elected commissioner in 1998 and three times since.
Issues: Opposes cuts to Social Security and Medicare; supports balancing budget by eliminating tax breaks for corpora-
tions; supports ending Bush tax cuts for millionaires; supports safeguarding 'green' jobs; supports clean energy.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

NOTES: ELECTIONS 2012U.S. HOUSE DIST. 22 democratic primary


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SaintPetersBlog

July 25, 2012 Wednesday 10:03 AM EST

Sunburn for 7/25: A morning read of what s hot in Florida politics

LENGTH: 1604 words

A morning read of what s hot in Florida politics.
***SUNBURN is brought to you by Bascom Communications & Consulting, LLC, a top-notch public affairs, political
communications and public relations firm. Visit www.bascomllc.com to read about their growing team, success stories
and case studies.***
BE SURE TO SEND BIRTHDAY WISHES to 2011 Tally Madness winner and all-around good guy Steve Madden,
who is celebrating his big day today. Make his day and drop him a note at SMadden@centene.com
HOW COULD I HAVE FORGOTTEN CHARLIE CRIST S BIRTHDAY YESTERDAY? As a leader in the Society
of the Tarpon Belt (the Crist-in-waiting party), I should be forced to watch an unending loop of Morgan & Morgan for
getting the boss s birthday.

SOUTH FLORIDA JEWS PIVOTAL FOR OBAMA
While Jews make up only about 3.4 percent of the population in Florida, they have historically turned out in dispropor-
tionately high numbers, Reuters Nick Tate writes. Andre Fladell, a longtime Democratic activist from Delray
Beach, said he doesn t believe a 10 percent to 14 percent drop in the polls among Jewish voters would make a differ-
ence, but a 24 (percent) to 26 percent drop would, he said. The key, he said, will be voting trends among the almost
500,000 Jewish voters in the Democratic stronghold of South Florida Romney s Florida campaign has also tapped
Jewish Republican Tevi Troy former deputy secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services under Pres-
ident George W. Bush as an adviser.
POLL SUGGESTS BAIN ATTACKS NOT HURTING ROMNEY
Despite concerted attacks on his business record, a new USA Today/Gallup poll finds Mitt Romney scores a signifi-
cant advantage over President Obama when it comes to managing the economy.
In fact, by a 63% to 29% margin, those surveyed say Romney s background in business would cause him to make
good decisions, not bad ones, in dealing with the nation s economic problems over the next four years.
Also interesting: Republicans and Republican-leaning independents are much more enthusiastic about the election,
an important factor in persuading supporters to vote. By 18 points, 51%-33%, they report being more enthusiastic than
usual about voting. In contrast, Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents by 4 points say they are less enthusias-
tic than usual, 43%-39%.
BIG MAJORITY FRUSTRATED BY NEGATIVE TONE OF CAMPAIGN
A new Marist poll finds 78% of Americans say they are frustrated by the tone of political campaigns and 74% be-
lieve that the tone of political campaigns has gotten more negative than in past election years.
In addition, 66% believe candidates spend more time criticizing their opponents than addressing the issues, while al-
most as many (64%) say negative campaign ads harm the political process either a great deal or a significant
amount.
And by a nearly 20 point margin (56% to 37%), the public says the tone of political campaigns is mostly uncivil and
disrespectful.

MOMENTUM? ANOTHER CONSERVATIVE GROUP BACKS DAVE WELDON
Underdog U.S. Senate candidate Dave Weldon announced the endorsement of the United Christians of Florida s PAC
on Tuesday, reports Florida Democracy.
The group picked Weldon over GOP frontrunner Rep. Connie Mack even though it had endorsed Mack s father, for-
mer Sen. Connie Mack III, in each of his Senate bids.
Page 59
Sunburn for 7/25: A morning read of what s hot in Florida politics SaintPetersBlog July 25, 2012 Wednesday 10:03 AM
EST

In Dr. Dave Weldon, we have a proven and experienced Congressional Representative who understands how to lead
America toward economic stability and prosperous times for generations to come, said Mike Nelis, United Christians
of Florida, Executive Director.
POLITICO OUTLINES PLANS FOR RNC CONVENTION IN TAMPA
POLITICO announces live shows & events to be produced from Tampa during this summer s Republican National
Convention, many of which will air nationally on C-SPAN. Building off the momentum of its popular primary elec-
tion analysis shows, several convention editions of POLITICO LIVE will be produced throughout the morning, af-
ternoon and evening. Featuring top POLITICO journalists, newsmakers and official convention programming, shows
will be launched by a special kickoff program the Sunday before the Republican convention.
Leading the event schedule will be POLITICO s popular Playbook Breakfast newsmaker series, hosted by Mike
Allen. Televised live daily by C-SPAN, the convention-edition breakfasts will be co-hosted by the Tampa Bay Times
during the Republican convention. The Playbook Breakfast series is presented by Bank of America.
Each afternoon, POLITICO will host policy luncheons featuring newsmakers involved in major issues of the economy,
energy and health care. These discussions will be led by POLITICO s team of policy reporters and editors. The
lunches are presented by the National Association of Manufacturers, the American Wind Energy Association and the
Premier healthcare alliance, respectively.
Each evening, the POLITICO Lounge will offer guests a unique way to watch the speeches, mingling over cocktails
during a nightly live production of POLITICO LIVE, carried on a delayed-basis by C-SPAN. The Lounge is presented
by BAE Systems, Diageo and Intel.
All events and shows - which will be open for registration, free and on the record will be streamed on POLITI-
CO.com and mobile devices and produced from the POLITICO Hub, just a few blocks outside secure convention pe-
rimeters. In Tampa, the Hub will be located in the Rivergate Tower. The Hub will feature a Refresh Station presented
by Coca-Cola. [A] complete programming schedule will be available in POLITICO s glossy magazine guide to the
conventions on Aug. 3.
PALM BEACH POST EDITORIAL: SHOULD JENNIFER CARROLL RESIGN?
All of this has led to speculation that Lt. Gov. Carroll won t be allowed to speak at the Republican Party convention
in Tampa next month. Normally, a black, female Navy veteran elected to office in a swing state like Florida would be a
lock to appear at the GOP convention. Instead, the scandal and her comment could hurt the ticket.

***SUNBURN is brought to you by KEVIN CATE COMMUNICATIONS. I ve called Cate one of the smartest guys
in any room, but that was last year. His firm continues to change the way public relations works in Florida. Believe me,
you want www.CateComm.com on your side.***
DEM POLL SUGGESTS VERN BUCHANAN IS VULNERABLE
Vern Buchanan, who was outraised last quarter by his Democratic opponent Keith Fitzgerald, leads by eight points,
44-36, in a poll conducted by Public Policy Polling and first shared with Politico s Morning Score. 19% are still unde-
cided with just over three months to go, making this a potentially tight race, PPP s Dustin Ingalls writes. This dis-
trict leans slightly Republican, but with the incumbent s campaign finance woes, this is definitely a winnable seat for
Democrats [...] 40% view Buchanan favorably, but almost as many (37%) unfavorably. Democrats will relentless
hammer the NRCC finance chairman as ethically challenged this fall, which they think could shrink the margin. Read
the memo here.
5 PRIMARIES TO WATCH by Steve Bousquet of the Tampa Bay Times
If you re like a lot of voters in Florida, you ll blissfully ignore the Aug. 14 primary election, having convinced yourself
that because a primary is sort of a preliminary round, your one vote just isn t very important.
In fact, the opposite is true: The fewer votes that are cast in a low-turnout election, the greater the power of each vote.
That s why, if you have a track record of voting in primaries, you re being flooded with mailers and phone calls. You
re a super voter, and the political pros who run local elections know who you are.
With that in mind, here s a look at five key primary races for the Legislature on next month s ballot. Most are in the
Senate because primaries there tend to pit more established candidates, and because Senate districts are bigger than
House districts.
CHECK OUT THIS MAILER FROM SENATE CANDIDATE MIKE WEINSTEIN: Courtesy of Matt Dixon of the
Florida Times-Union, this mailer from State Senate candidate Mike Weinstein delivers everything but the kitchen sink.
It has a picture of Marco Rubio, a picture of Pam Bondi, a comparative checklistst, a Don t tread on me flag, an
American flag, more endorsements, a crossed-out picture of Weinstein s opponent, etc., etc.
CAMPAIGN MISCELLANY
Page 60
Sunburn for 7/25: A morning read of what s hot in Florida politics SaintPetersBlog July 25, 2012 Wednesday 10:03 AM
EST

>>>Jacksonville City Beach Councilman Tom Taylor and Neptune Beach Councilman-elect Scott Wiley endorsed
Aaron Bean for Senate District 4.
>>>Orange County Mayor Richard Crotty endorsed Marco Pena for House District 49.
CAMPAIGN PROFILES
>>>Kevin Derby on Senate District 7: With an open shot at the Republican nomination as current incumbent, Steve
Oelrich runs for Congress; attorney Rob Bradley, who rose to become chairman of the Clay County Commission, is a
heavy favorite to win an open seat in SD 7, representing Alachua, Baker and Clay counties.
>>>Sunshine State News on Senate District 26: After an open seat in Florida Senate, former state Rep. Bill Galvano
looks to be smooth-sailing his way to a Tallahassee return in November.
>>>The Florida Current on House District 103: The top contenders in a Republican contest for a Northwest Mi-
ami-Dade County seat in the Florida House have possibly the best-known names in the Cuban-American politics. And
they boast impressive endorsements in their District 103 House race.
HEADLINE OF THE DAY: Bait and switch: fish fraud flourishes
QUOTE OF THE DAY: Even if you lose running for office you actually win, because you get tons of free PR.
Rhode Island U.S. Senate candidate Barry Hinckley, quoted by WPRI-TV, giving a motivational speech in 2009.

LOAD-DATE: July 25, 2012

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


JOURNAL-CODE: XTNT-114180

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July 16, 2012 Monday
Palm Beach Edition

Sheriff has big edge in funds

BYLINE: Ed Komenda, Staff writer


LENGTH: 835 words

The race for the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office may come down to this: the incumbent's big money versus the
newcomers' big ideas.
And in August, the three men running against veteran Ric Bradshaw for his seat as Palm Beach County sheriff might
have to hope, political pundits say, that voters take a chance on a new guy at the polls.
But because Bradshaw has more money and name recognition, it's been difficult for his opponent's to gain traction, said
Sid Dinerstein, Palm Beach County Republican chairman.
"This guy goes on TV every week," Dinerstein said of Bradshaw's presence in the media. "No one knows these other
guys."
But that isn't stopping the challengers.
Following a 22-year career with the Baltimore County Police Department, Joe Talley, 68, a former Republican turned
Democrat and Bradshaw's main competition, spent a short time with the Reserve Unit of the Palm Beach County Sher-
iff's Office, where he ascended to the rank of lieutenant.
Talley left the sheriff's office, he said, after witnessing what he describes as an "old boy" culture, defined by back-door
promotions and the unfair treatment of certain deputies.
"I thought, 'someone needs to step up and change things,'" Talley said of his decision to run. "I want to be that guy."
But with a little more than $20,000 of his own money dumped into his campaign, Talley has been concerned about his
opponent's glaring financial advantage.
"We're facing a giant," Talley said last Tuesday at a meet-and-greet at the Boca Tago Country Club, where he paced the
back of the room, calming his nerves before a five-minute speech. "I'm a little concerned."
According to campaign finance reports, Bradshaw, 64, lassoed endorsements from major state agencies and more than
$200,000 in contributions since he began campaigning in 2011.
His endorsements include nods from the State and Local Fraternal Order of Police, State and Local Police Benevolent
Association and Florida Professional Firefighters.
"They wouldn't endorse me if they didn't think I was doing a good job," Bradshaw said.
The sheriff's platform has focused on his experience and accomplishments, which include the rank of police chief in the
West Palm Beach Police Department, seven years as sheriff with a successful re-election and campaigns against gang
activity, pill mills and street violence.
Bradshaw contends other candidates have attacked his character to veil their own lack of experience.
Page 62
Sheriff has big edge in funds Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) July 16, 2012 Monday

Cleamond Walker, a 61-year-old waste management truck driver from Riviera Beach who is running for sheriff for the
fourth time since 2000, was unavailable to comment for this story.
And attempts to reach Kevin Coleman, a 29-year-old write-in candidate from Riviera Beach with an arrest for underage
drinking, were unsuccessful.
"When you have no experience and no qualifications, you practice the politics of personal destruction," Bradshaw said
of Talley's campaign strategy.
Talley has criticized Bradshaw's handling of the Sheriff's Office budget -- which is more than $400 million -- attacking
a lack of line-by-line details.
Since becoming sheriff, Bradshaw has balked at cutting his budget, which makes up about half of the county's taxpay-
er-funded operating budget.
Political experts contend Bradshaw gets what he wants because of his ability to sell the importance of the sheriff's of-
fice, which serves more than a million people in one of the largest counties in the United States.
"He is a high-level business executive, a public relations individual and a cop's cop," said Andre Fladell, a political
strategist in Palm Beach County. "He brought the sheriff's office back to law enforcement and away from politics."
ekomenda@tribune.com, 561-243-6531, Twitter: @ejkomenda
INFORMATIONAL BOX:
Online
Follow the races closely and read candidate resumes at SunSentinel.com/PalmBeach
Ric Bradshaw Age: 64 Family: Married, four children Education: Bachelor of Science degree -- with honors in human
resources management, Masters of Science in administration with honors -- with a specialization in emergency man-
agement, graduated from the Administrative Officers Course at the Southern Police Institute, University of Louisville in
Louisville, Ky. Occupation: Current sheriff of Palm Beach County Political career: Elected Palm Beach County sheriff
in 2004. Key endorsements: State and Local Fraternal Order of Police, State and Local Police Benevolent Association,
Florida Professional Firefighters 4. John Walsh -- host of "America's Most Wanted." Joe Talley Age: 68 Family: Mar-
ried, one child, two step-children Education: Associate in Arts, Community College of Baltimore County; Bachelor of
Science in criminal justice, University of Baltimore Occupation: Developer, Windsome Farm, an equestrian center in
Wellington Political career: None Endorsements: Democracy for America, Service Employees International Union
Campaign Supporters. Kevin Coleman Age: 29 Candidate did not respond to requests for information. Cleamond Lee
Walker Age: 61 Candidate did not respond to requests for information.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

NOTES: < Informational box at end of text.


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Broward Politics

July 2, 2012 Monday 5:35 AM EST

BLOG: Broward Politics: Kristin Jacobs mounting tough challenge to Lois
Frankel

BYLINE: Anthony Man

LENGTH: 960 words

July 01--Lois Frankel isn't yet on the air, but Kristin Jacobs, also running in the Democratic congressional primary, has
aired two spots.
One's here, the other is below, on the continuation.
http://www.youtube.com/embed/i7AuTVniGNc [http://www.youtube.com/embed/i7AuTVniGNc]
Republicans are focused on Frankel. Here's an anti-Frankel spot from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has en-
dorsed Republican Adam Hasner. (Warning: the music is so scary you might be tempted to hide under the bed.)
http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f8/1485951475
[http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f8/1485951475]
Lois Frankel looks like a winner -- high name recognition, buckets of cash, an impressive resume from decades in
South Florida politics. She even had one of baseball's all time greats, Hank Aaron, go to bat for her last week.
But Frankel hasn't been pitching an electoral shutout. Though she's still considered the favorite with six weeks to go
until the Democratic primary in Broward and Palm Beach counties, her opponent Kristin Jacobs has managed to stay
competitive.
"If the election were to be held today, Lois would have the upper hand," said Tony Fransetta, the Palm Beach Coun-
ty-based president of the Florida chapter of the Alliance for Retired Americans. But, he said, "Kristin is gaining mo-
mentum as a viable candidate."
A must-win for Democrats hoping to pick up the 25 seats they need to wrest control of the U.S. House from Republi-
cans, the 22nd Congressional District is one of the most watched in the country.
Democratic primary voters are faced with a choice between two candidates who are so ideologically similar that the
AFL-CIO has endorsed both and Fransetta's organization, most of whose members are union retirees, hasn't endorsed
either.
"Lois Frankel or Kristin Jacobs will give us the same vote in Congress," said Fransetta, who personally supports Ja-
cobs. "I don't think it's an argument that one will be better than the other."
With even party loyalists unaware of any issue differences -- if they exist -- between Frankel and Jacobs, the outcome
of this primary race will depend on money, organization, personal loyalties and geography.
http://www.youtube.com/embed/dVE0mGb8_So [http://www.youtube.com/embed/dVE0mGb8_So]
The candidates' ability to sell themselves -- Jacobs recently held a series of pancake breakfasts and Frankel marched a
week ago in the Stonewall gay pride parade in Wilton Manors -- and their personalities will play a huge role, said
Delray Beach political activist Andre Fladell.
"Kristin enters like it's a professional boxing match," Fladell said. "Lois enters like it's a barroom brawl. It's a question
of which style people take to."
Page 64
BLOG: Broward Politics: Kristin Jacobs mounting tough challenge to Lois Frankel Broward Politics July 2, 2012
Monday 5:35 AM EST

With only 39 percent of the district's population in Jacobs' Broward base, she's been making strategic forays into the
most hotly contested territory of the campaign: Boca Raton, Delray Beach and Boynton Beach in southern Palm Beach
County. She's received endorsements from the bipartisan Voters Coalition and the Police Benevolent Association.
But Frankel has also made inroads in Jacobs' Broward turf, scoring endorsements from U.S. Reps. Alcee Hastings and
Frederica Wilson, state Sens. Nan Rich, Chris Smith and Eleanor Sobel, and Broward County Commissioner Sue
Gunzburger.
Republicans, who don't have a primary, are already focused on the general election in November and acting as if they
expect to face Frankel. The House Republican campaign operation has issued more than 30 press releases in some way
critical of Frankel, but a search of its website shows it hasn't devoted any attention at all to Jacobs. The U.S. Chamber of
Commerce, which endorsed Republican candidate Adam Hasner, has already run an anti-Frankel TV spot.
Political scientist Robert Watson of Lynn University in Boca Raton, sees Frankel, a former mayor of West Palm Beach
and former Florida House minority leader, as the "likely winner" of the Aug. 14 primary.
However, he said, Frankel needs to avoid making the kind of "rookie mistake" her campaign made last week during a
debate over debates -- a surprise given her two decades in elected office.
In virtually every political campaign, the frontrunner wants to avoid debates while lesser-known candidate call for as
many as possible. Jacobs asked for four debates. Frankel said she may agree to one, but the way her campaign respond-
ed got the political world buzzing.
Frankel gave two different reasons she was avoiding a debate commitment. She initially responded by attacking Jacobs
on an unrelated issue. Less than an hour after issuing the letter attacking Jacobs, the Frankel campaign sent a second
letter saying she'd be willing to hold a debate -- but first she demanded that Jacobs promise not to level any attacks dur-
ing the remainder of the camiagn.
Watson said the skirmish made Frankel look bad and gave Jacobs a jolt of momentum, which is "exactly what she
needed."
Jacobs hasn't run a perfect campaign. Though she's a veteran pol, she made a beginner's mistake by publicly stating an
ambitious fundraising goal of $250,000 by the March 31 end of the first fundraising quarter. She ended up falling short,
taking in $203,931.
Frankel has been in the race longer and has more money, $408,414 in the fundraising quarter that ended March 31.
She'd raised a total of $1.8 million by then.
Money is vital, and the candidates spent most of last week trying to wheedle cash out of supporters in advance of the
quarterly fundraising deadline at midnight Saturday.
That's why Frankel called up Aaron, the baseball Hall of Famer and a part-time neighbor of hers in West Palm Beach,
to issue an e-mail blast soliciting funds. On Friday, Jacobs asked her potential contributors to donate "before time runs
out."


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH



All Rights Reserved
Newstex Web Blogs
Copyright 2012 Broward Politics
Page 65

28 of 456 DOCUMENTS


July 2, 2012 Monday

Jacobs a challenge to Frankel;
Democrats see seat as key to retaking House


SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 1A {ZONE} SB

LENGTH: 859 words

Lois Frankel looks like a winner -- high name recognition, buckets of cash, an impressive resume from decades in South
Florida politics. She even had one of baseball's all time greats, Hank Aaron, go to bat for her last week.
But Frankel hasn't been pitching an electoral shutout. Though the former West Palm Beach mayor and onetime top
Democrat in the Florida House is still considered the favorite with six weeks to go until the Democratic primary in
Broward and Palm Beach counties, her opponent Kristin Jacobs, a Broward County commissioner, has managed to stay
competitive.
"If the election were to be held today, Lois would have the upper hand," said Tony Fransetta, the Palm Beach Coun-
ty-based president of the Florida chapter of the Alliance for Retired Americans. But, he said, "Kristin is gaining mo-
mentum as a viable candidate."
cans, the 22nd Congressional District is one of the most closely watched in the country.
Democratic voters are faced with a choice between candidates who are so ideologically similar that the AFL-CIO has
endorsed both and Fransetta's organization, most of whose members are union retirees, hasn't endorsed either.
"Lois Frankel or Kristin Jacobs will give us the same vote in Congress," said Fransetta, who personally supports Jacobs.
"I don't think it's an argument that one will be better than the other."
With even party loyalists unaware of any issue differences -- if they exist -- between Frankel and Jacobs, the outcome of
this primary race will depend on money, organization, personal loyalties and geography.
The candidates' ability to sell themselves -- Jacobs recently held a series of pancake breakfasts and Frankel marched a
week ago in the Stonewall gay pride parade in Wilton Manors -- and their personalities will play a huge role, said
"Kristin enters like it's a professional boxing match," Fladell said. "Lois enters like it's a barroom brawl. It's a question
of which style people take to."
With only 39 percent of the district's population in Jacobs' Broward base, she's been making strategic forays into the
County. She's received endorsements from the bipartisan Voters Coalition and the Police Benevolent Association.
Gunzburger.
Page 66
Jacobs a challenge to Frankel; Democrats see seat as key to retaking House Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) July
2, 2012 Monday

Republicans, who don't have a primary, are already focused on the general election in November and acting as if they
critical of Frankel, but a search of its website shows it hasn't devoted any attention at all to Jacobs. The U.S. Chamber of
Commerce, which endorsed Republican candidate Adam Hasner, has run an anti-Frankel TV spot.
Political scientist Robert Watson of Lynn University in Boca Raton, sees Frankel as the "likely winner" of the Aug. 14
primary.
However, he said, Frankel needs to avoid making the kind of "rookie mistake" her campaign made last week during a
debate over debates ? a surprise given her two decades in elected office.
on an unrelated issue. Less than an hour after the letter attacking Jacobs, the Frankel campaign sent a second letter say-
ing she'd be willing to hold a debate ? but first she demanded that Jacobs promise not to level any attacks during the
remainder of the campaign.
Watson said the skirmish made Frankel look bad and gave Jacobs a jolt of momentum, which is "exactly what she
needed."
Jacobs hasn't run a perfect campaign. Though she's a veteran pol too, she made a beginner's mistake by publicly setting
an ambitious fundraising goal of $250,000 by the March 31 end of the first fundraising quarter. She ended up falling
short, taking in $203,931.
Frankel has been in the race longer and has raked in more money, $408,414 in that same quarter alone. She'd raised a
total of $1.8 million by then.
quarterly fundraising deadline of midnight Saturday.
That's why Frankel called on Aaron, the baseball Hall of Famer and a part-time neighbor of hers in West Palm Beach, to
issue an e-mail blast soliciting funds. On Friday, Jacobs asked her potential contributors to donate "before time runs
out."
INFORMATIONAL BOX:
Watch them
Watch 22nd District TV ads. SunSentinel.com/BrowardPolitics


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


GRAPHIC: Photo(s)
Photo: Frankel, left, and Jacobs


All Rights Reserved
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29 of 456 DOCUMENTS

Broward Politics

July 1, 2012 Sunday 3:42 PM EST

Kristin Jacobs mounting tough challenge to Lois Frankel

BYLINE: Anthony Man

LENGTH: 917 words

Lois Frankel isn't yet on the air, but Kristin Jacobs, also running in the Democratic congressional primary, has aired two
spots.
One's here, the other is below, on the continuation.
http://www.youtube.com/embed/i7AuTVniGNc
Republicans are focused on Frankel. Here's an anti-Frankel spot from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has en-
dorsed Republican Adam Hasner. (Warning: the music is so scary you might be tempted to hide under the bed.)
Lois Frankel looks like a winner high name recognition, buckets of cash, an impressive resume from decades in
South Florida politics. She even had one of baseball s all time greats, Hank Aaron, go to bat for her last week.
But Frankel hasn t been pitching an electoral shutout. Though she s still considered the favorite with six weeks to go
until the Democratic primary in Broward and Palm Beach counties, her opponent Kristin Jacobs has managed to stay
competitive.
If the election were to be held today, Lois would have the upper hand, said Tony Fransetta, the Palm Beach Coun-
ty-based president of the Florida chapter of the Alliance for Retired Americans. But, he said, Kristin is gaining mo-
mentum as a viable candidate.
cans, the 22nd Congressional District is one of the most watched in the country.
Democratic primary voters are faced with a choice between two candidates who are so ideologically similar that the
AFL-CIO has endorsed both and Fransetta s organization, most of whose members are union retirees, hasn t endorsed
either.
Lois Frankel or Kristin Jacobs will give us the same vote in Congress, said Fransetta, who personally supports Ja-
cobs. I don t think it s an argument that one will be better than the other.
With even party loyalists unaware of any issue differences if they exist between Frankel and Jacobs, the outcome
of this primary race will depend on money, organization, personal loyalties and geography.
http://www.youtube.com/embed/dVE0mGb8_So
The candidates ability to sell themselves Jacobs recently held a series of pancake breakfasts and Frankel marched a
week ago in the Stonewall gay pride parade in Wilton Manors and their personalities will play a huge role, said
Kristin enters like it s a professional boxing match, Fladell said. Lois enters like it s a barroom brawl. It s a ques-
tion of which style people take to.
With only 39 percent of the district s population in Jacobs Broward base, she s been making strategic forays into the
County. She s received endorsements from the bipartisan Voters Coalition and the Police Benevolent Association.
Page 68
Kristin Jacobs mounting tough challenge to Lois Frankel Broward Politics July 1, 2012 Sunday 3:42 PM EST

Gunzburger.
Republicans, who don t have a primary, are already focused on the general election in November and acting as if they
critical of Frankel, but a search of its website shows it hasn t devoted any attention at all to Jacobs. The U.S. Chamber
of Commerce, which endorsed Republican candidate Adam Hasner, has already run an anti-Frankel TV spot.
Political scientist Robert Watson of Lynn University in Boca Raton, sees Frankel, a former mayor of West Palm Beach
and former Florida House minority leader, as the likely winner of the Aug. 14 primary.
However, he said, Frankel needs to avoid making the kind of rookie mistake her campaign made last week during a
debate over debates a surprise given her two decades in elected office.
on an unrelated issue. Less than an hour after issuing the letter attacking Jacobs, the Frankel campaign sent a second
letter saying she d be willing to hold a debate but first she demanded that Jacobs promise not to level any attacks
during the remainder of the camiagn.
Watson said the skirmish made Frankel look bad and gave Jacobs a jolt of momentum, which is exactly what she
needed.
Jacobs hasn t run a perfect campaign. Though she s a veteran pol, she made a beginner s mistake by publicly stating an
ambitious fundraising goal of $250,000 by the March 31 end of the first fundraising quarter. She ended up falling short,
taking in $203,931.
Frankel has been in the race longer and has more money, $408,414 in the fundraising quarter that ended March 31.
She'd raised a total of $1.8 million by then.
quarterly fundraising deadline at midnight Saturday.
That s why Frankel called up Aaron, the baseball Hall of Famer and a part-time neighbor of hers in West Palm Beach,
to issue an e-mail blast soliciting funds. On Friday, Jacobs asked her potential contributors to donate before time runs
out.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH



All Rights Reserved
Newstex Web Blogs
Page 69

30 of 456 DOCUMENTS


April 15, 2012 Sunday
FINAL EDITION

Warnings lead judge to abandon campaign ;
Marx learned Aronbergallies planned ethics complaint, costly race for her
husband.

BYLINE: By JOEL ENGELHARDT and STACEY SINGER Palm Beach Post Staff Writers


LENGTH: 1856 words

Circuit Judge Krista Marx chose not to run for state attorney after she learned supporters of the lone candidate in the
race, Dave Aronberg, planned to attack her reputation and challenge her husband's judicial seat, The Palm Beach Post
has found.
Marx, a former prosecutor, learned from a close friend that Aronberg's allies were building a case to file a judicial mis-
conduct charge against her, a potential career killer.
Further, a prominent backer of judicial candidates, Boca Raton lawyer Howard Weiss, told Marx that if she ran, Aron-
berg's supporters would put up an opponent to run this year against her husband, Circuit Judge Joe Marx, possibly cost-
ing the couple hundreds of thousands of dollars.
In a statement to The Post, she said: "I considered running for 21/2 weeks, and many unpleasant things happened during
that time. In the final analysis, having waded into partisan politics, I decided I wanted to continue my service from the
bench and retain the great luxury of a job separated from partisan politics and undue influence."
Aronberg, a Democrat and former state senator, disavowed any knowledge of a stealth campaign to clear his path to the
top prosecutor's job. "This is obviously anonymous hearsay," he said. "It's hard to respond to anonymous hearsay except
to say that it didn't come from me and I didn't know about it."
Aronberg, a veteran of three state Senate campaigns and a statewide attorney general primary, added, "I hear these types
of rumors in every campaign cycle."
Accounts of what transpired in late January and early February, when Krista Marx contemplated a run as a Republican,
came from several people who spoke directly with Marx or other principals in the matter. Some agreed to be identified
for this story; some did not.
The flurry of behind-the-scenes moves offers insight into how politics is played in Palm Beach County, where deniabil-
ity is built into every move and fear of repercussions is counted on to keep insiders quiet.
The jockeying began with Michael McAuliffe's surprise Jan. 16 announcement that he would not seek re-election as
state attorney. McAuliffe, a Democrat, left office in March, with nine months remaining on a four-year term, to take a
private-sector job with billionaire Bill Koch's Oxbow Carbon Corp.
No candidates have come forward to challenge Aronberg in the August Democratic primary, although criminal defense
lawyer Robert Gershman, a Democrat, plans to announce Monday his intention to run without party affiliation. The
qualifying period for state attorney begins Monday and ends Friday.
Page 70
Warnings lead judge to abandon campaign ; Marx learned Aronbergallies planned ethics complaint, costly race for her
husband. Palm Beach Post (Florida) April 15, 2012 Sunday

Among those working to help Aronberg was Palm Beach County Commissioner Burt Aaronson. After Krista Marx sig-
naled her interest in running, Aaronson went to her boss, Chief Circuit Judge Peter Blanc. "The south county communi-
ty had been supportive of the judges," Blanc said Aaronson told him, and "he would hope that Krista would appreciate
that."
Blanc said he told the commissioner that he had no power to intervene.
Aaronson, who vowed privately to unseat McAuliffe after the state attorney's August 2010 prosecution of County
Commissioner Jeff Koons, acknowledged having breakfast with Blanc but said he did not ask him to intercede.
Instead, Aaronson, a five-term commissioner, said, "I just told him (Blanc) there were some people who would be in-
terested in running for her husband's seat." Aaronson, though, said he has "always supported a system where we don't
go against sitting judges."
For months before McAuliffe resigned, Aronberg had planned to challenge him in the Democratic primary with the
backing of Aaronson and other prominent political figures. Once McAuliffe stepped down, the strategy shifted to win-
ning without opposition.
After McAuliffe's announcement, tension built as Marx contemplated a run and her supporters courted Gov. Rick Scott
to give her the interim appointment.
Political observers believed Marx had the inside track. With 13 years as a prosecutor and 14 as a judge, she could argue
greater experience than Aronberg, who has never worked in the state attorney's office or as a judge. Serving as interim
state attorney would have boosted her name recognition, helping her overcome Aronberg's advantage as a popular
Democrat in a Democratic-leaning county.
On Jan. 23, several prominent Republicans approached the governor at a charitable fundraiser in Palm Beach and urged
him to appoint Marx. The attendees, including former President George W. Bush, represented the elite of the Republi-
can Party, paying $25,000 a plate toward the former president's library.
The next day, Marx, in Tallahassee for a substance abuse task force meeting, met informally with the governor, and by
several accounts, they hit it off.
After that meeting, said Mark Guzzetta, a Boca Raton developer and GOP fundraiser, the interim appointment "would
have been hers if she wanted it."
But then came the warnings.
Weiss, the Boca lawyer, delivered the first of two.
He advised Marx that if she ran for state attorney, her husband should expect to face an opponent in November when
seeking his first full six-year term as a circuit judge.
Weiss, who did not respond to requests to contact him for this story, had not been involved in Aronberg's campaign and
has supported Krista Marx in the past. He holds political fundraisers at his west Boca Raton home and helps preferred
candidates by helping to select endorsements distributed to voters on so-called "palm cards" at large south county con-
dos.
Without Weiss' support, even a judge ranked highly in Palm Beach County Bar polls, such as Joe Marx, could face a
tough race.
Such a campaign could have forced him to raise $150,000 or more. With strict restrictions on how judges raise money,
he could be forced to come up with some of the money personally. A heated campaign for her husband would diminish
Krista Marx's ability to raise money and focus on a campaign for state attorney.
The next to approach was Amy Young, a close friend of Marx's who served as treasurer for Marx's unopposed 2010
judicial run. Young, a lobbyist with GOP-connected Ballard Partners, had Marx preside at her 2009 wedding. Marx had
been told that the Ballard firm would support Aronberg, a troubling indication of the difficulty she would face lining up
Republican support.
From Young came the most devastating blow: that if she ran, certain lawyers would file charges against Marx for solic-
iting political support on judicial time, a violation of ethical canons. Such a complaint before the Judicial Qualifications
Commission would take months to resolve and, even if untrue, permanently tarnish Marx's reputation.
Page 71

In an email exchange with The Post, Young acknowledged she spoke to Marx. "I heard rumors to that effect and
thought it was important to communicate those rumors to my friend," she wrote.
Aronberg, who works for Attorney General Pam Bondi as a special prosecutor for prescription drug trafficking, con-
firmed that he talked to Young in Tallahassee, saying he learned from her that Marx would not run. He said they dis-
cussed the allegation that someone had threatened to run a candidate against Joe Marx. However, he said, they did not
discuss, and he knew nothing about, a threatened ethics complaint.
Key campaign strategists in Aronberg's camp said they, too, had heard rumors of threats against Marx but denied any
involvement.
Among them is Mike Edmondson, who had once served as gatekeeper, strategist and public information officer for for-
mer State Attorney Barry Krischer.
In 2008, Edmondson worked to get Krischer's successor, McAuliffe, elected. He continued in his old role in McAuliffe's
office. However, the two had a falling-out, and Edmondson found himself demoted to support staff, where he was
walled off from McAuliffe's inner circle. He left in May 2010 for a job at the Children's Services Council, in his free
time working toward an Aronberg run against McAuliffe.
But he said he played no role in any threats. "That is not the kind of campaign that I am generally involved in," Ed-
mondson said. "Krista and Joe are friends of mine, and I would not be a part of anything like that."
Another key Aronberg ally is Delray Beach political operative Andre Fladell, an Abbie Hoffman-trained organizer who
for decades has exerted control as a go-between among politicians, campaign money men and voters in south county
condominium communities.
Fladell has worked closely for decades with Aaronson and Weiss. Fladell said the idea of running a candidate against
Joe Marx might have been "batted around," but it was never serious. He said he had nothing to do with leveling any
threats against Marx.
For Marx, the warnings, delivered by a close friend and an ally, took their toll.
"She didn't know if she was coming or going," said one friend.
On Feb. 9, Marx announced that she would neither accept the appointment nor run for office.
On Feb. 21, Aronberg sent a letter urging the governor to bring on a "caretaker" who would not run. On March 9, Scott
selected Peter Antonacci, a longtime friend of Aronberg's who vowed not to seek the seat in November.
Three days after McAuliffe's surprise, Aronberg announced he would run. He said he was ready for a tough campaign
against any opponent, even McAuliffe.
However, he acknowledged at the time, "It's always better to be in a race unopposed."
Staff writer Dara Kam and staff researcher Niels Heimeriks contributed to this story.
~ joel_engelhardt@pbpost.com
~ stacey_singer@pbpost.com
Dave Aronberg
* Age: 40.
* Grew up in North Miami.
* Graduated from Harvard University Law School.
* Began working as assistant attorney general in 1999.
* Spent 2000 as a White House fellow working as a special assistant to the Treasury secretary.
* Won a Palm Beach County-dominated, Republican-leaning state Senate seat in 2002; re-elected in 2004 and 2008.
* Left the Senate to run for attorney general in 2010 but lost in the Democratic primary to former state Sen. Dan Gelber,
whothen lost to Republican Pam Bondi.
Page 72

Krista Marx
* Age: 51.
* Grew up in Fort Lauderdale.
* Graduated from Florida State University Law School.
* Began working at the Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office in 1985.
* Elected county judge in 1998 after a five-candidate primary and a hotly contested runoff.
* Moved to the circuit bench in 2004, winning election twice without opposition, most recently in 2010.
* Term expires in 2016.
* Presided over the 2009 Dunbar Village rape case, telling three defendants, 'I can only believe that none of you gen-
tlemen ever developed any moral code,' before sentencing them to life in prison in the brutal gang assault on a mother
and son.Who's who
ARONBERG SUPPORTERS
Burt Aaronson:County commissioner talked to chief judge about Marx running.
Andre Fladell:South county political operative, helps shape Aronberg's campaign theme.
Mike Edmondson: Veteran campaign strategist, demoted at state attorney's office under Michael McAuliffe.
MESSENGERS
Howard Weiss:South county political kingmaker, backed McAuliffe.
Amy Young:Lobbyist and managing partner with Ballard Partners.
MARX SUPPORTERS
Mark Guzzetta: GOP fundraiser and south county developer, says governor's office was ready to appoint Marx.

LOAD-DATE: April 17, 2012

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

NOTES: How we got the story post investigation Hardball county politics Alerted to rumors of a concerted campaign
to drive Circuit Judge Krista Marx out of the state attorney's race, Palm Beach Post investigative reporters Joel Engel-
hardt and Stacey Singer started digging. Drawing on decades of reporting experience, they pressed dozens of sources
and key players in the political and legal arenas for information, learning previously unknown details and the real rea-
sons why Marx pulled out.


All Rights Reserved
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31 of 456 DOCUMENTS


March 21, 2012 Wednesday
FINAL EDITION

Answers sought in election gaffe ;
County's old ghosts return as state probes wrong results in Wellington.

BYLINE: By GEORGE BENNETT, DARA KAM and BILL DiPAOLO Palm Beach Post Staff Writers


LENGTH: 904 words

In Palm Beach County's latest voting embarrassment, Wellington decided Tuesday to toss out its tainted March 13 elec-
tion results while Secretary of State Ken Detzner pledged to find answers and County Supervisor of Elections Susan
Bucher continued to blame a computer software glitch for the tabulating turmoil.
After a Monday recount showed the elections office had declared the wrong winners in two of three races, Wellington's
canvassing board voted to scrap the results and scheduled a decision for Tuesday on whether to instead accept the re-
vised vote tallies. That would allow John Greene in Council Seat 1 and Matt Willhite in Seat 4 to be sworn in after it
appeared they lost their races last week.
But the decision to consider the recount numbers did little to clear confusion surrounding the race and how to resolve it.
"I don't know if this is legal or not," Bucher told the panel about the possibility of approving different results next week
than those certified last week with the state. "But if that is what you want, that is what I will provide."
Meanwhile, incumbent Willhite -- a loser under the original March 13 count -- sued the canvassing board Tuesday in
Palm Beach County Circuit Court to overturn the result.
The drama began after a regularly scheduled audit on Monday showed the elections office had used mixed-up vote to-
tals to wrongly certify Shauna Hostetler in Seat 1 and Al Paglia in Seat 4 as winners.
No problems were discovered in the results from 15 other cities that were also audited on Monday. State law specifies
that audits be conducted after results are certified.
Aside from causing turmoil in Wellington, the botched results heaped renewed attention on an elections office that
gained infamy with the 2000 "butterfly ballot" and was a prominent player in national controversies over hanging chads
and paperless electronic voting.
Detzner said in Tallahassee that he's confident the Wellington problem is "isolated" and whatever caused it will be rec-
tified in time for the fall presidential election, when Florida and Palm Beach County are likely to be in the international
spotlight again.
"This county deserves better. This was a management failure, not a computer failure," said Palm Beach County GOP
Chairman Sid Dinerstein. Dinerstein said he'd like to find a candidate to run against Bucher for the nonpartisan election
chief's job this year, but "you'd be amazed at how few people want that job."
The last two elections chiefs, Theresa LePore and Arthur Anderson, were voted out of office in 2004 and 2008, respec-
tively, after presiding over a variety of election controversies.
"It'd just be good if someone got something right once in awhile," said Democratic activist Andre Fladell of Delray
Beach, who supported Bucher opponent Bob Margolis in the 2008 supervisor's race. Margolis won last week's Welling-
Page 74
Answers sought in election gaffe ; County's old ghosts return as state probes wrong results in Wellington. Palm Beach
Post (Florida) March 21, 2012 Wednesday

ton mayor's race, but saw his total drop from 58.1 percent on election night to 50.6 percent when corrected results were
run Monday.
Bucher said her office programmed vote tabulating machines to report results for the Wellington mayor's race first, fol-
lowed by the Seat 1 council race and the Seat 4 council race. Bucher and Wellington Clerk Awilda Rodriguez both said
a pre-election "logic and accuracy" test of voting equipment yielded sample results for Wellington in the correct order.
But on election night, unbeknownst to elections officials, vote totals came out in a different order, with Seat 1 first, fol-
lowed by Seat 4 and then the mayor's race.
So, for example, challenger Paglia was certified as the Seat 4 winner over incumbent Willhite with 51.9 percent of the
vote. In fact, the elections office said, the 51.9 percent assigned to Paglia actually belonged to Seat 1 candidate Greene.
The elections office said Paglia's correct total was 42 percent, the figure originally assigned to incumbent Darell Bowen
in the mayor's race.
Detzner, the state's top elections official, said in Tallahassee that his office is working with Bucher and Dominion Vot-
ing Systems, which supplies the county's voting and tabulating equipment, to figure out what happened.
Dominion called the discrepancy between the order the candidates were listed and the order the results were reported a
"synchronization issue" that it is investigating.
Detzner said his employees are "on the ground in Palm Beach working with the supervisor's office to evaluate what the
problem is, number one."
"Keep in mind there were 16 municipal elections. Of those, one election appears to have had a problem. ... And until I
hear back from my people, we're not going to make any conclusions or any ideas of what happened."
Detzner, whose office certifies all elections hardware and software, said the Dominion technology that Palm Beach
County uses is used in Indian River County and was recently purchased by Duval County.
Detzner said he will be "reviewing the process, the certification, whether or not there was human error, whether or not it
was a software glitch, what it is, and we'll make corrective actions going forward.
"But I'm confident if you've seen the (Jan. 31) primary results, the primary election results, we did not have any prob-
lems. So I'm confident we have good systems. The supervisors are doing their job. And I'm confident that this might be
a very isolated situation and we'll take corrective action."
Jennifer Sorentrue contributed to this story.
~George_Bennett@pbpost.com
~Dara_Kam@pbpost.com

LOAD-DATE: March 22, 2012

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

NOTES: ZDeclared winners doubt new results. 1B ZCerabino: Makes us miss punch cards. 1B ZEditorial: Elec-
tions chief must explain. 12A


All Rights Reserved
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32 of 456 DOCUMENTS

The Hotline

March 5, 2012 Monday

Not a Team Player?

LENGTH: 2059 words

Pres. Obama has a "bleak message" for House and Senate Dems when it comes to campaign cash: You're on your own.
Dem Congressional leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and House Minority Leader Nancy
Pelosi (D-CA), have "privately sought" as much as $30M combined from OFA and the DNC. But Obama campaign
strategists Jim Messina and David Plouffe have told them "that's not going to happen."
It was a "stark admission from a presidential campaign once expected to rake in as much as $1 billion of just how
closely it is watching its own bottom line." Messina and Plouffe told the Hill leaders that "there would be no cash trans-
fers" to the DCCC and DSCC, at least not before Election Day.
Hill Dems "won't be seeing much of Obama at their own fundraisers this year, either." Obama has offered to do done
money event each for the DCCC and DSCC. OFA officials suggested VP Biden do two fundraisers for each campaign
committee. Obama will instead "send out an email and fundraising letter solicitations for both committees." Obama and
Biden haven't even "committed to do events for individual lawmakers" -- even though 23 Dem-held Senate seats are up
for grabs. And no fundraisers have been scheduled yet for House and Senate Dems with Cabinet officials, usually a sta-
ple of an election-year calendar for incumbent presidents looking to boost their party's prospects.
The "tightfistedness by the Obama campaign" toward Hill Dems "reflects the harsh realities" of the 2012 WH fight.
Obama, who broke all fundraising records in his historic 2008 run, "isn't going to be the overwhelming financial jug-
gernaut" that he was four years ago.
Obama mgr Jim Messina: "Our top priority and focus is to secure the electoral votes necessary to re-elect the president.
There's no doubt that Democratic campaigns face a challenging new political landscape with special interests giving
unlimited amounts to super PACs. We're committed to doing everything we can to elect a Democratic House and Sen-
ate, and we're having a conversation about the best way to achieve that goal" (Bresnahan, Politico, 3/5).
Plouffe is scheduled to appear at a West Coast fundraising meeting for the super PAC backing Obama's re-election bid,
Priorities USA Action. It would represent the "most visible sign yet of just how committed" WH officials are to financ-
ing these kinds of independent groups (Luo/Confessore, New York Times, 3/5).

Bomb, Bomb Iran
Obama, speaking to AIPAC, the largest pro-Israel group in the U.S., "sought to bolster his strength among Jewish voters
as he challenged Republican assertions that he'll permit Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon." Obama: "If during this politi-
cal season you hear some questions regarding my administration's support for Israel, remember that it's not backed up
by the facts. And remember that the U.S.-Israel relationship is simply too important to be distorted by partisan politics"
(Przybyla/Talev, Bloomberg, 3/5).
Obama said that the U.S. "will not hesitate to attack Iran with military force to prevent it from acquiring a nuclear
weapon." But he cautioned that "too much loose talk of war" has only helped Tehran drive up the price of oil. Quoting
Theodore Roosevelt, Obama said he would "speak softly, but carry a big stick."
Obama: "You don't have to count on my words. You can look at my deeds... We have been there for Israel. Every single
time" (Feller, AP, 3/4). But Obama also "made it clear that he did not believe that a strike on Iran would serve the in-
terests of either the United States or Israel."
Page 76
Not a Team Player? The Hotline March 5, 2012 Monday

For Obama, the speech was a "political high-wire act, an effort to demonstrate his commitment to Israel's security
without signaling American support for a pre-emptive strike against Iran" (Cooper, New York Times, 3/5).
Obama's meeting with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu this a.m. "begins a critical week" in his efforts to contain Iran's
nuclear ambitions and preserve the trust of the U.S. closest Middle East ally. One WH official: "We're trying to make
the decision to attack as hard as possible for Israel" (Wilson, Washington Post, 3/2).
National Journal's Hirsh writes, despite the critical national security issues at stake, Obama's address "must be seen
largely as a re-election campaign speech." Will the president's politics-fueled new hard line prod the Iranians to se-
cond-guess their approach -- or "will it only commit Obama to another war he really doesn't want" (3/4). Washington
Examiner's Klein writes, most of the policies Obama highlighted as evidence of his being pro-Israel were "cases in
which he dragged his feet until being pressured to support Israel" (3/4).
Romney adviser Dan Senor writes in the Wall Street Journal: "If Obama wants a pat on the back, he should make it
clear that he will do everything in his power to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapons capability, and that he
will stand by Israel if it must act." He came one step closer to that during his AIPAC speech (3/5).
Rep. Peter King (R-NY), on the WH's relationship with Israel: "There has been that bad blood. If they can get that out
of the way, fine, but they have to work on it and the president is being held accountable for some of the things he'd said
over the last several years and has to get the Israeli prime minister's trust" ("State of the Union," CNN, 3/5).
WH senior adviser David Axelrod, on Obama's meeting with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu: "Let's first stipulate
that there's no difference between the United States and Israel on the issue of whether Iran should get a nuclear weapon.
... They're going to sit down and they are going to talk through the tactics involved, but no one should doubt the presi-
dent's resolve. Not just because of the security of Israel, but because of the security of the United States of America. It is
important that Iran not get a nuclear weapon."
Axelrod, on Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie saying Obama is weak on Israel and foreign policy in general: "Prime Minister
Netanyahu has said that the security assistance that we have given to Israel is unprecedented. I think they're better
sources on this than Mr. Rove. ... (Obama's) been a very strong leader in this regard. And if you don't believe that, ask
the remnants of al Qaeda who are on the run. You know, I think it's an absurd notion, but if that's how they want to
spend their time, I welcome them to it" ("This Week," ABC, 3/5).
South Florida Sun-Sentinel's Man writes, nowhere are the stakes higher politically than in south FL, home to 490K
Jews who make up a voting bloc "powerful enough to influence national elections." If GOPers are even "moderately
successful" in eroding that support, it could help push the state's 29 electoral votes away from Obama and into the GOP
column.
Even some Dems "concede" that support for the president has "softened among the state's Jews, perhaps to a critical
degree." Jewish Dem activist in Delray Beach Andre Fladell: "Florida is up for grabs right now. The Jewish population
is not overly enthused by Obama" (3/3).

Ladies Man
Obama will deliver this year's commencement address at Barnard College, a 123-year-old women's college in New
York City. It comes as the WH and Dems have "seized" on GOP attempts to block a requirement for contraception cov-
erage in the new health care law, saying it amounts to a "war on women."
Dems believe the issue "could be an effective rallying point" with women voters in a presidential election year, and the
decision to appear at the prestigious women's school could "provide a high-profile forum for the president on that front."
A month ago, Barnard College announced that New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson would be its gradua-
tion speaker, but those plans "changed with the call from the White House" (Lewin, New York Times, 3/5).
Obama called Georgetown Law student Sandra Fluke, who was attacked by Rush Limbaugh, in "an attempt to seize
the high ground in the national debates over contraceptive." Fluke said Obama was concerned about her in the face of
what he called Limbaugh's "very inappropriate remarks" (Nakamura/Kane, Washington Post, 3/5).
House Maj. Leader Eric Cantor, on the contraception issue: "Nobody's denying access. No, it's not about that. It is
about the administration and the president saying to the Catholic Church that we know what your faith holds and you
have to abide by that. It'd be like saying to those of us in the Jewish faith that, you know, 'We know what the laws of
Page 77

kashrut, being kosher, means and we're going to tell you what that means.' That's not who we are in this country. That's
what the rule is about. And that's why it has no place in American politics. And again, I think it's very important that we
uphold the tenets of religious freedom. It is at the core of who we are as a country."
DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, on the contraception issue: "The bottom line is that the leading candidate on
the Republican side for president couldn't even bring himself to call Rush Limbaugh's comments outrageous and call
him out and ask him to apologize" ("Meet the Press," 3/5).
MSNBC's Joe Scarborough: "I appreciated the president after Bill Maher called Sarah Palin some terrible names in
picking up -- oh, wait, he didn't do that" ("Morning Joe," MSNBC, 3/5).
But Boston Globe's Vennochi writes, "youth vote no lock for Obama" (3/4).

Question Time
Obama will hold a news conference with the White House press corps tomorrow afternoon (Hotline reporting, 3/5).
The disconnect between activists' expectations and reality "highlights one of the most unusual factors in an unusual
campaign" -- even after three years in office, Obama "remains a political Rorschach test." Both his friends and enemies
are "convinced they haven't seen the real Obama yet -- or the real Obama agenda" (Fahrenthold/Wallsten, Washing-
ton Post, 3/5).
Politico's Gerstein writes, three years into Obama's presidency, critics say obama's administration has "failed to deliver
the refreshing blast of transparency the president promised" (3/5).
Dallas Morning News' Navarette writes, "it's not longer enough to say that President Obama has no respect for Latinos
and no fear of them." We're beyond that. By denying what he's done, "Obama has shown that he views Latino voters
with contempt." By now, "the feeling should be mutual" (3/5).

Drilling Down
Obama, in his weekly radio address, said that vehicle fuel economy standards, will save money at the gas pump over the
long term -- a counterpoint to GOP criticism of his energy policy (Detroit Free Press, 3/5).
Cantor, on Obama: "The reality is, and he'll claim that the production of energy right now is at an all-time high. But
what we'll see is the issuance of permits, the actual policy of allowing for the proceeding of deep ocean drilling is not
matching his rhetoric. And so it's very clear he's hostile to fossil fuels. He's hostile to coal, he's hostile to oil. He's hos-
tile, frankly, to gas. And we need a definitive statement by this president that we will have a national energy policy be-
cause, as you indicate, it is critical to a growing economy that we do that" ("Meet the Press," NBC, 3/4).
Wasserman Schultz, on the rising gas prices: "First of all, the Republicans are the ones that made it much more difficult
for us to move forward on the Keystone pipeline when they clearly limited the decision-making process to two months.
... But let's look at what the Keystone pipeline would actually produce. ... It would take 45 years to produce, out of oil
shale from the Keystone pipeline, as much oil as we save in the increase in fuel efficiency standards from President
Obama's policy that will be implemented by the middle of the next decade" ("Meet the Press," NBC, 3/4).

Open For Business
Obama's campaign has opened a third office in NM -- in Las Cruces, NM (Albuquerque Journal, 3/5). It also opened
its Sarasota, FL HQ on March 2 (Wallace, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 3/2).
Obama is visiting Charlotte, NC on Mar. 7 to discuss the economy -- his third high-profile visit to the state in two weeks
(Jackson, USA Today, 3/5). And First Lady Michelle Obama visited Charlotte, NC on March 2 to raise money for the
Democratic National Convention and to "raise awareness about healthy exercise" (Morrill/Smith, Charlotte Observer,
3/5).
And M. Obama will be in Kansas City, MO and St. Louis, MO today for closed door campaign events (Yokley, Poli-
ticsMO, 3/5).


Page 78

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

PUBLICATION-TYPE: Magazine

Copyright 2012 The National Journal Group, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Page 79

33 of 456 DOCUMENTS

Orlando Sentinel (Florida)

FINAL

Jewish vote will be among keys for Obama

BYLINE: Anthony Man, Staff Writer

SECTION: A SECTION; FLORIDA; Pg. A1

LENGTH: 1277 words

The decades-long allegiance of Jewish voters to the Democratic Party is under unprecedented stress, threatened by a
combination of changing demographics and the concerted Republican effort to depict President Barack Obama as un-
friendly to Israel.
Nowhere are the stakes higher than Florida, home to 500,000 Jewish adults who make up a voting bloc powerful enough
to influence national elections. Though a small percentage of the overall population, Jews vote at a higher rate than vir-
tually every other slice of the electorate.
More than three-quarters of Jewish voters went for Obama in 2008. If Republicans are even moderately successful in
eroding that support and Democrats can't stanch the leakage, it could help push the state's 29 electoral votes -- more
than 10 percent of the 270 needed to win the presidency -- away from Obama and into the Republican column this year.
Leading Republicans say capturing a bigger chunk than ever of Florida's Jewish vote is within their reach. "It's in play is
where it is," said Steven Abrams, a Palm Beach County commissioner. "Many Jewish voters are less than enamored by
the president's Mideast policies."
Even some Democrats concede that support for the president has softened among the state's Jews, perhaps to a critical
degree.
"Florida is up for grabs right now. The Jewish population is not overly enthused by Obama," said Andre Fladell, a
longtime Jewish Democratic activist in Delray Beach. "If that vote becomes unenthusiastic, the election goes the other
way."
Kleig lights will shine on the parties' competing efforts to court American Jewish voters starting Sunday in Washington
when Obama speaks to the big pro-Israel lobby, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu will appear at AIPAC on Monday.
On Tuesday, the mic at AIPAC goes to rival Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Newt
Gingrich.
Also scheduled this week: a White House sit-down between Obama and Netanyahu, which will be sliced and diced by
both political parties as a barometer of the state of U.S.-Israeli relations under Obama.
Republicans and Democrats are already active on numerous other fronts:
Seeking to inoculate the president from Republican attacks, the Democratic Party distributed an Internet video last week
that included a clip of Netanyahu praising Obama's commitment to Israel's security, a key concern for many American
Jews in light of Iran's nuclear program.
In Florida and beyond, U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston, has been visiting Jewish communities, writing
articles in Jewish publications and taking to Twitter to defuse Republican claims that the president, as the Republican
Page 80
Jewish vote will be among keys for Obama Orlando Sentinel (Florida) March 5, 2012 Monday

catchphrase goes, has "thrown Israel under the bus." As chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, the
45-year-old Jewish South Floridian is one of Obama's top emissaries to the Jewish community.
On the other side, the Republican Jewish Coalition issued its own video two weeks ago highlighting the "disconnect
between President Obama's rhetoric about his support for Israel's security and his actions."
The No 1. argument between Jewish Republicans and Democrats is about Israel, especially what kind of security guar-
antees for the Jewish state should come as part of any regional Mideast peace negotiations, and the potential threat from
Iran's suspected efforts to develop a nuclear bomb. Republicans claim the president hasn't done enough to support and
protect an American ally in the Middle East.
Former U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, a Democrat who represented a Broward-Palm Beach county district with more Jewish
constituents than any other in the U.S. House for 13 years until he became president of the Daniel Abraham Center for
Middle East Peace in 2010, blames the growing doubts among some Jewish voters on a "massive misinformation cam-
paign regarding President Obama's excellent record involving Israel."
Wexler, who was Obama's most prominent early national Jewish supporter before the 2008 election, said the Ameri-
can-Israeli security relationship is better now than under previous presidents of both parties.
"It's not just Democrats who are saying that, it's Israel's highest defense and security officials who are saying it," Wexler
said.
Whatever truth there is in the criticisms of Obama, there's little doubt that Jewish voter support for the Democrats has
waned since his arrival at the White House.
The Pew Research Center reported that 65 percent of American Jews identified themselves as Democrats or said they
leaned toward the Democratic Party in 2011. Republicans got 29 percent.
Though Democrats still enjoy more than a 2-to-1 advantage, those figures represent a significant shift by Jewish Amer-
icans toward the Republicans. Pew found the Democratic advantage among Jews is now 36 percentage points -- down
from 52 points four years ago.
Wexler said there is no disputing that Israel is a vital issue for Jewish voters, but that it's a mistake to assume that it's the
only one that will sway them. If the U.S. economy continues to improve, Wexler said, the president's standing will im-
prove among all Americans, including Jews.
On one issue, Jewish leaders in both parties appear to agree: The current emphasis on often divisive social issues such
as abortion or contraception in the Republican primary campaign is good for Democrats.
Looking beyond the horizon of this year's presidential election, the broader trends among American Jews may ultimate-
ly favor the Republicans. The generation whose political views were shaped in the mid-20th century has a virtually un-
breakable bond with the Democratic Party, said Terri Fine, a political science professor at the University of Central
Florida, who has researched and written on Judaism and politics.
Younger people no longer feel the same allegiance to the Democratic Party as their parents, and especially their grand-
parents. "We see emerging Republicanism among younger Jews," Fine said
"My grandmother and people who were FDR Democrats grew up as Democrats, always voted Democrat. They didn't
know anything else." said Jay Siegel, of Coral Springs, former vice president of northwest Broward's Republican Busi-
ness Network. But, said Siegel, "the demographics are changing as the older people pass away."
What's more, religiously conservative Jews are more inclined to vote Republican, said Margi Helschien, of Boca Raton,
vice chairwoman of the Palm Beach County Republican Party. And the Orthodox -- the small but fastest-growing
branch of the American and South Florida Jewish communities -- are more Republican than are the Conservative and
Reform Judaism branches.
Although Republicans emphasize that cheery long view of the Jewish community's political evolution, most Democrats
discount it. During each of the past three presidential campaigns, Wexler noted, Republicans also proclaimed they were
on the verge of making big inroads among Jewish voters, but it didn't happen.
Obama won an estimated 78 percent of the Jewish vote in 2008 and Republican leaders concede he will win most of
Florida's Jewish voters again this November. Their mission is to gnaw away at that margin of support as best they can.
Page 81
Jewish vote will be among keys for Obama Orlando Sentinel (Florida) March 5, 2012 Monday

Florida is the biggest state that could go for either party in 2012. Demographers estimate 3.5 percent of Florida's popu-
lation is Jewish, but CNN exit polls showed they accounted for 4 percent to 6 percent of the vote in recent presidential
elections.
In a state where the margin of victory can be slender -- Obama won Florida with 51 percent of the vote four years ago --
a small but politically active constituency can push a candidate over the top. YES

CONTACT: aman@tribune.com


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


Copyright 2012 Sentinel Communications Co.
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34 of 456 DOCUMENTS

South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale)

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News


Lots of heat in Boca election

BYLINE: Anthony Man, Sun Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

SECTION: STATE AND REGIONAL NEWS

LENGTH: 674 words

March 05--It's an exceedingly orderly city, down to the Boca pink coating buildings on Federal Highway. But it's now
going through a decidedly disorderly political campaign, the likes of which haven't been seen for more than a decade.
The race for a seat on the Boca Raton City Council involves lots of money, robo-calls to voters, disguised outside in-
fluences and a plethora of negativity on the Internet.
And that's not all. The mayor and other three members of the City Council all are involved -- publicly trying to defeat
one of their colleagues, incumbent Anthony Majhess, and replace him with challenger Frank Chapman.
"It's an odd race," said Sid Dinerstein, chairman of the Palm Beach County Republican Party. Linda Baumann, past
chairwoman of the Federation of Boca Raton Homeowners Associations, said the contest is "getting dirtier and I don't
like it. I don't like it. I don't like dirty politics."
Tarina Rasmussen, past president of the homeowners association at Boca Harbor, termed it a "fiasco -- an absolute fi-
asco."
With more than a week to go until the March 13 election, it's certain to get worse, said County Commissioner Steven
Abrams, a former Boca Raton mayor who's staying out of the imbroglio. "Typically the most negative stuff hits in the
last week."
Majhess challenged the Boca Raton establishment when he won his first term on the City Council in 2009 by upsetting
incumbent Mike Arts, a former president of the Greater Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce.
Since then he's made his mark, and by his own admission irritated his colleagues, by being the guy who asks lots of
questions at council meetings. The result, said Andre Fladell, a Delray Beach activist involved in politics all over the
county, is that "there's a whole group that doesn't want Majhess. They don't like him."
The Chamber of Commerce political action committee endorsed Chapman.
"They're not happy with the fact that I read everything and ask a lot of questions. They're looking for a rubber-stamp,"
Majhess said. "I ask 20 questions, and if you can't survive those 20 questions, there must be an issue. People don't want
me to ask those 20 questions."
Taxes and spending are a point of contention between the candidates.
"We don't have an income problem in Boca. We have an expense problem in Boca. And I will never vote to raise taxes,"
Chapman said.
Majhess said he has supported reductions in both taxes and spending. But Chapman said Majhess is misleading the vot-
ers because he voted to raise taxes.
Page 83
Lots of heat in Boca election South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale) March 5, 2012 Monday

The truth isn't simple. Majhess did vote with the City Council majority to raise the city's tax rate -- but that was more
than offset by declines in property values in Boca Raton. Even with the higher rate, the city brought in less money from
property taxes, which outside experts generally don't consider a tax increase.
The police and firefighter unions have endorsed Majhess, a former city firefighter who now works for Palm Beach
County Fire-Rescue. He said he got the endorsements because he supports those vital services.
Chapman -- who wants firefighters to work more hours -- said the unions support Majhess because he wants to protect
their members' salaries and benefits.
And that's not even the negative part of the campaign.
Each candidate and his supporters are attempting to slam the other guy.
Chapman initially failed character tests and couldn't get a law license in his native Ohio for two years. An anti-Chapman
website accuses him of cheating clients in an incident that involved a fee dispute and alleged poor business practices
involving a family carpet and upholstery-cleaning business.
He said political enemies are wrongly portraying him as a "bad person. I'm not. I've done great things and I'm proud of
myself. Super PACs are producing mailings and a website in order to put disparaging things in the wrong light to make
it look like I've done horrible things in my life."
___ (c)2012 the Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) Visit the Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) at
www.sun-sentinel.com Distributed by MCT Information Services


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

ACC-NO: 20120305-FL-Lots-of-heat-in-Boca-election-0305-20120305


JOURNAL-CODE: FL

Copyright 2012 South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Page 84

35 of 456 DOCUMENTS


Palm Beach Edition

BOCA: GENTEEL, TIDY; ITS ELECTION'S ANYTHING BUT

BYLINE: Anthony Man Staff writer

SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 1A

LENGTH: 1048 words

It's an exceedingly orderly city, down to the Boca pink coating buildings on Federal Highway. But it's now going
through a decidedly disorderly political campaign, the likes of which haven't been seen for more than a decade.
The race for a seat on the Boca Raton City Council involves lots of money, robo-calls to voters, disguised outside in-
fluences and a plethora of negativity on the Internet.
And that's not all. The mayor and other three members of the City Council all are involved - publicly trying to defeat
Tarina Rasmussen, past president of the homeowners association at Boca Harbor, termed it a "fiasco - an absolute fias-
co."
With more than a week to go until the March 13 election, it's certain to get worse, said County Commissioner Steven
Abrams, a former Boca Raton mayor who's staying out of the imbroglio. "Typically the most negative stuff hits in the
last week."
Since then he's made his mark, and by his own admission irritated his colleagues, by being the guy who asks lots of
questions at council meetings. The result, said Andre Fladell, a Delray Beach activist involved in politics all over the
county, is that "there's a whole group that doesn't want Majhess. They don't like him."
Chapman said.
Majhess said he has supported reductions in both taxes and spending. But Chapman said Majhess is misleading the vot-
ers because he voted to raise taxes.
Page 85
BOCA: GENTEEL, TIDY; ITS ELECTION'S ANYTHING BUT Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) March 5,
2012 Monday

The truth isn't simple. Majhess did vote with the City Council majority to raise the city's tax rate - but that was more
Chapman - who wants firefighters to work more hours - said the unions support Majhess because he wants to protect
He said political enemies are wrongly portraying him as a "bad person. I'm not. I've done great things and I'm proud of
myself. Super PACs are producing mailings and a website in order to put disparaging things in the wrong light to make
it look like I've done horrible things in my life."
Chapman said it's all a smoke screen by people who don't want voters to know "Majhess was fired by the city of Boca
Raton for improper drug use under the Drug Free Workplace Act."
Majhess said that's not true. He said he resigned for personal reasons. "A magician always wants you to look at the other
hand where he's not doing the magic," he said. "He's trying to distract voters away from his own record and bully his
way into the seat."
Abrams said the race is more negative than usual for Boca Raton, and negative campaigns tend to discourage voters and
result in low turnout.
He's not sure murky allegations from long ago are relevant to the City Council race.
"I'm sure things can be dug up from when anyone was in their 20s, and I would just urge voters to look at the policy
positions that they're taking now, and the fact that none of these past issues are issues now in their lives."
INFORMATIONAL BOX:
Inside
Ahead of Tuesday's forum, check out the backgrounds of the two City Council candidates. 11A
Candidate forum
The Federation of Boca Raton Homeowners Associations is holding a forum featuring the two City Council candidates.
It starts at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Boca Raton Community Center, 150 Crawford Blvd., next to City Hall.
The event is open to the public. Membership in an HOA isn't required. Frank Chapman
Age: 44.
Born: Chagrin Falls, Ohio.
Family: Wife, Ann; three children.
Education: Law degree, Case Western Reserve University; bachelor's degree, Ohio University.
Occupation: Lawyer.
Current and previous elected offices or campaigns: None.
Campaign money: Raised $14,430 in contributions, plus $50,000 of his own money.
Page 86
BOCA: GENTEEL, TIDY; ITS ELECTION'S ANYTHING BUT Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) March 5,
2012 Monday

Wants to be a council member because: "I always wanted to help out my community. And when I say 'community,' my
overriding interest is in the people that live in Boca."
Anthony Majhess
Age: 43.
Born: Coral Gables.
Family: Single.
Education: Bachelor's degree, University of Florida.
Occupation: Driver-operator, Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue.
Current and previous elected offices or campaigns: Boca Raton City Council, 2009.
Campaign money: Raised $23,838 in contributions plus $210 of his own money.
Wants to be a council member because: "I have unfinished work as far as kind of being a watchdog for responsible de-
velopment and ensuring transparency in government, making sure that taxpayers have a seat at the table, and continuing
to fight wasteful spending."


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH



All Rights Reserved
Page 87

36 of 456 DOCUMENTS



March 4, 2012 Sunday

Lots of heat, little light in Boca election

BYLINE: Anthony Man, Sun Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.


LENGTH: 679 words

March 04--It's an exceedingly orderly city, down to the Boca pink coating buildings on Federal Highway. But it's now
going through a decidedly disorderly political campaign, the likes of which haven't been seen for more than a decade.
The race for seat on the Boca Raton City Council involves lots of money, automated robo-calls to voters, disguised out-
side influences and a plethora of negativity on the Internet.
And that's not all. The mayor and other three members of the City Council all are involved -- publicly trying to defeat
And Tarina Rasmussen, past president of the homeowners association at Boca Harbor, termed it a "fiasco -- an absolute
fiasco."
And with more than a week to go until the March 13 election, it's certain to get worse, said County Commissioner Ste-
ven Abrams, a former Boca Raton mayor who's staying out of the imbroglio. "Typically the most negative stuff hits in
the last week."
Since then he's made his mark, and by his own admission irritated his colleagues, by being the guy who asks lots and
lots and lots of questions at council meetings. The result, said Andre Fladell, a Delray Beach activist involved in poli-
tics all over the county, is that "there's a whole group that doesn't want Majhess. They don't like him."
Chapman said.
Majhess said he's supported reductions in both taxes and spending. But Chapman said Majhess is misleading the voters
because he voted to raise taxes.
Page 88
Lots of heat, little light in Boca election South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale) March 4, 2012 Sunday

The truth isn't simple. Majhess did vote with the City Council majority to raise the city's tax rate -- but that was more
Chapman -- who wants firefighters to work more hours -- said the unions support Majhess because he wants to protect
He said political enemies are wrongly portraying him as "a bad person. I'm not. I've done great things and I'm proud of
myself. Super Pacs are producing mailings and a website in order to put disparaging things in the wrong light to make it
look like I've done horrible things in my life."
___ (c)2012 the Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) Visit the Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) at
www.sun-sentinel.com Distributed by MCT Information Services


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

ACC-NO: 20120304-FL-Lots-of-heat-little-light-in-Boca-election-0304-20120304


JOURNAL-CODE: FL

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JEWISH VOTE WILL BE KEY FOR OBAMA



LENGTH: 1741 words

friendly to Israel.
Nowhere are the stakes higher than in South Florida, home to 490,000 Jews who make up a voting bloc powerful
enough to influence national elections. Though a small percentage of the overall population, Jews vote at a higher rate
than virtually every other slice of the electorate.
eroding that support and Democrats can't stanch the leakage, it could help push the state's 29 electoral votes - more than
10 percent of the 270 needed to win the presidency - away from Obama and into the Republican column this year.
Leading local Republicans say capturing a bigger chunk than ever of the Florida's Jewish vote is within their reach.
"Obama's lost a lot of the Jewish support," said Jeff Rubinoff, president of the Davie-Cooper City Republican Club. "A
lot more people are starting to come over. They're beginning to recognize Obama's anti-Israel stance."
degree.
way."
Gingrich.
Page 90
JEWISH VOTE WILL BE KEY FOR OBAMA Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) March 4, 2012 Sunday

The Obama campaign also has been distributing campaign literature touting the president's commitment to Israel and
has created a "Jewish Americans for Obama" Web page.
And eminent Florida Jewish Republicans such as Sid Dinerstein are out in force. Chairman of the Palm Beach County
Republican Party, Dinerstein speaks to Jewish voters whenever he can. One of his key tactical goals: setting up beach-
heads in the retiree-heavy condominium communities in the county's western areas where many Jewish seniors live. In
early February, he helped gin up support at the new Ronald Reagan Club at Valencia Palms west of Delray Beach.
Dinerstein's Republican counterparts in Broward are doing the same and launched a Jewish outreach effort last year.
There's an active Republican club at Wynmoor Village, the retiree-heavy condominium community in Coconut Creek
that's home to many Jewish residents.
"I'm not thrilled with him. I'm not thrilled with the way the administration, the Democrats are treating Israel," said Stan
Cohen, 78, a Sunrise Republican.
Minerva Fishman, 93, of Coconut Creek, said that's wrong. "President Obama is doing as good a job as he possibly can
with all the opposition he faces from the Republican Party. I'm going to vote for him," she said. "I hope most of our
Jewish people recognize the fact that he happens to be very good for Israel, as well."
Democrat Joy Feingold, 80, of Pembroke Pines, said she, too, will vote for the president. But, she said, she's on the re-
ceiving end of missives from her cousin that suggest Obama has betrayed Israel. "I don't answer his emails," she said.
said.
icans toward the Republicans. Pew found the Democratic advantage among Jews is now 36 percentage points - down
Page 91

"The focus on the social conservative agenda does not sit well in the Jewish community," Wexler said. Dinerstein
acknowledged that "centrist Jews are uncomfortable" with candidates playing too much to conservative Christians on
social issues.
vice chairwoman of the Palm Beach County Republican Party. And the Orthodox - the small but fastest-growing branch
of the American and South Florida Jewish communities - are more Republican than are the Conservative and Reform
Judaism branches.
"No one's pretending that all of a sudden the Republican nominee will get a substantial majority of Jewish votes. But the
small percentages are always important in swing states," said Steven Abrams, a Palm Beach County commissioner.
elections.
In a state where the margin of victory can be slender - Obama won Florida with 51 percent of the vote four years ago - a
small but politically active constituency can push a candidate over the top. So it's little wonder that South Florida Jewish
voters like Joe Weisman are coveted by both the president and his adversaries.
Weisman, 47, a Tamarac Democrat, voted for Obama in 2008, but is concerned about the president's policies toward
Israel and hasn't made up his mind about this year's election.
"I'm on the fence right now. The Republicans need to come up with a viable candidate, and they haven't. There's nobody
on the Republican ticket that I'm ready to vote for," he said. "It's still early. The election is a long way off."
See more
Watch videos about Obama and Israel from Democrats and Republicans at SunSentinel.com/BrowardPolitics.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

GRAPHIC: Photo(s)
A meeting this week between President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be closely watched
and analyzed as an indicator of the state of the relationship between the United States and Israel. Reuters file Photo


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JEWISH VOTE WILL BE KEY FOR OBAMA



LENGTH: 1710 words

friendly to Israel.
Nowhere are the stakes higher than in South Florida, home to 490,000 Jews who make up a voting bloc powerful
enough to influence national elections. Though a small percentage of the overall population, Jews vote at a higher rate
than virtually every other slice of the electorate.
Leading local Republicans say capturing a bigger chunk than ever of Florida's Jewish vote is within their reach. "Many
Jewish voters are less than enamored by the president's Mideast policies," Steven Abrams, a Palm Beach County com-
missioner.
degree.
way."
Gingrich.
Page 94

The Obama campaign also has been distributing campaign literature touting the president's commitment to Israel and
has created a "Jewish Americans for Obama" Web page.
And eminent Florida Jewish Republicans such as Sid Dinerstein are out in force. Chairman of the Palm Beach County
heads in the retiree-heavy condominium communities in the county's western areas where many Jewish seniors live. In
early February, he helped gin up support at the new Ronald Reagan Club at Valencia Palms west of Delray Beach.
Dinerstein's Republican counterparts in Broward are doing the same and launched a Jewish outreach effort last year.
"I don't like the way Obama is treating Israel," said Beverly Asnien, a retired teacher from Wellington who said she
feels no loyalty to either party. "I'm not that satisfied with the Republicans, but I would vote for Romney in lieu of
Obama. And I don't think I'm the only one who feels this way."
Lenore Wachtel, 72, a Boca Raton Democrat, backs Obama, but says she understands why some of her friends don't
anymore.
"Obama has made several statements that have led some Jewish people to believe that he is not supportive of Israel, that
he has more sympathy for the Palestinians than the Israelis, and that has made them question, or look at the Republi-
cans," she said.
said.
icans toward the Republicans. Pew found the Democratic advantage among Jews is now 36 percentage points - down
Page 95

social issues.
Judaism branches.
small percentages are always important in swing states," Abrams said.
elections.
See more
Watch videos about Obama and Israel from Democrats and Republicans at SunSentinel.com/BrowardPolitics.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

GRAPHIC: Photo(s)
A meeting this week between President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be closely watched
and analyzed as an indicator of the state of the relationship between the United States and Israel. Reuters file Photo


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Broward Politics

March 3, 2012 Saturday 10:40 PM EST

BLOG: Broward Politics: Allied with Democrats for decades, Jewish voters cov-
eted by Republicans

BYLINE: Anthony Man

LENGTH: 1750 words

March 03--The decades-long allegiance of Jewish voters to the Democratic Party is under unprecedented stress, threat-
ened by a combination of changing demographics and the concerted Republican effort to depict President Barack
Obama as unfriendly to Israel.
Nowhere are the stakes higher than South Florida, home to 490,000 Jews who make up a voting bloc powerful enough
eroding that support and Democrats can't stanch the leakage, it could help push the state's 29 electoral votes -- more
than 10 percent of the 270 needed to win the presidency -- away from Obama and into the Republican column this year.
Watch dueling videos about Obama and Israel from Democrats and Republicans.
Read an interview with former U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler
------
degree. "Florida is up for grabs right now. The Jewish population is not overly enthused by Obama," said Andre
Fladell, a longtime Jewish Democratic activist in Delray Beach. "If that vote becomes unenthusiastic, the election goes
the other way."
Kleig lights will shine on the parties' competing efforts to court American Jewish voters starting Sunday in Washing-
ton when Obama speaks to the big-pro Israel lobby, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Israeli Prime Minis-
ter Benjamin Netanyahu appears at AIPAC on Monday.
On Tuesday, the mic at AIPAC goes to rival Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and
Newt Gingrich.
Also scheduled this week: a White House sit-down between Obama and Netanyahu, which will be diced and sliced by
Seeking to inoculate the president from Republican attacks, the Democratic Party distributed an Internet video last
week that included a clip of Netanyahu praising Obama's commitment to Israel's security, a key concern for many
American Jews in light of Iran's ongoing nuclear program.
Page 98
BLOG: Broward Politics: Allied with Democrats for decades, Jewish voters coveted by Republicans Broward Politics

In Florida and beyond, U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston, has been visiting Jewish communities, pen-
ning articles in Jewish publications and taking to Twitter to diffuse Republican claims that the president, as the Repub-
lican catchphrase goes, has "thrown Israel under the bus." As chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, the
The Obama campaign has also been distributing campaign literature touting the president's commitment to Israel and
has created a "Jewish Americans for Obama" web page.
On the other side, the Republican Jewish Coalition issued its own video two weeks ago highlighting "the disconnect
And eminent Florida Jewish Republicans like Sid Dinerstein are out in force. Chairman of the Palm Beach County
heads in the retiree-heavy condominium communities in the county's western suburbs where many Jewish seniors live.
In early February, he helped gin up support at the new Ronald Reagan Club at Valencia Palms west of Delray Beach.
Dinerstein's Republican counterparts in Broward are doing the same, and launched a Jewish outreach effort last year.
The No 1. argument between Jewish Republicans and Democrats is about Israel, especially what kind of security
guarantees for the Jewish state should come as part of any regional Mideast peace negotiations, and the potential threat
from Iran's suspected effort to develop a nuclear bomb. Republicans claim the president hasn't done enough to support
and protect America's only friend in the Middle East.
Jewish people recognize the fact that he happens to be very good for Israel as well."
Democrat Joy Feingold, 80, of Pembroke Pines, said she too will vote for the president. But, she said, she's on the re-
Former U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, a Democrat who represented a Broward-Palm Beach county district with more Jew-
ish constituents than any other in the U.S. House for 13 years until he became president of the Daniel Abraham Center
for Middle East Peace in 2010, blames the growing doubts among some Jewish voters on a "massive misinformation
campaign regarding President Obama's excellent record involving Israel."
"It's not just Democrats who are saying that, it's Israel's highest defense and security officials who are saying it,"
Wexler said.
waned since his election to the White House.
Though Democrats still enjoy more than a 2-to-1 advantage, those figures still represents a significant shift by Jewish
Americans toward the Republicans. Pew found the Democratic advantage among Jews is now 36 percentage points --
down from 52 points four years ago.
Wexler said there is no disputing that Israel is a vital issue for Jewish voters, but that it's a mistake to assume that it's
the only one that will sway them. If the U.S. economy continues to improve, Wexler said, the president's standing will
improve among all voters, including Jews.
On one issue, Jewish leaders in both parties appear to agree: that the current emphasis on often divisive social issues
like abortion or contraception in the Republican primary campaign is good for Democrats.
Page 99
BLOG: Broward Politics: Allied with Democrats for decades, Jewish voters coveted by Republicans Broward Politics

social issues.
Looking beyond the horizon of this year's presidential election, the broader trends among American Jews may ulti-
mately favor the Republicans. The generation whose political views were shaped in the mid-20th Century has a virtually
unbreakable bond with the Democratic Party, said Terri Fine, a political scientist at the University of Central Florida,
who has researched and written on Judaism and politics.
Younger people no longer feel the same allegiance to the Democratic Party as their parents, and especially their
grandparents. "We see emerging Republicanism among younger Jews," Fine said
What's more, religiously conservative Jews are more inclined to vote Republican, said Margi Helschien, of Boca Ra-
ton, vice chairwoman of the Palm Beach County Republican Party. And the Orthodox -- the small but fastest-growing
branch of the American and South Florida Jewish communities -- are more Republican than are the Conservative and
Reform Judaism branches.
But while Republicans emphasize that cheery long view of the Jewish community's political evolution, most Demo-
crats discount it. During each of the past three presidential campaigns, Wexler noted, Republicans also proclaimed they
were on the verge of making big inroads among Jewish voters, but it didn't happen.
"No one's pretending that all of a sudden the Republican nominee will get a substantial majority of Jewish votes. But
the small percentages are always important in swing states," said Steven Abrams, a Palm Beach County commissioner.
And Florida is the biggest state that could go for either party in 2012. Demographers estimate about 3.5 percent of
Florida's population is Jewish, but CNN exit polls showed they accounted for 4 to 6 percent of the vote in recent presi-
dential elections.
In a state where the margin of victory can be slender -- Obama won Florida with 51 percent of the vote four years ago
-- a small but politically active constituency can push a candidate over the top. So it's little wonder that South Florida
Jewish voters like Joe Weisman are coveted by both the president and his adversaries.
"I'm on the fence right now. The Republicans need to come up with a viable candidate, and they haven't. There's no-
body on the Republican ticket that I'm ready to vote for," he said. "It's still early. The election is a long way off."


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH



All Rights Reserved
Newstex Web Blogs
Page 100

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Broward Politics


Allied with Democrats for decades, Jewish voters coveted by Republicans

BYLINE: Anthony Man

LENGTH: 1740 words

friendly to Israel.
Watch dueling videos about Obama and Israel from Democrats and Republicans.
Read an interview with former U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler
the other way."
when Obama speaks to the big-pro Israel lobby, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu appears at AIPAC on Monday.
Gingrich.
Jews in light of Iran's ongoing nuclear program.
Page 101
Allied with Democrats for decades, Jewish voters coveted by Republicans Broward Politics March 3, 2012 Saturday
5:22 PM EST

And eminent Florida Jewish Republicans like Sid Dinerstein are out in force. Chairman of the Palm Beach County Re-
publican Party, Dinerstein speaks to Jewish voters whenever he can. One of his key tactical goals: setting up beachheads
in the retiree-heavy condominium communities in the county's western suburbs where many Jewish seniors live. In ear-
ly February, he helped gin up support at the new Ronald Reagan Club at Valencia Palms west of Delray Beach.
Iran's suspected effort to develop a nuclear bomb. Republicans claim the president hasn't done enough to support and
protect America's only friend in the Middle East.
said.
Americans toward the Republicans. Pew found the Democratic advantage among Jews is now 36 percentage points -
prove among all voters, including Jews.
social issues.
Page 102
Allied with Democrats for decades, Jewish voters coveted by Republicans Broward Politics March 3, 2012 Saturday
5:22 PM EST

ly favor the Republicans. The generation whose political views were shaped in the mid-20th Century has a virtually
Judaism branches.
But while Republicans emphasize that cheery long view of the Jewish community's political evolution, most Democrats
"No one's pretending that all of a sudden the Republican nominee will get a substantial majority of Jewish votes. But
the small percentages are always important in swing states," said Steven Abrams, a Palm Beach County commissioner.
And Florida is the biggest state that could go for either party in 2012. Demographers estimate about 3.5 percent of Flor-
ida's population is Jewish, but CNN exit polls showed they accounted for 4 to 6 percent of the vote in recent presidential
elections.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH



All Rights Reserved
Newstex Web Blogs
Page 103

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March 3, 2012 Saturday
Online Edition

Allied with Democrats for decades, Jewish voters coveted by Republicans

BYLINE: Anthony Man March 3, 2012 11:48 AM


LENGTH: 1767 words

friendly to Israel.
eroding that support and Democrats can't stanch the leakage, it could help push the state's 29 electoral votes ? more than
10 percent of the 270 needed to win the presidency ? away from Obama and into the Republican column this year.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Watch dueling videos about Obama and Israel from
Democrats and Republicans. Read an interview with former U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
the other way."
when Obama speaks to the big-pro Israel lobby, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu appears at AIPAC on Monday.
Gingrich.
Jews in light of Iran's ongoing nuclear program.
Page 104
Allied with Democrats for decades, Jewish voters coveted by Republicans Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida)

And eminent Florida Jewish Republicans like Sid Dinerstein are out in force. Chairman of the Palm Beach County Re-
publican Party, Dinerstein speaks to Jewish voters whenever he can. One of his key tactical goals: setting up beachheads
in the retiree-heavy condominium communities in the county's western suburbs where many Jewish seniors live. In ear-
ly February, he helped gin up support at the new Ronald Reagan Club at Valencia Palms west of Delray Beach.
Iran's suspected effort to develop a nuclear bomb. Republicans claim the president hasn't done enough to support and
protect America's only friend in the Middle East.
said.
Americans toward the Republicans. Pew found the Democratic advantage among Jews is now 36 percentage points ?
prove among all voters, including Jews.
Page 105
Allied with Democrats for decades, Jewish voters coveted by Republicans Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida)

social issues.
ly favor the Republicans. The generation whose political views were shaped in the mid-20th Century has a virtually
vice chairwoman of the Palm Beach County Republican Party. And the Orthodox ? the small but fastest-growing branch
of the American and South Florida Jewish communities ? are more Republican than are the Conservative and Reform
Judaism branches.
But while Republicans emphasize that cheery long view of the Jewish community's political evolution, most Democrats
small percentages are always important in swing states," said Steven Abrams, a Palm Beach County commissioner.
And Florida is the biggest state that could go for either party in 2012. Demographers estimate about 3.5 percent of Flor-
ida's population is Jewish, but CNN exit polls showed they accounted for 4 to 6 percent of the vote in recent presidential
elections.
In a state where the margin of victory can be slender ? Obama won Florida with 51 percent of the vote four years ago ?
a small but politically active constituency can push a candidate over the top. So it's little wonder that South Florida
Jewish voters like Joe Weisman are coveted by both the president and his adversaries.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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42 of 456 DOCUMENTS


February 26, 2012 Sunday
Palm Beach Central Edition

HELP WITH MOTORCYCLE TRANSPORT;
DELRAY CITIZENS FOR DELRAY POLICE DONATE HITCH, TRAILER
TO CITY'S POLICE DEPARTMENT

BYLINE: David DiPino Staff Writer

SECTION: COMMNEWS; Pg. 1

LENGTH: 354 words

Delray Citizens for Delray Police recently donated a trailer hitch to the city's police department to be used with an
all-purpose trailer the group previously donated.
The Delray Beach Police Motor Squad will use the trailer and hitch to move motorcycles to events and transport police
equipment for special community presentations.
"It's a four-bike trailer," Sgt. Nicole Guerriero said. "The trailer is equipped with anchor points and wheel chalks to se-
cure the bikes in place."
Delray Citizens and organizers of the Flat Stanley Rides for Delray Police motorcycle ride purchased the 8-by-20-foot
trailer.
"Even though right now it's a tough economic time, we feel that this is equipment that's necessary," said Perry Don
Francisco, president of Delray Citizens. "This is a symbol that embodies our 25 years of support for the Delray Beach
Police Department."
The trailer has already been used twice to carry motorcycles for funeral processions in North Florida for police officers
killed in the line of duty.
"The funerals were for Lakeland PD Officer [Arnulfo] Crispin, who was shot, and Seminole County Sheriff's Deputy
[Matt] Miller, who was killed in a traffic crash. The funerals were the last week of December and the first week of Jan-
uary," Guerriero said.
Last summer, local businessmen Chuck Halberg and Jimmy Christie completed the 22-state Flat Stanley Rides event.
Halberg, Christie and Delray Citizens board members Don Francisco, Andre Fladell and Bill D'Addio presented the
trailer and hitch to Police Chief Anthony Strianese.
The trailer presentation marked 25 years of support from Delray Citizens. The local nonprofit has provided direct assis-
tance to officers in need and sponsored the Delaire Charity Golf Tournament that has funded the purchase of police
equipment. Francisco said the group has raised money for scholarships for the children of police officers and supported
the Labor Day Challenge.
Francisco said the group also has worked with the department to conduct food, toy and clothing drives, children's liter-
acy programs, anti-drug rallies and more.
David DiPino can be reached at dddipino@ tribune.com.

LOAD-DATE: February 28, 2012
Page 107
HELP WITH MOTORCYCLE TRANSPORT; DELRAY CITIZENS FOR DELRAY POLICE DONATE HITCH,
TRAILER TO CITY'S POLICE DEPARTMENT Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) February 26, 2012 Sunday

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

GRAPHIC: Photo(s)
Delray Beach Police Chief Anthony Strianese, far right, accepts a trailer hitch to go with an all-purpose trailer donated
by Delray Citizens for Delray Police and Flat Stanley Rides. PHOTO BY DAVID DIPINO


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February 15, 2012 Wednesday
Delray Edition

DONATED TRAILER TO HELP DELRAY POLICE DEPARTMENT

BYLINE: DAVID DIPINO dddipino@tribune.com

SECTION: PALM BEACH FORUM; Pg. 5

LENGTH: 460 words

Dodging raindrops at a presentation last week, Police Chief Anthony Strianese accepted a trailer hitch -- a small piece
of the all-purpose trailer the Delray Citizens for Delray Police recently donated to the department.
The hitch will connect the Delray Beach Police Motor Squad unit with a vehicle transport. It will be used to move mo-
torcycles to events, transport police equipment for special community presentations and serve as a mobile unit and as
part of the department's Traffic Homicide and Motor Unit.
"It's a four-bike trailer," Sergeant Nicole Guerriero said. "The trailer is equipped with anchor points and wheel chalks to
secure the bikes in place."
The all-purpose trailer measures 8 feet by 20 feet. It was purchased by Delray Citizens for Delray Police and the organ-
izers of the Flat Stanley Rides for Delray Police motorcycle ride.
"Even though right now it's a tough economic time, we feel that this is equipment that's necessary," said Perry Don
Francisco, president of the Delray Citizens for Delray Police. "This is a symbol that embodies our 25 years of support
for the Delray Beach Police Department. Over that time, the businesspeople in this city have met and developed rela-
tionships with the police."
Strianese said the trailer has already been deployed twice for events in North Florida, where two police officers were
killed in the line of duty. Delray Beach Police Department officers towed their new trailer and motorcycles to ride in
those funeral processions.
"The funerals were for Lakeland PD officer [Arnulfo] Crispin, who was shot, and Seminole County Sheriff's Deputy
[Matt] Miller, who was killed in a traffic crash. The funerals were the last week of December and the first week of Jan-
uary," Guerriero said.
The 22-state Flat Stanley Rides event was completed last summer by local businessmen Chuck Halberg and Jimmy
Christie. Together with Don Francisco, Andre Fladell and Bill D'Addio of the Delray Citizens for Delray Police board
of directors, they presented the chief with the trailer and hitch.
The trailer presentation marked a quarter-century of support from the Delray Citizens for Delray Police. The local non-
profit organization has provided direct assistance to officers in need and sponsored the Delaire Charity Golf Tourna-
ment that has funded the purchase of unbudgeted police equipment. Francisco said the group has also raised money for
scholarships for the children of police officers and supported the Labor Day Challenge.
Francisco said the Delray Citizens for Delray Police organization has also worked with the department to conduct food
drives, holiday toy drives, children's literacy programs, anti-drug rallies, clothing drives, field trips for schoolchildren
and events throughout the community. {ZONE} DRF


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DONATED TRAILER TO HELP DELRAY POLICE DEPARTMENT Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida)

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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January 22, 2012 Sunday
FINAL EDITION

With McAuliffe leaving, verdict out on his legacy

BYLINE: By DAPHNE DURET Palm Beach Post Staff Writer


LENGTH: 1138 words

It was to be, Michael McAuliffe said, the start of a new chapter of enthusiasm for public safety in Palm Beach County.
In 2009, McAuliffe took office as only the third local state attorney in more than four decades, the hand-picked succes-
sor of longtime top prosecutor Barry Krischer. A former federal prosecutor, McAuliffe came into the office with raw
ambition, targeting corruption and promising to build a more aggressive, thoughtful office.
Now, just three years into his first term and in the midst of a reelection campaign, McAuliffe has announced he is taking
a job in the private sector, making him Florida's first state attorney to leave the office early in more than 20 years.
As McAuliffe finalizes his plans, there are mixed reviews on his legacy after his short time in office.
Democrats who helped him get elected still see him as an important, intelligent voice for the party, a state attorney who
accomplished the reform he promised. And some prosecutors call him a champion of much needed change within the
office.
But his detractors paint him as vindictive and thin-skinned, a leader who built a reputation for indiscriminately burning
political allies while micromanaging his office so severely that prosecutors left in droves and convictions declined.
It is this group that could have potentially caused McAuliffe trouble in a primary against former state Sen. Dave Aron-
berg, who announced Thursday he is running for McAuliffe's job.
"There may be a small portion of the population mad at him, but you're talking less than two percent," said local Demo-
cratic party operative Andre Fladell. "The rest of the public will remember the good he did."
Krischer's heir apparent
McAuliffe's name began circulating in the local political scene in the late 1990s, when Palm Beach County Democratic
Party chairman Mark Alan Siegel and others tried to get McAuliffe to run for a state House seat.
But McAuliffe had set his sights on the Palm Beach County state attorney's job, hearing that Krischer planned to step
down in 2004.
Krischer later decided to run for one more term, but McAuliffe by then had emerged as the heir apparent.
McAuliffe entered the 2008 Democratic primary with Krischer's endorsement and Krischer's own longtime spokesman,
Mike Edmondson, as his campaign manager.
He coasted to a victory over former Assistant State Attorney Paula Russell in the primary and trounced Republican can-
didate Joseph Tringali in the general election.
McAuliffe promised more brains and muscle in his administration. One of the first things he did was lay off 23 workers
-- including eight attorneys. He reshuffled the office, creating a public integrity unit and designating three chief assis-
tants.
Page 111
With McAuliffe leaving, verdict out on his legacy Palm Beach Post (Florida) January 22, 2012 Sunday

The end of his first year brought with it grumblings of dissatisfaction within the office, punctuated by the departure of
two veteran prosecutors, Dan Galo and Craig Williams. At the time he left, Williams said he no longer felt the office
was a good place to work.
McAuliffe shrugged off the departures. Prosecutors moved forward, and 2010 brought with it a number of high-profile
takedowns, including the arrest of Palm Beach construction manager Steven White on official misconduct charges and a
grand jury indictment of Palm Beach County Commissioner Jeff Koons.
Other divisions, including the McAuliffe-created Special Victims Unit, also flourished.
But the talk continued to grow that McAuliffe had alienated those who had helped him get into office. Edmondson was
stripped of power and eventually left the office.
Prosecutors who left complained they had no latitude to make deals with defense attorneys, and needed approval from
supervisors for routine decisions. They also felt restricted from talking to statewide and federal prosecutors to collabo-
rate on cases.
"Cultural fear not a good environment," one employee said in an exit interview, adding that justifying giving a defend-
ant a plea to a lesser charge meant jumping through "a lot of hoops."
Longtime defense attorneys like John Cleary, who say they saw their acquittals pick up over the past several years, said
he heard the complaints and said he believed the result was fewer convictions. Cleary said the decline had nothing to do
with the skill of the prosecutors, but blamed it on an office culture of micromanagement.
"It created a culture where aggressive young prosecutors would rather take a bad case to trial and lose," Cleary said.
But others in the office say they encountered no such problems, and McAuliffe calls the complaints "a convenient
myth."
"I have tried to treat people in the office with professionalism and with realistic, but high expectations of performance,"
he said."Some person's micro-managing is another person's engagement in the work of the office."
'Strong personality'
Those loyal to McAuliffe say dissatisfaction comes any time a new leader takes over such a large office.
Bruce Reinhart, a local defense attorney who was a federal prosecutor with McAuliffe and has known him for more
than 20 years, says the fact that McAuliffe came in with clear ideas on how to run the office invited push back.
"Michael has a strong personality," he said. "In the course of doing that, you ruffle people's feathers."
McAuliffe last spring seemed poised to coast into another term. Then word spread that Aronberg was considering a run
for the office.
When McAuliffe organized a summit on pill mills in May and invited representatives from various agencies, he left
Aronberg -- the state attorney general's special prosecutor for prescription drug trafficking -- off the guest list.
By mid-summer he had upset Krischer, who sent him an email after McAuliffe, in a letter to the editor published in The
Palm Beach Post, distinguished himself from his predecessor for his pursuit of gang prosecutions.
Krischer, in an email to McAuliffe, called it a "cheap shot." McAuliffe said he meant no offense.
In the end, his departure from the race means McAuliffe will have spent more time waiting for the job than he did hold-
ing it.
On his way to a position on the legal team at private energy company Oxbow Carbon, McAuliffe said he has accom-
plished what he set out to do. He said his work would have been unfinished no matter when he left office, and he hopes
people will take away that he did what he thought was right.
"I believe that we have helped fundamentally change and improve governance in Palm Beach County.Those efforts, I
hope, will be permanent and long outlast me," he said.
Coming after longtime State Attorney Krischer and his predecessor, David Bludworth, others wonder whether
McAuliffe will leave a long-term impression at all.
Page 112
With McAuliffe leaving, verdict out on his legacy Palm Beach Post (Florida) January 22, 2012 Sunday

"That's the question, at the end of the day," said defense attorney Franklin Prince. "Compared to the longevity of David
Bludworth and Barry Krischer, how much of a legacy can you create in three years?"
~daphne_duret@pbpost.com


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

NOTES: POST COVERAGEState attorney's office


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January 19, 2012 Thursday
FINAL EDITION

McAuliffe move leaves political future vague ;
Some say early exit would end chance for public office.

BYLINE: By DAPHNE DURET Palm Beach Post Staff Writer


LENGTH: 504 words

DATELINE: WEST PALM BEACH

A day after Palm Beach County State Attorney Michael McAuliffe dropped his re-election campaign to take a job in the
private sector, questions lingered as to when he would leave and what impact his departure would have on his future in
politics.
McAuliffe surprised many with his announcement Tuesday that he would not be seeking a second term in office, opting
instead for a position on the legal team for private energy company Oxbow Carbon.
If McAuliffe were to leave office early, he would be the first state attorney in Florida to leave before the end of his term
in more than 20 years.
That possibility intensified the talk among those in political and legal circles who had expected that McAuliffe would
charge forward into what was shaping up to be a tough Democratic primary against former state Sen. Dave Aronberg,
who is expected to announce a run for the top prosecutor's job today.
McAuliffe says he has not ruled out a future return to public life.
Monte Friedkin, former county Democratic chairman, said his first reaction to the news of McAuliffe's decision was
that his political career is over.
"I don't think there's any question that if he leaves, it would destroy him politically," Friedkin said.
An early exit would prompt Republican Gov. Rick Scott to appoint an interim replacement who would serve until the
winner of the November election takes office next year, something Friedkin said would anger local Democrats who
helped McAuliffe get elected. He said they would see him as a quitter.
But Mark Seidel, the current county Democratic chairman, disagrees, saying McAuliffe's choice to bow out of the race
was the right decision. Seidel backed McAuliffe's contention Tuesday that he had accomplished what he had set out to
do in one term, and said the decision spared the party a bitter primary race.
Future political opponents likely would make McAuliffe's early departure an issue in any potential race, Seidel said. But
he said he didn't know what impact it would have in the long run.
"If it's a fact, if he left early, then any experienced political operative can make something of it," Seidel said. "But what
will happen, who knows?"
Political consultant Andre Fladell said a Democratic primary would have thrown McAuliffe into a nasty fight with
Aronberg, a Harvard-educated "favorite son" among Palm Beach County voters.
Page 114
McAuliffe move leaves political future vague ; Some say early exit would end chance for public office. Palm Beach
Post (Florida) January 19, 2012 Thursday

Fladell described McAuliffe's decision to leave the race as a win-win, saying it would leave him open for another polit-
ical run in the next four to eight years.
"Win, lose or draw, a bloody election is bad for a state attorney," Fladell said. "Nothing positive could have come from
it for either one of them."
According to the Florida Prosecuting Attorneys Association, the last time an elected state attorney in Florida resigned
early was in 1991. Duval County State Attorney Ed Austin left his position to run for mayor, a race he narrowly won.
Austin died last year.
Staff researcher Michelle Quigley and staff writer Jane Musgrave contributed to this story.
~ daphne_duret@pbpost.com


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

NOTES: EDITORIAL: AN INTERIM, IF NEEDED, SHOULDN'T SEEK ELECTION TO JOB. 16A


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August 11, 2011 Thursday
FINAL EDITION

Aaronson, Marcus can't run again, appeals court says

BYLINE: By JENNIFER SORENTRUE Palm Beach Post Staff Writer


LENGTH: 490 words

Palm Beach County Commissioners Burt Aaronson and Karen Marcus will face term limits in 2012, after an appeals
court ruled Wednesday that the restrictions are valid.
The 4th District Court of Appeal overturned Broward Circuit Judge Carol-Lisa Phillips' 2010 ruling that threw out vot-
er-approved term limits in her county. She ruled that because the office of county commissioner is established in the
Florida Constitution, only a constitutional amendment -- not a county referendum -- can restrict commissioners.
If the appeals court had upheld Phillips' ruling, Palm Beach County's term-limits rule also would have been invalid,
since the 4th DCA decision applies to all counties in the appellate district.
In 2002, more than 70 percent of Palm Beach County voters approved a referendum limiting commissioners to eight
years in office. Because Aaronson and Marcus already held office when term limits passed, the eight-year clock didn't
start running for them until 2004.
Local activists who pushed the ballot question hailed Wednesday's ruling.
"Politicians in Broward and Palm Beach County tried to overturn the will of the people for their own selfish end and
they lost," said financial planner Philip Blumel of Atlantis, who led the 2002 campaign and now promotes term limits
nationwide as president of U.S. Term Limits, an organization based in Fairfax, Va.
Broward County attorney Bill Scherer, who filed the suit challenging term limits, told the Sun Sentinel that he plans to
ask for a rehearing and then take the case to Florida's Supreme Court.
Aaronson was on a cruise Wednesday and could not be reached for comment. He had said he would seek a sixth term in
2012 if the appeals court struck down the term-limits law.
Delray Beach Democratic activist and longtime Aaronson confidant Andre Fladell predicted that if the ruling is upheld,
Aaronson would find a way to remain active in county affairs.
"Being a county commissioner is a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week event," Fladell said. "It is high adrenaline. It is
high conflict. It's nonstop challenges. To retire and play golf would be like trying to give up a coffee addiction and a
cigarette addiction at the same time."
Marcus, first elected in 1984, said that until the law is changed, there is little to consider.
"We have term limits," she said.
The appeals court ruled Wednesday that voters "may amend a county's charter, if they choose, to impose term limits on
county commissioners."
Former Palm Beach Gardens Councilman Hal Valeche said Wednesday he plans to run for Marcus' north county seat
now that the appeals court has ruled.
Page 116
Aaronson, Marcus can't run again, appeals court says Palm Beach Post (Florida) August 11, 2011 Thursday

Palm Beach County resident Harry Gaboian and Lake Park resident Albert J. Key have filed to run for the seat, accord-
ing to the supervisor of elections.
Democratic activist Rick Neuhoff is the only candidate who has opened a campaign for Aaronson's south county seat.
Staff writer George Bennett contributed to this story.
~ jennifer_sorentrue@pbpost.com


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

NOTES: COUNTY COMMISSIONTerm limits


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FINAL EDITION

Is Johnson behind no-exit plan? ;
The school board is set to fire or settle with the superintendent today.

BYLINE: By LAURA GREEN Palm Beach Post Staff Writer


LENGTH: 769 words

Does Superintendent Art Johnson plan to leave the Palm Beach County School District with his head high or is he or-
chestrating a plan to try to keep his job? That's what parents, teachers and school board members want to know after a
series of 11th hour declarations of support for Johnson.
The school board is scheduled to vote today to either accept a settlement to buy out Johnson's contract or fire him. As
they make their decision, they'll have plenty of input to consider.
Since board Chairman Frank Barbieri revealed last week that he'd been secretly discussing a split with a representative
for Johnson, members of the business community have lobbied board members to keep Johnson on the job -- even if he
stays only for a few months while the board finds a replacement.
Then on Monday, the district's principals held an emergency meeting and voted overwhelmingly to support Johnson.
Now principals plan to come to tonight's meeting en masse in a show of support.
"A week ago it seemed he was on his way out; it was a done deal," said John Donohue, a Pine Jog Elementary parent
who added that Johnson has burned too many bridges to remain superintendent. "All of a sudden there's movement to
retain him."
Donohue said he believes that if Johnson truly wanted to move on, he would have spoken up and quashed the efforts to
keep him.
Johnson could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
School board member Debra Robinson also sees Johnson's influence -- if not his fingerprints -- on the principals' vote.
"It's consistent with his past M.O., when he would have principals come to the board meetings in order to express their
love and admiration for him," Robinson said.
Other school board members said they too are suspicious of or even annoyed by the last-minute lobbying efforts but
would not speak publicly about it.
In previous years, Johnson invited principals to speak during his annual evaluation before board members asked him to
stop, Robinson said. He also hand-picked principals last school year to counter protests by parents and teachers oppos-
ing the one-size-fits-all academic program run by former Chief Academic Officer Jeffrey Hernandez.
"We had no idea" that Monday's meeting would end in a vote, said Seminole Ridge High School Principal Lynne
McGee, one of the leaders of the principals' group. But, just in case, leaders came prepared with printed ballots.
Asked if Johnson had any part in calling the meeting, McGee said: "Oh heavens no; he didn't even know about it."
Page 118
Is Johnson behind no-exit plan? ; The school board is set to fire or settle with the superintendent today. Palm Beach
Post (Florida) February 16, 2011 Wednesday

McGee did not have a final vote count Tuesday but said the support was overwhelming. The association was still ac-
cepting votes from principals who could not attend Monday's meeting.
It's not surprising that principals want Johnson to stay on the job. They call him a principal's superintendent and recog-
nize that he offered them unusual autonomy in running their schools in the past decade -- except during the brief Her-
nandez reign. As a group, they've forgiven Johnson for what they consider a momentary lapse.
The notion that principals could stage a vote without Johnson knowing is delusion, said Andre Fladell, a Johnson sup-
porter. But that makes the effort no less heartfelt, he said.
"Art has always seen the principals as the strength of the army," Fladell said.
Having their vote of confidence also solves a problem for Johnson, who has clashed with the new school board about
sharing power.
"I think it's very satisfying to Dr J. and I think it's a statement that the people who run this system appreciate his
achievement," Fladell said. "Art wants this as an achievement issue. He doesn't want this as a personality issue. To some
extent, the principals solve that."
Still, Johnson's critics seem skeptical of the principals' vote.
"The flying monkeys tried to keep that bucket of water off of their boss, too," wrote one Facebook commenter, in a ref-
erence to the wicked witch in The Wizard of Oz, on the Testing is Not Teaching page.
Teachers union President Robert Dow said board members will see through the principals' vote.
"I think it will be patently obvious that those people whose jobs depend on Art Johnson being in that position support
Art Johnson," he said.
Dow is calling on his members to pack the board meeting. Last spring, 95 percent of teachers voted that they had no
confidence in Johnson.
If the sudden support for Johnson is a tactic and rather than a genuine outpouring, it could backfire.
"If he is not truly negotiating to find some terms that both sides can agree to for his separation, then the motion remains
on the table and the motion was to terminate him immediately," Robinson said.
~laura_green@pbpost.com


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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FINAL EDITION

Johnson didn't 'adapt to times' ;
The schools chief faced a less-accommodating board after the elections.

BYLINE: By LAURA GREEN Palm Beach Post Staff Writer


LENGTH: 1339 words

Superintendent Art Johnson might never have faced the choice to resign or perhaps be fired if he had adapted to his new
bosses: an empowered school board that made clear from the start that it would lead and not follow.
To be sure, Johnson weakened his position with a string of blunders, starting with the hiring of controversial Chief Ac-
ademic Officer Jeffrey Hernandez and ending with allegations that Johnson covered up Hernandez's moonlighting in
Memphis while Hernandez collected his $180,000 salary from Palm Beach County.
But the real problem arose when Johnson continued to treat the new board like his former rubber-stamping supervisors,
observers and school board members say.
"The issue is in the category of 'works and plays well with others,' " said Andre Fladell, a Johnson supporter and south
county political operative. "If you're new in a job, you tiptoe. When you've been doing something for a long time, you
become more dogmatic. When you have new people on the school board, the dogmatic approach sometimes gets met
very harshly."
Johnson shared information on a need-to-know basis; put controversial items on the agenda and withdrew them rather
than engage in debate; and oscillated between passive-aggressive and arrogant when dealing with the new board, several
board members said.
"This is not a new thing, not a spur of the moment, not a knee-jerk reaction," said Debra Robinson, a longtime board
member who has regularly sparred with Johnson. She shocked the community weeks ago by calling for a vote to fire
Johnson.
"What it's really about is that we have a new board," she said. "We have to, in a sense, adapt to the times. The over-
whelming thing is he is just not adapting to the new environment, the new board, the new expectations."
Johnson did not return calls seeking comment. He has authorized a representative to negotiate an exit settlement with
board Chairman Frank Barbieri in time for Wednesday's school board meeting.
Board members were careful with their comments, heeding a warning from their lawyer that Johnson could use any
overt criticism as a reason to sue the board rather than settle.
"Art's Art and we don't know that he's really going to come out with a settlement and be agreeable," one board member
said. "He's a wild card."
What is clear is that after nearly 10 years at the helm of one of the nation's largest school districts, Johnson had become
accustomed to deference from the school board.
Strong leadership
Page 120
Johnson didn't 'adapt to times' ; The schools chief faced a less-accommodating board after the elections. Palm Beach
Post (Florida) February 13, 2011 Sunday

A former principal and district administrator, Johnson ascended to the superintendency after being pushed out by Su-
perintendent Joan Kowal. Johnson ran for school board, helped force out Kowal and eventually took her job.
Despite the way Johnson came to his post, he cemented his role in the community by providing stability to a district that
had cycled through a list superintendents who had been fired or pushed out under a cloud. He oversaw Palm Beach
County's reign as the state's highest-rated urban school district. Johnson's unfailing confidence was seen as a plus in
those years.
After just two years as superintendent, Johnson moved to strengthen his position. He negotiated a provision in his con-
tract to require two-thirds of the board, instead of a simple majority, to fire him without cause.
Though Johnson made nightly phone calls to keep them informed, most board members needed little nudging to support
his agenda. Unanimous votes were routine.
Until Barbieri joined the board in 2008, Robinson was often the lone dissenting vote, even the lone board member ques-
tioning Johnson's tactics or plans.
"There were several years when the district was very stable; the leadership was very strong," said new board member
Chuck Shaw, a former principal. "I think the tendency of the board was not to be as engaged in making decisions. In
some ways, they were complacent.
"The shift of power moved away from the board being the leader to the superintendent being the complete leader. When
it got that way, it was impossible to change that direction."
In 2009, Johnson handed day-to-day control over the school district to Hernandez, an uncharacteristic move for a man
who thrived on control and power. Principals, teachers and parents rebelled.
But for months, the board -- except Barbieri -- defended Johnson and Hernandez.
By the time 1,000 parents and teachers packed board meetings wearing orange and waving signs, even Johnson's
strongest supporters on the board had to acknowledge something was wrong.
The superintendent later said his big mistake was ramming through the changes without making a case for them with
parents and teachers. His bosses, the school board, never needed such convincing.
But all that changed with the election of 2010.
A new board in town
Johnson's new board included Jenny Prior Brown, a former federal prosecutor; Karen Brill, who has a corporate back-
ground and served as a special education advocate; Shaw; and Marcia Andrews, a former high-ranking district adminis-
trator whom Johnson demoted.
The four new members joined agitators Robinson and Barbieri, and Monroe Benaim, perhaps Johnson's only remaining
unqualified supporter on the board.
Johnson quickly saw that dealing with this group would be different than his previous boards.
Rather than going through Johnson to get their questions answered, board members began directly contacting district
staff. Johnson was so annoyed by the practice that he reportedly told a group of principals that they answer to him, not
the board.
No issue seemed too small to attract board notice. Brown recently noted at a meeting that mid-level administrators were
having secretaries place calls to her on their behalf. She wondered about the waste of manpower.
When board members asked for a review of the budget so they could prepare for some of the worst budget cuts in the
district's history, Johnson ordered staff to go line by line, drowning board members in minutiae, teachers union Presi-
dent Robert Dow said.
"With every request that the board came forward with of the district and the superintendent, they seemed to be stone-
walled and diverted from," Dow said. "The board members I talked to didn't seem to be getting the cooperation that they
needed to do their homework and do their jobs well."
Page 121
Johnson didn't 'adapt to times' ; The schools chief faced a less-accommodating board after the elections. Palm Beach
Post (Florida) February 13, 2011 Sunday

Johnson continued to assert himself with a recent move to revive the career of Jon Prince, one of his favorite principals.
Johnson reluctantly demoted Prince after an investigation revealed he used his district credit card for a steak dinner with
his wife, a cabana rental at a swanky hotel and other personal expenses.
Just months after the state Board of Education agreed not to revoke Prince's educator's license with the caveat that he
could not handle school money, Johnson added what he must have known would be a controversial item to the school
board agenda. He moved to promote Prince to principal again, pulling it from the agenda only when he realized he
couldn't muster the votes.
Then the Hernandez saga got dragged back into the spotlight when a group of parents alleged that Johnson tried to cover
up Hernandez's moonlighting for the Memphis school district while collecting his $180,000 salary from Palm Beach
County. An independent firm is now investigating those allegations.
While the tension between Johnson and the board was becoming clear to observers, Robinson forced the issue with her
call for a vote to fire Johnson. By last week's board meeting, several board members said they still hadn't decided how
to vote when Barbieri stunned them with the announcement that Johnson had offered to leave.
Johnson needed only three votes to keep his job. It's widely believed that Benaim was his only sure vote.
The superintendent has refused to speak to the media since revealing that he's negotiating to leave the district, but he
offered this insight the last time he was preparing to leave.
"Who in their right mind," he wrote in a November 1997 letter to The Palm Beach Post, "would choose to be heard by a
jury that had already made a decision concerning their case?"
~ laura_green@pbpost.com


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

NOTES: PALM BEACH POST CONTINUING COVERAGEPalm Beach County schools More on Art Johnson *
Video: Watch Postreporter Laura Green talk about Johnson's departure. ZCheck outthe superintendent's employment
timeline and contract. * Get more on the Jeffrey Hernandez controversy. PalmBeachPost.com/schools


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December 14, 2010 Tuesday

Delray commissioner's decision fuels political speculation

BYLINE: Maria Herrera, Sun Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.


LENGTH: 837 words

Dec. 14--The announcement last week that Commissioner Gary Eliopoulos will not seek re-election in March created a
ripple in the city's political landscape.
Now, civic groups and residents are wondering who will take his place and whether anyone will step up to challenge
incumbents.
There will be three of five city commission seats in play: Eliopoulos would have served his third, and final, two-year
term because of term limits, in Seat 1; Mayor Woodie McDuffie, in Seat 5, and Commissioner Adam Frankel, in Seat 3,
are also up for re-election.
Political strategist Blake MacDiarmid said Delray Beach could be experiencing voter fatigue after a very eventful No-
vember election.
"I don't think it's odd," that no one has stepped up yet, said MacDiarmid, who has run campaigns in Delray Beach in the
past. "Things don't really get going in Delray until after Jan 1."
MacDiarmid said Eliopoulos' announcement may have changed the dynamics of the March election. It could have been
an uncontested election, he said, but with three seats up for grabs -- one seat without an incumbent -- voters and possible
candidates may be looking to challenge the status quo.
Meanwhile, civic leaders in the city say they're worried that the lack of candidates may be a symptom of lack of interest
in local politics.
"The word apathy came up," said resident Chuck Halberg, of a meeting he held at his home with other residents and city
officials to discuss the state of the city. "I don't think there is anyone to run for office."
Halberg, who ran for Mayor in 2009 against McDuffie, said he will not run again this year.
However, several names have come up as possible candidates, including former Mayor Jeff Perlman's.
"I get a lot of requests to run; it's very flattering," said Perlman who served on the commission from 2000 to 2007. "I
had a great time and enjoyed my service, but it is not the right time for me personally and professionally."
Perlman said he often tells his supporters that he would only be a Band-Aid in the commission, adding that the city
needs leadership that is committed to a vision.
"We're missing that," he said. "The mentality now is that as long as [restaurants] Vic and Angelos and City Oyster are
three deep [with customers] then everything is fine in Delray."
"It's amazing to me that there's an election this year without competition [so far]," Perlman said.
Page 123
Delray commissioner's decision fuels political speculation South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale) December 14,
2010 Tuesday

Vince Dole, of the civic group Friends of Delray, said that traditionally candidates in Delray Beach have been groomed
by serving on city advisory boards and being involved in civic organizations.
"I would like to see candidates who have community experience," said Dole, adding that he would also look for candi-
dates who have a vision and are independent thinkers.
"What is lacking to me on the Commission are ideas," Dole said. "This commission is just going through an agenda that
is given to them. They just wait for something to be presented to them to vote on it. There's no thinking."
Others mentioned as possible candidates are Shelley Petrolia, a real estate agent who ran against Eliopoulos in 2009 and
who serves on the Housing Authority Board, and Christina Morrison Pearce, also a real estate agent who serves on the
Finance Review Board.
Petrolia said she's undecided.
"It's a tough time of the year," Petrolia said. "It's right in the heat of the holidays. Is a very difficult time for people to
commit to something."
Morrison Pearce, who sought a nomination for Seat 4 in 2009 when former Commissioner Mack Bernard resigned to
run for the State House, said she also has not yet made up her mind.
"I'm going to wait to see who else is running," Morrison Pearce said. "I wouldn't enter the race unless I could be rea-
sonably assured I could win."
Another possible candidate is Tom Carney, a land-use attorney who's served the board of the Community Redevelop-
ment Agency for the past eight years.
"I'm seriously considering it," Carney said.
Carney said he has a good grasp of issues in the city, but is not taking the decision lightly.
"I'm weighing the responsibility and time commitment very heavily," he said.
Political activist Andre Fladell said it's not apathy necessarily that is plaguing Delray Beach politics but a system that
increasingly requires more of elected officials.
"Why would people want to subject themselves to government?" he said.
Fladell said candidates have to be increasingly more transparent, having to disclose their financing and often putting
their businesses, families and friends up for public scrutiny.
"No matter what you do, someone questions it," he said. "It is not as fun a job as it used to be."
Maria Herrera can be reached at meherrera@SunSentinel.com or 561-243-6544.
To see more of the Sun Sentinel or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.sun-sentinel.com/. Copyright (c)
2010, Sun Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more infor-
mation about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit
www.mctinfoservices.com.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

ACC-NO: 20101214-FL-Delray-commissioner-s-decision-fuels-political-speculation-1214-20101214


JOURNAL-CODE: FL

Page 124

50 of 456 DOCUMENTS


Palm Beach Edition

ARE DELRAY VOTERS READY FOR ANOTHER ELECTION?

BYLINE: Maria Herrera Staff Writer

SECTION: LOCAL; Pg. 1B

LENGTH: 978 words


- The announcement last week that Commissioner Gary Eliopoulos will not seek re-election in March created a ripple in
the city's political landscape.
Now, civic groups and residents are wondering who will take his place and whether anyone will step up to challenge
incumbents.
There will be three of five city commission seats in play: Eliopoulos would have served his third, and final, two-year
term because of term limits, in Seat 1; Mayor Woodie McDuffie, in Seat 5, and Commissioner Adam Frankel, in Seat 3,
are also up for re-election.
Political strategist Blake MacDiarmid said Delray Beach could be experiencing voter fatigue after a very eventful No-
vember election.
"I don't think it's odd," that no one has stepped up yet, said MacDiarmid, who has run campaigns in Delray Beach in the
past. "Things don't really get going in Delray until after Jan 1."
MacDiarmid said Eliopoulos' announcement may have changed the dynamics of the March election. It could have been
an uncontested election, he said, but with three seats up for grabs - one seat without an incumbent - voters and possible
candidates may be looking to challenge the status quo.
Meanwhile, civic leaders in the city say they're worried that the lack of candidates may be a symptom of lack of interest
in local politics.
"The word apathy came up," said resident Chuck Halberg, of a meeting he held at his home with other residents and city
officials to discuss the state of the city. "I don't think there is anyone to run for office."
Halberg, who ran for Mayor in 2009 against McDuffie, said he will not run again this year.
However, several names have come up as possible candidates, including former Mayor Jeff Perlman's.
"I get a lot of requests to run; it's very flattering," said Perlman who served on the commission from 2000 to 2007. "I
had a great time and enjoyed my service, but it is not the right time for me personally and professionally."
Perlman said he often tells his supporters that he would only be a Band-Aid in the commission, adding that the city
needs leadership that is committed to a vision.
"We're missing that," he said. "The mentality now is that as long as [restaurants] Vic and Angelos and City Oyster are
three deep [with customers] then everything is fine in Delray."
"It's amazing to me that there's an election this year without competition [so far]," Perlman said.
Page 125
ARE DELRAY VOTERS READY FOR ANOTHER ELECTION? Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) December
14, 2010 Tuesday

Vince Dole, of the civic group Friends of Delray, said that traditionally candidates in Delray Beach have been groomed
by serving on city advisory boards and being involved in civic organizations.
"I would like to see candidates who have community experience," said Dole, adding that he would also look for candi-
dates who have a vision and are independent thinkers.
"What is lacking to me on the Commission are ideas," Dole said. "This commission is just going through an agenda that
is given to them. They just wait for something to be presented to them to vote on it. There's no thinking."
Others mentioned as possible candidates are Shelley Petrolia, a real estate agent who ran against Eliopoulos in 2009 and
who serves on the Housing Authority Board, and Christina Morrison Pearce, also a real estate agent who serves on the
Finance Review Board.
Petrolia said she's undecided.
"It's a tough time of the year," Petrolia said. "It's right in the heat of the holidays. Is a very difficult time for people to
commit to something."
Morrison Pearce, who sought a nomination for Seat 4 in 2009 when former Commissioner Mack Bernard resigned to
run for the State House, said she also has not yet made up her mind.
"I'm going to wait to see who else is running," Morrison Pearce said. "I wouldn't enter the race unless I could be rea-
sonably assured I could win."
Another possible candidate is Tom Carney, a land-use attorney who's served the board of the Community Redevelop-
ment Agency for the past eight years.
"I'm seriously considering it," Carney said.
Carney said he has a good grasp of issues in the city, but is not taking the decision lightly.
"I'm weighing the responsibility and time commitment very heavily," he said.
Political activist Andre Fladell said it's not apathy necessarily that is plaguing Delray Beach politics but a system that
increasingly requires more of elected officials.
"Why would people want to subject themselves to government?" he said.
Fladell said candidates have to be increasingly more transparent, having to disclose their financing and often putting
their businesses, families and friends up for public scrutiny.
"No matter what you do, someone questions it," he said. "It is not as fun a job as it used to be."
Maria Herrera can be reached at meherrera @SunSentinel.com or 561-243-6544.
INFORMATIONAL BOX:
Delray candidate calendar
Dec. 1: City Clerk's office begins distributing form for Appointment of Campaign Treasurer and Designation of Cam-
paign Depository
Jan. 10: Quarterly Treasurer's Report Due; the report must cover the period from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31. Jan. 21: Treasurer's
Report due covering Jan. 1-14
Jan. 25: Qualifying period opens at noon; candidates can begin submitting nominating petitions containing the signa-
tures of at least 417 voters, or 1 percent of registered voters in the city of Delray Beach; the City Clerk recomends gath-
ering between 500 and 550 signatures; candidates must also submit a Statement of Financial Interest, pay a filing fee of
$50 and pay an assessment fee of $120 for mayoral candiates and $90 for commission candidates
Feb. 4: Treasurer's Report due covering Jan. 15-29
Feb. 7: Registration books close for the March 8 election
Feb. 8: Qualifying period ends at noon
Feb. 11: Deadline for municipalities to get ballots to the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections
Page 126
ARE DELRAY VOTERS READY FOR ANOTHER ELECTION? Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) December
14, 2010 Tuesday

Feb. 18: Treasurer's Report due covering Jan. 30-Feb. 12
March 3: Deadline for receiving campaign contributions
March 4: Treasurer's report due covering Feb. 13-March 3
March 8: Election Day


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH



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51 of 456 DOCUMENTS



December 2, 2010 Thursday

This year, Delray ready for menorah lighting on Hannukah



LENGTH: 452 words

Dec. 02--DELRAY BEACH --
A year after the absence of a menorah next to the 100-foot Christmas tree ignited community angst, city officials and
residents gathered on Wednesday to light the first candle of the nine-branched candelabrum.
"It's important to be inclusive," said Commissioner Adam Frankel who brought up the issue last year after a resident
asked him why there wasn't anything representing the Jewish Festival of Lights. "Last year when everything came
about, Mayor Woodie McDuffie was amazing and the first one to say, 'We're going to get a menorah.' "
More than 100 people showed up to watch the first candle of the menorah go on, and Mayor Woodie McDuffie intro-
duced several city and state officials in attendance.
"We are a city of inclusiveness and we need to demonstrate to everyone we live what we preach," McDuffie said.
Former Mayor Jeff Perlman led the crowd in prayer before resident Irene Wolins sang a traditonal Hanukkah song.
"It represents the whole idea of continuity," Wolins said of the song. "This was so lovely. This city is inclusive of eve-
ryone."
Ron Platt, owner of the Mellow Mushroom restaurant, said he noticed there was no representation of Hanukkah on the
grounds of Old School Square last year a few days before the lighting of the Christmas tree.
"I said, 'Geez, I don't think this is right,' " Platt said of last year's holiday activities. "But I think it was just an oversight.
I don't think it was anything intentional and it seems it is going to be a permanent fixture now."
It was unclear last year whose oversight it was, but Pompano Beach business owner Pat Brandano donated a menorah
for last year's ceremony, which was hastily organized at the start of Hanukkah.
Resident and community activist Andre Fladell later paid for a $3,000 menorah so the city can display it every year
during the Jewish holiday.
"I don't think government should pay for any of these things," said Fladell, who is Jewish. "The group interested in dis-
playing something should pick up the cost. So we did."
Fladell said that the Jewish population is part of the fabric of Delray Beach and "we want to contribute and share," he
said.
"I personally celebrate Christmas and Hanukkah for what they are supposed to be. We choose to celebrate peace on
earth and good will," Fladell said.
Page 128
This year, Delray ready for menorah lighting on Hannukah South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale) December 2,
2010 Thursday



LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

ACC-NO: 20101202-FL-This-year-Delray-ready-for-menorah-lighting-on-Hannukah-1202-20101202


JOURNAL-CODE: FL

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This year, Delray ready for menorah lighting on Hanukkah



LENGTH: 452 words

Former Mayor Jeff Perlman led the crowd in prayer before resident Irene Wolins sang a traditional Hanukkah song.
ryone."
said.
Page 130
This year, Delray ready for menorah lighting on Hanukkah South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale) December 2,
2010 Thursday



LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

ACC-NO: 20101202-FL-This-year-Delray-ready-for-menorah-lighting-on-Hanukkah-1202-20101202


JOURNAL-CODE: FL

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This year, Delray ready for menorah lighting on Hanukkah



LENGTH: 452 words

Former Mayor Jeff Perlman led the crowd in prayer before resident Irene Wolins sang a traditional Hanukkah song.
ryone."
said.
Page 132
This year, Delray ready for menorah lighting on Hanukkah South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale) December 2,
2010 Thursday



LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

ACC-NO: 20101202-FL-This-year-Delray-ready-for-menorah-lighting-on-Hanukkah-1202-20101202


JOURNAL-CODE: FL

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Palm Beach Edition

THIS YEAR, DELRAY WILL INCLUDE A MENORAH



LENGTH: 331 words


- A year after the absence of a menorah next to the 100-foot Christmas tree ignited community angst, city officials and
residents gathered Wednesday to light the first candle of the nine-branched candelabrum.
asked him why there wasn't anything representing the Jewish Festival of Lights. "Last year, when everything came
More than 100 people showed up to watch the first candle of the menorah go on.
Former Mayor Jeff Perlman led the crowd in prayer before resident Irene Wolins sang a Hanukkah song.
ryone."
said.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


Page 134
THIS YEAR, DELRAY WILL INCLUDE A MENORAH Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) December 2, 2010
Thursday

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55 of 456 DOCUMENTS


November 3, 2010 Wednesday
Delray Edition

VOCAL DELRAY BEACH CIVICS GROUP HAS A NEW NAME

BYLINE: Maria Herrera Sun Sentinel


LENGTH: 627 words

A group of civic leaders in Delray Beach has taken on a new name for the 25-year-old Progressive Residents of Delray.
It's the Delray Citizens Coalition.
"'Progressive' connotes liberal democrats," said Gerry Franciosa, president of the organization. "We had changed the
name to PROD, for Professional Residents of Delray, but that sounded like we were a professional group."
PROD was formed in 1984 in reaction to the Beach Property Owners Association, which was a very conservative group
at the time, political activist Andre Fladell said.
The group often had been vocal at City Hall, taking positions such as advocating for televised City Commission meet-
ings and at times challenging elected officials. Franciosa, who resigned as president in 2007 and came back in July
2009, said the group often was seen as combative.
Instead, Franciosa said, Delray Citizens Coalition will work with elected officials, host political forums and events and
endorse candidates, filling a hole left by defunct organizations such as Friends of Delray and PROD, which was found-
ed by five residents, including Helen Coopersmith and former City Commissioner Arthur Jackel, who thought the city's
western fringe was being neglected by city officials and wanted to give a voice to residents of neighborhoods such as
Rainberry Bay, Chatelaine and High Point.
"We're a board of directors-driven organization," Franciosa said. "We will take issues as they come along."
At a recent event, guests met the board as well as DCC-endorsed candidates Ellyn Bogdanoff, running for state House
District 25; Jenny Prior Brown, running for School Board District 4; Bill Hager, running for state House District 87; and
incumbent District 7 County Commissioner Priscilla Taylor.
"We hope that down the road if those people win, we'll be able to talk to them about an issue and they'll listen to us,"
said Franciosa.
On board as directors are some familiar faces: former Delray Beach lobbyist Kathy Daley, former PROD board mem-
bers Jayne King, Yvonne Gugel and Luise Piane, and newcomers Alan Kirscherbaum and Jack Wagner, former mem-
bers of the city Financial Review Board.
"This organization has evolved through the years," said Daley. "We want to bring together a variety of people who care
about the city and who want to make sure the leadership in the city is good."
Daley, the city's lobbyist from 1988 until 2007 - when the city terminated her contract because she lobbied legislators
on the city's behalf without officially registering with the state - said the board will tackle issues as they happen.
"Right now city budgets are in question. We have opinions on where and how the money is spent," she said. "We do
want to be involved in people's elections and we want to be a part of who runs the city."
Page 136
VOCAL DELRAY BEACH CIVICS GROUP HAS A NEW NAME Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) November
3, 2010 Wednesday

Still, not everyone is happy with the change. Jean Beer, who was a president of PROD during the late 1990s, said Fran-
ciosa has taken the organization in a different direction.
"It was a very vibrant neighborhood organization of many people," Beer said. "It's a shame. It's a huge lost to the city.
We no longer have real representation from the residents."
Groups like the Delray Citizen Coalition are common, said Kevin Wagner, a political science professor at Florida At-
lantic University.
"They are commonly centered around an issue rather than politics," said Wagner who's not familiar with DCC but
whose area of research has included American political thought and behavior. "It may simply be people who are genu-
inely interested in politics."
Wagner said there also are groups that appear to be grassroots but are backed by special interests that may want or al-
ready do business with a city or government agency.
Either way, "The influence of these groups is
very significant," Wagner said. {ZONE} DRF


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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56 of 456 DOCUMENTS


October 28, 2010 Thursday
Palm Beach Edition

VOCAL CIVICS GROUP HAS A NEW NAME;
DELRAY CITIZENS COALITION AIMS TO BE FORCE IN CITY POLITICS



LENGTH: 655 words

A group of civic leaders in Delray Beach has taken on a new name for the 25-year-old Progressive Residents of Delray.
It's the Delray Citizens Coalition.
"'Progressive' connotes liberal democrats," said Gerry Franciosa, president of the organization. "We had changed the
name to PROD, for Professional Residents of Delray, but that sounded like we were a professional group."
PROD was formed in 1984 in reaction to the Beach Property Owners Association, which was a very conservative group
at the time, political activist Andre Fladell said.
The group often had been vocal at City Hall, taking positions such as advocating for televised City Commission meet-
ings and at times challenging elected officials. Franciosa, who resigned as president in 2007 and came back in July
2009, said the group often was seen as combative.
Instead, Franciosa said, Delray Citizens Coalition will work with elected officials, host political forums and events and
endorse candidates, filling a hole left by defunct organizations such as Friends of Delray and PROD, which was found-
ed by five residents, including Helen Coopersmith and former City Commissioner Arthur Jackel, who thought the city's
western fringe was being neglected by city officials and wanted to give a voice to residents of neighborhoods such as
Rainberry Bay, Chatelaine and High Point.
"We're a board of directors-driven organization," Franciosa said. "We will take issues as they come along."
At an event Wednesday, guests met the board as well as DCC-endorsed candidates Ellyn Bogdanoff, running for state
House District 25; Jenny Prior Brown, running for School Board District 4; Bill Hager, running for state House District
87; and incumbent District 7 County Commissioner Priscilla Taylor.
"We hope that down the road if those people win, we'll be able to talk to them about an issue and they'll listen to us,"
said Franciosa.
On board as directors are some familiar faces: former Delray Beach lobbyist Kathy Daley, former PROD board mem-
bers Jayne King, Yvonne Gugel and Luise Piane, and newcomers Alan Kirscherbaum and Jack Wagner, former mem-
bers of the city Financial Review Board.
"This organization has evolved through the years," said Daley. "We want to bring together a variety of people who care
about the city and who want to make sure the leadership in the city is good."
Daley, the city's lobbyist from 1988 until 2007 - when the city terminated her contract because she lobbied legislators
on the city's behalf without officially registering with the state - said the board will tackle issues as they happen.
"Right now city budgets are in question. We have opinions on where and how the money is spent," she said. "We do
want to be involved in people's elections and we want to be a part of who runs the city."
Page 138
VOCAL CIVICS GROUP HAS A NEW NAME; DELRAY CITIZENS COALITION AIMS TO BE FORCE IN CITY
POLITICS Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) October 28, 2010 Thursday

Still, not everyone is happy with the change. Jean Beer, who was a president of PROD during the late 1990s, said Fran-
ciosa has taken the organization in a different direction.
"It was a very vibrant neighborhood organization of many people," Beer said. "It's a shame. It's a huge lost to the city.
We no longer have real representation from the residents."
Groups like the Delray Citizen Coalition are common, said Kevin Wagner, a political science professor at Florida At-
lantic University.
"They are commonly centered around an issue rather than politics," said Wagner who's not familiar with DCC but
whose area of research has included American political thought and behavior. "It may simply be people who are genu-
inely interested in politics."
Wagner said there also are groups that appear to be grassroots but are backed by special interests that may want or al-
ready do business with a city or government agency.
Either way, "The influence of these groups is very significant," Wagner said.
Maria Herrera can be reached at meherrera@ SunSentinel.com or 561-243-6544.
Get breaking news sent right to your inbox. Sign up for our Daily Newsletter at SunSentinel.com/joinus


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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57 of 456 DOCUMENTS



October 8, 2010 Friday

Developer offers proof it hired minorities and local sub-contractors



LENGTH: 735 words

Oct. 08--DELRAY BEACH --
Henry Reaves was unemployed until he walked across the street from his low-income apartment in the Southwest
Neighborhood.
"I kept coming out here until I got the job," said Reaves of his construction job at Villages of Delray project on South-
west 12th Avenue. "I had been unemployed for three years."
At 49, Reaves is a prime example in an apprenticeship program the Auburn Group developed for its Villages at Delray
project, an affordable-housing project with 144 apartments next to Auburn Trace, an older, low-income community the
developer built in the 1980s.
Reaves was a cook before this job and had little construction experience. He said the Auburn Group got him training,
safety training certification and work boots. The apprentices are paid minimum wage and it is unclear if they will stay
employed with the subcontractors once the project is finished.
At a City Commission meeting on Tuesday, Auburn officials introduced about 12 of the apprentices, most of them in
their early 20s, and several local subcontractors it hired to work on the project. The move was in response to criticism
that the developer, which received $27 million in stimulus money, was not hiring local or minority firms.
According to a report turned in to the city, the Auburn Group hired five out 13 Delray Beach-based subcontractors
which bid on the project, and three Palm Beach County-based subcontractors out of 30 which bid.
City Manager David Harden told the Commission they expected to receive the report on Sept. 27, but staff said it
couldn't reach the developer in time. The city received the two-page report on Wednesday.
A spokeswoman with the Treasury Department, which disperses stimulus funds though state agencies, said the only
requirement attached to the funds is to provide quarterly reports about how many jobs were created as a result of a spe-
cific project.
Former city commissioner and race relations consultant Alberta McCarthy and political activist Andre Fladell came up
with the apprenticeship program.
"The idea of getting local kids a plausible profession [is something] I really believed in," said Fladell, who said he
helped spread the word about the program in the community. "They were talking about giving people jobs, but creating
occupations is very different."
Staci Thirlwell, Assistant Project Manager with the Pompano Beach-based Current Builders, the main general contract
on the project, said the apprentices were brought into a speed-dating-type scenario to meet with subcontractors, who
then picked their favorite candidates.
Page 140
Developer offers proof it hired minorities and local sub-contractors South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale)

"It was a good opportunity so I took the chance," said Ace Dort, 21, who added that he was born and raised in Delray
Beach. "You learn new stuff every day. It took some time to get going but here I am."
Some residents are still not convinced the developer is doing enough for the neighboring communities.
"It was a sham," said Clifford Wright, a resident of the neighborhood and an electrical contractor who first asked if the
city was making certain that the project was hiring locally. "They brought in people that nobody has ever seen before.
Half of them hadn't even started."
Wright said that although the apprenticeship program is a commendable effort, it is being used to distract from the de-
veloper hiring local subcontractors and minority firms.
"It's great but what about the real tradesman out there who don't have a job?" he asked. "They're trying to circumvent
around the spirit of what this thing is all about; bringing jobs to the community."
Auburn Vice President Cito Beguiristain said the company has done more than it would be required of any developer.
He said the project has created about 200 jobs and will provide quality housing to low-income residents.
"Everyone keeps asking where the stimulus money is," he said while walking around the construction site. "It's here.
These are the stimulus jobs."
www.mctinfoservices.com, e-mail services@mctinfoservices.com, or call 866-280-5210 (outside the United States, call
+1 312-222-4544).


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

ACC-NO: 20101008-FL-Developer-offers-proof-it-hired-minorities-and-local-sub-contractors-1008-20101008


JOURNAL-CODE: FL

Page 141

58 of 456 DOCUMENTS


Palm Beach Edition

BUILDER DEFENDS RECORD ON HIRING;
DEVELOPER'S REPORT CITES LOCAL AND MINORITY WORKERS



LENGTH: 655 words


- Henry Reaves was unemployed until he walked across the street from his low-income apartment in the Southwest
Neighborhood.
"I kept coming out here until I got the job," said Reaves of his construction job at Villages of Delray project on South-
west 12th Avenue. "I had been unemployed for three years."
At 49, Reaves is a prime example in an apprenticeship program the Auburn Group developed for its Villages at Delray
project, an affordable-housing project with 144 apartments next to Auburn Trace, an older, low-income community the
developer built in the 1980s.
Reaves was a cook before this job and had little construction experience. He said the Auburn Group got him training,
safety training certification and work boots. The apprentices are paid minimum wage and it is unclear if they will stay
employed with the subcontractors once the project is finished.
At a City Commission meeting on Tuesday, Auburn officials introduced about 12 of the apprentices, most of them in
their early 20s, and several local subcontractors it hired to work on the project. The move was in response to criticism
that the developer, which received $27 million in stimulus money, was not hiring local or minority firms.
According to a report turned in to the city, the Auburn Group hired five out 13 Delray Beach-based subcontractors
which bid on the project, and three Palm Beach County-based subcontractors out of 30 which bid.
City Manager David Harden told the Commission they expected to receive the report on Sept. 27, but staff said it
couldn't reach the developer in time. The city received the two-page report on Wednesday.
A spokeswoman with the Treasury Department, which disperses stimulus funds though state agencies, said the only
requirement attached to the funds is to provide quarterly reports about how many jobs were created as a result of a spe-
cific project.
Former city commissioner and race relations consultant Alberta McCarthy and political activist Andre Fladell came up
with the apprenticeship program.
"The idea of getting local kids a plausible profession [is something] I really believed in," said Fladell, who said he
helped spread the word about the program in the community. "They were talking about giving people jobs, but creating
occupations is very different."
Staci Thirlwell, Assistant Project Manager with the Pompano Beach-based Current Builders, the main general contract
on the project, said the apprentices were brought into a speed-dating-type scenario to meet with subcontractors, who
then picked their favorite candidates.
Page 142
BUILDER DEFENDS RECORD ON HIRING; DEVELOPER'S REPORT CITES LOCAL AND MINORITY
WORKERS Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) October 8, 2010 Friday

"It was a good opportunity so I took the chance," said Ace Dort, 21, who added that he was born and raised in Delray
Beach. "You learn new stuff every day. It took some time to get going but here I am."
Some residents are still not convinced the developer is doing enough for the neighboring communities.
"It was a sham," said Clifford Wright, a resident of the neighborhood and an electrical contractor who first asked if the
city was making certain that the project was hiring locally. "They brought in people that nobody has ever seen before.
Half of them hadn't even started."
Wright said that although the apprenticeship program is a commendable effort, it is being used to distract from the de-
veloper hiring local subcontractors and minority firms.
"It's great but what about the real tradesman out there who don't have a job?" he asked. "They're trying to circumvent
around the spirit of what this thing is all about; bringing jobs to the community."
Auburn Vice President Cito Beguiristain said the company has done more than it would be required of any developer.
He said the project has created about 200 jobs and will provide quality housing to low-income residents.
"Everyone keeps asking where the stimulus money is," he said while walking around the construction site. "It's here.
These are the stimulus jobs."
Maria Herrera
can be reached at meherrera@SunSentinel
.com or 561-243-6544.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

GRAPHIC: Photo(s)
Tommy Hayes, of Delray Beach, carries a pipe to another location at the Auburn Group construction site in Delray
Beach. Carline Jean/Sun Sentinel photos Tony Mitchell,21, of Delray Beach, removes debris from the Auburn construc-
tion site.


All Rights Reserved
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59 of 456 DOCUMENTS


September 29, 2010 Wednesday
FINAL EDITION

Will condos turn out for Crist? Don't ask, don't tell

BYLINE: Frank Cerabino


LENGTH: 592 words

I think of it as "The Shot Heard Round the Mah-jongg Table."
I'm talking about Robert Wexler's enthusiastic endorsement of Gov. Charlie Crist in his independent bid for a U.S. Sen-
ate seat from Florida.
Wexler, who has favorite-grandson status in condos that stretch from west of Boca Raton all the way to west of Delray
Beach, was the first prominent local Democrat to abandon the party's nominee, Kendrick Meek, for Crist.
On first blush, it doesn't seem to fit with Wexler's image. The former congressman took pride in being called "a
fire-breathing liberal."
And Crist would be best described as a fog-spewing political hermaphrodite.
But strange forces are at work here. Marco Rubio, the Republican candidate for the Senate seat, is leading in the polls;
Crist is fading, and Meek is a distant third. With the election only six weeks away, Crist is hoping to get about 40 per-
cent of registered Democrats to jump ship and vote for him, even if that defection is only motivated by a desire to keep
Rubio from winning.
Two levels of politicians
And so Wexler's weekend endorsement of Crist at Century Village near Boca Raton serves as a kind of grand gesture of
permission for local Democrats.
"There are two levels of politicians," said Andre Fladell, a Delray Beach chiropractor who has been a political opera-
tive in Palm Beach County's vote-vault condos for decades. "There are those who can get votes for themselves and
those who can transfer votes.
"In order to transfer votes you have to be loved," Fladell said. "And in this area among Northern Jewish retirees, Wexler
has great affection, and great affection equals transfer."
A green light for the undecided
Fladell said that doesn't mean a massive migration of votes from Meek to Crist. There are plenty of committed Demo-
crats in the condos who will vote for Meek no matter what Wexler says, Fladell said. But Meek hasn't quite sold the
deal among many of the older Jewish voters in Palm Beach County, Fladell said.
"And for those undecideds, Wexler captured every one of them for Crist," he said.
Fladell may be reading some of his own politics into the tea leaves. He's one of those Democrats who won't be voting
for Meek.
"When Meek was asked if he supported Israel, he said he supported peace in the Middle East," Fladell said. "That's a
Jimmy Carter answer. Not something people here want to hear."
Page 144
Will condos turn out for Crist? Don't ask, don't tell Palm Beach Post (Florida) September 29, 2010 Wednesday

But I think Fladell's right about Wexler's influence. I once shared the stage with Wexler at the South County Civic Cen-
ter and it made me feel like a warm-up band for Bruce Springsteen.
Wexler's endorsement, I suspect, will only sharpen the Crist-Meek dilemma, and help it blossom into the kind of vocif-
erous condo fight that will make arguing over a special assessment for clubhouse repairs seem mild.
So in the interest of maintaining the peace in Palm Beach County's condo communities from now until Nov. 2, I have a
suggestion:
Don't ask and don't tell when it comes to Democrats voting for Crist.
Democrats who want to vote for Crist shouldn't be allowed to destroy the good order and discipline of the party by
flaunting their intended vote in public.
In order to preserve the morale of the party in its overall combat mission against Republicans, Democrats voting for
Crist should be content to remain closeted. And in return, Meek supporters should refrain from going out of their way to
unmask the true political nature of their neighbors.
After Wexler's endorsement, a "don't ask, don't tell" policy is the only way to keep local condo discord down to its nor-
mal low boil.
~frank_cerabino@pbpost.com


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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US State News

August 13, 2010 Friday 11:57 AM EST

DELRAY POLICE LABOR DAY CHALLENGE TO CELEBRATE 24TH AN-
NIVERSARY, SEPT. 6

LENGTH: 290 words

DELRAY BEACH, Fla., Aug. 12 -- The city of Delray Beach issued the following news release:
The Delray Citizens for Delray Police Labor Day Challenge celebrates its 24th year of competitive fun on Monday,
September 6, 2010, as police officers from Delray Beach, Boca Raton and Boynton Beach battle for coveted trophies,
cash prizes and bragging rights. Activities begin at 12:00 pm (noon) on Delray's Municipal Beach at Atlantic Avenue
and Ocean Blvd (A1A).
Several events are scheduled throughout the day including a relay race on the beach, volleyball tournament and hotdog
eating contest. A friendly rivalry returns as Boynton Beach Police Chief Matthew Immler, Delray Beach Police Chief
Anthony Strianese and Boca Raton Chief Dan Alexander compete in the "Chiefs Trophy Challenge." At stake is the
prestigious Chiefs Trophy which showcases at the winning Police Department for one year.
Join the men and women of law enforcement this Labor Day for a fun-filled day at the beach. For more information, call
(561) 243-7190.
LABOR DAY POLICE CHALLENGE SCHEDULE of ACTIVITIES:
* Noon - 4 x 80 yard Relay Race, Volleyball Tournament.
* 1:30 pm - 3 on 3 Basketball Tournament.
* 2:00 pm - Chiefs Trophy Challenge.
* 2:30 pm - Hotdog Eating Contest.
* 3:00 pm - Awards Ceremony at Boston's on the Beach (40 South Ocean Blvd).
Sponsors: Boston's on the Beach, Dr. Andre Fladell, Dan Burns, ICC Capital Management, Bank of America,
Walmart, Delaire Country Club, Stuart and Shelby Development, Palm Beach Gym & Fitness, CSI: Palm Beach, Dela-
ware Investments, Attorney Michael Weiner, Delray Beach Marriott, Saxena White P.A. For any query with respect to
this article or any other content requirement, please contact Editor at htsyndication@hindustantimes.com


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newswire

Copyright 2010 Targeted News Service LLC
All Rights Reserved
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61 of 456 DOCUMENTS


July 31, 2010 Saturday
FINAL EDITION

Power school politics? ;
Interview tidbits from 18 candidates.

BYLINE: Jac Wilder Versteeg


LENGTH: 659 words

I met most of the 18 Palm Beach County School Board candidates during the Editorial Board's endorsement interviews.
Those endorsements ran July 24-28. They're online, and The Post will run a recap before the Aug. 24 primary election.
Here are some interview tidbits that didn't make it into the endorsements:
Karen Brill, my favorite candidate, belongs to the King David Bikers. Instead of hitting bar after bar, she said, club
members ride from deli to deli.
Ron Young, a barber, believes that the world was created 7,000 years ago. But he advised his kids to give teachers the
answers they expect on science tests. I don't agree with him on creationism, but I agree with him on pragmatism.
Lowell Levine shifts to a flamboyant falsetto when doing impressions of female opponents. It's very funny coming from
a guy who could be a stunt double for actor Brad Garrett.
Thomas Hawkins, a teacher, says peers who spoke up at school board meetings about low pay and last year's curriculum
chaos "were spoken to by their principals and told to stop going." Boy, I'd love to be able to prove or disprove that.
Steven Ledewitz advocated the policy I most wish had been in place when my kid was at Dwyer: Starting high school
classes 45 minutes later in the day.
Anne Kanjian's husband is a former school board member. How does she rate her potential compared with his record?
"I think I could be better than he was."
Remember when priests John Skehan and Francis Guinan ripped off their parishioners? Thomas Whatley was the
Delray Beach cop who investigated and arrested them.
Along with such individual tidbits, there was a general theme that might surprise some. Most candidates had made
courtesy calls or visits to political powerbrokers.
School board races are nonpartisan. But partisan politics has invaded education on such issues as merit pay for teachers,
vouchers, sex education, the FCAT and No Child Left Behind.
Plus, even with budget cuts the school district spends a ton of money on construction, lawyers and other consultants.
What political powerbroker would ignore a school board that controls a $3 billion budget?
Andre Fladell's name came up frequently. After a few early candidates volunteered his name, we asked others about
him. Most had talked with him. The gist is that most candidates think Mr. Fladell, a Delray Beach chiropractor, is
working behind the scenes to protect Superintendent Art Johnson. Mr. Fladell, a longtime force in county politics, told
me it's no secret that he likes Dr. Johnson. "He's dedicated to student achievement." But Mr. Fladell said he wasn't, as
some candidates had said, "best friends" with him. Nor has he asked any candidate to promise not to fire Dr. J.
Page 147
Power school politics? ; Interview tidbits from 18 candidates. Palm Beach Post (Florida) July 31, 2010 Saturday

Mr. Fladell was offended by any suggestion that he's a newcomer to school issues. He said he's been working to im-
prove education in Palm Beach County since the Tom Mills era, helping to get impact fees for schools, helping to pass
the 1986 bond issue, supporting school concurrency and the half-cent sales tax. Along the way, he said, he's been called
both anti-business and a tool of developers.
Mr. Fladell said "it's respectful" for political candidates to contact him and a list of about 25 other movers and shakers.
But, he said, "None of those people control anything."
Mr. Fladell had good things to say about many of the candidates, including Jennifer Prior Brown, Mr. Whatley, Dean
Grossman and Chuck Shaw. He said Debra Robinson had "improved" since joining the board. But, he said, "I am not
running anybody's campaign" for school board and hasn't endorsed anybody.
Mr. Fladell said Democratic and Republican party officials want to influence the school board elections. But he's just
"an old hippie student radical" doing what he thinks is best for education and the county he loves.
A student radical pulling on school board strings. Far out.
Jac Wilder VerSteeg is deputy editorial page editor of The Palm Beach Post. His e-mail is jac_versteeg@pbpost.com


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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62 of 456 DOCUMENTS

Palm Beach Politics

June 10, 2010 Thursday 3:07 PM EST

Rubio in Palm Beach County, goes after Obama on international affairs

BYLINE: Anthony Man

LENGTH: 106 words

Jun. 10, 2010 (Sun Sentinel delivered by Newstex) --

Republican U.S. Senate candidate is at the South County Civic Center west of Delray Beach for his speech to the Flori-
da Chapter of the Republican Jewish Coalition.

Already it's an unusual event. There about 100 Republican in the auditorium in the heart of the most Democratic terri-
tory in Palm Beach County.

The room is the Andre Fladell Auditorium just off the Murray Kalish Lobby of the Civic Center.

Fladell is a major player in Democratic politics in Palm Beach County. Kalish is the legendary founding leader of the
United South County Democratic Club.

Newstex ID: FL-2077-45947368

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Palm Beach Politics

June 10, 2010 Thursday 3:07 PM EST

Rubio in Palm Beach County, goes after Obama on international affairs

BYLINE: Anthony Man

LENGTH: 106 words






Newstex ID: FL-2077-45947368


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64 of 456 DOCUMENTS


June 10, 2010 Thursday
Online Edition

RUBIO IN PALM BEACH COUNTY, GOES AFTER OBAMA ON INTER-
NATIONAL AFFAIRS

BYLINE: > Posted by Anthony Man on June 10, 2010 03:07 PM {TOPIC} Palm Beach Politics

SECTION: LOCAL; Pg. Web

LENGTH: 92 words



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DOCUMENT-TYPE: BLOG


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65 of 456 DOCUMENTS

Palm Beach Politics

June 3, 2010 Thursday 9:31 AM EST

Senate candidate assesses Palm Beach Countys Democratic leaders

BYLINE: Anthony Man

LENGTH: 372 words


Maurice Ferre thinks highly of some of Palm Beach Countys Democratic leaders " but not all of them.

The former Miami mayor, former state legislator, former Miami-Dade County Commissioner is about to turn 75, and
hes seeking the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate.

Hes not nearly as well known and doesnt have anything close to the financial resources of the leading contenders, U.S.
Rep. Kendrick Meek, D-Miami, and Palm Beach billionaire Jeff Greene.

During an interview this week with reporters and editors at the Sun Sentinel, he said hell be able to do well in South
Florida, even though the others have much more visible campaigns.

Heres what he said as the interview wrapped up:

oeI have not ignored Broward County. I have spent like five or six times more time in Palm Beach than I have in
Broward County. For a very simple reason: I think the Democrats in Palm Beach are very organized. Theyre very
skilled.

Reporter:

oeMark [Alan] Siegel [the Palm Beach County Democratic chairman] will be happy to hear you say that and Mitch
[Ceasar, the Broward Democratic chairman] might not be so glad to hear you say that.

Ferre:

oeIm not talking about Mark. I think Mitch is a significantly better Democratic leader than mark Siegel. I dont have a
high regard for Mark Siegel. I have a high regard for Mitch. However, there are more powers in Palm Beach than Mark
Siegel.

oeIm talking about Burt Aaronson. Im talking about people like Sam Oser at Century Village. Im talking about people
like Andre Fladell. Those are the guys that are really, the Democrats, that really function. Im talking about Howard
Weiss. Those are the people that operate.

oeThose fellows dont have any counterparts in Broward County. They used to, but no longer.

Heres a key for the uninitiated: Aaronson is chairman of the County Commission and a major South County Democratic
power. Oser is a Democratic leader at the Century Village west of West Palm Beach. Fladell is a chiropractor and a
Page 154
Senate candidate assesses Palm Beach Countys Democratic leaders Palm Beach Politics June 3, 2010 Thursday 9:31
AM EST

major player in South County politics. Weiss, also a big political player, is one of the name partners in the Weiss, Han-
dler law firm.

Heres a video and more of what Ferre said at the Sun Sentinel.

Newstex ID: FL-2077-45692152


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Online Edition

SENATE CANDIDATE ASSESSES PALM BEACH COUNTY?S DEMO-
CRATIC LEADERS

BYLINE: > Posted by Anthony Man on June 3, 2010 09:31 AM {TOPIC} Palm Beach Politics


LENGTH: 350 words

Maurice Ferre thinks highly of some of Palm Beach County?s Democratic leaders ? but not all of them.
The former Miami mayor, former state legislator, former Miami-Dade County Commissioner is about to turn 75, and
he?s seeking the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate.
He?s not nearly as well known and doesn?t have anything close to the financial resources of the leading contenders,
U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, D-Miami, and Palm Beach billionaire Jeff Greene.
During an interview this week with reporters and editors at the Sun Sentinel, he said he?ll be able to do well in South
Florida, even though the others have much more visible campaigns.
Here?s what he said as the interview wrapped up:
?I have not ignored Broward County. I have spent like five or six times more time in Palm Beach than I have in
Broward County. For a very simple reason: I think the Democrats in Palm Beach are very organized. They?re very
skilled.?
Reporter:
?Mark [Alan] Siegel [the Palm Beach County Democratic chairman] will be happy to hear you say that and Mitch
[Ceasar, the Broward Democratic chairman] might not be so glad to hear you say that.?
Ferre:
?I?m not talking about Mark. I think Mitch is a significantly better Democratic leader than mark Siegel. I don?t have a
high regard for Mark Siegel. I have a high regard for Mitch. However, there are more powers in Palm Beach than Mark
Siegel.
?I?m talking about Burt Aaronson. I?m talking about people like Sam Oser at Century Village. I?m talking about people
like Andre Fladell. Those are the guys that are really, the Democrats, that really function. I?m talking about Howard
Weiss. Those are the people that operate.
?Those fellows don?t have any counterparts in Broward County. They used to, but no longer.?
Here?s a key for the uninitiated: Aaronson is chairman of the County Commission and a major South County Demo-
cratic power. Oser is a Democratic leader at the Century Village west of West Palm Beach. Fladell is a chiropractor and
a major player in South County politics. Weiss, also a big political player, is one of the name partners in the Weiss,
Handler law firm.


Page 156
SENATE CANDIDATE ASSESSES PALM BEACH COUNTY?S DEMOCRATIC LEADERS Sun-Sentinel (Fort
Lauderdale, Florida) June 3, 2010 Thursday

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

DOCUMENT-TYPE: BLOG


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67 of 456 DOCUMENTS

Salon.com

May 24, 2010 Monday

Kendrick Meek: The odd man out in Florida?

BYLINE: Joy-Ann Reid

SECTION: FEATURE

LENGTH: 2559 words

HIGHLIGHT: Democrats are starting to abandon him for Charlie Crist in Florida's Senate race. Is he officially
doomed?

When he announced his Senate run last January, four-term Miami Rep. Kendrick Meek had a lot going for him: a for-
mer president for a pal, prodigious fundraising (with Bill Clinton's help), a solid political pedigree, and with the nation's
first black president sitting in the White House, a chance to make a little history of his own.
Meek launched an ambitious drive to become the first Florida statewide candidate to qualify by petition. If elected, he'd
be the state's first black U.S. senator (his mother, former Rep. Carrie Meek, was Florida's first black House member)
and the first black senator from the South since Reconstruction.
Instead, Meek has been a bit player in the drama surrounding the meteoric rise of former Florida House Speaker Marco
Rubio, who started running five months after Meek, and Rubio's takedown of Florida's once unsinkable governor, Char-
lie Crist.
Polls show Meek stuck in the teens in a three-way race and losing significant Democratic support to Crist. Some Demo-
crats are starting to whisper -- or say outright -- that it might be time to abandon Meek and back the well-known,
well-liked governor, in order to prevent the far-right Rubio from winning in November.
Meek briefly drew media attention after the Haiti earthquake in January, even capturing footage of a child's rescue on
his cellphone. A former state trooper, whose House district is teeming with Haitian-Americans, Meek had gone to the
Dominican Republican and dashed across the border by Jeep to view the rescue effort. But as Haiti faded from the
news, so did Meek.
In late April, Crist grabbed the klieg lights, vetoing a controversial teacher tenure bill, then making a dramatic exit from
the GOP to run as an independent. Showdowns with his former allies in the Republican-dominated state Legislature and
the Gulf oil spill crisis followed. Now, as he merrily reverses his position on offshore drilling, mulls dragging lawmak-
ers back to the Capitol for a special session to consider a drilling ban, and revels in rhetorically hugging Obama's Su-
preme Court nominee, Elena Kagan, Crist seems to be having the time of his life. Meek, not so much.
"My belief is that the Meek campaign is not looking very strong at all," said Miami-based Democratic political strategist
Freddy Balsera, who helped craft Barack Obama's Hispanic media message in 2008. "I've heard their argument that
there are more Democrats than Republicans in Florida, but that assumes that all of those Democrats are going to vote for
Meek, and that they're going to come out in high numbers. I don't see anything in the numbers or the polling that con-
firms that."
He added: "The question I ask myself as a Democrat who's raising money for Democrats and promoting Democratic
causes in Florida, is how does he go from 18 [percent] to 38? The undecideds are minimal in this race and it seems peo-
ple have made up their minds. I don't see a strategy for him to get there."
Page 158
Kendrick Meek: The odd man out in Florida? Salon.com May 24, 2010 Monday

Meek's campaign, not surprisingly, insists that their struggles will prove short-lived.
"For sure, Gov. Crist is initially polling strongly in a three-way race for the simple reason that Kendrick Meek is not
widely known at this point in the campaign," said Meek campaign manager Abe Dyk. "But the apparent strength that
Gov. Crist is currently registering in polls will not last."
Indeed, 40 percent of voters in the recent Mason-Dixon poll and 31 percent in a Rasmussen poll didn't know enough
about Meek to form an opinion. Dyk says that gives Meek the most room to grow, once the campaign starts advertising,
voters begin paying attention, and Democrats take a closer look at the candidates' records.
At that point, Dyk claims, it will be a clear contrast "between a progressive and two conservatives, who both have the
same economic plans, who both are pro-life, and who were both involved in the same credit card scandal," referring to
lavish spending of donations by state party officials including Rubio himself and Crist's handpicked party chairman, Jim
Greer, which the IRS, FBI and the U.S. attorney in Tallahassee are investigating.
Democrats enjoy a 700,000-voter registration advantage in Florida, and since the 2008 election, 61,643 more Democrats
than Republicans have joined the rolls. But during this same time period, even more people -- 217,040, to be exact,
many of them white or Hispanic -- registered "unaffiliated," just like Charlie Crist. Veteran Florida political analyst
Lance deHaven-Smith says the race will hinge on how strongly the Democratic and Republican coalitions resist Crist's
advances.
"Rubio will attract the religious right, the Cuban-Americans, and perhaps most of the libertarians," deHaven-Smith said.
"Meek will carry the New Deal liberals, African-Americans, and probably most of the Clinton pragmatists. Crist will
attract support from Wall Street Journal Republicans (concentrated in Tampa and Jacksonville) and some of the Clinton
pragmatists.
"The question is, who will win the Blue Dogs and the non-Cuban Hispanics, [and] will the new voters who entered the
electoral process in 2008 to vote for Obama turn out? The higher the turnout, the better for Meek."
It's Meek's base that Crist is going after. And the very things that once made the governor an electable, big-tent Repub-
lican make him dangerous to the Democrat.
Crist won 18 percent of the black vote in 2006, while Meek angered many blacks in his district by siding with Hillary
Clinton over Barack Obama in the presidential primary. The governor is making a play for teachers, offshore drilling
opponents and unions. He was the lone non-Democratic speaker at the Florida AFL-CIO convention in Jacksonville last
weekend, with rumors of a dual endorsement of him and fellow speaker Meek in the air. (Ultimately, the AFL-CIO
opted to back Meek.)
Crist has even come out in support of a citizen-sponsored amendment (and against a poison pill alternative from Repub-
licans) that would limit the gerrymandering that has helped the GOP dominate the Florida Legislature since the 1990s.
"If I'm Charlie Crist I'm telling people I'm the guy who can beat Marco Rubio," said Steve Schale, who ran Barack
Obama's Florida campaign (for which I briefly worked). "I've heard from people who have gotten the pitch calls from
the governor and it's very much along those lines. At this point it's an effective message for him. That doesn't mean it's a
reality in six months."
Some, however, see that reality already setting in.
Balsera, who hasn't taken a position on the race and called Meek "a very decent guy who's really working his tail off,"
said Crist offers a plausible alternative for Democrats whose main goal is keeping the ultra-conservative Rubio out of
the Senate.
"It would be a step in the wrong direction if Marco Rubio wins the Senate seat," Balsera said. "But if Crist wins, we're
talking about somebody who may have an alignment with a lot of Democrats on a number of issues."
Crist's veto of the teacher tenure bill, SB6, earned him a "thank you" television ad from the Florida Education Associa-
tion, a Democratic-friendly group that represents 167,000 teachers. The FEA endorsed Meek in the primary in February,
but it has now dual-endorsed Meek and Crist for the general election. Though Meek is a longtime friend of educators,
having handed former Gov. Jeb Bush a defeat by pushing through a constitutional amendment limiting class sizes when
he was a state senator, union members are now wavering.
Page 159

"I think you have to look at a person's entire body of work," one state union leader said on condition of anonymity. "But
a lot of individual members like Charlie Crist, they like what he did on SB6 and feel they owe him their support." And
Crist is actively courting their support on his website, in his home base of Tampa-St. Petersburg (where two of his sis-
ters were schoolteachers), and even in Meek's Miami backyard, where Crist has received rock-star welcomes at
post-veto appearances at schools.
Trouble in the condos
The sprawling condominium communities in Broward and Palm Beach counties are home to the largest and
third-largest caches of Democratic voters in Florida, respectively. Some voters there have yet to warm to Meek.
Lori Parrish, a prominent Democrat and the elected Broward County property appraiser, was thrilled with Crist's SB6
veto, and said if the governor issues an expected veto of a pair of restrictive abortion measures passed by conservative
legislators, she'll consider publicly endorsing him.
"I'll be 62 by Election Day. I can remember a time when abortion wasn't safe and it wasn't legal," said Parrish. "Marco
Rubio [who favors the abortion bill], for someone like me, in my generation, is a very scary proposition."
Parrish called Meek "a nice enough guy from what I know of him," saying, "I've known his mother for years, and he
votes right, but I certainly haven't seen him around much in Broward."
She said taking a chance on Meek simply isn't worth the risk of electing Rubio. "I wouldn't want to waste my vote," she
said.
Parrish said other prominent Democrats she talks to in Broward and Palm Beach privately agree with her, and the Palm
Beach Post reported last week that Andre Fladell, an influential figure on the Palm Beach condo circuit, is openly
courting Crist, along with what he calls "a significant number of Democratic leaders."
Former Palm Beach Post political editor Brian Crowley, who has covered Florida politics for 30 years and now writes
the Crowley Political Report, sees red flags for Meek.
"I think that Kendrick has got an uphill battle still within the Democratic primary," Crowley said. "He has a great deal
of work to do among the condos and Jewish voters. He's been running for a year. That's a long time not to have met
with these people."
And while Crowley agreed that no one can predict this unprecedented race, "I don't think [Meek's] poll numbers suggest
he's anywhere near getting the third of the vote he needs to win. Even without the Charlie Crist factor, if he was in a
normal Democratic primary doing the normal things a Democrat has to do, if I have serious condo leaders who are say-
ing we haven't seen him, and we don't hear from him, that's not healthy."
Crowley sees another potential x-factor: Robert Wexler. The popular Democrat and early Obama supporter left Con-
gress last year, having represented the same heavily Jewish condo communities that are critical of Meek. His former
chief of staff, Eric Johnson, has joined the Crist campaign as an advisor. And if Wexler were to endorse his old friend
Crist, with whom he served in the state Legislature, it could open the door for other liberal Democrats to follow.
"Kendrick at this point hasn't built a solid enough base among Democrats to prevent them from going shopping,"
Crowley said. "That doesn't mean they don't all come home, but we also have a cycle where voters aren't necessarily
doing what we expect them to do."
Dyk doubts many Democrats will ultimately go rogue.
"The governor may have occasionally stood up to the very worst of his party, but that doesn't make him a progressive or
even a moderate," Dyk said. "There's only one progressive in the race, and that's Kendrick Meek."
Jack Shiffrel, a member of Broward's Democratic Executive Committee, puts it more bluntly.
"Any Democrats who support Crist are idiots," Shiffrel said. "If somebody is a Democrat because they believe in the
principles and ideals of the Democratic Party, they have to vote for Kendrick because he's the only one in the race who
believes in the principles and ideals of the Democratic Party. Charlie Crist believes in one thing, and that's Charlie
Crist."
Enter the billionaire
Page 160

With three months to go before the Aug. 24 primary, Meek has yet another challenge: the first real primary in his polit-
ical career.
Jeff Greene joined former Miami Mayor Maurice Ferre in contesting the Democratic nomination last month. But while
Ferre has run a diffident campaign, Greene, a Palm Beach billionaire with a colorful back story (Mike Tyson was the
best man at his wedding and he once rented his guest house to Heidi Fleiss), has the potential to make life uncomforta-
ble for Meek.
Like Rick Scott, the former hospital mogul (whose company paid billions in fines for Medicare fraud) who has bought
his way into the Florida GOP gubernatorial primary against front-runner Bill McCollum, Greene could spend big mon-
ey defining Meek before Meek gets the chance to define himself.
Already, Greene is up with a statewide media buy for two 30-second TV ads, and he's indicated he's willing to spend
$40 million in the primary. As of March 31, Meek had about $3.7 million on hand -- less than Rubio and less than half
of Crist's bank. His campaign will have to decide whether to spend precious dollars they'd rather save for the general
election, or stand back and watch Greene buy up name ID.
Greene has issues: He made much of his fortune betting against the subprime mortgage market via credit default swaps,
and once ran as a Republican. But as Schale put it, "you never completely count out a guy with a billion dollars."
Greene's campaign, which is being advised by Howard Dean's former Internet guru Joe Trippi, has attacked Meek as an
ineffective "Washington insider" and questioned his ethics.
Then last week, the Miami Herald updated a story it broke in 2007 about developer Dennis Stackhouse, accused of
bilking Miami-Dade County out of nearly $1 million for a biotech park that never materialized. The proposed develop-
ment, Poinciana Park, was supposed to help revive Meek's congressional district, which is dotted with poverty and un-
employment. Meek sought more than $72,000 in earmarks for the project, plus a $1 million grant for job training. His
mother, former Rep. Carrie Meek, was paid $90,000 as a consultant on the project and given a $40,000 Cadillac Esca-
lade.
Meek says he knew nothing about the SUV and has insisted he and his mother didn't discuss the Stackhouse project. But
the Herald obtained police records indicating the two may indeed have talked. And the Herald investigation revealed
Meek's former chief of staff, Anthony Williams, got $13,000 in mortgage down-payment help from Stackhouse, at a
time Williams was working for both the congressman, and for Carrie Meek's nonprofit. Meek denies knowing about the
mortgage money, and told the Herald he would have fired Williams if he had. Greene has called for a House ethics in-
vestigation.
While Meek's campaign has swung back at Greene's subprime housing bets, which they say especially hurt Floridians,
Greene spokesman Paul Blank highlighted the dangers of that strategy for Meek:
"We want to run a positive campaign on ideas, jobs and the economy," Blank said. "But if Kendrick wants to play the
typical politics as usual and just attack us, then we're going to point out that he got his seat in a backroom deal [In 2002,
Carrie Meek retired suddenly, leaving little time for challengers to take on her son], he's done questionable things for
campaign contributors like Stackhouse, and that he was taking money from Wackenhut [security] while Wackenhut did
business with the state while he was in the state Legislature; the same kind of backroom wheeling and dealing that is
wrong with politics."
It's a hell of a way to finally get some attention.
Joy-Ann Reid's political column appears twice a month in the Miami Herald. She is the editor of ReidReport.com.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

PUBLICATION-TYPE: Web Publication

Copyright 2010 Salon.com, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
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68 of 456 DOCUMENTS

The Slant

May 19, 2010 Wednesday 11:10 AM EST

"I'm actually starting to feel sorry for ... Kendrick Meek."

BYLINE: Doug Lyons

LENGTH: 939 words

May 19, 2010 (Sun Sentinel delivered by Newstex) --

By Jack Funari

(Editors Note: Jack Furnari is one of our blog's community contributors. He is a conservative Republican Party activ-
ist living in Palm Beach County and a former columnist for the Boca Raton News. He can be reached at
jacktda@yahoo.com

)

The race for the open U.S. Senate seat in Florida is the most riveting race in the nation, and the Democrats are engaged
in their own civil war over it, although legacy media being what it is, one generally doesn't see it portrayed that way
much.

The Democrats are doing a Cain and Abel in the race, only this time with quadruplets.

Even though only about eight non-Hispanic voters north of Miami Dade County have any idea who Maurice Ferre is,
Ferre is a legitimate Democratic candidate for Senate and popular among Hispanic Democrats.

The Ferre/ Kendrick Meek match-up had already threatened to alienate Hispanic Democrats, as the Democratic estab-
lishment began lining up to back Meek over Ferre in the Democratic primary. But that was nothing compared to what's
going on now.

The entrance of former Republican-turned-Democrat, billionaire Jeff Greene, into the mix threatens to turn the Demo-
cratic primary into a bloodbath, with the potential to exhaust all the participants before the general election in Novem-
ber.

But even with all Greene's money, it's still hard to take a candidate seriously who, as the Huffington Post pointed out,
"got rich on the housing market's collapse; that he took investment advice from John Paulson -- the hedge fund manager
at the current center of the controversy surrounding Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) ; that he counted the mercurial Mike
Tyson as a best man at his $1 million wedding; and once lived with the notorious madam Heidi Fleiss."

I mean, really, who would vote for this guy Greene?

But the biggest threat to Democratic unity comes not from Greene or Ferre; it comes from Democrats supporting the
self-described conservative and former Republican Charlie Crist.

Page 162
"I'm actually starting to feel sorry for ... Kendrick Meek." The Slant May 19, 2010 Wednesday 11:10 AM EST

I've been hearing for quite some time in off-the-record conversations that there is real trouble brewing within the Dem-
ocratic base of South Florida voters. That was confirmed recently in a Palm Beach Post piece by columnist George
Bennett, where several Democratic leaders made clear their preference for Crist over Meek.

Two days after the Bennett piece, The St. Petersburg Times blog reported that Robert Wexler's former strategist, Eric
Johnson, was reportedly playing footsie with Crist and ready to join the campaign. The blog went on to say that
"non-partisan candidate Crist could prove to be very potent among the overwhelmingly Democratic voters in South
Florida's sprawling condo complexes."

I went to renowned strategist and infamous prince of Palm Beach County Democrats, Andre Fladell, with the question:
"Why would the Democratic condo retirees support Crist and not unite behind Meek?"

Fladell said: "Everyone assumes Democratic support is mainly policy-based, and it is not. Within the retiree communi-
ties, it's not that simple and they're not feeling the love. With Wexler, Lawton Chiles and Bill Nelson, they felt a per-
sonal connection, but now they feel taken for granted."

Fladell has elected more Democrats than Hurricane Katrina and the Iraq war combined, and one discounts Fladell's po-
litical opinions at their own peril. But I think there's more going on here than just Meek's obvious failure to spend
enough time wooing local condo leaders.

With reports that President Obama's support among Jewish voters has dropped by half, one can't help but think that
poor Kendrick Meek is paying the price for the buyer's remorse over Obama that some Democrats are experiencing
these days. In a private discussion about condo Democrats supporting Crist, one highly placed and in-the-know Demo-
cratic strategist put it to me this way: "The disenchantment that community privately feels towards Obama makes it very
unlikely they will support another black Democrat anytime soon."

As evidenced in the latest Rasmussen poll, moderate Republicans are coming home, and Marco Rubio is again leading
a three-way race between Rubio, Crist and Meek by a significant margin, leaving the Democrats alone to kill one an-
other.

The absurdity of Democrats voting for Crist would be worthy of attention from Kafka, were he alive to witness the em-
brace by leading Democrats of the nothingness that is Chuck Crist.

As Palm Beach County Republican Chairman Sid Dinerstein was eagerly and even joyously willing to point out, "Either
Democrats don't have a loyalty oath, or they don't have loyalty."

It was only around a month ago that Crist was telling anyone who would listen that he was more conservative than
Ronald Reagan, Barry Goldwater and Marco Rubio put together.

Now lifetime Democratic party-line voters are going to turn on their own nominee, Meek or whomever their nominee
turns out to be, and vote for Chuck Crist in November? Well maybe, but I'll believe it when I see it.

I am of the opinion, and I've never seen any evidence to the contrary, that voters come home to their party on Election
Day rather than vote independent. The biggest loser in all of this, and a guy I'm actually starting to feel sorry for, is
Kendrick Meek

.

Back when Crist seemed like a shoo-in for Senate, it was Meek who picked up the gauntlet and took on Crist and the
Senate race for the Democratic Party. So much for taking on the tough races for the good of the team, huh?

So once again, Cain turns against Abel, and it will end just like it does in the original story, with the brother getting it in
the neck one more time.

Page 163
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Newstex ID: FL-2082-45185829

LOAD-DATE: May 19, 2010

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Page 164

69 of 456 DOCUMENTS


May 19, 2010 Wednesday
Online Edition

"I'M ACTUALLY STARTING TO FEEL SORRY FOR ... KENDRICK
MEEK."

BYLINE: Posted by Doug Lyons on May 19, 2010 11:10 AM {TOPIC} Talk Back South Florida

SECTION: OPED; Pg. Web

LENGTH: 915 words

By Jack Funari
(Editors Note: Jack Furnari is one of our blog's community contributors. He is a conservative Republican Party activist
living in Palm Beach County. He can be reached at jacktda@yahoo.com
The race for the open U.S. Senate seat in Florida is the most riveting race in the nation, and the Democrats are engaged
in their own civil war over it, although legacy media being what it is, one generally doesn't see it portrayed that way
much.
The Democrats are doing a Cain and Abel in the race, only this time with quadruplets.
Even though only about eight non-Hispanic voters north of Miami Dade County have any idea who Maurice Ferre is,
Ferre is a legitimate Democratic candidate for Senate and popular among Hispanic Democrats.
The Ferre/ Kendrick Meek match-up had already threatened to alienate Hispanic Democrats, as the Democratic estab-
lishment began lining up to back Meek over Ferre in the Democratic primary. But that was nothing compared to what's
going on now.
The entrance of former Republican-turned-Democrat, billionaire Jeff Greene, into the mix threatens to turn the Demo-
cratic primary into a bloodbath, with the potential to exhaust all the participants before the general election in Novem-
ber.
But even with all Greene's money, it's still hard to take a candidate seriously who, as the Huffington Post pointed out,
"got rich on the housing market's collapse; that he took investment advice from John Paulson -- the hedge fund manager
at the current center of the controversy surrounding Goldman Sachs; that he counted the mercurial Mike Tyson as a best
man at his $1 million wedding; and once lived with the notorious madam Heidi Fleiss."
I mean, really, who would vote for this guy Greene?
But the biggest threat to Democratic unity comes not from Greene or Ferre; it comes from Democrats supporting the
self-described conservative and former Republican Charlie Crist.
I've been hearing for quite some time in off-the-record conversations that there is real trouble brewing within the Dem-
ocratic base of South Florida voters. That was confirmed recently in a Palm Beach Post piece by columnist George
Bennett, where several Democratic leaders made clear their preference for Crist over Meek.
Two days after the Bennett piece, The St. Petersburg Times blog reported that Robert Wexler's former strategist, Eric
Johnson, was reportedly playing footsie with Crist and ready to join the campaign. The blog went on to say that
"non-partisan candidate Crist could prove to be very potent among the overwhelmingly Democratic voters in South
Florida's sprawling condo complexes."
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"I'M ACTUALLY STARTING TO FEEL SORRY FOR ... KENDRICK MEEK." Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale,
Florida) May 19, 2010 Wednesday

I went to renowned strategist and infamous prince of Palm Beach County Democrats, Andre Fladell, with the question:
"Why would the Democratic condo retirees support Crist and not unite behind Meek?"
Fladell said: "Everyone assumes Democratic support is mainly policy-based, and it is not. Within the retiree communi-
ties, it's not that simple and they're not feeling the love. With Wexler, Lawton Chiles and Bill Nelson, they felt a per-
sonal connection, but now they feel taken for granted."
Fladell has elected more Democrats than Hurricane Katrina and the Iraq war combined, and one discounts Fladell's po-
litical opinions at their own peril. But I think there's more going on here than just Meek's obvious failure to spend
enough time wooing local condo leaders.
With reports that President Obama's support among Jewish voters has dropped by half, one can't help but think that poor
Kendrick Meek is paying the price for the buyer's remorse over Obama that some Democrats are experiencing these
days. In a private discussion about condo Democrats supporting Crist, one highly placed and in-the-know Democratic
strategist put it to me this way: "The disenchantment that community privately feels towards Obama makes it very un-
likely they will support another black Democrat anytime soon."
As evidenced in the latest Rasmussen poll, moderate Republicans are coming home, and Marco Rubio is again leading a
three-way race between Rubio, Crist and Meek by a significant margin, leaving the Democrats alone to kill one another.
The absurdity of Democrats voting for Crist would be worthy of attention from Kafka, were he alive to witness the em-
brace by leading Democrats of the nothingness that is Chuck Crist. As Palm Beach County Republican Chairman Sid
Dinerstein was eagerly and even joyously willing to point out, "Either Democrats don't have a loyalty oath, or they don't
have loyalty."
It was only around a month ago that Crist was telling anyone who would listen that he was more conservative than
Ronald Reagan, Barry Goldwater and Marco Rubio put together. Now lifetime Democratic party-line voters are going
to turn on their own nominee, Meek or whomever their nominee turns out to be, and vote for Chuck Crist in November?
Well maybe, but I'll believe it when I see it.
I am of the opinion, and I've never seen any evidence to the contrary, that voters come home to their party on Election
Day rather than vote independent. The biggest loser in all of this, and a guy I'm actually starting to feel sorry for, is
Kendrick Meek . Back when Crist seemed like a shoo-in for Senate, it was Meek who picked up the gauntlet and took
on Crist and the Senate race for the Democratic Party. So much for taking on the tough races for the good of the team,
huh?
So once again, Cain turns against Abel, and it will end just like it does in the original story, with the brother getting it in
the neck one more time.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

DOCUMENT-TYPE: BLOG


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May 15, 2010 Saturday
FINAL EDITION

MEEK TO SUPPORTERS: CRIST CHANGED PARTY,;
NOT VIEWS

BYLINE: By GEORGE BENNETT Palm Beach Post Staff Writer


LENGTH: 598 words

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Kendrick Meek's first foray into the heart of Palm Beach County's Democratic condo
belt drew about 140 supporters Friday to a room called the Andre Fladell Auditorium in the South County Civic Center
west of Delray Beach.
In a sign of the task Meek faces in introducing himself to voters from his own party, longtime Democratic activist
Fladell wasn't there.
In fact, Fladell said this week he's willing to consider supporting Republican-turned-independent Gov. Charlie Crist's
Senate bid.
Meek's visit to Palm Beach County came as polls show Crist drawing considerable Democratic support and leading
Florida's three-way Senate race, with Republican Marco Rubio second and Meek a distant third.
Meek assured the largely Democratic crowd in the Fladell room that he's the only real Democrat in the race.
"The governor changed his party affiliation, but he didn't change his views. ... I'm running in a three-way race for the
general election against two Republicans, and I am the Democrat," Meek said.
The event was a $20.10-a-head fund-raiser intended to make Meek accessible to ordinary voters.
Crist has drawn rave reviews from some Democrats for vetoing a Republican bill tying teacher pay raises to student
performance on standardized tests. But Meek suggested Crist's veto was motivated by political expediency, noting that
Crist sent staff to testify in favor of the bill as it was going through legislative committees.
Meek, a consistent opponent of offshore drilling, blasted Crist for being open to drilling during the 2008 presidential
campaign, then opposing it after last month's oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
And Meek noted that Crist, while campaigning for the GOP Senate nomination against Rubio, opposed President
Obama's 2009 nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court.
"You don't need leadership to show up when it's the obvious. ... The reason we're going to win is because of our con-
sistency and resolve for what's right," Meek said.
Some Democrats have faulted Meek for not campaigning more in Palm Beach County, which has the third-largest
number of Democrats in the state.
County Commissioner Burt Aaronson, considered a key gatekeeper of Democratic votes, said Meek contacted him for
the first time this week.
Aaronson said he's "not offended," but also said he hasn't decided whether he'll support party establishment favorite
Meek, former Miami Mayor Maurice Ferre or Palm Beach billionaire Jeff Greene in the Aug. 24 Democratic primary.
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MEEK TO SUPPORTERS: CRIST CHANGED PARTY,; NOT VIEWS Palm Beach Post (Florida) May 15, 2010
Saturday

Democratic activist Shahid Freeman, who is black, said Meek needs to work even to win black support.
"A lot of even the people of color did not know that he was a man of color," Freeman said. "A lot of black people, be-
lieve it or not, are saying they're going to vote for Charlie Crist."
Meek supporter Rick Neuhoff, who helped organize Friday's event, said Democrats shouldn't settle for Crist.
"Florida and America need Kendrick Meek to take this seat," he said. "We cannot count on Rubio for one single vote
the people need. We'll be able to get a few bones from Crist from time to time. But we need Kendrick Meek's vote in the
Senate to accomplish why we put Obama in office."
Earlier Friday, Meek met with The Palm Beach Post editorial board.
Meek criticized Rubio's willingness to consider raising the retirement age for Social Security and Medicare benefits.
Meek didn't offer a specific proposal of his own to improve the long-term solvency of the programs, but said he would
fight privatization and work to "get the experts around the table" to reach a solution.
~ george_bennett@pbpost.com


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

NOTES: ELECTIONS 2010YOUR VOTE STARTS HERE

GRAPHIC: Meek


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May 14, 2010 Friday
FINAL EDITION

JUDGE'S BACKERS CALL CHALLENGER INELIGIBLE

BYLINE: By JANE MUSGRAVE Palm Beach Post Staff Writer


LENGTH: 761 words


Outraged that a traffic ticket attorney who practices in Hollywood is campaigning to oust one of Palm Beach County's
most beloved judges, some of the county's top lawyers are trying to figure out ways to get the suburban Boynton Beach
man thrown off the August ballot.
And attorney Jason Diamond, who filed last month to run against County Judge August Bonavita, has given them plenty
of fodder.
In a case reminiscent of the one that kept traffic attorney William Abramson from assuming the bench after he defeated
incumbent Circuit Judge Richard Wennet in 2008, Diamond has gotten into trouble with the Florida Bar.
Like Abramson, he was suspended from the practice of law. Unlike Abramson, who was suspended for 91 days after his
election, Diamond was suspended for three days in February 2006.
However, those three days could prove to be his political undoing, say attorneys who support Bonavita and are re-
searching the legal issues swirling around Diamond's candidacy.
According to the state constitution, a county judge candidate must have been a member of the Florida Bar for the pre-
ceding five years. Because of the three-day suspension for repeatedly violating Bar advertising rules, Diamond doesn't
have five years of uninterrupted service, critics say.
"If the matter gets before a court of appeal, they're going to slam him because they want judges on the bench who have
clean records," said attorney Ed Ricci, one of dozens of attorneys accusing Diamond of having sinister motives for run-
ning against Bonavita.
Constitutional law expert Bruce Rogow said Diamond's case differs significantly from Abramson's because Abramson
was unable to practice law when he was scheduled to take the bench. Diamond, meanwhile, can and does practice law
as part of the Hollywood-based Traffic Ticket Team.
Still, Rogow said, the three-day lapse might not pass constitutional muster.
Attorney Gerald Richman, who represented Wennet in his legal battle with Abramson, is researching the issue for
Bonavita supporters. He said he is convinced Diamond can be thrown off the ballot.
Beyond eligibility issues, local attorneys are simply angry that Diamond is taking on Bonavita, who they say handles
misdemeanor cases such as assault, petty theft, minor drug trafficking and drunken driving with grace and dignity.
Not only has Bonavita proven himself to be a fair and knowledgeable judge since being appointed by Gov. Charlie Crist
in April 2009, they say, he has overcome huge personal obstacles.
He lost both legs and one arm when he touched an electrical wire while building a fort when he was 8 years old.
Page 169
JUDGE'S BACKERS CALL CHALLENGER INELIGIBLE Palm Beach Post (Florida) May 14, 2010 Friday

"The guy's like a saint. He's a hero," said attorney David Prather, a member of Bonavita's campaign steering committee.
"Every attorney I've spoken to has been angered by (Diamond's) choice of judges to challenge."
It's not just because Bonavita is handicapped, Prather said. "This is someone who has done a good job."
Michelle Suskauer, president of the Palm Beach County Bar Association, also is disturbed by Diamond's candidacy.
Unlike Broward and Miami-Dade counties, where judicial races have become free-for-alls, Palm Beach County typical-
ly doesn't discard sitting judges with good records, she said.
"To have one of our sitting judges challenged by a guy no one's ever heard of, it's outrageous," she said.
Ricci suspects Diamond targeted Bonavita because the jurist is disabled, and because Bonavita's reported $1 million net
worth and roughly $140,000 annual salary pales in comparison with Diamond's reported $4 million net worth and
$900,000 salary.
Andre Fladell, a south county political operative, shares Ricci's view. "It's like a choice was made to take advantage of
a disability and not a poorly performing judge," he said. Fladell has taken to calling the candidate "Legs Diamond," a
reference to both the infamous Prohibition-era gangster and the attribute he believes is driving his campaign.
Diamond said he's not concerned about the legal challenge. He said he researched the issue and is confident he meets
the eligibility requirements. After he addressed that issue, he said he would call back a Palm Beach Post reporter to dis-
cuss some of the other allegations. He didn't. He also didn't respond to questions that were e-mailed to him.
Bonavita is "humbled" by the outpouring of support from the legal community. While he didn't expect an opponent, he
said he is preparing a vigorous campaign. He said he harbors no ill will toward Diamond.
"He's got the right to run," he said. "The seat doesn't belong to me. It's the people's seat."
~ jane_musgrave@pbpost.com


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

NOTES: Make your vote count See who's filed, get election news. PalmBeachPost.com/go/elections

GRAPHIC: LANNIS WATERS/2009 staff file photo Traffic ticket attorney Jason Diamond's license was suspended
for three days in 2006. Backers of August Bonavita (right) say that disqualifies Diamond for the bench.Diamond


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The Slant

May 13, 2010 Thursday 6:13 PM EST

Get in on the conversation!

BYLINE: Doug Lyons

LENGTH: 174 words

May 13, 2010 (Sun Sentinel delivered by Newstex) --

By Barry Epstein

This week's show features a stellar cast of South Florida luminaries.

State Rep. Maria Sachs, Palm Beach County Commissioner Burt Aaronson and political activist Andre Fladell join us
for what I expect will be a raucous discussion on local and state politics. Our regulars, Lynn University political pro-
fessor and Sun-Sentinel columnist Dr. Robert Watson will be here, as will former Sun-Sentinel editorial page editor and
columnist, Kingsley Guy.

And how could we leave out Jose Lambiet, the Palm Beach Post's gossip columnist who will have the dish on anyone
whose anybody in the area. .

We're on Fridays at 10 a.m. at www.wrpbitv.com. The show is archived for two weeks so viewers can catch it and enter
their comments. Enjoy the broadcast and then join in on the debate by posting your comments here.


Barry Epstein is a noted public relations, marketing and political consultant. His website is www.publicrelations.nu.

Newstex ID: FL-2082-44986385


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

Page 171
Get in on the conversation! The Slant May 13, 2010 Thursday 6:13 PM EST



All Rights Reserved
Newstex Web Blogs
Copyright 2010 The Slant
Page 172

73 of 456 DOCUMENTS


May 13, 2010 Thursday
Online Edition

GET IN ON THE CONVERSATION!

BYLINE: Posted by Doug Lyons on May 13, 2010 06:13 PM {TOPIC} Talk Back South Florida

SECTION: OPED; Pg. Web

LENGTH: 160 words

By Barry Epstein
This week's show features a stellar cast of South Florida luminaries.
State Rep. Maria Sachs, Palm Beach County Commissioner Burt Aaronson and political activist Andre Fladell join us
for what I expect will be a raucous discussion on local and state politics. Our regulars, Lynn University political pro-
fessor and Sun-Sentinel columnist Dr. Robert Watson will be here, as will former Sun-Sentinel editorial page editor and
columnist, Kingsley Guy.
And how could we leave out Jose Lambiet, the Palm Beach Post's gossip columnist who will have the dish on anyone
whose anybody in the area. .
We're on Fridays at 10 a.m. at www.wrpbitv.com. The show is archived for two weeks so viewers can catch it and enter
their comments. Enjoy the broadcast and then join in on the debate by posting your comments here.
Barry Epstein is a noted public relations, marketing and political consultant. His website is www.publicrelations.nu.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

DOCUMENT-TYPE: BLOG


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April 12, 2010 Monday
FINAL EDITION

FIERY RHETORIC SCALDS IN SKITTISH POLITICAL CLIMATE ;
Actual death threats add gravity to political jabs.



LENGTH: 1029 words

At a tea party event in Jupiter last week, Republican congressional challenger Allen West called Democratic U.S. Rep.
Ron Klein a "coward" for scheduling a teleconference rather than an in-person town hall meeting with constituents to
discuss the new health care law.
Then West offered the conservative activists some advice.
"You've got to make the fellow scared to come out of his house," West said in a clip that was posted on YouTube and
quickly circulated by Democrats.
"That's the only way that you're going to win. That's the only way you're going to get these people's attention. You've
got to put pressure on them and make them understand that you've got to come back and live the laws that you establish.
Don't let them be a ruling class elite. You've got to let them know that the clock's ticking."
Amid reports of increased threats against members of Congress, West's suggestion to "make the fellow scared" was
seized upon by Democrats who accuse Republicans and the tea party of using or encouraging threats and intimidation.
West says he clearly wasn't talking about physical intimidation and his critics are "seeking to create a smoking mirror
when nothing exists."
The controversy came the same week federal law enforcement officials reported the number of serious threats against
members of Congress increased from 15 in the last quarter of 2009 to 42 in the first quarter of 2010. It came during the
same week a California man was arrested and accused of threatening House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
Most of the recent threats have come from opponents of the Democratic health care bill.
But some Republicans have been targeted as well. A Pennsylvania man was charged with making threats against House
Minority Whip Eric Cantor, R-Va. During a state budget fight in New Jersey last week, a county teachers union presi-
dent e-mailed a mock prayer wishing for Republican Gov. Chris Christie's death.
The Klein-West race in Palm Beach-Broward congressional District 22 has already drawn considerable national atten-
tion.
West was recently endorsed by former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Democrats slammed Palin last
month for telling conservatives "Don't Retreat, Instead -- RELOAD" and for issuing a map that uses cross-hairs to mark
the districts of 20 House Democrats who voted for the health care bill.
Vulnerable incumbents from both parties are routinely identified as "targets." The Democratic Congressional Campaign
Committee last year posted a map using bull's-eyes to mark "targeted Republicans" who voted against the $787 billion
economic stimulus bill.
Page 174
FIERY RHETORIC SCALDS IN SKITTISH POLITICAL CLIMATE ; Actual death threats add gravity to political
jabs. Palm Beach Post (Florida) April 12, 2010 Monday

National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Andy Sere said the Democratic bull's-eye map shows that
"all their recent outrage" over the Palin cross-hair map "has been manufactured for political gain."
DCCC spokesman Ryan Rudominer called it "a stretch" to compare the Democratic bull's-eye targets to Palin's
cross-hair targets because, he said, Palin's map should also be viewed in the context of her "reload" exhortation.
Broward County Democratic Chairman Mitch Ceasar played up the Palin-West connection last week.
"West and his mentor Sarah Palin are shamefully stoking violent language and symbolism that threatens the safety of
our leaders and public officials," Ceasar said.
But Delray Beach Democratic operative Andre Fladell said he doesn't think West was trying to incite anyone.
"No one realistically believes it's a threat of violence. It's just a poor choice of words for a person running for Congress.
It just shows bad judgment," said Fladell.
University of Virginia political analyst Larry Sabato agreed.
"Politically, the comment is enormously stupid. It just creates sympathy for the incumbent," Sabato said.
Palm Beach County Republican Chairman Sid Dinerstein accused Democrats of hypocrisy for criticizing West's re-
marks.
"This is the 'Bushitler' left. This is the 'we-need-to-run-down-to-Henry-Hyde's-house-and-do-whatever' left," said Din-
erstein.
"Bushitler" was a term popular on the left during George W. Bush's presidency. Hyde, who died in 2007, was Republi-
can House Judiciary chairman during the 1998 impeachment of Democratic President Clinton.
Actor Alec Baldwin once said that "if we were in other countries ... all of us together would go down to Washington and
we would stone Henry Hyde to death."
Klein last week said threats and intimidation are wrong whether they come from the right or left.
"Americans don't like disrespectful or threatening behavior. ... Intimidation, in my opinion, should not be part of the
equation," Klein said.
Asked if that applied to West, Klein said, "He and others who are talking that way, are just, they're trying to send a
message out to people that want to behave that way that that's acceptable."
West is a decorated Army combat veteran whose career ended in controversy. During a 2003 interrogation of an Iraqi
police officer suspected of having information about an assassination plot against West, West fired a pistol near the
man's head to get him to talk.
Military prosecutors accused him of assault and West potentially faced 11 years in prison and dishonorable discharge.
After a military hearing, he was fined $5,000 and allowed to retire as a lieutenant colonel with a full pension.
"I know the method I used was not right, but I wanted to take care of my soldiers," West said at the time.
Liberal MSNBC host Keith Olbermann last week drew parallels between the 2003 Iraq incident and West's remarks
about Klein, accusing the Republican of "incitement to violence."
Such suggestions of violent intent come from twisting words, tea party activist Ed Fulop says.
"They're taking phrases that are being used to activate people and get them involved and get them to try to pay more
attention in politics and government, and they're taking the most violent definition that you might be able to get if you're
looking for it," Fulop said.
West said the criticisms show Democrats fear his campaign and are following the playbook of the left's legendary strat-
egist Saul Alinsky.
"They've got to use the Alinsky tactic of demonizing someone or something," West said. "I guess I'm the flavor of the
month."
~george_bennett@pbpost.com

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FIERY RHETORIC SCALDS IN SKITTISH POLITICAL CLIMATE ; Actual death threats add gravity to political
jabs. Palm Beach Post (Florida) April 12, 2010 Monday


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

NOTES: ELECTIONS 2010 YOUR VOTE STARTS HERE


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ALL AGREE ON TAX CUTS BUT DIFFER OVER DEGREE;
PRIMARY WINNERS IN RACE FOR WEXLER'S SEAT FACE OFF FOR
FIRST TIME

BYLINE: Anthony Man Political Writer {TOPIC} CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATES DEBATE


LENGTH: 421 words

DATELINE: West Boca

In their first faceoff since winning their party nominations in last week's primary, Democrat Ted Deutch and Republican
Ed Lynch offered dramatically different approaches Tuesday for fixing the nation's economy.
Lynch said he wants to see a variety of deep tax cuts, primarily for business.
Deutch favored more limited cuts specifically for businesses that invest in new people and equipment - and he wants
government spending to repair the nation's infrastructure and to provide money for lending to small businesses.
Also offering his views was Jim McCormick, who will be on the April 13 special election ballot with no party affilia-
tion. They're running to fill the last eight months in the term of former U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, who resigned.
They debated in front of 45 members of the West Boca Chamber of Commerce in the heart of the 19th Congressional
District, which takes in central and southwestern Palm Beach County and parts of northern and central Broward.
Each candidate answered three questions from moderator Andre Fladell and each was able to ask another candidate a
question.
The debate was civil, and the candidates didn't break new ground.
"They all said things I figured they would," said Ron Towers, who clapped at times for each of the three candidates.
Lynch said he wants a two-year moratorium on all corporate taxes, a moratorium on the employer and employer shares
of payroll taxes, and a four-year moratorium on capital gains taxes. "We need bold steps because we are in a situation
where our economy is crumbling and we have to bring it back."
McCormick devoted much of his answer to explaining that in his computer consulting business he sees more and more
jobs going overseas.
He called for unspecified "tax incentives" to keep those jobs in the United States. "Ultimately tax breaks are the way to
go, and let's see if we can pull some of these jobs back," McCormick said.
The other big difference among the candidates were their views on the handling of suspected terrorists.
Lynch said the United States needs to be tough with people who have "made it their life mission to kill us."
"However we can glean the information short of actual torture, I am for it. That's what we need to do," he said.
McCormick said he favored "enhanced" interrogation but not torture.
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ALL AGREE ON TAX CUTS BUT DIFFER OVER DEGREE; PRIMARY WINNERS IN RACE FOR WEXLER'S
SEAT FACE OFF FOR FIRST TIME Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) February 10, 2010 Wednesday

Deutch was more skeptical of such an approach. "I'm not sure exactly what 'enhanced interrogation' methods are. If they
are torture, no. That's not what we do in this country."
Anthony Man can be reached at aman@SunSentinel.com or 954-356-4550


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

GRAPHIC: Photo(s)
Jim McCormick, no party affiliation, left, Republican Ed Lynch, and Democrat Ted Deutch, candidates for the 19th
Congressional District, debate Tuesday at the Boca Lago Country Club west of Boca Raton. Joe Cavaretta, Sun Sentinel


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Palm Beach Edition

PRIMARY WINNERS FACE OFF FOR FIRST TIME

BYLINE: Anthony Man Political Writer {TOPIC} DISTRICT 19


LENGTH: 421 words

DATELINE: West Boca

In their first faceoff since winning their party nominations in last week's primary, Democrat Ted Deutch and Republican
Ed Lynch offered dramatically different approaches Tuesday for fixing the nation's economy.
Deutch favored more limited cuts specifically for businesses that invest in new people and equipment - and he wants
They debated in front of 45 members of the West Boca Chamber of Congress in the heart of the 19th Congressional
question.
"They all said things I figured they would," said Ron Towers, who clapped at times for each of the three candidates.
The other big difference among the candidates was their views on the handling of suspected terrorists.
Page 179
PRIMARY WINNERS FACE OFF FOR FIRST TIME Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) February 10, 2010
Wednesday

Anthony Man can be reached at aman@SunSentinel.com or 954-356-4550.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune News Service

February 9, 2010 Tuesday

South Florida candidates want tax cuts but differ on how much

BYLINE: By Anthony Man, Sun Sentinel

SECTION: DOMESTIC NEWS

LENGTH: 455 words

DATELINE: WEST BOCA RATON, Fla

WEST BOCA RATON, Fla. _ In their first faceoff since winning their party nominations in last week's primary, Dem-
ocrat Ted Deutch and Republican Ed Lynch offered dramatically different approaches Tuesday for fixing the nation's
economy.
Deutch favored more limited cuts specifically for businesses that invest in new people and equipment _ and he wants
They debated in front of 45 members of the West Boca Chamber of Congress in the heart of the 19th Congressional
question.
The other big difference among the candidates was their views on the handling of suspected terrorists.
Page 181
South Florida candidates want tax cuts but differ on how much South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale) February
9, 2010 Tuesday

___
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Visit the Sun-Sentinel on the World Wide Web at http://www.SunSentinel.com
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to
847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.


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ACC-NO: 20100209-BC-CONGRESS-FLORIDA


JOURNAL-CODE: FL

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Palm Beach Edition

HOLIDAY CONTROVERSY;
DELRAY RESIDENTS SAY LACK OF HANUKKAH SYMBOL IN DISPLAY
IS A SNUB

BYLINE: Brian Haas Staff Writers


LENGTH: 606 words

DATELINE: Delray Beach

It was there in years past, but a menorah display at Old School Square is nowhere to be found this season. And resi-
dents' efforts to get one installed had been met with finger-pointing and confusion.
But at a City Commission meeting Tuesday, officials set the record straight.
"Please don't take any offense to what was done over there," Mayor Woodie McDuffie said. "I will express my sincere
apologies to anyone who may have felt insulted."
The city said it will revise an outdated legal opinion that staff was following when it came to holiday displays.
But some residents continued to question the city's response.
"I was appalled at the lack of civility and it was an affront to me," resident Gerry Franciosa said. "There are a lot of
Jewish people in this city. ... I don't see why a menorah should be excluded."
Lighthouse Point resident Ronald Platt was among the sponsors of the 100-foot Christmas tree. Platt told officials
Tuesday he began a conversation with Commissioner Adam Frankel when he noticed at the tree lighting ceremony last
week that there was no menorah in sight.
Frankel asked about what he thought was a simple oversight and said he was shocked at the e-mail response from City
Manager David Harden.
"From my perspective, the city's position is, if anything, a political negative, but it has kept us out of any litigation on
the matter and has avoided Old School Square having to allow things on their grounds they would prefer not to have
there," Harden wrote.
Platt told officials Tuesday that he was shocked by the response.
"We shouldn't be concerned with what's politically correct or what keeps us out of litigation," Platt said. "I think we
should be concerned with doing the right thing."
Harden said his memo was taken out of context. He said he had attached a legal opinion that the City Commission under
former Mayor Jeff Perlman had created regarding the display of holiday symbols.
"The Christmas tree is not a religious symbol," Harden said. "If [a religious symbol] is in a public forum, you have to
open it up to all viewpoints."
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HOLIDAY CONTROVERSY; DELRAY RESIDENTS SAY LACK OF HANUKKAH SYMBOL IN DISPLAY IS A
SNUB Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) December 9, 2009 Wednesday

Harden said that by not having a menorah, the city was simply protecting itself from having to allow groups such as the
Ku Klux Klan from wanting to display their own symbols.
Frankel disagreed. He said the Supreme Court agreed the menorah, like the tree, is not a religious symbol.
City Attorney Brian Shutt said he has no legal problems with displaying a menorah. He said menorahs and Christmas
trees can be viewed as secular holiday displays.
Boca Raton and Boynton Beach have menorah displays on public property - near Sanborn Square and outside the
Schoolhouse Children's Museum, respectively.
Boynton Beach sought an opinion from its city attorney last November, said Wayne Segal, a spokesman for the city.
The attorney said that as long as the displays don't "promote" any religion over another, the city could display a meno-
rah and a manger scene.
Delray Beach activist Andre Fladell was among the first to complain about the absence of a menorah. He said he was
not trying to start a religious battle, but found the city's initial lack of response and finger-pointing insensitive.
"They've had a menorah there in the past, but they chose to exclude it this year," Fladell said.
The menorah is a candelabra commemorating Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights. The holiday will begin Friday
night.
Fladell said it's more about recognizing the Jewish community's contributions to Delray Beach.
"It is simply a respecting-culture issue; it's not a religious issue," he said. "A menorah is a minimal acknowledgement."
Brian Haas can be reached at bhaas@Sun
Sentinel.com or 561-243-6633.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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Delray Beach menorah controversy: Old School Square holiday display missing
menorah: Some Jewish residents say city is being disrespectful by snubbing
Hanukkah symbol

BYLINE: Brian Haas and Maria Herrera, Sun Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.


LENGTH: 691 words

Dec. 8--It was there in years past, but a menorah display in Old School Square is nowhere to be found this season. And
citizens' efforts to get one installed have been met with nothing more than finger pointing.
Delray Beach activist and longtime resident Andre Fladell is one of several people who have questioned why the tradi-
tional symbol of Hanukkah is missing near the Christmas display. The city's answer has some calling leaders there
tone-deaf at best, insensitive at worst.
"They have a huge Christmas tree, they have a lighting ceremony. They've had a menorah there in the past, but they
chose to exclude it this year," Fladell said. "We're the 'All-American City'. We're not supposed to be the 'All-American
City, Except Some Groups.'"
City Commissioner Adam Frankel inquired about what he thought was a simple oversight and said he was shocked at
the e-mail response from City Manager David Harden.
"From my perspective, the city's position is, if anything, a political negative, but it has kept us out of any litigation on
the matter and has avoided Old School Square having to allow things on their grounds they would prefer not to have
there," Harden wrote.
In an interview, Harden said a local synagogue displayed the menorah in the past, but didn't come back to display it. He
said the city is following the legal advice of the city attorney.
"We have always followed that guidance," Harden said. "If the city commission wants to do something different, they
can always do that."
When asked about displaying other Christmas symbols such as the 100-foot Christmas tree, Harden said, "A Christmas
tree is not a Christian symbol."
Boca Raton and Boynton Beach both have menorah displays on public property -- near Sanborn Square and outside the
Schoolhouse Children's Museum, repsectively.
Boynton Beach sought an opinion from their city attorney on just that last November, said Wayne Segal, spokesman for
the city. The attorney said that as long as the displays didn't "promote" any religion over another, the city could display
a menorah and a manger scene.
Harden said The Old School Square Cultural Arts organization runs and should be involved in deciding what they want
to display.
Page 185
Delray Beach menorah controversy: Old School Square holiday display missing menorah: Some Jewish residents say
city is being disrespectful by snubbing Hanukkah symbol South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale) December 8,
2009 Tuesday

For his part, however, Joe Gillie, executive director of the nonprofit that runs Old School Square, said the city calls the
shots and he couldn't recall a single instance in which his organization objected to a proposed display.
"It is a city property and ultimately the city has the oversight as to what would be placed here and what would actually
happen," Gillie said. "Why would we have an objection to [the menorah]? It was here."
Marjorie Ferrer, director of the Downtown Marketing Cooperative, which put up the 100-Christmas tree, also pointed to
the city for those decisions.
"It's a city function," Ferrer said. "It's their decision as far as whatever they want to do."
Ferrer did say other holiday celebrations--Kwanza, Hanukah, and Christmas--are represented in a sign near the tree.
Frankel wasn't satisfied with the city's response to his inquiries on the matter.
"To me, it's kind of offensive," Frankel said.
Fladell said he's not trying to start a religious battle. The menorah is a candelabra commemorating Hanukkah, the Jew-
ish Festival of Lights. The holiday begins Friday night.
Fladell said it's more about recognizing the Jewish community's contributions to Delray Beach.
"It is simply a respecting culture issue, it's not a religious issue," he said. "A menorah is a minimal acknowledgement.
Nobody's asking for matching colors, matching height. This is not a matter of matching."
The city commission has a regularly scheduled meeting tonight at 6 p.m.
Brian Haas can be reached at bhaas@SunSentinel.com or 561-243-6633.
2009, Sun Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email
tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The
Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

ACC-NO:
20091208-FL-Delray-Beach-menorah-controversy-Old-School-Square-holiday-display-missing-menorah-1208


JOURNAL-CODE: FL

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FINAL EDITION

WEXLER'S POWER, POPULARITY IN CONDOS TOUGH TO RE-
PLACE'SIGNIFICANTVOID' FOR;
RETIREES



LENGTH: 918 words

Long before Tea Party activists turned congressional town hall meetings into jampacked affairs, U.S. Rep. Robert
Wexler was routinely filling condo clubhouses for constituent powwows.
Wexler, D-Boca Raton, spent most of his congressional career in the minority and hasn't been associated with any
landmark legislation in Washington. But he is a rock star on the Palm Beach-Broward retirement community circuit -- a
status that has given him uncommon political clout with the Sansabelt set in his liberal congressional district and its
environs.
When Wexler, 48, resigns in January to head a Middle East-focused nonprofit, a special election will fill his seat in
Congress. But no one appears ready to assume Wexler's role as a combination of favored son and revered power broker
for the Democratic condo belt.
"There's very little that happens in that part of Palm Beach County that doesn't have Wexler's fingerprint someplace,"
said Democratic consultant Steven Schale, who was Barack Obama's Florida campaign director in 2008. "There will be
a significant void."
Wexler was instrumental in toppling former Palm Beach County elections chief Theresa LePore in 2004 and installing
Democratic state Sens. Ted Deutch of Boca Raton and Jeremy Ring of Coral Springs in 2006. He persuaded hisfriend
Gov. Charlie Cristto support a ban on paperless electronic voting in 2007.
In 2008, when many Jews were skeptical of Obama and Democrats feared erosion of their traditionally reliable Jewish
vote, Wexler vouched for Obama in synagogues and in the heavily Jewish senior condos that are the backbone of his
congressional district.
Wexler has played a less visible role in several other races over the years by allowing his chief of staff and consultant,
Eric Johnson, to work for a variety of Democratic candidates -- most of whom won.
Johnson in 2008 had a hand in the Democratic primary victories of eventual State Attorney Michael McAuliffe, eventu-
al state Rep. Kevin Rader of Delray Beach, and Bryan Miller of Jupiter, who lost in the general election to state Rep.
Carl Domino, R-Jupiter.
Wexler didn't formally endorse any of those candidates, but Johnson said he has never worked for a candidate if Wexler
disapproved.
Johnson's congressional pay was $118,127 in 2008 -- a 25 percent reduction from the previous year because he took so
much time off for political work. Johnson also received $79,500 from Wexler's reelection campaign and a Wexler PAC
in 2008. All the political work was done outside Wexler's congressional office and not on taxpayer time, Johnson said.
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WEXLER'S POWER, POPULARITY IN CONDOS TOUGH TO REPLACE'SIGNIFICANTVOID' FOR; RETIREES
Palm Beach Post (Florida) October 18, 2009 Sunday

Johnson's newest consulting job is for Deutch's special-election campaign to replace Wexler in Congress.
Wexler is expected to make a final expenditure of his political capital soon by formally endorsing Deutch to succeed
him.
Deutch was a relative unknown in 2005 when he launched a campaign for an open Palm Beach-Broward state Senate
seat. Three-term state Rep. Irving Slosberg, D-Boca Raton, was expected to walk into the seat.
But Slosberg and Wexler had an epic falling-out, and Wexler eventually endorsed Deutch and campaigned with him on
the condo circuit. Deutch defeated Slosberg in the primary and cruised to victory in the general election in a heavily
Democratic district that includes many of the same condo communities as Wexler's congressional district.
Wexler has a genuine bond with residents in those condos.
"There are so many people who loved him and had faith in him. ... His feeling was followed by a lot of people," said
legendary west Delray Democratic activist Murray Kalish.
"He was a very influential person here in our community," said Marvin Manning, head of the Democratic Club at Cen-
tury Village of Boca Raton.
"Where he had certain views and put it to the community, we pretty much went along with him. If he felt something
strongly enough, we would support him, many times without giving a second thought," Manning said.
In 2004, Wexler brought in Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman -- at the time wildly popular with Jewish Democratic sen-
iors -- to the South County Civic Center to help boost Democratic turnout in the nonpartisan race for elections supervi-
sor.
Wexler also used his congressional campaign account to buy more than $80,000 worth of TV ads that criticized LePore
and praised challenger Arthur Anderson. In a low-turnout primary, Wexler helped gin up enough Democratic participa-
tion -- especially in his congressional district -- to give Anderson a narrow victory over LePore.
LePore's 2000 "butterfly ballot" had angered many Democrats. Wexler said his main beef with LePore was over her
support for paperless electronic voting machines.
Once Anderson took office, he did not push for a ballot "paper trail" with the vigor Wexler wanted. With Crist and the
Florida Legislature helping Wexler achieve his goal of outlawing paperless voting, Wexler adopted a neutral posture
when Anderson sought reelection in 2008, and Anderson got only 25.6 percent in a three-candidate race won by Susan
Bucher.
Delray Beach activist and longtime Wexler confidant Andre Fladell said Wexler and County Commissioner Burt
Aaronson, 81, are the only local elected officials whose endorsements can persuade voters to support another candidate,
which Fladell calls "translating" votes.
"Robert did it out of love and a relationship with constituents. Burt did it out of position and power," Fladell said.
"Plenty of candidates can get votes (for themselves), but they can't translate votes. It's a very unique quality."


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

NOTES: Join the discussion Share your views on Wexler and get the latest on politics. PostOnPolitics.com

GRAPHIC: MARK RANDALL/Sun Sentinel Outgoing U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler has helped many local Democrats
win elections.


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WEXLER'S POWER, POPULARITY IN CONDOS TOUGH TO REPLACE'SIGNIFICANTVOID' FOR; RETIREES
Palm Beach Post (Florida) October 18, 2009 Sunday

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October 14, 2009 Wednesday
FINAL EDITION

WEXLER LEAVING CONGRESS FOR NONPROFIT, PEERS SAY



LENGTH: 712 words

Seven-term U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton, has told South Florida Democratic insiders he will resign from
Congress to take a job with a nonprofit that promotes peace in the Middle East.
Wexler, 48, was to discuss his timetable for leaving office and other details publicly this morning after speaking to sev-
eral Democrats individually this week and in a conference call Tuesday night.
Wexler's departure is likely to set off a scramble among Democrats to replace him in a special election in an over-
whelmingly Democratic congressional district in Palm Beach and Broward counties with a large population of Jewish
and senior voters.
Among the potential candidates: state Sens. Ted Deutch of Boca Raton and Jeremy Ring of Coral Springs, West Palm
Beach Mayor Lois Frankel, former Boca Raton state Rep. Irving Slosberg, Broward County Mayor Stacy Ritter and
former Broward Mayor Ben Graber.
Ring, who said Wexler told him Monday he will be "moving on," confirmed his interest in the congressional seat.
Slosberg, who once toyed with the idea of challenging Wexler in a Democratic primary, said he's "leaving his options
open."
Frankel and Deutch said they'd wait for Wexler to go public before discussing their plans.
"I spoke to Congressman Wexler today but Congressman Wexler's been a leader of our community for 20 years, and I
think we deserve to let him speak for himself tomorrow," Deutch said Tuesday afternoon.
"He's taking a job where he feels he can make a difference," said longtime Wexler friend Andre Fladell.
Fladell said Wexler is taking a job with the Center for Middle East Peace and Economic Cooperation, whose chairman
is Palm Beacher S. Daniel Abraham.
"Security for Israel has always been his priority and Robert now has a unique opportunity to effect and shape Middle
East policy," Fladell said.
Another longtime Wexler confidant, Palm Beach County Commissioner Burt Aaronson, said Wexler told him "he had
to do what he had to do for his family."
Self-described "fire-breathing liberal" Wexler served in the Florida Senate from 1990 to 1996, when he was elected to
Congress to replace retiring Harry Johnston.
He was a key early supporter of Barack Obama's presidential campaign, endorsing him in early 2007 when most Florida
Democrats backed Hillary Clinton. From the moment Obama was elected, rumors swirled that Wexler might be in line
for an appointment in the Obama administration.
Wexler downplayed such talk in November, saying he wasn't interested in leaving Congress.
Page 190
WEXLER LEAVING CONGRESS FOR NONPROFIT, PEERS SAY Palm Beach Post (Florida) October 14, 2009
Wednesday

"I have a dream job. A job I love. I could not be happier. And I am not looking for any change in that regard," Wexler
said at the time.
Wexler gained national fame in 1998 as a vocal defender of former President Clinton during Clinton's impeachment. He
continued to be a presence on national TV after the 2000 presidential election, when many of his constituents com-
plained they were confused by Palm Beach County's "butterfly ballot" and Wexler became a leading critic the presiden-
tial recount.
Wexler then became a prominent foe of the paperless electronic voting systems that Florida and many other states
adopted in the aftermath of the 2000 election.
Wexler was unsuccessful with lawsuits claiming paperless voting was unconstitutional. But after his friend Charlie Crist
was elected governor in 2002, Wexler persuaded Crist to support a law requiring paper ballots in Florida.
Since his initial victory in 1996, Wexler has not faced a serious reelection challenge in his liberal district.
In 2006, Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert highlighted Wexler's seeming political invincibility by getting Wexler to
joke on camera about enjoying cocaine and prostitutes.
He also faced controversy last year over his residency. Shortly after his 1996 election, Wexler bought a house in the
Maryland suburbs of Washington and began living there with his wife and three children while claiming his in-laws'
address in an over-55 community west of Delray Beach as his Florida residence.
Wexler argued the arrangement was legally defensible, but he bowed to public pressure before last year's election and
began renting an apartment in Boca Raton and declaring that as his residence.
Despite the controversy, Wexler won a seventh term in November with 66.2 percent of the vote.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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Delray Edition

FIVE SEEK ONE SEAT ON CITY COMMISSION

BYLINE: MARIA HERRERA sun sentinel


LENGTH: 415 words

Five residents are hoping their business experience and passion for public service will win one of them a seat on the
Delray Beach City Commission.
All five applied for the seat, which was vacated last week when former Commissioner Mack Bernard won a special
election to represent State House District 84.
"I'm looking for someone who is knowledgeable in the city and coming before us to be a public servant and not with an
agenda," said Mayor Woodie McDuffie. "Someone who's looking for what is best for the city."
The commission expects to appoint someone at its meeting Thursday.
Angeleta Gray, 44, had planned to run for the seat in the March election. Gray serves on the Community Redevelop-
ment Agency board and has been an active member in the city's black community.
Gray is the only black applicant for a seat that has traditionally been held by a minority.
Though there are five seats on the commission, including the mayor, each seat does not represent a specific district. In-
stead, the community at large elects all five of the members for two-year terms.
Officials said that though they would like every group represented on the commission, they would pick the best candi-
date based on merits.
Local political activist Andre Fladell said it's important not to disenfranchise an important and influential component of
the community. He said the city's electorate has recognized the need for a minority official during each municipal elec-
tion.
But Gray is not without controversy. Court records show she was charged with domestic battery in 2002. The charge
was later dropped.
"It was an issue that was dismissed," Gray said.
Other candidates hope that their particular agendas help outshine Gray's involvement with the city.
"One of the things I would like to do is make sure the community is safe. I had my house broken into shortly after I
moved in," said Evan Turk, 32, a financial planner who also serves on the Employee Retirement Fund board who ap-
plied for the post.
Christina Morrison Pearce, 58, said she is a tax reform advocate and would like to bring her expertise as a commercial
Realtor to the commission.
Laura Reines, 35, a 12-year resident who was recently laid off from Florida Atlantic University, said she would like to
help the city with its budget woes.
Page 192
FIVE SEEK ONE SEAT ON CITY COMMISSION Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) September 9, 2009
Wednesday

Retired criminal lawyer David E. Boone said years of working in the court system has given him experience with issues
facing minority communities. He teaches criminal justice at Toussaint L'Overture High School. {ZONE} DRF


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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September 8, 2009 Tuesday

Police agencies fight for a cause: Winnings from Delray event go to hospitalized
detective

BYLINE: C. Ron Allen, Sun Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.


LENGTH: 450 words

Sep. 8--DELRAY BEACH -- They spend much of their time chasing down suspects, responding to emergency calls and
putting their lives on the line to keep their communities safe.
But on Monday, the men and women of three southern Palm Beach County police agencies traded their polyester uni-
forms for T-shirts and shorts as they battled each other -- at the 23rd Annual Labor Day Police Challenge --for bragging
rights and cash to benefit their departments and local charities.
"They do pursuits between cities, they do communications between cities, but they never get a chance to meet each oth-
er except in uniform chasing somebody. So this is a chance for them to learn about each other and it improves the way
they relate to each other," said Andre Fladell, one of the event's organizers.
"The best part is to see the families of police officers meet each other for the first time every year because there is no
chance during the year that the families get a chance to see each other," Fladell said.
This year's event took on a more somber tone. Boynton Beach, Delray Beach and Boca Raton police departments do-
nated their cash prizes -- a total of $2,100 -- to Boca Raton police Detective Christian Mammarella, who was struck by a
car Aug. 28 while searching for evidence in Delray Beach from a Boca Raton strong-armed robbery case.
Mammarella remains hospitalized in critical but stable condition.
"It's gratifying because that's the purpose of this organization, to assist police officers in times of need and this is a time
of need," said Perry DonFrancisco, event organizer and president of Delray Citizens for Delray Police.
Held on the shores of Delray Beach, the event drew dozens of officers to the volleyball and basketball courts, put-put
golf and relay races, as children, spouses and extended family cheered from the sidelines.
The Boynton Beach Police Department walked away the big winner.
"It's about getting together in an atmosphere other than law enforcement," Chief Matthew Immler said. "Most of the
time when our three agencies get together, we're doing an intelligence meeting or a joint operation and it's kind of nice
to get together and kind of recreate and have a good time instead of working."
C. Ron Allen can be reached at crallen@SunSentinel.com or 561-243-6611.

Page 194
Police agencies fight for a cause: Winnings from Delray event go to hospitalized detective South Florida Sun-Sentinel
(Fort Lauderdale) September 8, 2009 Tuesday


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

ACC-NO: 20090908-FL-Police-agencies-fight-for-a-cause-0908


JOURNAL-CODE: FL

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Palm Beach Edition

PLAYDAY FOR POLICE;
THREE DEPARTMENTS COMPETE DURING LABOR DAY CHALLENGE

BYLINE: C. Ron Allen Staff Writer


LENGTH: 375 words


They spend much of their time chasing down suspects, responding to emergency calls and putting their lives on the line
to keep their communities safe.
But on Monday, the men and women of three southern Palm Beach County police agencies traded their polyester uni-
forms for T-shirts and shorts as they battled each other - at the 23rd annual Labor Day Police Challenge - for bragging
rights and cash to benefit their departments and local charities.
"They do pursuits between cities, they do communications between cities, but they never get a chance to meet each oth-
er except in uniform chasing somebody. So this is a chance for them to learn about each other and it improves the way
they relate to each other," said Andre Fladell, one of the event's organizers.
"The best part is to see the families of police officers meet each other for the first time every year because there is no
chance during the year that the families get a chance to see each other," Fladell said.
This year's event took on a more somber tone. Boynton Beach, Delray Beach and Boca Raton police departments do-
nated their cash prizes - a total of $2,100 - to Boca Raton Police Detective Christian Mammarella, who was struck by a
car Aug. 28 while searching for evidence in Delray Beach from a Boca Raton strong-armed robbery case.
Mammarella remains hospitalized in critical but stable condition.
"It's gratifying because that's the purpose of this organization, to assist police officers in times of need, and this is a time
of need," said Perry DonFrancisco, event organizer and president of Delray Citizens for Delray Police.
Held on the shores of Delray Beach, the event drew dozens of officers to the volleyball and basketball courts, put-put
golf and relay races, as children, spouses and extended family cheered from the sidelines.
The Boynton Beach Police Department walked away the big winner.
"It's about getting together in an atmosphere other than law enforcement," Chief Matthew Immler said. "Most of the
time when our three agencies get together, we're doing an intelligence meeting or a joint operation and it's kind of nice
to get together and kind of recreate and have a good time instead of working."
Ron Allen can be reached at crallen@SunSentinel.com or 561-243-6611.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

Page 196
PLAYDAY FOR POLICE; THREE DEPARTMENTS COMPETE DURING LABOR DAY CHALLENGE
Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) September 8, 2009 Tuesday

GRAPHIC: Photo(s)
Boynton Beach Police Officer Theresa Everett sinks her putt and wins the putting competition at the Labor Day Police
Challenge in Delray Beach. Other events included a relay race, volleyball, basketball and a football toss. Michael Fran-
cis McElroy, correspondent


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September 4, 2009 Friday
Palm Beach Edition

5 PUSHING FOR A SEAT ON PANEL IN DELRAY 5 SEEKING A SEAT ON
DELRAY PANEL



LENGTH: 413 words


Five residents are hoping their business experience and passion for public service will win one of them a seat on the
All five applied for the seat, which was vacated last week when former Commissioner Mack Bernard won a special
election to represent State House District 84.
"I'm looking for someone who is knowledgeable in the city and coming before us to be a public servant and not with an
agenda," said Mayor Woodie McDuffie. "Someone who's looking for what is best for the city."
ment Agency board and has been an active member in the city's black community.
stead, the community at large elects all five of the members for two-year terms.
Local political activist Andre Fladell said it's important not to disenfranchise an important and influential component of
the community. He said the city's electorate has recognized the need for a minority official during each municipal elec-
tion.
was later dropped.
"It was an issue that was dismissed," Gray said.
Other candidates hope that their particular agendas help outshine Gray's involvement with the city.
"One of the things I would like to do is make sure the community is safe. I had my house broken into shortly after I
moved in," said Evan Turk, 32, a financial planner who also serves on the Employee Retirement Fund board who ap-
plied for the post.
Page 198
5 PUSHING FOR A SEAT ON PANEL IN DELRAY 5 SEEKING A SEAT ON DELRAY PANEL Sun-Sentinel (Fort
Lauderdale, Florida) September 4, 2009 Friday

Retired criminal lawyer David E. Boone, said years of working in the court system has given him experience with issues
facing minority communities. He teaches criminal justice at Toussaint L'Overture High School.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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September 3, 2009 Thursday
Online Edition

FIVE CANDIDATES SEEK APPOINTMENT TO DELRAY BEACH CITY
COMMISSION

BYLINE: Posted by Maria Herrera on September 3, 2009 06:30 PM {TOPIC} Palm Beach Politics


LENGTH: 657 words

Five residents are hoping that their business experience and passion for public service will win one of them a spot on the
All five applied for the open commission seat, which was vacated last week when former Commissioner Mack Bernard
won a special election for State House District 84.
?I?m looking for someone who is knowledgeable in the city and coming before us to be a public servant and not with an
agenda,? said Mayor Woodie McDuffie. ?Someone who?s looking for what is best for the city.?
ment Agency board, and has been an active member in the city?s black community.
?I?ve been involved with the whole city for a long time and I already have a working relationship with city officials,?
said Gray, who owns and runs the Top Notch Beauty Spa in the Historic West Settlers District.
?I don?t think seats are limited to anyone -- everyone can apply,? Gray said. ?Even though I?m from this community,
I?m part of the whole city and my job would be to look out for its best interests.?
stead the community at large elects all five of the members for two-year terms.
Local political activist Andre Fladell said it?s important not to disenfranchise an important and influential component
of the community. He said the city?s electorate has recognized the need for a minority official during each municipal
election.
?This is not a casual concern,? Fladell said. ?The African-American community needs to feel they have direct represen-
tation.?
was later dropped.
?It was an issue that was dismissed,? Gray said.
Other candidates hope that their particular agendas help outshine Gray?s involvement with the city.
Page 200
FIVE CANDIDATES SEEK APPOINTMENT TO DELRAY BEACH CITY COMMISSION Sun-Sentinel (Fort
Lauderdale, Florida) September 3, 2009 Thursday

?One of the things I would like to do is make sure the community is safe. I had my house broken into shortly after I
moved in,? said Evan Turk, 32, a financial planner who also serves on the Employee Retirement Fund board who ap-
plied for the post.
?If we want to keep businesses coming to Florida we can?t make it tax-prohibitive,? she said. ?Going to the budget
meetings has given me a lot of insight into where the money gets spent.?
?I?m really good with working with less,? said Reines, who worked on event and tradeshow management. ?I would like
to be creative with the resources that we have.?
Retired criminal lawyer David E. Boone, said years of working in the court system has given him experience with issues
facing minority communities. He teaches criminal justice at Toussaint L?Overture High School.
?Many of my clients were poor,? he said of his years as a criminal attorney. ?I always try to help the underdog. And as a
retired person I have a lot of time in my hands. I dearly enjoy government.?
Not all candidates were sure they would run in the March election.
Commissioner Gary Eliopoulos said he would like to see an applicant who?s committed to serving beyond March.
?I would hope the other commissioners are looking for the same thing,? he said. ?We definitely want cohesiveness.?
Maria Herrera can be reached at meherrera@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6544.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

DOCUMENT-TYPE: BLOG


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US State News


ANNUAL LABOR DAY POLICE CHALLENGE CELEBRATES 23RD AN-
NIVERSARY ON SEPT. 7

LENGTH: 354 words

DELRAY BEACH, Fla., Aug. 13 -- The city of Delray Beach issued the following news release:
This year marks the 23rd anniversary that the Delray Citizens for Delray Police will entertain crowds at the Annual La-
bor Day Police Challenge beginning at 12:00 pm (noon) on Monday, September 7, 2009. Police Departments from
Delray Beach, Boca Raton and Boynton Beach will compete for coveted trophies, cash prizes and bragging rights at
Delray's Municipal Beach at Atlantic Avenue and Ocean Blvd (A1A).
The Chief's Trophy Challenge ranks high on the competitive scale. Boynton Beach Police Chief Matthew Immler bat-
tled his way to victory in a squeaker at last year's event against Boca Raton Police Chief Dan Alexander and Delray
Beach Police Chief Tony Strianese. The rivalry returns as the three Chiefs test their skills in the basketball free throw
and football toss events. At stake is the prestigious Chief's Trophy which will be showcased in the winner's Police De-
partment for the next year.
The first event will be a relay race on the beach followed by a volleyball tournament. Competitions in basketball and
meatball-eating will be judged throughout the day followed by an awards ceremony at 3:00 pm at Boston's on the
Beach, 40 S Ocean Blvd (opposite the municipal beach). Team spirit promises to be high and enthusiastic crowds are
cordially invited to cheer on their Police Department to victory.
For more information, please call Perry DonFrancisco at (561) 441-2400.
SCHEDULE of ACTIVITIES:
* Noon - 4 x 80 yard Relay Race & Volleyball Tournament on the beach
* 1:30 pm - 3 on 3 Basketball Tournament & Chief's Trophy Challenge at Boston's on the Beach
* 2:00 pm - Meatball-eating Contest at Boston's on the Beach
* 3:00 pm - Awards Ceremony at Boston's on the Beach
SPONSORS: Boston's on the Beach, Dr. Andre Fladell, Dan Burns, ICC Capital Management, Delray Beach Marriott,
Bank of America, Walmart, Delaire Country Club, ComputerWorx, Palm Beach Gym & Fitness, CSI: Palm Beach,
Delaware Investments, Celsius, Attorney Michael Weiner.For more information please contact: Sarabjit Jagirdar,
Email:- htsyndication@hindustantimes.com
For any query with respect to this article or any other content requirement, please contact Editor at htsyndica-
tion@hindustantimes.com


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


Page 202
ANNUAL LABOR DAY POLICE CHALLENGE CELEBRATES 23RD ANNIVERSARY ON SEPT. 7 US State
News August 15, 2009 Saturday 6:09 PM EST

All Rights Reserved
Page 203

88 of 456 DOCUMENTS


FINAL EDITION

BOCA'S EX-MAYOR REPLACING MCCARTY

BYLINE: By JENNIFER SORENTRUE and PAUL QUINLAN Palm Beach Post Staff Writers


LENGTH: 1104 words

DATELINE: BOCA RATON

Former Boca Raton Mayor Steven Abrams was at his Mizner Park law office Friday afternoon when Gov. Charlie Crist
called with a question:
"You're in town today?"
Crist was about to name the 50-year-old father of two to replace former County Commissioner Mary McCarty, who had
resigned in January amid a federal corruption probe.
Now, Abrams had less than an hour to join Crist at a hastily planned news conference outside Boca Raton City Hall.
Crist's announcement ended the nine weeks of suspense that followed McCarty's resignation from her District 4 seat on
Jan. 8. She faces as many as five years in prison for charges related to favors she received from a county hotel contrac-
tor and her financial interest in decisions about her husband's bond business.
Crist said he took his time naming a replacement because the seat is so important. Abrams' "intellect" and "integrity"
stood out among the roughly 39 candidates who applied, Crist said.
"Obviously, bringing integrity to the commission is paramount," Crist said.
"I know that Steven will do that in exemplary fashion," added the governor, who was in the area to tour the Everglades
with his wife, Carole Rome. "He has done it his whole life."
Abrams, a Republican, said his top priority would be the county's recession-battered budget and the economic down-
turn. He also alluded to the county's corruption problems.
"We absolutely have to come together in this county and turn the corner," Abrams said. "We in Palm Beach County can
restore our image and restore prosperity."
Other south county political leaders expressed hope that Abrams can.
"He's a good politician, and sometimes we lose sight that that's not a bad thing," said Jeff Perlman, a former two-term
mayor of neighboring Delray Beach, who has known and worked with Abrams for a decade.
Perlman praised Abrams as a cool head who would bring consensus and experience to the seven-person commission,
which has seen four members resign since 2006. Besides McCarty, Tony Masilotti and Warren Newell resigned before
beginning federal prison sentences, and Commissioner Addie Greene cited health concerns when announcing her pend-
ing retirement last week.
But county Democratic Party Chairman Mark Alan Siegel said Crist made a safe choice in Abrams, an experienced,
well-connected politician. An outsider is needed, Siegel said.
Page 204
BOCA'S EX-MAYOR REPLACING MCCARTY Palm Beach Post (Florida) March 14, 2009 Saturday

"He's not a break from the past in any way, shape or form," said Siegel, who had supported giving the seat to county
League of Women Voters President Pamela Goodman, a Democrat. "The entire past is not 100 percent corrupt. ... But
he's not bringing a new approach or an outsider's point of view about government."
Abrams, an attorney, was elected to the city council in 1989 and spent a decade on the board. He served as mayor from
2001 to 2008, when he was forced to leave office because of term limits.
McCarty, also a Republican, gave $500 to Abrams' campaign in 2004, campaign records show.
South county political strategist Andre Fladell said Abrams' relationship with the fallen commissioner was "cordial"
and "professional."
Abrams' political profile rose after the 2001 anthrax attacks that closed the American Media Inc. headquarters in Boca
Raton. His visits to the sealed-off building turned into impromptu news conferences in front of journalists from around
the world, thrusting him into the national spotlight.
He appeared on national news networks and testified before a U.S. Senate committee nearly two months later, com-
plaining that "reliable information was frequently lacking" during the crisis.
Abrams also got to meet then-New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who had drawn praise for his hands-on leadership on
Sept. 11, 2001. Afterward, in his personal one-page biography, Abrams described himself as being known locally as
"the Rudy Giuliani of the tropics."
Abrams will be sworn into office at the March 24 county commission meeting. He will fill the remainder of McCarty's
term, which ends in November 2010. Abrams said he intends to run for the seat then.
Last month, Crist spent about 10 or 15 minutes apiece interviewing the four finalists for the vacancy. They included
Boca Raton Councilwoman Susan Haynie, Boynton Beach Vice Mayor Jose Rodriguez and retired Chicago police de-
tective Patrick Halperin, also of Boca Raton.
Haynie and Rodriguez said Friday that they had not yet decided whether to run for the commission seat in 2010.
Commissioner Burt Aaronson, a Democrat, called Abrams a "good choice."
He "certainly knows south county and knows the political needs," Aaronson said. "I will be very happy serving with
him."
Staff writers George Bennett and Don Jordan contributed to this story.
Steven Abrams, 50
Personal: Born in Des Moines, Iowa. B.A., Harvard University, 1980; law degree, George Washington University,
1985. Moved to Boca Raton in 1985. Married to Debbie; two children, Arthur and Margaret.
Professional: Lawyer with Rothstein, Rosenfeldt, Adler.
Political background: Worked as a law clerk in the Reagan White House. Boca Raton city councilman, 1989-1999.
Mayor, 2001-2008.
Reaction to Abrams' appointment
'He's a good politician, and sometimes we lose sight that that's not a bad thing.'
-- Jeff Perlman, former Delray Beach mayor
'In a critical moment, he was first class. He responded with a lot of dignity and a lot of poise. He wasn't scared. He was-
n't panicked. The pressure came, and he stood up very well.'
-- South county political strategist Andre Fladell, describing Abrams' response to the 2001 anthrax crisis
'He's effectively been vetted. People think that having no experience at all qualifies you to be president of the United
States, for example. We think people ought to have a rsum. ... Steven has been elected a number of times in Boca with
strong bipartisan support.'
-- County Republican Party Chairman Sid Dinerstein
Page 205
BOCA'S EX-MAYOR REPLACING MCCARTY Palm Beach Post (Florida) March 14, 2009 Saturday

'He's not a break from the past in any way, shape or form. ... The entire past is not 100 percent corrupt. Business as usu-
al in Palm Beach County is not business as conducted by three particularly corrupt Republicans. But he's not bringing a
new approach or an outsider's point of view about government.'
--County Democratic Chairman Mark Alan Siegel
'I am hopeful that it is going to be a much better environment, that all of us will be working toward a common goal. And
the common goal is the general public, not certain special interests or ourselves. That has been the problem. We forgot
the meaning of public service.'
--County Commissioner Jess Santamaria


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

NOTES: Cast your vote Was Abrams a good choice for thecommission? PalmBeachPost.com/yourpost

GRAPHIC: PHOTO
MEGHAN McCARTHY/Staff Photographer Gov. Charlie Crist announces the appointment of Republican Steven
Abrams(right) at a news conference Friday outside Boca Raton City Hall.


All Rights Reserved
Page 206

89 of 456 DOCUMENTS


Correction Appended
FINAL EDITION

LARGE CROWD GATHERS TO HEAR DELRAY HOPEFULS ONE LAST
TIME

BYLINE: By DON JORDAN Palm Beach Post Staff Writer


LENGTH: 1668 words


After months of forums and fund raising, interviews and endorsements, all six city commission candidates are here at
the historic Colony Hotel on Atlantic Avenue, just days before the election.
They have come to discuss and debate environment issues, and more specifically, a task force report with recommenda-
tions on how the city can become more green. It's the last time the six candidates will go to battle -- face-to-face, at
least.
And the finale is a grand one. The dimly lit ballroom is packed Thursday night. The chairs are all taken, and crowds
standing in the back intermittently shout out that they can't hear the speakers. Commissioner Fred Fetzer, who holds the
only seat not up for reelection this year, is here, along with throngs of residents, union officials and community activ-
ists. It's the largest crowd of this campaign season.
Seat 1
The first pairing to answer questions is incumbent Commissioner Gary Eliopoulos and Shelly Petrolia, a real estate
agent and political newcomer who has made her inexperience, and her lack of connections, a pillar of her platform.
She also has argued that the city needs to "tighten its belt" this budget season and attract new businesses, and has point-
ed out at least once that she is the only chance to have a woman on the five-member panel.
Petrolia nabbed endorsements from the local police and fire-rescue unions for, among other things, agreeing to at least
consider shifting the two departments to county agencies.
"I do not aspire to be a politician," Petrolia tells the audience during her opening statement. "I am tied to no one in the
city and can make decisions that are in the best interest of its citizens."
Eliopoulos rests on the other side of the spectrum with a long track record of participation on city boards and commit-
tees.
The local architect argues that the experience is indicative of his dedication to the city and it's what sets him apart.
That experience also means he's well versed on the issues. At the forum, his impassioned responses often roused audi-
ence members to applause. Still, critics argue that passion is missing during commission meetings.
"The city needs experienced, knowledgeable individuals that have been involved since the beginning," Eliopoulos says.
"At the end of the day, it's the community that counts."
Seat 3
Page 207
LARGE CROWD GATHERS TO HEAR DELRAY HOPEFULS ONE LAST TIME Palm Beach Post (Florida) March
8, 2009 Sunday Correction Appended

Up next are Adam Frankel and Joseph Ferrer, two challengers vying for the seat vacated when Vice Mayor Woodie
McDuffie decided to run for the mayor's seat. Frankel, a civil defense attorney with a firm in Boca Raton, has received
the blessing of the local power structure, with five mayors, unions, activist Andre Fladell and a handful of state legis-
lators in his corner. He has centered his campaign on the issue of regulating halfway houses, which he argues create
more crime and drive down property values.
He also rebuffs claims from his opponent that he's inexperienced and nothing more than a puppet in the entrenched
Delray political machine.
"I haven't made any promises and I haven't sold my soul," Frankel says before the Colony Hotel event. "I met with the
Old Guard, the New Guard, this group and that group."
Frankel's support base isn't as apparent during the forum, but Ferrer's grass-roots following, whose ranks include retir-
ees and anti-development activists, is in full force, cheering on his answers.
Ferrer, a businessman with a long history of civic involvement, has distanced himself from the other five candidates
with his firm opposition to downtown development that he argues puts the city at risk of becoming another Boca Raton.
"It has to come to a stop, folks," he tells the audience. "We have to stop these projects."
He ends his closing statement with a poem written by an unnamed volunteer in his campaign.
It's to the tune of the song, "Sunrise, Sunset." He even sings the melody.
"High rise, I'm upset. High rise, I fret. Swiftly go the trees."
Mayor's seat
The most important is left for last. Some audience members comment that the race between the former political allies
has become the most bitter.
In the days preceding the forum, McDuffie sent out a mailing questioning opponent Chuck Halberg's integrity and mor-
als. The flier also pointed out Halberg's 1997 arrest for soliciting a prostitute.
Halberg called it a low blow. McDuffie said it was done in response to Halberg's attack on his record. Halberg said crit-
icizing policy is different than attacking someone's personal life.
When Halberg accused McDuffie of raising taxes, McDuffie pointed out that while the property tax rate went up last
year, it still meant lower tax bills for homesteaded properties worth less than $372,818.
When McDuffie accused Halberg of wanting to outsource police and fire-rescue services to the county, Halberg said he
only agreed to consider the idea and pointed to McDuffie's comments at a recent homeowners association meeting
where he softened his stance against regionalizing fire-rescue.
At the Colony forum, the two men agree that an experienced leader is key as the city prepares to tackle its budget in the
midst of an economic downturn. But they have different ideas of who that is.
Delray Beach municipal elections are Tuesday. Polls are open 7 a.m. to 7p.m.
~don_jordan@pbpost.com
Delray Beach
City Commission,Seat 1
Term: Two years.Salary: $9,000.
Gary P. Eliopoulos (i)
Personal: 46; Married to Toni Eliopoulos for 17 years; three children; city resident for 14 years; bachelor'sin architec-
ture from Pratt Institute.
Professional: An architect who owns Eliopoulos Architecture Inc.
Political experience: Current commissioner, elected in 2007; former member of the planning and zoning board and site
plan review and appearance board; former member of design guidelines committees for Pineapple Grove and the Beach
Property Owners Association; former member of the Pineapple Grove Main Street executive board.
Page 208

Issues: Balance the budget without affecting core services; increase the regulation of unlicensed halfway houses used as
part of alcohol and drug rehabilitation programs; against outsourcing police and fire services to county agencies; im-
plement green practices into city government.
Shelly Petrolia
Personal: 45, Married to Tony Petrolia for 15 years; four children; city resident for 17 years; bachelor's in finance from
Florida State University.
Professional: Real estate agent with Re/Max Services.
Political experience: None.
Issues: Increase crime prevention and provide ample funding for public safety; streamline city government and find
ways to cut costs; support local businesses to strengthen the local economy and create jobs; restore integrity of local
government.
Joseph Ferrer
Personal: 58, Married to Marjorie Ferrer for 22 years; four children; city resident for 15 years; bachelor's in history and
a master's in public affairs and urban planning, both from Indiana University.
Professional: Owner of Sunset Entertainment Group Inc., a cultural arts programming production company.
Political experience: Former member of the Police Advisory Board and the boards of directors for the Delray Beach
Public Library and MADDADS; served on committees for numerous cultural events, including First Night and the Mul-
ti-Cultural Festival; ran unsuccessfully for city commission in 2006 and applied unsuccessfully for an appointment to
fill a commission vacancy in 2008.
Issues: Control downtown development and keep the city's small town charm; encourage residents to get involved in
city issues and events; improve the transparency of local government, including televising commission meetings;
against outsourcing police and fire services to county agencies.
Adam Frankel
Personal: 37, Single; no children; city resident for 10 years; bachelor's in political science from Ohio State University
and juris doctorate from University of Toledo College of Law.
Professional: Criminal defense attorney with his own firm in Boca Raton.
Political experience: Member of the city's police and firefighters retirement system board.
Issues: Increase the regulation of unlicensed halfway houses used as part of alcohol and drug rehabilitation programs;
protect parks and add smaller pocket parks throughout the city; would consider reviewing the cost savings of transfer-
ring city fire-rescue services to countyagencies; attract businesses to boost the local economy.
City Commission, Mayor, Seat 5
Charles 'Chuck' Halberg
Personal: 51, Married to Pam Halberg for 25 years; two children; city resident for 18 years; high school graduate with
some college at Michigan State University.
Professional: A general contractor who owns Stuart & Shelby Development, a home building company.
Political experience: Vice-chairman of planning and zoning board; executive board member of Chamber of Commerce;
chairman of affordable housing advisory committee; president of Colony at Delray homeowners association; member of
parking management advisory board; former member of board of construction appeals.
Page 209

Issues: Create task force to review city operations for cost and efficiency; conduct a thorough investigation into city
management and bond underwriting; strengthen focus on community policing and crime prevention; recruit
small-to-medium-sized businesses that create jobs to the city.
Nelson 'Woodie' McDuffie
Personal: 62, Married to Cindy McDuffie for 29 years; two children; city resident for 62 years; bachelor of sciences
degree in management science from Florida Atlantic University.
Professional: Manager of information technologies for the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser's Office.
Political experience: Current vice-mayor; ran unopposed for the city commission in 2007; former member of the city's
planning and zoning board and county's zoning commission.
Issues: Make city government more efficient and cheaper; create a citizens task force to monitor ethics in the city;
against outsourcing police and fire services to county agencies; attract businesses to the downtown that are
non-service-oriented.
(i) incumbent


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

NOTES: ELECTION 2009 Info box at end of text. More online Read race previews, catch up on full coverage of the
elections. PalmBeachPost.com/elex2009

CORRECTION-DATE: March 12, 2009

CORRECTION: Because of a reporting error, The Post Sunday incorrectly identified Delray Beach City Commission
candidate Adam Frankel as a civil defense attorney with a firm in Boca Raton. Frankel is a criminal defense attorney
with an office in Boca Raton. The errors appeared in a story about the Delray Beach City Commission candidates on the
front of the Local section.


All Rights Reserved
Page 210

90 of 456 DOCUMENTS


FINAL EDITION

LARGE CROWD GATHERS TO HEAR DELRAY HOPEFULS ONE LAST
TIME



LENGTH: 1668 words


After months of forums and fund raising, interviews and endorsements, all six city commission candidates are here at
the historic Colony Hotel on Atlantic Avenue, just days before the election.
They have come to discuss and debate environment issues, and more specifically, a task force report with recommenda-
tions on how the city can become more green. It's the last time the six candidates will go to battle -- face-to-face, at
least.
And the finale is a grand one. The dimly lit ballroom is packed Thursday night. The chairs are all taken, and crowds
standing in the back intermittently shout out that they can't hear the speakers. Commissioner Fred Fetzer, who holds the
only seat not up for reelection this year, is here, along with throngs of residents, union officials and community activ-
ists. It's the largest crowd of this campaign season.
Seat 1
The first pairing to answer questions is incumbent Commissioner Gary Eliopoulos and Shelly Petrolia, a real estate
agent and political newcomer who has made her inexperience, and her lack of connections, a pillar of her platform.
She also has argued that the city needs to "tighten its belt" this budget season and attract new businesses, and has point-
ed out at least once that she is the only chance to have a woman on the five-member panel.
Petrolia nabbed endorsements from the local police and fire-rescue unions for, among other things, agreeing to at least
consider shifting the two departments to county agencies.
"I do not aspire to be a politician," Petrolia tells the audience during her opening statement. "I am tied to no one in the
city and can make decisions that are in the best interest of its citizens."
Eliopoulos rests on the other side of the spectrum with a long track record of participation on city boards and commit-
tees.
The local architect argues that the experience is indicative of his dedication to the city and it's what sets him apart.
That experience also means he's well versed on the issues. At the forum, his impassioned responses often roused audi-
ence members to applause. Still, critics argue that passion is missing during commission meetings.
"The city needs experienced, knowledgeable individuals that have been involved since the beginning," Eliopoulos says.
"At the end of the day, it's the community that counts."
Seat 3
Page 211
LARGE CROWD GATHERS TO HEAR DELRAY HOPEFULS ONE LAST TIME Palm Beach Post (Florida)

Up next are Adam Frankel and Joseph Ferrer, two challengers vying for the seat vacated when Vice Mayor Woodie
McDuffie decided to run for the mayor's seat. Frankel, a civil defense attorney with a firm in Boca Raton, has received
the blessing of the local power structure, with five mayors, unions, activist Andre Fladell and a handful of state legis-
lators in his corner. He has centered his campaign on the issue of regulating halfway houses, which he argues create
more crime and drive down property values.
He also rebuffs claims from his opponent that he's inexperienced and nothing more than a puppet in the entrenched
Delray political machine.
"I haven't made any promises and I haven't sold my soul," Frankel says before the Colony Hotel event. "I met with the
Old Guard, the New Guard, this group and that group."
Frankel's support base isn't as apparent during the forum, but Ferrer's grass-roots following, whose ranks include retir-
ees and anti-development activists, is in full force, cheering on his answers.
Ferrer, a businessman with a long history of civic involvement, has distanced himself from the other five candidates
with his firm opposition to downtown development that he argues puts the city at risk of becoming another Boca Raton.
"It has to come to a stop, folks," he tells the audience. "We have to stop these projects."
He ends his closing statement with a poem written by an unnamed volunteer in his campaign.
It's to the tune of the song, "Sunrise, Sunset." He even sings the melody.
"High rise, I'm upset. High rise, I fret. Swiftly go the trees."
Mayor's seat
The most important is left for last. Some audience members comment that the race between the former political allies
has become the most bitter.
In the days preceding the forum, McDuffie sent out a mailing questioning opponent Chuck Halberg's integrity and mor-
als. The flier also pointed out Halberg's 1997 arrest for soliciting a prostitute.
Halberg called it a low blow. McDuffie said it was done in response to Halberg's attack on his record. Halberg said crit-
icizing policy is different than attacking someone's personal life.
When Halberg accused McDuffie of raising taxes, McDuffie pointed out that while the property tax rate went up last
year, it still meant lower tax bills for homesteaded properties worth less than $372,818.
When McDuffie accused Halberg of wanting to outsource police and fire-rescue services to the county, Halberg said he
only agreed to consider the idea and pointed to McDuffie's comments at a recent homeowners association meeting
where he softened his stance against regionalizing fire-rescue.
At the Colony forum, the two men agree that an experienced leader is key as the city prepares to tackle its budget in the
midst of an economic downtown. But they have different ideas of who that is.
Delray Beach municipal elections are Tuesday. Polls are open 7 a.m. to 7p.m.
Delray Beach
Gary P. Eliopoulos (i)
Personal: 46; Married to Toni Eliopoulos for 17 years; three children; city resident for 14 years; bachelor'sin architec-
ture from Pratt Institute.
Professional: An architect who owns Eliopoulos Architecture Inc.
Political experience: Current commissioner, elected in 2007; former member of the planning and zoning board and site
plan review and appearance board; former member of design guidelines committees for Pineapple Grove and the Beach
Property Owners Association; former member of the Pineapple Grove Main Street executive board.
Page 212

Issues: Balance the budget without affecting core services; increase the regulation of unlicensed halfway houses used as
part of alcohol and drug rehabilitation programs; against outsourcing police and fire services to county agencies; im-
plement green practices into city government.
Shelly Petrolia
Personal: 45, Married to Tony Petrolia for 15 years; four children; city resident for 17 years; bachelor's in finance from
Florida State University.
Professional: Real estate agent with Re/Max Services.
Political experience: None.
Issues: Increase crime prevention and provide ample funding for public safety; streamline city government and find
ways to cut costs; support local businesses to strengthen the local economy and create jobs; restore integrity of local
government.
Joseph Ferrer
Personal: 58, Married to Marjorie Ferrer for 22 years; four children; city resident for 15 years; bachelor's in history and
a master's in public affairs and urban planning, both from Indiana University.
Professional: Owner of Sunset Entertainment Group Inc., a cultural arts programming production company.
Political experience: Former member of the Police Advisory Board and the boards of directors for the Delray Beach
Public Library and MADDADS; served on committees for numerous cultural events, including First Night and the Mul-
ti-Cultural Festival; ran unsuccessfully for city commission in 2006 and applied unsuccessfully for an appointment to
fill a commission vacancy in 2008.
Issues: Control downtown development and keep the city's small town charm; encourage residents to get involved in
city issues and events; improve the transparency of local government, including televising commission meetings;
against outsourcing police and fire services to county agencies.
Adam Frankel
Personal: 37, Single; no children; city resident for 10 years; bachelor's in political science from Ohio State University
and juris doctorate from University of Toledo College of Law.
Professional: Criminal defense attorney with his own firm in Boca Raton.
Political experience: Member of the city's police and firefighters retirement system board.
Issues: Increase the regulation of unlicensed halfway houses used as part of alcohol and drug rehabilitation programs;
protect parks and add smaller pocket parks throughout the city; would consider reviewing the cost savings of transfer-
ring city fire-rescue services to countyagencies; attract businesses to boost the local economy.
City Commission, Mayor, Seat 5
Charles 'Chuck' Halberg
Personal: 51, Married to Pam Halberg for 25 years; two children; city resident for 18 years; high school graduate with
some college at Michigan State University.
Professional: A general contractor who owns Stuart & Shelby Development, a home building company.
Political experience: Vice-chairman of planning and zoning board; executive board member of Chamber of Commerce;
chairman of affordable housing advisory committee; president of Colony at Delray homeowners association; member of
parking management advisory board; former member of board of construction appeals.
Page 213

Issues: Create task force to review city operations for cost and efficiency; conduct a thorough investigation into city
management and bond underwriting; strengthen focus on community policing and crime prevention; recruit
small-to-medium-sized businesses that create jobs to the city.
Nelson 'Woodie' McDuffie
Personal: 62, Married to Cindy McDuffie for 29 years; two children, ; city resident for 62 years; bachelor of sciences
degree in management science from Florida Atlantic University.
Professional: Manager of information technologies for the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser's Office.
Political experience: Current vice-mayor; ran unopposed for the city commission in 2007; former member of the city's
planning and zoning board and county's zoning commission.
Issues: Make city government more efficient and cheaper; create a citizens task force to monitor ethics in the city;
against outsourcing police and fire services to county agencies; attract businesses to the downtown that are
non-service-oriented.
(i) incumbent


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

NOTES: ELECTION 2009


All Rights Reserved
Page 214

91 of 456 DOCUMENTS


FINAL EDITION

DEVELOPER'S CASH WON'T AFFECT VOTES,DELRAY HOPEFUL SAYS



LENGTH: 465 words


The company behind a plan to redevelop a massive section of the low-income Southwest Neighborhood has pumped
more than $12,000 in contributions into the campaign coffers of two city commission candidates, reports show.
The Auburn Group, its subsidiaries and its employees have contributed $6,500 to Vice Mayor Woodie McDuffie's
campaign for mayor and $6,000 to attorney Adam Frankel's bid for Seat 3.
Auburn Group CEO Tom Hinners could not be reached for comment Friday afternoon.
McDuffie said Friday that despite the large contribution, Auburn will get the same treatment as a company that didn't
contribute. McDuffie raised $41,750 in total.
"What do they expect to gain from this?" McDuffie said. "I think they expect to gain access to me, but that's something
they already had before all of this. I'm available to speak with anyone."
McDuffie said he has nothing to hide in accepting these donations because they don't affect his voting.
"My voting record is out there for the public and anyone can go see whether I've ever been the swing vote on approving
a development," he said.
His opponent, general contractor Chuck Halberg, said McDuffie is unwise to take that much money from a developer.
Halberg raised more than $38,000 in total, including large amounts from out-of-town friends, construction vendors and
suppliers.
Although far from approaching Auburn's level of generosity, other local developers also have sent cash to candidates.
Entrepreneur Carl DeSantis, whose firm is building the Atlantic Plaza development downtown, contributed $500 each to
Commissioner Gary Eliopoulos, Frankel, Halberg and McDuffie.
Delray Beach-based Ocean Properties contributed $1,500 just to Frankel's campaign. In January, federal prosecutors
alleged that former County Commissioner and Delray Beach City Commissioner Mary McCarty helped steer a lucrative
hotel deal to Ocean while accepting free or "grossly discounted" rooms at the company's hotels.
Real estate investors Steven and Debra Cohen contributed $2,500 only to McDuffie's campaign.
Frankel, who raised more than $32,000, said he did so without soliciting money, but couldn't say whether his support-
ers, including activist and power broker Andre Fladell, asked for cash on his behalf. He added that he will be available
to anyone if he's elected, whether they contributed to his campaign or not.
"I'll listen, I'll be open-minded and I'll make any decisions that are appropriate at the time," Frankel said.
His opponent, Joe Ferrer, refused contributions from developers or their attorneys. He raised less than $15,000.
Page 215
DEVELOPER'S CASH WON'T AFFECT VOTES,DELRAY HOPEFUL SAYS Palm Beach Post (Florida) March 7,
2009 Saturday

Reports also showed that Seat 1 candidate Shelly Petrolia raised just more than $11,000, including $1,500 from police
and fire-rescue unions. Eliopoulos, her opponent, raised more than $19,000, reports show.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH



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March 6, 2009 Friday

Delray Beach City Commission candidates cite their differences



LENGTH: 563 words

Mar. 6--DELRAY BEACH -- The two candidates vying for City Commission Seat 3 are busy trying to convince voters
that they will balance the budget and fight for beefed-up police protection.
But Joe Ferrer and Adam Frankel both said they couldn't be more different.
Frankel has the backing of the establishment -- former mayors, state representatives and power brokers who believe he
could be a refreshing voice on the dais. Ferrer has the backing of grass-roots activists, the current mayor and City Hall
gadflies who believe the longtime Delray Beach resident has the best interests of the community at heart.
Seat 3 is now held by Vice Mayor Woodie McDuffie, who is running for mayor.
Ferrer describes his opponent as a newcomer to the city.
"I made an investment in this community when no one wanted to live here," Ferrer said. "What has he ever done that's
at that level?"
Frankel said he's been coming to Delray Beach since he was 12, when he began playing volleyball at the beach. In those
games, he befriended Andre Fladell, the local political guru who is now supporting him.
"This is where I live and I'm not going anywhere," Frankel said.
That's why Frankel said he wants to tackle what he calls "halfway houses," homes for people in drug and alcohol reha-
bilitation programs that are not staffed, licensed or regulated by any one entity.
"It's a topic that I think is being ignored," he said.
Frankel supports forming an advisory committee to oversee halfway houses. He says landlords often take advantage of
patients who relapse and evict them in the middle of the night.
Ferrer said the term "halfway houses" carries a negative connotation and that the focus should be on helping the pa-
tients.
Both candidates agree that public safety should be priority, but differ in their approaches.
Frankel said the city should research the cost savings that contracting Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue services could
bring.
"No one in this community would support that," Ferrer said.
Ferrer said there is a need for more police presence. The solution: encourage more crime watch and community policing
groups. He said new residential and commercial projects could generate tax revenue to hire more police officers.
"If we want the services, we're going to have to pay for them," Ferrer said.
Page 217
Delray Beach City Commission candidates cite their differences South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale) March 6,
2009 Friday

Frankel agrees that bringing businesses to the city is pivotal. He said projects such as Atlantic Plaza, a proposed
mixed-use project on Atlantic Avenue and the Intracoastal, is the way to do it.
"Not many of those types of projects are going up right now," he said. "We need to increase the tax base."
That's one way to balance the budget, Frankel said. But it won't be easy. The economic crisis could force commissioners
to look at cuts in new places.
"We're looking at the hardest economic crisis we've ever seen," Ferrer said, "and we want to put someone in there to do
on-the-job training?"
Read more
To learn about candidates in your city's election Tuesday, see SunSentinel.
com/vote


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

ACC-NO: 20090306-FL-Delray-Beach-City-Commission-candidates-cite-their-differences-0306


JOURNAL-CODE: FL

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Palm Beach Edition

SAFETY, TAX BASE ARE KEY ISSUES



LENGTH: 597 words


The two candidates vying for City Commission Seat 3 are busy trying to convince voters that they will balance the
budget and fight for beefed-up police protection.
But Joe Ferrer and Adam Frankel both said they couldn't be more different.
Frankel has the backing of the establishment - former mayors, state representatives and power brokers who believe he
could be a refreshing voice on the dais. Ferrer has the backing of grass-roots activists, the current mayor and City Hall
gadflies who believe the longtime Delray Beach resident has the best interests of the community at heart.
Seat 3 is now held by Vice Mayor Woodie McDuffie, who is running for mayor.
Ferrer describes his opponent as a newcomer to the city.
at that level?"
Frankel said he's been coming to Delray Beach since he was 12, when he began playing volleyball at the beach. In those
games, he befriended Andre Fladell, the local political guru who is now supporting him.
That's why Frankel said he wants to tackle what he calls "halfway houses," homes for people in drug and alcohol reha-
bilitation programs that are not staffed, licensed or regulated by any one entity.
Frankel supports forming an advisory committee to oversee halfway houses. He says landlords often take advantage of
patients who relapse and evict them in the middle of the night.
Ferrer said the term "halfway houses" carries a negative connotation and that the focus should be on helping the pa-
tients.
Both candidates agree that public safety should be priority, but differ in their approaches.
Frankel said the city should research the cost savings that contracting Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue services could
bring.
Ferrer said there is a need for more police presence. The solution: encourage more crime watch and community policing
groups. He said new residential and commercial projects could generate tax revenue to hire more police officers.
Page 219
SAFETY, TAX BASE ARE KEY ISSUES Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) March 6, 2009 Friday

Frankel agrees that bringing businesses to the city is pivotal. He said projects such as Atlantic Plaza, a proposed
mixed-use project on Atlantic Avenue and the Intracoastal, is the way to do it.
That's one way to balance the budget, Frankel said. But it won't be easy. The economic crisis could force commissioners
to look at cuts in new places.
"We're looking at the hardest economic crisis we've ever seen," Ferrer said, "and we want to put someone in there to do
Read more
To learn about candidates in your city's election Tuesday, see SunSentinel.
com/vote
INFORMATIONAL BOX:
In the race
Seat 3
Joe Ferrer
Personal: 58, married, three children
Education: Bachelor's degree 1972, Indiana University, master's degree 1974, Indiana University
Professional: President of Sunset Entertainment Group Inc.Civic: Development Committee for Palm Beach Community
College, board of directors of the Florida Sunshine Pops/Florida Classical Orchestra
Adam Frankel
Personal: 37, single
Education: Bachelor's degree 1994, Ohio State University; law degree 1997, University of Toledo
Professional: Attorney in private practiceCivic: Delray Beach Police and Fire Pension Advisory Board, Delray Citizens
for Delray Police, Chamber of Commerce


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


GRAPHIC: Photo(s)
Ferrer


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March 5, 2009 Thursday

Nelson McDuffie, Charles Halberg go negative in Delray Beach mayor race:
Delray Beach rivals' leaflets cite prostitute and 'monkey business'



LENGTH: 611 words

Mar. 5--DELRAY BEACH -- The race for mayor is heating up, thanks to campaign mailers sent out by the two candi-
dates this week.
The mailer wars began with one sent by Vice Mayor Nelson "Woodie" McDuffie's campaign. It depicts a group of men
smoking, sitting around a table with their ties loosened and empty bottles strewn about.
It lists five reasons why opponent Charles "Chuck" Halberg is wrong for mayor. Among them is his arrest for soliciting
a prostitute in 1997. Records show Halberg pleaded no contest and adjudication was withheld, which means he has no
criminal record and he had to pay a small fine.
Halberg said it's a cheap campaign tactic. "I'm ashamed he would sink this low."
Halberg is firing back with a mailer that depicts three monkeys and calls for McDuffie to end "the monkey business in
Delray."
It highlights cuts to the Police Department and a recent increase in garbage fees, among other things.
"First of all, I have an e-mail from Chuck thanking the commission for voting on that issue," McDuffie said of the gar-
bage contract, which included rate increases. "A lot of this stuff is scare tactics and innuendoes and half-truths and it's
trying to misrepresent my voting record and trying to create fear in people"
Mayor Rita Ellis decided not to seek another term.
With only days before the election Tuesday, the attacks probably aren't over.
"Woodie talks about ethics, integrity and conflicts of interest in his mail piece, but here are some facts," Halberg said,
citing McDuffie's campaign contributions from developers.
Halberg said McDuffie has taken several thousand dollars in contributions from the Auburn Group, which was sup-
posed to build a controversial mixed-income development in the heart of the Southwest neighborhood.
Halberg said he will continue to attack McDuffie on the issues.
"I made a mistake 12 years ago and it was not a good moral decision. But the fact is my wife and I would hope people
could have the marriage that we have. ... My commitment to the city far surpasses Woodie's," Halberg said.
He then referred to the case of a former pastor who was found guilty last month of stealing from St. Vincent Ferrer
Catholic Church in Delray Beach. "People forgive. People have already forgiven the priest who stole from the church."
Andre Fladell, a Delray Beach-based political strategist, said it's not uncommon to see this type of sparring as an elec-
tion approaches.
Page 221
Nelson McDuffie, Charles Halberg go negative in Delray Beach mayor race: Delray Beach rivals' leaflets cite prostitute
and 'monkey business' South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale) March 5, 2009 Thursday

Fladell has not endorsed a candidate in the mayor's race, but is supporting a candidate in a separate commission race for
Seat 3.
He said the McDuffie piece was clever in that it never told voters when the arrest happened.
"I think a flier like that can significantly do damage."
Fladell questioned the timing of McDuffie's piece, saying it gives Halberg plenty of time to respond before the election.
"If you have a hit you think is deadly, you want to wait until the last 48 hours," Fladell said. "The question is: Will there
be another message?"
Maria Herrera can be reached at meherrera@SunSentinel .com or 561-243-6544.
Halberg's mailer
It depicts three monkeys and calls for McDuffie to end "the monkey business in Delray."
McDuffie's leaflet
It notes Halberg's arrest on a charge of soliciting a prostitute in 1997. Adjudication was withheld.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

ACC-NO: 20090305-FL-Nelson-McDuffie-Charles-Halberg-go-negative-in-Delray-Beach-mayor-race-0305


JOURNAL-CODE: FL

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95 of 456 DOCUMENTS




Delray Beach City Commission Seat 3 race



LENGTH: 615 words

Mar. 5--DELRAY BEACH -- The candidates vying for Seat 4 of this city's commission have been busy trying to con-
vince voters that they will restore integrity to city hall, they can balance a budget and they care about public safety.
But Joe Ferrer and Adam Frankel both said they couldn't be more different from each other.
Frankel has the backing of the establishment -- former mayors, state representatives and power brokers who believe he
could be a refreshing voice on the dais. Ferrer has the backing of grassroots activists, the current mayor and city hall
gadflies who believe that the longtime Delray resident has the best interest of the community at heart.
Seat 4 was vacated by Vice Mayor Woodie McDuffie when he decided to run for mayor.
Ferrer describes his opponent as a newcomer to the city with little roots in the community.
at that level?"
Frankel said he's been coming to Delray Beach since he was 12, when he began playing volleyball at the beach with
locals the likes of Andre Fladell, the local political guru.
That's why Frankel said he want to tackle what he called the issue of "half-way houses," homes that house people who
are in drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs, but are not staffed, licensed or regulated by any one entity.
Frankel supports forming an advisory committee that would help oversee half-way houses -- Frankel says landlords
often take advantage of patients who relapse, often evicting them in the middle of the night.
Ferrer said calling the facilities "half-way houses" carries a negative connotation and that the focus should be on helping
the patients.
Both candidates agree that public safety should be priority but they differ in their approach.
Frankel said the city should research the cost savings that contracting Palm Beach County Fire Rescue services could
bring.
Ferrer said there is a need for more police presence. The solution: to encourage more crime watch and community po-
licing groups. He said that encouraging development of residential and commercial projects could also generate tax
revenue that could be used to hire more police.
Page 223
Delray Beach City Commission Seat 3 race South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale) March 5, 2009 Thursday

Frankel agrees that bringing businesses and jobs to the city is pivotal. He said project like Atlantic Plaza, a proposed
mix-use project on Atolantic Avenue and the Intracoastal, is just the way to do it.
That's one way to reach a balanced budget, Frankel said. But it won't be easy. The economic crisis could force commis-
sioners to look at cuts in places where they hadn't been before.
Ferrer said he could help with that because of his business background, something he says his opponent lacks.
"We're looking at the hardest economic crisis we've ever since," he said, "and we want to put someone in there to do


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

ACC-NO: 20090305-FL-Delray-Beach-City-Commission-Seat-3-race-0305


JOURNAL-CODE: FL

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96 of 456 DOCUMENTS


Palm Beach Edition

MAYORAL CONTEST TURNS NEGATIVE;
DELRAY BEACH RIVALS' LEAFLETS CITE PROSTITUTE AND 'MON-
KEY BUSINESS'



LENGTH: 537 words


The race for mayor is heating up, thanks to campaign mailers sent out by the two candidates this week.
The mailer wars began with one sent by Vice Mayor Nelson "Woodie" McDuffie's campaign. It depicts a group of men
smoking, sitting around a table with their ties loosened and empty bottles strewn about.
It lists five reasons why opponent Charles "Chuck" Halberg is wrong for mayor. Among them is his arrest for soliciting
a prostitute in 1997. Records show Halberg pleaded no contest and adjudication was withheld, which means he has no
criminal record and he had to pay a small fine.
Halberg said it's a cheap campaign tactic. "I'm ashamed he would sink this low."
Halberg is firing back with a mailer that depicts three monkeys and calls for McDuffie to end "the monkey business in
Delray."
It highlights cuts to the Police Department and a recent increase in garbage fees, among other things.
"First of all, I have an e-mail from Chuck thanking the commission for voting on that issue," McDuffie said of the gar-
bage contract, which included rate increases. "A lot of this stuff is scare tactics and innuendoes and half-truths and it's
trying to misrepresent my voting record and trying to create fear in people"
Mayor Rita Ellis decided not to seek another term.
With only days before the election Tuesday, the attacks probably aren't over.
"Woodie talks about ethics, integrity and conflicts of interest in his mail piece, but here are some facts," Halberg said,
citing McDuffie's campaign contributions from developers.
Halberg said McDuffie has taken several thousand dollars in contributions from the Auburn Group, which was sup-
posed to build a controversial mixed-income development in the heart of the Southwest neighborhood.
Halberg said he will continue to attack McDuffie on the issues.
"I made a mistake 12 years ago and it was not a good moral decision. But the fact is my wife and I would hope people
could have the marriage that we have. . . . My commitment to the city far surpasses Woodie's," Halberg said.
He then referred to the case of a former pastor who was found guilty last month of stealing from St. Vincent Ferrer
Catholic Church in Delray Beach. "People forgive. People have already forgiven the priest who stole from the church."
Page 225
MAYORAL CONTEST TURNS NEGATIVE; DELRAY BEACH RIVALS' LEAFLETS CITE PROSTITUTE AND
'MONKEY BUSINESS' Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) March 5, 2009 Thursday

Andre Fladell, a Delray Beach-based political strategist, said it's not uncommon to see this type of sparring as an elec-
tion approaches.
Fladell has not endorsed a candidate in the mayor's race, but is supporting a candidate in a separate commission race for
Seat 3.
He said the McDuffie piece was clever in that it never told voters when the arrest happened.
"I think a flier like that can significantly do damage."
Fladell questioned the timing of McDuffie's piece, saying it gives Halberg plenty of time to respond before the election.
"If you have a hit you think is deadly, you want to wait until the last 48 hours," Fladell said. "The question is: Will there
be another message?"
Maria Herrera can be reached at meherrera@SunSentinel .com or 561-243-6544.
Halberg's mailer
It depicts three monkeys and calls for McDuffie to end "the monkey business in Delray."
McDuffie's leaflet
It notes Halberg's arrest on a charge of soliciting a prostitute in 1997. Adjudication was withheld.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

GRAPHIC: Photo(s)
Nelson "Woodie" McDuffie, top, and Charles G. "Chuck" Halberg, bottom, have lodged strong attacks against each
other as the election nears.


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97 of 456 DOCUMENTS

Palm Beach Politics

January 30, 2009 Friday 6:47 PM EST

Candidates Show Off Friends, Allies at Campaign Kickoff Parties

BYLINE: Maria Herrera

LENGTH: 186 words

Jan. 30, 2009 (Sun Sentinel delivered by Newstex) -- The lights were low, the music was pumping and inside
Delux, on Atlantic Avenue, the whos who of Palm Beach County politics mingled in support of Adam Frankel, the
Delray attorney whos vying for seat 4 of the City Commission. The event Wednesday night was Frankels campaign
kickoff and it attracted State Sen. David Aaronberg, and representatives Joseph Abruzzo and Maria Sachs among other
politicos. There were power brokers like Jack Furnari, on the GOP side, and Andre Fladell on the Democratic side. At
exactly the same time and less than a mile away, his opponent Joe Ferrer held a similar soiree, albeit a little more sub-
dued, at his house on Swinton Avenue. The power brokers there were of a different kind: the grassroots activists and
gadflies who dont miss a Planning and Zoning or City Commission meeting. Friends gathered around a grand piano on
the living room and sang, supporters ate and moved about the house. Ferrer and Frankel will face off in several debates
leading to the March 10 election. --Maria Herrera Newstex ID: FL-2077-31371857


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH



All Rights Reserved
Newstex Web Blogs
Page 227

98 of 456 DOCUMENTS


Online Edition

CANDIDATES SHOW OFF FRIENDS, ALLIES AT CAMPAIGN KICKOFF
PARTIES

BYLINE: Posted by Maria Herrera at 6:47 PM


LENGTH: 170 words

The lights were low, the music was pumping and inside Delux, on Atlantic Avenue, the who?s who of Palm Beach
County politics mingled in support of Adam Frankel, the Delray attorney who?s vying for seat 4 of the City Commis-
sion.
The event Wednesday night was Frankel?s campaign kickoff and it attracted State Sen. Dave Aronberg, and representa-
tives Joseph Abruzzo and Maria Sachs among other politicos. There were power brokers like Jack Furnari, on the GOP
side, and Andre Fladell on the Democratic side.
At exactly the same time and less than a mile away, his opponent Joe Ferrer held a similar soiree, albeit a little more
subdued, at his house on Swinton Avenue.
The power brokers there were of a different kind: the grassroots activists and gadflies who don?t miss a Planning and
Zoning or City Commission meeting.
Friends gathered around a grand piano on the living room and sang, supporters ate and moved about the house.
Ferrer and Frankel will face off in several debates leading to the March 10 election.
--Maria Herrera


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

DOCUMENT-TYPE: BLOG


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99 of 456 DOCUMENTS


January 26, 2009 Monday
FINAL EDITION

KLEIN EXPLORES SENATE BID WITH DUE DILIGENCE

BYLINE: George Bennett

SECTION: LOCAL; Politics; Pg. 1B

LENGTH: 648 words

He hasn't made as much noise as some of the other potential candidates considering a U.S. Senate bid, but U.S. Rep.
Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton, is continuing to coolly and methodically size up the race.
"We're still in that discussion stage," Klein says. "We're talking to fund-raising people, talking to people that are leaders
around the state, talking to professionals who run campaigns."
Klein went through a similarly deliberative due-diligence process before deciding in early 2005 to challenge veteran
Republican U.S. Rep. Clay Shaw. Klein ran a well-financed, never-off-message campaign and toppled Shaw in a na-
tionally watched 2006 race.
With Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink deciding to seek reelection next year rather than run for the Senate seat
that Republican Mel Martinez is giving up, no Democrat with a statewide political base is in the hunt. U.S. Rep.
Kendrick Meek, D-Miami, has announced a campaign, and U.S. Rep. Allen Boyd, D-Monticello, and state Sen. Dan
Gelber, D-Miami Beach, are considered strong possibilities along with Klein.
Klein has a reputation as a fund-raising powerhouse. The $4 million he raised for his congressional reelection bid last
year was among the tops in the nation, and he ended that campaign with $1.7 million left over -- money that can be
transferred to a Senate race. Boyd has $1.2 million left over in his congressional campaign account.
Klein, who served 14 years in the Florida Legislature before going to Congress, has run only in South Florida. But he
has some political and money contacts around the state from his stint as state Senate Democratic leader (2002-04),
which involved helping other Senate candidates around Florida.
Klein declined to set a timetable for making a decision on the Senate race. But, he said, "if I decide to do it, we're all
in."
*
For more than a decade, a real or perceived association with Palm Beach County Commissioner Mary McCarty went a
long way toward winning office in Delray Beach. That's understandably changed since McCarty resigned and said she'll
plead guilty to a federal corruption charge.
City commission candidate Joe Ferrer's campaign manager, longtime McCarty foe Gerry Franciosa, has tried to link
Ferrer opponent Adam Frankel to McCarty because Frankel is close to political operative and McCarty pal Andre
Fladell.
"There are a lot of divisions in Delray. Quite frankly, I'm not part of any group," says Frankel, who said he's had only
three or four brief conversations with McCarty in his life. Frankel, an attorney and first-time candidate, has the support
of former Delray mayors Tom Lynch, Jay Alperin and Jeff Perlman.
Veteran string-puller McCarty, meanwhile, says she and husband Kevin McCarty (who pleaded guilty to a federal
charge for failing to report his wife's crimes) are out of the loop for this year's municipal elections.
Page 229
KLEIN EXPLORES SENATE BID WITH DUE DILIGENCE Palm Beach Post (Florida) January 26, 2009 Monday

"Kevin and (I) are no longer living in Delray. While we still love the town we have no involvement in any of the races.
We are spending all of our time tending to our personal issues. We wish all the candidates well. I trust this puts the
matter to rest," McCarty said in an e-mail.
*
Of the first 21 people to apply for Gov. Charlie Crist's appointment to replace McCarty, only nine actually live in
McCarty's south-county commission District 4. One wannabe, Florida Department of Revenue auditor Robert Bliss,
lives in Tallahassee but used to live in District 4.
*
While he was in Washington last week to attend President Obama's inauguration, state Sen. Dave Aronberg,
D-Greenacres, met with representatives of the Democratic Attorneys General Association, a political organization that
helps Dem AG candidates around the U.S.
Aronberg, who could run for Florida attorney general next year if Republican incumbent Bill McCollum enters the U.S.
Senate race, also met last week with Maryland's Democratic AG Douglas Gansler.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

NOTES: More online Get the latest politics news, video, special reports and the Q blog. PalmBeachPost.com/politics

DOCUMENT-TYPE: COLUMN


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FINAL EDITION

AGENCY IGNORED ALERTS ON MCCARTY



LENGTH: 1763 words

This is the first in a series of occasional stories about government agencies embroiled in theMcCarty scandal.
For years, Richard Ellington warned members of the Palm Beach County Housing Finance Authority not to use Ray-
mond James as its bond underwriter.
With Kevin McCarty on the firm's staff and his wife, Mary, on the county commission, it was a grand jury investigation
waiting to happen, warned Ellington, the authority's legal adviser in the 1990s when questions were raised.
"I told them it was a conflict," he said of his advice, which was ultimately ignored.
Fast-forward more than a decade and Ellington's words have proven prescient.
In court documents, federal prosecutors list more than 10 housing authority bond issues -- totaling about $200 million --
as proof that Mary McCarty used her position to help her husband's firm snare lucrative contracts. Prosecutors list six
other housing authority bond issues -- totaling $84.7 million -- where she "intentionally absented herself ... to avoid
publicly reporting her and Kevin McCarty's financial interests in the matter" or failed to fully explain why she wasn't
voting. The deals took place between June 1998 and June 2001.
The 18-year commissioner also is accused of steering bond business in Delray Beach and the county school board to
Raymond James and other firms where her husband subsequently worked. She has pleaded not guilty to honest services
fraud, but has indicated she will change that plea. Kevin McCarty has pleaded guilty to misprision of a felony for not
reporting his wife's activities.
It is the second time the Housing Finance Authority has figured prominently in a public corruption case.
In 2001, Ellington, Chairman Lloyd Hasner and consultant Lisa Fisher were convicted in connection with a 1997
scheme. Hasner, with Fisher's help, pocketed a $22,500 payoff on a Greenacres housing project bankrolled with $16
million in authority-backed bonds. Ellington was convicted of conspiracy and fraud for participating in the coverup. He
was sentenced to four months in federal prison and lost his law license.
Mary McCarty's and Commissioner Burt Aaronson's phones were wiretapped as part of a related investigation into a
zoning payoff scheme. Neither was charged with any wrongdoing in the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney John Kastrenakes said evidence from the more than decade-old investigations was used in the
case he and other federal officials built against the McCartys. He declined to elaborate.
Andre Fladell, a Democratic Party activist whose phone also was tapped, said he's not surprised.
"It's just logical to me if you look at the sequence of events," he said. "Each thing led to something else."
McCarty, known for her love of the telephone, or someone else may have said something during the three months
phones were tapped that provided a road map for prosecutors searching for corruption. Or, knowing the Housing Fi-
Page 231
AGENCY IGNORED ALERTS ON MCCARTY Palm Beach Post (Florida) January 26, 2009 Monday

nance Authority annually handles millions of dollars in tax-free bonds for low-income housing, investigators might
have simply recognized it was fertile ground.
After all, Kevin McCarty's job -- and the possible conflict it posed for his wife -- was no secret. It was the subject of
numerous, often heated, county commission discussions during which Mary McCarty vehemently argued that she and
her husband recognized the potential land mine their dual roles created and had taken steps to make sure neither stepped
on them.
However, in early 1998, Phil Harloff, a Raymond James executive, approached the Housing Finance Authority, saying
he had an opinion from an "ethics committee" that would allow it to handle authority bond issues despite the relation-
ship.
During a March 1998 meeting, Ellington told authority board members the opinion differed from his longtime legal
view that Raymond James was barred from doing work for the authority because the county commission ultimately had
to sign off on all of its bond issues, according to a tape recording of the meeting.
It is unclear from the tape where the contrary opinion came from, and it could not be found in authority files. Harloff,
who works at Raymond James' office in St. Petersburg, declined to comment. A company spokeswoman issued a state-
ment: "Raymond James has been fully and voluntarily cooperating with the U.S. Attorney's office."
A search of the Florida Ethics Commission Web site turned up no opinion that would seem to address the McCartys'
conflict.
The commission has repeatedly found that a public official is prohibited from "acting in an official capacity to purchase
services from a business entity of which his or her spouse is an officer, director, or owns more than a five percent inter-
est."
With no discussion of the opinion and only passing reference to the "conflict," the authority agreed to begin letting
Raymond James serve as the underwriter on bond issues. In addition to Hasner, a Delray Beach real estate agent and
developer, authority members included lawyers Randee Schatz and Larry Bishins and former County Administrator
John Sansbury. Two other members -- Jeffrey Winikoff, who became a county circuit judge, and longtime educator
U.B. Kinsey -- are now dead.
Three months after the authority agreed to use Raymond James, the firm handled an $8.6 million bond issue that went to
the county commission for approval. McCarty made the motion to approve the bond issue.
Ellington, a former county attorney, said Mary McCarty lobbied authority board members before the vote. Prosecutors
allege the same in the charging documents.
McCarty's supporters have said that she didn't realize Raymond James was involved in some of the bond issues. Further,
according to county records, she six times abstained from voting on bond issues the firm handled while her husband
worked there.
On Dec. 1, 1998, she voted in favor of authority bond issues that involved Raymond James. However, she declared a
conflict on an additional bond issue and abstained from voting.
"My husband Kevin McCarty's employer is the underwriter for this bond issue -- Raymond James & Assoc. and Kevin
is the associate on the account," she wrote on a form elected officials must file disclosing conflicts of interest.
In February 2001, she again abstained from voting on a housing authority bond issue, declaring a conflict. However,
prosecutors said, she didn't fully explain her conflict as required by law. Records show she simply checked a box on the
form that the bond issue would benefit "my relative." She wrote in "Kevin McCarty."
Later that year, she abstained from voting four times and filed the required forms, noting her husband's employment
with Raymond James. Kevin McCarty left Raymond James for rival Bear Stearns in January 2002.
Attorney Guy Lewis, who was head of Miami's U.S. attorney's office during the early investigations that involved the
Housing Finance Authority, said county elected officials have been on notice for nearly a decade that they were being
watched.
He couldn't have been more clear after Hasner, Fisher and Ellington were convicted in 2001.
Page 232

"This successful prosecution should send a clear message to the community in Palm Beach County that public corrup-
tion will not be tolerated at any level," he said after the verdicts. "This office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation
will continue to vigorously investigate and prosecute those who would violate the sacred trust placed in public offi-
cials."
Variety of votes
The Palm Beach County Commission approved tens of millions of dollars in Housing Finance Authority bonds from
1998 to 2001 with Raymond James as the bond underwriter, according to prosecutors. Kevin McCarty, husband of
Mary McCarty, worked for Raymond James. Here's how the money was spent and how the county commission voted:
June 23, 1998: $8.6 million for Riverview House Apartments, west of Lake Worth--4-0 vote; Commissioners Maude
Ford Lee, Carol Roberts and Warren Newell absent.
June 23, 1998: $2.2 million for Congress Landing Apartments west of Lake Worth -- 4-0 vote; Lee, Roberts and Newell
absent.
Dec. 1, 1998: $15 million for Lake Crystal Phase II Apartments in suburban West Palm Beach -- unanimous.
Dec. 1, 1998: $8.6 million for Riverview House Apartments-- unanimous.
April 6, 1999: $14.5 million for Lake Delray Apartments in Delray Beach -- 6-0 vote;Commissioner Burt Aaronson
absent.
June 8, 1999: $300,000 for Lake Delray Apartments-- 6-0 vote;Commissioner Tony Masilotti absent.
Dec. 7, 1999: $13.1 million for Saddlebrook Apartments near Riviera Beach -- unanimous.
March 7, 2000: $13.1 million for Saddlebrook Apartments-- 6-0 vote; Lee absent.
June 6, 2000: $3.4 million for Marina Bay Apartments near Lantana -- unanimous.
June 6, 2000: $75 million for refunding single family homeowner projects -- unanimous.
Dec. 19, 2000: $6.904 million for Mallards Landing Apartments in suburban West Palm Beach -- 6-0 vote; Aaronson
absent.
Dec. 19, 2000: $9.1 million for Colony Park Apartments in suburban West Palm Beach -- 6-0 vote; Aaronson absent.
Dec. 19, 2000: $8.5 million for Pinnacle Palms Apartments in West Palm Beach -- 6-0 vote; Aaronson absent.
These $84.7 million in housing authority bonds were approved by the commission when, prosecutors say, McCarty
'intentionally absented herself from the discussion' or abstained but didn't divulge why.
Feb. 27, 2001: $7.304 million for Mallards Landing Apartments -- 5-0; Aaronson absent; McCarty abstained but didn't
explain why, only that it would benefit 'my relative,' Kevin McCarty.
May 1, 2001: $9.350 million for Pinnacle Palms Apartments -- 5-0 vote; Commissioners Karen Marcus and McCarty
absent.
May 1, 2001: $22 million for Emerald Bay Club Apartments west of Boca Raton -- 5-0 vote; Marcus and McCarty ab-
sent.
May 1, 2001: $30 million for single-family homeowner program -- 5-0 vote; Marcus and McCarty absent.
May 22, 2001: $6.255 million for Country Lake Apartments near Greenacres -- 5-0 vote; Roberts and McCarty absent.
June 5, 2001: $9.8 million for Colony Park Apartments-- 5-0 vote; Roberts and McCarty absent.
Records show McCarty filed forms announcing she couldn't vote because her husband worked for Raymond James be-
fore the commission issued $44 million in authority bonds. She announced her conflicts on:
Dec. 1, 1998: $7.5 million for Azalea Place Apartments in West Palm Beach.
June 19, 2001: $2.75 million for Westlake Apartments in Lake Park.
Page 233

Dec. 18, 2001: $10.5 million for Pinnacle at Abbey Park Apartments in suburban West Palm Beach.
Dec. 18, 2001: $7.78 million for Westlake Apartments.
Dec. 18, 2001: $15.7 million for Indian Trace Apartments in Riviera Beach.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

NOTES: More online Read past stories and Mary McCarty's resignation letter, see photos from the case. Palm-
BeachPost.com/mccarty Info box at end of text.

GRAPHIC: PHOTO (3 B&W)
1. 'I told them it was a conflict' Richard Ellington warned the Housing Finance Authority for years about 2. ... Mary
McCarty's link to Raymond James. 3. BILL INGRAM/Staff file photo Pinnacle Palms Apartments:Mary McCarty in
2000 voted for $8.5 million for the complex, but in 2001 she was absent on a similar vote.


All Rights Reserved
Page 234



FINAL EDITION

SHARP TONGUE, STUBBORN DRIVE SHAPED CAREER

BYLINE: By JENNIFER SORENTRUE Palm Beach Post Staff Writer


LENGTH: 1364 words

Mary McCarty squabbled her way to power.
For 18 years as a Palm Beach County commissioner and three years on the Delray Beach City Commission, the Repub-
lican firebrand steamrolled friends and foes alike.
The granddaughter of a Washington lobbyist and the sister of a Tallahassee lobbyist, she often supported developers,
but she also went after a few -- as well as state Supreme Court judges, county administrators and other politicians.
Her political muscle came from the south county communities she served and, some say, ruled from behind the scenes.
But her fiercest battles she saved for outside her district -- her unsuccessful campaign, for example, to build The Scripps
Research Institute on the rural Mecca Farms tract west of Palm Beach Gardens, which then would have opened wide
swaths of land to further development.
"Mary was a very strong influence," former Delray Beach Mayor Doak Campbell said Thursday. "Not only in the
county, but on lots of boards and in the city. She's gone, and that will create a vacuum."
McCarty and Campbell had their share of spats after she won a seat on the Delray Beach City Commission in 1987.
When Campbell decided not to seek reelection in 1990, McCarty smiled.
"You can overstay your welcome," she said in an interview at the time. "Everyone needs to be able to tell when their
peak has occurred. I think he made a very wise decision to leave now."
It was that tart tongue and aggressive attitude that McCarty was probably best known for. She used them to try to per-
suade her counterparts on the dais to support her projects and to lash out when she wasn't getting what she wanted.
Five years ago, her barbs reached such heights that then-Commissioner Tony Masilotti -- now serving his own federal
prison sentence for corruption -- nicknamed her "Bloody Mary" and accused her of "flying around" the commission
offices "on her favorite broom."
McCarty acknowledged early on that she wasn't popular. "Some people would like to see me dead, and not just dead,"
she told The Palm Beach Post in a 1992 interview. "They would like to see me painfully tortured before my death.
"If I am resented and shunned, then I'll be happy to go my own way. I didn't come here to make friends. And I didn't
come here to stay the rest of my life."
Like a comic book character, McCarty, 54, has always had an arch enemy to battle in her elected posts -- former Clerk
of the Circuit Court Dorothy Wilken, for instance.
The squabble started when the two ran against each other for the District 4 county commission seat. McCarty won, but
the feud didn't let up, even after Wilken was elected clerk in 1992.
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SHARP TONGUE, STUBBORN DRIVE SHAPED CAREER Palm Beach Post (Florida) January 9, 2009 Friday

In 1998, McCarty raised the prospect of asking voters to eliminate the clerk's office, after Wilken spent $617,000 to
purchase 300 computers even though the county administrator had asked Wilken to delay any major computer purchas-
es.
"The voters are either going to have to take care of the problem by abolishing the (clerk's) position or by abolishing the
person,'' McCarty said.
And then there was Masilotti. That feud started before Masilotti was elected to the county commission.
McCarty filed a criminal complaint against then-commission candidate Masilotti in 1998, alleging he had used his posi-
tion as mayor of Royal Palm Beach to retaliate against her for supporting his opponent in the commission race. McCarty
told state investigators that Masilotti had tried to kill a $15 million contract between the village and her husband's bond
company.
By 2004, the two issued dueling memos calling for the county attorney to investigate each other's alleged improprieties.
"I am sorry that you and other staff members are being drawn into the middle of all this nonsense created by the hatred
of Mary McCarty," Masilotti wrote in a 2004 letter to county attorney Denise Nieman.
Masilotti's attack came in response to a memo McCarty wrote asking Nieman to investigate various alleged ethical
breaches, including the use of a government helicopter to attend a party thrown by a developer. She never mentioned
Masilotti by name.
McCarty, of course, also attracted supporters and friends, including lobbyist Hugo Unruh and Democratic activist An-
dre Fladell. Boynton BeachMayor Jerry Taylor, was a former longtime McCarty aide.
But not all her friendships lasted.
Among those assisting the federal criminal probe against her is J. Blake MacDiarmid, the former political adviser who
had guided McCarty to a resounding reelection victory in 2002.
When McCarty and MacDiarmid worked together, "they were the kingmakers," county GOP Chairman Sid Dinerstein
told The Post last year. "They could recruit people to run on the next city council. They could gather the campaign
money. They were very influential."
But friends said the two had a falling out because of various disputes, including MacDiarmid's work for a development
company that wanted to buy the oceanfront community of Briny Breezes -- a project McCarty criticized.
McCarty's confrontational style during her tenure in Delray Beach was blamed for the departure of several top city offi-
cials, including the finance director, city clerk, city attorney and city manager.
The exodus continued when she was elected to her county post in 1990. Just 16 months after becoming a commissioner,
McCarty spearheaded the ouster of then-County Administrator Jan Winters and Herb Kahlert, the county's chief engi-
neer for 19 years.
She had other accomplishments. In 2003, her vote helped defeat a measure that would have prevented some new devel-
opments from adding traffic to clogged roads. In recent months, McCarty pushed county administrators to join a nation-
al program that offers prescription drug discount cards to county residents. She used her discretionary money to help
buy a school bus for the Florence Fuller Child Development Center in Boca Raton.
But in more than two decades in public office, McCarty also was the subject of at least four state ethics investigations,
two of which resulted in fines.
Both fines, for $2,000 and $3,750, arose from the aftermath of the failed 2000 presidential election, a period when
McCarty chaired The Committee to Take Back Our Judiciary. That group sought to recall three Florida Supreme Court
justices who had sided with Al Gore during the recount.
The oldest of six children, McCarty grew up in a wealthy suburb north of Chicago and attended Catholic schools. One
of her brothers, Brian Ballard, grew up to become a top Tallahassee lobbyist and Republican activist who is close to
Gov. Charlie Crist and former Gov. Jeb Bush.
Her mother divorced her father when Mary was 9 and remarried a retired Marine Corps officer. The family eventually
moved to Delray Beach.
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SHARP TONGUE, STUBBORN DRIVE SHAPED CAREER Palm Beach Post (Florida) January 9, 2009 Friday

McCarty enrolled at the University of Florida and earned a degree in journalism.
Her grandfather, a Washington lobbyist, helped her get her first political job. During the summer of 1974, McCarty
worked in Washington as an intern for U.S. Rep. Tip O'Neill, D-Mass., then the House majority leader.
After graduating from college, McCarty intended to make a career in public relations, but waiting tables brought in
more money. She met her husband, Kevin, while working as a cocktail waitress at a hotel in Fort Lauderdale. He was a
bartender. The two were married in 1980.
Kevin McCarty worked as a stockbroker, then a bond underwriter. In 2003, Bush appointed him to the board of the
South Florida Water Management District, where he was chairman from 2005 to 2007.
While working as a manager of a pub in Delray Beach, Mary McCarty joined the chamber of commerce and began
helping with events in 1986. Within months, she announced her candidacy for the city commission.
Twenty years later, McCarty was elected to her fifth and final term on the county commission. It would have been up in
2010.
Of course, she had ambitions of higher office along the way.
In 1997, she began quietly campaigning in hopes that then-gubernatorial candidate Jeb Bush would choose her as his
running mate. She also expressed interest in running for secretary of state.
Nothing panned out. She stayed on the commission, she later told The Post, "because you can really help people and
you can really see the results of your actions."


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

NOTES: MARY McCARTY RESIGNS

1. BRANDON KRUSE/Staff Photographer Thursday: Mary McCarty's seat on the Palm Beach County Commission is
vacant.After meeting with her staff, McCarty was out of the governmental center before 9 a.m. 2. File photo 992:
McCarty reacts to her reelection to the Palm Beach County Commission. She was serving her fifth and final term, which
would have been up in 2010, when she resigned.


All Rights Reserved
Page 237



FINAL EDITION

MCCARTY RESIGNS, WILL TAKE PLEA DEAL

BYLINE: By GEORGE BENNETT, JENNIFER SORENTRUE and TONY DORIS Palm Beach Post Staff Writers


LENGTH: 2374 words

Mary McCarty, a colorful and combative force in Palm Beach County politics for two decades, on Thursday became the
latest and biggest figure to fall in the ongoing federal investigation of corruption in local government.
And she may not be the last.
The five-term Republican county commissioner announced her resignation and said she will plead guilty to "honest
services fraud" for accepting free and discounted hotel rooms and for failing to recuse herself from votes that benefited
her husband's bond firms.
Federal prosecutors are expected to seek a five-year sentence for McCarty and a one-year sentence for her husband,
Kevin, a Delray Beach bond underwriter and former gubernatorial appointee to the South Florida Water Management
District's board. Mary McCarty's guilty plea will make her ineligible for a state pension.
McCarty, 54, was elected to the county commission in 1990 after three years as a Delray Beach city commissioner. She
was chairwoman of the county Republican Party from 2000 to 2002 and has been a major player in the municipal poli-
tics of Boca Raton, Delray Beach and Boynton Beach for years.
She is the fifth local elected official to resign under a corruption cloud since 2006. The others all went to prison after
pleading guilty to federal charges: former County Commissioners Tony Masilotti and Warren Newell and former West
Palm Beach City Commissioners Ray Liberti and James Exline.
The political establishment is bracing for more.
Prosecutors have been examining commissioners' ties to the development company that once held a contract to build a
convention center hotel for the county, as well as some commissioners' links to favored charities and their receipt of
gifts such as free or discounted hotel rooms and free sea cruises.
"Hopefully this will be the last one. ... Do I think it is? I don't know," said County Commissioner Jess Santamaria, who
was elected to replace Masilotti in 2006.
"I think the federal prosecutors are here for the long haul," Commission Chairman Jeff Koons said. "I think the scrutiny
that the private and public sectors are facing in Palm Beach County will continue."
Koons saw McCarty in the commission offices Thursday morning and said her parting words were: "It ain't over."
Commissioner Addie Greene called the day's events "heartbreaking," saying she couldn't bring herself to finish reading
McCarty's resignation letter. Instead, she had to have her staff read it to her.
"I had no idea that it would ever come to this," Greene said.
Commissioner Karen Marcus, McCarty's frequent foil during squabbles on the dais, said: "I am almost rendered
speechless."
Page 238
MCCARTY RESIGNS, WILL TAKE PLEA DEAL Palm Beach Post (Florida) January 9, 2009 Friday

McCarty was known for her blunt-spoken style and unwillingness to shrink from a fight, but her exit Thursday was un-
characteristically meek and contrite.
She slipped into and out of the county governmental center before 9 a.m. and met briefly with administrators and her
staff. She submitted her two-page resignation letter before her colleagues began a morning zoning meeting.
"I realize that as both a public official, and moral person, I had an ethical responsibility to perform my duties free from
fraud, self-enrichment and self-dealing," McCarty wrote. "Despite my desire to follow what I had always considered to
be a well-aimed moral compass, I, on multiple occasions, opted to cut corners and bend rules."
Noting the resignations and imprisonments of the four elected officials before her, McCarty wrote that she is "disgusted
with myself for, once again, placing the Commission that I respect so much in an untenable position."
Specifically, McCarty said, she accepted free and discounted resort hotel rooms and services and failed to disclose
them. That's a reference to stays provided by Ocean Properties, which the commission selected in 2004 to build a hotel
for the county convention center in West Palm Beach.
Commissioners killed the Ocean Properties deal in 2008. Before taking that vote, McCarty and Commissioners Burt
Aaronson and Karen Marcus said they had been advised by county attorneys to disclose that they had paid to stay in
Ocean Properties hotels in the past. They did not say whether they received discounts.
Aaronson later said he and his wife had stayed at an Ocean Properties hotel at a discounted rate years before the board's
2004 selection of the developer. Marcus said Thursday that she did not ask for a discount.
McCarty's resignation letter also says she failed to recuse herself from votes on bond issues that benefited the employers
of her husband. He had worked for several firms, including Raymond James and Bear Stearns, during his wife's tenure
on the commission.
"Although I did not vote on any issue in which my husband's name appeared in the background papers, the fact is that I
voted on numerous issues from which both my husband and I benefited -- a clear violation of my oath of office,"
McCarty's resignation letter says.
The distinction about voting on some bond issues and not others appears to refer to instances such as Dec. 1, 1998. On
that day, the commission voted five times to approve bond issues for the county's Housing Finance Authority, which
used Raymond James as its bond underwriter when Kevin McCarty worked for the firm.
McCarty joined her colleagues in voting to approve four of the bond issues. But she abstained from one of the votes,
explaining in paperwork that her husband "is the associate on the account."
Kevin McCarty made some major bond decisions himself as an appointed board member of the water district, including
a stint as chairman from 2005 to 2007. They included a $1.8 billion borrowing program the board approved in October
2005 to advance the district's Everglades restoration efforts.
Kevin McCarty's actions at the water district do not appear to be a part of the federal case. In a statement Thursday, the
district said: "If any information arises during the course of this process that would indicate a need for an internal re-
view of specific proceedings during Mr. McCarty's tenure, we will of course address it immediately with a top to bot-
tom review."
Mary McCarty's resignation did not come as a complete surprise. Since the FBI conducted a search of her Delray Beach
home Sept. 26 and left with boxes of records, there has been speculation that McCarty might be pressed to leave office
before her term expires in 2010.
Gov. Charlie Crist will make an appointment to fill the seat.
County Democratic Chairman Mark Alan Siegel said he hopes Crist looks beyond GOP candidates. Siegel noted that
McCarty is one of the county's most prominent Republicans.
"The foundations of the Republican Party in Palm Beach County are being blown to smithereens," Siegel said.
County GOP Chairman Sid Dinerstein said McCarty's downfall goes beyond partisan politics.
"Here it is another Republican and so on, but I think that what everybody has realized, the general reaction is, America
has a problem. We are corrupt from coast to coast and border to border -- sometimes small, sometimes large, sometimes
not even illegal," Dinerstein said.
Page 239

Longtime McCarty friend Andre Fladell, a Delray Beach chiropractor and Democratic operative, said McCarty has
been a positive influence in south county for decades and he hopes she will be remembered that way.
"It's a moment," Fladell said of McCarty's legal woes. "But it's not a reflection of the 20 years of a person."
Dinerstein praised McCarty as a "fighter" but said she and her colleagues are leaving a bad legacy.
"This entire commission, many of whom have been with us for a long time, will not be remembered fondly. They will
be remembered for the corruption, they will be remembered for playing far too close to the line, they will be remem-
bered for raising taxes far too high," Dinerstein said. "We are not a model of good government."
Staff writer Paul Quinlan contributed to this story.
~ tony_doris@pbpost.com
The case against McCarty
These allegations are at the heart of the federal corruption charges against Palm Beach County Commissioner Mary
McCarty and her husband, Kevin:
Hotel stays: Mary McCarty accepted free and discounted stays and services at resort hotels run by Ocean Properties in
Key West and elsewhere, around the time Ocean was asking to be named developer of the county's convention center
hotel. Kevin McCarty's alleged crime: knowing about but failing to disclose freebies accepted by a public official, his
wife.
In her resignation letter Thursday, Mary McCarty says she rationalized the gratuities as 'consideration among friends.'
Disclosure: 'I voted on numerous (bond) issues from which both my husband and I benefited,' she says in her letter. And
she did not disclose the conflict.
Bonds: In 2002, she added Raymond James to the county's rotation for senior bond underwriters. She did not disclose
that Raymond James months earlier had arranged for school district underwriting to be handed off to her husband's new
employer, Bear Stearns.
What she says in her letter: 'I allowed myself to interpret ethics codes and statutory responsibilities in the light most
favorable to the outcome I desired.'
Reaction to McCarty's resignation
'Mary was a very strong influence. Not only in the county, but on lots of boards and in the city. She's gone, and that will
create a vacuum.'
-- Doak Campbell, former mayor of Delray Beach
'I think the public knows there are good people that try to do the right thing and sometimes people make mistakes.'
-- County Commissioner Shelley Vana
'I'm trying to get over it. It's really heartbreaking to me. I had no idea that it would ever come to this.'
-- County Commissioner Addie Greene
'It's a disappointment any time the county gets a black eye. ... Hopefully, this is the end. We will not have to do this
again.'
-- County Administrator Bob Weisman
'I think the federal prosecutors are here for the long haul. I think the scrutiny that the private and public sectors are fac-
ing in Palm Beach County will continue.'
-- County Commission Chairman Jeff Koons
'The foundations of the Republican Party in Palm Beach County are being blown to smithereens.'
Page 240

-- County Democratic Party Chairman Mark Alan Siegel, noting that McCarty and now-imprisoned Commissioners
Tony Masilotti and Warren Newell had been Republicans (Newell switched to the Democratic Party in 2007)
'America has a problem. We are corrupt from coast to coast and border to border -- sometimes small, sometimes large,
sometimes not even illegal. ... Clearly, here in Palm Beach County, we elect too many people who are not really inter-
ested in good government. ... Mary and people before her and maybe people after her didn't even think about these rela-
tionships and some of these people that were benefiting them.'
-- County GOP Chairman Sid Dinerstein
'Although this news saddens me for your sake and the sake of your family, your attitude is refreshing, forthright and
courageous. I truly hope the consequences to you and your family is minimized.'
-- Palm Beach County School Board member Monroe Benaim, in an e-mail to McCarty's office
Culture of corruption
Mary McCarty is the fifth elected official in Palm Beach County since 2006 to abruptly resign while facing a federal
criminal investigation. A look at the others:
Tony Masilotti
County commissioner
Crimes: Made $1.3 million on a hidden interest in a Martin County land deal with the South Florida Water Management
District; took nearly $8 million worth of land in exchange for helping a landowner get permission to develop 2,000
homes near Loxahatchee; took $50,000 to pressure the Diocese of Palm Beach to sell land in Royal Palm Beach to his
associates.
Sentence: Five years in federal prison; ordered to pay a $25,000 fine and forfeit $175,000, along with land worth more
than $9 million, after pleading guilty to honest services fraud in January 2007.
Jim Exline
West Palm Beach city commissioner
Crimes: Took $50,000 from developer John Sansbury without disclosing it, then hid the income from the IRS by fun-
neling it through a jewelry store.
Sentence: 10 months in prison in June 2007 after pleading guilty to willfully failing to report income. He was released
in April.
Ray Liberti
West Palm Beach city commissioner
Crimes: Took $66,000 and a $2,000 watch as payoffs while filing false complaints with city agencies against the owners
of a massage parlor and a nightclub. Liberti was trying to force the properties' owners to sell them, partly so the mas-
sage parlor could be turned into a brothel, federal authorities said.
Sentence: 18 months in federal prison in October 2006 after pleading guilty to mail fraud and witness tampering. He
was released last year.
Warren Newell
County commissioner
Crimes: Pushed the county's $14 million purchase of development rights from a Hypoluxo marina without disclosing
that he owed its owners $48,092; used his public office to increase the value of a 7-acre site in Lake Worth without dis-
closing that he was once a partner in the company that owned it; received secret profits from a $217 million state reser-
voir project in Loxahatchee after voting to spend county money studying the proposal.
Sentence: Five years in federal prison in January 2008 after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit honest services
fraud.
About the charge
Page 241

County Commissioner Mary McCarty said in her resignation letter that she would plead guilty to 'committing an honest
services fraud.'
What is the honest services law? A 28-word addendum to the federal mail and wire fraud law enacted in 1988 that has
become a popular tool for federal prosecutors in public corruption and white-collar crime cases.
Who has been convicted with it? Media tycoon Conrad Black, Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling, lobbyist Jack Abramoff,
U.S. Reps. Randy 'Duke' Cunningham and Bob Ney, and Palm Beach County Commissioners Tony Masilotti and War-
ren Newell.
What does it say? In short, it defines as illegal a 'scheme or artifice to deprive another of the intangible right of honest
services.'
Any complaints about it? Defense lawyers say it is unconstitutionally vague. It has not been struck down, but the 2nd
Circuit Court of Appeals in New York wrote that 'the plain meaning of honest services ... simply provides no clue to the
public or the courts as to what conduct is prohibited under the statute.'


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

NOTES: MARY McCARTY RESIGNS Info boxes at end of text.

GRAPHIC: PHOTO (1 C & 5 B&W)
1. (C) DAMON HIGGINS/2007 staff file photo Mary McCarty is the fifth local elected official in three years to resign
amid a federal corruption investigation. 2. (B&W) DAMON HIGGINS/Staff Photographer An airport official removes a
portrait of Mary McCarty from Palm Beach International Airport's east wing late Thursday afternoon. 3. (B&W) Jim
Exline 4. (B&W) Tony Masilotti 5. (B&W) Ray Liberti 6. (B&W) Warren Newell


All Rights Reserved
Page 242





Delray Beach reeling over resignation of County Commissioner Mary McCarty:
She played the role of politcal powerbroker in the city for many years



LENGTH: 548 words

Jan. 9--DELRAY BEACH -- This city's daughter has fallen from grace.
News that County Commissioner Mary McCarty resigned Thursday from her post and will plead guilty to honest ser-
vices fraud had folks mourning the demise of one the city's most vocal, aggressive and powerful politicians.
"This whole thing is a shock," Mayor Rita Ellis said. "Mary has been such an influence on our city and has always
looked after it."
McCarty, 54, rose to prominence in Delray Beach after she organized and performed in a 75th anniversary celebration
of Delray Beach's founding in 1986. McCarty dressed as a city "foremother" and walked around town issuing "punish-
ments," such as mock citations and jail orders, to those who weren't following commands.
At her beach bungalow on Vista Del Mar Drive Thursday, the shutters were closed and none of her neighbors opened
their doors to comment.
"I've known her for 25 years and I'm really saddened by this," said Bruce Gimmy, owner of The Trouser Shop down-
town. "But I always felt they should have had term limits in the County Commission years ago -- you know, it's the
big-frog-in-a-small-pond syndrome that got her."
At 32, she won a seat on the City Commission in 1987, when Delray Beach was beginning what would become an al-
most-two-decade transformation. Though she was elected to the County Commission in 1990, McCarty kept an eye on
Delray Beach politics, playing the role of a political powerbroker. Friends and foes alike said she has held sway in local
elections and in city and county votes.
"Mary has served as a person who has coordinated lots of local politics," said Andre Fladell, a political activist and
friend.
Fladell said her influence in the city has been undeniable, from awarding grants to lobbying on its behalf.
Federal prosecutors and the FBI has been investigating corruption among county commissioners for more than two
years. Former commissioners Tony Masilotti and Warren Newell are serving federal prison sentences for public corrup-
tion, profiting from their elected positions.
Some wondered how far the investigations would go.
"It's endemic," Briny Breezes Mayor Roger Bennett said of the recent corruption investigations. "I hope it doesn't come
down the food chain."
McCarty was both the elected official who attended meetings and voted on county issues and the behind-the-scenes
person who could make or break candidates aspiring to public office.
Page 243
Delray Beach reeling over resignation of County Commissioner Mary McCarty: She played the role of politcal
powerbroker in the city for many years South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale) January 9, 2009 Friday

"She has been very effective in making Delray Beach the All-America City that it is," said former Delray Beach mayor
Jay Alperin. "Over the years ,there have been advantages to having a resident on the [County] Commission and chances
are that will not be the case in the future," City Manager David Harden said. "Hopefully we can cultivate a positive re-
lationship with her replacement."


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

ACC-NO: 20090109-FL-Delray-Beach-reeling-over-resignation-of-County-Commissioner-Mary-McCarty-0109


JOURNAL-CODE: FL

Page 244



Palm Beach Edition

DELRAY IS REELING FROM MCCARTY'S RESIGNATION;
SHE PLAYED THE ROLE OF POLITCAL POWERBROKER IN THE CITY
FOR MANY YEARS



LENGTH: 899 words


This city's daughter has fallen from grace.
News that County Commissioner Mary McCarty resigned Thursday from her post and will plead guilty to honest ser-
vices fraud had folks mourning the demise of one the city's most vocal, aggressive and powerful politicians.
"This whole thing is a shock," Mayor Rita Ellis said. "Mary has been such an influence on our city and has always
looked after it."
McCarty, 54, rose to prominence in Delray Beach after she organized and performed in a 75th anniversary celebration
of Delray Beach's founding in 1986. McCarty dressed as a city "foremother" and walked around town issuing "punish-
ments," such as mock citations and jail orders, to those who weren't following commands.
At her beach bungalow on Vista Del Mar Drive Thursday, the shutters were closed and none of her neighbors opened
their doors to comment.
"I've known her for 25 years and I'm really saddened by this," said Bruce Gimmy, owner of The Trouser Shop down-
town. "But I always felt they should have had term limits in the County Commission years ago - you know, it's the
big-frog-in-a-small-pond syndrome that got her."
At 32, she won a seat on the City Commission in 1987, when Delray Beach was beginning what would become an al-
most-two-decade transformation. Though she was elected to the County Commission in 1990, McCarty kept an eye on
Delray Beach politics, playing the role of a political powerbroker. Friends and foes alike said she has held sway in local
elections and in city and county votes.
"Mary has served as a person who has coordinated lots of local politics," said Andre Fladell, a political activist and
friend.
Fladell said her influence in the city has been undeniable, from awarding grants to lobbying on its behalf.
Federal prosecutors and the FBI has been investigating corruption among county commissioners for more than two
years. Former commissioners Tony Masilotti and Warren Newell are serving federal prison sentences for public corrup-
tion, profiting from their elected positions.
Some wondered how far the investigations would go.
"It's endemic," Briny Breezes Mayor Roger Bennett said of the recent corruption investigations. "I hope it doesn't come
down the food chain."
Page 245
DELRAY IS REELING FROM MCCARTY'S RESIGNATION; SHE PLAYED THE ROLE OF POLITCAL
POWERBROKER IN THE CITY FOR MANY YEARS Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) January 9, 2009
Friday

McCarty was both the elected official who attended meetings and voted on county issues and the behind-the-scenes
person who could make or break candidates aspiring to public office.
"She has been very effective in making Delray Beach the All-America City that it is," said former Delray Beach mayor
Jay Alperin. "Over the years ,there have been advantages to having a resident on the [County] Commission and chances
are that will not be the case in the future," City Manager David Harden said. "Hopefully we can cultivate a positive re-
lationship with her replacement."
INFORMATIONAL BOX:
Mary McCarty
General: 37-year county resident
Background: University of Florida, bachelor's degree in journalism
Personal: Married Kevin McCarty in 1980.
Career: Was serving her fifth and final term for Palm Beach County Commission District 4
Delray Beach City Commissioner and Vice Mayor 1987-1990
Recent controversies:
September: McCarty's home is searched by FBI agents, who take pictures of the house and the cars and leave with box-
es of documents.
May 2007: Disgraced former County Commissioner Tony Masilotti blames McCarty for his downfall, claiming that his
ex-wife, Susan, met with McCarty and gave McCarty damning documents that led to his "loss of employment and in-
carceration" and hampered his ability to pay his alimony.
March 2007: McCarty helped galvanize opposition to Ocean Land Investments' plan to replace 488 mobile homes in the
seaside community with 900 condominiums, 300 time shares and a 349-room hotel. The deal collapses.
December 2005: Florida Ethics Commission fines McCarty $3,750 for accepting six improper donations from lobbyists
to a legal defense fund.
2004: Masilotti demanded an investigation of McCarty for possible conflicts of interest, questioning whether she should
vote on certain zoning issues because her husband was a manager for Bear Stearns, which has done bond work on de-
velopment issues in the county. McCarty denied voting on issues involving her husband's business.
Compiled by Staff Researcher Barbara Hijek
Sources: SunSentinel archives, Palm Beach County Commission Web site
Hotel firm in scandal's eye
Ocean Properties, the family-owned firm at the center of the McCarty scandal, operates 100 hotels and resorts from Key
West to Canada.
The company is controlled by Thomas, Michael, and Mark Walsh.
Its many properties in South Florida include the Delray Beach Marriott, the Jupiter Beach Resort & Spa, and the Hol-
lywood Beach Marriott.
In 2005, Hollywood commissioners selected Ocean Properties to build a $100 million Marriott Ocean Village and Re-
sort on the beach at Johnson Street, but the project has been fraught with delays.
Hollywood Commissioner Fran Russo came under fire in October for asking the Walshes for a $10,000 donation to the
Boys & Girls Club of Broward County. The Walshes agreed. The city's ethics training warns against such solicitations.
In 2004, the Palm Beach County Commission selected Ocean Properties to build a convention center hotel, but the
commission killed the deal in October 2008.
The company also has hotels in Maine, where McCarty has a second home. - Megan O'Matz
Page 246
DELRAY IS REELING FROM MCCARTY'S RESIGNATION; SHE PLAYED THE ROLE OF POLITCAL
POWERBROKER IN THE CITY FOR MANY YEARS Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) January 9, 2009
Friday


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


GRAPHIC: Photo(s) Graphic(s)
The Delray Beach home of Palm Beach County Commissioner Mary McCarty and her husband, Kevin. The shutters
were closed Thursday and none of the neighbors would comment on her resignation and forthcoming criminal charges.
Mark Randall, Sun Sentinel file


All Rights Reserved
Page 247





PBC Commissioner McCarty resigns, plans to plead guilty to fraud

BYLINE: Andy Reid, Sun Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.


LENGTH: 656 words

Jan. 8--PALM BEACH COUNTY -- County Commissioner Mary McCarty resigned today and plans to plead guilty to
honest services fraud.
McCarty, 54, becomes the third county commissioner in recent years to resign as a result of corruption charges.
In her resignation letter, McCarty said she accepted free and discounted hotel rooms and services. She also said she
failed to recuse herself from bond issues that benefited her husband's employers and "through them both my husband
and me."
"I am disgusted with myself for, once again, placing the commission that I respect so much in an untenable situation."
The resignation takes effect at 5 p.m. today.
McCarty, who was elected to the commission in 1990, is known as a blunt-talking leader who has kept control of south
county Republican Party politics. She was chairwoman of the county Republican Party during the 2000 presidential
recount. And she has built an impressive network of friends and enemies.
Her husband, Kevin McCarty, is an executive in public finance and served on the Delray Beach Community Redevel-
opment Agency Board before becoming chairman of the governing board of the South Florida Water Management Dis-
trict.
He has handled city bond underwriting for Delray Beach and Boynton Beach, which are within his wife's commission
district.
In a news release and a letter to fellow county commissioners, McCarty said she failed to recuse myself on bond issues
that would benefited the company that employed her husband.
She also, on multiple occasions, failed to disclose free and discounted hotel rooms she received from a company that
had business with Palm Beach County, she said.
"I rationalized these actions by interpreting their impact in a manner most favorable to me and not that most favorable to
the community I was elected to serve," she wrote. "These were inexcusable and, in fact, criminal acts-something for
which I should be prosecuted and for which I bear full responsibility."
McCarty said she was "sickened" that her violations will bring more scrutiny to the County Commission, especially in
light of similar prosecutions of County Commissioners Tony Masilotti and Warren Newell and West Palm Beach City
Commissioners Ray Liberti and Jim Exline.
"It is my sincere hope that by accepting responsibility for my actions and not making excuses, I will minimize the dam-
age that my prosecution will inflict upon Palm Beach County."
McCarty said federal prosecutors have indicated she will serve "a significant term" in prison.
Page 248
PBC Commissioner McCarty resigns, plans to plead guilty to fraud South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale)

In her letter, she said there were "a few things that I can do to make amends to this community," but did not elaborate.
"It is my sincere desire to ultimately receive the forgiveness of each County Commissioner and the community from
which I was elected to serve. I realize that this forgiveness will be earned, by deed and not word. Please keep both me
and my family in your thoughts as we work through the challenges I have brought down upon our heads."
McCarty has, in recent years, been a go-to person when it comes to getting things done in Delray Beach.
"The answer is always Mary," Andre Fladell, a Delray Beach chiropractor and activist, said recently.
McCarty served on the Delray Beach City Commission from 1987 to 1990, the year she was elected to the County
Commission.
Her career in politics started in 1974 as an intern for a famous Democrat: the late Tip O'Neill, the former U.S. House
speaker who is famously known for his motto: "All politics is local."Financial disclosure reports show McCarty is a
millionaire.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

ACC-NO: 20090108-FL-PBC-Commissioner-McCarty-resigns-plans-to-plead-guilty-to-fraud-0108


JOURNAL-CODE: FL

Page 249





A Republican kingmaker on Democratic turf: Mary McCarty, a county commis-
sioner since 1990, faces new challenges after a recent FBI search of her home
and corruption convictions of two commission colleagues.

BYLINE: Mark Hollis and Maria Herrera, Sun Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.


LENGTH: 1178 words

Oct. 26--When federal agents searched the Delray Beach home of Palm Beach County Commissioner Mary McCarty
last month, they entered the domain of one of South Florida's most powerful political figures, whose tactics have
prompted envy and fear during her two decades of public life.
The Sept. 25 search of the home of McCarty and her husband, Kevin McCarty, an executive in public finance, has re-
newed speculation about South County politics and the McCartys' role.
What's known is that Mary McCarty is a blunt-talking leader who has kept control of south county Republican Party
politics. She has recruited and endorsed candidates. She was chairwoman of the county Republican Party during the
2000 presidential recount. And she has built an impressive network of friends and enemies.
Kevin McCarty served on the Delray Beach Community Redevelopment Agency Board before becoming chairman of
the governing board of the South Florida Water Management District. He has handled city bond underwriting for Delray
Beach and Boynton Beach, which are within his wife's commission district. Since 1997, at least five bond sales have
been underwritten by McCarty's firm.
Mary McCarty faces no charges and has said she has done nothing to warrant a federal investigation, or the FBI search.
She declined to be interviewed for this article. Her attorney, David Bogenschutz of Fort Lauderdale, said he has no in-
formation to share about McCarty other than that he will represent her. The FBI has not commented.
Amid these developments, the term-limited District 4 commissioner faces a new challenge: How to conduct public
business and maintain effectiveness as a commissioner despite substantial publicity about the FBI search, including
news reports about her husband's financial dealings with some local governments.
McCarty's approach has been to follow her prior routines, including participating in robust debate at County Commis-
sion meetings.
But she faces an added challenge: Public skepticism of county government in the wake of investigations into at least
two of her former commission colleagues. Warren Newell and Tony Masilotti are serving five-year prison sentences
after pleading guilty to federal corruption charges.
But regardless of how McCarty's image is shaped for the future, her past, say supporters and critics alike, is that of a
major political powerbroker. They say she has held sway in local elections and in city and county votes. And at least in
recent years, she's been a go-to person when it comes to getting things done in Delray Beach.
"The answer is always Mary," says Andre Fladell, a Delray Beach chiropractor, activist and McCarty ally.
Page 250
A Republican kingmaker on Democratic turf: Mary McCarty, a county commissioner since 1990, faces new challenges
after a recent FBI search of her home and corruption convictions of two commission colleagues. South Florida
Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale) October 26, 2008 Sunday

McCarty, 56, served on the Delray Beach City Commission from 1987 to 1990, the year she was elected to the County
Commission.
Her career in politics began in 1974 as an intern for a famous Democrat: the late Tip O'Neill, the former U.S. House
speaker who is famously known for his motto: "All politics is local" -- a theme that many who know McCarty say she
rigidly observes.
Fladell says McCarty is the "coordinator" of a political network she established. She's also a millionaire, according to
financial disclosure reports.
Before politics, McCarty worked several bar jobs, including one at the now defunct Bootleggers in Fort Lauderdale, and
later in Delray Beach. But it wasn't long before she ventured into public life.
Her public recognition in south county first came in 1986, when she organized and performed in a 75th anniversary
celebration of Delray Beach's founding. McCarty dressed as a city "foremother" and walked around town issuing "pun-
ishments," such as mock citations and jail orders, to those who weren't following commands.
Today, McCarty has something of a real foremother role in Delray Beach. She's widely praised, for instance, for com-
manding the revitalization of the city's downtown. "From start to finish, she deserves the majority of that credit," Fladell
says. "Mary led the change, had the vision. She changed the look and economics of Delray Beach."
Unlike McCarty, most of south county's political kingmakers are Democrats, such as U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler and
County Commissioner Burt Aaronson. Yet even they are impressed by McCarty's sway.
Says Aaronson: "Politicians go into areas and control the politics below them and around them the best they can. It's not
unusual. But Mary has been a far more influential and powerful Republican force within her areas than others."
In 2006, City Commission candidate Nick Loeb, a Republican, ran without McCarty's blessing. That year, he says,
McCarty and former Mayor Jeff Perlman met him at a Panera Bread cafe in Delray Beach and asked him not to run.
"They said I should apply for city boards first," Loeb said. "I told them I had been applying for a year and I never got
picked." Without McCarty's help, Loeb ran an aggressive campaign that got him within 53 votes of the seat.
This fall, McCarty said she'd buck her party and back Democrat Joseph Abruzzo for a state House race on the Nov. 4
ballot against Republican attorney Howard Coates. The move angered some local GOP leaders.
Two years ago, Abruzzo dropped his challenge of McCarty in a County Commission race the day before the candi-
date-filing deadline, leaving Democrats without another contender and giving McCarty a win to re-election unopposed.
McCarty foes question her tactics of governing, such as her sharp rebukes at County Commission meetings of residents
who challenge or criticize her positions, or those of the commission overall. Others pay compliments to her style and
commitment to public service. "She's tough. She'll fight like hell to get what she wants," said Aaronson.
Still, some Republican politicians have risen to power without McCarty's help. Among them: state Rep. Adam Hasner,
R-Boca Raton, the state House majority leader, who contends that he's not at odds but not close with McCarty. He adds
that "there's a natural friction between state and local policymakers" that helps explain why they haven't always seen
eye to eye.
Another is County Commissioner Bob Kanjian, who hasn't received McCarty's endorsement for his campaign against
Democratic state Rep. Shelley Vana for the commission seat he was appointed to last August.
"People in power in Palm Beach County are much more enamored with the power than they are with what they do with
that power," said Kanjian. "What I have found is that everything that goes on around here appears to always be a bit of a
power deal. And Mary McCarty has tried to consolidate the power ... She's about keeping that power inside."
Mark Hollis can be reached at mhollis@SunSentinel.com or 561-228-5512.

Page 251
A Republican kingmaker on Democratic turf: Mary McCarty, a county commissioner since 1990, faces new challenges
after a recent FBI search of her home and corruption convictions of two commission colleagues. South Florida
Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale) October 26, 2008 Sunday

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

ACC-NO: 20081026-FL-A-Republican-kingmaker-on-Democratic-turf-1026


JOURNAL-CODE: FL

Page 252



Palm Beach Edition

A GOP KINGMAKER ON DEMOCRATIC TURF;
MARY MCCARTY, A COUNTY COMMISSIONER SINCE 1990, FACES
NEW CHALLENGES AFTER A RECENT FBI SEARCH AND CORRUPTION
CONVICTIONS OF TWO COMMISSION COLLEAGUES.

BYLINE: Mark Hollis and Maria Herrera Staff Writers


LENGTH: 1123 words

When federal agents searched the Delray Beach home of Palm Beach County Commissioner Mary McCarty last month,
they entered the domain of one of South Florida's most powerful political figures, whose tactics have prompted envy
and fear during her two decades of public life.
The Sept. 25 search of the home of McCarty and her husband, Kevin McCarty, an executive in public finance, has re-
newed speculation about South County politics and the McCartys' role.
What's known is that Mary McCarty is a blunt-talking leader who has kept control of south county Republican Party
politics. She has recruited and endorsed candidates. She was chairwoman of the county Republican Party during the
2000 presidential recount. And she has built an impressive network of friends and enemies.
Kevin McCarty served on the Delray Beach Community Redevelopment Agency Board before becoming chairman of
the governing board of the South Florida Water Management District. He has handled city bond underwriting for Delray
Beach and Boynton Beach, which are within his wife's commission district. Since 1997, at least five bond sales have
been underwritten by McCarty's firm.
Mary McCarty faces no charges and has said she has done nothing to warrant a federal investigation, or the FBI search.
She declined to be interviewed for this article. Her attorney, David Bogenschutz of Fort Lauderdale, said he has no in-
formation to share about McCarty other than that he will represent her. The FBI has not commented.
Amid these developments, the term-limited District 4 commissioner faces a new challenge: How to conduct public
business and maintain effectiveness as a commissioner despite substantial publicity about the FBI search, including
news reports about her husband's financial dealings with some local governments.
McCarty's approach has been to follow her prior routines, including participating in robust debate at County Commis-
sion meetings.
But she faces an added challenge: Public skepticism of county government in the wake of investigations into at least
two of her former commission colleagues. Warren Newell and Tony Masilotti are serving five-year prison sentences
after pleading guilty to federal corruption charges.
But regardless of how McCarty's image is shaped for the future, her past, say supporters and critics alike, is that of a
major political powerbroker. They say she has held sway in local elections and in city and county votes. And at least in
recent years, she's been a go-to person when it comes to getting things done in Delray Beach.
"The answer is always Mary," says Andre Fladell, a Delray Beach chiropractor, activist and McCarty ally.
Page 253
A GOP KINGMAKER ON DEMOCRATIC TURF; MARY MCCARTY, A COUNTY COMMISSIONER SINCE
1990, FACES NEW CHALLENGES AFTER A RECENT FBI SEARCH AND CORRUPTION CONVICTIONS OF
TWO COMMISSION COLLEAGUES. Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) October 26, 2008 Sunday

McCarty, 56, served on the Delray Beach City Commission from 1987 to 1990, the year she was elected to the County
Commission.
Her career in politics began in 1974 as an intern for a famous Democrat: the late Tip O'Neill, the former U.S. House
speaker who is famously known for his motto: "All politics is local" - a theme that many who know McCarty say she
rigidly observes.
Fladell says McCarty is the "coordinator" of a political network she established. She's also a millionaire, according to
financial disclosure reports.
Before politics, McCarty worked several bar jobs, including one at the now defunct Bootleggers in Fort Lauderdale, and
later in Delray Beach. But it wasn't long before she ventured into public life.
Her public recognition in south county first came in 1986, when she organized and performed in a 75th anniversary
celebration of Delray Beach's founding. McCarty dressed as a city "foremother" and walked around town issuing "pun-
ishments," such as mock citations and jail orders, to those who weren't following commands.
Today, McCarty has something of a real foremother role in Delray Beach. She's widely praised, for instance, for com-
manding the revitalization of the city's downtown. "From start to finish, she deserves the majority of that credit," Fladell
says. "Mary led the change, had the vision. She changed the look and economics of Delray Beach."
Unlike McCarty, most of south county's political kingmakers are Democrats, such as U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler and
County Commissioner Burt Aaronson. Yet even they are impressed by McCarty's sway.
Says Aaronson: "Politicians go into areas and control the politics below them and around them the best they can. It's not
unusual. But Mary has been a far more influential and powerful Republican force within her areas than others."
In 2006, City Commission candidate Nick Loeb, a Republican, ran without McCarty's blessing. That year, he says,
McCarty and former Mayor Jeff Perlman met him at a Panera Bread cafe in Delray Beach and asked him not to run.
"They said I should apply for city boards first," Loeb said. "I told them I had been applying for a year and I never got
picked." Without McCarty's help, Loeb ran an aggressive campaign that got him within 53 votes of the seat.
This fall, McCarty said she'd buck her party and back Democrat Joseph Abruzzo for a state House race on the Nov. 4
ballot against Republican attorney Howard Coates. The move angered some local GOP leaders.
Two years ago, Abruzzo dropped his challenge of McCarty in a County Commission race the day before the candi-
date-filing deadline, leaving Democrats without another contender and giving McCarty a win to re-election unopposed.
McCarty foes question her tactics of governing, such as her sharp rebukes at County Commission meetings of residents
who challenge or criticize her positions, or those of the commission overall. Others pay compliments to her style and
commitment to public service. "She's tough. She'll fight like hell to get what she wants," said Aaronson.
Still, some Republican politicians have risen to power without McCarty's help. Among them: state Rep. Adam Hasner,
R-Boca Raton, the state House majority leader, who contends that he's not at odds but not close with McCarty. He adds
that "there's a natural friction between state and local policymakers" that helps explain why they haven't always seen
eye to eye.
Another is County Commissioner Bob Kanjian, who hasn't received McCarty's endorsement for his campaign against
Democratic state Rep. Shelley Vana for the commission seat he was appointed to last August.
"People in power in Palm Beach County are much more enamored with the power than they are with what they do with
that power," said Kanjian. "What I have found is that everything that goes on around here appears to always be a bit of a
power deal. And Mary McCarty has tried to consolidate the power ... She's about keeping that power inside."
Mark Hollis can be reached at mhollis@SunSentinel.com or 561-228-5512.
Read more about Mary McCarty and Palm Beach County politics on our blog, sunsentinel.com/palmbeachpolitics


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

Page 254
A GOP KINGMAKER ON DEMOCRATIC TURF; MARY MCCARTY, A COUNTY COMMISSIONER SINCE
1990, FACES NEW CHALLENGES AFTER A RECENT FBI SEARCH AND CORRUPTION CONVICTIONS OF
TWO COMMISSION COLLEAGUES. Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) October 26, 2008 Sunday

GRAPHIC: Photo(s)
Law enforcement agents searched the Delray Beach house of Palm Beach County Commissioner Mary McCarty and her
husband Kevin on Sept. 25. She faces no charges and has said she has done nothing to warrant a federal investigation,
or the FBI search. Mark Randall, Sun Sentinel


All Rights Reserved
Page 255



October 20, 2008 Monday
FINAL EDITION

HAUNTED BY HANGING CHADS, ELECTIONS JOB NOT FOR TIMID

BYLINE: By KIMBERLY MILLER Palm Beach Post Staff Writer


LENGTH: 1294 words

How the beleaguered Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Office handles next month's vote may be of more
immediate importance to the public than who will take over the seemingly cursed supervisor's seat in January.
With incumbent Arthur Anderson knocked out of the running in the August primary, two candidates are left vying for
the post, which comes with so much baggage that many people's first question to the candidates is: "Why do you want
this job?"
Both term-limited state Rep. Susan Bucher, D-West Palm Beach, and Wellington Village Councilman Robert Margolis
say their goal is to restore confidence in a system beset with memories of hanging chads, changing vote systems and the
recent trauma of a weeks-long recount of a judicial race in the Aug. 26 primary election.
Anderson announced this month that he has incurable blood cancer, and Assistant County Administrator Brad Merriman
has all but taken over the supervisor's office -- a move made when elections officials could not reconcile a 3,500-vote
difference in a primary recount.
Bucher and Margolis are registered Democrats, but because the elections supervisor's seat is nonpartisan, their names
will appear on the Nov. 4 ballot without any party affiliation. Early voting begins today.
Bucher would seem to be the front-runner in the race, earning 48 percent of the vote in the primary. Margolis got 26
percent of the vote, and Anderson snared 25 percent.
An eight-year legislator, Bucher touts her political experience and knowledge of election law, which she helped write,
as a benefit to the supervisor's seat. She has amassed $92,196 in campaign contributions, compared with Margolis'
$49,280.
Bucher also has collected a series of endorsements, winning support from the voters coalition, the Palm Beach County
Police Benevolent Association and the Human Rights Council.
She is popular with Democrats, earning a reputation in Tallahassee as a fighter who stood up to the Republican majority
and as a close reader of lengthy bills.
"Susan seems to have a better grasp of the nitty-gritty and has a reputation as a nitty-gritty detail person," said Mark
Alan Siegel, president of the Democratic Club of Boca Raton and Delray Beach, which also endorsed Bucher. "The
problem has been a lack of command over detail in the supervisor's office, and Susan seems to offer the best attention to
detail."
Margolis has his list of influential supporters, including Democratic Party activist Andre Fladell and former Delray
Beach Mayor Jeff Perlman. Both say they favor the Procter & Gamble account manager because of his business skills
and the belief that he would be fair to both Republicans and Democrats.
Other Margolis fans include BIZPAC and the West Boca Chamber of Commerce.
Page 256
HAUNTED BY HANGING CHADS, ELECTIONS JOB NOT FOR TIMID Palm Beach Post (Florida) October 20,
2008 Monday

"Bob is a very solid public servant, a smart guy, and is not very partisan," Perlman said.
"I have nothing against Susan. She's done a lot of good things, but I think this should be a nonpolitical position, and I
think Bob is a fair person who can do a good job."
Bucher said she would relinquish her political partisanship as supervisor, knowing the office must serve all sides with-
out bias.
"I have carried my party's banner for a long time," she said at a recent north county Republican club meeting. "I'm
looking to put that banner down. There will be a wide-open door for everyone."
Margolis' critics, meanwhile, complain that he does not know enough about elections law or how the supervisor's office
works.
"Susan has a real working knowledge of it in a way that Mr. Margolis does not," Siegel said.
Margolis points to Merriman's ability to manage the office as affirmation of what a businessman can do.
In 24 years at Procter & Gamble, Margolis said, he has trained countless employees -- an experience he believes would
help him with poll worker training -- and has worked under deadline pressure to roll out new products.
"It was quite evident when Merriman took over, things were corrected within a few days," Margolis said. "We've been
telling voters all along that the office should be run like a business, efficiently and effectively."
Bucher's critics say her vote count in the primary is not a good predictor of who will win on Nov. 4 because she bene-
fited from a lower voter turnout and a three-way race in which both she and Anderson carried name recognition.
Bucher also has been dogged by concerns about her voter registration records and multiple address changes that she
made in trying to stay within her state House District 88 territory.
The issue, said Margolis campaign consultant Beth Rawlins, is not that she didn't live in her district, but that addresses
she listed on her voter registration card allegedly were not her true residence.
Bucher and her husband have a homesteaded house in Boynton Beach that they bought in 1994. Since her 2000 election,
she has been listed at about eight other residences.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement confirmed that it received a complaint about Bucher in September, but
department officials would not say what the complaint was about or who filed it.
Rawlins said she has been interviewed by FDLE investigators, but she declined to discuss any details.
"Where you live, being the basis of where you vote, is our representative democracy at its most elemental level,"
Rawlins said. "How could she possibly ever challenge anyone's voter registration after the record she has made?"
Bucher said she has not been told the nature of the FDLE complaint and has not been contacted by law enforcement
officials.
She's not concerned about her address changes.
"I think it's a political ploy," she said of the complaint.
The race is countywide, meaning a candidate's residence can be anywhere in Palm Beach County.
Bucher also has to defend herself against an August complaint Margolis filed to the Florida Elections Commission that
claims illegal wording on her political ads.
"We saw some hypocrisy in it when one promotes themselves as the end-all, be-all when it comes to knowing Florida
election law," Margolis said of filing the complaint.
The commission deemed the alleged violation "minor" and offered Bucher a chance to agree to a consent order, which
is not public information until finalized.
~ kimberly_miller@pbpost.com
Palm Beach County supervisor of elections
Page 257
HAUNTED BY HANGING CHADS, ELECTIONS JOB NOT FOR TIMID Palm Beach Post (Florida) October 20,
2008 Monday

Voters will choose between Susan Bucher and Robert Margolis in the nonpartisan race. The election is Nov. 4. Early
voting begins today. Term: Four years. Annual salary: $134,435.
Susan Marie Bucher
Personal: 49, of Boynton Beach; married; some college courses
Professional: Former legislative assistant;former director of building, planning and zoning for Palm Springs;former
Westgate/Belvedere Homes Community Redevelopment Agency director
Political: State representative, 2000-08
Issues: Wants to return management of the supervisor of elections officebudget to the Palm Beach County clerk of the
court; would allow the clerk to audit the office; not sure whether a proposal to make the elections supervisor an ap-
pointed position, instead of an elected one, is a good idea; wants the supervisor's office to be more transparentand more
accountable to the public; concerned that voter participation is low because of inefficient and late election results
Robert S. Margolis
Personal: 57, of Wellington; married, one child; bachelor's degree fromHofstra University, Hempstead, N.Y.
Professional: Account manager for Procter & Gamble for 24 years
Political: Six-year Wellington councilman;servedon the village'sparks and recreation advisory board
Issues: Wants to return management of the supervisor of elections officebudget to the Palm Beach County clerk; would
allow the clerk to audit the office; supports making the elections supervisor an appointed position; wants fair and accu-
rate election results in a timely manner


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

NOTES: Info box at end of text.

1. Susan Marie Bucher (mug) 2. Robert S. Margolis (mug)


All Rights Reserved
Page 258



FINAL EDITION

FBI RAID ILLUMINATES MCCARTY'S SPLIT WITH TOP ALLY

BYLINE: By PAUL QUINLAN Palm Beach Post Staff Writer


LENGTH: 1343 words

Palm Beach County Commissioner Mary McCarty's falling-out with her former political adviser marks the breakup of a
once-powerful political alliance, an intriguing subplot in the FBI's ongoing investigation into local pay-to-play politics.
Political consultant J. Blake MacDiarmid ran McCarty's 2002 reelection campaign, and the two Republicans went on to
serve as political kingmakers in south county elections, allies and rivals say.
But on the day the FBI raided McCarty's Delray Beach home Sept. 26, MacDiarmid revealed he had been cooperating
with federal investigators since last spring.
McCarty's initial reaction to the raid was one sign of the friction between them: She told reporters that the agents had
been seeking documents about MacDiarmid.
"Blake MacDiarmid's name is on the search warrant," said McCarty, who was vacationing in Maine at the time. "His
was the only name."
But MacDiarmid countered with a letter from federal prosecutors that thanked him for his cooperation and assured him
he's not a target.
"They raided her house, not mine," he said.
McCarty's suggestion that the feds' interest centered on MacDiarmid "affected my reputation in the community," he said
later. He calls her comments part of a campaign to disparage him and undermine his business.
MacDiarmid says McCarty, who has talked about becoming a consultant after leaving the commission in 2010, is trying
to rid herself of future competition.
"I think part of the reason Mary has decided she doesn't like me anymore is because I don't play her type of politics," he
said. "The gutter is littered with folks who Mary decided are expendable."
Her response: "His premise is inaccurate and delusional."
"I haven't really decided yet," McCarty said of her post-commission plans. "Apparently, Blake MacDiarmid is the only
one worried about what my plans are."
She declined to comment further.
MacDiarmid says federal agents originally contacted him. But some McCarty allies view MacDiarmid's apparent role in
the FBI search as evidence that he is working to take her down.
"You would think there had been some loyalty," said Boynton Beach Mayor Jerry Taylor, a former longtime aide to
McCarty. "You know, if you have differences and you have a little falling-out, that's one thing. You go your separate
ways. But you don't go out and try to take somebody apart."
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Sunday

After MacDiarmid helped McCarty win a fourth commission term in 2002, the pair worked as a team. Party insiders and
south county politicos considered the pair's support all but essential to successful candidacies. Along with Republican
political operative Jack Furnari, a McCarty adversary-turned-ally, the commissioner and MacDiarmid "had their people
in the Delray-Boca area, and it worked," said county GOP Chairman Sid Dinerstein.
"They were the kingmakers," Dinerstein said. "They could recruit people to run on the next city council. They could
gather the campaign money. They were very influential."
Beginning with former Boca Raton Mayor Steve Abrams' 1993 victory in a city council race, MacDiarmid, 41, has
helped a long list of candidates win office, including Taylor, County Commissioner Karen Marcus, state Reps. Adam
Hasner and Ellyn Bogdanoff, state Sen. Jeff Atwater and several city commissioners in south county.
"The two kind of went hand-in-hand for a couple years," said West Palm Beach Democratic political consultant Richard
Giorgio. "For the most part, she would seek out and identify folks that she wanted to run in different seats, and Blake
would usually be the one to run those campaigns."
Since 2001, candidates for state office, political committees and the state GOP have paid MacDiarmid and his wife,
Dorothy, a total of $98,368 -- a sum that doesn't include money from county or municipal races.
In addition, McCarty's 2002 reelection campaign -- her last contested race -- paid MacDiarmid $28,158 in consulting
fees, while his wife got $1,097 for mail and Internet work.
MacDiarmid specialized in appraising the opposition and the issues and boiling it all down to a simple, catchy slogan.
For example, he guided Taylor to a 2003 mayoral victory with a mailer with a message -- "Jerry Taylor's only special
interest is you" -- that turned his lack of endorsements into an advantage.
"He's a genius when it comes to political campaigns," said former Delray Beach City Commissioner Jon Levinson,
whose 2003 and 2005 reelection campaigns were run by MacDiarmid.
But Delray Beach Democratic activist Andre Fladell said MacDiarmid and McCarty's relationship began to suffer be-
cause MacDiarmid began claiming he could sway Delray Beach City Commission decisions -- a claim MacDiarmid
denies making.
"Mary believed that he had basically said things implying that he had the ability to influence votes on the city commis-
sion," Fladell said he learned in talking with McCarty. "They were very good allies, and somewhere in the course of
events, he took to lobbying."
Giorgio, a competitor of MacDiarmid's, said developers turned to MacDiarmid "to help influence a vote on a particular
development, or if they were working to get some variance from the council for some height or density."
"And it didn't hurt that he'd helped elect most of those people," Giorgio added.
MacDiarmid says he never lobbied Delray commissioners and calls assertions that he advertised that kind of influence a
fiction invented by McCarty.
"I don't lobby in Delray Beach," MacDiarmid said. "So this idea that I somehow have influence in Delray Beach? These
people are seeing ghosts."
But MacDiarmid did offer consulting services to developers pitching proposals before the Delray commission. Those
services aren't the same as lobbying, he says.
In September 2005, for example, MacDiarmid and fellow consultant Rebecca Shelton offered aid to developer Steve
Michael in winning public support and city commission approval for Michael's controversial Atlantic Plaza project,
which would have included 306 residences plus restaurants, offices and shops. Michael said the price would have been
$12,500 per month, plus a $100,000 fee upon the project's approval.
Michael declined. The project ultimately failed.
MacDiarmid said his services would have been limited to running a public relations campaign for the project, which had
infuriated neighbors. He added that such consulting arrangements are not unusual or illegal.
Past Delray commissioners back up MacDiarmid's statements, denying that he influenced their decisions.
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FBI RAID ILLUMINATES MCCARTY'S SPLIT WITH TOP ALLY Palm Beach Post (Florida) October 12, 2008
Sunday

Levinson, whom MacDiarmid helped reelect twice, said MacDiarmid spoke to him only once on behalf of a developer,
whose project Levinson ultimately voted to deny.
More recently, MacDiarmid and others say, he and McCarty found themselves at odds over a slate of issues, including
his support for firing Delray Beach's longtime city manager and MacDiarmid's unwillingness to support state House
candidate Joseph Abruzzo.
Another was MacDiarmid's campaign work for Commissioner Marcus, who has clashed with McCarty.
Several friends of both trace their split back to the summer of 2007, around the time MacDiarmid went to work for a
development company seeking to buy the oceanfront community Briny Breezes for $510 million. McCarty was a per-
sistent critic of the development proposal.
MacDiarmid said his work was limited to "running a campaign for the project" for three months at $5,000 per month.
"It's strategy," he said. "It's how do you communicate why this is a good thing for the community."
MacDiarmid came to work for McCarty during her 2002 campaign after beating chronic myeloid leukemia, a rare but
virulent form of cancer. His doctor urged him to take advantage of his second lease on life by doing whatever he en-
joyed most.
For MacDiarmid, that meant returning to the behind-the-scenes work of politics.
"My calling card is that I'm a good strategist," he said. "I give good advice. And I tend to win."
Staff writer Jennifer Sorentrue and staff researcher Niels Heimeriks contributed to this story.
~ paul_quinlan@pbpost.com
McCarty vs. MacDiarmid
Is one out to bring down the other? Share your comments.
PalmBeachPost.com


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

GRAPHIC: PHOTO (2 C)
1. J. Blake MacDiarmid 2. Mary McCarty (mug) He claims she wants to eliminate him as a future competitor in con-
sulting. She calls that charge'inaccurate and delusional.'


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Page 261



FINAL EDITION

ACTING CHIEF OF ELECTIONS EMBRACES SUDDEN ROLE



LENGTH: 1392 words

Assistant Palm Beach County Administrator Brad Merriman has never run for elective office.
But today, nearly a month after the county's primary election was thrown into chaos, the congenial and respected
52-year-old career bureaucrat is the de facto supervisor of elections.
When Secretary of State Kurt Browning checks to make sure the problem-plagued office is taking steps to conduct a
trouble-free presidential election, he said he doesn't call Supervisor Arthur Anderson.
Without hesitation, the head of the state's election system said that when he wants answers, he knows what to do: "Call
Brad Merriman."
Merriman was thrust into the post when Anderson's staff couldn't figure out why roughly 3,500 ballots evaporated be-
tween the Aug. 26 primary and a Labor Day recount of a judicial race.
County Administrator Bob Weisman said Merriman was the logical choice to head the ballot-hunting team. One of
Merriman's roles as an assistant administrator has been to serve as the county commission's liaison to the elections of-
fice. More important, he said, Merriman has long been in charge of organizing people to deliver ice, water and food to
distraught county residents after a hurricane.
Figuring out what caused the election meltdown is similar to dealing with a natural disaster, Weisman said. "We're
treating this as a hurricane response," he said. "We're mobilizing people to do a different job on an emergency basis."
However, disaster or not, the county couldn't have swooped in and installed Merriman without Anderson's OK.
Anderson, who lost his bid for reelection in the primary, has been out of the office for most of the last harrowing weeks
of nearly round-the-clock efforts to account for all of the ballots. But, he said, he appreciated Merriman's help and
wanted it to continue through the Nov. 4 election.
"That's my request," he said Sept. 21 when he showed up briefly at the tabulation center before returning home to nurse
an aching back.
Seizing 'line authority'
Before Weisman agreed to dispatch Merriman on the emergency mission, he said he made sure his assistant would have
the power he needed to get things done.
"I insisted that Brad actually had line authority," Weisman said.
To those without degrees in management, that means: He's the boss, and elections workers who reported to Anderson
would now report to Merriman.
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ACTING CHIEF OF ELECTIONS EMBRACES SUDDEN ROLE Palm Beach Post (Florida) September 28, 2008
Sunday

Talking to Merriman, it's clear he has seized that authority. He's meeting with elections staff to determine whether it's
possible to increase the number of early voting sites. He is meeting with outsiders, such as the president of the local
chapter of the League of Women Voters, to figure out ways to improve poll worker training.
Recognizing that the optical-scan system will be new to the roughly 700,000 registered voters who didn't cast ballots in
the primary, he is asking those who run the county's cable channel to produce public service announcements, explaining
to voters how to properly connect the arrows so their votes will count.
"My mission is to go in and institute procedures and changes based on what we learned from the recount," he said.
In addition to borrowing county technology workers, he has alerted Weisman that he needs to hold on to county Budget
Director Joseph Doucette and J. Michael Simmons, director of finance and administration for the airports. The two cer-
tified public accountants came up with a way to reconstruct the first recount, figure out that 3,500 ballots didn't get
counted and determine exactly how many ballots were cast.
The number changed as the process unfolded because they discovered that in addition to uncounted ballots during the
recount, some hadn't been tallied on election night. What began as 102,523 ballots being cast during the election turned
into 102,746.
The problem, in large measure, boiled down to human error, whether poor poll worker training or staff errors, Merriman
said.
After crunching and recrunching numbers and checking election-day vote counts, the canvassing board Tuesday de-
clared attorney William Abramson had beaten Circuit Judge Richard Wennet by 61 votes.
Some have suggested that the tabulating machines malfunctioned during the first, second and third recounts of the race.
Merriman said each of the more than 1,000 machines will be subject to intensive tests before the presidential election.
Browning, a former elections supervisor in Pasco County, agrees that human error fueled the fiasco. "Ballots were not
lost. Ballots were not lost," he insisted. "They just couldn't be accounted for. There's a big difference."
Recognizing that Anderson has had problems with virtually every election since he took office four years ago, Brown-
ing said he has talked to the former college professor and school board member. He urged him to buckle down.
"I told Dr. Anderson several times that they have to get engaged in the process," he said. Unfortunately, he said, "I had a
sense he wasn't engaged."
He applauded the county commission for stepping in. Short of removing Anderson from office, the state can't legally
take over a county elections office, he said.
Those who helped put Anderson in office in 2004 said he was a compromise candidate. South county Democratic power
broker Andre Fladell said he and U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Delray Beach, wanted someone to challenge longtime
supervisor Theresa LePore. She was universally blamed and scorned for designing the infamous butterfly ballot that
some believe cost Al Gore the White House in 2000.
Fladell said he was upset at LePore not for the poor ballot design but for blaming enraged seniors for being too con-
fused to understand it. Wexler also wanted a candidate who would support his call for a system that would create a pa-
per trail.
When others turned them down, Fladell said they agreed to back Anderson. "Our due diligence should have been bet-
ter," he admitted.
Anderson is universally described as a gentleman, but his failing was that he didn't hire a top-notch election czar,
Fladell said.
Merriman receives raves
Sid Dinerstein, head of the local Republican Party, agreed. Though he supported LePore in 2004, he said he didn't dis-
like Anderson. But, he said, Anderson's faults soon became apparent.
"Theresa's failing was that she did all the jobs herself and never built a management team," Dinerstein said. "Arthur
similarly did not bring in that level of people, and he was hands-off. So you had the worst of both worlds."
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ACTING CHIEF OF ELECTIONS EMBRACES SUDDEN ROLE Palm Beach Post (Florida) September 28, 2008
Sunday

Dinerstein said he is thrilled that Merriman is running the office. Merriman oversees Palm Tran, and Dinerstein is a
member of the county bus system's advisory board.
"I'm a big fan," he said. "He has a good management style. He doesn't make people crazy. He doesn't try to crack the
whip."
Since Merriman began work with the county in 1983 as an employee relations manager, he has consistently received
rave reviews on his performance. He was promoted to director of the department in 1987 and in 2001 became an assis-
tant administrator.
He now makes $169,000 annually. Anderson makes roughly $134,000 a year.
"He does not avoid problems or conflict," one reviewer wrote. "He confronts situations and is accountable for out-
comes."
One of his strong suits is working well with other county agencies, according to notes in his personnel file. That talent
serves him well as he asks other county departments to lend workers so he can pull off the presidential election, Weis-
man said.
Browning also expressed confidence in Merriman. But he expressed equal regret that Palm Beach County hasn't been
able to get it right.
"It doesn't have to be that way," he said. "It wasn't that way before 2000. We need to get stability of normalcy back to
the election process."
"This isn't rocket science," he said.
Brad Merriman
Title: Assistant county administrator, overseeing legislative affairs, human resources, risk management, public affairs,
equal opportunity office, the Metropolitan Planning Organization, PalmTran and the Cooperative Extension Service.
Education: Bachelor of business administration from Florida International University.
Career: Hired by the county as an employee relations manager in 1983, he became director of the department in 1987
and an assistant administrator in 2001. He worked in personnel for the state for two years and also as a manager of gro-
cery stores. He also helped run his family's business in the Florida Keys.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


GRAPHIC: PHOTO (C)
1. BRUCE R. BENNETT/Staff Photographer Brad Merriman (from right) meets with Denise Perez, J. Michael Sim-
mons and Joseph Doucette at the supervisor of elections office. Merriman says his mission is to learn from mistakes in
the recent recount. 2. Brad Merriman (mug)


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Page 264





FBI searches Palm Beach County Commissioner Mary McCarty's home

BYLINE: Maria Herrera and Mark Hollis, South Florida Sun-Sentinel


LENGTH: 878 words

Sep. 27--DELRAY BEACH -- Palm Beach County Commissioner Mary McCarty's home was searched Friday by the
FBI, making her the latest county official to come under scrutiny by federal investigators.
Federal agents descended on the 1930s bungalow in the 1100 block of Vista Del Mar where McCarty lives with her
husband, Kevin. A man working on McCarty's garden said the agents took pictures of the house and the cars and left
shortly after 9 a.m. with boxes of documents.
"I have done nothing wrong," McCarty said from another home the couple owns in Maine. "In my mind, this was an
unnecessary act."
Miami FBI spokeswoman Judy Orihuela had no comment.
Federal prosecutors and the FBI have been investigating corruption among county commissioners for more than two
years. Former Commissioners Tony Masilotti and Warren Newell are serving federal prison sentences for public cor-
ruption, profiting from their elected positions.
"The FBI and the federal government have been investigating the County Commission and I have been fully coopera-
tive," McCarty said. "I am confused about why they would do this. All they had to do was ask."
Several political leaders familiar with south Palm Beach County politics said the FBI investigation, and Friday's search
of the McCarty home, is connected to a political feud between McCarty and political consultant Blake MacDiarmid, a
former McCarty ally.
McCarty said the search warrant did not indicate what investigators were looking for.
"The only thing mentioned is about Blake MacDiarmid," she said.
But, said MacDiarmid: "They didn't raid my house. They raided hers."
The FBI did not identify the scope or the targets of its investigation. It's also unclear why MacDiarmid and McCarty are
at odds.
MacDiarmid ran McCarty's 2002 campaign and that of several south county elected officials.
"There was a real personality conflict between Mary and Blake over things Mary believed Blake had been saying about
his influence over the [ Delray Beach] City Commission," said Andre Fladell, a Delray Beach-based political consult-
ant. "There was an ongoing conflict over that -- his influence over the Delray City Commission. This is where the whole
thing seems to come from."
Fladell says he has shared political advice with McCarty but not as a paid consultant.
Page 265
FBI searches Palm Beach County Commissioner Mary McCarty's home South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale)

MacDiarmid said he has been cooperating with investigators since he was contacted by the FBI in the spring. He pro-
vided a letter from Assistant U.S. Attorney John Kastrenakes thanking him for cooperating and assuring him he is not a
target of the investigation.
MacDiarmid has been a paid political consultant for the campaigns of several Delray Beach commissioners. In 2004, he
was hired to help the city when it asked voters to approve a $14 million bond issue used to finance parks and recreation
projects.
Asked about Fladell's comments, MacDiarmid said: "They can make excuses for their own behavior, but the fact is that
Mary McCarty has tried to influence the Delray Beach commission for years and years."
McCarty served on the City Commission for two terms before being elected county commissioner in 1990. She's now
serving her fifth and final term.
Her husband is a former chairman of the South Florida Water Management District governing board. He has overseen
multimillion-dollar bond issues for local governments as a managing director of the Public Finance Department at Bear
Sterns and Co. He was also formerly a vice president of Raymond James, where he led the refinancing of bond issues
for several municipalities in McCarty's district.
The FBI created a special public corruption task force in August 2007 to investigate county government. On Friday,
some said the ongoing FBI investigation has eroded public confidence in the local government.
Delray Beach Mayor Rita Ellis said Friday she was aware of the ongoing federal investigations and a grand jury that has
interviewed several city commissioners and city staff.
"I know some people have been called," Ellis said. "I have not been approached or have been asked anything about this.
I don't know what the depth of the investigation is about or its connection to Delray Beach."
"I find this very sad," Ellis said. "I would be shocked to find out that Mary has done anything illegal."
Staff Writers Peter Franceschina, Jerome Burdi and Brian Haas and Staff Researcher Barbara Hijek contributed to this
report.
Others' woes
Check out a photo gallery of Palm Beach politicians investigated by the feds at
SunSentinel.com/palm
What McCarty says
I have done nothing wrong," County Commissioner Mary McCarty said from another home in Maine. "In my mind, this
was an unnecessary act."
What agents did
According to a worker in the garden, FBI agents took pictures of the home and cars and left shortly after 9 a.m. with
boxes of documents.
To see more of The South Florida Sun-Sentinel or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.sun-sentinel.com/.
Copyright (c) 2008, South Florida Sun-Sentinel Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints,
email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to
The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

ACC-NO: 20080927-FL-FBI-searches-Palm-Beach-County-Commissioner-Mary-McCarty-s-home-0927


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JOURNAL-CODE: FL

Page 267





Palm Beach County Commissioner Mary McCarty has fought off attacks

BYLINE: Brian Haas, South Florida Sun-Sentinel


LENGTH: 429 words

Sep. 27--Mary McCarty has become one of the most powerful Republican politicians in Palm Beach County and half of
a power couple that has at times controlled billions of dollars in taxpayers' money.
In 21 years of politics, she has withstood attacks from the right and the left in a county of Democrats. She has outlasted
bitter enemies. And she has fended off criticism that she may have a conflict of interest with her husband's bond busi-
ness.
"She's a fighter," said Sid Dinerstein, McCarty's successor as chairman of the Republican Party of Palm Beach County.
"She's what I call a foxhole person. If you're in a foxhole, she's the one you want in there with you."
From her first political job as a Delray Beach city commissioner through five terms on the Palm Beach County Com-
mission, she has never been afraid to upbraid colleagues in public or work behind the scenes to effect her wishes, Din-
erstein said. She openly warred for years with former County Commissioner Tony Masilotti, a fellow Republican, after
both felt slighted during Masilotti's campaign. The two never reconciled.
In 2004, Masilotti demanded an investigation into McCarty for possible conflicts of interest. He questioned whether she
should vote on certain zoning issues because her husband was a manager for Bear Stearns, which has done bond work
on development issues in the county. McCarty said she never voted on issues involving her husband's business and that
the accusation was revenge for her husband's actions while he was on the South Florida Water Management District's
board. Masilotti was later convicted on unrelated public corruption charges and is serving a five-year federal prison
sentence.
One political consultant at the time said McCarty should have been at the Alamo.
"She would have stood next to Davy Crockett and fought to the end," consultant Andre Fladell said in 2004.
Dinerstein said McCarty is a survivor of political battles and he doesn't expect the FBI's search of her home Friday to
change that.
"It doesn't worry me a whole lot," he said. "She's very careful and she's a fighter."
Brian Haas can be reached
at bhaas@SunSentinel.com
or 561-243-6633.
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LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

ACC-NO: 20080927-FL-Palm-Beach-County-Commissioner-Mary-McCarty-has-fought-off-attacks-0927


JOURNAL-CODE: FL

Page 269



Palm Beach Edition

MCCARTY, A FIGHTER, HAS HANDLED MANY ATTACKS

BYLINE: Brian Haas Staff Writer


LENGTH: 356 words

Mary McCarty has become one of the most powerful Republican politicians in Palm Beach County and half of a power
couple that has at times controlled billions of dollars in taxpayers' money.
In 21 years of politics, she has withstood attacks from the right and the left in a county of Democrats. She has outlasted
bitter enemies. And she has fended off criticism that she may have a conflict of interest with her husband's bond busi-
ness.
"She's a fighter," said Sid Dinerstein, McCarty's successor as chairman of the Republican Party of Palm Beach County.
"She's what I call a foxhole person. If you're in a foxhole, she's the one you want in there with you."
From her first political job as a Delray Beach city commissioner through five terms on the Palm Beach County Com-
mission, she has never been afraid to upbraid colleagues in public or work behind the scenes to effect her wishes, Din-
erstein said. She openly warred for years with former County Commissioner Tony Masilotti, a fellow Republican, after
both felt slighted during Masilotti's campaign. The two never reconciled.
In 2004, Masilotti demanded an investigation into McCarty for possible conflicts of interest. He questioned whether she
should vote on certain zoning issues because her husband was a manager for Bear Stearns, which has done bond work
on development issues in the county. McCarty said she never voted on issues involving her husband's business and that
the accusation was revenge for her husband's actions while he was on the South Florida Water Management District's
board. Masilotti was later convicted on unrelated public corruption charges and is serving a five-year federal prison
sentence.
One political consultant at the time said McCarty should have been at the Alamo.
"She would have stood next to Davy Crockett and fought to the end," consultant Andre Fladell said in 2004.
Dinerstein said McCarty is a survivor of political battles and he doesn't expect the FBI's search of her home Friday to
change that.
"It doesn't worry me a whole lot," he said. "She's very careful and she's a fighter."
Brian Haas can be reached
at bhaas@SunSentinel.com
or 561-243-6633.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

Page 270
MCCARTY, A FIGHTER, HAS HANDLED MANY ATTACKS Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) September
27, 2008 Saturday

All Rights Reserved
Page 271



Palm Beach Edition

MCCARTY'S HOME SEARCHED BY FBI

BYLINE: Maria Herrera and Mark Hollis Staff Writers


LENGTH: 803 words


Palm Beach County Commissioner Mary McCarty's home was searched Friday by the FBI, making her the latest county
official to come under scrutiny by federal investigators.
Federal agents descended on the 1930s bungalow in the 1100 block of Vista Del Mar where McCarty lives with her
husband, Kevin. A man working on McCarty's garden said the agents took pictures of the house and the cars and left
shortly after 9 a.m. with boxes of documents.
"I have done nothing wrong," McCarty said from another home the couple owns in Maine. "In my mind, this was an
unnecessary act."
Miami FBI spokeswoman Judy Orihuela had no comment.
Federal prosecutors and the FBI have been investigating corruption among county commissioners for more than two
years. Former Commissioners Tony Masilotti and Warren Newell are serving federal prison sentences for public cor-
ruption, profiting from their elected positions.
"The FBI and the federal government have been investigating the County Commission and I have been fully coopera-
tive," McCarty said. "I am confused about why they would do this. All they had to do was ask."
Several political leaders familiar with southern Palm Beach County politics said the FBI investigation, and Friday's
search of the McCarty home, is connected to a political feud between McCarty and political consultant Blake Mac-
Diarmid, a former McCarty ally.
McCarty said the search warrant did not indicate what investigators were looking for.
"The only thing mentioned is about Blake MacDiarmid," she said.
But, said MacDiarmid: "They didn't raid my house. They raided hers."
The FBI did not identify the scope or the targets of its investigation. It's also unclear why MacDiarmid and McCarty are
at odds.
MacDiarmid ran McCarty's 2002 campaign and that of several south county elected officials.
"There was a real personality conflict between Mary and Blake over things Mary believed Blake had been saying about
his influence over the [Delray Beach] City Commission," said Andre Fladell, a Delray Beach-based political consult-
ant. "There was an ongoing conflict over that - his influence over the Delray City Commission. This is where the whole
thing seems to come from."
Fladell says he has shared political advice with McCarty but not as a paid consultant.
Page 272
MCCARTY'S HOME SEARCHED BY FBI Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) September 27, 2008 Saturday

MacDiarmid said he has been cooperating with investigators since he was contacted by the FBI in the spring. He pro-
vided a letter from Assistant U.S. Attorney John Kastrenakes thanking him for cooperating and assuring him he is not a
target of the investigation.
MacDiarmid has been a paid political consultant for the campaigns of several Delray Beach commissioners. In 2004, he
was hired to help the city when it asked voters to approve a $14 million bond issue used to finance parks and recreation
projects.
Asked about Fladell's comments, MacDiarmid said: "They can make excuses for their own behavior, but the fact is that
Mary McCarty has tried to influence the Delray Beach commission for years and years."
McCarty served on the City Commission for two terms before being elected county commissioner in 1990. She's now
serving her fifth and final term.
Her husband is a former chairman of the South Florida Water Management District governing board. He has overseen
multimillion-dollar bond issues for local governments as a managing director of the Public Finance Department at Bear
Sterns and Co. He was also formerly a vice president of Raymond James, where he led the refinancing of bond issues
for several municipalities in McCarty's district.
The FBI created a special public corruption task force in August 2007 to investigate county government. On Friday,
some said the ongoing FBI investigation has eroded public confidence in the local government.
Delray Beach Mayor Rita Ellis said Friday she was aware of the ongoing federal investigations and a grand jury that has
interviewed several city commissioners and city staff.
"I know some people have been called," Ellis said. "I have not been approached or have been asked anything about this.
I don't know what the depth of the investigation is about or its connection to Delray Beach."
"I find this very sad," Ellis said. "I would be shocked to find out that Mary has done anything illegal."
Staff Writers Peter Franceschina, Jerome Burdi and Brian Haas and Staff Researcher Barbara Hijek contributed to this
report.
Others' woes
Check out a photo gallery of Palm Beach politicians investigated by federal officials at
SunSentinel.com/palm
What McCarty says
"I have done nothing wrong," County Commissioner Mary McCarty said from another home in Maine. "In my mind,
this was an unnecessary act."
What agents did
According to a worker in a garden, FBI agents took pictures of the home and cars and left shortly after 9 a.m. with box-
es of documents.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH



All Rights Reserved
Page 273



FINAL EDITION

MCCARTY BACKS ABRUZZO, STIRS SUSPICION ANEW



LENGTH: 555 words

Now it's the Republican Party's turn to seethe over Mary McCarty and Joseph Abruzzo.
McCarty, a Republican Palm Beach County commissioner and former county GOP chairwoman, said last week she's
bucking her party and backing Democrat Abruzzo in the mid-county state House District 85 race against Republican
attorney Howard Coates.
"I'm outraged," said Palms West Republican Club President Charlie Fetscher, who helped recruit Coates and figured
other party bigs would line up behind the GOP candidate.
Two years ago, local Democrats were the ones fuming and conspiracy-theorizing when Abruzzo dropped his challenge
of McCarty in a county commission race the day before the candidate filing deadline, leaving Dems unable to find an-
other candidate and allowing McCarty to win reelection unopposed.
Many Democrats -- and Abruzzo's own political consultants, Richard Giorgio and Francine Nelson -- accused Abruzzo
and McCarty of cutting some type of secret deal at the time. (Abruzzo has since patched things up with Giorgio and
Nelson, hiring their Patriot Games consulting firm a few months ago for his 2008 campaign.)
Both McCarty and Abruzzo adamantly denied any deal at the time.
Now Republicans are the ones hurling accusations.
"It looks like a deal was made two years ago. And it looks like payback," Palm Beach County Republican Chairman Sid
Dinerstein said.
"There was no deal cut," McCarty said, although she conceded many people won't believe her. "People can think what
they want to think. It's OK with me."
McCarty said she's supporting Abruzzo because "I've gotten to know him over the past two years. He's a pro-business
Democrat. And I think the last thing the legislature needs is more attorneys."
Abruzzo also denies making deals with McCarty. He points out that while he's received plenty of the kind of endorse-
ments Democrats usually get, he's also been endorsed by Republican-friendly outfits such as the Florida Chamber of
Commerce and the Palm Beach County Business Political Action Committee.
The Abruzzo endorsement isn't McCarty's only act of partisan apostasy this year. She's also supporting Democrat Mi-
chael McAuliffe's bid for state attorney over Republican candidate Joseph Tringali.
Elections supervisor candidate Bob Margolis is a registered Democrat, but he's getting shut out by some of Palm Beach
County's Democratic clubs as he runs against fellow Dem Susan Bucher in the nonpartisan race for elections chief.
Mae Duke, president of the Democratic club at Century Village of West Palm Beach in the heart of Bucher's state
House district, says Margolis isn't welcome at her club in the vote-rich retiree community.
Page 274
MCCARTY BACKS ABRUZZO, STIRS SUSPICION ANEW Palm Beach Post (Florida) September 22, 2008 Monday

"The people in our club are so totally behind Susan that they do not even appreciate us extending that invitation" to
Margolis to speak.
Duke and some other Bucherites are irked that Margolis was encouraged to run by Delray Beach Democratic operative
Andre Fladell and other Bucher foes.
"He's a nice person," Duke said of Margolis. "His associates are not what I appreciate."
Former Republican prez hopeful Fred Thompson and one of the GOP's most prominent black figures, former Maryland
Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, will be in South Florida in coming weeks to raise money for Republican congressional hopeful
Allen West, who's challenging freshman Democratic U.S. Rep. Ron Klein.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH



All Rights Reserved
Page 275


US States News

August 13, 2008 Wednesday 2:13 AM EST

ANNUAL LABOR DAY POLICE CHALLENGE CELEBRATES 22ND AN-
NIVERSARY

BYLINE: US States News

LENGTH: 346 words

DATELINE: DELRAY BEACH, Fla.

The city of Delray Beach issued the following news release:
Join Delray Citizens for Delray Police as they celebrate Labor Day with sports challenges and competitive fun at the
22nd Annual Labor Day Police Challenge on Monday, September 1, 2008 at Delray's municipal beach, Atlantic Avenue
and A1A. Beginning at noon, members from Boca Raton, Boynton Beach and Delray Beach Police Departments rival
for trophies, prizes and bragging rights. The public is cordially invited to enjoy a day at the beach as they cheer their
Police Department to victory.
Boynton Beach Police Chief Matthew Immler and Boca Raton Police Chief Dan Alexander will wage battle against a
new contender, recently appointed Delray Beach Police Chief Tony Strianese. The three will test their skills in the
Chief's Trophy Challenge and the winner will be awarded the prestigious Chief's trophy to showcase in his Police De-
partment for the year.
A schedule of activities is listed below. The first event will be a relay race on the beach followed by a volleyball tour-
nament. The competition continues with basketball, women's billiards and a meatball eating contest. The event con-
cludes with an awards ceremony at 3:00 pm in Boston's on the Beach, 40 S Ocean Blvd (opposite the municipal beach).
Team spirit promises to be high and enthusiastic crowds are encouraged to show their support for local law enforcement
agencies at this fun-filled event.
Noon - 4 x 80 yard relay race and volleyball tournament
1:30 pm - 3 on 3 basketball tournament, women's billiards and Chief's Trophy Challenge
2:00 pm - meatball eating contest
3:00 pm - awards ceremony at Boston's on the Beach (40 S Ocean Blvd)
Sponsors: Boston's on the Beach, Dr. Andre Fladell, Dan Burns, ICC Capital Management, Delray Beach Marriott,
Bank of America, Delaire Country Club,, ComputerWorx, Pepe's Hideaway, Palm Beach Gym & Fitness, CSI: Palm
Beach, Delaware Investments, Michael Weiner-Attorney, Peoples Trust Homeowners Insurance, Brazilian Bronze.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
Page 276
ANNUAL LABOR DAY POLICE CHALLENGE CELEBRATES 22ND ANNIVERSARY US States News August
13, 2008 Wednesday 2:13 AM EST


All Rights Reserved
Page 277



FINAL EDITION

ANDERSON'S PERFORMANCE IS ISSUE

BYLINE: By KIMBERLY MILLER Palm Beach Post Staff Writer


LENGTH: 1766 words

Four years ago, Arthur Anderson took the Palm Beach County supervisor of elections seat in the first race for that office
since the infamous butterfly ballot focused international attention on flubbed voting in South Florida.
With no experience but backed by leading Democratic politicians and hefty capital, he won with 51.1 percent of the
vote over Supervisor Theresa LePore, a woman still blamed by some for designing a confusing ballot that they say cost
Al Gore the White House in 2000.
Today Anderson's campaign to keep the four-year supervisor's seat, which is technically nonpartisan, looks very differ-
ent.
The 67-year-old is missing his biggest cheerleader, U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Delray Beach, who is not endorsing
any local candidates this year, said spokesman Josh Rogin.
Delray Beach Democratic activist Andre Fladell, who helped recruit Anderson to run four years ago, now is backing
one of his opponents.
And instead of running as a novice, Anderson is focusing on the knowledge he said he has gained from overseeing
about 90 elections in Palm Beach County.
It's his competitors -- term-limited state Rep. Susan Bucher, D-West Palm Beach, and Wellington Village Councilman
Bob Margolis -- who are without elections office experience this go-round.
But a series of computer glitches, late election-night results, uncounted votes and record-keeping errors under Ander-
son's tenure have given Bucher and Margolis almost as much campaign fodder as the memories of hanging chads gave
Anderson in 2004.
Most recently, nearly 700 votes temporarily went uncounted during the West Palm Beach City Commission on June 24
election when a fail-safe mechanism on the new $5.5 million Sequoia Voting Systems optical-scan machines prevented
them from being tallied.
Florida Secretary of State Kurt Browning and Sequoia blamed the elections office for the error, saying workers were not
familiar enough with the updated vote-counting software.
Anderson acknowledged the June failure but said most of the criticism of his office is unfair -- focusing on untimely
reporting results rather than the entire process that includes training 6,000 poll workers as well as providing accurate
final vote tallies.
"We had some unfortunate events occur with elections in reporting results, reporting them in a timely manner, but we
have gone through that," said Anderson, a former Florida Atlantic University professor and school board member from
1986 to 1994. "We have gone through the growing pains, and we are ready to proceed on a steady track, and everyone
will be pleased."
Page 278
ANDERSON'S PERFORMANCE IS ISSUE Palm Beach Post (Florida) August 9, 2008 Saturday

Anderson, Bucher and Margolis are all registered Democrats. The three will appear on the Aug. 26 primary ballot
without party labels next to their names.
If no candidate gets a majority in that election, the top two finishers would compete in a runoff on the Nov. 4 general
election ballot.
The Palm Beach County Supervisor of Election's job carries an annual salary of $134,435.
Anderson said this month that he was "just getting started with this campaign business." He had raised a mere $7,493
through the July 18 finance reporting period.
In contrast, Bucher, who has held her state House District 88 seat since 2000, had raised $38,541, including a $10,000
loan to herself.
Margolis, a Wellington councilman for six years, had raised $24,525.
Bucher, 49, is known as a Democratic rabble-rouser in Tallahassee, even being accused of "abusive behavior" in 2004
by Republicans weary of her tongue-lashings.
But she also is known for doing her homework on issues and being a dogged question asker.
"She is one of the hardest-working people ever, and she reads the fine print," said Pat Emmert, president of the Palm
Beach Treasure Coast AFL CIO, which has endorsed Bucher.
Bucher supported Anderson in 2004 but said she decided in 2006 that she would run for his seat.
It was that year that a mistake in counting absentee ballots led the elections office to declare the wrong winner tempo-
rarily in a Mangonia Park Town Council race.
"We need someone who is going to go in there and actually learn the job," she said.
Bucher has come under fire lately for repeated address changes that have placed her in about nine residences since
2000.
Last month, opponent Margolis charged that Bucher may have violated state voter registration laws when she changed
her address three times since June, saying each time the new address was her true residence.
Bucher and her husband own a house in Boynton Beach, outside her House district.
Her most recent address is also the home of her district secretary and within her district.
The question, critics say, is one of honesty.
"She signed an oath saying, 'This is where I live,'" said Margolis' campaign consultant Beth Rawlins. "It's a simple
question. When you register to vote, you say, 'I am part of this community, and I get to make decisions along with this
group of my neighbors.'"
Bucher, who was endorsed by the nonpartisan Voters Coalition of Palm Beach County, said she legitimately rented or
owned the homes at each of the addresses she registered.
Her Boynton Beach home was never in the district she won in 2000 following the death of her former boss, state Rep.
Ed Healey, D-West Palm Beach.
She purchased a residence in Lantana in 2000 so she would be within the limits, but redistricting put that home outside
of her district in 2002.
Bucher then changed her address four times before her 2004 bid for reelection, then settled in a rented condominium.
When the man from whom she had been renting the condo died recently, Bucher changed her address to her home in
Boynton Beach, thinking it would not matter since she had only a few months left in office.
But when she thought someone was going to file a charge that she had abandoned her district, she rented an apartment
within district limits. When she told the landlord there that the media may inquire about the rental, the landlord no
longer wanted to rent her the apartment.
"I was very honest," Bucher said. "I went and registered that day."
Page 279

The supervisor of elections race is countywide, meaning a candidate's residence can be anywhere in Palm Beach Coun-
ty.
Bucher wants the supervisor's seat because she's unhappy with the accountability and lack of "financial transparency" in
Anderson's office.
Both Bucher and Margolis question Anderson's 2007 decision to break away from the county clerk and comptroller to
manage his budget.
Anderson complained that the comptroller's office, run by Sharon Bock, did not process bills and purchase orders in a
timely manner.
"The first thing I will do is ask the clerk to conduct an audit," said Margolis. "When Arthur Anderson took his finances
back in-house, I thought it was insulting to the public."
Margolis, 57, an account manager in the health-care division of Procter & Gamble, said he decided about two years ago
to vie for the seat, wanting to use his business skills to run the office more efficiently.
Democratic Party activist Fladell, as well as BIZPAC, are supporting Margolis' campaign.
Fladell said he backed Anderson in 2004 because he believed LePore did not take responsibility for her actions in the
2000 election debacle. Anderson was recommended by Palm Beach County Commissioner Addie Greene and a few
other leading Democrats.
"Arthur Anderson is a great guy, but he spends more time stumbling than walking," Fladell said. "The office needs
someone who has business and administrative capabilities."
After six years on the Wellington council, Margolis has not pleased everyone.
"He sits on the fence and doesn't come forward with his own initiatives," said Wellington resident George P. Unger, a
close observer of village politics. "In general, he's been mediocre."
Margolis said he was asked by both Republicans and Democrats to run for the position following concerns that Bucher's
reputation of partisanship would be too divisive.
Fladell believes Margolis will be a "fair arbiter" of elections and a person both sides will feel confident in trusting.
"I want to take politics out of public service," said Margolis, who also is concerned about Anderson's record of election
mishaps. "He came in as an educator and didn't have the skills necessary to run the office as a business."
Anderson hopes voters will consider his whole record, the fact that he dealt with two new voting systems and empha-
sized customer service.
"The supervisor of elections office is truly poised for greatness," Anderson said. "Everything shouldn't be branded a
failure."
~ kimberly_miller@pbpost.com
Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections
The Aug. 26 race for Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections is nonpartisan. Early voting begins Monday. If none
of the three candidates wins a majority, the top two finishers will run against each other in the Nov. 4 general election.
Length of term: four years. Annual salary: $134,435.
Arthur Anderson (i)
Age: 67
Residence: West Palm Beach
Professional: Elected Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections in 2004; former education professor and dean at
Florida Atlantic University
Personal: Holds a doctorate from Michigan State University, and earned master's and bachelor's degrees from Wayne
State University; married to Mildred Anderson; six adult children
Page 280

Political experience: Current supervisor of elections; elected member of the Palm Beach County School Board,
1986-1994
Issues: Has increased voter education efforts and improved the elections Web site; wants to continue to restore voter
confidence
Susan Marie Bucher
Age: 49
Residence: Boynton Beach
Professional: State legislator 2000-present,leaving office because of term limits
Personal:Completed some college courses; married to Richard Bucher
Political experience: Member of the state House of Representatives since 2000; participant in several county Democ-
ractic clubs; worker in many political campaigns
Issues: Wants the supervisor's office to be more transparent and more accountable to the public; wants the clerk of the
court to oversee the office's finances; concerned that voter participation has suffered because of the office's inefficiency
and tardiness in counting election results
Robert S. Margolis
Age: 57
Residence: Wellington
Professional: Account manager for Procter & Gamble for 24 years
Personal: Graduated from Hofstra University; married to Linda Margolis; one adult child
Political experience: Six-year councilman for the Village of Wellington, serving on the village's parks and recreation
advisory board
Issues: Wants fair and accurate elections results in a timely manner; will not allow politics to interfere with running the
supervisor's office; wants the clerk of the court to oversee the office's finances


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

NOTES: ELECTION 2008 SUPERVISOR OF ELECTIONS Ran all editions. Info box at end of text.

1. Arthur Anderson (mug) 2. Robert S. Margolis (mug) 3. Susan Marie Bucher (mug)

DOCUMENT-TYPE: BIOGRAPHY


All Rights Reserved
Page 281


Overlawyered

June 19, 2008 Thursday 9:38 AM EST

Barred for life from the banking business

BYLINE: Walter Olson

LENGTH: 216 words

Jun. 19, 2008 (Overlawyered delivered by Newstex) -- So why not become a judge instead?Fort Lauderdale attor-
ney Bruce Rogow, who teaches legal ethics at Nova Southeastern University's Shepard Broad Law Center, said [Ricar-
do] Corona's campaign should not be penalized for something that happened 20 years ago. "Being barred from the
banking business doesn't mean you can't be a lawyer," he said. Corona, unlike his father and brother, never faced crimi-
nal charges following the collapse of a bank acquired with drug money, but the FDIC barred him permanently from
involvement with regulated banks. Palm Beach County judicial-election consultant Andre Fladell looks at the bright
side: "The argument of performance is not a fair one. Everybody's got an incredible past, and it doesn't stop them from
being a fair judge," he said. "A person who's been involved with the sleaze can recognize it better than someone who
hasn't." (Billy Shields, Miami Daily Business Review, Jun. 19). Tags:
Florida, judges Related posts When a judge sues for defamation, cont'd (0) Watch what you tell your hairdresser,
cont'd (5) Watch what you say about lawyers, cont'd (7) Update: damages in Ill. justice's libel suit (0) Update:
Boston Herald libel award upheld (1) Newstex ID: OLAW-0001-26096408


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

NOTES: The views expressed on blogs distributed by Newstex and its re-distributors ("Blogs on Demand®") are
solely the author's and not necessarily the views of Newstex or its re-distributors. Posts from such authors are provided
"AS IS", with no warranties, and confer no rights. The material and information provided in Blogs on Demand® are
for general information only and should not, in any respect, be relied on as professional advice. No content on such
Blogs on Demand® is "read and approved" before it is posted. Accordingly, neither Newstex nor its re-distributors
make any claims, promises or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained
therein or linked to from such blogs, nor take responsibility for any aspect of such blog content. All content on Blogs on
Demand® shall be construed as author-based content and commentary. Accordingly, no warranties or other guaran-
tees will be offered as to the quality of the opinions, commentary or anything else offered on such Blogs on De-
mand®. Reader's comments reflect their individual opinion and their publication within Blogs on Demand®
shall not infer or connote an endorsement by Newstex or its re-distributors of such reader's comments or views. New-
stex and its re-distributors expressly reserve the right to delete posts and comments at its and their sole discretion.


All Rights Reserved
Newstex Web Blogs
Copyright 2008 Overlawyered
Page 282


The Miami Herald

June 16, 2008 Monday

Qualifying period kicks off a busy local political season;
Political hopefuls for more than two dozen county and state races will start
qualifying Monday.

BYLINE: AMY SHERMAN, asherman@MiamiHerald.com

SECTION: B; Pg. 1

LENGTH: 899 words

Broward voters can soon expect campaign literature cramming mailboxes, signs cluttering roadways and grinning can-
didates eager to bend your ear at community festivals.
Starting Monday, candidates will start officially qualifying for more than two dozen races, ranging from the local water
board to sheriff.
County candidates will pack County Hall through Friday to pay electoral fees, turn in petitions and sign forms to secure
their place on the ballot.
This is the kickoff of what is expected to be a feisty campaign season with a large turnout due to the presidential race
between the presumptive nominees, GOP Sen. John McCain and Democratic Sen. Barack Obama.
Local political hopefuls will square off in the Aug. 26 primary and the Nov. 4 general election.
This election will deliver at least one new face on the School Board, possibly the first openly gay state legislator and a
cliffhanger involving three former legislators for a state Senate seat.
Democrats are salivating at the chance to unseat a few Republican legislators, while Republicans are thrilled they have a
strong, viable candidate for sheriff.
The race for sheriff -- one of the county's most powerful positions -- is among the hardest to predict.
At least six Democrats will slug it out, but none are well known. They face lone Republican and sitting Sheriff Al
Lamberti, who has raised three times the money as any other candidate. Appointed after Ken Jenne's downfall last year,
Lamberti has the incumbent's advantage of putting his mug on billboards throughout Broward. But political history is
not on his side -- it's rare when a Republican wins an election where Democrats dominate the political landscape.
Lamberti will have to sell himself as a lifelong cop who can address voters' fears about rising crime. He will also have
to make peace with the deputies' union, which overwhelmingly rejected a contract recently.
''His message is very nonpolitical,'' said Chip LaMarca, Broward Republican Party chairman. ``His message is very
centered around the job he holds working with public safety.''
BIG CONCERNS
No matter what the office, voters want candidates with solutions in this depressed economy. Big concerns: high tax and
property insurance bills, looming budget cuts and soaring gas prices.
Page 283
Qualifying period kicks off a busy local political season; Political hopefuls for more than two dozen county and state
races will start qualifying Monday. The Miami Herald June 16, 2008 Monday

Consider Willie Sampson, a library specialist in Lauderhill. She said her salary isn't keeping pace with prices at the gas
pump.
''You can't drive anywhere but work and home,'' the Fort Lauderdale resident said. ``You have to do everything else in
between. They are saying we are running out of gas. I don't believe that.''
Some incumbents might get a pass. Days before qualifying, county Commissioners Ilene Lieberman, Stacy Ritter and
Lois Wexler had no challengers.
Their male peers aren't as lucky. Commissioner Josephus Eggelletion faces four opponents, including two city commis-
sioners -- Dale Holness of Lauderhill and John Billingsley of Lauderdale Lakes -- and Pastor Allen Jackson.
Jackson ran against Eggelletion in 2004. Willie Roberson is the only Republican in that race.
Commissioner John Rodstrom will face at least three opponents, Davie Councilman Bryan Caletka, Fort Lauderdale
City Commissioner Carlton Moore and Robert McKinzie, who challenged Rodstrom in 2004 and is the brother of Mir-
iam Oliphant, the former supervisor of elections.
Eggelletion and Rodstrom would face tougher races if they each had one opponent, said state Sen. Steve Geller, who
plans his own commission bid for 2010. Challengers could split the anti-incumbent vote leaving the incumbents with
sufficient donations and votes.
''It takes a lot of money to run against a county commissioner,'' said Geller, who estimated they will need $250,000. `Ì
don't see any of [the challengers] having the money.''
Eggelletion and Rodstrom are ahead in fundraising.
The high turnout expected for the presidential race is a boon to Democrats running for local offices because Democrats
outnumber Republicans two to one in Broward. But Republicans see an opportunity in the 22 percent of Broward voters
who don't identify with either major party.
Democrats have their eye on a few Republican legislators they hope to unseat -- the biggest coup would be Jeff Atwater,
the Senate president-elect who represents coastal areas of Palm Beach County and Broward.
But Atwater's opponent, former state Sen. Walter ''Skip'' Campbell, is woefully behind in fundraising: By the end of
March, Atwater had raised about $1.7 million, while Campbell had raised about $180,000 -- more than half a loan to
himself.
Some donors are reluctant to give to Campbell because they don't want to cross the next Senate president who will de-
liver goodies in Palm Beach County.
`MONEY IS GREEN'
''He is a Palm Beach County senator -- he will bring back money to the county,'' said Andre Fladell, a Palm Beach
County campaign strategist. `Ìt doesn't matter which side of the aisle, money is green.''
With so many races on the ballot this year, candidates for lesser-known offices will struggle to pique voters' interest.
Can you name your rep on the Central Broward Water Control District?
''We are mostly under the radar -- people don't know we are there and we exist,'' said Kevin Biederman, an incumbent
with the district that approves drainage permits for development among other duties. ``When I first ran I never knew it
existed until I started asking questions about flooding on my street.''


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


Copyright 2008 The Miami Herald
All Rights Reserved
Page 284


The Miami Herald

June 15, 2008 Sunday

Local political season opens with qualifying

BYLINE: AMY SHERMAN, asherman@MiamiHerald.com

LENGTH: 899 words

Broward voters can soon expect campaign literature cramming mailboxes, signs cluttering roadways and grinning can-
didates eager to bend your ear at community festivals.
Starting Monday, candidates will start officially qualifying for more than two dozen races, ranging from the local water
board to sheriff.
County candidates will pack county hall through Friday to pay electoral fees, turn in petitions and sign forms to secure
their place on the ballot.
This is the kickoff to what is expected to be a feisty campaign season with a large turnout due to the presidential race
between the presumptive nominees, GOP Sen. John McCain and Democratic Sen. Barack Obama.
Local political hopefuls will square off in the Aug. 26 primary and the Nov. 4 general election.
This election will deliver at least one new face on the School Board, possibly the first openly gay state legislator and a
cliffhanger involving three former legislators for a state Senate seat.
Democrats are salivating at the chance to unseat a few Republican legislators, while Republicans are thrilled they have a
strong, viable candidate for sheriff.
The race for sheriff -- one of the county's most powerful positions -- is among the hardest to predict.
At least six Democrats will slug it out, but none are well known. They face lone Republican and sitting Sheriff Al
Lamberti, who has raised three times the money as any other candidate.
Appointed after Ken Jenne's downfall last year, Lamberti has the incumbent's advantage of putting his mug on bill-
boards throughout Broward. But political history is not on his side -- it's rare when a Republican wins an election where
Democrats dominate the political landscape.
Lamberti will have to sell himself as a lifelong cop who can address voters' fears about rising crime. He will also have
to make peace with the deputies' union, which overwhelmingly rejected a contract recently.
''His message is very nonpolitical,'' said Chip LaMarca, Broward Republican Party chairman. ``His message is very
centered around the job he holds working with public safety.''
BIG CONCERNS
No matter what the office, voters want candidates with solutions in this depressed economy. Big concerns: high tax and
property insurance bills, looming budget cuts and soaring gas prices.
Consider Willie Sampson, a library specialist in Lauderhill. She said her salary isn't keeping pace with prices at the gas
pump.
Page 285
Local political season opens with qualifying The Miami Herald June 15, 2008 Sunday

''You can't drive anywhere but work and home,'' the Fort Lauderdale resident said. ``You have to do everything else in
between. They are saying we are running out of gas. I don't believe that.''
Some incumbents might get a pass. Days before qualifying, County Commissioners Ilene Lieberman, Stacy Ritter and
Lois Wexler had no challengers.
Their male peers aren't as lucky. Commissioner Josephus Eggelletion faces four opponents including two city commis-
sioners -- Dale Holness of Lauderhill, John Billingsley of Lauderdale Lakes, and Pastor Allen Jackson.
Jackson ran against Eggelletion in 2004. Willie Roberson is the only Republican in that race.
Commissioner John Rodstrom will face at least three opponents including Davie Councilman Bryan Caletka, Fort
Lauderdale City Commissioner Carlton Moore and Robert McKinzie, who challenged Rodstrom in 2004 and is the
brother of Miriam Oliphant, the former supervisor of elections.
Eggelletion and Rodstrom would face tougher races if they each had one opponent, said State Sen. Steve Geller, who
plans his own commission bid for 2010. Challengers could split the anti-incumbent vote leaving the incumbents with
sufficient donations and votes.
''It takes a lot of money to run against a county commissioner,'' said Geller, who estimated they will need $250,000. `Ì
don't see any of [the challengers] having the money.''
Eggelletion and Rodstrom are ahead in fundraising.
The high turnout expected for the presidential race is a boon to Democrats running for local offices because Democrats
outnumber Republicans two to one in Broward.
But Republicans see an opportunity in the 22 percent of Broward voters that don't identify with either major party.
Democrats have their eye on a few Republican legislators they hope to unseat -- the biggest coup would be Jeff Atwater,
the Senate president-elect who represents coastal areas of Palm Beach County and Broward.
But Atwater's opponent, former state Sen. Walter ''Skip'' Campbell, is woefully behind in fundraising: By the end of
March, Atwater had raised about $1.7 million, while Campbell had raised about $180,000 -- more than half a loan to
himself.
Some donors are reluctant to give to Campbell because they don't want to cross the next Senate president who will de-
liver goodies in Palm Beach County.
`MONEY IS GREEN'
''He is a Palm Beach County senator -- he will bring back money to the county,'' said Andre Fladell, a Palm Beach
County campaign strategist. `Ìt doesn't matter which side of the aisle, money is green.''
With so many races on the ballot this year, candidates for lesser-known offices will struggle to pique voters' interest.
Can you name your rep on the Central Broward Water Control District?
''We are mostly under the radar -- people don't know we are there and we exist,'' said Kevin Biederman, an incumbent
with the district that approves drainage permits for development among other duties. ``When I first ran I never knew it
existed until I started asking questions about flooding on my street.''


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


All Rights Reserved
Page 286



FINAL EDITION

SLOSBERG COY BUT BASH MAY HERALD RETURN TO POLITICS



LENGTH: 702 words

"Anything's possible," former Democratic state Rep. Irving Slosberg says when asked if he's planning a political come-
back this year.
For a man with deep pockets and a colorful campaign history marked by "schlepper bags" and corned beef sandwiches
and a fleet of refrigerated hurricane-relief trucks, "anything" could include challenging U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler,
D-Delray Beach, or taking on Palm Beach County Commissioner Burt Aaronson, or running for his old state House seat
against freshman Rep. Kelly Skidmore, D-Boca Raton. Or it could mean staying out of politics and continuing to pro-
mote traffic safety through the nonprofit foundation named for the teenage daughter Slosberg lost in a 1996 car crash
that killed four other teens.
Slosberg left the state House in 2006 to pursue a seemingly slam-dunk state Senate bid. But he got on the wrong side of
Wexler, Aaronson and others and lost a bitter primary to Ted Deutch, despite spending a jaw-dropping $2.9 million of
his own money.
Slosberg comeback speculation spiked recently when he invited 100 or more people to his west Boca home for a party
this coming Sunday, the night before the state's four-day filing period begins for congressional candidates. Some in-
vitees got the impression Slosberg would make an announcement at the shindig.
When Slosberg invited Delray Beach Democratic operative Andre Fladell to the bash, he also asked Fladell to be on
his "steering committee." When Fladell asked what the steering committee was for, Slosberg told him: "It's a surprise."
Slosberg says he was just kidding with Fladell, and there's no significance to the timing of the party.
Sitting at a Starbucks in Boca on Friday in designer jeans, a Peace Is My Religion T-shirt and a belt with the words
Rock And Roll on it, Slosberg seemed to enjoy keeping the Democratic establishment guessing.
"The question comes down to, if I do want to run, then where do the people need me most? I have confidence that I
could be effective in any spot," Slosberg said. "You know, anything's possible."
After state Rep. Carl Domino, R-Jupiter, voted for legislation allowing employees with concealed-weapons permits to
keep their guns in their locked cars at work, Democratic rival Bryan Miller sent an e-mail to supporters calling it "one of
the most outrageous bills to come out of Tallahassee" and urging them to "Send a message today to Carl Domino" criti-
cizing the vote.
Few such messages reached Domino's office. But Miller's campaign was bombarded with 3,000 to 4,000 blistering
e-mails and 100 or more negative calls after National Rifle Association lobbyist Marion Hammer forwarded Miller's
e-mail to NRA members and urged them to sound off against "anti-gun bully" Miller.
The onslaught led the Miller campaign to remove its phone number from its Web site and to block e-mails with "gun"
and other key words in the title.
Page 287
SLOSBERG COY BUT BASH MAY HERALD RETURN TO POLITICS Palm Beach Post (Florida) April 21, 2008
Monday

Still, Miller is declaring victory. He says his campaign got several contributions and hundreds of positive e-mails from
within the district while most of the criticisms came from elsewhere.
State attorney candidate Paula Russell's campaign consultant, Richard Giorgio, recently asked State Attorney Barry
Krischer's office for copies of all of Krischer spokesman Mike Edmondson's outgoing e-mails for the past year. Krischer
is endorsing Russell's Democratic primary rival, Michael McAuliffe, and Edmondson is advising McAuliffe's cam-
paign. Giorgio wants to see whether Edmondson has been doing campaign work on taxpayer time.
Krischer's office estimated that fulfilling Giorgio's request would cost the Russell campaign between $1,865 and $2,798
because it would require a $46.64-an-hour employee to spend 40 to 60 hours reviewing e-mails for any off-limits mate-
rial, such as information about ongoing criminal investigations.
Giorgio sent a revised request last week asking only for Edmondson e-mails that include "McAuliffe" or "mcaulif-
felawgroup."
Giorgio won't find anything, says Edmondson, who says he's avoided politicking in the office. Beginning May 1, Ed-
mondson plans to take a leave of absence to work full time on McAuliffe's campaign. He took a similar leave in 2004
for Ric Bradshaw's successful sheriff campaign.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

NOTES: Ran all editions.



All Rights Reserved
Page 288



April 17, 2008 Thursday
WEST EDITION

WELLINGTON OFFICIAL SEEKS ELECTIONS POST



LENGTH: 437 words

DATELINE: WELLINGTON

Councilman Bob Margolis says he will run for Palm Beach County elections supervisor, joining a race that already in-
cludes incumbent Arthur Anderson and state Rep. Susan Bucher, D-West Palm Beach.
"I think Arthur Anderson's a fine gentleman, but I bring different skill sets to the job," said Margolis, 57, an account
manager in the health care division of Procter & Gamble.
Margolis said the elections office "should be run like a business" and should allow its spending to be reviewed by the
county clerk's office, which Anderson as an independently elected official has declined to do.
Anderson, Bucher and Margolis are all registered Democrats seeking the nonpartisan elections post. Assuming they
continue with their candidacies, the three will appear on the Aug. 26 primary ballot without party labels next to their
names. If no candidate gets a majority in that election, the top two finishers would compete in a runoff on the Nov. 7
general election ballot.
Margolis says he plans to file candidate papers at noon today and will remain on the Wellington Village Council while
he campaigns.
Under the state's resign-to-run law, he must relinquish his council seat in January, when he would take office as elec-
tions chief.
The resignation is required whether or not Margolis wins. The remaining council members would appoint a replacement
to complete his term, which ends in 2010.
The elections supervisor's job was a relatively obscure ministerial post until 2000, when then-elections chief Theresa
LePore's presidential "butterfly ballot" thrust her into the international spotlight.
Four years later, with U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Delray Beach, leading the charge to oust LePore, Anderson won by
capitalizing on Democratic anger from 2000 as well as concerns about paperless electronic voting, which LePore sup-
ported.
Anderson soon drew criticism himself from paper-ballot advocates who said he was not aggressive enough in pursuing a
ballot "paper trail." He also drew unfavorable attention for late reporting of results on some election nights and for
problems such as a 2006 mix-up of absentee ballots that led his office to declare the wrong winner in a Mangonia Park
election.
Anderson, who formally launched his reelection bid last week, says he has brought significant technological and cus-
tomer-service upgrades to the office and that problems such as late reporting of results were minor and have been cor-
rected.
One of Anderson's 2004 supporters, Delray Beach Democratic activist Andre Fladell, is now backing Margolis.
Page 289
WELLINGTON OFFICIAL SEEKS ELECTIONS POST Palm Beach Post (Florida) April 17, 2008 Thursday

"Arthur is very trustworthy," Fladell said. "The question is efficiency."


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

NOTES: ELECTION 2008 Did not run MSL.

GRAPHIC: PHOTO (C)
Bob Margolis: (mug) Says he would bring 'different skill sets' to the job.


All Rights Reserved
Page 290



February 11, 2008 Monday
FINAL EDITION

SUPERVISOR SPOILERS SEEK 3RD RIVAL TO FORCE RUNOFF



LENGTH: 666 words

Palm Beach County Elections Supervisor Arthur Anderson's biggest 2004 backer, Democratic U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler,
has already said he won't get involved in Anderson's 2008 reelection bid.
Now another of Anderson's key 2004 supporters, Delray Beach Democratic operative Andre Fladell, is among those
seeking a third candidate to enter the nonpartisan supervisor's race against Anderson and state Rep. Susan Bucher,
D-West Palm Beach.
Fladell and some Republicans and business types fear that Bucher, an actively partisan Democrat, would win a
head-to-head race with Anderson in August, when Democratic primaries are likely to dominate the ballot and skew
turnout toward Dems. A third viable candidate, the theory goes, increases the likelihood that no one gets a majority in
August and the top two finishers advance to a runoff on the November general election ballot, when more Republicans
and Independents vote.
Anderson hasn't opened a 2008 campaign but says he "absolutely" plans to do so. Fladell calls Anderson "a great human
being" but says the incumbent suffers from the perception of "less-than-stellar performance." Fladell says Bucher's par-
tisanship would create a perception problem in overseeing elections. Business Political Action Committee Chairman
John R. Smith voices similar concerns and says, "The business community's view is we would like an alternative."
Smith, a registered Republican, says a Republican probably can't win a countywide race, even for the theoretically non-
partisan supervisor's post.
So the search is on for a registered Dem who could also appeal to Republicans and Independents.
One name getting renewed mention: Wellington Councilman Bob Margolis, who says he's "exploring the opportunity"
but isn't ready to make a decision. Margolis flirted with a run for elections chief before but backed away when Bucher
expressed interest. He's also pondered and rejected runs for county commission and state House over the last two years.
Bucher, meanwhile, says partisan fears are unwarranted. She doesn't deny her past Democratic activism but says she's
set it aside and isn't working for Democratic candidates while she's pursuing the supervisor's job. In addition to being
known as an unabashed Democrat, she's known as a stickler for detail when evaluating bills in Tallahassee. That kind of
attention is what the elections office needs, she says.
"You might not agree with my politics," Bucher says. "But you have to agree that policy and procedures are my strong
points."
With maverick John McCain all but clinching the GOP presidential nomination, Super Tuesday was a rough night for
Palm Beacher Rush Limbaugh and other members of the Republican Party's conservative talk-radio wing. But
Limbaugh still found reason to celebrate. His golf buddy, David Rosow, scored a close win over incumbent Bill Brooks
in Tuesday's Palm Beach Town Council election. Limbaugh was on hand at Trevini Restaurant on Worth Avenue to
congratulate Rosow.
Page 291
SUPERVISOR SPOILERS SEEK 3RD RIVAL TO FORCE RUNOFF Palm Beach Post (Florida) February 11, 2008
Monday

State Rep. Carl Domino, R-Jupiter, has been suggesting that would-be Democratic challenger Bryan Miller wants to
institute a state income tax. Hogwash, says Miller, who responded with a "Carl Domino Is Lying" e-mail last week that
also asks for campaign contributions.
Miller says the e-mail has generated $4,000.
Miller and Domino both opposed a tax reform plan last year that was subsequently struck down by courts. But Miller
said he liked the plan's proposal to supersize homestead exemptions, which would make property taxes more "progres-
sive." Domino says Miller's use of "progressive" appears to be a veiled call for an income tax - a charge Miller emphat-
ically denies.
Dorothy Wilken, a prominent player in local politics for decades but nearly invisible since retiring in 2004 as clerk of
courts, reemerged last week to endorse former employee Steve Nichol's Democratic state House primary campaign
against Steve Perman and Kevin Rader for the seat of term-limited Rep. Richard Machek, D-Delray Beach.
- george_bennett@pbpost.com


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH




All Rights Reserved
Page 292





Condo villages' retirees show they still have clout for Democrats

BYLINE: Josh Hafenbrack, Michael Turnbell and Ryan Mcneill, South Florida Sun-Sentinel


LENGTH: 962 words

Feb. 10--Don't count out the condo commandos.Despite predictions of the demise of their political power, the huge
condo voting blocs in south Palm Beach County and Broward County delivered overwhelming margins to Democratic
presidential candidate Hillary Clinton over rival Barack Obama in the state's presidential primary last month, an analy-
sis of precinct data shows.
Clinton claimed a staggering 10-to-1 advantage over Obama in some populous, Democrat-heavy Palm Beach County
retirement communities, including the Century Village development west of Boca Raton. In similar spots in Broward,
the ratio was 6-to-1.
The results showed that even though changing demographics and population growth have diluted their influence, South
Florida's retirement havens still contain sturdy voting blocs that can swing for one candidate, whether it's for a county
seat or the White House.
"You look at the registered Democrats in Kings Point -- 90 percent are retirees, 90 percent are from the Northeast, 90
percent are products of FDR politics," said Delray Beach political activist Andre Fladell.
"What they are is homogenous," Fladell added. "They vote in large blocs, which yield extraordinarily large net gains for
a candidate."
Statewide in the Jan. 29 presidential primary, Clinton got 50 percent of the vote to Obama's 33 percent, though neither
campaigned here because of controversy over Florida's early primary date. Clinton was not awarded any delegates for
her win.
Clinton's edge was dramatically higher in the condo precincts. In Century Village west of Boca Raton, for example, she
got 85 percent of the Democratic vote -- and picked up 11 votes for every one that went to Obama.
In Broward, Clinton won big gains in retirement communities, including the Century Village developments in Pem-
broke Pines and Deerfield Beach, King Points in Tamarac and Sunrise Lakes. But an influx of immigrants in these
communities, from places such as Jamaica and Haiti, have added more diversity and make the vote slightly less mono-
lithic.
Clinton's edge in these communities was 8,838 votes to Obama's 1,386. She got 79 percent of the overall Democratic
vote in these communities.
"They still have clout, but I do believe it's been on the wane," said Carl Lanke, president of the Pembroke Pines Demo-
cratic Club. "Seniors have always been a big voting bloc with a vested interest in legislation that can help them living on
fixed incomes. But the demographics have been slowly slipping away."
Page 293
Condo villages' retirees show they still have clout for Democrats South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale) February
10, 2008 Sunday

In the 1960s and'70s, H. Irwin Levy marketed Century Village condos to New Yorkers for as little as $9,000 for one-
and two-bedroom units, using Jewish comedian Red Buttons as a pitchman. By the 1980s, they had filled up with
Northeasterners -- most of them Jewish and Democrats -- and changed the face of culture and politics in South Florida.
At the height of condo power, the now-deceased Amadeo "Trinchi" Trinchitella wielded power with tools such as the
Century Village Trolley that brought thousands of Depression-era voters to the polls. Palm Beach County switched
from countywide commission seats to districts in 1990 in part to break the retirement communities' stranglehold on lo-
cal decision-making.
These communities still offer a rare reservoir of like-minded, active voters who can leave an imprint on a statewide or
national race.
The generational politics at play are vivid in Century Village west of Boca Raton, where voters identify with Clinton
over the younger Obama. They also remember former President Bill Clinton -- and the eight years he was president --
with nostalgia and reverence.
Obama, meanwhile, has sparked record interest among young voters, but you could spend hours trying to find someone
who voted for him in Century Village.
Millie London, 82, said Obama seems like a "nice man" but lacks experience. And she added Clinton will have her
husband to advise her as president.
Her 93-year-old sister, Helen Weissler, nodded in agreement. "It's like getting a bargain," she said Friday, sitting in the
village's renovated clubhouse. "You get a two-fer."
The community is a throwback, with Yiddish more prevalent than Spanish and the average age almost 80. So it's no
surprise they came out in near-uniformity for Clinton, said Marvin Manning, president of Century Village's Democratic
Club. He sees a clash of generations in this election, with retirees in Century Village voting to restore the Clinton'90s,
"when we were much younger then, and those were very good times."
He added, "There's nothing wrong with trying to recapture the past, and that's why they voted for her."
And with a knack for throwing thousands of votes to a favored candidate, even amid shifting demographics and dimin-
ished power, the retirement communities aren't to be taken lightly, local political analysts say.
"Now we're getting a regeneration of younger seniors who are interested and who are engaged and who care and want to
do something about it rather than just read about what's going on in the newspaper," said Bernie Parness, president of
the Deerfield Beach Democratic Club.
Staff Researcher John Maines contributed to this report.
Josh Hafenbrack can be reached
at jhafenbrack@sun-sentinel.com
or 561-228-5508.
INSIDE:
Refer to come from hayes/brown sldkfj klsdj fk sdklf lskd flks dl sdfk skldf lksdf lksdf lksdf lksdf lksdf klsdfj ksdfj dfsj
dfsj dfs jsdf jsdfl


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

ACC-NO: 20080210-FL-Condo-villages-retirees-show-they-still-have-clout-for-Democrats-0210

Page 294
Condo villages' retirees show they still have clout for Democrats South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale) February
10, 2008 Sunday


JOURNAL-CODE: FL

Page 295




CONDO VILLAGES' RETIREES RETAIN DEMOCRATIC CLOUT

BYLINE: Josh Hafenbrack, Michael Turnbell and Ryan McNeill Staff Writers Staff Researcher John Maines contrib-
uted to this report.


LENGTH: 1004 words

Don't count out the condo commandos. Despite predictions of the demise of their political power, the huge condo voting
blocs in south Palm Beach County and Broward County delivered overwhelming margins to Democratic presidential
candidate Hillary Clinton over rival Barack Obama in the state's presidential primary last month, an analysis of precinct
data shows.
Clinton claimed a staggering 10-to-1 advantage over Obama in some populous, Democrat-heavy Palm Beach County
retirement communities, including the Century Village development west of Boca Raton. In similar spots in Broward,
the ratio was 6-to-1.
The results showed that even though changing demographics and population growth have diluted their influence, South
Florida's retirement havens still contain sturdy voting blocs that can swing for one candidate, whether it's for a county
seat or the White House.
"You look at the registered Democrats in Kings Point - 90 percent are retirees, 90 percent are from the Northeast, 90
percent are products of FDR politics," said Delray Beach political activist Andre Fladell.
"What they are is homogenous," Fladell added. "They vote in large blocs, which yield extraordinarily large net gains for
a candidate."
Statewide in the Jan. 29 presidential primary, Clinton got 50 percent of the vote to Obama's 33 percent, though neither
campaigned here because of controversy over Florida's early primary date. Clinton was not awarded any delegates for
her win.
Clinton's edge was dramatically higher in the condo precincts. In Century Village west of Boca Raton, for example, she
got 85 percent of the Democratic vote - and picked up 11 votes for every one that went to Obama.
In Broward, Clinton won big gains in retirement communities, including the Century Village developments in Pem-
broke Pines and Deerfield Beach, King Points in Tamarac and Sunrise Lakes. But an influx of immigrants in these
communities, from places such as Jamaica and Haiti, have added more diversity and make the vote slightly less mono-
lithic.
Clinton's edge in these communities was 8,838 votes to Obama's 1,386. She got 79 percent of the overall Democratic
vote in these communities.
"They still have clout, but I do believe it's been on the wane," said Carl Lanke, president of the Pembroke Pines Demo-
cratic Club. "Seniors have always been a big voting bloc with a vested interest in legislation that can help them living on
fixed incomes. But the demographics have been slowly slipping away."
Page 296
CONDO VILLAGES' RETIREES RETAIN DEMOCRATIC CLOUT Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) February
10, 2008 Sunday

In the 1960s and '70s, H. Irwin Levy marketed Century Village condos to New Yorkers for as little as $9,000 for one-
and two-bedroom units, using Jewish comedian Red Buttons as a pitchman. By the 1980s, they had filled up with
Northeasterners - most of them Jewish and Democrats - and changed the face of culture and politics in South Florida.
At the height of condo power, the now-deceased Amadeo "Trinchi" Trinchitella wielded power with tools such as the
Century Village Trolley that brought thousands of Depression-era voters to the polls. Palm Beach County switched
from countywide commission seats to districts in 1990 in part to break the retirement communities' stranglehold on lo-
cal decision-making.
These communities still offer a rare reservoir of like-minded, active voters who can leave an imprint on a statewide or
national race.
The generational politics at play are vivid in Century Village west of Boca Raton, where voters identify with Clinton
over the younger Obama. They also remember former President Bill Clinton - and the eight years he was president -
with nostalgia and reverence.
Obama, meanwhile, has sparked record interest among young voters, but you could spend hours trying to find someone
who voted for him in Century Village.
Millie London, 82, said Obama seems like a "nice man" but lacks experience. And she added Clinton will have her
husband to advise her as president.
Her 93-year-old sister, Helen Weissler, nodded in agreement. "It's like getting a bargain," she said Friday, sitting in the
village's renovated clubhouse. "You get a two-fer."
The community is a throwback, with Yiddish more prevalent than Spanish and the average age almost 80. So it's no
surprise they came out in near-uniformity for Clinton, said Marvin Manning, president of Century Village's Democratic
Club. He sees a clash of generations in this election, with retirees in Century Village voting to restore the Clinton '90s,
"when we were much younger then, and those were very good times."
He added, "There's nothing wrong with trying to recapture the past, and that's why they voted for her."
And with a knack for throwing thousands of votes to a favored candidate, even amid shifting demographics and dimin-
ished power, the retirement communities aren't to be taken lightly, local political analysts say.
"Now we're getting a regeneration of younger seniors who are interested and who are engaged and who care and want to
do something about it rather than just read about what's going on in the newspaper," said Bernie Parness, president of
the Deerfield Beach Democratic Club.
Staff Researcher John Maines contributed to this report.
Josh Hafenbrack can be reached at jhafenbrack@sun-sentinel.com or 561-228-5508.
INFORMATIONAL BOX:
How South Florida condo Democrats voted
Voting in key condo communities in Palm Beach and Broward counties in the Jan. 29 presidential primary
BROWARD COUNTY
Hillary Clinton Barack Obama John Edwards Kings Point, Tamarac 2,486 344 218 Sunrise Lakes 2,695 451 139 Cen-
tury Village, Pembroke Pines 3,657 591 404 Century Village, Deerfield Beach 1,393 225 168 PALM BEACH
COUNTY
Hillary Clinton Barack Obama John Edwards Kings Point, west of Delray Beach 1,874 186 138 Century Village, west
of Boca Raton 1,526 134 108 Whisper Walk, west of Boca Raton 826 80 69 Lakes of Delray, west of Delray Beach
1,037 94 98 Sources: Supervisor of Elections, Broward and Palm Beach counties; South Florida Sun-Sentinel Editorial
Research
INSIDE:
Obama sweeps four races. Huckabee wins Kansas. 14A
Democrats worry about the role of superdelegates. 16A
Page 297
CONDO VILLAGES' RETIREES RETAIN DEMOCRATIC CLOUT Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) February
10, 2008 Sunday


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


GRAPHIC: Photo(s)
ANALYZING THE VOTE: Marvin Manning, 82, thinks many of his neighbors at Century Village west of Boca Raton
would like to restore the Clinton '90s. SISTERS UNITED: Helen Weissler, 93, left, and her sister Millie London, 82, of
Century Village west of Boca Raton, favor Hillary Clinton, saying she would bring a bonus: former President Bill Clin-
ton to advise her. Staff photos/Mark Randall


All Rights Reserved
Page 298





Clinton wins 61 percent of county vote

BYLINE: Josh Hafenbrack, South Florida Sun-Sentinel


LENGTH: 543 words

Jan. 31--Palm Beach County came out big for Hillary Clinton.
Yet when it came to another New Yorker, Florida's third-most populous county and home to legions of Northeastern
transplants was less kind: Rudy Giuliani ran a distant third, despite investing time and resources in an area his campaign
thought would be a stronghold.
At least 38 percent of Palm Beach County's 782,000 registered voters cast ballots on Tuesday or through early and ab-
sentee voting, according to preliminary results. The showing more than doubled the 17 percent turnout from the 2004
presidential primary, when both parties already had their nominees.
"This [election] for Florida was bigger than anybody ever thought," said Sid Dinerstein, the Palm Beach County GOP
chairman.
Clinton won 61 percent of the vote in Palm Beach County, a landslide bigger than her 50 percent margin statewide. By
comparison, Barack Obama won 27 percent of the vote in Palm Beach County and 30 percent statewide.
"The Clintons always have been loved in Palm Beach County," said County Commissioner Burt Aaronson, who said
Clinton is deeply popular in the south-county condo communities that form the backbone of the county's Democratic
base.
Delray Beach activist Andre Fladell said the county's demographics benefited Clinton, the New York senator. "A great
number of Democratic primary voters are Northeast transplants, and Northeast transplants will tend to favor Hillary," he
said.
The turnout was strong among Democrats: 42 percent of the county's 351,000 registered Democrats voted in the presi-
dential race, despite the national controversy over Florida's primary date. The national party stripped the state of all its
delegates and Democratic candidates boycotted Florida.
"It was a great turnout," said Wahid Mahmood, county Democratic Party chairman. "It was much bigger than 2000,
much bigger than 2004. Considering what was happening with our delegate situation, I think people kind of bypassed
that. They understood what was at stake here."
On the Republican side, Giuliani visited Palm Beach County far more often than any of the other candidates, even stop-
ping at a Delray Beach diner on Election Day. Yet he snagged only 17 percent of the county vote, while John McCain
won the county easily with about 40 percent, according to the preliminary results.
"I loved Rudy, but he dropped the ball on us big time," said Palm Beach Gardens resident Sharon Bulgarelli, 37, who
switched her vote to McCain when she determined the ex-New York City mayor's campaign strategy of wagering eve-
rything on a Florida win wasn't working..
Page 299
Clinton wins 61 percent of county vote South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale) January 31, 2008 Thursday

On the hotly debated property tax amendment, Palm Beach County broke sharply in favor of the tax cut, by a 67 percent
margin. Statewide, the measure passed with 64 percent.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

ACC-NO: 20080131-FL-Clinton-wins-61-percent-of-county-vote-0131


JOURNAL-CODE: FL

Page 300



Palm Beach Edition

CLINTON WON 61 PERCENT OF VOTE IN COUNTY, TOPPING STATE
NUMBERS

BYLINE: Josh Hafenbrack Staff Writer


LENGTH: 470 words

Palm Beach County came out big for Hillary Clinton.
Yet when it came to another New Yorker, Florida's third-most populous county and home to legions of Northeastern
transplants was less kind: Rudy Giuliani ran a distant third, despite investing time and resources in an area his campaign
thought would be a stronghold.
At least 38 percent of Palm Beach County's 782,000 registered voters cast ballots on Tuesday or through early and ab-
sentee voting, according to preliminary results. The showing more than doubled the 17 percent turnout from the 2004
presidential primary, when both parties already had their nominees.
"This [election] for Florida was bigger than anybody ever thought," said Sid Dinerstein, the Palm Beach County GOP
chairman.
Clinton won 61 percent of the vote in Palm Beach County, a landslide bigger than her 50 percent margin statewide. By
comparison, Barack Obama won 27 percent of the vote in Palm Beach County and 30 percent statewide.
"The Clintons always have been loved in Palm Beach County," said County Commissioner Burt Aaronson, who said
Clinton is deeply popular in the south-county condo communities that form the backbone of the county's Democratic
base.
Delray Beach activist Andre Fladell said the county's demographics benefited Clinton, the New York senator. "A great
number of Democratic primary voters are Northeast transplants, and Northeast transplants will tend to favor Hillary," he
said.
The turnout was strong among Democrats: 42 percent of the county's 351,000 registered Democrats voted in the presi-
dential race, despite the national controversy over Florida's primary date. The national party stripped the state of all its
delegates and Democratic candidates boycotted Florida.
"It was a great turnout," said Wahid Mahmood, county Democratic Party chairman. "It was much bigger than 2000,
much bigger than 2004. Considering what was happening with our delegate situation, I think people kind of bypassed
that. They understood what was at stake here."
On the Republican side, Giuliani visited Palm Beach County far more often than any of the other candidates, even stop-
ping at a Delray Beach diner on Election Day. Yet he snagged only 17 percent of the county vote, while John McCain
won the county easily with about 40 percent, according to the preliminary results.
"I loved Rudy, but he dropped the ball on us big time," said Palm Beach Gardens resident Sharon Bulgarelli, 37, who
switched her vote to McCain when she determined the ex-New York City mayor's campaign strategy of wagering eve-
rything on a Florida win wasn't working..
Page 301
CLINTON WON 61 PERCENT OF VOTE IN COUNTY, TOPPING STATE NUMBERS Sun-Sentinel (Fort
Lauderdale, Florida) January 31, 2008 Thursday

On the hotly debated property tax amendment, Palm Beach County broke sharply in favor of the tax cut, by a 67 percent
margin. Statewide, the measure passed with 64 percent.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


All Rights Reserved
Page 302



FINAL EDITION

THE KIDS WHO RAN THE COUNTY

BYLINE: By STACEY SINGER Palm Beach Post Staff Writer


LENGTH: 2850 words

In Palm Beach County circa 1971, government was as small and standard as a Leisureville tract home.
"If a commissioner wanted a pothole fixed, they called the county engineer, and the pothole got fixed."
Bruce Pelly called it government by old-boys network, and he grew up happy in that sleepier time, snagging lobsters
around the Palm Beach pier, tossing footballs with friends in the surf.
It had taken more than 60 years for Palm Beach County's population to reach 350,000. Over the next 10, the county's
population would double. Pelly would join a cadre of young civil servants planning for the growth. So many were in
their 20s that a condo newspaper soon dubbed them the "kiddie car gang." The name stuck.
By 2006, the kiddies had been running Palm Beach County for about 30 years. They were now parents and grandpar-
ents, and their utopia had morphed into a megalopolis of more than 1.3 million. Their agencies -- and some of the kid-
dies themselves -- were under scrutiny by federal investigators, thanks to a series of scandals; the latest culminated with
Friday's sentencing of former County Commissioner Warren Newell, a relative latecomer to the power clique. He'll now
spend five years in federal prison.
Did the "kiddie" corps become another iteration of the old-boy's network, one that opened the floodgates to
over-development? Ken Spillias, an attorney and single-term commissioner in the early '80s, recalls the kiddie corps as
a secret club, one that still has pull.
"When you start looking at connections between these people, you see they are connections that go back a long, long
way," he said.
Early days
In Pelly's youth, the western edge of suburban life ended at Congress Avenue. Garbage pickup was optional. The buses
that ran on Dixie Highway lacked air conditioning. The county's airport handled just a couple of airlines.
Karen Marcus recalls that time nostalgically. Her dad, an aeronautical engineer at Pratt & Whitney, drove to work past
marshes and ranches, where he'd build RL-10 Saturn rocket engines still used today. After a Manhattan modeling stint
and junior college, she took a secretarial job in the newly established county environmental control office.
She reported to Dennis Koehler, who would become county commissioner, and later help her do the same. Elected in
1984, she's now the commission's longest-serving member.
Marcus outlasted her then-colleague John Sansbury, who was county administrator from 1975 to 1986.
From Westgate, he had attended school alongside the privileged children of Palm Beach, feeling he had to earn straight
A's to prove he was their equal.
He went on to become perhaps the youngest county administrator in the nation at 26. He held that position for a decade,
and might still today, had he not angered his bosses by recommending a friend for the county's top attorney -- Gary
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THE KIDS WHO RAN THE COUNTY Palm Beach Post (Florida) January 13, 2008 Sunday

Brandenburg, who is now one of the county's most effective lobbyists, an expert at obtaining zoning changes for devel-
opers.
Sansbury worked closely with another leader of the '70s, Herb Kahlert, whose engineering degree helped him gain one
of the most powerful jobs in government: builder of roads and, at the time, manager of county property holdings.
Kahlert's term ended in 1991, after a lawsuit, an ethics complaint, and with an irate Commissioner Mary McCarty de-
manding his resignation. His family had been accumulating hundreds of acres of property in the unincorporated areas
where he planned new roads.
But before the kiddie car gang assembled, they were preceded by Nebraskan William Boose III, a lawyer and land
planner with dapper good looks and Tallahassee clout. In 1971, at 26, he had been hired to write Palm Beach County's
first land-use plan, a map for the boom to come.
Boose's legacy
Boose took the helm of the county's planning and zoning department and went on a hiring spree. His new staff helped
him write up land-use, road and parks plans.
"If uncontrolled development of Palm Beach County continues, it's going to be like Southern California overnight,
where you plan on making a 90-minute drive to the beach," Boose warned in 1972.
In 1974, Boose left behind his $20,000-a-year government job to become a lobbyist and land-use lawyer.
He used his clout to sell real estate to the county. Boose's civil servant colleagues watched him become a millionaire
power broker with a Flagler Drive mansion.
Meanwhile, another go-getter with a fresh degree from the University of Florida was seeking a county job. Sansbury
had talked himself into an assistant administrator's job and then became head of the 3,000-member staff, overseeing an
$850 million budget.
His promotion was a political accident, the result of one commissioner's attempt to prevent then-Planning Director Ray
Liberti from taking the job.
"You're just a poor guy from Westgate, you wake up, and suddenly you're running the county," Sansbury said.
Making way for growth
There were many challenges, most of them not glamorous: expanding sewer and water service; making garbage pickup
mandatory; modernizing mass transit; improving the jail and the airport.
But behind each of those services were multimillion-dollar contracts to let.
Sansbury learned that he wouldn't succeed unless he built a commission majority -- at that time, three of five at-large
commissioners. He learned to listen to the staff members the commission favored. That meant Kahlert, and Liberti, and
initially, County Attorney Richard Ellington.
Sansbury, like Boose, expanded his staff to cope with the demands of an ever-rising population. He hired his school
chum Pelly in 1975.
And Sansbury promoted the people who seemed dedicated. Vince Bonvento left the county clerk's office to became his
grant writer and assistant administrator; Dennis Eshleman was put in charge of county parks. He encouraged Kahlert to
promote a hard-working engineer named George Webb.
Bonvento, Eshleman and Webb have remained in top county jobs for about three decades.
Sansbury also encouraged friendly faces like Koehler and later Marcus to run for the commission, and they rewarded
him with support.
When time came to find a site for a landfill, he and Kahlert pulled out a map, pointed to a spot west of Florida's Turn-
pike that was owned by the MacArthur Foundation, and said put it there. The commission did.
And when a new court complex was needed, the two looked out their window.
"We said, 'That's where it should go,' and that's where it went," Sansbury said.
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They wanted a larger airport. He insisted it stay east, close to downtown West Palm Beach.
He told his airport director, Richard Cleveland, to turn control over the airport to Kahlert. In 1982, he named Pelly act-
ing aviation director. Pelly later left, then returned. Together, Kahlert and Pelly planned for an expansion so large it
would cost more than $188 million and involve buying a nearby neighborhood.
Meanwhile, Marcus ran for office at the urging of south county condo power broker Andre Fladell.
Shortly after opening her first campaign, she had to issue an apology, for accepting surplus county furniture for her
campaign office. She returned the furniture. She loathed campaigning.
"Speaking in front of groups was just horrifying," she recalled. "I used to go to campaign events and stand in a corner,
and Andre would say, 'You can't do that.'"
But she won, promising an ear for those concerned about growth. The growth continued. Palm Beach County was ap-
proving more than 10,000 new homes a year in unincorporated areas by the time Sansbury left office in 1986, pouring
traffic onto narrow country roads faster than the county could build them.
Sansbury had stayed in office for a decade by siding with the commission majority on critical issues. But he lost his
footing in 1982, when Spillias and Dorothy Wilkin took office.
Cooling off
The two had run on anti-corruption and slow-growth platforms. South county residents, restless about traffic and ram-
pant growth, demanded change.
Early in his legal career, Spillias had worked in Washington as a prosecutor, and he meant to make good on his cam-
paign promises. One of his first official acts was to try enticing the FBI to investigate an expensive south county water
utility purchase.
"There was a feeling that major projects tended to find their way to those most closely aligned to the dominant commis-
sioner," Spillias said. "The jail, the county administration complex, the county's purchase of South County Utility."
He said an agent told him the FBI lacked the personnel to investigate -- cocaine had turned Miami into the nation's cap-
ital for vice, and the bureau was shorthanded.
Meanwhile, Sansbury was following Boose's lead and going into private practice -- with Boose.
The pair arranged for the county to buy beachfront property in Jupiter, with state support, for what would become part
of Coral Cove Park. Sansbury pocketed an $84,000 commission, outraging Wilkin. Sansbury never understood why.
"What's wrong with that?" he asked. "Bill was the number one zoning attorney. I don't know anyone who cared more
about the county other than me."
Wilkin demanded a cooling-off ordinance that would put two years between a county staffer's departure and his lobby-
ing.
It was left to Brandenburg to write the ordinance, which took so long to pass that Wilkin had left office by then. On the
eve of its passage in 1988, Brandenburg resigned to launch his lobbying career.
The commissioners all appointed people to advisory boards, and Commissioner Jerry Owens had chosen a former
county employee named Warren Newell to the planning commission, a group that would hear the complex issues posed
by proposed land-use changes and advise commissioners accordingly. By then, Newell worked at the civil engineering
firm SFRN.
Newell won office himself in 1992. After moving in, he put under glass a folded-up, hand-written note. It had been
slipped into his pocket years earlier by a member of Owens' staff, just before an important commission meeting.
It said: "Warren Newell: Please look favorably upon all of Bill Clark's petitions per commissioner Owens. Thank you."
William C. Clark was the well-liked developer who built the downtown Flagler Center and Barnett Center, and sold the
county its government center headquarters for a total cost of more than $18 million. He was part of the club.
Page 305

As a new commissioner, Newell knew his civil engineering firm's many clients could raise conflict-of-interest issues.
He said he believed that as long as he abstained from something that directly profited him, he'd be on the right side of
ethics law. Several times, he'd make the wrong call.
By 1987, Pelly was still the director of airports, in charge of the bidding for Palm Beach International's lucrative gift
shop concession.
The next year, Congress passed an amendment to the federal mail fraud statute, enacting something called "honest ser-
vices fraud," which stipulated that voters have a legal right to expect honest service from their elected officials.
Meanwhile, Pelly had endorsed a firm called Paradies as the airport's vendor, a decision that promised to bring contro-
versy. In 1994, Paradies' owner was convicted on bribery charges for making payoffs to an Atlanta councilman.
By 1997, Pelly was recommending that commissioners renew Paradies' contract without soliciting other bids. No men-
tion of the federal charges.
Paradies built its shops using Marcus' husband Dennis to do $50,000 worth of construction work. Marcus said a county
staff attorney, Gordon Selfridge, assured her that the issue didn't violate ethics rules. Selfridge died in 2003.
"Now I'm sorry we didn't put it in writing," Marcus said.
The controversy passed, and last November, the commission voted a third time to extend Paradies' contract, this time
through 2022.
Scandals unfold
The 1990s were a time of transition, thanks to worsening south county traffic.
When Kahlert pushed Woolbright Road westward -- coincidentally toward land he owned -- Boynton Beach homeown-
ers sued. An ethics complaint cost Kahlert his county engineering job, even though the Florida Commission on Ethics
found no wrongdoing. New Commissioner Mary McCarty demanded he leave office.
McCarty, a former Delray Beach commissioner, was elected to county office in 1990, at a time when State Farm Insur-
ance agent Anthony Masilotti was dabbling in real estate with his more experienced friend, Bruce Rendina.
Meanwhile, in south Palm Beach County, another scandal was unfolding.
The FBI had wired the office of a developer who said an associate of County Commissioner Burt Aaronson was extort-
ing thousands in bribes. Those bribes would be needed to pay off neighborhood groups, he was told by Lloyd Hasner, a
one-time member of the county's Finance Housing Authority with Sansbury and Ellington, the county attorney.
Hasner called the payoff "smart bucks." In return for the payoff, Hasner said on the tape, Aaronson would endorse the
developer's zoning request.
Aaronson denied any knowledge of the scheme. He was not charged. Hasner and Ellington both served time in federal
prison.
In Royal Palm Beach, Mayor Tony Masilotti ran for county commission in 1998.
He was reelected in 2002. That year, he called on Boose to help him with another land transaction, this time for a Martin
County tract called Nine Gems.
He asked Boose to help him conceal his ownership as he planned to sell to another government agency, the South Flor-
ida Water Management District. Boose drew up the papers at no charge.
When the water district then bought Nine Gems, the Masilottis made $1.7 million. Boose has pleaded guilty to mispri-
sion of a felony -- knowingly hiding a crime. He is to be sentenced Jan. 25.
Meanwhile, West Palm Beach City Commissioner and Realtor Jim Exline hung his shingle with Sansbury's realty firm.
He was facing an expensive divorce, so when a $50,000 payment came in, he asked Sansbury to hide it by passing it
through a Clematis Street jewelry store. Sansbury had business before the city, business that Exline helped him with
without properly disclosing. Exline is serving a 10-month prison sentence.
Sansbury was never charged.
"I helped a friend during a troubling time, who worked for me," Sansbury said.
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Through all of this, the county has struggled to clarify and rewrite ethics rules.
After Masilotti's arrest on honest services fraud charges in 2006, Newell called for clarity on ethics.
The commission agreed to create disclosure forms. Those forms, supposedly now available to the public on request, are
kept in desk drawers in the commissioners' own offices. They include the names of spouses' and children's companies,
but not spouses' clients.
Jess Santamaria names seven businesses and 26 properties in his ownership, and six by his children. McCarty states her
husband is employed by Bear Stearns. Marcus says her husband owns DB Marcus Construction.
The string of arrests hasn't surprised Spillias, nor has the spasm of ethics reforms. But it saddens him.
"Favoring your friends, even when you're not getting a piece of the deal, is not good government," he said. "It's a hidden
cost that we can't quantify, and it adds to all of our burden."
The Exline affair has cost Sansbury dearly, both in business and personal terms.
"I don't particularly like it here anymore," Sansbury said. "I have property in Pasco County. It's Palm Beach County 20
years ago, which I miss."
Pelly said he hasn't spoken to Sansbury in years. But he echoed his sentiment.
"Are you asking me if I liked it better in the '60s?" Pelly asked. "Yes. I did."
~stacey_singer@pbpost.com
'When you start looking at connections between these people,you see they are connections that go back a long,long
way.'
KEN SPILLIAS
Attorney and single-term commissioner in the early 1980s, who recalls the 'kiddie car gang' as a secret club
County players have decades-long connections
John Sansbury became county administrator because a powerful commissioner wanted to block Ray Liberti's bid for the
job.
Sansbury hired his school chum Bruce Pelly. Pelly went on to run Palm Beach International Airport, a post he holds to
this day.
Sansbury's recommendation of Gary Brandenburg for the county attorney's job led to Sansbury's downfall. Today,
Brandenburg is a powerful lobbyist who helps commissioners with their campaigns.
Former County Commissioner Dennis Koehler once employed Karen Marcus as a secretary. South county politico An-
dre Fladell backed Marcus in her successful bid for county commissioner.
William Boose preceded the 'kiddie car gang' and wrote the county's land-use rules. He became a land lawyer and lob-
byist. Boose helped Sansbury go into private life. Boose faces sentencing in the Tony Masilotti scandal.
Sansbury and former county engineer Herb Kahlert selected sites for the likes of the judicial center, Solid Waste Au-
thority and expanded airport. Kahlert resigned amid criticism of family land holdings near planned new roads.
County Commissioner Jerry Owens named a young Warren Newell to the planning commission, an advisory board.
When Newell became a county commissioner, he kept a note that urged him to look favorably on one developer's pro-
jects as a reminder of something he did not want to become.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

NOTES: Ran all editions. Info box at end of text.

Page 307

1. William Boose III was a bright young lawyer when he came to Palm Beach County in 1971 to write its
land-useplan. He later became a powerful lobbyist. (mug) 2. John Sansbury grew up in Westgate and went to school
with Palm Beachers. He became perhaps the youngest county administrator in the country when he ascended to the job
here in 1975. (mug) 3. After a modeling stint in Manhattan, Karen Marcus took a job as a secretary in county govern-
ment in 1974. She went on to become the longest-serving county commissioner now on the dais. (mug) 4. Bruce Pelly's
schoolmate, County Administrator John Sansbury, tapped him to join county government in 1975. Pelly now runs the
airport. (mug) 5. Herb Kahlert was Sansbury's county engineer. He held one of the county's most powerful jobs, one that
included building roads and managing the county's property holdings. (mug) 6. ALLEN EYESTONE/1986 staff file
photo IN CALMER WATERS: John Sansbury (right) and William Boose III have fun at a water-ballet fund-raiser or-
ganized with the help of lobbyist Anita Mitchell (in the foreground). The event benefited a Dropout-prevention pro-
gram. Mitchell recalled that Karen Marcus agreed to do an Esther Williams routine in the pool that day: 'It was a time
when a good many of the business community had a lot of fun and did some good things for this community, and life
just seemed a lot kinder.' 7. John Sansbury (mug) 8. Ray Liberti (mug) 9. Bruce Pelly (mug) 10. Gary Brandenburg
(mug) 11. Dennis Koehler (mug) 12. Andre Fladell (mug) 13. Karen Marcus (mug) 14. William Boose (mug) 15. Herb
Kahlert (mug) 16. Jerry Owens (mug) 17. Warren Newell (mug)


All Rights Reserved
Page 308


US States News

January 8, 2008 Tuesday 5:05 AM EST

DELAIRE COUNTRY CLUB CHARITY GOLF TOURNAMENT REPRE-
SENTS 19 YEARS OF COMMITMENT TO THE CITY


LENGTH: 380 words


The residents of a Delray Beach gated community bonded together to show their support for the city they called
home. In an effort to raise funds for the city's essential services, a charity golf tournament was born. Nineteen years
later, the tradition continues as the Delaire Country Club hosts its annual Charity Golf Tournament on February 1, 2008.
Delaire Country Club members Harvey Lurie and David Gray will co-chair this year's event.
Participants in the Delaire Country Club Charity Golf Tournament are residents of Delaire Country Club. Proceeds
benefit Delray Beach Fire Rescue, the Delray Beach Police Department and Delray Citizens for Delray Police. Lifesav-
ing and crime-fighting equipment not available through normal budget processes are purchased to aid those men and
women who protect and serve the community. Since its inception, the charity event has raised over $650,000.00. This
money has been instrumental in assisting Fire Rescue and Police to meet the ever changing challenges faced in the line
of duty, to maintain the highest level of professional development and to improve public safety for all Delray Beach
citizens. "The purchase of this equipment from these events has been a direct benefit to the citizenry of Delray Beach at
large. Lives have been saved with this equipment - that's immeasurable", states Perry DonFrancisco, President of Delray
Citizens for Delray Police.
"In October of 1989 in Dr. Andre Fladell's office (VP/Director Delray Citizens for Delray Police), Perry DonFran-
cisco, Jay Felner (Delaire resident), then with Delray Beach Police Department Sgt. Ross Licata, then Delray Beach Fire
Chief Kerry Koen and myself met at the suggestion of Dr. Fladell to set up a day of golf for the benefit of the Fire and
Police departments to specifically buy equipment that was so desperately needed but not included in their budgets,"
event Co-chair Harvey Lurie said. "The rest is history."
The residents of Delaire Country Club are dedicated to this worthy cause and persevere to make each year more suc-
cessful than the last. Organizers of the golf tournament define it as a commitment to the city.
For more information, contact the Delaire Country Club at (561) 499-9090.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


Page 309
DELAIRE COUNTRY CLUB CHARITY GOLF TOURNAMENT REPRESENTS 19 YEARS OF COMMITMENT
TO THE CITY US States News January 8, 2008 Tuesday 5:05 AM EST

All Rights Reserved
Page 310



FINAL EDITION

YEARNING FOR A CLINTON - BILL - DRIVES SOME SUPPORTERS

BYLINE: By S.V. DTE Palm Beach Post Capital Bureau


LENGTH: 1206 words

If Hillary Clinton becomes the first woman president, she'll accomplish another "first" that supporters are less eager to
acknowledge: She'll be the first candidate to win with the support of many who are really more interested in the candi-
date's spouse.
"The underlying reason is a yearning for a Bill Clinton third term," one South Florida Democratic official who supports
Clinton said privately. "The feeling is that he is a power behind the throne."
Charles Morgan, a Destin restaurateur who in August hosted a fund-raiser for Hillary Clinton that was attended by the
former president, said he agreed with that assessment.
"I don't think it ever struck what a powerful addition he is to her campaign until he was here," said Morgan, a prominent
Panhandle Democrat who says he also plans to host a fund-raiser for former Sen. John Edwards. "From a standpoint of
fund-raising, from a standpoint of campaigning, from a standpoint of getting him back in the White House."
That notion has been popular among some Republicans for years - that a Hillary Clinton presidency would really be a
reprise for the man they loved to hate, Bill Clinton. They call the couple "Billary," complete with altered images com-
bining their faces.
Supporters of her Democratic rivals similarly say she appeals to many in their party who long for a return to the Clinton
years. "There is no question that this is about Bill Clinton's third term," said Chuck Greene, a Tampa supporter of Illi-
nois Sen. Barack Obama.
The feelings are not new, nor are they confined to Florida. A New York Times/CBS national poll released Tuesday
found that among Democratic voters, "married to Bill Clinton" was the second most popular reason Hillary Clinton
supporters cited for their choice. "Good experience" came in first with 16 percent, while 13 percent cited her husband.
That same poll found that 44 percent of Democratic voters are more likely to vote for Hillary because of Bill, compared
with 7 percent who said they were less likely.
Hillary Clinton backers argue, however, that while he is an added attraction to her candidacy, she is a strong candidate
in her own right.
"I think that Bill Clinton is the icing on the cake. He's not the cake," said Delray Beach party activist and Clinton backer
Andre Fladell, who attributed more of her success to her gender. "The reality is: This a human being who's the first
viable female. Women badly want a woman. ... Right place, right time."
"I do think he's a plus, but I don't think he's the No. 1 reason," added Barbara Effman, who as president of the West
Broward Democratic Club is neutral in the Democratic primary. "A lot of people think they're getting two-for-one."
Striking a balance
The "two-fer" idea is a tricky one for the Clinton campaign.
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YEARNING FOR A CLINTON - BILL - DRIVES SOME SUPPORTERS Palm Beach Post (Florida) December 12,
2007 Wednesday

In 1992, both then-candidate Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton openly advertised that she would have a significant role in
his presidency - a theme that played into the "I suppose I could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas" re-
mark that later had her competing with then-first lady Barbara Bush in a cookie recipe contest.
Early in his first term, President Clinton gave his wife a leading role in his health-care initiative, and it was defeated
after intense lobbying by the insurance industry.
Sixteen years later, Sen. Clinton is trying to balance her husband's enduring popularity among Democrats against the
need to make clear that she, not he, would be president.
After Obama got a weekend's worth of attention from talk show queen Oprah Winfrey campaigning for him, the Clinton
campaign brought in the former president to stump for his wife in Iowa on Monday and Tuesday. While he packed hun-
dreds into event after event where the speech was inevitably shorter than the wait, his theme was that he always be-
lieved she was the more capable of the two.
"I thought she was the most gifted person of our generation," said Clinton, who said he told her when they were young,
"You know, you really should dump me and go back home to Chicago or go to New York and take ,one of those offers
you've got and run for office."
It's a tightrope from which Obama, for one, has attempted to knock her off.
At a Fort Dodge, Iowa, news conference last month, Obama countered her assertion that she had more experience than
the one-term U.S. senator from Illinois. "I am happy to compare my experiences with hers when it comes to the econo-
my. My understanding was that she wasn't treasury secretary in the Clinton administration," he said.
But Clinton, who was first elected to office as a U.S. senator from New York as her husband finished his second term,
continues to cite her eight years as first lady as the source of much of her know-how. At an Iowa debate broadcast by
National Public Radio last week, she played up her role in her husband's administration on foreign policy matters.
"I not only advised, I often met with him and his advisers, both in preparation for, during and after," she said of White
House visits with foreign leaders. "I traveled with representatives from the Security Council, the State Department, oc-
casionally the Defense Department, and even the CIA.
"So I was deeply involved in being part of the Clinton team in the first Clinton administration. And I am someone who
wants the best possible advice from as many different sources as possible, and that would certainly include my hus-
band."
Asset to any Democrat
Quinnipiac University pollster Peter Brown said that Bill Clinton is clearly a major asset for his wife as she seeks his
former job.
"To Democratic primary voters, he is the be-all and end-all," Brown said. "He's not only the smartest campaign manager
in America, he's the most popular Democrat in America. ... To some degree, they see her campaign as a continuation."
But Brown added: "I don't think anybody thinks he's going to be pulling the strings. Clearly, they look back on his
presidency as a time of good."
The almost universal approval of Bill Clinton among Democrats has even some Obama supporters wary about calling
Sen. Clinton a mere instrument of her husband. Kirk Wagar, Obama's Florida finance chief, said that any Democrat
elected president would get Bill Clinton's advice.
Wagar said someone like Obama probably would get even better counsel from the former president.
"It's arguable that he might be able to give more objective advice to other people than he could to his own wife," Wagar
said.
Clinton's backers argue that with or without the ex-president, Hillary Clinton deserves support for her intelligence and
hard work.
"Totally on her own merits, she has shown that, totally independent of Bill Clinton, she is the most experienced and
qualified person to be president," said Chris Korge, Clinton's Florida finance chair. "Anyone who suggests that she on
her own would not be a viable candidate is totally underestimating her strength."
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YEARNING FOR A CLINTON - BILL - DRIVES SOME SUPPORTERS Palm Beach Post (Florida) December 12,
2007 Wednesday

On that point, Destin's Charles Morgan remains unconvinced.
"I don't know where she'd be without him, but I know she is where she is because of him," he said, recalling how enthu-
siastically Panhandle Democrats donated to her campaign for the opportunity to meet her husband. "Is it because of
their support for Hillary, or is it because they want to get a picture with him?"
- s_v_date@pbpost.com


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


1. Team 'Billary': The prospect of Bill Clinton's return to the White House has attracted applause, derision and mer-
chandising in T-shirts and buttons. 2. worth1000.com Some Republicans call the couple 'Billary,' going so far as to
morph their images together.


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Page 313



FINAL EDITION

BAN ON STATE VISITSTIGHTENS CLINTON'S GRIP ON DEMOCRATS

BYLINE: By S.V. DTE Palm Beach Post Capital Bureau


LENGTH: 1544 words

Facing a likely drubbing in the game of expectations, is it smarter to give it your all and hope for the best? Or to walk
away and pretend you weren't interested in playing in the first place?
Such is the shape of the Jan. 29 Democratic presidential primary in Florida, where a punishment by the national party
and a promise by candidates not to campaign here have left Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York the overwhelming favor-
ite.
And just a month away from the Iowa caucuses, the indications from the campaign best positioned to challenge her are
that it will be the latter -- that rather than making a play for momentum in Florida's primary, Sen. Barack Obama of Il-
linois will instead concentrate on winning states in the Feb. 5 round of primaries.
"I think that decision's been made for us," said Frank Sanchez, Obama's lead fund-raiser in Tampa. "Given what's hap-
pened with the national party, we can't campaign."
The last of the Democratic National Committee's four officially designated "early" states holds its primary Jan. 26. If
the Obama campaign honors the pledge he signed not to let Florida usurp any of the early states' status, his supporters
would have all of three days to organize a voter-turnout effort in a state he started working only a year ago.
In contrast, former President Clinton and wife, Hillary, have been organizing Florida since before his 1992 election.
"I wish I could tell you that we have a massive turnout campaign planned, but that's just not the case," Sanchez said.
That means that just as Republican Rudy Giuliani hopes Florida will be his "firewall" against likely losses in early
states, so Clinton could use the state to reestablish herself as a dominant front-runner heading into the de facto national
primary a week later.
"She has true believers. She has the kind of grass-roots support that it takes to win the election in November," said Chris
Korge, Clinton's top fund-raiser in Florida. "The fact that she has that kind of support in Florida clearly is a tremendous
advantage going into Feb. 5."
Democratic operatives concede that much can change in the month before the first votes are cast. Four years ago, for
example, John Kerry was lending himself $850,000 to finance a foundering campaign against Iowa front-runners How-
ard Dean and Richard Gephardt. But after a come-from-behind win in Iowa, he easily took later contests and the nomi-
nation.
Similarly, a surprise or two in the early states could make Florida the focus of the Democratic world for the days lead-
ing up to Jan. 29.
"There (are) going to be dynamics at play that don't exist today," said Mitch Ceasar, chairman of the Broward County
Democratic Party, who added that Florida's size alone could command attention. "There are 500,000 Democrats in Io-
wa. There (are) almost 500,000 Democrats in Broward."
Page 314
BAN ON STATE VISITSTIGHTENS CLINTON'S GRIP ON DEMOCRATS Palm Beach Post (Florida) December 4,
2007 Tuesday

Still, the strength of the Clinton "brand" combined with her strong financial position probably means Obama or John
Edwards or another candidate will have to put up at least a strong showing against Clinton in one or more of the earlier
states for the Florida Democratic primary to matter much at all.
That's not how Democratic state lawmakers had hoped it would turn out. Like Republican Gov. Charlie Crist and GOP
legislative leaders, they believed that moving Florida's primary from March to January would give the state a more
prominent role in choosing the eventual nominee.
But that was before the smaller states into whose early window Florida had encroached successfully pushed the Demo-
cratic National Committee to strip the state of all its delegates to the national nominating convention next summer. Io-
wa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina also persuaded all but one of the Democratic candidates -- former
Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel -- to avoid campaign trips here outside of fund raising.
Bill Nelson, Florida's senior U.S. senator and top elected Democratic, has sued the DNC on the issue. The first hearing
on the matter is set for Wednesday in a federal courtroom in Tallahassee.
But absent a judge's ruling forcing the national party to reverse its decision, the circumstances have made it all but im-
possible for any of Clinton's opponents to build the type of organization needed to challenge the one she and her hus-
band have established over the past 16 years.
"Hillary's the default position for a lot of people, because she's spent a lot of time in the state," said Kirk Wagar,
Obama's finance chairman in Florida.
Concerns about turnout
At Century Village West near Boca Raton, shuttle buses make the rounds every 20 minutes or so, taking retirees from
the 105 residential buildings and depositing them at the cavernous clubhouse, where activity rooms provide a slate of
daily entertainment.
On Jan. 29, as on all election days, the clubhouse will host one additional activity: voting, with precincts set up around
the corner from a full-size movie theater.
"It's just impossible for people not to vote," said Marvin Manning, 81, president of the Century Village West Demo-
cratic Club.
Manning's counterpart at the Century Village 30 miles to the south in Pembroke Pines, though, said the national party's
decision to strip Florida's delegates could make it more difficult to get residents to the polls.
"They're very disheartened," Sophie Bock said. "They figure it's not going to count anyway."
But Clinton supporters believe that Democratic apathy because of the delegate issue will affect all demographics --
which in turn will give all the more influence to the organized South Florida condo communities where Clinton has not
only the admiration of the residents but the backing of much of the local party establishment.
"It's totally going to be retirees and seniors," said Delray Beach Democratic activist and Clinton supporter Andre
Fladell. "We think we're going to have a margin of 30 to 40 percent over everybody else."
To help make sure that happens, the People's Choice PAC -- made up of about three dozen community leaders who also
serve as local party officials -- plans cable television ads and palm cards to advertise its Clinton endorsement.
Chairman Jay Weitz of suburban Boynton Beach said that, while the political group gets that message to tens of thou-
sands of Democratic voters, the party clubs would function as they always do -- by getting precinct-level volunteers to
work phone lists to get voters to the polls.
The likely result, in his view? "I've seen a groundswell for her down here that I think will carry her."
During a pre-sanctions visit in September, Clinton packed the 1,000-person meeting room, with an overflow audience in
the lobby, all of them willing to undergo the Secret Service hassle for the chance to see her, Manning said.
"She was greeted here like a movie star," he said.
Of the 4,000 registered Democrats at his Century Village, he said he expects three-quarters of them to vote for Clinton.
"Hillary Clinton should carry Florida. If this village is any criterion, she'll blow 'em all out."
Obama backers look ahead
Page 315
BAN ON STATE VISITSTIGHTENS CLINTON'S GRIP ON DEMOCRATS Palm Beach Post (Florida) December 4,
2007 Tuesday

Through the bars of an iron gate, Terry Watson pointed to the band shell within the walled courtyard of Ybor City's
historic Cuban Club in Tampa, where Barack Obama electrified a crowd of 2,500 who each paid $25 for the privilege of
listening to him.
That was in April, months before the DNC radically altered Obama's Florida strategy. Before that, top Florida backers
believed that the state could be the place where Obama capped off early successes with another win to make himself the
clear front-runner going into the Feb. 5 contests.
Now, with Florida's delegates off the table and Clinton holding a 25- to 30-point lead in most polls, Obama supporters
such as Watson, chairman of the Tampa Bay O-Train volunteer group, realize it's likely that Obama will come back for
similar events only if he seals the nomination Feb. 5 and starts working toward the general election.
Watson, who said Obama's style and vision remind him of Robert Kennedy four decades ago, said personal contact,
"when people can hear and meet him," is Obama's greatest strength.
Without that presence, Watson said, beating Clinton in Florida has become "an incredible mountain to climb."
Still, Watson, 60, pushes on. He said his group has about 600 volunteers who go to local political events to talk up
Obama and pass out DVDs with some of Obama's speeches and stage fund-raising concerts. And on Dec. 13, Obama's
wife, Michelle, will visit Tampa for a fund-raiser.
"The reality is, what we're gearing up for is helping him win nationally," Watson said, adding that part of that strategy is
to send Tampa Bay O-Train people to contests in the earlier states.
One such volunteer is 57-year-old computer programmer Chuck Greene, who plans to head to Iowa this month to help
out with canvassing and phone banks. "I'm ready to go," he said, calling himself the "original cynic" who happened to
channel-surf onto Obama's address to the Democratic National Convention in 2004. "I cried during that speech."
But even Greene acknowledges that, fund-raising prowess and oratorical skills notwithstanding, Obama still must over-
come the Clinton machine.
"We are slowly taking them on, one voter at a time," he said. "You don't know how many people still have no idea who
Barack Obama is. They'll say: 'Who?'"
- s_v_date@pbpost.com


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

NOTES: ELECTION 2008 Ran all editions.

Photos by S.V. DTE 1. CONFIDENT IN CLINTON: Marvin Manning, president of the Century Village West Dem-
ocratic Club, expects three-fourths of his community's 4,000 Democrats to vote for.. 2. Sen. Hillary Clinton (mug). 'If
this village is any criterion, she'll blow 'em all out,' he says. 3. HOLDING OUT HOPE: Chuck Greene (above left) and
Terry Watson support... 2. Barack Obama(left, mug) by volunteering with the Tampa Bay O-Train group. 'We are
slowly taking them on, one voter at a time,' Greene says of overcoming Clinton's advantage. 5. Andre Fladell (mug)


All Rights Reserved
Page 316



FINAL EDITION

DEMOCRATS IN APPRAISER RACE AT ODDS FROM GET-GO



LENGTH: 639 words

Democratic plans for unseating longtime Palm Beach County Property Appraiser Gary Nikolits in 2008 will have to
undergo revisions, now that two Dems have filed to challenge the Republican incumbent in the theoretically nonpartisan
race.
Alpha-Dem County Commish Burt Aaronson, who's had Nikolits in his sights for four years, helped persuade
term-limited state Rep. Richard Machek, D-Delray Beach, to open a campaign against Nikolits this summer. Then real
estate agent and former school board member Diane Heinz, who's also a Democrat, got into the race this month.
Things got off to a rocky start between Machek and Heinz on Nov. 9, when the two had breakfast to discuss Heinz's
potential candidacy. She said she'd decide in a few weeks and let Machek know before she went public. Then she
opened a campaign later that day. Machek learned about it in the next day's Palm Beach Post.
"I wasn't trying to be malicious or backstabbing," Heinz told the Politics column last week.
After breakfasting with Machek, she said, she realized a big Realtors event was coming up the following Monday and
she wanted to be able to work the crowd as an announced candidate. She said she planned to tell Machek during the
weekend, but the newspaper story beat her to it.
"I didn't think it was appropriate," Machek said of the way Heinz entered the race.
The bigger issue is whether two challengers will split the anti-Nikolits vote. Because the race is nonpartisan, Machek
and Heinz and Nikolits will all appear on the same ballot without party labels in August, assuming that all three candi-
dates remain in the race. If no candidate claims a majority, the top two finishers will appear on the November 2008 bal-
lot.
"Of course it makes it a little more difficult to knock off a 15-year incumbent," Machek consultant Neil Schiller said.
County Democratic Chairman Wahid Mahmood said, "In a perfect world, it'd be nice to have one candidate that the
party could support."
Footnote: Heinz hasn't hired a consultant for her campaign but has talked with Richard Giorgio and Francine Nelson of
Patriot Games.
Palm Beach County Elections Supervisor Arthur Anderson has stepped up his office's PR efforts in recent months, in-
creasing payments to a West Palm Beach public relations firm to $10,000 a month instead of $8,000 and designating
one of his staffers as "communications director" to field media inquiries and set up town-hall meetings and the like.
Anderson said the changes are needed to prepare the famously jittery county electorate for the 2008 elections and yet
another switch in voting equipment.
"This is post-2000 and there are many concerns that the community in general and various groups have related to the
elections process," Anderson said. "There's still a lot of anxiety and fear."
Page 317
DEMOCRATS IN APPRAISER RACE AT ODDS FROM GET-GO Palm Beach Post (Florida) November 19, 2007
Monday

Anderson took a vacant "elections specialist II" position and added media-relations and community-outreach duties to
create the communications director post. He hired Frank Guzman at $41,889 a year in September. But Guzman resigned
Friday, saying he needs to devote time to a family medical situation.
Anderson said he hasn't decided whether he'll name another communications director.
The fact that state Rep. Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, is already widely expected to become state House speaker after
the 2010 elections is a testament to entrenched Republican power in Tallahassee.
When Cannon spent a day in Palm Beach County last week, his schedule included a meeting with Andre Fladell, the
Delray Beach Democratic operative and condo vote mobilizer who is a symbol of entrenched Democratic power in
southern Palm Beach County. They seem to have hit it off.
"He was a neat guy. Obviously he really loves politics," Cannon said.
"He's very bright and very open-minded. ... He believes communication with Democrats is important," Fladell said.
george_bennett@pbpost.com


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH




All Rights Reserved
Page 318



FINAL EDITION

ACTORS GEAR UP FOR '00 ELECTIONS, TAKE 2



LENGTH: 554 words

Politainment update: Jayne Atkinson, a Broadway actress best known as national security adviser Karen Hayes on the
Fox TV nail-biter 24, is playing former Palm Beach County elections supe and butterfly ballot designer Theresa LePore
in the HBO movie about the 2000 presidential recount.
County canvassing board scenes for Recount were to be shot over the weekend in Jacksonville, where consultants were
still scrambling late last week to capture that West Palm Beach 2000 look from eight years and nearly 300 miles away.
The faux local scenes will include genuine Palm Beach County ballot boxes and Votomatic punch card devices obtained
from Jim Dobyns, a Pinellas County political consultant who bought about 1,800 pieces of the county's mothballed
elections fleet a few years ago.
Judge Charles Burton, the wise-cracking chairman of the '00 canvassing board who said he hoped to be portrayed by
George Clooney, Brad Pitt or Tom Cruise, is being played in the HBO project by Brett Rice, whose film credits include
the pigskin dramas We Are Marshall and Remember the Titans.
Former County Commissioner Carol Roberts, the board's give-me-a-recount-or-give-me-jail perorationist, is being
played by Marcia Jean Kurtz, an actress of Robertsian looks whose rsum goes back to the 1970's Al Pacino vehicles
Panic in Needle Park and Dog Day Afternoon.
Influential state Rep. Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, in line to become House speaker after the 2010 elections, is slated
to visit Palm Beach County on Nov. 13 for a day of meetings organized by County Commissioner Mary McCarty, a
Republican who frequently slams the GOP-controlled legislature on property taxes and other issues.
McCarty has set up forums in Delray Beach and Palm Beach with community leader types. She tapped GOP bigfoot
Jack Furnari to put together a power lunch in Boca Raton and is planning a smaller Cannon dinner for 12 at her own
house. McCarty also has arranged a morning audience for Cannon with Democratic Delray Beach activist and McCarty
pal Andre Fladell.
Although the Palm Beach County Democratic Executive Committee raised only $20,600 last quarter, Chairman Wahid
Mahmood turned down a $7,500 check this month from party activist Jack Sadow for a Democratic booth at the South
Florida Fair in January.
The booth is a pet project of West Palm Beach Dem Club prez and frequent Mahmood critic Ellie Whittey, who over-
saw a similar operation at the 2006 fair using $2,500 in party money and about $8,500 that Whittey raised from candi-
dates and others. With Mahmood balking at spending DEC money on a similar venture in 2008, Whittey said she lined
up another round of pledges and got Sadow to cover the rest.
Sadow wrote a $7,500 check to the DEC and handed it to Mahmood at a recent meeting of club presidents, adding a
note on the check that it was to "underwrite fair if money not committed." Mahmood refused to accept it.
"To me, that is a political grandstanding by Mr. Sadow. ... It was a worthless check," Mahmood said. Sadow said the
check was completely legit.
Page 319
ACTORS GEAR UP FOR '00 ELECTIONS, TAKE 2 Palm Beach Post (Florida) October 29, 2007 Monday

Mahmood said the party's 2006 fair presence was "a total disaster" under Whittey's leadership.
Whittey says about 400 potential Democratic activists signed up at the booth, but "if he felt it was a disaster, I can only
say it was because the DEC didn't participate."


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


1. Jayne Atkinson (mug) 2. Brett Rice (mug) 3. Marcia Jean Kurtz (mug)



All Rights Reserved
Page 320





County commissioners delay vote on nonpartisan elections: Commissioner
brings up idea of countywide vote



LENGTH: 700 words

Sep. 26--Could condo commandos be primed for a comeback?
Palm Beach County commissioners on Tuesday revived the idea of countywide elections for commissioners, a system
done away with in 1990 in favor of seven independent districts. The reason for the change nearly two decades ago: gat-
ed senior communities, clustered in southwestern Palm Beach County, held outsized influence over county politics.
But on Tuesday, Commissioner Jess Santamaria used his clout as the swing vote on the issue of nonpartisan commis-
sion elections to revive the idea.
"I have been seeing a lot of exchanges, favors for favors, when you have the seven districts," Santamaria said. "Each
commissioner is really being elected for a small segment of the electorate. We should all be representing all of the resi-
dents of Palm Beach County."
It added a new dimension to a debate over nonpartisan elections.
On a 4-3 vote, Santamaria joined the commission's other Democrats to indefinitely delay a decision on whether to move
forward with a November 2008 referendum that would strip party labels from commission elections. Commissioners
promised to take up the issue in a more in-depth discussion, although no date was set. They have until August to submit
ballot language to the elections supervisor.
The postponement was a political blow to new Commissioner Bob Kanjian, who had pushed hard on the nonpartisan
issue in his first major proposal.
Santamaria, who had pledged to break party lines and support the nonpartisan elections, said at Tuesday's meeting that
he was turned off by "political maneuvering and posturing and froth" -- a reference in part to a news conference Kanjian
held Monday to put pressure on his colleagues.
After the vote, Santamaria expressed distaste with Kanjian's tactics, saying they played "a small factor, not the factor" in
his decision to postpone the nonpartisan decision.
"He's been positioning himself, lining himself up, for 2008," Santamaria said.
Kanjian had a different interpretation. Noting the presence of county Democratic Party Chairman Wahid Mahmood at
Tuesday's meeting, Kanjian said: "I think they did a really good job of getting to Mr. Santamaria.
"We saw party politics take hold," he added. "And that's disappointing."
Meanwhile, at Santamaria's urging, county administrators are studying going back to countywide elections. One option:
a hybrid between countywide and district elections. Four commissioners could be elected countywide and three from
Page 321
County commissioners delay vote on nonpartisan elections: Commissioner brings up idea of countywide vote South
Florida Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale) September 26, 2007 Wednesday

geographic areas, suggested Karen Marcus, the only commissioner to have run in a countywide election before the 1990
switch-over.
"Painful as it is, it is a more beneficial process," she said. "You really get to know the community."
Commissioner Mary McCarty, though, cited some drawbacks, noting that in the 1980s, gated senior communities voted
as a "retiree bloc" and held inordinate influence over the political process.
"They decided what went on in this county," she said, noting that since district representation was put in place, "families
had a say, municipalities had a say, minorities had a say."
Andre Fladell, known as the king of the condo communities in the '80s, explained the influence this way: retiree com-
munities have "10,000 like-minded Northern transplants, who are the same age coming from the same background.
Those 10,000 people can give a net gain of 9,000 votes to a candidate." By comparison, diverse urban areas are usually
fairly divided no matter how hard a candidate campaigns, he added.
Still, the influence of condo communities today might be somewhat blunted, given the rise of Wellington and the popu-
lation explosion in western areas.
INSIDE
INSIDE
Ethics complaint against commissioner weakened. 2B


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

ACC-NO: 20070926-FL-County-commissioners-delay-vote-on-nonpartisan-elections-0926


JOURNAL-CODE: FL

Page 322



Palm Beach Edition

NON-PARTY ELECTION REFERENDUM IS DELAYED;
COMMISSIONER BRINGS UP IDEA OF COUNTYWIDE VOTE



LENGTH: 629 words

Could condo commandos be primed for a comeback?
Palm Beach County commissioners on Tuesday revived the idea of countywide elections for commissioners, a system
done away with in 1990 in favor of seven independent districts. The reason for the change nearly two decades ago: gat-
ed senior communities, clustered in southwestern Palm Beach County, held outsized influence over county politics.
But on Tuesday, Commissioner Jess Santamaria used his clout as the swing vote on the issue of nonpartisan commis-
sion elections to revive the idea.
"I have been seeing a lot of exchanges, favors for favors, when you have the seven districts," Santamaria said. "Each
commissioner is really being elected for a small segment of the electorate. We should all be representing all of the resi-
dents of Palm Beach County."
It added a new dimension to a debate over nonpartisan elections.
On a 4-3 vote, Santamaria joined the commission's other Democrats to indefinitely delay a decision on whether to move
forward with a November 2008 referendum that would strip party labels from commission elections. Commissioners
promised to take up the issue in a more in-depth discussion, although no date was set. They have until August to submit
ballot language to the elections supervisor.
The postponement was a political blow to new Commissioner Bob Kanjian, who had pushed hard on the nonpartisan
issue in his first major proposal.
Santamaria, who had pledged to break party lines and support the nonpartisan elections, said at Tuesday's meeting that
he was turned off by "political maneuvering and posturing and froth" - a reference in part to a news conference Kanjian
held Monday to put pressure on his colleagues.
After the vote, Santamaria expressed distaste with Kanjian's tactics, saying they played "a small factor, not the factor" in
his decision to postpone the nonpartisan decision.
"He's been positioning himself, lining himself up, for 2008," Santamaria said.
Kanjian had a different interpretation. Noting the presence of county Democratic Party Chairman Wahid Mahmood at
Tuesday's meeting, Kanjian said: "I think they did a really good job of getting to Mr. Santamaria.
"We saw party politics take hold," he added. "And that's disappointing."
Meanwhile, at Santamaria's urging, county administrators are studying going back to countywide elections. One option:
a hybrid between countywide and district elections. Four commissioners could be elected countywide and three from
geographic areas, suggested Karen Marcus, the only commissioner to have run in a countywide election before the 1990
switch-over.
Page 323
NON-PARTY ELECTION REFERENDUM IS DELAYED; COMMISSIONER BRINGS UP IDEA OF
COUNTYWIDE VOTE Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) September 26, 2007 Wednesday

"Painful as it is, it is a more beneficial process," she said. "You really get to know the community."
Commissioner Mary McCarty, though, cited some drawbacks, noting that in the 1980s, gated senior communities voted
as a "retiree bloc" and held inordinate influence over the political process.
"They decided what went on in this county," she said, noting that since district representation was put in place, "families
had a say, municipalities had a say, minorities had a say."
Andre Fladell, known as the king of the condo communities in the '80s, explained the influence this way: retiree com-
munities have "10,000 like-minded Northern transplants, who are the same age coming from the same background.
Those 10,000 people can give a net gain of 9,000 votes to a candidate." By comparison, diverse urban areas are usually
fairly divided no matter how hard a candidate campaigns, he added.
Still, the influence of condo communities today might be somewhat blunted, given the rise of Wellington and the popu-
lation explosion in western areas.
Josh Hafenbrack can be reached at jhafenbrack@sun-sentinel.com or 561-228-5508. INFORMATIONAL BOX:
INSIDE
Ethics complaint against commissioner weakened. 2B


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


All Rights Reserved
Page 324


The Destin Log (Florida)



James Sisco ? a driving power for troubled youth: Former kickboxing champ
improves bodies, lives

BYLINE: Keri Holt, Destin Log, Fla.


LENGTH: 1103 words

Aug. 18--Adam Holden, 13, managed to rake in a fi rst-degree felony charge and four misdemeanors in one night fol-
lowing church service. It was just another day in the life of the Destin teen. The local police officers know him well,
says his mother, Tammy Eisler. So does the local ice cream truck driver who Adam decided to rob one day. "There was
no hope for my son," Eisler says. "His father washed his hands of him. I was ready to wash my hands of him. I was
ready to just send him to jail or boot camp." Then she met kickboxing legend James Sisco one Saturday morning as he
was hosting an open house for his new Destin fitness center on Azalea Drive. The conversation led to Adam. "He said,
'Don't give up. You bring him to me,'" Eisler says.
So she did. Now, three and a half months later, Adam is polite, he's doing his own laundry, he's helping his mother with
household chores and he's lost about 20 pounds. He even apologized to the ice cream truck driver.
Life is better, Adam says, and it's all thanks to Sisco and his crew. Money is tight in Adam's family; therefore, to com-
pensate the services, Adam cleans Sisco's gym equipment before he heads home.
"They coach me here, and they teach me," Adam says. "I stay busy, and it keeps me away from kids who are doing
wrong."
This is Sisco's passion. For more than 25 years he's worked with troubled individuals to turn their lives around, includ-
ing his own seven children and 10 adopted children. And he wants to help more.
"Adam needed a man in his life to say, 'I love you, and if you do wrong, I'm coming after you,'" Sisco says. "I don't yell,
I don't scream. I just give that silent look."
-- -- --
Sisco is an eight-time world kickboxing champion with 36 career wins.
In 1976, his three-year career with the New England Patriots football team came to a halt when he suffered a tackle that
left him in a wheelchair and doctors saying he'd never walk again.
His "angel, the man I would give my right hand to," Andre Fladell, a chiropractor in Delray Beach, had him walking
and dancing in eight months. He went on to become a world kickboxing and karate champion eighth degree black belt.
He's provided private investigation, bodyguard and security services. He's been a professional stuntman in 28 movies.
He won the 1996 national championship for the dance troupe "3 Can Play" in Orlando. He's appeared on Soul Train and
won Dance Fever twice. He's a motivational speaker and has spent countless hours volunteering with students. He be-
gan a program called Motivator K.I.D.S. -- Keeping Individuals Dedicated through Sports.
The impressive resume goes on, yet what makes Sisco most proud is what he can do for others.
Page 325
James Sisco ? a driving power for troubled youth: Former kickboxing champ improves bodies, lives The Destin Log
(Florida) August 18, 2007 Saturday

-- -- --
Sisco is known as The Motivator, a name he says "the people" gave him in 1974. He's proud of that name and strives
daily to live up to it. It's also the name of his new Destin fi tness center, which opened about three months ago.
It's a place of hope and positive decision making, Sisco says. He asks his clients, "Well, what would you like to do?"
Then they work to make it happen.
Now retired at 54, Sisco can still hold his own in the ring, yet his main desire is to be the driving force that compels
others to obtain their goals.
"I want to be a mentor," he says. "I want to build people up and use my talent to change people's lives."
One of his latest projects is 33-year-old Bonnie Hammond, mother of three, who came to Sisco about six weeks ago
wanting to be a professional boxer. "I have to make that happen, and she has a lot of potential," Sisco says. Her hope to
become a boxer was inspired by Hammond's 6-year-old son's comment: What are you going to do, Mom, work at the
deli the rest of your life?
"I want to do something I can be proud of, and I want to do something that I think is the hardest thing possible," she
says. "I want my kids to think they can accomplish anything."
-- -- --
Sisco was motivated by The Motivator -- God, he says.
He grew up between South Philly and Allentown, Pa. His single mom was an alcoholic, which forced him to raise him-
self, he says. Childhood memories include pulling his mother from their burning house at 3 a.m. and tackling her in the
street at 5 a.m. to keep her from being hit.
"I've always been able to deal with pain, physical pain and life pain," he says. "God gave me the ability, talent,
knowledge and wisdom to help people."
Even his work assistant Jack Murphy is his protege. They crossed paths 10 years ago. Murphy was "fresh out of jail and
on the run" he says. A street preacher led him to Sisco, who helped change his life.
Sisco was the fi rst person to believe in him and coach him, Murphy says. The two have been together acting as "life
coaches" for others ever since.
"I've made mistakes, and I've learned from them," Murphy says. "Now, I want to help others not make the same ones."
At his Destin fi tness center, Sisco has also hired Mary Ann Myers to mentor young women. She was once a troubled
teen girl, pregnant twice, she says.
"I want to teach girls to respect their bodies and feel good about themselves so they won't turn to drugs or boys or pro-
vocative clothing," Myers says.
-- -- --
There's a great need on the Emerald Coast for a facility such as his, Sisco says, and he's had a great deal of help in mak-
ing it possible: Destin developer Rick Olson brought Sisco to Destin and assisted with the start of The Motivator Fitness
Center. Mike Buckingham, Sisco's landlord, assists fi nancially at the Azalea Drive site.
And Andy Murphy of Murphy's Home Services donated a fi ve-ton air conditioning unit.
It's a small business currently in its early stages, yet Sisco has a vision: If he gets his way, the business will expand to
cover two blocks. Inside will be a faculty of counselors, a fitness area, and dorms for girls and boys who need assistance
in setting life and nutritional goals.
Career professionals will come in to offer inspirational messages. College scholarships will be available.
"Give them something positive, and that will be their energy to turn their lives around," Sisco says.
Yet he'll need community support to make it possible, including volunteers, business professionals willing to speak, a
building, sponsors, grants, scholarships and other necessities.
Page 326
James Sisco ? a driving power for troubled youth: Former kickboxing champ improves bodies, lives The Destin Log
(Florida) August 18, 2007 Saturday

To see more of The Destin Log or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.destin.com/. Copyright (c) 2007,
Destin Log, Fla. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsre-
prints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Per-
missions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

ACC-NO: 20070818-DF-James-Sisco-a-driving-power-for-troubled-youth-0818


JOURNAL-CODE: DF

Copyright 2007 The Destin Log
Page 327



FINAL EDITION

OFFICIAL PLANS TO CHALLENGE ANDERSON



LENGTH: 623 words

State Rep. Susan Bucher, D-West Palm Beach, will challenge incumbent Arthur Anderson next year for the
much-scrutinized job of Palm Beach County elections supervisor.
"I think it's important that we get our voting right and bring back our voter confidence," said Bucher, who must give up
her legislative seat next year because of term limits.
Anderson, who ran on a similar platform in 2004, said he has delivered on that pledge with only "minor" setbacks and
will file papers soon to seek reelection.
The elections supervisor is a nonpartisan position that has ignited intense partisan heat. Anderson, a Democrat, unseated
two-term incumbent Theresa LePore in 2004 after LePore's infamous 2000 presidential "butterfly ballot" design drew
international attention and the wrath of many local Democrats.
LePore's role in 2000, and the controversy since then over paperless electronic voting, have transformed the elections
supervisor's job from a little-noticed administrative post to a politically charged and closely critiqued position.
U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Delray Beach, played a key role in getting Anderson elected in 2004 but probably will not
get involved in the 2008 race, Wexler Chief of Staff Eric Johnson said Friday.
Wexler achieved his paper-trail goal when Gov. Charlie Crist and the legislature approved a law this year requiring pa-
per ballots, Johnson said. He added that Anderson "has not been as strong an advocate for a paper trail" as Wexler
hoped.
Bucher didn't raise the paper-trail issue Friday but said voter confidence has suffered "because we haven't been able to
get accurate and reasonably timely results."
During the 2006 municipal elections, a mix-up of absentee ballots led the elections office to report the wrong winner in
a Mangonia Park race. The error was flagged the next morning.
Voting went smoothly in last year's September primaries and November general election - the only countywide elec-
tions Anderson has overseen so far. But after the polls closed for the primaries, the elections office was slow in report-
ing results and didn't post a precinct-by-precinct breakdown on election night. Those problems were fixed by the gen-
eral election.
During this year's spring municipal elections, the firm that was paid $241,000 to design the elections Web site briefly
posted incorrect results because of a formatting error that didn't allow the site to handle four-digit numbers. That prob-
lem was quickly fixed on election night, but not before some supporters of West Palm Beach mayoral challenger Al
Zucaro celebrated what they thought was an upset victory over incumbent Lois Frankel.
"If you look at the sum total of my period in office as supervisor of elections, we have made tremendous progress in
bringing the elections process into the 21st century and providing the kind of vehicles that enable us to have valid and
accurate elections," Anderson said.
Page 328
OFFICIAL PLANS TO CHALLENGE ANDERSON Palm Beach Post (Florida) August 18, 2007 Saturday

Bucher said she would be a more effective elections chief.
"I have a reputation for paying attention to detail," Bucher said Friday.
Bucher has a reputation in Tallahassee for reading and understanding the details of legislation that others gloss over.
She also has a reputation as a partisan Democrat who has been active in grass-roots organizing and voter-turnout efforts
for her party.
"Will Susan be able to sell herself as a fair referee?" asked Delray Beach political activist Andre Fladell, who helped
Anderson's 2004 campaign but said he won't take sides in the 2008 race until next year.
Bucher said her partisanship would not prevent her from holding the nonpartisan elections chief's job and being a fair
overseer of the county's elections.
"I'm very good at policy if I don't have to fight about politics," Bucher said.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


GRAPHIC: PHOTO (C & B&W)
1. (C) Susan Bucher (mug) Has to give up her legislative seat because of term limits. 2. (B&W) Arthur Anderson
(mug)


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US States News

August 14, 2007 Tuesday 9:29 PM EST

ANNUAL LABOR DAY POLICE CHALLENGE CELEBRATES 21ST AN-
NIVERSARY AT THIS YEAR'S COMPETITION


LENGTH: 347 words


This is the 21st year the Delray Citizens for Delray Police Challenge will entertain Labor Day crowds at the beach
beginning 12:00 noon on Monday, September 3, 2007. The event takes place on the Delray Beach Municipal Beach at
Atlantic Avenue and Ocean Blvd (A1A) as police departments from Delray Beach, Boca Raton and Boynton Beach
compete for coveted trophies, cash prizes and bragging rights.
The Chiefs trophy challenge ranks high on the competitive scale. Boynton Beach Police Chief Matthew Immler bat-
tled his way to victory at last year's event against Delray Beach Police Chief Larry Schroeder and Boca Raton Police
Chief Dan Alexander. The rivalry returns as the three test their skills in basketball free throw, football toss and Nintendo
Wii. At stake is the prestigious Chiefs trophy which showcases in the winning Chief's Police Department for the year.
A schedule of activities is listed below. The first event will be a relay race on the beach followed by a volleyball
tournament. Competitions in basketball and a meatball eating contest will be judged throughout the day climaxed by an
awards ceremony at 3:00 pm in Boston's on the Beach, 40 S Ocean Blvd (opposite the municipal beach). Team spirit
promises to be high and enthusiastic crowds are cordially invited to cheer on their police department to victory.
Noon - 4 x 80 yard relay race, Volleyball tournament
1:30 pm - 3 on 3 basketball tournament, Women's 1 on 1 basketball, Chiefs trophy challenge
2:00 pm - Meatball eating contest
3:00 pm - Awards ceremony at Boston's on the Beach (40 S Ocean Blvd)
Sponsors: Boston's on the Beach, Dr. Andre Fladell, Dan Burns, ICC Capital Management, Delray Beach Marriott,
Bank of America, Walmart, Delaire Country Club, The Hamlet Country Club, Attorney Adam Frankel, Palm Beach
Gym & Fitness, CSI: Palm Beach, Delaware Investments.
Contact: Ivan Ladizinsky, 561/243-7009, ladizinsky@mydelraybeach.com


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

Page 330
ANNUAL LABOR DAY POLICE CHALLENGE CELEBRATES 21ST ANNIVERSARY AT THIS YEAR'S
COMPETITION US States News August 14, 2007 Tuesday 9:29 PM EST


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August 12, 2007 Sunday
FINAL EDITION

KATZ: PAY-TO-PLAY CHARGES 'ALL HOOEY'

BYLINE: By WILL VASH Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

SECTION: LOCAL; Pg. 1C

LENGTH: 1209 words

DATELINE: BOYNTON BEACH

The Heart of Boynton project is eight years in the making and still barely off the ground, but the controversy surround-
ing redevelopment of the downtrodden area around Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard has spread to the city commission
with allegations a "pay-to-play" system pervades city hall.
So far this year, commissioners have tossed out the old community redevelopment agency board members and taken
over the job themselves. Then they dismissed the top developer prospect after months of berating the CRA board for its
inability to come to a deal.
That company's president turned the tables and said she lost the bid because Boynton Beach was a pay-to-play town. A
joint investigation by the FBI and Florida Department of Law Enforcement is now under way.
And much of the tumult has focused on one man: David Katz.
Katz, 56, the married father of two teen sons who has lived in the city for 25 years, hardly cuts an imposing figure.
Slight, often wearing open-collar shirts, he usually stands along the back wall at meetings.
The onetime commissioner said he works in marketing but won't give specifics. He owns Happy Trails Distribution, a
consulting company. Friends say Katz, who plans to run for election in November, represents an auto parts dealer.
Katz is a political insider who -- though his four attempts to return to the commission after a stint in the mid-90s have
been unsuccessful -- has ties to the majority voting bloc on the commission: Mayor Jerry Taylor, Vice Mayor Jose Ro-
driguez and Commissioner Ron Weiland.
He helped Weiland get appointed to a spot opened by Bob Ensler's death this year. He was paid $2,500 each by Rodri-
guez and Taylor as a campaign consultant in the last round of elections. And he golfs and dines with the mayor regular-
ly.
Katz's knowledge of city politics, his friendships with three commissioners and alleged work behind the scenes have
made him a lightning rod in the world of small-town politics -- loved by some, detested by others.
He said allegations of his alleged involvement in a pay-to-play scheme are based on the upcoming election and nothing
more.
"It's all politics because they know I'm contemplating a campaign for city commission," Katz said. "They're trying to go
negative and taint me."
All three of his commission allies have said that Katz has the same access to them as any other resident.
Katz and Taylor are former adversaries turned close friends. Both men say city business is never discussed.
"We talk sports," Katz said of their golf outings. "That's our rule because we're out there to have fun."
Page 332
KATZ: PAY-TO-PLAY CHARGES 'ALL HOOEY' Palm Beach Post (Florida) August 12, 2007 Sunday

Ins and outs with Intown
Katz aided Intown Partners LLC in an ill-fated 11-month attempt to get its ambitious $350 million project approved to
redevelop 26 acres of debris-strewn lots and derelict buildings along the Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard corridor.
Katz introduced the Intown group to city officials and championed its project to commissioners -- all for free, he said.
"I attempted to energize people to let them know that Intown's proposal was a good project," Katz said. "If you're a citi-
zen who cares, you attempt to call your elected officials and let them know."
Katz said he tried to help keep Intown in the running for the Heart of Boynton project, even as the company repeatedly
stonewalled city requests to provide financial information and details of its backers.
The company paid to send Katz to Tallahassee in March to lobby on its behalf, or so Intown officials thought. Katz in-
sists he was there merely "as an interested citizen."
In June, Taylor, Rodriguez and Weiland voted in favor of disbanding the CRA board. On July 10, commissioners, sit-
ting as the CRA board, unanimously voted to sever negotiations with Intown. A day earlier, Katz filed as a lobbyist for
Intown's main rival in the potential multimillion-dollar deal, The Auburn Group, which according to CRA rules was
next in line to negotiate for the Heart of Boynton project.
A week later, an agitated Intown President Samantha Simons dropped the pay-to-play bombshell that ultimately led to
the joint FDLE-FBI probe.
Simons told the commission July 17 that Weiland asked her to pay Katz for his help in trying to get Intown's project
approved. Weiland has repeatedly denied the accusation, and Katz said he did nothing wrong.
Katz's relationships give him a direct line of influence, Simons said.
"He always told me, 'Don't worry, I got the majority vote,'" Simons said.
"It's all hooey," Katz said. "Intown had gotten what they felt was the monkey off their back, the CRA, but they still did
not produce. How can they blame me for that?"
Katz has his critics
Andre Fladell, a Delray Beach political broker, said he doesn't know how much influence Katz wields but that
knowledge gained in government service can be handy behind the scenes.
"It's all based on distance," Fladell said. "If people are clever, they keep a two-arms-length distance. Everything they do
is implicit, it's inferred. In pay-to-play, there is never any smoking gun."
Commissioner Mack McCray, one of the commissioners often on the losing side of 3-2 votes, is no fan of Katz. He said
there was a "cloud" over the city, and Katz was in the middle of it.
"The guy has been using the city to get dollars in his pocket," McCray said. "He is in it for himself."
Former Commissioner Lee Wische, a Boynton Beach political broker and current chairman of the planning and devel-
opment board, said Katz's problem is he brags about his power. Wische is also campaign manager for a candidate who
would likely run against Katz for the northwest commission seat.
"David goes around touting himself, which I don't do," Wische said. "He goes around shooting his mouth off. He has
this aloof attitude like he's better than everybody."
Another former mayor, Gerald Broening, added this about Katz: "He makes the most egregious accusations without
benefit of information. He's the kind of person I want nothing to do with."
Friends defend him
Dee Zibelli, who served as city commissioner from 1986 to 1988, said Katz's efforts during her tenure to protect the
Seacrest Scrub, 53 acres of natural area that eventually become a park, was one early example of Katz digging for the
facts.
"David is as honest as the day is long," Zibelli said. "He just wants to help people."
Page 333
KATZ: PAY-TO-PLAY CHARGES 'ALL HOOEY' Palm Beach Post (Florida) August 12, 2007 Sunday

Citrus Glen resident Jonathan Dwork met Katz in the '90s when neighbors banded together to complain about a devel-
oper. He said Katz was the only one who listened, and they have been friends ever since.
"The guy has put in the time, and he knows the city better than a lot of people," Dwork said. "Mr. Katz is no kingpin.
He's just a nice guy who helps people out."
Resident and friend Patti Hammer said people who dislike Katz have never taken the time to get to know him.
"Some people don't really understand what David is all about," Hammer said. "If he feels like there is something wrong,
he won't stop until its corrected. That pay-to-play is absolutely ridiculous. I've never seen David ask anyone for money."
Taylor said Katz will tell people exactly how he feels.
"David doesn't hesitate to tell people if he disagrees. I guess that rubs some people the wrong way," Taylor said. "But
what it boils down to is at the end I make my own decisions. David has no undue influence on me."
~will_vash@pbpost.com


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

NOTES: Did not run MSL.

GRAPHIC: PHOTO (C)
David Katz Claims he's done no wrong. (mug)


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June 26, 2007 Tuesday
Palm Beach Edition

WE WERE WARNED ABOUT ANDERSON

BYLINE: Herman Hammer, Boca Raton

SECTION: OPED; Pg. 20A

LENGTH: 71 words

Both before his election and after, I was one of the first persons to warn readers of this page about Arthur Anderson and
his future as Palm Beach County supervisor of elections. At this point, I can only say to the three "king-makers," U.S.
Rep. Robert Wexler, County Commissioner Burt Aaronson and Delray Beach mind and body manipulator Andre
Fladell: "I told you so."
Theresa LePore, where are you now when we need you so badly?


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

DOCUMENT-TYPE: LETTER


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June 13, 2007 Wednesday
FINAL EDITION

GREAT UNWHACKED GETS A LITTLE WACKY

BYLINE: Jose Lambiet's

SECTION: A SECTION; PAGE TWO; Pg. 2A

LENGTH: 1004 words

"You with The Post?" James Gandolfini says.
The voice. The slight squinting. The cruel smile. Is he Tony Soprano, or "Jim," as his castmates call him?
Before I can say "Palm Beach" -- because I can tell he thinks I'm from the New York paper that busted the then-married
thesp with a galpal five years ago -- Gandolfini grabs me by the back of the neck with his right paw.
In the other, he holds yet another soda glass filled to the brim with Grey Goose. So much for his sobriety claims. He
pulls me toward him and plants a wet kiss on my right cheek, my first from a bearded man since I was 10, then walks
away. Obviously, he's not talking.
"You don't understand, these guys just play themselves, not characters," Clarence Clemons explains. The Riviera Beach
saxophonist is in Bruce Springsteen's E-Street Band with Gandolfini's Sopranos co-star Steve Van Zandt. "Take Steve
Van Zandt. He ain't no actor. He is in real life the way he is on the show."
Welcome to Tony's Swan Song, as the three-casino series-ending tour of the top Sopranos stars was called. Two weeks
ago, it was Atlantic City; Saturday night, Foxwoods in Connecticut; and Sunday, the Seminole Hard Rock near Holly-
wood.
There may have been 10,000 fans lined up from the hotel elevator, up the store-lined alleys to the red carpet and party at
Hard Rock Live, the resort's concert/sports arena. Some were dressed in Guys and Dolls gear. Some wore T-shirts that
only series diehards would understand, with labels such as "Cleaver" and "BaDa Bing."
"Now I remember why I didn't go to dental school," said Arthur Nascarella, who plays one of Tony's business-minded
associates. Nascarella broke a sweat fighting the stifling heat and oppressive crowd. "You could win three Oscars and
never experience this."
Inside, about 1,000 VIPs and poker whales, some who had flown in from California or Joysey, were there to rub elbows
with the men and one woman, Lorraine Bracco, who haunted their Sunday nights for nearly nine years.
One part of the gym floor was transformed into an Italian piazza. There was a mozzarella stand, with a chef putting the
finishing touches on the cheese. There was a cart full of prosciutto and pepperoni and parmesan; another station had
seafood and shrimp the size of baby lobsters. The vodka was poured through an ice sculpture in the shape of a Glock.
There was tiramisu with bullets made of chocolate icing.
And everywhere, Sopranos. In one corner, Van Zandt (Silvio Dante) chatted up WPBF-Channel 25 General Manager
Viki Regan, then wiped his cowboy boots with a napkin after someone dripped spaghetti sauce on them. Michael Impe-
rioli (Christopher Moltisanti) and Vince Curatola (Johnny Sack) looked bored while Tony Sirico (Paulie "Walnuts")
explained over and over again that, yes, his Grandpa Munster hair color is real.
John Ratzenberger, Cliff in Cheers and a top contender in the recent Dancing with the Stars, crashed the soiree.
Page 336
GREAT UNWHACKED GETS A LITTLE WACKY Palm Beach Post (Florida) June 13, 2007 Wednesday

Steve Schirripa (Bobby, Tony's recently whacked brother-in-law) "told me to come hang out," Ratzenberger said. "I was
in town to buy a boat, so I figured why not." Ratzenberger, who found a 42-foot Grand Banks trawler, knows a thing or
two about TV success. Cheers lasted 11 seasons.
"It's all about the writing," he says about what grabs viewers. "Casting comes second."
Planted by the bar, former Dolphins and University of Miami QB Bernie Kosar took it all in. He shot the breeze with
52-year-old Bracco's boyfriend, former Syracuse University hoopster Jason Cipolla. Cipolla is 21 years her junior.
"I'm not judging, bro," Kosar said. "God knows I have my own social drama with my (ongoing) divorce."
Proof this was an over-the-top party: One server's only job was to dry drink spills on clothes with a hair dryer.
For two hours, the cast sat on a stage for pictures with anyone who wanted. Their contract -- rumored to be in the
half-mil range, with half going to Gandolfini -- called for them to be available from 7 to 9 p.m., the start of the finale on
HBO.
At one point, Schirripa took the mike.
"I'm sorry my on-screen wife, Aida (Turturro, who plays Janice), couldn't be here, but her bra is," he said, pointing at a
60-foot-long bow hanging over the Frank Sinatra impersonator.
At 8:55 p.m., the cast disappeared to watch the finale from a private room off to the side. They stayed well past the con-
troversial ending, leaving only after everybody was long gone.
Good thing, too. When the credits rolled, the VIPs let out a huge: "What?"
THE LOWDOWN ...
... TV do-it-yourselfer Bob Vila, of This Old House fame, and wife Diana Barrett were branded drought violators this
month for watering the lawn of their old $8.4 million Island Drive house in Palm Beach during the night. Town police
cited them for having their sprinklers on at 10:40 p.m. on June 3, a Sunday, according to records. That'll be 100 bucks,
unless Vila requests a hearing before the enforcement board. Good news: It's their first offense. And 229 others on the
island have been cited so far. ... Elected office hopeful Joe Abruzzo, a Democrat who may be eyeing the state House,
entertained some high-level Dems at the Kennel Club by WPB Sunday afternoon. Why there? The 26-year-old's
well-heeled family had two horses running in races, one at Golden Gate Fields near San Francisco and the other at Ar-
lington Park near Chicago. One of the two, Imaginary Sailor, won on the West Coast. Watching the races' simulcast:
County Commish Burt Aaronson, central county state Rep. Shelley Vana and Delray activist Andre Fladell. If you be-
lieve Abruzzo and Aaronson, there wasn't much gambling going on. ... Palm Beach-area product Rome Hartman, the
recently fired producer of Katie Couric's ratings-challenged CBS Evening News, has jumped to the BBC. Reports are
that Cardinal Newman grad Hartman, who cut his TV teeth at WPEC-Channel 12, will produce a7 p.m. newscast for
BBC America. ...
Want the scoop on local newsmakers?
Watch this space every Sunday, Wednesday and Friday.Got a news tip? Call Jose at (561) 820-4725 or e-mail jo-
se_lambiet@pbpost.com


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


1. Clarence Clemons (mug) 2. Bob Vila (mug) 3. John Ratzenberger (mug) 4. Bernie Kosar (mug) 5. Viki Regan
(mug) Staff photos by RICHARD GRAULICH 6. Sopranos actors Steve Van Zandt (left) and .... 7. .... Michael Imperi-
oli bid adieu to the show with other cast members at Tony's Swan Song party Sunday night at the Seminole Hard Rock.


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GREAT UNWHACKED GETS A LITTLE WACKY Palm Beach Post (Florida) June 13, 2007 Wednesday


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Palm Beach Edition

BOCK'S BITE HURTING HER

BYLINE: NICOLE BROCHU EDITORIAL WRITER

SECTION: OPED; NICOLE BROCHU EDITORIAL WRITER; Pg. 17A

LENGTH: 760 words

Sharon Bock should send Tony Masilotti a fruitcake. It's the least the "protector of the public purse" can do for the man
who made watchdogging so chic.
Once the feds caught Masilotti in crooked land deals orchestrated from his County Commission chair, the clerk of court
got the political opening she needed to beef up her county auditing role. Who would deny the need for a toothy watch-
dog now, even one who may be poking her snout where it doesn't constitutionally belong?
But these choppers don't come free, and the way Bock gnashes them is often unbecoming -- to her and the job she's try-
ing to do.
To strengthen her oversight over the county books, Bock has hired two staff auditors and upgraded several other posi-
tions, at a cost her budget crunchers estimate at $175,000 a year. The pain it took me to get that simple estimate left me
feeling it was a low-ball figure tossed out by the spin machine.
But I'll give them the benefit of the doubt, because the biggest cost can't be measured in dollar signs, but ego.
Sure, Bock has always been intense and a bit of a control freak. But as this whip-smart lawyer marches around the
county, puffed up by her crusade to watch the taxpayer's back, she has fastened around her neck the cape of
self-righteous superiority.
She lectures and condescends to even her constitutionally elected peers. When problems over the new courts computer
system arose, she pointed her finger in every direction but her own, as if accepting even some small responsibility
would bang an unacceptable chink in her watchdog armor. And when it comes time for the oversight champion's budget
to get some oversight of its own, answers are not exactly quick and clear.
According to dozens of e-mails between her staff and the county's before last year's budget workshop, it took the county
weeks to get a simple breakdown to explain a $1.1 million increase in personnel costs. When the county insisted, Bock's
financial chief wrote his staff: "My gauge is that they see where we are heading and this information is to arm them --
should they choose to do so -- to make an issue. I will alert Sharon and get some guidance. In the end, it is public in-
formation and we have to be prepared to respond."
Not the kind of eager transparency Bock expects from everyone else, is it?
Bock's prickly personality hasn't just inflamed county officials and commissioners, either. She's turned off people in just
about every corner of county government.
"Non-stop, male and female, both parties, all groups," agreed long-time political strategist Andre Fladell. "The people
who would be most supportive of her is the EEOC [Equal Employment Opportunity Commission], because she's pissed
off all people with no regard."
Page 339
BOCK'S BITE HURTING HER Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) June 5, 2007 Tuesday

Fladell emphasizes, though, that while her technique may be imperfect, Bock's motivations are pure, that she truly be-
lieves she's doing the people's work. Granted. But she'll never get people to heed or follow her if she doesn't step off the
pedestal.
She can't kid herself that her overbearing nature isn't harming her own operations, either. In 2005, her first year in of-
fice, the turnover rate among her 760 employees was 18 percent, above the 15 percent government average, but not un-
usual for a first-year administration. The next year, though, turnover swelled to 25 percent. She's had four chief finan-
cial officers and four administrative assistants alone in her brief tenure.
Bock attributed the 2006 turnover -- expensive in recruitment, training and other costs -- to retirements, relocations and
other causes beyond her control. But at county government offices, subject to the same factors, turnover was just 9 per-
cent that year.
When asked about staff morale, Bock proudly pegged it at 80 percent. Actually, a 2006 employee survey shows 69 per-
cent rated the clerk's office "a great place to work." That's still not bad, and it's better than the federal government
scored. But that can't be this quality-obsessed leader's guidepost. Surely, the woman who demands perfection from
those around her, who expects her staff to rate in the 90s in customer satisfaction, can't be happy with a mediocre grade
of the work environment she's created.
"Morale is great," she insisted in her best head-in-the-sand act. Seems her definition of "great" depends on who's per-
formance she's evaluating.
Palm Beach County needs a strong watchdog. But as Bock goes about staking out the moral high ground, she has to
look down at her own feet. Are they firmly planted, or made of clay?
Nicole Brochu can be reached at 561-243-6603, or nbrochu@sun-sentinel.com


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH



All Rights Reserved
Page 340



May 20, 2007 Sunday
Palm Beach Edition

SLOW-GROWTH FORCE EMERGES



LENGTH: 922 words

Counting votes on the Palm Beach County Commission is no easy task.
Decisions almost never break along party lines. The board's seven members represent different districts, and their per-
sonalities and agendas often clash.
But increasingly, one veteran commissioner is using political savvy and new and old allies to guide some of the county's
biggest decisions in years: Karen Marcus.
Her rising power is helping turn a staunchly pro-growth commission into an obstacle for developers looking to turn the
agricultural fields north and west of Wellington into subdivisions.
The commission's longest-serving commissioner, Marcus led the commission's stunning, landmark vote last week to
turn back a 10,000-home community at Callery-Judge Grove near The Acreage.
And her biggest political victory is now taking root in Jupiter, the Scripps Florida science research campus. Marcus'
political maneuvering helped get the project moved to her backyard a year ago on another split County Commission
vote.
Shifting political dynamics have landed Marcus in her new position of power. In the November elections, Jess Santama-
ria won a seat on the commission. He is a former developer, but thus far is proving to be a consistent,
pro-environmentalist ally to Marcus.
Marcus also has long been close both politically and personally to Commissioner Jeff Koons. And she has proved adept
at winning a perennial swing vote on the commission: that of Chairwoman Addie Greene.
"For Karen, you've got Santamaria, who is a born-again environmentalist, and Koons, who is a quarter-century friend;
that's a very interesting combination of power," said Andre Fladell, a longtime political activist who is close to both
Marcus and her longtime commission rival, Mary McCarty.
Marcus and McCarty are widely regarded as two of the commission's strongest political forces, but it is Marcus who has
seized the advantage.
That was apparent at Tuesday's vote on Callery-Judge Grove, the controversial proposal to spring a new city from or-
ange groves. When McCarty and Commissioner Burt Aaronson tried to keep the project alive for another month, Mar-
cus stepped in with an idea that would have been unthinkable just last year: Kill the entire thing.
Two fellow commissioners -- Santamaria and Greene -- agreed immediately. And when Commissioner Warren Newell's
hand shot up tentatively, Marcus had her four votes, the anti-growth crowd erupted in cheers, and the Callery-Judge
ordeal was over.
Marcus said the vote is a reflection of the times. Former Commissioner Tony Masilotti is facing five years in federal
prison for hatching secret deals with developers. And when commissioners debated Callery-Judge Grove's proposal, an
Page 341
SLOW-GROWTH FORCE EMERGES Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) May 20, 2007 Sunday

FBI agent was sitting in the audience. Marcus has refused to meet privately with developers since the Masilotti scandal
broke.
"I think, number one, the commission is very sensitive to the public's perception of us at this point," Marcus said. "Be-
cause of that, I hope we're working a little harder to reinstitute that trust and show that we do know how to say `no.'"
First elected in 1984, Marcus, 55, has crafted a reputation as a savvy behind-the-scenes operator, using her extensive
knowledge of the county and the political process to sway decisions, said experts and allies.
But she has not always been effective, particularly when it comes to her support of environmentalists' causes.
It was two years ago when Marcus found herself the only "no" vote on what was billed as another defining vote for
growth in the western communities: the so-called sector plan to govern how many homes would come into the area, a
plan that was rewritten to accommodate developers at the 11th hour.
"She was often the lone voice," Joanne Davis of 1000 Friends of Florida, a growth watchdog group, said of Marcus.
And now?
"I hope that we're starting to see a different side with this commission," Davis said.
Marcus has her detractors. The growth she opposes has fueled the economy and the tax base in Palm Beach County for
years, business officials say.
"The County Commission is about to forget, by moving into an anti-growth mode, that the goose that laid the golden
egg that allowed them to have these huge tax increases is going to be stifled," said John R. Smith, chairman of BizPac,
which promotes business interests.
Marcus, a former Democrat turned moderate Republican, is entrenched in her north-county District 1 seat, not having
had a contested campaign since 1992. She will be up for re-election next year, for what would be her final four-year
term because of term limits.
In her commission battles, Marcus draws on strong support from elected officials in her district, as well as from the en-
vironmental community.
"Looking at the County Commission years back, it's been pretty rough. Karen seems to have the ability to stay out of
that," said Palm Beach Gardens Mayor Joe Russo. "She may not always have the support of all the commissioners, but
she doesn't lose their support going forward. And that's what you have to be able to do."
Fladell added: "Karen understands the mechanics of government, how to use motions, how to make county staff work
for her. It's a very clever, technical use of procedure."
But he said alliances on the County Commission often don't last long. In other words, today's ally can be tomorrow's
opponent.
"Every week you turn on Survivor, what's the one thing that happens? There's a new alliance," Fladell said. "Welcome
to Survivor: Palm Beach County."
Josh Hafenbrack can be reached at jhafenbrack@ sun-sentinel.com or 561-228-5508.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

GRAPHIC: PHOTO
ALLIANCE BUILDER: Karen Marcus has used her knowledge of the county and government to become a strong in-
fluence. Staff file photo/Scott Fisher


All Rights Reserved
Page 342



April 5, 2007 Thursday
Palm Beach Edition

ADDRESS GLITCHES, ELECTIONS CHIEF TOLD;
U.S. REP. WEXLER ALSO ADVISES ANDERSON TO PLAN FOR PAPER
TRAIL

SECTION: LOCAL; Pg. 1B {BYLINE} By Josh Hafenbrack Staff Writer

LENGTH: 556 words

Three years ago U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton, made a personal plea to Palm Beach County voters in cam-
paign season TV spots: Make Arthur Anderson the county elections supervisor. Wexler's lobbying efforts are widely
credited with helping propel Anderson to a four-year term.
On Wednesday, Wexler put political pressure on his ally, saying there has been "legitimate criticism" of Anderson's
performance in recent elections and that improvements are needed. The six-term congressman called for a community
forum to address voter concerns in Palm Beach County's problem-plagued elections process.
Wexler also urged Anderson to prepare his office to install a paper trail before the 2008 primaries -- a timeline Ander-
son said would be dictated by the state Legislature.
Anderson came under fire last month for posting incorrect results on his office's Web site during city elections for
mayoral and city council seats. It was the fourth time in the past year that a glitch caused problems counting votes or
reporting results.
"There has been legitimate criticism of your office during the March mayoral election due to software glitches in the
voting tally, and from prior elections when results were significantly delayed," Wexler said in a letter Wednesday.
Wexler said Anderson should host a public forum with elected officials, community leaders and voting advocates "to
discuss the challenges we face in the upcoming elections, as well as the steps you and your staff are taking to address
them."
Anderson said Wednesday he's already planning such a forum to coincide with the unveiling of new absentee balloting
equipment his office is acquiring. The forum, he said, would cover a "wide range of election-related concerns."
"There's really not much to say about it," Anderson said of Wexler's letter. "I find his recommendations very consistent
with my plans for the future."
Wexler's support of Anderson was crucial in the 2004 campaign to oust the controversial Theresa LePore, said political
activist Andre Fladell, who also worked on the campaign. Anderson is up for re-election next year.
"This letter seems to be a warning shot," Fladell said. "The most influential person who can persuade Democratic voters
in this county is Robert Wexler. He was a key component in Arthur Anderson being elected. That's a fact."
Wexler also called on Anderson to firm up plans to put in place a paper trail before the 2008 presidential primary, which
could happen as early as Jan. 29 under a bill in the Legislature.
Anderson said the paper trail ultimately would be decided by the Legislature, which is debating whether to fund replac-
ing computerized voting machines in 15 counties with optical-scan devices that produce a paper trail. Gov. Charlie Crist
supports state funding for the changes, pegged at $30 million to $35 million, but a budget in the House doesn't provide
the money.
Page 343
ADDRESS GLITCHES, ELECTIONS CHIEF TOLD; U.S. REP. WEXLER ALSO ADVISES ANDERSON TO PLAN
FOR PAPER TRAIL Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) April 5, 2007 Thursday

"We're on standby to see what resolves from the legislative process," Anderson said. "Whatever the Legislature re-
quires, we're following accordingly."
Wexler's chief of staff, Joshua Rogin, agreed the paper trail is contingent on funding from the Legislature, but he added
that Anderson's office should be getting ready to implement the potential changes in voting equipment quickly.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

GRAPHIC: PHOTO 2
Wexler


All Rights Reserved
Page 344



FINAL EDITION

ROLE IN DEAL ELICITS SURPRISE FROM FOES, FRIENDS OF
SANSBURY



LENGTH: 1927 words

John Sansbury is a wheeler-dealer. Friends and foes agree on that.
It was his particular brand of glibness that catapulted him, at age 26, to the top job in Palm Beach County government.
The feat even caught the attention of The National Enquirer, which anointed him in a 1975 headline as "The Youngest
County Administrator in the U.S."
His devilish personality endeared him to the county's power elite and his young, hard-partying staff. For his 10th anni-
versary in the job, county commissioners named a road after him. A year later, commissioners had enough of the
fast-talking manager.
Then-Commissioner Ken Adams, who sealed Sansbury's fate, never doubted Sansbury's ability.
"Give John a telephone and an hour and he could get almost anything accomplished," he said in 1986, shortly before
Sansbury left government to become a real estate entrepreneur.
Friends and foes voiced varying degrees of surprise as word spread last week that Sansbury, now 57, was implicated in
the criminal case filed against former West Palm Beach City Commissioner Jim Exline. Sansbury, prosecutors allege,
funneled a $50,000 payment to Exline in 2004 through a Clematis Street jewelry store for his help getting city approval
for a subdivision.
Exline never told city staff he was getting paid, prosecutors said. He also failed to report the money on his 2004 tax re-
turn. And when he came clean with federal investigators in June, Exline agreed to wear an FBI wire to tape his conver-
sations with Sansbury, according to a source familiar with the case.
Exline, who resigned from the commission in January, is expected to plead guilty to a tax-evasion count on March 19.
Sansbury has not been charged. He declined comment for this story. "Talk to my lawyers," he said pleasantly when
reached at home. Attorneys Douglas Duncan and David Roth, both specialists in criminal law, didn't return repeated
phone calls.
His friends say Sansbury is too careful to intentionally break the law.
"John was a wheeler-dealer, and he never made a secret about that," said Dennis Koehler, a former county commission-
er who has known him more than 30 years. "But he was always careful to avoid conflicts, and I always thought of John
as a very ethical guy."
"John prides himself in being aboveboard, so I'm sure he's discouraged that his name is being bandied about," agreed
Assistant County Administrator Vince Bonvento. Like Koehler, Bonvento has known Sansbury since they, along with
County Commissioner Karen Marcus, were part of a group of Young Turks who ran county government as the "Kiddie
Car Gang."
Page 345
ROLE IN DEAL ELICITS SURPRISE FROM FOES, FRIENDS OF SANSBURY Palm Beach Post (Florida) March
11, 2007 Sunday

Like others, Bonvento said Sansbury has a wild streak. "He's a risk-taker," he said.
That mentality made him an innovative administrator at a time when the county was experiencing breakneck growth. It
also got him in trouble with his bosses.
And, after he left county government, he became a poster child for those who believed top county employees used the
inside information and contacts they gleaned while working for the public to cut lucrative deals once they went into
business.
"Every single person who ever left county government has maximized every relationship they ever had," said Andre
Fladell, a south county political broker.
And Sansbury, many said, did it better than most.
Exline votes furthered interests
While a city commissioner, Exline hung his shingle as a real estate agent at Sansbury's brokerage. During that time,
Exline voted on annexation and other issues that helped increase the value of Sansbury's land. Two days before making
the $50,000 payment in 2004, Sansbury also gave Exline the entire $36,400 commission from property on Evernia
Street they brokered.
Sansbury didn't always have that kind of money to throw around.
He grew up on the hardscrabble dirt roads of Westgate, a still impoverished neighborhood north of Palm Beach Interna-
tional Airport. His father died when he was young, leaving his mother to raise three kids. Most of his friends didn't
graduate from high school, but all three Sansbury kids graduated from college.
Sansbury never forgot his humble beginnings, friends say. The memory drove him to succeed. He recently served on the
Westgate Community Redevelopment Agency, which is rebuilding the community.
The relationships he built served him well. When he left county government, he immediately teamed up with other for-
mer county employees. Many, like Sansbury, became potent forces in land development.
Some have been targets of criminal probes.
Richard Ellington, who grew up with Sansbury and was county attorney when Sansbury was county administrator,
served four months in prison in 2004 after being convicted for his role in a corruption scandal at the county's Housing
Finance Authority. At the time, Sansbury was also a county commission appointee to the authority's board.
Former West Palm Beach City Commissioner Ray Liberti, a former county planning and zoning director, is serving 18
months in federal prison for taking $66,000 in payoffs and a fancy watch during an FBI sting.
Lawyer William Boose III, a former county planning director, is under investigation for allegedly helping then-County
Commissioner Tony Masilotti conceal his profit from a government land deal.
Boose was Sansbury's first business partner when he left the county administrator job -- and it immediately raised eye-
brows. As county administrator, Sansbury had recommended the commission buy downtown land that Boose partially
owned for a courthouse. The county appraised the site for $974,000, but he estimated it would cost the county $1.3 mil-
lion to $1.6 million. A consultant later recommended a different site.
Like Boose, Sansbury fell on hard times during the real estate collapse of the early 1990s. His ex-wife in 1993 took him
to court for being $13,600 behind in child support payments. The IRS slapped him with two liens -- one for $15,000 and
another for $29,000 -- for taxes that ultimately were repaid.
Headline-grabbing deals
Through it all, Sansbury kept on making deals as a developer, through his membership on countless private and public
boards and as a member of the Port of Palm Beach Commission.
"His range was deep -- from agriculture to the economic council," Fladell said.
Many of his deals snared headlines.
Page 346
11, 2007 Sunday

In 1991, the Florida Ethics Commission reprimanded him for steering a $3,000 port catering job to the Crazy Horse
Tavern, which he partially owned. The now-defunct bar off Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard was the unofficial headquar-
ters of the Kiddie Car Gang.
He again came under scrutiny in 1995 when he was trying to develop a maritime museum on Peanut Island with busi-
nessman John Grant. As a port commissioner, he persuaded fellow commissioners to give the museum a long-term $100
annual lease. He convinced West Palm Beach to give the museum land in Curry Park for $10 a year.
A $400,000 county grant to convert a waterfront building into a school became controversial when a county economic
development board asked for an investigation. The board was upset Sansbury hadn't mentioned that his company man-
aged the building. The county attorney found Sansbury hadn't violated ethics laws.
After snaring $1.4 million in state and county grants and 7 acres of public land, he and Grant had a falling out. Sansbury
quit the museum board and was replaced by Liberti.
Ultimately, his dual roles proved too much. After serving on the port commission from 1988 to 1992, he was defeated
by lawyer George Mastics, who claimed Sansbury's multiple conflicts of interests had rendered him ineffective. By
then, Sansbury had to abstain from voting on anything involving the Catalfumo Cos., which leases port property, be-
cause he represented the development giant in real estate deals.
In typical fashion, Sansbury took it in stride.
"I have political baggage -- some deserved, some not -- but I'm not ashamed of anything I've done and I'm not bitter," he
said. To prove it, he again sought election in 2000. He was soundly defeated.
No longer on Westgate board
He stepped down from his three-year post on the Westgate CRA in August because he didn't want to be again accused
of having conflicts of interest. Sansbury owns property in the redevelopment area and didn't want to become fodder for
yet another probe, said Koehler, who serves on the board.
For the past several months, Sansbury hasn't gone out much. On Sept. 25, while in Orlando for a Republican fund-raiser
featuring President Bush and then-gubernatorial hopeful Charlie Crist, he lost sight in his right eye.
Forced to undergo at least five operations for a detached retina, he is confined to a special chair, ordered to keep his
head down, sleep on his face and stay out of the sunlight in hope the retina will reattach. He also experienced problems
with his left eye.
Koehler said his former drinking buddy didn't seem depressed when he talked to him several weeks ago. "John's a pretty
upbeat guy," he said.
For years, Sansbury has worn the gold diamond ring he got when he stepped down as county administrator. The ring,
featuring the county's insignia, was to be a gift from the county until the government's financial watchdog balked. To
end the controversy, he paid for the ring with $344 county employees had given him as a going-away present.
Over the years, Sansbury has made it clear that he can weather any storm. And, he has made it equally clear, he's not
going anywhere.
"I was born, raised and will pass away in Palm Beach County. I have no desire to ever leave this county."
The $50,000 connection
Developer-lobbyist John Sansbury plays a pivotal role in tax-evasion case against former West Palm Beach Commis-
sioner Jim Exline. Court filings show that at Exline's direction, Sansbury allegedly funneled a $50,000 payment to
Exline through a jewelry store. Exline, after admitting he failed to pay federal income taxes, agreed to wear an FBI wire
to capture his conversations with Sansbury on tape. Sansbury has not been charged.
A case chronology:
* October 2004 - May 2005: Sansbury hires Exline, a land planner, to get a subdivision approved by the city. Exline
meets with planning and zoning staff, failing to disclose his financial stake in Sansbury's project.
Page 347
11, 2007 Sunday

* Oct. 5, 2004: Exline, acting as a sales agent for Sansbury Realty, closes the sale of Clematis Street property. Sansbury
gives Exline the entire real estate commission: $36,400.
* Oct. 7, 2004: Exline directs Sansbury to write a $50,000 check to Provident Jewelry & Loan. The store, owned by
Exline's friend, Robert Samuels, then pays $50,000 to Exline. Samuels has not been accused of wrongdoing.
* February 2005: Exline, divorcing his wife, files a financial affidavit in family court. He fails to report the $50,000,
hiding it from his wife and keeping it out of the public record.
* April 2005: Exline files his income tax return, failing to report the $50,000 from Sansbury.
* June 2005: Exline's divorce is final.
* March 2006: Exline reelected to a third term.
* May: City Commissioner Ray Liberti is charged with corruption. He resigns.
* June: Shaken by the Liberti probe, Exline voluntarily confesses to federal prosecutors and agrees to record his con-
versations with Sansbury. He reportedly acknowledges making the jewelry-store payment, saying he was helping Exline
hide the money from his wife.
* Jan. 19: Exline resigns, saying he is in trouble with the IRS and expects to be charged.
* March 6: Exline is charged with filing a false tax return. He surrenders and is released on bond.
* March 19: Exliine is scheduled to plead guilty in federal court. He faces three years prison and a $250,000 fine.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

NOTES: Did not run MSL. Info box at end of text.

1. (C) John Sansbury: Although John Sansbury has been implicated in Jim Exline's tax-evasion case, he has not been
charged.(mug) 2. (C) Jim Exline (mug) 3. Palm Beach Post file photo Long history in county: John Sansbury (left), at a
1981 county commission meeting with then-Commissioner Dennis Koehler (second from left), was once dubbed the
youngest U.S. county administrator. For his 10th anniversary in the job, a road was named after him. A year later, he
had fallen out of favor with the commissioners and left government for a career in business. 4. John Sansbury (mug) 5.
Jim Exline (mug) 6. Ray Liberti (mug)

DOCUMENT-TYPE: CHRONOLOGY


All Rights Reserved
Page 348





Woman charged in sign thefts: Police say critic of Delray officials stole placards
for March 13 election

BYLINE: Erika Slife, South Florida Sun-Sentinel


LENGTH: 567 words

Mar. 3--DELRAY BEACH -- A frequent critic of city officials was arrested Friday for stealing thousands of dollars in
campaign signs of mayoral candidate Rita Ellis, according to police.
Monica Kaysen, 53, was charged with grand theft, a felony, in connection with the stealing of hundreds of signs, and if
convicted could be sentenced to up to five years in prison.
Ellis could not be reached for comment, despite attempts by phone and a request to her campaign manager, Rebecca
Shelton. Ellis' opponent, Virginia Snyder, couldn't be reached for comment Friday, but said on Monday, when the ac-
cusations first surfaced, that she didn't know Kaysen.
"She's certainly not one of my volunteers," Snyder said Monday. She added that if the accusations are proven true, "I
expect to see she'd be prosecuted and some charges brought."
The election is March 13, and hundreds of candidate signs have sprung up all over Delray Beach. Witnesses said they
saw Kaysen driving around the city recently, plucking Ellis' signs and putting them into her silver Toyota Tundra.
Neighbors told police they saw a pile of the signs in Kaysen's backyard.
"I was mowing my lawn [Sunday] and I happened to see them. I thought, 'That ain't right,'" Jorge Gallego said Monday.
He reported the incident the same day to the city clerk's office.
After hearing about the incident, Shelton notified police Monday. She estimated the thefts at $3,615, which included
hundreds of signs, as well as lumber and labor costs, according to the arrest report.
Another neighbor told police he saw Kaysen handing Ellis' signs to garbage workers who put them in their truck, ac-
cording to the report.
Gallego said Kaysen was upset about Ellis' stance on allowing dogs on the beach. The City Commission last year in-
creased fines for pet owners who bring their dogs on the city's beach, where dogs are prohibited.
The other neighbor told police the same thing, according to the report; however, Kaysen denied that.
One witness identified Kaysen in a photo lineup this week as the suspect. Police picked her up Friday for driving with a
revoked license related to a DUI arrest, and she confessed later, according to the report.
Kaysen told police she was "attempting to clean up the city," the police report said. When police asked her why she only
took Ellis signs, Kaysen replied, "Because there were too many of them."
Mayor Jeff Perlman and Commissioner Jon Levinson said Kaysen is a familiar government critic who has e-mailed and
sent letters over the past couple of years.
Page 349
Woman charged in sign thefts: Police say critic of Delray officials stole placards for March 13 election South Florida
Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale) March 3, 2007 Saturday

"The stuff I got she was concerned about growth downtown and in her community," Perlman said. Many of her com-
plaints were about a townhouse project being built next to her house, he added.
For those in political circles, the arrest is a rare occurrence.
"In every single election cycle, sign-ripping occurs," said Andre Fladell, a local political activist. "You can prove it, or
you can't prove it. To catch someone in the act is the real difficulty."
Staff Researcher William Lucey contributed to this report.
Erika Slife can be reached at eslife@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6690.
Copyright (c) 2007, South Florida Sun-Sentinel Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News. For reprints, email


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

ACC-NO: 20070303-FL-0303-Woman-charged-in-sign-thefts


JOURNAL-CODE: FL

Page 350





Woman accused of stealing vote signs: Police say she is critic of Delray officials



LENGTH: 567 words

Mar. 3--DELRAY BEACH -- A frequent critic of city officials was arrested Friday for stealing thousands of dollars in
campaign signs of mayoral candidate Rita Ellis, according to police.
"I was mowing my lawn [Sunday] and I happened to see them. I thought, 'That ain't right,'" Jorge Gallego said Monday.
Page 351
Woman accused of stealing vote signs: Police say she is critic of Delray officials South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Fort
Lauderdale) March 3, 2007 Saturday

"In every single election cycle, sign ripping occurs," said Andre Fladell, a local political activist. "You can prove it, or


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

ACC-NO: 20070303-FL-0303-Woman-accused-of-stealing-vote-signs


JOURNAL-CODE: FL

Page 352



Palm Beach Edition

WOMAN ACCUSED OF STEALING VOTE SIGNS;
POLICE SAY SHE IS CRITIC OF DELRAY OFFICIALS


LENGTH: 511 words

DATELINE: Delray Beach {BYLINE} By Erika Slife Staff writer Staff Researcher William Lucey contributed to this
report.

A frequent critic of city officials was arrested Friday for stealing thousands of dollars in campaign signs of mayoral
candidate Rita Ellis, according to police.
"I was mowing my lawn [Sunday] and I happened to see them. I thought, `That ain't right,'" Jorge Gallego said Monday.
Page 353
WOMAN ACCUSED OF STEALING VOTE SIGNS; POLICE SAY SHE IS CRITIC OF DELRAY OFFICIALS
Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) March 3, 2007 Saturday

"In every single election cycle, sign ripping occurs," said Andre Fladell, a local political activist. "You can prove it, or


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

GRAPHIC: PHOTO
Kaysen


All Rights Reserved
Page 354



FINAL EDITION

GARDENS WOOING LUXURY RETAILERS

BYLINE: Alexandra Clough

SECTION: BUSINESS; Pg. 1F

LENGTH: 965 words

The Gardens Mall -- such a name-dropper.
Executives of the Palm Beach Gardens shopping center are so thrilled by the success of the mall's new luxury retailers,
they are planning to add more. Think of the brands for the very rich. Think Ferragamo, Cartier or Armani.
Now you're thinking along the lines of mall owner Forbes Co., which realizes there's more gold to be mined in the north
end of the county.
As proof they point to the success of Chanel, which in November opened a boutique store at the mall, its third in South
Florida and the only one at a shopping mall. (The others are on Worth Avenue in Palm Beach and Bal Harbour in Mi-
ami-Dade County.)
Chanel's presence caps a multiyear mall face-lift that also brought in Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Co., Gucci and Burberry.
Mall leasing manager Al Ferris said Chanel officials were a little worried about prospects of success at a mall, versus
the international destination of Palm Beach.
They needn't have worried. In just a few months, Ferris said, Chanel has been impressed by the business the store has
been doing. "The customer up here is much younger, and it's a year-round customer, too," Ferris said. "It's all young
money up here." Well, young relative to Palm Beach, perhaps, but we get the point.
Chanel is considered the top of the luxury-retailer food chain. But there are plenty more high-end retailers to pursue,
and Ferris is actively courting them. "We've shown the luxury community this is a separate community from Palm
Beach and Worth Avenue," he said, adding that these retailers will be placed in spots vacated by other tenants when
leases expire.
Going, going ... soon to be sold?
The Palm Beach Gardens Max's Grille restaurant, which cost $3 million to build, can be yours for a mere $495,000.
That's the word, according to local real estate reps who say the eatery is being actively shopped for sale. Located in the
chic Downtown at the Gardens shopping center, the 6,500 square-foot eatery has a 10-year lease and hefty rent of
around $46 per square foot. That figure doesn't include taxes, insurance and percentage revenues paid to the landlord,
costs that could push the figure closer to $70 per square foot.
Owner Dennis Max recently denied rumors he's selling this restaurant, although he acknowledged that competition
along PGA Boulevard is fierce.
It's true. Even though there is plenty of money in Palm Beach Gardens, it's still not enough to keep full all the new eat-
eries opening. And several more are set to open soon at two new shopping centers, Midtown and Legacy Place.
Word is there's another Palm Beach Gardens landmark on the block, too. This one is the Grand Bank Center on PGA
Boulevard.
Page 355
GARDENS WOOING LUXURY RETAILERS Palm Beach Post (Florida) February 25, 2007 Sunday

Hey, didn't this building just change hands? It did indeed, for $16 million in 2005 -- only three years after the property
was built. The sale's $372-a-square-foot price set a record at the time for suburban Class A space.
Office property still is hot, but some experts are starting to worry the market may be peaking. So perhaps that's driving a
sales decision by the Grand Bank Center's owner, a foreign investor group. Observers figure this 43,000 square-foot
building could go for up to $19 million this time around. A call to the property's broker wasn't immediately returned.
Public relations guru Barry Epstein has created a quandary for his colleagues in the good-news business: How do fellow
PR execs stand by their erstwhile leader while trying to distance themselves from his recent bad publicity?
They don't.
On Tuesday colleagues hammered Epstein at a meeting of the Gold Coast PR Council, a public relations group in south
Palm Beach County.
Epstein, who helped create the council, is a longtime public relations expert whose clients include Applied Card Sys-
tems and SouthTech Academy. But it was Epstein who was in need of some image-building last week. Over the objec-
tions of some Gold Coast members, Epstein used the meeting to address recent reports critical of his involvement in a
nonprofit organization created to help deter gang violence. Reports indicate 70 percent of nearly $350,000 spent by To-
gether Against Gangs was paid to Epstein's private PR firm. Reports also questioned TAG's thin accomplishments dur-
ing its 12-year history.
At last week's meeting, Epstein called the TAG flap "bogus." He said figures describing his TAG take are misleading
and don't reflect normal monthly expenses, such as rent and electricity, needed to keep TAG running.
But Epstein's spin quickly unraveled when colleagues used the Q&A to grill him.
Chief among the inquisitors was the group's own president, Toni Wolf. She questioned whether it was a conflict of in-
terest for Epstein to be executive director of a nonprofit as well as the PR person "who collects the fees." Epstein re-
sponded by saying that he was asked to perform PR duties, and his fees were not excessive. "If someone else wants to
do this on a pro bono basis, I'm happy to have someone else do it," he said.
While several members offered to help Epstein through this PR crisis, others seemed concerned about fallout: "We're in
the perception business," said PR exec Gary Schweikhart. One attendee also questioned why Epstein hadn't brought
TAG's tax returns to the meeting to back claims his fees were justified. He dismissed the question, saying, "The TAG
treasurer has all the information."
In the end, Epstein told his people he "had nothing to be ashamed of."
Then he turned the podium over to the featured guest speaker, political strategist Andre Fladell.
The topic of Fladell's talk: "How to use the media to destroy your political opponents."
Alexandra Clough writes about business and the law. Contact her at The Palm Beach Post, 2915 Congress Ave., Delray
Beach, Fla. 33445; (561) 820-3469 or (561) 279-3469; e-mail: alexandra_clough@pbpost.com.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

GRAPHIC: PHOTO (B&W)
Barry Epstein (mug)



All Rights Reserved
Page 356





Diocese says no to financially strapped nuns seeking to buy vacant house



LENGTH: 711 words

Feb. 6--DELRAY BEACH -- The Diocese of Palm Beach has rescinded its offer to sell a vacant house to a group of
financially strapped nuns just days before a key City Commission vote might have allowed the real estate transaction to
go through.
The eight Poor Clare Nuns planned to sell their 1967 Christ the King Monastery, a leaky, moldy, massive building, and
move next door into a handicap-accessible home intended for retired priests.
But Friday, the diocese called the nuns to tell them that the deal was off. They were selling the 7,750-square-foot home
to a nearby church.
"The diocese was approached over a year and a half ago by the Poor Clare Sisters who expressed interest in purchasing
the diocesan building," the diocese said in a statement Monday. "With no resolve after several extended deadlines, the
Diocese of Palm Beach decided to move forward with the sale of its property to Emmanuel Catholic Church." The dio-
cese went on to wish the sisters well and offered its continued support.
Developer Ray Giudice, who is in line to buy the nuns' property, called the move "insensitive."
"I just think the diocese knows what we were going through and trying to get it done as quickly as we could," he said.
"For them to rush, and basically not give us the time, was extremely disappointing."
The about-face has pushed back a plan that has already lumbered through City Hall.
Since August, a plan to build 29 homes on the property, about 9 acres at Sherwood Boulevard and Sutton Place, has
weathered a slew of board meetings, neighborhood powwows and several first readings at City Commission meetings.
In the past few months, the Commission has been scheduled on several occasions to vote on the project, but each time
before the vote, the plan was tweaked to meet neighborhood demands.
Now, with most of the technicalities out of the way, the City Commission was scheduled to make its final determination
tonight.
"With all due respect to the diocese, my obligation is to the city of Delray Beach and the neighborhood and we have
worked hard to come up with a plan that works for the city and the neighborhood," Mayor Jeff Perlman said. "I'm sorry
that it didn't meet the time constraints with the diocese. I didn't even know we had time constraints. We were two busi-
ness days from having a resolution to this."
Sister Frances Vass said the nuns were at peace with the diocese's decision.
"Life goes on and we do what we need to do each day. Praise God we're still as well as we are," she said. "We're grate-
ful with what we have. We just would like to get this resolved sooner than later."
She added that she thinks the move is "going to be providential."
Page 357
Diocese says no to financially strapped nuns seeking to buy vacant house South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale)

Resident Andre Fladell, who lives across the street from the monastery, wasn't as forgiving.
"The nuns asked the neighborhood to have compassion for the plight of the nuns," Fladell said. "I guess when it comes
to the diocese, the compassion for the nuns runs short. It's interesting how coarse and indifferent the diocese can be to
women who have dedicated their life to God."
Diocese spokeswoman Alexis Walkenstein declined further comment.
The cloistered nuns, who range in age from their mid-50s to late 70s, live reclusive lives, rarely leaving the monastery
and spending most of their time in solitude and prayer. Their mission, traced back to 1212, is to follow the life of their
founders St. Clare of Assisi and St. Francis of Assisi, who preached about poverty, humility and obedience. They are
independent from the diocese and earn money by accepting donations, providing Communion hosts to churches and
selling stationery.
Giudice said planners would likely scale back the $25 million project to 26 homes to allow for the construction of a new
dwelling on the property for the nuns. The homes, which would sell for about $700,000, are to be built on
12,500-square-foot lots.
Staff Researcher Barbara Hijek contributed to this report.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

ACC-NO: 20070206-FL-0206-Diocese-says-no-to-financially-strapped-nuns-seeking-to-buy-vacant-house


JOURNAL-CODE: FL

Page 358



Palm Beach Edition

DIOCESE RESCINDS ITS OFFER TO NUNS;
TURNABOUT LEAVES EIGHT SISTERS IN THE COLD

SECTION: LOCAL; Pg. 1A

LENGTH: 656 words

DATELINE: DELRAY BEACH {BYLINE} By Erika Slife Staff writer Staff Researcher Barbara Hijek contributed to
this report

The Diocese of Palm Beach has rescinded its offer to sell a vacant house to a group of financially strapped nuns just
days before a key City Commission vote might have allowed the real estate transaction to go through.
The eight Poor Clare Nuns planned to sell their 1967 Christ the King Monastery, a leaky, moldy, massive building, and
move next door into a handicap-accessible home intended for retired priests.
But Friday, the diocese called the nuns to tell them that the deal was off. They were selling the 7,750-square-foot home
to a nearby church.
"The diocese was approached over a year and a half ago by the Poor Clare Sisters who expressed interest in purchasing
the diocesan building," the diocese said in a statement Monday. "With no resolve after several extended deadlines, the
Diocese of Palm Beach decided to move forward with the sale of its property to Emmanuel Catholic Church." The dio-
cese went on to wish the sisters well and offered its continued support.
Developer Ray Giudice, who is in line to buy the nuns' property, called the move "insensitive."
"I just think the diocese knows what we were going through and trying to get it done as quickly as we could," he said.
"For them to rush, and basically not give us the time, was extremely disappointing."
The about-face has pushed back a plan that has already lumbered through City Hall.
Since August, a plan to build 29 homes on the property, about 9 acres at Sherwood Boulevard and Sutton Place, has
weathered a slew of board meetings, neighborhood powwows and several first readings at City Commission meetings.
In the past few months, the Commission has been scheduled on several occasions to vote on the project, but each time
before the vote, the plan was tweaked to meet neighborhood demands.
Now, with most of the technicalities out of the way, the City Commission was scheduled to make its final determination
tonight.
"With all due respect to the diocese, my obligation is to the city of Delray Beach and the neighborhood and we have
worked hard to come up with a plan that works for the city and the neighborhood," Mayor Jeff Perlman said. "I'm sorry
that it didn't meet the time constraints with the diocese. I didn't even know we had time constraints. We were two busi-
ness days from having a resolution to this."
Sister Frances Vass said the nuns were at peace with the diocese's decision.
"Life goes on and we do what we need to do each day. Praise God we're still as well as we are," she said. "We're grate-
ful with what we have. We just would like to get this resolved sooner than later."
She added that she thinks the move is "going to be providential."
Page 359
DIOCESE RESCINDS ITS OFFER TO NUNS; TURNABOUT LEAVES EIGHT SISTERS IN THE COLD
Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) February 6, 2007 Tuesday

Resident Andre Fladell, who lives across the street from the monastery, wasn't as forgiving.
"The nuns asked the neighborhood to have compassion for the plight of the nuns," Fladell said. "I guess when it comes
to the diocese, the compassion for the nuns runs short. It's interesting how coarse and indifferent the diocese can be to
women who have dedicated their life to God."
Diocese spokeswoman Alexis Walkenstein declined further comment.
The cloistered nuns, who range in age from their mid-50s to late 70s, live reclusive lives, rarely leaving the monastery
and spending most of their time in solitude and prayer. Their mission, traced back to 1212, is to follow the life of their
founders St. Clare of Assisi and St. Francis of Assisi, who preached about poverty, humility and obedience. They are
independent from the diocese and earn money by accepting donations, providing Communion hosts to churches and
selling stationery.
Giudice said planners would likely scale back the $25 million project to 26 homes to allow for the construction of a new
dwelling on the property for the nuns. The homes, which would sell for about $700,000, are to be built on
12,500-square-foot lots.
Staff Researcher Barbara Hijek contributed to this report.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

GRAPHIC: MAP
MAP: Locates Poor Clare Nuns of Christ the King Monastery in Delray Beach. Staff graphic/ Belinda Long


All Rights Reserved
Page 360





Palm Beach County's anti-gang organization ignored by many board members

BYLINE: Leon Fooksman and Luis F. Perez, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

SECTION: BUSINESS AND FINANCIAL NEWS

LENGTH: 959 words

Feb. 5--Many of Palm Beach County's elected leaders and top public administrators have lent their names to an organi-
zation dedicated to fighting gang violence.
At least 20 legislators, sheriffs, police chiefs, school superintendents and a state attorney were listed as board members
of Together Against Gangs over the past decade -- all in positions to impact the county's worsening gang problem. But
many have all but ignored their roles in overseeing the organization.
"I didn't go to any board meetings," said County Commissioner Mary McCarty, whom the group listed as an executive
board member for seven years. "I didn't have anything to do with how they carry on with their mission."
State Attorney Barry Krischer, whom TAG also named as a seven-year executive board member, never attended a
meeting or a fundraiser either, his spokesman Michael Edmondson said.
"He was just asked to be in an ex-officio role," Edmondson said.
With that lack of oversight, the group struggled with its mission and effectiveness while the seeds of the current wave of
gang shootings and killings were sown.
Defenders say the group's small budgets limit what it can do. Still, 70 percent of the money TAG's board spent from
1998 to 2005 went to professional fees. Much of that money went to the public relations firm owned by a founding
member, Barry Epstein, while only 30 percent went to anti-gang initiatives, Internal Revenue Service documents show.
TAG has supported little, if any, conflict-resolution, positive self-esteem, after-school and other grass-roots programs
credited in other parts of the country with steering youths away from gangs, according to public records and interviews.
And despite the group's gang-prevention mission, the board decided to hand out 1,000 flashlights to senior citizens after
hurricanes Frances and Jeanne and at least 50 televisions to Hurricane Katrina evacuees.
Nonprofit board members bear responsibility for how their groups are run -- even if they don't regularly participate,
experts said. Members can be held liable for their nonprofit's actions, they said.
"When a charity is created, the directors are charged with carrying out the corporate purpose," said Marcus Owens,
former director of the IRS Exempt Organization Division and now a Washington, D.C., lawyer. "They have a duty to
the organization to make sure the money is used for the corporate purpose."
Epstein and TAG's treasurer, Leonard Geronemus, conceded their group has veered off its mission in recent years. After
all, the group has no office and little continuity on the board, with more than 50 people, including the power brokers,
serving since 1995.
Nevertheless, they said their group -- founded in the wake of a gang beating in a Boca Raton park in 1995 -- has kept
cities and the school district focused on gangs when few officials were paying attention. Among TAG's other contribu-
Page 361
Palm Beach County's anti-gang organization ignored by many board members South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Fort
Lauderdale) February 5, 2007 Monday

tions, they said, were paying for a video designed to teach parents signs of youth gang involvement and buying comput-
er equipment for the Sheriff's Office gang unit.
Epstein defended allowing TAG's tax-exempt status to be used by individual donors so they could provide flashlights to
the elderly and televisions for hurricane victims. He said it was necessary for positive public relations. Still, the group
said gangs are its focus.
"We're just a group of concerned people trying to do something about it," Geronemus said. "Probably the best thing
we've ever done is to keep the subject alive."
Despite the board's turnover, Epstein said, the group had strong checks and balances. Two signatures, normally the
chairman and treasurer's, were required for every check, he said.
Yet the board didn't seek bids for Epstein's services or for the board's insurance, as nonprofit experts recommend.
"I founded TAG," Epstein said. "The initial board asked me to do this."
In at least two instances, records show, TAG purchased its insurance from Van Ameringen, a company owned by for-
mer TAG chairman Leonard Turesky while Turesky was on the board. Turesky could not be reached for comment, de-
spite attempts by phone.
Nonprofit experts suggests tax-exempt groups make sure they're paying no more than market rate for services. Board
members can provide those services, as long as they don't vote on it or charge more than what is common in the market,
they said.
Former board members recall the meetings without much structure.
"People were just talking, as opposed to following Robert's Rules" of Order, said Andre Fladell, a Delray Beach chiro-
practor and political activist who served on the board in the late 1990s.
He said he didn't know much about payments to Epstein or that the group even had insurance. Other former board
members who said they barely participated in recent years include U.S. Rep. Ron Klein, County Commissioner Burt
Aaronson, Sheriff Ric Bradshaw and school district Superintendent Art Johnson.
At TAG's first board meeting of the year Jan. 18, six board members and Epstein sat around a conference room at the
Safe School Institute in Boca Raton.
In between phone calls to latecomers to the meeting, talk focused on the recent gang violence in Boynton Beach.
At one point, Geronemus objected to hiring a grant writer, saying it was unclear for what grants the group could apply.
"We don't have a mission," he said.
Leon Fooksman can be reached at lfooksman@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6647. Luis F. Perez can be reached at
pfperez@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6641.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

ACC-NO: 20070205-FL-0205-Palm-Beach-County-s-anti-gang-organization-ignored-by-many-board-members


JOURNAL-CODE: FL

Page 362



Palm Beach Edition

GANGS MORE UNITED THAN BOARD;
HIGH-POWER TAG MEMBERS CONCEDE THEY SKIP MEETINGS

SECTION: LOCAL; Pg. 1B {BYLINE} By Leon Fooksman and Luis F. Perez Staff Writers

LENGTH: 1075 words

Many of Palm Beach County's elected leaders and top public administrators have lent their names to an organization
dedicated to fighting gang violence.
At least 20 legislators, sheriffs, police chiefs, school superintendents and a state attorney were listed as board members
of Together Against Gangs over the past decade -- all in positions to impact the county's worsening gang problem. But
many have all but ignored their roles in overseeing the organization.
"I didn't go to any board meetings," said County Commissioner Mary McCarty, whom the group listed as an executive
board member for seven years. "I didn't have anything to do with how they carry on with their mission."
State Attorney Barry Krischer, whom TAG also named as a seven-year executive board member, never attended a
meeting or a fundraiser either, his spokesman Michael Edmondson said.
"He was just asked to be in an ex-officio role," Edmondson said.
With that lack of oversight, the group struggled with its mission and effectiveness while the seeds of the current wave of
gang shootings and killings were sown.
Defenders say the group's small budgets limit what it can do. Still, 70 percent of the money TAG's board spent from
1998 to 2005 went to professional fees. Much of that money went to the public relations firm owned by a founding
member, Barry Epstein, while only 30 percent went to anti-gang initiatives, Internal Revenue Service documents show.
TAG has supported little, if any, conflict-resolution, positive self-esteem, after-school and other grass-roots programs
credited in other parts of the country with steering youths away from gangs, according to public records and interviews.
And despite the group's gang-prevention mission, the board decided to hand out 1,000 flashlights to senior citizens after
hurricanes Frances and Jeanne and at least 50 televisions to Hurricane Katrina evacuees.
Nonprofit board members bear responsibility for how their groups are run -- even if they don't regularly participate,
experts said. Members can be held liable for their nonprofit's actions, they said.
"When a charity is created, the directors are charged with carrying out the corporate purpose," said Marcus Owens,
former director of the IRS Exempt Organization Division and now a Washington, D.C., lawyer. "They have a duty to
the organization to make sure the money is used for the corporate purpose."
Epstein and TAG's treasurer, Leonard Geronemus, conceded their group has veered off its mission in recent years. After
all, the group has no office and little continuity on the board, with more than 50 people, including the power brokers,
serving since 1995.
Nevertheless, they said their group -- founded in the wake of a gang beating in a Boca Raton park in 1995 -- has kept
cities and the school district focused on gangs when few officials were paying attention. Among TAG's other contribu-
tions, they said, were paying for a video designed to teach parents signs of youth gang involvement and buying comput-
er equipment for the Sheriff's Office gang unit.
Page 363
GANGS MORE UNITED THAN BOARD; HIGH-POWER TAG MEMBERS CONCEDE THEY SKIP MEETINGS
Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) February 5, 2007 Monday

Epstein defended allowing TAG's tax-exempt status to be used by individual donors so they could provide flashlights to
the elderly and televisions for hurricane victims. He said it was necessary for positive public relations. Still, the group
said gangs are its focus.
"We're just a group of concerned people trying to do something about it," Geronemus said. "Probably the best thing
we've ever done is to keep the subject alive."
Despite the board's turnover, Epstein said, the group had strong checks and balances. Two signatures, normally the
chairman and treasurer's, were required for every check, he said.
Yet the board didn't seek bids for Epstein's services or for the board's insurance, as nonprofit experts recommend.
"I founded TAG," Epstein said. "The initial board asked me to do this."
In at least two instances, records show, TAG purchased its insurance from Van Ameringen, a company owned by for-
mer TAG chairman Leonard Turesky while Turesky was on the board. Turesky could not be reached for comment, de-
spite attempts by phone.
Nonprofit experts suggests tax-exempt groups make sure they're paying no more than market rate for services. Board
members can provide those services, as long as they don't vote on it or charge more than what is common in the market,
they said.
Former board members recall the meetings without much structure.
"People were just talking, as opposed to following Robert's Rules" of Order, said Andre Fladell, a Delray Beach chiro-
practor and political activist who served on the board in the late 1990s.
He said he didn't know much about payments to Epstein or that the group even had insurance. Other former board
members who said they barely participated in recent years include U.S. Rep. Ron Klein, County Commissioner Burt
Aaronson, Sheriff Ric Bradshaw and school district Superintendent Art Johnson.
At TAG's first board meeting of the year Jan. 18, six board members and Epstein sat around a conference room at the
Safe School Institute in Boca Raton.
In between phone calls to latecomers to the meeting, talk focused on the recent gang violence in Boynton Beach.
At one point, Geronemus objected to hiring a grant writer, saying it was unclear for what grants the group could apply.
"We don't have a mission," he said.
Leon Fooksman can be reached at lfooksman@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6647. Luis F. Perez can be reached at
pfperez@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6641.
TAG BOARD MEMBERS
A partial list of current and former Together Against Gangs board members:
Burt Aaronson, Palm Beach County commissioner
Jay Alperin, former Delray Beach mayor
Ed Bieluch, former Palm Beach County sheriff
Ric Bradshaw, sheriff
Marshall Gage, former Boynton Beach police chief
Addie Greene, Palm Beach County commissioner
Mark Hansen, Palm Beach County School Board member
Matt Immler, Boynton Beach police chief
Art Johnson, Palm Beach County schools superintendent
Ron Klein, U.S. representative
Joan Kowal, former Palm Beach County school superintendent
Page 364
GANGS MORE UNITED THAN BOARD; HIGH-POWER TAG MEMBERS CONCEDE THEY SKIP MEETINGS
Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) February 5, 2007 Monday

Barry Krischer, Palm Beach County state attorney
Curt Levine, former state representative
Mary McCarty, Palm Beach County commissioner
Robert Nuemann, former Palm Beach County sheriff
Pete Petracco, former Boca Raton police chief
Bill Schwartz, former Delray Beach city commissioner
Andrew Scott, former Boca Raton police chief
Wanda Thayer, former Boca Raton councilwoman
Robert Wexler, U.S. representative congressman
Sources: Internal Revenue Service and TAG


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH



All Rights Reserved
Page 365


Vanity Fair

January 2007

DON'T ASK ... DON'T E-MAIL
WHEN MARK FOLEY'S SEXUALLY EXPLICIT INSTANT MESSAGES TO
FORMER CONGRESSIONAL PAGES WERE LEAKED IN SEPTEMBER,
PLENTY OF PEOPLE HELPED HIM TOWARD SELF-IMMOLATION, NOT
LEAST THE G.O.P. LEADERSHIP. THE HALF-OPEN CLOSET IN WHICH
THE FLORIDA REPUBLICAN SPENT HIS LIFE WAS A RECIPE FOR
DISASTER, SAY THOSE FEW WHO TRIED TO INTERVENE. INVESTI-
GATING FOLEY'S PRE-TEEN SEDUCTION BY A PRIEST, THE "LADIES'
MAN" MASK HE WORE IN PALM BEACH SOCIETY, AND HIS
LOVE-HATE RELATIONSHIP WITH THE GAY COMMUNITY, GAIL
SHEEHY AND JUDY BACHRACH UNCOVER THE AMBITION, DELU-
SION, AND HYPOCRISY THAT CORRODED BOTH THE POLITICIAN
AND HIS PARTY

BYLINE: GAIL SHEEHY, Contributing Editor

SECTION: DON'T ASK ... DON'T E-MAIL; Feature; Pg. 100 No. 557

LENGTH: 7589 words

HIGHLIGHT: Mark Foley's Private Life By Gail Sheehy and Judy Bachrach p. 100

Everyone knew Mark Foley was gay. Everyone. And everyone who had a stake in his success-party, press, parents,
staff, supporters, and pages-conspired for their own purposes to keep the closet half closed.
Born at the peak of the baby boom, in 1954, he grew up near Palm Beach, in the scrappy little town of Lake Worth,
Florida, which in recent years has become a popular refuge for gay retirees. That subculture most likely did not enter
into the consciousness of his parents, Irish Catholics from Massachusetts. "One of the biggest psychological problems
for him was he was never able to be who he was with his parents, and they were his No. 1 campaigners," says Eric
Johnson, the openly gay chief of staff for Florida congressman Robert Wexler and an old friend of the Foley family's.

In the early 70s, Foley developed the veneer of a charming, heterosexual party boy, and a high-school yearbook caption
depicted him as "noted for-being a ladies man." But the formative experience of his passage through puberty, as the
world now knows, was his seduction by an authority figure whose attentions may have been a guilty pleasure. A priest
at the Sacred Heart Catholic School took him biking and skinny-dipping and massaged him in the nude, often bringing
him to saunas for fondling. Unlike a peer of his who ran away from another priest's overtures, young Foley apparently
did not resist. The Reverend Anthony Mercieca, who was 17 years older than Foley, claims they became "attached to
Page 366
DON'T ASK ... DON'T E-MAILWHEN MARK FOLEY'S SEXUALLY EXPLICIT INSTANT MESSAGES TO
FORMER CONGRESSIONAL PAGES WERE LEAKED IN SEPTEMBER, PLENTY OF PEOPLE HELPED HIM
TOWARD SELF-IMMOLATION, NOT LEAST THE G.O.P. LEADERSHIP. THE HALF-OPEN CLOSET IN
WHICH THE FLORIDA REPUBLICAN SPENT HIS LIFE WAS A RECIPE FOR DISASTER, SAY THOSE FEW
WHO TRIED TO INTERVENE. INVESTIGATING FOLEY'S PRE-TEEN SEDUCTION BY A PRIEST, THE
"LADIES' MAN" MASK HE WORE IN PALM BEACH SOCIETY, AND HIS LOVE-HATE RELATIONSHIP WITH
THE GAY COMMUNITY, GAIL SHEEHY AND JUDY BACHRACH UNCOVER THE AMBITION, DELUSION,
AND HYPOCRISY THAT CORRODED BOTH THE POLITICIAN AND HIS PARTY Vanity Fair January 2007

each other ... almost like brothers." Foley's mother welcomed the priest into their home for Christmas dinners and his
parents allowed him to take their adolescent son to the beach and on sleepover trips to New York and Washington.
The priest rejects Foley's latter-day charge of abuse and defends their relationship as one of "naturalness.... For some
people, it's molestation. Maybe for other kids, it's fun, you know?" This arrested sexual development, with its titillating
mix of secrecy and shame, Foley would reproduce in his adult years. And just as his parents had been totally unaware of
the sexual advances to which their son was surrendering, right under their noses, so, years later, were Foley's "girl-
friends" and his longtime gay partner unaware of his adult addiction to fraternizing with and fantasizing about sex with
teenage boys. Foley was able to juggle a triple life-as a political chameleon, a semi-closeted gay power broker, and a
secret sexual predator.
Trapped in the Closet
Mark Foley's ambition to be a politician became the family dream. He was always in a hurry. His doting parents had no
problem with his dropping out of Palm Beach Junior College at age 20; they helped him open a diner in downtown Lake
Worth and turn it into the platform for his grandiose goals. "Mark never actually did any work at the Lettuce Patch, no
cooking or busing. He was the face, while Mom worked like a slave in the sweaty kitchen, making pies; Eddie, his older
brother, worked the cash register; and his dad managed the business," according to Rodney Romano, who twice presid-
ed over Lake Worth as mayor and knows the Foley family well. In his early 20s, even before he won his first local elec-
tion, Foley was telling people he planned to be a U.S. senator by age 50. He joined a circle of idealistic progressive
Democrats, all under 30, who became known as the Kiddie Car Gang. "I also see myself married with a family," Foley
proclaimed publicly back then, in 1976. But his personal life took a very different course.
Mary McCarty, a Palm Beach County commissioner, remembers first hearing about Foley's sexuality back in the 80s,
when "the rumor mill already had it that he was gay." At the time Foley was close to a very well-known man, Roy
Talmo, the chairman of First American Bank and Trust in Lake Worth. Talmo, like Father Mercieca, was a powerful
man, more than 20 years older, who lavished attention on Foley. "Mark was known as one of 'Roy's boys' in his 20s,"
says a friend of Talmo's. "Roy was the go-to guy in this county for whatever you needed, either financial or political,"
says Andre Fladell, a well-connected chiropractor in Delray Beach. Talmo put young Foley on the board of his bank,
which became the largest stockholder in Cenvill Development Corporation, builder of Century Village, a chain of the
biggest retirement communities in southeast Florida. Talmo's bank went under during the savings-and-loan debacle of
the late 80s, and Cenvill went bankrupt. But not before Talmo reportedly put Mark in a number of high-stakes re-
al-estate deals and taught him the art of the quick flip. Foley's most spectacular land shuffle was in 1986, when Talmo
lent him $2.45 million to buy an abandoned golf course to turn around and sell to the school district for $2.91 million.
In a matter of hours, Foley walked away with nearly a half-million dollars.
Before he turned 30, Foley was already driving a Mercedes and offering to be the gofer and fund-raiser for Democrat
Dennis Koehler, who was running for Congress. Sean Strub, Koehler's campaign manager, welcomed Foley as a
fund-raiser because he had lucrative social connections. "Mark invited me to fancy society parties," Strub recalls. "I'm
very much driven by my passion for issues and wanting to change things. Mark had a very different set of values. He
wore gold chains and liked to go to parties. He was about his ambition and his Mercedes. It was clear that, more than
anything else, Mark wanted to be a player."
According to Strub, Foley volunteered that he was bisexual, but hastened to add he was never going to act on it. "It was
apparent that he saw his sexuality as an impediment to his career in the same way he saw being a Democrat at that time
as an impediment to his career." (Strub later became an openly H.I.V.-positive congressional candidate and founded Poz
magazine, for people with H.I.V. He recalls that Foley, as a congressman, was one of the few Republican members to
support needle exchange to curb the spread of the disease among drug users.) Strub says he once later saw Foley in a
Key West gay bar on Duval Street. "That was the Aha! moment," he says.
In 1984, when Foley ran for county commission, despite proclaiming he was a committed Democrat and outspending
his primary opponent, the party slapped him down and told him, "It's not your time," according to Rand Hoch, a Demo-
cratic Party activist. Months later, Foley switched opportunistically to the Republican Party, accepting the price to his
private life. At a gay party in Palm Beach Gardens in the late 80s, Foley recognized Hoch. He crossed the room, ac-
cording to Hoch, and blurted, "I wish I could be out like you are and (still) involved in politics. But I can't because I'm a
Republican." Hoch told him that of course he could come out, but Hoch himself didn't believe it. "Palm Beach is
somewhat accepting of alternative lifestyles, but you don't talk about the gay elephant in the room," he says.
Page 367

Foley collected an A-list of rich Palm Beach supporters, some of them Democrats, who spent lavishly to throw him
fund-raising parties. He always wanted to be in the picture. And his picture was seldom missing from "The Shiny Sheet"
(as the Palm Beach Daily News calls itself), in which he cozied up to visiting celebrities, from Sly Stallone and Clint
Eastwood to the Clintons and President George H. W. Bush. He started quietly dating a wealthy and attractive derma-
tologist, Dr. Layne Nisenbaum, who owns a popular anti-aging institute in Palm Beach, but he was always careful in the
early years to appear at events with beautiful women.
Robin Bernstein, a vivacious socialite, who worked on Foley's fund-raisers in 2000, accompanied him to many political
functions. "He was the perfect date-debonair, articulate, and there wasn't a charity he didn't help," she says. Another
favorite escort was a gorgeous former Miss Germany, Petra Levin. "Mark thought it was useful to take me out as 'a
mask,' but he didn't make me feel like that," says Levin, a nearly six-foot slender blonde, in her mid-40s, who dresses
like a model and drives a sapphire-blue Aston Martin convertible. "The moment I met Mark, there was an instant chem-
istry," she says emphatically. They were introduced by Dr. Nisenbaum, who was her new neighbor. Immediately she
and Foley were talking and laughing, and he began calling to ask if she would like to "go along" to some of his political
events. "I'd say, 'Is it one of the boring ones?' He'd say, 'No, this one might be exciting.'" She had zero interest in poli-
tics, but as a divorced mother new to town, she welcomed invitations to the Red Cross Ball and glamorous events at
Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago. Once Foley was elected to Congress, she would stay over at his Washington town house
when he wanted to be seen with her at fashionable restaurants or at parties with celebrities. "He talked from the begin-
ning about wanting to be a senator," says Levin. "He was really politically ambitious."
Petra Levin, like many others who spoke for this article, says she never raised the issue with Foley of whether he was
gay, "but I knew it right away. He was very flirtatious. If people watched me with Mark-we'd hug each other, he'd give
me a kiss and hold me-they'd never think he was gay."
"See, that's what puzzles me about this whole thing," says Hoch, who founded the Palm Beach County Human Rights
Council, a gay-rights organization, and seems comfortable in his own skin. "I never regarded Mark really as being in the
closet. Whenever I bumped into him, whether it was at a gay event or just at City Place, our outdoor mall in West Palm,
he was pretty aggressive about going for whatever he wanted.... It's not like the party structure here didn't know (he was
gay), but they didn't care because he got them access and social connections. He was excellent at networking."
On the rare occasions when Foley took Nisenbaum to a dinner event, they sat discreetly at separate tables. Appearing as
handsome single men, they were always welcome additions. When they were photographed, there was usually a buxom
babe between them. This fiction was duly noted and appreciated by local Republican Pooh-Bahs, including the current
chairman of the Palm Beach County Republican Party, Sid Dinerstein, who says, "If Mark Foley had his boyfriend and
lived a committed monogamous life, he could have been elected until he couldn't walk anymore."
The Secret Lives of Congressmen
In 1994, Foley was swept into Congress with Newt Gingrich's right-wing revolution, and he worked hard at making a
mentor of Gingrich. It would be 10 years before Florida senator Bob Graham's seat would open up, but Foley hired a
chief of staff to help him begin long-range planning for ascension to that higher body. Kirk Fordham, who was openly
gay, found his new boss to be "notoriously friendly all across Capitol Hill. I was always conscious of the fact because
he was gay; if he struck up a conversation with a younger staffer or intern or an assistant in Congressman DeLay's of-
fice and lingered too long, I would nudge him."
"I did see him with younger men, riding bikes or at the gym," realizes Petra Levin in hindsight. "It angered him that his
lives had to be so separate."
The earliest complaint by a page was in either 2000 or 2001, when a young man went to Arizona Republican congress-
man Jim Kolbe's office to describe an e-mail from Foley that had made him uncomfortable, and asked that something be
done. Kolbe has said he recalls notifying both Foley's staff and the page clerk's office, but saw no evidence of any fol-
low-up. Fordham recalls that "Foley never, ever went to gay bars in Washington. He had a limited number of gay
friends in D.C. My suspicion is that part of the reason he engaged in some of the late-night instant-messaging is because
he could never have a healthy, out gay social life."
A very different picture is suggested by Eric Johnson, who says, "Kirk was a not-want-to-know-about-it conservative. It
was common knowledge Mark was very flirty and promiscuous in Washington; it was only gossip fodder because eve-
rybody knew he had a partner in Florida. But I didn't know his interest went to 16-year-olds."
Page 368

In a later interview, Fordham expressed his own frustration: "Mark is a caring, compassionate, real guy, but there was
also a dark underside that he never let anyone see."
Foley often held fund-raisers at his Washington town house. Once, when Fordham showed up early to check on the ca-
terer, he found Foley hanging out in the kitchen with two good-looking young guys. One of them, Fordham says, was
the head of the College Republicans at his school and clearly gay. "I gave the congressman that
You-oughta-know-better kind of look. Lobbyists were already arriving. He gave me that sheepish grin-half
See-what-I-found and half I-shouldn't-be-doing-this. Stuff like that was stupid, reckless, and unnecessary." Fordham
says he was aware that Foley continued to be friendly with the student, "but I have no idea if there was any physical
contact."
Foley also resisted repeated exhortations from his gay political friends to declare himself honestly. Fordham explains,
"He was always concerned about being referred to as 'Mark Foley, comma, openly gay Republican congressman,' much
like he perceived (Massachusetts congressman) Barney Frank and Jim Kolbe as being identified first as being gay rather
than by what issues they were advancing." Voters and colleagues have long since seen beyond Frank's sexual orienta-
tion, but Foley's folly was to hide his sympathies by voting for the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996. Perhaps cowed by
threats from some in the gay community to expose his hypocrisy, Foley went on to support various pro-gay measures,
voting to expand health benefits for homosexual couples and include gays in federal hate-crime legislation, among oth-
ers. "It became a love-hate relationship between Mark and the local (Palm Beach) gay community," says Hoch.
Romano, the former Lake Worth mayor, who is revolted by the dishonor Foley has brought to his town, acknowledges,
"He didn't stand for anything-he toed the party line-but you couldn't beat him as a politician. Plus he had a built-in
campaign team in his family. His parents never missed a local event." Foley's married sister, Donna Winterson, 60,
spent every weekend during campaign seasons traveling around the state with him, employed as his paid political direc-
tor after years of working for him on a volunteer basis. "She liked seeing him successful," says Levin. "That was her
success."
While Foley was still deliberating whether to run for the Senate, Fordham says he wrote him a long memo warning him
to expect people going through his garbage, and private investigators hired to follow him home and hunt for men he
may have had encounters with. "He came back to me saying, 'Do you really think they would do all that?' I think part of
him was still in denial that they would really go to those lengths."
The Kids Aren't All Right
In 2002, Congressman Foley was re-elected with an astounding 79 percent of the vote and appeared to be on top of the
world, which he traveled both freely and for free. As a member of the House Ways and Means Committee and a popular
speaker, he was royally entertained by private organizations and interest groups that paid for his travel to destinations
such as Scotland and Pebble Beach, California. "I don't feel any embarrassment about doing the trips," he has said.
Since he never took Nisenbaum, he would take his parents. He was especially proud of bringing them to see the Vati-
can.
With a wealthy boyfriend and without the burden of the bills of a family man, Foley enjoyed two houses of his own-a
prized historic town house a short walk from his Washington office, and a condominium near West Palm Beach, which
was perhaps for appearances only, since most weekends he stayed over in Nisenbaum's luxurious Palm Beach home.
Sources say the couple was recently considering buying a summer home in the gay-friendly resort of Ogunquit, Maine.
By now, apparently believing he was totally protected by his institution-like the depraved priests protected so long by
the Catholic Church-he was using his position to repeat with congressional pages the priest-pupil dynamic of power and
control. Around 2003, Fordham recalls, he took a call from Jeff Trandahl, then clerk of the House: "We have a prob-
lem.... The congressman showed up at the page dorm last night. He appeared to have been drinking, and he was turned
away at the door." Fordham remembers agonizing with Trandahl over what to do about this overt display of uncon-
trolled behavior. Obviously his mild warnings to Foley were not having an impact. Fordham asked for a private meeting
with Scott Palmer, chief of staff to Speaker Dennis Hastert. According to Fordham, Palmer said it didn't bother the party
that Mark was gay: "We think he's a rising star here, he's got so much potential, and he's great on television." Fordham
says of the meeting, "We sat facing each other. It was pretty uncomfortable. I'm going behind my boss's back. I knew
that Scott knew that I was gay. I told him I was concerned that Foley seemed to be too chummy with pages, interns, and
young male staffers.... I asked Scott if he wouldn't mind either speaking with the congressman himself or having Speak-
er Hastert have a chat with him. That might alarm him enough to realize other people were watching, and not just his
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staff." A couple of days later, Fordham says, he checked back with Palmer to see if he had met with Foley: "He said he
had taken care of it, and he had brought the Speaker in the loop. I believe it happened, but apparently it didn't have any
effect." (Trandahl and Palmer did not respond to requests for comment.)
Matthew Loraditch, now a senior at Towson University, in Maryland, who worked as a page from 2001 to 2002, has
said that a supervisor told him Foley was "a little odd" but never warned him to stay away from the congressman. He
claims he later saw sexually explicit messages that Foley had sent to former pages after they left the program. Perhaps
on some deep, subconscious level Foley understood that his compulsions were leading him toward certain
self-destruction.
Most perversely, Foley took up the cause of protecting youngsters from predators, becoming a particularly vocal and
punitive member of the Congressional Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus, which he co-founded in 1997. He re-
ferred to pedophiles as "America's most depraved." Psychologists see reactions like Foley's as classic-publicly criticiz-
ing the selfsame unacceptable behavior he was committing, which he could not personally control. More recently, he
helped to write the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, which President Bush has said would "make the In-
ternet safer for our sons and daughters." It became law two months before Foley's downfall.
By the time, in 2003, Foley began full-time campaigning to unseat Senator Bob Graham, the periodic threats from his
opponents to out him reached a peak. After a Florida alternative newsweekly reported he was gay, he called an unusual
press conference in May of that year specifically to address the issue, but refused to reveal his sexual orientation. He
suggested that Democratic activists were behind the mounting rumors. The Palm Beach Post chose not to make mention
of the press conference, later writing that their policy was to report on a politician's sexual orientation only when it was
"relevant to a news story." Eric Johnson was astonished. "I thought the media made a real mistake in keeping Mark's
secrets for him. They played into his sense of invulnerability."
That summer, Foley's Senate primary campaign looked like a sure winner. A statewide swing with his sister in August
brought even some conservative Republican state officials on board. Then, it seems, national G.O.P. officials got wind
of Graham's intention to retire, so the seat was more seriously in play. Out of the blue, at summer's end, Foley stunned
just about everyone by withdrawing from the race. He called political editor Brian Crowley at The Palm Beach Post and
gave as his reason the health of his father, who was in the hospital with prostate cancer. (Edward Foley died in Novem-
ber.)
"For the real political types, it just didn't ring true," says Sid Dinerstein, the chairman of the Republican Party in Palm
Beach County. "The reason he wound up with a couple of million dollars in campaign money was because we (the state
party) were funding his Senate bid. He barely had opponents." Even this passionate party man is among many who
speculate that the White House shut down Foley's campaign. "Maybe there's a belief by the powers that be, which is
code for Karl Rove, that a gay couldn't win a Senate seat in Florida," says Dinerstein. (A spokesperson for Karl Rove
says, "Not only did Karl never say that, he doesn't believe that to be true, either.") "One could argue it's untrue, since
there's plenty of rumors about Charlie Crist. (Crist, Florida's governor-elect, has publicly denied he is gay.) But there
were enough whispers that the Foley campaign could have produced embarrassments-and maybe the same embarrass-
ments that we just saw, maybe exactly the same." Commissioner McCarty goes even further: "I believe somebody took
him into a room and showed him a videotape or something pretty definitive, because without a smoking gun, he would
have denied it." Eric Johnson believes the White House possibly knew something about the messages to pages and cut a
deal with Foley and Fordham. "Then Foley could stay in the House, Martinez would run in his place (Mel Martinez,
who later won the Senate seat), and Kirk could move into a Senate race (by becoming Martinez's finance director)."
Fordham, however, says, "No one ever called-the president, or Karl Rove, or the head of the Republican Party-to dis-
courage him in any way from running."
After 25 years in public life, Foley had hit the glass ceiling, and he still couldn't be himself. Within a week, back in his
office on the Hill, after the summer recess, he began brooding on the scuttlebutt that he had dropped out because he
couldn't deal with the gay rumors. In front of his sister and Fordham, he broke down. He sobbed out the story of "re-
peated abuse that he had received from the priest at his church"-not in anger, according to Fordham, but in shame. One
thinks of the priest's version: For some people, it's molestation. Maybe for other kids, it's fun, you know? That conflict
is precisely what breeds the toxicity of shame, and shame is what spilled out 35 years after Foley's first gay encounter,
when the psychological barriers between his public self and his shadow self began to dissolve. He reportedly tried to tell
the story to his parents. His mother could not believe such a thing of a Roman Catholic priest. His father refused to
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acknowledge the conversation. "(Foley) went into a funk," says Fordham. "He was disengaged from his job. He had in
some ways lost his purpose for serving"-his purpose having been to get to the top of the power structure.
Foley was struggling. Fordham, his chief of staff and confidant, had deserted him. Some in his party were shunning
him. "I think it started unraveling for Mark when the White House didn't support him in running for senator," says Rob-
in Bernstein. Petra Levin, now remarried, says she noticed that Foley was drinking a lot around this time, privately,
when he would be at her house playing cards with Nisenbaum. "I don't know if the drinking stopped when he went
home," she says. Foley had always liked a glass or two of red wine, says Fordham, and kept a wine-storage cooler in his
kitchen. But Levin, who is on the board of the Renaissance Institute, an addiction-treatment center in Palm Beach, was
keenly aware of alcoholic patterns and at this point she thought of suggesting to her friend that he needed help.
The E-mail Trail
At the end of August 2005, a 16-year-old page forwarded e-mails Foley had sent him to Danielle Savoy, a 29-year-old
scheduler for Louisiana representative Rodney Alexander. As the page had worked with her in Alexander's office, the
two were friendly, Savoy says. The e-mails' style was not really lurid, but alarming enough that the page called them
"sick": "Send me an email pic of you as well," suggested the 52-year-old congressman. "What do you want for your
birthday coming up ... what stuff do you like to do." There was talk of Foley's intended visit to the gym, as well as of
the excellent physique of another teenager. Savoy says simply that Foley's language made her "curious." She forwarded
the e-mails to another friend, with the note, "Hey, what do you think about this?"
In early November, the St. Petersburg Times, of Florida, received Savoy's e-mail. "From that day to this I have no idea
how the media got to see it," says Savoy. "Who knows?" Adam C. Smith, a St. Petersburg Times reporter who was
working on the story with Bill Adair, phoned the office of Representative Alexander, but, as executive editor Neil
Brown would later point out in an oblique letter to readers, "We were unsuccessful in getting members of Congress who
were involved in the matter ... to acknowledge any problem with Foley's ambiguous e-mail." The Miami Herald, which
also received the e-mails, barely touched the story. "We didn't go as far as attempting to reach out to other pages," its
executive editor, Tom Fiedler, later admitted, because the e-mails were "too ambiguous to lead to a news story." (Fox
News also got the e-mails, but chose not to share them with its viewers.) Nonetheless, the newspaper's calls to con-
gressmen had their effect.
After Representative Alexander was contacted by the St. Petersburg Times, he demanded to see exactly what his former
page had sent Savoy-and he wanted it very quickly, judging by his staff's next actions. Savoy, who was home ill, was
phoned by Alexander's press secretary, Adam Terry, who roused her from her sickbed so she could come to the office at
once. Instead, she gave him her password, and the Foley e-mails were promptly ripped from her computer. (Savoy is
quick to acknowledge that she is a registered Republican-contradicting Hastert's early response when the scandal erupt-
ed this past September, blaming "a lot of Democratic operatives" for the leak.)
Awave of panic swept through Congress as Republican leaders and staffers suddenly realized that Foley's predatory
activities were attracting attention. As one deeply knowledgeable source tells V.F., "In November (2005), why did the
whole issue of Foley come up at all? Was it self-enforcement on the part of Congress? No! The St. Petersburg Times
was calling around, asking tough questions! It created the spark. Even though they didn't publish (the story), the act of
reporting was the only oversight there." Within days of the calls from reporters, everyone went into action. Royal Al-
exander, chief of staff (but no relation) to the Louisiana congressman, swiftly informed a lower-level Hastert aide about
the e-mails, although, citing the concerns of the boy's family, he did not reveal their exact contents. The Hastert aide, in
turn, quickly talked to Mike Stokke, the Speaker's deputy chief of staff, as well as to his chief counsel, Ted Van Der
Meid.
Foley's new chief of staff, Liz Nicolson, asked her boss for the e-mails, but she was out of luck, too. "I delete all my
e-mails," he told her. So Nicolson called Representative Alexander's office for a copy of her own boss's e-mails. The
response she got, according to one knowledgeable source, was "very odd." First Alexander replied, "Sure. Send some-
one over right away, and we'll give you a copy of the e-mail," according to the source. "Then they said, 'No, we're not
going to give you the e-mail.'"
"Why not?" asked Nicolson.
"The congressman doesn't want to get involved," Nicolson was told. ("Apparently Representative Alexander's office
had been advised by an attorney not to show the contents," Fordham says. Royal Alexander declined to comment.)
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Jeff Trandahl, the House clerk and Capitol official who was most concerned about the pages, and Representative John
Shimkus, a tall West Point graduate and Illinois Republican who heads the five-member House Page Board, confronted
Foley in his Cannon House Office Building office, and the tenor of their dispute was swiftly communicated to various
staffers, one of whom reveals what was said. "Why are you e-mailing kids? Stay away from the kid and stay away from
the pages," warned Shimkus.
"It's important to me to mentor kids. These are kids who care about our government," Foley protested. "I was just being
friendly, that's all."
Shimkus never told the other members of the page board about Foley's e-mails.
In the spring of 2006, Representative Alexander discussed the Foley e-mails with Majority Leader John Boehner and
New York representative Thomas Reynolds, the quick-tempered head of the National Republican Congressional Com-
mittee. Reynolds says he, in turn, went to Hastert. Boehner claims he also informed Hastert around the same time. But
after the Foley affair exploded in the media, in September 2006, Hastert said he had no recollection of any of this. Not
of Boehner's conversation with him, nor of Reynolds's. "If Reynolds told me, it was in a line of things, and we were in
another crisis this spring," said the Speaker. "So I just don't remember that."
On July 21, 2006, Melanie Sloan, a slender, dark-haired former prosecutor who heads the Citizens for Responsibility
and Ethics in Washington, a nonpartisan government-reform organization, received copies of the same e-mails. Unlike
the two Florida newspaper editors, Sloan, who had spent four years as an assistant U.S. attorney specializing in sex
crimes, didn't find the contents ambiguous. On receipt of the e-mails, she focused on the Foley query "What do you
want for your birthday coming up?"
"Grown men don't send e-mails to young men they hardly know asking for a 'pic' or what they want for birthdays," she
says. "Those e-mails had predator stamped all over them. Obviously."
That July afternoon, Sloan says, she contacted Leanna Saler, of the F.B.I.'s Washington, D.C., public-corruption office
("because she had once been in touch with me and said if I learned of things that might interest her I should let her
know"), then forwarded Saler the eight pages of e-mails. Saler called back that afternoon simply to inquire if Foley had
written those e-mails. That was the last Sloan says she heard from the F.B.I. Then, on September 28, ABC's chief inves-
tigative correspondent, Brian Ross, posted excerpts from the same e-mails on the network's web site.
A few days after the ABC scoop, an F.B.I. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Washington Post that
the F.B.I. had not opened an investigation into Foley all summer long because the e-mails "did not rise to the level of
criminal activity."
"And that's true-it didn't rise to that level!" Sloan concedes. "But that's why you open an investigation. To see if there's
anything else to find."
Next, F.B.I. and Justice Department officials, again speaking on condition of anonymity, informed The Washington
Post that another reason the bureau couldn't investigate Foley was that Sloan had heavily redacted the e-mails and may
have sat on the document for months before sending it their way. "They are lying," Sloan says flatly. "And I think the
reason they're lying is because the F.B.I. is a cover-your-ass agency, and they don't want to be responsible if, in the in-
tervening months, some kid got hurt while they did nothing."
V.F. received a copy of the e-mails Sloan sent to the F.B.I., but from a different source. On it are all the names, unedit-
ed: Danielle Savoy, the distressed boy whom Foley was wooing, and the page with the excellent physique. "This is an
issue that's being investigated, and it's not going to be debated in the press," says F.B.I. spokesman Richard Kolko.
Getting to the Bottom
Toward the end of September 2006, Foley's staff heard that ABC was investigating the e-mails received by the Louisi-
ana page. (Stopsexpredators.blogspot.com was actually posting them, but at least this outlet attracted a more contained,
less influential audience.) ABC's Ross was appealed to on various levels not to go with the story, the investigative jour-
nalist recalls. One Foley staffer, he says, informed him, "This is bad judgment on your part. Other media outlets have
those same e-mails and no one's using it." In addition, Ross was told, "Foley was just being friendly. He liked kids.
Brian should meet Mark. They'd like each other and then he'd understand."
At this recollection, Ross laughs. "Yeah, I'd understand all right."
Foley's staff began organizing consulting sessions with Foley pollster Dave Sackett and media adviser Sam Dawson.
Even Fordham, who had quit more than two years earlier and was by then chief of staff for Reynolds, was pressed into
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service. After all, in two days Foley was due to fly back to his home district to start campaigning. "We decided Mark
should mainly speak to local TV stations in Florida to discuss the e-mails," says one of those present at the sessions.
On September 28, as the ABC News Web site posted its first e-mail story, Liz Nicolson sat talking to Foley about what
else the media might discover. Walking into the office, Fordham observed how uncomfortable his former boss was with
this line of questioning. He says he pulled Foley aside and pushed him hard. "Mark, we need to know," he began, "was
there ever any other instance of inappropriate behavior toward any other page? A dinner? Inviting someone to your
house? Offering to buy them drinks? Any sexual activity with pages? We need to address the specifics, because it will
probably all come out."
"No, no inappropriate behavior like that," said Foley. But he looked terrified, Fordham thought.
That night there was voting in the House, and Representative Ginny Brown-Waite, another Florida Republican and a
good friend of Foley's, agreed to cheer him up, walking him to the floor of the House. After the vote, Fordham recalls,
she came back, looking stern. She had just spoken to Peggy Sampson, who supervises the Republican page program,
and received an earful about Foley, which she imparted, unvarnished and cold, to her friend.
"Mark, there was an occasion when you showed up in front of the page dorm, late at night," the congresswoman said
evenly.
"Oh, you know-I guess all kinds of stories are going to come out now," Foley replied. "You just never know what peo-
ple are going to say."
At noon the next day, Nicolson, Fordham, and another aide met with Foley at his D Street house to discuss campaign
strategy. The house is small and compact, bordered by a pretty garden and a wrought-iron gate, its walls covered with
paintings by Foley's mother. A lunch of portobello sandwiches was interrupted by ringing cell phones. On the other end
of Fordham's was Foley's communications director, Jason Kello, calling from Florida. "Kirk, I just got off the phone
with ABC News, and they have 36 pages of instant messages between Mark and former pages. They're sexually explic-
it" is how Fordham recalls the communications director's opening remarks.
"What do you mean 'sexually explicit'?" asked Fordham.
Kello glanced at his notes and began reading passages that dealt with hand jobs and lotion. But there was more.
Messages, in which Foley used the screen name Maf54, were posted on the ABC web site. In one, he presses for details
about the boy's genitalia and his sexual habits:
Maf54 (7:46:33 PM): did any girl give you a haand job this weekend
(Teenager) (7:46:38 PM): lol no
(Teenager) (7:46:40 PM): im single right now
(Teenager) (7:46:57 PM): my last gf and i broke up a few weeks agi ...
Maf54 (7:47:11 PM): good so your getting horny
(Teenager) (7:47:29 PM): lol ... a bit
Maf54 (7:48:00 PM): did you spank it this weekend yourself
(Teenager) (7:48:04 PM): no
(Teenager) (7:48:16 PM): been too tired and too busy
Maf54 (7:48:33 PM): wow ...
Maf54 (7:48:34 PM): i am never to busy haha ...
Maf54 (7:58:59 PM): but it must feel great spirting on the towel
(Teenager) (7:59:06 PM): ya
Maf54 (7:59:29 PM): wow
Maf54 (7:59:48 PM): is your little guy limp ... or growing
(Teenager) (7:59:54 PM): eh growing
Maf54 (8:00:00 PM): hmm
Maf54 (8:00:12 PM): so you got a stiff one now ...
Maf54 (8:01:21 PM): i am hard as a rock ... so tell me when your reaches rock ...
Maf54 (8:03:47 PM): what you wearing
(Teenager) (8:04:04 PM): normal clothes
(Teenager) (8:04:09 PM): tshirt and shorts
Maf54 (8:04:17 PM): um so a big buldge
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(Teenager) (8:04:35 PM): ya
Maf54 (8:04:45 PM): um
Maf54 (8:04:58 PM): love to slip them off of you
(Teenager) (8:05:08 PM): haha
Maf54 (8:05:53 PM): and gram the one eyed snake
Maf54 (8:06:13 PM): grab
(Teenager) (8:06:53 PM): not tonight ... dont get to excited
Maf54 (8:07:12 PM): well your hard
(Teenager) (8:07:45 PM): that is true
Maf54 (8:08:03 PM): and a little horny
(Teenager) (8:08:11 PM): and also tru
Maf54 (8:08:31 PM): get a ruler and measure it for me
(Teenager) (8:08:38 PM): ive already told you that
Maf54 (8:08:47 PM): tell me again
(Teenager) (8:08:49 PM): 7 and 1/2
Maf54 (8:09:04 PM): ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Maf54 (8:09:08 PM): beautiful
(Teenager) (8:09:38 PM): lol
Maf54 (8:09:44 PM): thats a great size
Another conversation, with an 18-year-old former page, took place as Foley was waiting to vote on appropriations for
the Iraq war.
Maf54: I miss you
(Teenager): ya me too
Maf54: we are still voting
Maf54: you miss me too
After apparently engaging in cybersex with the boy, Foley concludes:
Maf54: ok ... i better go vote ... did you know you would have this effect on me
(Teenager): lol I guessed
(Teenager): ya go vote ... I don't want to keep you from doing our job
Maf54: can I have a good kiss goodnight
(Teenager): :-*
(Teenager): <kiss>
After Kello had read Fordham only a few lines, Fordham cried, "Stop! That's all I need to know!" He heard female
campaign workers weeping on the other end of the phone. When he hung up, he says he saw Foley, who was joining
him on the patio, looking scared. Fordham told him the news.
"Are those instant messages authentic?" he asked Foley, who turned away, mortified.
When Foley looked back, he said, "Probably."
"Probably?"
"Yeah, I'm sure they're real," said Foley.
Nicolson joined them. "Liz, I've been stupid," said the congressman.
"Mark, I don't know how you can go on in this race," said Fordham. "Do you really want to spend the next 40 days of
the campaign running around your district explaining sexually explicit e-mails to pages to your constituents?"
Fordham thought he made it clear that his old boss needed to quit, but Foley couldn't bring himself to do that. The
N.R.C.C. headquarters was around the corner, and Fordham made it his next stop. There he found Representative Reyn-
olds and Speaker Hastert. But before he could finish relaying the awful news, Reynolds's face got purple and he began
to shout, "He needs to resign, and he needs to do it right now!" The Speaker just sat there, silent, according to Fordham:
"He didn't react at all. This was weeks before the election, and they're thinking how this is going to impact us."
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Everyone agreed that Foley needed to resign. They weren't sure how. A lawyer was called in and advised that Foley
sign a letter to be delivered to Speaker Hastert on the floor of the House. Just then, Fordham was alerted that Foley's
sister Donna Winterson had arrived at the congressman's office, totally unaware of the meltdown. He ran over and
found Winterson sitting on the sofa, "looking like she was in a coma." Her life, having been devoted to her brother's
campaigns, would be crushed, too. It took Fordham five minutes to get her composed enough to walk back to the house,
where they would finally have to swallow the bitter pill.
"You have to get out," Fordham told Foley.
"You mean I have to drop out of the re-election race?
"No, you need to resign your seat in the House. Today. Now."
Fordham says that Foley dissolved into hysterics. His sister wrapped her arms around him, and they rocked together, in
tears. Foley wailed to his sister, "I'm so sorry I've done this to you." Fordham says, "He thought he'd ruined everyone's
life." Eventually, Foley asked what he needed to do next. "You need to sign this letter and then you both need to get out
of here and go to a safe place," Fordham warned them. "Reporters are going to be staking you out." Foley and his sister
took five minutes to pack and headed south toward Florida in his BMW. Fordham reached them on his cell phone.
"Neither of you is in any state to be driving to Florida. You shouldn't even be behind the wheel!" he said. "Just go to a
hotel somewhere in Virginia. Don't turn on the TV. Call your friends."
Damage Control
"You have to be curious-you have to ask all the questions you can think of," Republican whip Roy Blunt, of Missouri,
said in early October. He was furious, because, he insisted, like a number of his senior colleagues, he had not been in-
formed of Foley's misdeeds until the day before his resignation.
Hastert, believing the leadership needed to present a united front, as one by one his colleagues were repudiating his
foggy recollections, called a Republican-leadership meeting. That same day, an ethics-committee investigation was
pressed for by Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi (over the objections of those who wanted an independent counsel), its
purpose to discover who knew what when about Foley. Blunt, Boehner, and Reynolds were all summoned "to basically
get their stories straight for the press," according to a knowledgeable source, who adds, "That to me is where Hastert
attempted a cover-up."
Reynolds balked at having such a meeting. "This is stupid! We can't all go and meet privately and try to get our stories
straight, because this matter was just referred to the ethics committee," he told Hastert, according to the same source.
"In fact, none of us are supposed to be talking to each other, because we are not supposed to talk to potential witnesses."
Worse, added Reynolds, "I can tell you anything we say at this leadership meeting is something we have to share with
the ethics committee."
The meeting eventually became a conference call, but without Reynolds's participation. Days later, on October 5, the
often moribund ethics committee, a subject of frequent and widespread Hill derision, opened its investigation, without a
lot of optimism about what would be accomplished, especially since practically the first utterance from eth-
ics-committee chairman Doc Hastings, a Republican from Washington, was that he thought Hastert "has done an excel-
lent job as Speaker."
President Bush, who called Foley's behavior "disgusting," agreed. "Denny is very credible, as far as I'm concerned. And
he's done a fine job as Speaker."
"My desire, which I don't think will take place," says Florida representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, an outspoken
Democrat, "is that there's an independent investigation so we can make sure this doesn't happen again, so that the cal-
lous are held accountable." But there'll be no independence on the Republican side, she feels. "I think they'll try to leave
this Foley matter in the ethics committee," the congresswoman adds bitterly. California Democrat Howard Berman, who
sits on the ethics committee, is also concerned. Hill sources say that Pelosi had to strong-arm him to join the committee,
and it's clear he isn't thrilled to be there. Although there had been early promises the committee would release its find-
ings before the midterm elections, this did not happen. "I said when I took the committee job that if things go back to
the way they were, with issues going partisan or stuff being swept under the rug, I would quit," Berman says. "For me,
this is a huge test for us."
In mid-October, Fordham says, he learned that the Speaker's office was trying "to throw me under a bus." There were
leaks to the press, he says, suggesting that he had tried to block a page-board investigation of Foley. As there never was
an investigation to block, he found this accusation unsettling. "I was trying to be the loyal Republican and do this be-
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hind closed doors with the F.B.I. and the ethics committee in a way that probably wouldn't have hurt them-until after the
election," says Fordham. His shoulders sag. He is very pale, clearly tired-of everything. "It's a pretty significant move
for a staffer to go behind his boss's back," he says. "You know, it's not like we had a tip line to the courts, where you
can call about congressmen who behave inappropriately to staffers," he says wearily.
After he resigned, Mark Foley was treated for sexual compulsion along with alcoholism at the Sierra Tucson treatment
center, in Arizona. A full criminal investigation into his behavior was opened in Florida, where the age of consent is 18.
Dennis Hastert, after the Democrats won the House, decided not to run for minority leader. Foley's House seat, despite a
valiant defense by Palm Beach Republicans, fell to Democrat Tim Mahoney.
Will the Foley scandal prompt significant reform of the page program that failed to prevent these abuses? "As of this
point, there are not any proposed changes for the program," says Salley Collins, a spokesperson for the Committee on
House Administration. (The committee oversees the Office of the Clerk, which runs the page program.) "However,
there are still multiple ongoing investigations, so I think we're still in a wait-and-see pattern," she adds. "We're always
looking to improve the program." n


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

GRAPHIC: BOY TROUBLE
House Speaker Dennis Hastert, former representative Mark Foley, President Bush, House majority leader John Boehner,
and Representative John Shimkus.
FROM TOP: BY CHARLES DHARAPAK, STEPHEN J. BOITANO, DAVID MCDANIEL, GINA FONTANA
PUBIC SERVICE
From top: Hastert and Bush in October 2006; Foley, in 2005, with children's-rights activist Ernie Allen and Senator
Orrin Hatch, announcing a bill to overhaul the federal sex-offender law; Jordan Edmund, a former page who allegedly
received sexually explicit instant messages from Foley; Foley at West Palm Beach's Morton's steak house with Dr.
Layne Nisenbaum and Petra Levin in 2004.
PHOTOGRAPH BY GASPER TRINGALE
UP-HILL BATTLE
Kirk Fordham, ex-chief of staff to Foley. "I was trying to be the loyal Republican and do this behind closed doors," he
says.
PHOTOGRAPH BY GASPER TRINGALE
EARLY WARNING
Melanie Sloan, director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, who tried last summer to get the F.B.I.
to investigate Foley's behavior.
Pages 100-101: By Lauren Victoria Burke/A.P. Images (Hastert, Shimkus), Kevin Lamarque/Reuters Pictures (Bush),
Rick McKay/ Cox Newspapers (Foley), Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images (Boehner), Mark Wilson/Getty Images (Capi-
tol). Page 103: From top: from A.P. Images, from Gamma, from The Oklahoman/A.P. Images, from the S.F.
Sun-Sentinel/Polaris.

PUBLICATION-TYPE: MAGAZINE

Copyright 2007 The Conde Nast Publications Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Page 376



FINAL EDITION

'VANITY FAIR'DETAILS FOLEY'S VEILED LIFE, TEARY FALL

BYLINE: Jose Lambiet's

SECTION: A SECTION; PAGE TWO; Pg. 2A

LENGTH: 789 words

Back in September, when it became clear that the sex scandal involving then-U.S. Rep. Mark Foley was spinning out of
control, he was told he'd have to resign.
In hysterics, Foley fell into the arms of sister and campaign manager Donna Winterson. "I'm so sorry I've done this to
you," he wailed. The two rocked together, in tears.
The scene is one of several in a sweeping article in next month's Vanity Fair that describes the disgraced former politi-
co's last days in office. Through the words of a slew of local personalities, readers are taken through Foley's life as a
closeted gay man eventually outed when his sexual predator-style e-mails to teenagers surfaced.
"Everyone knew Mark Foley was gay," the story starts. "Everyone. And everyone who had a stake in his success -- par-
ty, press, parents, staff, supporters, and pages -- conspired for their own purposes to keep the closet half closed."
Page Two is told Foley got an advance copy last weekend. His response: "It's not that bad!"
"Mark has been OK with it," said a Foley family insider. "He's been most disappointed to read that many of his friends,
who may become former friends, contributed to it."
Indeed, those quoted in VF include: Rodney Romano, former mayor of Lake Worth; PB County Commish Mary
McCarty; Delray chiropractor Andre Fladell; WPB gay activist Rand Hoch; Palm Beach socialites Robin Bernstein and
Petra Levin; former Foley chief of staff Kirk Fordham; and local GOP big Sid Dinerstein.
Dinerstein hints that the White House may have been hip to Foley's eye for younger men as early as 2003, and that em-
inence grise Karl Rove pulled the plug on his Senate hopes. McCarty says she believes someone showed Foley an in-
criminating video to make him quit the Senate race.
Among other VF pearls: In the '80s, Foley was known as one of "Roy's Boys," young men gravitating around Lake
Worth banker and power broker Roy Talmo (now 74, Talmo didn't return calls for comment); Foley often appeared at
gay parties here and in Key West, wishing he could live his sexuality openly; and Foley's family helped him open a din-
er as a platform for his political plans, even if Foley never lifted a finger to help them run it.
"Mark never actually did any work at the Lettuce Patch," ex-Mayor Romano says. "He was the face, while Mom
worked like a slave in the sweaty kitchen, making pies."
After leaving rehab last month for partner Layne Nisenbaum's Palm Beach home, Foley has started resurfacing in pub-
lic. He's been spotted on his favorite bike ride, south on Flagler to Lake Worth, across to the beach, then north on
County Road. Socialite Levin points out in the glossy that Foley used to take those rides with younger men. He now
rides solo.
MOGUL'S SPLIT DRAGS ON
Page 377
'VANITY FAIR'DETAILS FOLEY'S VEILED LIFE, TEARY FALL Palm Beach Post (Florida) December 10, 2006
Sunday

Major landowner and political mingler Herb Kahlert certainly can complicate things. His business interests are set up in
such a maze that, nearly a year after he filed for divorce from his wife of 38 years, Patricia, she still has no idea what he
owns and how much she should get.
Clearly, she'll make a bundle.
According to their file: Kahlert has 2,100 acres near Disney World that could be worth $100 million; his building at 500
Australian Ave. in WPB brings in $235,000 a month in revenue; The Cheesecake Factory in Boca pays him $150,000 a
month in rent; and he's been bitterly griping about his 59-year-old wife's hiring a cleaning lady.
Kahlert, 65, is a well-known presence in the halls of power. A former county engineer, he counts lawyer Bill Boose,
charged in the Tony Masilotti scandal, and County Commish Karen Marcus among his closest buds. No one commented
on the record about the case, which so far has cost $850,000 in legal fees.
Said a courthouse source: "This is really a sad story. They drifted apart after the death of their son in 2004. But it's true
it's also difficult to find details about Herb's land empire."
SEEN AND HEARD ...
... Couldn't miss him if you tried: Miami Heat superstar Shaquille O'Neal was pumping his own discount gas into his
tricked-out Caddy Escalade at the Sunoco station, NE corner of Dixie and Southern in WPB, about 10 p.m. Friday while
chatting with young fans. ... Flamboyant former Dallas Cowboys receiver and TV commentator Michael Irvin was
spotted lunching Thursday at Il Bellagio in CityPlace. ... Another Masilotti scandal figure, lawyer Harvey Oyer III, who
resigned Monday from Gunster Yoakley, has put his Flamingo Park home up for sale: $995,000 for the four-bedroomer.
He'll need the money: Oyer may face federal charges for allegedly helping Masilotti hide his interest in a land deal.
Want the scoop on local newsmakers? Watch this space every Sunday, Wednesday and Friday.
Got a news tip? Call Jose at (561) 820-4725 or e-mail jose_lambiet@pbpost.com.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


Mark Foley (mug)



All Rights Reserved
Page 378



Palm Beach Edition

DEMOCRAT VOTE TODAY TESTS LEADER'S SUPPORT

SECTION: LOCAL; Pg. 3B {BYLINE} By Josh Hafenbrack Staff Writer

LENGTH: 676 words

Palm Beach County Democratic Party Chairman Wahid Mahmood boasts he took over a divided and financially de-
pleted party and turned it into a more unified, well-funded force in local politics.
Party activists will decide tonight whether they agree, when Mahmood stands in a three-way election for another
two-year term as county chairman.
Mahmood, the first Muslim party leader in heavily Jewish Palm Beach County, cites as his crowning achievement the
party's strong showing in the November election, though it's up for debate whether the local party has a big impact.
Nevertheless, county voters helped put two Democrats -- Ron Klein and Tim Mahoney -- in Republican-held congres-
sional seats and established a Democratic majority on the County Commission with Jess Santamaria's victory.
Mahmood, 44, is running for his second term, with a few hundred hard-core party faithful expected to cast the ballots.
"I've brought Democrats together," said Mahmood. "Are we going to be perfect? Maybe not ever. That's the beauty of
our democracy."
Running against Mahmood are Sheila Rothman, a longtime grassroots activist and precinct captain in Boynton Beach,
and party secretary Rodney Statham, a former legislative aide.
Rothman said she wants to improve communications between the county party and local clubs and grassroots workers.
She said her three decades of experience in the business and political worlds make her a better choice.
"Quite frankly, I know more than the current chairman," she said. "He is saying the party is united. I don't see that. We'll
see when the vote comes in how united we are."
Statham couldn't be reached for comment.
Mahmood's supporters see his chairmanship as historic, given that he grew up in Bangladesh, immigrated to the United
States when he was 19, and is a Muslim.
"His chairmanship is perhaps the most unheralded instance of a Jewish population turning their political leadership over
to a Muslim," said longtime political activist Andre Fladell, who is Jewish. Fladell helped get Mahmood elected
chairman in 2004.
County Commissioner Burt Aaronson, a powerful local Democrat, praised Mahmood's leadership.
"He took over basically a bankrupt [Democratic Party] and he's been able to help fund it and he's brought groups to-
gether," Aaronson said.
Yet, at times, Mahmood's style has created critics.
Some top party activists had a blow-up with Mahmood during the campaign season, when Mahmood publicly demand-
ed the resignations of Century Village legend Marvin Manning and others after an internal fight over party rules. One of
them, Grant Skolnick, who organizes the party's efforts in the Wellington area, called Mahmood one of the "biggest
destructive forces I've ever seen."
Page 379
DEMOCRAT VOTE TODAY TESTS LEADER'S SUPPORT Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) December 7,
2006 Thursday

Rather than unifying the party, Skolnick predicted the party's feisty nature would be on display at tonight's vote.
"I'm looking forward to another night of complete dysfunctionality in the Democratic Party," he said. "People will be
screaming at each other. I wouldn't be surprised if fists start flying."
Manning, however, has patched things up with Mahmood and is now a supporter.
"I think Wahid has done an excellent job," he said. "He has recognized that the [local] clubs are a very important player,
and he has brought the clubs to the forefront and invited them to get involved. We've become like his right arm in a
sense. He's sort of built a team, where in the past, it was too much of an individual."
Mahmood said he wants to focus on growing the party, both financially and by attracting new members, especially in
minority communities. In the last two-year election cycle, the party raised almost $400,000, a marked improvement
over Democrats' paltry fund-raising totals in previous election years. The party has opened several branch offices and
ramped up efforts to court the county's growing Hispanic and Haitian communities.
"I think of this as a business," Mahmood said. "The more successful you are, the more people invest in you. We're
building faith in the party."


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

GRAPHIC: PHOTO
County Democratic Party Chairman Wahid Mahmood, 44, says he has brought the party together.


All Rights Reserved
Page 380



SOUTH EDITION

BRIEFLY


LENGTH: 84 words

Political pundit Andre Fladell will give his analysis of the mid-term elections at a meeting of the Palm Beach County
Voters Coalition Thursday. Fladell, a Delray Beach chiropractor and south county political operative, will describe the
philosophical conflict between older Democrats, who will be chairing committees, and the new breed of Democrats,
who were just elected to Congress. The public meeting will take place at 1 p.m. at the South County Civic Center,
16700 Jog Road in suburban Delray Beach.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

NOTES: METRO REPORT

DOCUMENT-TYPE: BRIEF


All Rights Reserved
Page 381



Palm Beach Edition

DIGEST


LENGTH: 490 words

WEST DELRAY
Activist to analyze elections, Congress
Longtime political activist Andre Fladell will speak at the Voters Coalition meeting at 1 p.m. Thursday at the South
County Civic Center, 16700 Jog Road.
Fladell, a Democrat, will analyze the 2006 mid-term elections, how Democrats will run Congress and the 2008 presi-
dential election.
The meeting is free and open to the public.
GREENACRES
Police identify man found slain along road
Police have identified Juan Carlos Padilla, 20, who lived west of Lake Worth, as the man found fatally shot Saturday
night in a grassy patch along Second Street and Jackson Avenue.
Investigators suspect Padilla may have been killed during a robbery. Police described the suspect as 5-foot-8 to
5-foot-10, 170 to 190 pounds, with a short Afro-style hairdo and wearing dark clothing.
Anyone with information is asked to call Greenacres Department of Public Safety, 561-642-2160, or Crime Stoppers,
800-458-8477.
WEST PALM BEACH
Body discovered floating in canal
A city maintenance worker found a man's body floating in a canal across from Howard Park on Monday, police said.
The worker was cutting grass along the bank of the canal along Parker Avenue and Caroline Street when he noticed the
body face-down in the water. He notified authorities about 1:47 p.m.
Police do not suspect foul play and are awaiting the results of an autopsy to determine the time and cause of death.
Authorities have not identified the man, but say he is Hispanic and is 30 to 40 years old.
WEST PALM BEACH
Two men indicted in theft of taxi cab
Federal authorities have indicted two men accused of stealing a West Palm Beach taxi cab and driving to South Caroli-
na, where they were arrested, the U.S. Attorney's Office said Monday.
Pasqualino Falco, 36, and Shea Kirschbaum, 19, were indicted on charges of conspiracy to commit a carjacking, car-
jacking and using a firearm during a carjacking.
Page 382
DIGEST Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) December 5, 2006 Tuesday

If convicted on the third charge alone, Falco and Kirschbaum could be sentenced to up to life in prison, the U.S. Attor-
ney's Office said.
Falco and Kirschbaum are accused of calling for a cab to pick them up about 4:30 a.m. Oct. 25 at the El Patio Motel in
the 3000 block of Broadway in West Palm Beach. Police said the men forced the 57-year-old cabdriver into the trunk,
then released her before hopping onto Interstate 95 and driving to South Carolina.
PALM BEACH COUNTY
Police seek man who robbed bank in store
A man wearing a baseball cap and a black-and-white striped windbreaker robbed a Riverside Bank branch west of West
Palm Beach on Monday, the Sheriff's Office said.
The man walked into the bank -- which is inside a Wal-Mart at 4375 Belvedere Road -- about 4:25 p.m. and demanded
money from the teller.
Authorities said the man implied he had a weapon. He got away with an undisclosed amount of money.
Detectives did not immediately know whether the man ran or drove away from the bank.
Anyone with information should call Crime Stoppers, 800-458-8477.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

DOCUMENT-TYPE: BRIEF {BYLINE} Staff and Wire Reports


All Rights Reserved
Page 383



Palm Beach Edition

LEGISLATORS LIVE OUTSIDE DISTRICTS;
NEW REPRESENTATIVES CAN HAVE PRIMARY HOMES ELSEWHERE

BYLINE: Erika Slife Staff writer


LENGTH: 1016 words

The morning after Election Day there will be four state legislators from Palm Beach and Broward counties not living in
the districts they were elected to represent.
Three of them will automatically win because they're running unopposed. The fourth is a virtual shoo-in since she's run-
ning against a write-in candidate.
None is breaking the law.
Under Florida statutes, candidates do not have to live in the districts they're running in until the day they are elected.
And when they do move into the districts, it's not required that the new lodgings be their primary homes. As a result,
lawmakers rent apartments or own second homes or condos to satisfy the law.
But the leniency in the residency requirement causes some political observers to question whether state lawmakers can
truly represent districts they don't call home.
"People should be familiar with the areas they represent, if not native to them, then involved in the local communities.
It's where they go to pray, go to school, where to shop," said Andre Fladell, a political activist. "The way it gets side-
stepped is whoever has enough money can rent an apartment anywhere and declare himself prince of the neighbor-
hood."
But the issue of residency is not as clear as boundaries on a map. There are a number of reasons why candidates choose
to run in districts they don't live in. Incumbents might be gerrymandered out of their districts during boundary redraw-
ing. Some candidates believe they have a better chance of winning in other districts. Others are asked to run in those
districts.
"The issues are the same from one neighborhood to another in this area," said Maria Sachs, who briefly considered run-
ning in District 78, where she lives. She changed her mind when state Rep. Anne Gannon, D-Delray Beach, who is giv-
ing up the District 86 seat and running for county tax collector, asked her to run for that seat instead. Sachs faces
write-in candidate Kathleen Faherty-Ruby.
House District 78 Rep. Richard Machek, D-Delray Beach, owns a condo in west Boca Raton, which is inside his dis-
trict. But he claims homestead exemption -- the tax break given only on primary residences -- on a home in Delray
Beach, which is in House District 87.
"I live in my district," said Machek. "I just don't have homestead there so I pay a higher tax. That's my loss."
Rep. Susan Bucher, D-Royal Palm Beach, claims a homestead exemption on a house west of Boynton Beach. She also
owns a condo in Lantana. She rents an apartment in House District 88, the district she represents.
Page 384
LEGISLATORS LIVE OUTSIDE DISTRICTS; NEW REPRESENTATIVES CAN HAVE PRIMARY HOMES
ELSEWHERE Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) October 19, 2006 Thursday

"I would have liked to have been able to retain ownership within my district. Unfortunately with the Republicans' redis-
tricting, they were trying to get me out of office," said Bucher, who was drawn out of her district in 2002. "Under my
salary in today's prices, I can't afford places here."
The issue of residency in politics is not new. Some of the Founding Fathers convening for the first Congress weren't
from the districts they represented. Today, U.S. congressmen aren't required to live in their districts. Georgia and Idaho
also do not require state legislative candidates to live in the districts before they run, according to the National Confer-
ence of State Legislators.
But the question of residency is challenged regularly, not only in Florida but across the country.
In 2005, the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled that the election of a state senator was invalid because the candidate had not
claimed a property within the district as her primary home for six years prior to the election, which is required by state
statute.
In Illinois, a state representative was sentenced to two years probation last year after it was discovered that she had fal-
sified her address to claim residency within her district. She, too, had to resign her seat.
In South Florida, a House District 95 candidate during the primary publicly questioned her rival, Jim Waldman, for not
living in the Broward district.
Despite living outside the district, Waldman won and faces no challenger in the Nov. 7 election.
Waldman could not be reached for comment, despite three messages left at his campaign and work offices.
"I've seen firsthand these residency questions appear every election cycle and it's because the law is not well written,"
said Susan MacManus, a political science professor at the University of South Florida and former chairwoman of the
Florida Elections Commission.
"Voters expect that their representatives will live in the areas they're representing."
Two other candidates in the November election -- Democrat Ed Kopf (State House District 87) and write-in George
Harageones (State Senate District 30) -- are running in districts in which they do not live.
Kopf, a teacher in Palm Beach County, said he is happy with his state representative, Shelley Vana, D-Lantana, of Dis-
trict 85.
Vana is the former president of Palm Beach County's teachers union.
So Kopf decided to take on two-term incumbent Republican Adam Hasner of Delray Beach, even if it means he'll have
to move to or rent in District 87 if elected.
"I was really disappointed in Adam's stance in supporting public education," said Kopf, who faces an uphill battle to
defeat Hasner.
"When I saw nobody else had stepped forward to run against him, I thought, `Well, I should.' We have to have some-
body who is going to represent public education."
Senate District 30 write-in candidate Harageones said he thought he was living in the district he signed up to run in. But
he lives in District 25.
In the end, it's up to voters to decide, political activists say.
"From the voter's standpoint, you want someone who you're going to vote for, for a particular office, to live in the dis-
trict that they're running in," said Jay Weitz, who runs the Democratic Club of Greater Boynton.
"It bothers me slightly. I don't consider it a major problem," said Harold Ostrow, past president of Voters' Coalition of
Palm Beach County.
"I would have preferred they live in their district, but if they represent the people, then they're doing what they were
elected to do."
Erika Slife can be reached at eslife@sun-sentinel.com or at 561-243-6690.

Page 385
LEGISLATORS LIVE OUTSIDE DISTRICTS; NEW REPRESENTATIVES CAN HAVE PRIMARY HOMES
ELSEWHERE Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) October 19, 2006 Thursday

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

GRAPHIC: DIAGRAM 6
Diagram: Shows House District 88 Susan Bucher's residence. Diagram: Shows Senate District 30 George Harageones's
residence. Diagram: Shows House District 87 Ed Koff's residence. Diagram: Shows House District 78 Richard A. Ma-
chek's residence. Diagram: Shows House District 86 Maria Sach's residence. Diagram: Shows House District 95 Jim
Waldman's residence.


All Rights Reserved
Page 386



Palm Beach Edition

ELECTIONS OFFICE'S MYRIAD PROBLEMS

BYLINE: Herman Hammer BOCA RATON

SECTION: EDITORIAL; Pg. 20A

LENGTH: 355 words

I read Howard Goodman's Sunday column, "Voters detect an attitude problem in the county elections office," with great
amusement, pleasure, disappointment and vindication.
Mr. Goodman's column concerned "problems" at the Palm Beach County Elections Office and by extension, the prob-
lems with Arthur Anderson, the Palm Beach County elections supervisor. Arthur Anderson, in that position, is the in-
vention of U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton, County Commissioner Burt Aaronson, Democrat, and Andre
Fladell (Delray Beach chiropractor). These gentlemen, as vengeance for the Florida vote for George Bush in the 2000
election, decided to get rid of Theresa LePore who had worked in that office for 30 years without any scandal. Robert
Wexler was so anxious for the change, he gave Anderson $90,000 from his personal war chest to use in his campaign.
Aaronson and Fladell delivered the "condominium vote" in Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach and West Palm
Beach.
The whole theme of the Anderson campaign was: "We want a paper trail from the voting machines." Well, here it is two
years later and Rep. Wexler doesn't have his "paper trail" yet, and for all I know probably isn't talking to Arthur Ander-
son at this point.
Theresa LePore ran that office in the trenches with her workers. Ask them: they'll tell you! King Anderson has added
layers of management (political and personal appointments) and he will never know what a trench looks like.
I call on the Palm Beach County Commission and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel to tell us, the taxpayers, what it costs
to run the Palm Beach County Elections Office in 2004 (Ms. LePore's last year in office) and what it will cost in the
year of 2006 -- and still no paper trail!
In fact, Commissioner Aaronson, I dare you to give the taxpayers this information that they are entitled to under the
law! If you don't care to do this, I am sure that County Commissioner Mary McCarty will be happy to accommodate
me.
By the way, Mr. Goodman, as of Sunday, I hadn't yet received my absentee ballot, which I asked for six weeks ago.
But what the heck, we still have 20 days until Election Day.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

DOCUMENT-TYPE: LETTER


Page 387
ELECTIONS OFFICE'S MYRIAD PROBLEMS Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) October 18, 2006 Wednesday

All Rights Reserved
Page 388



FINAL EDITION

PUBLIC AMBITIONS, PRIVATE DEMONS

BYLINE: BY FRANK CERABINO Palm Beach Post Staff Writer


LENGTH: 4335 words

The rise and fall of Mark Foley is a script gone wrong, a tale of the local boy who surprised nobody by making good, by
going from the young kid with a big smile and even bigger dreams to a powerful U.S. congressman.
Anybody who knew Mark Foley, even back when he was a community college dropout working the lunch trade at his
family's restaurant, knew that Lake Worth wasn't big enough to contain him.
At the age of 22 - before he had even won his first local election - Foley was already telling people that he was planning
to be a U.S. senator by the time he was 50.
"I also see myself married with a family," he said back then, "but I don't have a candidate as of yet."
Decades later, Foley would enter a U.S. Senate race months before his 50th birthday, right on schedule.
But the part about being a married family man?
Well, that's where the script got off track. That's where his public ambitions and private secrets collided, where this
heartwarming tale turned cold, ice cold.
The recent revelations of Foley's sexual fascination with high school male congressional pages forced an abrupt end to a
well-crafted career and created a political firestorm weeks before a pivotal national election.
And on a personal level, the news swiftly turned a man who had been one of Palm Beach County's favorite sons into a
national disgrace.
"It's a shame," said Greg Rice, one of Foley's longtime friends. "We tend to long remember the last things somebody did
rather than the first things."
Mayor for a day as youngster
Mark Foley grew up in a loving religious family that moved from Newton, Mass., to South Florida when Mark, the
fourth of five children, was 3.
His father, known as Big Ed, had played first base for Boston University and went on to have a long career as a school-
teacher, administrator and school union leader. His mother, Frances, was always a great cook, making meals not only
for her family but also for the priests at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Lake Worth.
The Foleys were a tight-knit crew. And in 1976, when they bought what had been a drugstore at 502 Lucerne Ave. in
downtown Lake Worth and turned it into the Lettuce Patch Restaurant, it was very much a family enterprise.
The mother cooked, the dad built the restaurant's furniture and the kids worked there. But it quickly became known as
Mark's restaurant. He was the smiling young man who met you at the door, who chatted with the customers and
stamped his overflowing personality on the place. And he lived in the little apartment above the restaurant.
Page 389
PUBLIC AMBITIONS, PRIVATE DEMONS Palm Beach Post (Florida) October 8, 2006 Sunday

The Lettuce Patch was his first stage, and at the age of 22 he needed it as a launchpad for what he had already known
was his calling in life: politics.
Foley's political resume dates to when he was 5 years old, pedaling on his bicycle around Lake Worth to deliver cam-
paign fliers for U.S. Rep. Paul Rogers.
"I was elected mayor of Lake Worth for a day," he remembered, recalling one of those high school civics lessons.
"That's when I got the itch."
He was a popular kid at Lake Worth High, and his yearbook inscription, one he would have written himself, read:
"Noted for - being a ladies man."
But he wasn't known as a particularly diligent student. After high school, he went to the local community college, which
was called Palm Beach Junior College in those days, and dropped out before getting a two-year degree. He also got
busted twice for marijuana possession when he was 19.
The family restaurant became the first solid foundation to build a political career on. He was now officially a business-
man, and within months of the restaurant's opening, he applied to run for a seat on the Lake Worth City Commission as
a Democrat.
In March 1977, he was still just 22 years old when he entered his first political race.
He lost, but in a stroke of luck, the winner, Patricia Lin, abruptly resigned from her seat a few months after the election.
Foley appeared before the commission along with seven other residents asking to be appointed to the vacant seat. And
he talked his way into the seat, promising an "honest and fresh approach."
The only person who voted against him on the commission, former Mayor Dennis Dorsey, conceded that even though
he didn't think Foley was experienced enough to be handed a seat, he was a hard guy to turn down.
"He's like a puppy dog," Dorsey remembered. "You can't help but like him."
Collecting influential people
As soon as Foley had a seat on the commission, he wasted no time in announcing that he had what it took to be suc-
cessful in public life.
"It's my ability to relate," he said. "I don't have a law degree. I don't have a lot of experience, but I can make people feel
confident."
Seven months after his appointment, he ran for a different seat on the city commission, and this time he won easily.
He was also already looking forward to moving up to the state legislature. After only a year in his new seat on the
commission, he jumped at the chance to try his luck at a seat in the Florida House of Representatives.
He was 25 when he ran for the District 83 seat. His popularity, though, didn't carry beyond Lake Worth's border, and he
lost the Democratic primary by a good margin to West Palm Beach businessman Jack Freeman.
But even though Foley was out of office and the loser of two of three elections, he had already started collecting influ-
ential people in his corner.
One of them was attorney Dennis Koehler, the Palm Beach County commissioner whose district included Lake Worth.
"You could see he had great political potential," Koehler said. "In politics, you have to like people. You have to be seen
as a nice guy, and he was immensely likable.
"And it was clear to me that he didn't pursue what we would consider the normal objectives, getting married and having
a family."
Foley got back into Lake Worth politics, winning his seat back on the city commission in 1982 and assuming the title of
vice mayor. That summer, Koehler ran for a newly created congressional district seat, and Foley volunteered to cam-
paign for him.
Koehler had hired pollsters Mark Penn and Doug Schoen (who would go on to become Bill Clinton's pollsters), and
they recommended he hire Sean Strub, a bright, ambitious 23-year-old New Yorker, as his campaign manager.
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Like Foley, Strub was a political junkie. Strub had been a congressional page and, at 17, worked as an elevator operator
for the U.S. Senate. He went to Georgetown University and Columbia University but left before he got a bachelor's de-
gree to run Democratic Party organizations in Kentucky and Pennsylvania.
'I knew Mark was gay'
Strub was also gay.
"Dennis was the first job I had where I was out of the closet," Strub said. "When Dennis hired me I told him, 'I'm gay.' "
Strub and Foley spent that summer together driving around the district campaigning with Koehler.
"That's when I knew Mark was gay," Koehler said. "But Mark was always very circumspect. He never told me he was
gay."
Strub said Foley told him he was bisexual.
"But I figured it out pretty quickly," Strub said. "He was closeted."
Foley and Strub maintained their friendship after that summer, even though their lives took dramatically different paths.
"My life got sort of hijacked by the AIDS epidemic, and he went to the legislature and then Congress," Strub said.
Strub contracted the HIV virus in the mid-'80s and became an AIDS activist, joining the protest group ACT UP and
eventually becoming the first HIV-positive congressional candidate in 1990, running unsuccessfully as a Democrat in
an upstate New York district. Strub went on to found POZ, a magazine for HIV-positive people, and now lives in
Pennsylvania.
Foley's name, he said, would always be mentioned by gay activists as a closeted elected official who needed to be out-
ed. But Strub said he had no interest in exposing Foley over all these years.
"He wanted to be a constructive influence on the epidemic and tried, within the very difficult confines of his party,"
Strub said. "One time he stopped by the POZ office, when we were still located in the West Village in New York, and
met everyone. It was a nice gesture.
"When I was extremely ill, weighing 125 pounds, covered in Kaposi's sarcoma lesions and nearing death, Mark was
compassionate and not afraid of me, like so many others were."
Koehler lost that 1982 congressional election and went back to serve his final term on the Palm Beach County Commis-
sion. Foley, meanwhile, returned to Lake Worth politics, biding his time until something bigger came along.
He was frequently the source of amusement among his older, less rambunctious city commissioners.
"Mark was just so much fun to be around," said former Commissioner Honey Duncan, who sat next to Foley on the
dais. "There would be a woman up there giving a serious presentation, and he would lean over and whisper to me, 'I
wonder where she buys her clothes, Whores R Us?' "
The other commissioners also got a kick out of observing his attempts to be seen as a heterosexual man.
"He'd bring a woman to a function, sit her down and then go off and never talk to her until the end of the evening,"
Duncan said. "I always felt sorry for these women, and I would be the one who ended up talking to them."
Fellow Lake Worth Commissioner Ron Exline said that at first, he never put too much significance on the way Foley
would abandon women.
"I thought that he was just career-oriented and didn't have time for the ladies," Exline said. "He seemed to be guy who,
if he had an hour, he'd use it to try to raise money from somebody."
But then one night, Exline remembered, Foley was there with a young lawyer named JulieAnn Rico, who was one of his
frequent companions, and on this night, she decided to get frisky with him.
"My wife laughed and told JulieAnn, 'You'll never get this guy to bed,' " Exline said.
Koehler retired from the county commission in 1984 and urged Foley to run for his seat. Foley thought he had a clear
path to it. But it didn't work out that way.
Switch to GOP cements secret
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In those days, the power brokers in local Democratic politics were labor union leaders and a coalition of Palm Beach
County condominium clubs organized by Delray Beach chiropractor Andre Fladell.
Labor had handpicked its own candidate, Jerry Owens, a union electrician with no political experience, to run for
Koehler'seat.
"All Owens ever did was wire an outlet," Fladell said. "I can't blame Foley for being resentful."
A deal was cut, Fladell said. The condo bloc vote went with Owens in exchange for labor supporting Karen Marcus,
Koehler's chief of staff, who was running in one of the other races.
Foley spent nearly double the money that Owens did on the campaign, but he lost to the electrician in a low-turnout
primary election.
"I'm a committed Democrat, and I support the party," Foley said on the night of his defeat. "I have no regrets."
But a few months later he switched his party registration to Republican and started sounding like one, explaining that he
could no longer be a Democrat because of the party's penchant for "excessive spending and (fiscal) abuses."
Foley found himself boxed in, others now say. If advancing in local politics was his primary goal, he really didn't have
much of a choice. He'd have to be Republican, and he'd have to continue to pretend to be heterosexual.
"In the '80s, if you admitted being a homosexual, that put the kibosh on any political career you might have," said Dr.
Bernard Kimmel, a former state legislator and Palm Beach County Republican Party chairman.
"When I was in the legislature, he would come up to visit and he'd always bring women," Kimmel said. "But it was the
worst secret in the world."
But you didn't have to fool the insiders, only the voters.
While those who knew Foley figured out he was gay, the typical voter who paid only cursory attention to local politics
didn't know.
"He wasn't an MTV gay," Fladell said. "The average voter just saw a charming person with a smile who spoke well and
was on the right side of issues."
So as long as Foley was discreet, he could still pursue his political dreams.
Real estate success, political loss
Without a political office to hold, Foley revved up his real estate business, specializing in commercial real estate and
continuing to develop a close personal and business relationship with one of the most prominent bankers in town, Roy
Talmo, who owned First American Bank and Trust in Lake Worth.
In one real estate deal, Foley made nearly a half-million dollars in a transaction on the Forest Hill Boulevard property
where the Palm Beach County School District headquarters stands today.
The property had been a golf course, and the school board had planned to build its new headquarters elsewhere, but Fo-
ley managed to buy the land from the owners for $2.45 million and sell it within hours to the school district for $2.91
million, making $450,000 for himself in the transaction.
"It just speaks to the American Dream," Foley said, when asked about the sale. "This isn't the only egg in my basket.
I've had some very good successes in real estate in the last year and a half."
But he was already eyeing getting back into politics, and a few months later he was ramping down his real estate busi-
ness for another run at the Florida Legislature.
"I love business, but I guess my whole love is politics," he said during the 1986 campaign for the Florida House District
84 seat. "Some say it's a sickness, an incurable disease. But I think it's a great opportunity to help people, to have an
impact on the community and to get things done."
But he lost his second attempt to get to Tallahassee, edged out this time by veteran Democratic legislator Ed Healey.
Foley asked for a recount.
The loss made him wary of diving into another race, conscious of being tagged a perennial candidate. So instead he
threw himself into the local party and helped many other campaigns.
Page 392

He hosted Young Republicans bashes at his Lake Clarke Shores house and campaigned for presidential candidates Bob
Dole and George H.W. Bush, U.S. Sen. Connie Mack and state Insurance Commissioner Tom Gallagher.
He tried for the Florida House a third time in 1990, in House District 85, where he would first have to face Boynton
Beach City Councilman Bob Olenik in the Republican primary.
Olenik raised Foley's ties to banker Talmo as a campaign issue. By then, the savings and loan scandal had blossomed
and Talmo's First American Bank and Trust had failed.
"A reporter approached me," Olenik said, "and said that Foley was gay and said that if I raised the issue, then it could be
a story."
Olenik said he doesn't remember the reporter or the news organization, but he didn't take the bait, saying he wasn't in-
terested in making Foley's hidden sexual orientation an issue.
There was a practical reason for his decision.
"I'm a gay man, too," Olenik said last week, speaking from his new home in Europe. "I wasn't out of the closet at that
time. I knew he was gay, and I have to believe that he knew I was gay, but it wasn't something we ever discussed."
Foley went on to beat Olenik and then defeated his old Lake Worth City Commission colleague David Hinsa, finally
getting to Tallahassee.
"A lot of voters said they were not voting for any Republicans but me," a happy Foley said on the night of his victory. "I
think they were comfortable with my moderate-to-liberal social agenda. I have always stressed human services needs."
Not content to stay put, Foley sought to move up to the Florida Senate during the next election cycle, this time taking on
a 14-year incumbent, Eleanor Weinstock. He won.
Two years later, he jumped from Tallahassee to Washington, winning the House seat being vacated by Tom Lewis. The
campaign staff for Foley's opponent, John Comerford, had also considered getting Foley's sexual orientation before vot-
ers.
"We could have won if we brought it up," said Manuel Hofferman of Jupiter, who campaigned for Comerford. "We
thought it would be important. But Mr. Comerford thought it was a terrible thing to do. And he said, 'If anybody brings
it up, I'm going to resign.' "
Foley's outing largely ignored
Once Foley got to Washington, the pressure to expose his sexual orientation grew, especially after he voted for the De-
fense of Marriage Act in 1996.
"If Congress was getting involved in deciding who could and could not be married, then it was relevant to ask lawmak-
ers about their personal lives," wrote J. Jennings Moss, the journalist who wrote a piece for the gay publication The
Advocate that outed Foley in 1996.
Moss called Foley a "master of aversion," writing that "Foley didn't grant a face-to-face interview but instead answered
written questions."
He responded to a question about his sexual orientation: "Frankly, I don't think what kind of personal relationships I
have in my private life is of any relevance to anyone else."
But it was relevant to a lot of people. One of them was Tracy Thorne. Thorne's father, Roscoe, was a surgeon and pri-
vate pilot who had befriended Foley and flown him around the state during campaigns.
Tracy, who had been a Navy pilot, was drummed out of the service for violating the "don't ask, don't tell" policy by
talking about his homosexuality on national television. He felt betrayed by Foley, who seemed to bargain away too
much to maintain his political position.
"It's hard to imagine a gay man voting for something to restrict his own rights," the former pilot said.
Thorne also thought that after The Advocate story appeared, Foley would be forced to acknowledge his homosexuality.
But that didn't happen.
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Moss wrote that, with the exception of a story in the St. Petersburg Times, "no other Florida or national publications
would touch the tale, either because Foley and his camp did a great job of shooting the messenger or because of the in-
herent fear the media have to delve honestly and without judgment into a person's sexual background."
The Palm Beach Post's policy is not to report about a politician's sexual orientation unless it is relevant to a news story.
Foley was swept into Washington with Newt Gingrich as part of the freshman class of 1994. It was the year of the
"Contract with America," and Foley was no longer advertising himself as a champion of a "moderate-to-liberal social
agenda," as he did with his arrival in Tallahassee.
Security, power grow quickly
It didn't take long for Foley to get noticed as a fast-rising star, a legislator who could raise money, make friends quickly
and find a way to get his name in the national press.
In 1996, he cruised through his second congressional victory and was rewarded with a coveted spot on the powerful
House Ways and Means Committee.
Two years later, he was reelected to Congress without a challenger, and it appeared that he had carved out for himself,
in quick order, a safe seat.
And yet he came home most weekends to attend events in his district and remain attentive to his constituents. He was, it
seemed, always on the job.
"I told him, 'Mark, slow down. Take a weekend off. Do you have to go to every barbecue?' " Palm Beach Councilman
Bill Brooks remembered.
Foley, though, seemed to love the chance to mingle.
"Mark was a great listener," longtime friend Greg Rice said. "He listened not only with his ears but also with his eyes.
So many people are always thinking about their next question or where they have to be next, but not Mark."
He didn't miss a holiday parade in Lake Worth. And he didn't miss a chance to score points with any crowd.
Foley was comfortable with the ordinary people, and he loved the stars, too. In Washington, he became enamored with
the showbiz people who sometimes hobnob with politicians.
When he was a Lake Worth politician, he used to like to say how he was an extra in the locally filmed movie Body Heat
but the camera just barely missed getting him in the frame.
In Washington, he didn't have to worry about being cut out of the action. He became the chairman of the House Enter-
tainment Industry Task Force and was wined and dined by Time-Warner, Disney and Seagram/Universal Studios.
When he argued for a measure to insulate businesses from being sued under the Americans With Disabilities Act, he
brought along Clint Eastwood to testify.
He bought Sonny Bono's old red Jeep from his widow, Mary Bono, a fellow member of Congress, and had it shipped to
Lake Worth.
And he got to revel in hearing his name thrown around as a possible successor to Jack Valenti to run the Motion Picture
Association of America.
It's "not anything I'm pursuing," Foley said, expressing no interest in leaving Congress.
Temptation, repression blamed
When Foley began pursuing congressional pages has yet to be determined. So far, allegations of Foley's e-mail corre-
spondence with the pages begin in 1997, at a time when Foley was securely established in Washington.
Theresa LePore, the former supervisor of elections in Palm Beach County, has known Foley since his restaurant days.
She looks at his fall from grace as a function of how power sometimes affects people and skews their sense of right and
wrong.
"They take little bites of the apple and they get away with it, so then the bites get bigger and bigger," she said.
Others, like Strub and Thorne, think that decades of being closeted has a corrosive emotional effect.
Page 394

"I can't help but think that if Mark had been better able to deal with and be honest about his homosexuality, he would
not have ended up pursuing teenagers," Strub said. "The difficulty our puritanical culture has about discussing sexuality
openly and honestly - especially teen sexuality - is a big part of what created inappropriate and damaging sexual expres-
sion in adults."
Wellington resident Wendy Lang remembered bumping into Foley a few years ago at a bar on Clematis Street in West
Palm Beach. She was there having a drink with a female friend when she recognized Foley, who was part of a big group
there. Lang said she had spoken weeks earlier to local radio talk show host Randi Rhodes, who told her off the air that
Foley was gay.
"So I started talking to Foley in the bar and I said, 'So, I hear you're gay,' " Lang said, telling him what the talk-show
host had told her.
"And he said, 'Oh, she has a big mouth.' Then he started coming on to me, but it was pretty phony," Lang said. "He put
his arm around me and was standing close."
Then, she said, after some chitchat, he asked her if she and her friend would French kiss each other.
"He said, 'I love to watch that.' Weird stuff."
The last attempt to out Foley came in 2003. By then, he was a five-time incumbent in the House and was eyeing his
U.S. Senate dream - the goal he set for himself 25 years earlier.
U.S. Sen. Bob Graham was getting ready to retire from his seat, and Foley was in position to be the front-runner. He
had $1.8 million in the bank to use for his campaign, more money than all but six other congressmen.
A story in the Broward-Palm Beach alternative weekly New Times outed him again, and Foley responded with a con-
ference call to news organizations in an effort to keep the story out of bounds. He called efforts to discuss his sexual
orientation "revolting and unforgivable."
"My mother and father raised me and the rest of my family to believe that there are certain things we shouldn't discuss
in public," he said. "Some of you may believe that it's old-fashioned, but I believe those are good ideals to live by."
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay came to Foley's defense, calling the allegations about his sexuality "underhanded
rumormongering" and calling Foley "an invaluable member."
The news organizations chose not to pursue the story. Later that year, Foley abruptly announced he was pulling out of
the Senate race, citing his father's diagnosis of cancer.
"He's always been there for me, and I have to be there for him," Foley said.
'I can't dance on his grave'
Foley's former congressional chief of staff Kirk Fordham said last week that he had warned House leaders in 2003 about
Foley's inappropriate contact with congressional pages. But Fordham's assertion has been disputed, and it's not clear
whether Foley's Senate bid was ultimately scuttled by his own party over contact with the pages.
He kept his House seat, building up his campaign war chest to $2.4 million and scaring away any serious challengers in
2004.
Foley went on to lead the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children. He voted to toughen the penalties for an
adult who "persuades, induces, entices or coerces" anyone under 18 to engage in criminal sex acts.
And this summer, he wrote a provision in the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, which creates a
national registry of sex offenders to better keep tabs on them.
He was considered safe again for the upcoming November election until he abruptly resigned his seat Sept. 29 after be-
ing confronted with some sexually explicit e-mail exchanges with former pages.
New Republic columnist Andrew Sullivan, who is both politically conservative and gay, wrote that Foley's behavior is a
product of a warped political culture.
"There is something deeply sick about a Republican elite that is comfortable around gay people, dependent on gay peo-
ple, staffed by gay people - and yet also rests on brutal exploitation of homophobia to win elections at the base," he
Page 395

wrote. "If you treat gay sex in any form as a shameful secret to keep concealed, the line between adult, consensual con-
tact and the sexual exploitation of the young may not seem so stark."
Leah Schad, a local environmentalist and longtime observer of the county's political scene, wished things had turned out
differently.
"The gay thing - everybody knew, and who cared?" she said. "It's too bad he just didn't admit it years ago and be done
with it. I can't dance on his grave, I certainly can't."
Foley's sudden fall from grace might doom the political career he had so painstakingly nurtured the past 30 years, but it
won't ruin his life, said Strub, the AIDS activist.
"It'll be a weight off his shoulders," Strub said. "He'll deal with his problems, and his friends will still be his friends.
"This will be the best thing that has happened to Mark Foley."
frank_cerabino@pbpost.com


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


1. (C) Mark Foley - 2006 (mug) 2. (B&W) 1980 (mug) 3. (B&W) 1987 (mug) 4. (B&W) 1994 (mug) Deception began
early 5. (B&W) 1990 staff file photo Mark Foley embraces his girlfriend, JulieAnn Rico, as he enters his sister's house
in Lake Worth. His dating raised doubts among his political peers, and former Lake Worth City Commissioner Honey
Duncan recalled he would bring women to functions but then ignore them. 6. (B&W) 1982 staff file photo Mark Foley,
giving a radio interview, was 22 when he entered his first political race. 'In the '80s, if you admitted being a homosexu-
al, that put the kibosh on any political career,' said Dr. Bernard Kimmel, a former state legislator and Palm Beach
County Republican Party chairman. 7. (B&W) Staff file photo Paul Newman joins the Lake Worth City Commission,
including Mark Foley (second from right), during the filming of Harry & Son. Foley's colleagues (from left) were David
Hinsa, Betty Cortese, Ron Exline and Honey Duncan. Foley says he was an extra in locally filmed Body Heat.

DOCUMENT-TYPE: BIOGRAPHY


All Rights Reserved
Page 396



FINAL EDITION

INSURANCE PROMISES LARGELY EMPTY

BYLINE: By S.V. DATE Palm Beach Post Capital Bureau


LENGTH: 1789 words

DATELINE: ORLANDO

Voters are demanding it. Both Republican Charlie Crist and Democrat Jim Davis are promising to give it to them.
But because the "it" this election season is lower property insurance premiums, voters almost certainly will not get what
they want, regardless of whom they elect - at least not any time soon, observers and even campaign insiders on both
sides concede.
Sam Miller, a lobbyist for the Florida Insurance Council, said both candidates have put out ideas, most of which will not
have much real effect.
"A lot of these involve getting tough on insurance companies," Miller said. "That's not going to magically lead to lower
rates."
The Davis campaign allows that there is no "silver bullet" to make things better quickly. And Crist campaign chief of
staff George LeMieux agreed that it was "disingenuous" to suggest that rates could be dramatically lowered to where
they were several years ago, but he said that a combination of various reforms could start moving things in that direc-
tion.
Some state leaders, typically Republicans - including Gov. Jeb Bush and Senate President Tom Lee, a candidate for
chief financial officer - argue that the crisis was caused primarily by the spate of storms that hit Florida the past two
years.
"We have a hurricane problem more than an insurance problem," Bush said recently. "When you have eight hurricanes
and $35 billion to $38 billion in claims, no business model works under those kind of circumstances."
Many Democrats, meanwhile, including incoming House Democratic leader Dan Gelber, argue that while the storms
pushed Florida's insurance system over the brink, it had been brought to the brink by Republicans who created a system
that lets the private insurers skim off the profitable, lower-risk properties in inland Florida, while burdening state-run
Citizens Property Insurance with the highest-risk coastal properties.
For their part, both Davis and Crist have fashioned campaigns running against the insurance industry. Davis also is
making a case against the Republican Party and its state leaders for, in his view, having catered to the industry over the
past eight years.
Industry under dual attacks
"I expected our state leaders to protect us over the last four years, and they have not. And that includes Charlie Crist,"
Davis said recently, alluding to Crist's membership on the Financial Services Commission since 2003 by dint of his po-
sition on the Cabinet.
Page 397
INSURANCE PROMISES LARGELY EMPTY Palm Beach Post (Florida) September 24, 2006 Sunday

"These companies can get away with a lot right now, because the governor and legislature are not protecting consumers.
. . . That will never happen again when I am governor."
But if Davis hopes to paint Crist as a tool of the insurance industry and a creature of Republican rule generally, he is
getting no help from Crist, who attacks the industry even more enthusiastically than Davis.
Crist, in his policy paper about property insurance, writes: "Every day, Florida insurance companies claim that they
can't afford to do business in this state, yet their national parent companies continue to post record profits for their
shareholders. How can this happen? These insurance companies cannot have it both ways; they cannot profit from Flo-
ridians, ship profits out of state, and then seek record rate increases from Florida."
And last week, Crist lashed out at Citizens at a Cabinet meeting in Tallahassee, accusing the quasi-public company of
lackadaisical customer service while aggressively seeking rate increases.
"Citizens seems to have forgotten that it was created to serve people during their time of great need," Crist said in his 4
1/2-minute scolding of the company. "It seems to have forgotten that the people of Florida are the boss, and the corpo-
ration is there to serve them, not the other way around."
Problem unites voters
The candidates' rhetoric finds a receptive ear all across Florida, both geographically and demographically.
Rubin Karasick, 89, a retired orthopedic technician in Delray Beach, said at a news conference awarding Davis the en-
dorsement of the Voters Coalition of Palm Beach County that his neighbors are terrified of being priced out of their
homes by property insurance premiums.
"Everybody talks about lowering it. But nobody does anything about it," Karasick said.
And at a $25,000-per-person fund-raiser for Crist featuring President Bush at the Orlando Ritz-Carlton, Randy Perkins
explained his decision to drop his Citizens windstorm policy on his 3,000-square-foot home in Islamorada after a 30
percent rate hike took the annual premium to $28,000.
Perkins, the CEO of a disaster recovery company, owns that house outright, with no mortgage, which makes it possible
for him to choose to self-insure - a choice he said he understands that most Floridians do not have.
"It's a problem. It's a threat, frankly, to the economy," Perkins said.
"This much I know: We've got to do everything we can to get these premiums down for our citizens," Crist said recent-
ly.
Davis' running mate, former state Sen. Daryl Jones, said it did not take him long after joining the ticket to get the mes-
sage: "They just want it to come down. . . . It's pretty simple from the public's standpoint."
Less simple is how to fix it.
Davis hammers on a handful of reforms that he says will help undo years of "moving in the wrong direction" by Repub-
licans. Davis would put a "policyholder advocate general" in the governor's office to push the consumer viewpoint in
rate-setting hearings. He would force insurers to give a one-year notice if they plan to drop policies held longer than
three years without a claim. He would stop lawmakers' "raids" on the Hurricane Catastrophe Fund.
Crist, in his policy paper, suggests giving consumers a report card for the insurance companies, giving them letter
grades based on such things as their customer service and their profit rate compared with the profit rate of their parent
national company. On Friday, Crist said it should be illegal for national companies to have such Florida-only subsidiar-
ies.
He also would lower the threshold on the Cat Fund, giving insurers the benefit of cheaper, state-sponsored "reinsurance"
after a lower level of losses - an idea first put forth by GOP primary opponent Tom Gallagher, who claimed it could
reduce premiums 20 percent.
Both men would create additional state programs to help Floridians pay for improvements to their homes - hurricane
shutters, stronger doors, etc. - to prevent hurricane damage, and both would lobby the federal government for a federal
catastrophe fund to help states that suffer devastating hurricanes, earthquakes and other disasters.
Page 398

The single most dramatic proposal of either candidate, though, is Crist's idea to force insurers who write property poli-
cies in other states but not in Florida to also write them in this state or forgo business in other, more profitable lines,
such as auto insurance.
But even that one change, if Crist could push it through the legislature, would not structurally alter the existing system.
Just a dream?
And so success in November based on this issue could come down not to which candidate has more specific or promis-
ing ideas, but which sounds like he does.
"The American dream is about a home and security. They've got the home, but they're losing the security," said Andre
Fladell, a Delray Beach Democratic activist and strategist, who said this fear will give an advantage to whichever can-
didate seems to empathize better.
Davis said it makes little sense to trust Crist to solve the problem now when he and his party have failed to do so over
the past several years. "If our elected leaders had gotten serious about property insurance years ago . . . we wouldn't be
in the hole that we're in."
LeMieux said the aggressive stance of his boss, Crist, against utilities and phone companies as attorney general shows
he is ready to handle this task. "If anyone can do it, Charlie Crist can," LeMieux said.
Post political editor Brian Crowley contributed to this story.
s_v_date@pbpost.com
Gubernatorial issue: Insurance
How the candidates for governor, Republican Charlie Crist and Democrat Jim Davis, compare on the issue of high rates
for property and wind-storm insurance:
Hurricane Catastrophe Fund
Crist: Would lower the threshold of losses required for insurers to access this state-managed fund to pay claims, from
$5.3 billion to $3.2 billion. That would lower the risks for insurance companies and, in theory, should lower the pre-
miums they charge customers.
Davis: Promises to maintain the Cat Fund reserves for when they are needed to pay claims by stopping legislative
"raids" on the fund to pay for unrelated projects in their districts. He is "open" to the idea of lowering the threshold for
insurers.
Strengthening homes
Crist: Would create the "Wipe Your Blues Away Campaign" to create matching grants for Floridians to add shutters,
reinforce roof-to-wall connections, etc., to protect their homes from hurricanes. Low-income seniors would get 100
percent grants. Also, insurance companies would have to provide credits on premiums for homeowners who undertake
these measures, and builders who offer these protections beyond the requirements of the building code would get incen-
tives such as density bonuses, lower impact fees and concurrency credits.
Davis: Would implement the "Operation Get Ready" campaign to strengthen homes and businesses against hurricanes,
using "public-private partnerships" and encouraging banks to offer low-interest loans. Insurers would have to provide
credits toward premiums for these measures.
Consumer protection
Crist: Would require a Florida-based insurer that is a subsidiary of a national company to account for the national com-
pany's profits when seeking rate increases. Would require the Insurance Consumer Advocate within the Office of In-
surance Regulation to issue annual report cards evaluating and giving letter grades to the various insurance companies.
The evaluation would include analyses of profits and losses of the Florida subsidiary compared with the national com-
pany.
Davis: Would create a Policyholder Advocate General within the Governor's Office to advocate on behalf of consumers
in rate-making decisions. This person would conduct a "top-to-bottom" audit of state-run Citizens Property Insurance to
ensure that it is being run properly.
Page 399

Increasing availability of insurance policies
Crist: Would "stop the cherry picking" by forcing companies that provide homeowners insurance in other states but not
in Florida to also offer it in Florida or lose the ability to sell other profitable lines, such as auto insurance, in this state.
Davis: Would require insurance companies to give one year's notice before dropping a policy of any policyholder who
has paid premiums for three consecutive years and not filed any claims.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

NOTES: ELECTION 2006 Ran all editions. Info box at end of text.

1. (C & B&W) Charlie Crist (mug) 2. (C & B&W) Jim Davis (mug)


All Rights Reserved
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Palm Beach elections office reaches out to minority voters



LENGTH: 816 words

Sep. 17--Undistracted by lingering calls for a paper trail of election ballots and harping about a slow vote count on pri-
mary night, Elections Supervisor Arthur Anderson is quietly revolutionizing his office.
Using the Supervisor of Elections office as what he calls a "change agent," Anderson is pursuing a costly campaign to
raise the sense of civic duty in minority and poor communities, reversing what he calls a "myopic focus on the affluent,
those who do go to the polls consistently."
To this end, Anderson budgeted an unprecedented $550,000 for a voter-outreach media blitz of TV ads and radio spots
-- starring himself -- that started before the primaries and will run up to the Nov. 7 general election.
What's more, Anderson is dispatching his employees into minority and poor communities, to knock on doors in
low-turnout neighborhoods to sign up people to vote.
Rather than elections expertise, Anderson's new hires have second-language skills and ties to minority communities.
He hired outreach coordinators to the Hispanic, Haitian and black communities. More than one-fourth of Anderson's
43-person staff is on the voter-outreach team, said project coordinator Adina Serell.
Under Anderson's predecessor, Theresa LePore, one person handled voter outreach.
Anderson's quest is controversial.
Critics say such a social agenda is beyond the mission of the elections office and has partisan implications. Supporters
see it as a noble bid to raise civic involvement.
In an interview in his office on Friday, Anderson said he wants to "make people believe that they can take control of
their lives," and to educate communities that he says have been discriminated against and ignored by the government.
"Not everyone applauds these efforts," he said. "I'm not here to follow the status quo. My mission is to change the world
in whatever way that I can, however small ... You have to have a vision other than being a technocrat."
But is it working?
In the Sept. 5 primary, Palm Beach County's 15 percent turnout was Florida's third worst; 94 percent of county precincts
had fewer voters than in the last non-presidential primary in 2002, county elections data showed.
Rainy weather may have contributed to the dismal showing, but in the poor neighborhoods Anderson is courting, turn-
out lagged behind the county average, according to a South Florida Sun-Sentinel analysis of voter turnout data and the
U.S. Census.
Anderson says the results would have been even worse if it wasn't for his voter-outreach program, and that changes
won't come overnight. He frames his mission in lofty rhetoric, saying he's changing deep-seated beliefs in poor and mi-
Page 401
Palm Beach elections office reaches out to minority voters South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale) September 17,
2006 Sunday

nority communities that they don't have a place in the political process. His election-year theme reflects that -- "One
Voice Becomes Many."
The logo is printed in Spanish and Creole.
Some wonder whether Anderson, a Democrat, should use his nonpartisan office to pursue such a social-change agenda.
"There's a line at which Arthur's job ends and ours [political parties] begins, and one might argue he's crossing the line,"
said Republican Party Chairman Sid Dinerstein. "And my party might argue he's crossing the line in areas that tradi-
tionally vote for the other party."
Political activist Andre Fladell, who helped get Anderson elected in 2004, said: "It's Arthur's responsibility to get peo-
ple to have confidence in the process. Turning them out is not his responsibility."
Statewide, elections experts cite a shift toward broader voter-outreach efforts, but not always in Anderson's socially
minded mold.
Veteran Pasco County Supervisor Kurt Browning sends his staff to local fairs and festivals, but draws the line there.
"My job is elections administration," he said. "I think we have an educational component to that, but the educational
component kind of stops at voter registration and voting equipment."
Despite his focus on social change, Anderson still confronts questions over the paper trail, the key issue when he ousted
the controversial LePore, who introduced use of the butterfly ballot in county elections. Anderson says he's done all he
can to achieve a verifiable record to go along with touch-screen machines. But Democrats aren't satisfied.
"I think Arthur's doing a good job, in terms of changing the tone and reaching out to folks," said Democratic Party
Chairman Wahid Mahmood. But he added: "The paper trail is going to be in all the voters' minds. It's an issue that's not
going to go away."
Staff researcher Jeremy Milarsky contributed to this story.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

ACC-NO: 20060917-FL-0917-Palm-Beach-elections-office-reaches-out-to-minority-voters


JOURNAL-CODE: FL

Page 402



Palm Beach Edition

ELECTIONS OFFICE STRESSES OUTREACH;
A QUARTER OF STAFF FOCUSES ON MINORITY TURNOUT

BYLINE: Josh Hafenbrack Staff Writer; Staff Researcher Jeremy Milarsky contributed to this story.


LENGTH: 764 words

Undistracted by lingering calls for a paper trail of election ballots and harping about a slow vote count on primary night,
Elections Supervisor Arthur Anderson is quietly revolutionizing his office.
Using the Supervisor of Elections office as what he calls a "change agent," Anderson is pursuing a costly campaign to
raise the sense of civic duty in minority and poor communities, reversing what he calls a "myopic focus on the affluent,
those who do go to the polls consistently."
To this end, Anderson budgeted an unprecedented $550,000 for a voter-outreach media blitz of TV ads and radio spots
-- starring himself -- that started before the primaries and will run up to the Nov. 7 general election.
What's more, Anderson is dispatching his employees into minority and poor communities, to knock on doors in
low-turnout neighborhoods to sign up people to vote.
Rather than elections expertise, Anderson's new hires have second-language skills and ties to minority communities.
He hired outreach coordinators to the Hispanic, Haitian and black communities. More than one-fourth of Anderson's
43-person staff is on the voter-outreach team, said project coordinator Adina Serell.
Under Anderson's predecessor, Theresa LePore, one person handled voter outreach.
Anderson's quest is controversial.
Critics say such a social agenda is beyond the mission of the elections office and has partisan implications. Supporters
see it as a noble effort to raise civic involvement.
In an interview in his office on Friday, Anderson said he wants to "make people believe that they can take control of
their lives" and to educate communities that he says have been discriminated against and ignored by the government.
"Not everyone applauds these efforts," he said. "I'm not here to follow the status quo. My mission is to change the world
in whatever way that I can, however small ... You have to have a vision other than being a technocrat."
But is it working?
In the Sept. 5 primary, Palm Beach County's 15 percent turnout was Florida's third worst; 94 percent of county precincts
had fewer voters than in the last non-presidential primary in 2002, county elections data showed.
Rainy weather may have contributed to the dismal showing, but in the poor neighborhoods Anderson is courting, turn-
out lagged behind the county average, according to a South Florida Sun-Sentinel analysis of voter turnout data and the
U.S. Census.
Anderson says that the results would have been worse if it wasn't for his voter-outreach program and that changes won't
come overnight. He frames his mission in lofty rhetoric, saying he's changing deep-seated beliefs in poor and minority
Page 403
ELECTIONS OFFICE STRESSES OUTREACH; A QUARTER OF STAFF FOCUSES ON MINORITY TURNOUT
Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) September 17, 2006 Sunday

communities that they don't have a place in the political process. His election-year theme reflects that -- "One Voice
Becomes Many."
The logo is printed in Spanish and Creole.
Some wonder whether Anderson, a Democrat, should use his nonpartisan office to pursue such a social-change agenda.
"There's a line at which Arthur's job ends and ours [political parties] begins, and one might argue he's crossing the line,"
said Republican Party Chairman Sid Dinerstein. "And my party might argue he's crossing the line in areas that tradi-
tionally vote for the other party."
Political activist Andre Fladell, who helped get Anderson elected in 2004, said: "It's Arthur's responsibility to get peo-
ple to have confidence in the process. Turning them out is not his responsibility."
Statewide, elections experts cite a shift toward broader voter-outreach efforts, but not always in Anderson's socially
minded mold.
Veteran Pasco County Supervisor Kurt Browning sends his staff to local fairs and festivals, but draws the line there.
"My job is elections administration," he said. "I think we have an educational component to that, but the educational
component kind of stops at voter registration and voting equipment."
Despite his focus on social change, Anderson still confronts questions over the paper trail, the key issue when he ousted
the controversial LePore, who introduced use of the butterfly ballot in county elections. Anderson says he's done all he
can to achieve a verifiable record to go along with touch-screen machines. But Democrats aren't satisfied.
"I think Arthur's doing a good job, in terms of changing the tone and reaching out to folks," said Democratic Party
Chairman Wahid Mahmood. But he added: "The paper trail is going to be in all the voters' minds. It's an issue that's not
going to go away."
Staff Researcher Jeremy Milarsky contributed to this story.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

GRAPHIC: PHOTO DIAGRAM
Anderson Diagram: Palm Beach County's poorest areas. SOURCES: Claritas. Inc., Palm Beach County Supervisor of
Elections. Staff research/Jeremy Milarsky; staff graphic/Cindy Jones-Hulfachor.


All Rights Reserved
Page 404



FINAL EDITION

PRIMARY MISHAPS UNLIKELY TO TARNISH ANDERSON IF FIXED

BYLINE: By GEORGE BENNETT and KIMBERLY MILLER Palm Beach Post Staff Writers


LENGTH: 816 words

Ordinary voters had few complaints, but some political insiders say Palm Beach County Elections Supervisor Arthur
Anderson should heed some warning signs after overseeing his first countywide election last week.
Tuesday's low-turnout primaries for governor and other offices were marked by few election-day mishaps.
Election night, however, saw slow reporting of results and a lack of precinct-level data that kept the outcome of some
races uncertain until Wednesday. Many candidates, consultants and political junkies fumed at the way Anderson man-
aged the trickle of information.
"It's outrageous," said state Rep. Anne Gannon, D-Delray Beach, who won a primary race for county tax collector.
While causing an uproar in the county's political class, most observers said the episode shouldn't affect voter confidence
in the primary results and shouldn't harm Anderson's job security as long as the reporting problems are corrected by the
Nov. 7 general election.
"Precinct reporting is an insider complaint. It's not a public complaint," said Delray Beach political strategist Andre
Fladell, an adviser to Anderson's 2004 campaign. But, Fladell continued, "if November repeats the slow-result process,
it would be very hard to undo that reputation."
Anderson has pledged to deliver results more quickly in November and to provide a running tally of how many pre-
cincts have been counted as the results are released on the elections Web site.
When primary results began appearing on the Web site Tuesday night, candidates and voters didn't know whether they
represented a handful of polling sites or the bulk of precincts. Absentee ballots weren't counted until Wednesday morn-
ing and weren't added to the posted results until that afternoon.
Other counties that use similar voting machines and software were able to report results faster and provide precinct in-
formation.
"That's something that's unacceptable, even though it's his (Anderson's) first time," said state Rep. Richard Machek,
D-Delray Beach, who wasn't sure of his primary victory over Steven Perman until late Wednesday afternoon.
Machek's district includes parts of four counties. He said he had results from Martin, Okeechobee and St. Lucie counties
by 10:30 election night but didn't know what to make of the numbers from Palm Beach County since he couldn't tell
how many precincts had been counted and how many were outstanding.
"This is not good customer service from Dr. Anderson," said Neil Schiller, a consultant to Machek's campaign and two
other victorious Democratic state House candidates, Kelly Skidmore and Maria Sachs.
While results were known Wednesday, political operatives were still clamoring Thursday for a precinct-by-precinct
breakdown of votes so they could strategize for the November elections.
Page 405
PRIMARY MISHAPS UNLIKELY TO TARNISH ANDERSON IF FIXED Palm Beach Post (Florida) September 10,
2006 Sunday

"Only us die-hard people are looking at it. But we need to know. We need to know that night," said state Rep. Susan
Bucher, D-West Palm Beach. Bucher was angered after she said someone in the elections office told her precinct data
might not be available for two weeks. She cornered Anderson at Thursday night's Democratic Executive Committee
meeting and could be overheard saying, "That's unacceptable."
Precinct-by-precinct results were released Friday.
Having a precinct breakdown of votes is an important safeguard, said U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Delray Beach.
"When the precinct tallies are not provided to the public, the public has no way to determine whether there are unusual
discrepancies in the tally results," said Wexler, who was instrumental in getting Anderson elected in 2004. "On election
night it was very difficult; it was essentially impossible to determine the results (from) individual precincts, and if there
was a glaring error, the public would be unable to determine that."
County Republican Chairman Sid Dinerstein said he was disappointed with the slow release of information but said it
wasn't something the average voter should worry about.
"We have concerns about speed, not accuracy. At least we're not here saying that we don't trust the count," said Din-
erstein, who said he'd give Anderson a B if he had to grade his handling of the election. "The average person mostly has
to be concerned about fairness and accuracy. And that's not a concern right now."
League of Women Voters of Palm Beach County President Pamela Goodman also said Anderson got the most im-
portant things right in his first major election.
"There is no question about ethics or security. This is a process issue," Goodman said.
Goodman said there was too much focus on the timeliness and precinct-reporting issues and not enough attention to the
positives from Tuesday's voting.
"Voters tend to latch onto anything that seems like a problem. . . . It would become a problem with voter confidence if it
continues in the November election," Goodman said. "But I think it will be fixed."
kimberly_miller@pbpost.com


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


GRAPHIC: PHOTO (C)
Arthur Anderson (mug)


All Rights Reserved
Page 406





Slosberg spent almost $200 per vote in attempt to win state Senate seat

BYLINE: Peter Franceschina and Anthony Man, South Florida Sun-Sentinel


LENGTH: 1000 words

Sep. 7--For all his own money that Irv Slosberg poured into his state Senate campaign, political observers say he didn't
spend the $2.8 million wisely in a race widely considered his to lose.
Some voters say he was too negative, in too many ads.
Some political observers say the money -- a record for personal spending in Palm Beach County -- didn't play a signifi-
cant factor in Slosberg's Tuesday loss. Others say the money was an important issue, that voters find that kind of
spending unseemly, especially when it goes to nonstop attack ads.
The voters spoke Tuesday, giving the state Senate District 30 seat -- which covers southern Palm Beach County and
northern Broward -- to political newcomer Ted Deutch, who didn't even have wide name recognition a year ago.
With backing from local Democratic leaders like U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler and Palm Beach County Commissioner Burt
Aaronson, the 40-year-old Boca Raton attorney won by a comfortable 10 percent margin in a race anticipated by many
to be much closer.
Slosberg, 59, who served six years in the state House and made tending to seniors a core mission, suffered a backlash
that likely will put him out of politics forever.
"I'm done," Slosberg said Wednesday.
He said he wasn't bitter about his defeat. He looks forward to continuing his work to improve highway safety through a
foundation named after his daughter Dori, who died in a 1996 traffic crash. And he gives Deutch credit for being a good
candidate.
"Ted Deutch is a good guy and he will do a good job as senator," Slosberg said. "I have no hard feelings for Ted
Deutch."
Slosberg's defeat was just one example in a primary season that, in several instances, illustrated that the most money
doesn't always win.
Besides Slosberg, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rod Smith and state Senate candidate Frank Bolanos in Mi-
ami-Dade County spent small fortunes on unsuccessful campaigns.
The sugar industry poured millions into advertising for Smith. Bolanos backers did likewise in a failed effort to defeat
state Sen. Alex Villalobos, R-Miami, after Villalobos cast votes that crossed Republican Gov. Jeb Bush.
"Clearly, money alone doesn't do it. Money helps. Money can get your message out," said Wexler chief of staff Eric
Johnson, who advised Deutch's campaign.
Slosberg and Bolanos show that money isn't the sole decider, he said. "Irv showed $3 million isn't enough. Bolanos
showed $5 million wasn't enough.
Page 407
Slosberg spent almost $200 per vote in attempt to win state Senate seat South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale)

"Everybody likes to pretend the voters aren't smart and can be bought," he said, adding that didn't happen despite all the
largesse Slosberg gave to voters. "They ate his lunch, went and watched his movie, took his bus ride to the polls, and
they didn't vote for him. That's the smartest voter of all that did that."
Some of Slosberg's money went to renting trucks to keep water, food and ice on hand in case of a hurricane, and he
pledges to continue to pay for that through the hurricane season. He is unique in spending roughly a third of his fortune.
"It's an extraordinary number. In a local race, I don't see anyone spending that again for the next 10 years, or half that,"
said Palm Beach County political activist Andre Fladell.
Deutch spent less than $500,000 and will go on to face Libertarian candidate Karl Dickey in the November general
election.
Slosberg spent roughly $200 per vote, about twice that of other high-cost campaigns around South Florida, according to
a South Florida Sun-Sentinel analysis.
A month ago, Fladell predicted money would not be a factor. It would be how widely Democratic star Wexler's support
of Deutch played with voters. Wexler appeared in Deutch television ads and toured retirement communities on his be-
half.
Slosberg also went negative too soon and for too long, in Fladell's estimation.
"Every candidate has to be very careful not to make their opponent a victim. When the negative is as continuous and as
diverse as the negative against Deutch was, at some point the public will start to perceive him as a victim, especially the
undecided voters."
Robert Watson, a political science professor at Florida Atlantic University, said the public does care about spending.
Slosberg didn't file his campaign finance report Friday, blaming it on his accountant's health problems. The report was
filed Tuesday afternoon, showing he spent $1.3 million in the final three weeks, on top of the $1.5 million he already
burned through.
Watson said voters might have passed over Slosberg for Deutch if they had that information ahead of time.
"He may have known he was better off paying fines for the late filing and dealing with any political ramifications of
that [rather] than filing and having the public see the figure -- 'What, $2.8 million of his own money?'" Watson said.
Still, Watson also attributed part of Deutch's success to Wexler's backing. "Wexler is truly beloved. In a Democratic
primary, as goes Wexler, so goes the region," he said.
Bob Newmark, chairman of the Voters Coalition, said its board members were offended when Slosberg waived his
checkbook in front of them like it was the grail to victory.
"The only read you can take of that is, 'I'm going to buy the election. I'm going to win this by spending money,'" he said.
One voter who was turned off was Elaine Sabra, a Democrat who lives west of Boynton Beach. She doesn't live in the
Senate district, but she became a Deutch supporter and organized a protest outside Slosberg's office.
"The money was disgraceful," she said. "Candidates should tell the truth. This negative campaigning was just unac-
ceptable -- issues were lost in that."
Staff researcher Jeremy Milarsky contributed to this report.
Peter Franceschina can be reached at pfranceschina@sun-sentinel.com or 561-228-5503.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

ACC-NO: 20060907-FL-0907-Slosberg-spent-almost-200-per-vote-in-attempt-to-win-state-Senate-seat
Page 408
Slosberg spent almost $200 per vote in attempt to win state Senate seat South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale)


JOURNAL-CODE: FL

Page 409



Palm Beach Edition

SLOSBERG'S LOSS COST A HEFTY $200 PER VOTE

BYLINE: Peter Franceschina and Anthony Man Staff Writers; Staff researcher Jeremy Milarsky contributed to this
report.

SECTION: LOCAL; Pg. 1A

LENGTH: 1047 words

For all his own money that Irv Slosberg poured into his state Senate campaign, political observers say he didn't spend
the $2.8 million wisely in a race widely considered his to lose.
Some voters say he was too negative, in too many ads.
Some political observers say the money -- a record for personal spending in Palm Beach County -- didn't play a signifi-
cant factor in Slosberg's Tuesday loss. Others say the money was an important issue, that voters find that kind of
spending unseemly, especially when it goes to nonstop attack ads.
The voters spoke Tuesday, giving the state Senate District 30 seat -- which covers southern Palm Beach County and
northern Broward -- to political newcomer Ted Deutch, who didn't even have wide name recognition a year ago.
With backing from local Democratic leaders like U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler and Palm Beach County Commissioner Burt
Aaronson, the 40-year-old Boca Raton attorney won by a comfortable 10 percent margin in a race anticipated by many
to be much closer.
Slosberg, 59, who served six years in the state House and made tending to seniors a core mission, suffered a backlash
that likely will put him out of politics forever.
"I'm done," Slosberg said Wednesday.
He said he wasn't bitter about his defeat. He looks forward to continuing his work to improve highway safety through a
foundation named after his daughter Dori, who died in a 1996 traffic crash. And he gives Deutch credit for being a good
candidate.
"Ted Deutch is a good guy and he will do a good job as senator," Slosberg said. "I have no hard feelings for Ted
Deutch."
Slosberg's defeat was just one example in a primary season that, in several instances, illustrated that the most money
doesn't always win.
Besides Slosberg, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rod Smith and state Senate candidate Frank Bolaos in Mi-
ami-Dade County spent small fortunes on unsuccessful campaigns.
The sugar industry poured millions into advertising for Smith. Bolaos backers did likewise in a failed effort to defeat
state Sen. Alex Villalobos, R-Miami, after Villalobos cast votes that crossed Republican Gov. Jeb Bush.
"Clearly, money alone doesn't do it. Money helps. Money can get your message out," said Wexler chief of staff Eric
Johnson, who advised Deutch's campaign.
Slosberg and Bolaos show that money isn't the sole decider, he said. "Irv showed $3 million isn't enough. Bolaos
showed $5 million wasn't enough.
Page 410
SLOSBERG'S LOSS COST A HEFTY $200 PER VOTE Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) September 7, 2006
Thursday

"Everybody likes to pretend the voters aren't smart and can be bought," he said, adding that didn't happen despite all the
largesse Slosberg gave to voters. "They ate his lunch, went and watched his movie, took his bus ride to the polls, and
they didn't vote for him. That's the smartest voter of all that did that."
Some of Slosberg's money went to renting trucks to keep water, food and ice on hand in case of a hurricane, and he
pledges to continue to pay for that through the hurricane season. He is unique in spending roughly a third of his fortune.
"It's an extraordinary number. In a local race, I don't see anyone spending that again for the next 10 years, or half that,"
said Palm Beach County political activist Andre Fladell.
Deutch spent less than $500,000 and will go on to face Libertarian candidate Karl Dickey in the November general
election.
Slosberg spent roughly $200 per vote, about twice that of other high-cost campaigns around South Florida, according to
a South Florida Sun-Sentinel analysis.
A month ago, Fladell predicted money would not be a factor. It would be how widely Democratic star Wexler's support
of Deutch played with voters. Wexler appeared in Deutch television ads and toured retirement communities on his be-
half.
Slosberg also went negative too soon and for too long, in Fladell's estimation.
"Every candidate has to be very careful not to make their opponent a victim. When the negative is as continuous and as
diverse as the negative against Deutch was, at some point the public will start to perceive him as a victim, especially the
undecided voters."
Robert Watson, a political science professor at Florida Atlantic University, said the public does care about spending.
Slosberg didn't file his campaign finance report Friday, blaming it on his accountant's health problems. The report was
filed Tuesday afternoon, showing he spent $1.3 million in the final three weeks, on top of the $1.5 million he already
burned through.
Watson said voters might have passed over Slosberg for Deutch if they had that information ahead of time.
"He may have known he was better off paying fines for the late filing and dealing with any political ramifications of
that [rather] than filing and having the public see the figure -- `What, $2.8 million of his own money?'" Watson said.
Still, Watson also attributed part of Deutch's success to Wexler's backing. "Wexler is truly beloved. In a Democratic
primary, as goes Wexler, so goes the region," he said.
Bob Newmark, chairman of the Voters Coalition, said its board members were offended when Slosberg waived his
checkbook in front of them like it was the grail to victory.
"The only read you can take of that is, Ì'm going to buy the election. I'm going to win this by spending money,'" he
said.
One voter who was turned off was Elaine Sabra, a Democrat who lives west of Boynton Beach. She doesn't live in the
Senate district, but she became a Deutch supporter and organized a protest outside Slosberg's office.
"The money was disgraceful," she said. "Candidates should tell the truth. This negative campaigning was just unac-
ceptable -- issues were lost in that."
Staff researcher Jeremy Milarsky contributed to this report.
Peter Franceschina can be reached at pfranceschina@sun-sentinel.com or 561-228-5503.
What the votes cost
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel compared the latest campaign contributions for Ted Deutch and Irv Slosberg with the
number of votes cast for each candidate. Vote totals are based on the preliminary data released late Wednesday. The
winner is in bold type.
Office Candidate Money raised Preliminary vote count Estimated money raised per vote SENATE 30 Ted Deutch $
344,800 18,128 $ 19.02 Irv Slosberg $ 2,887,420 14,699 $ 196.44
Page 411
SLOSBERG'S LOSS COST A HEFTY $200 PER VOTE Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) September 7, 2006
Thursday

CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTION TOTALS ARE MONETARY ONLY AND CURRENT AS OF AUG. 31. SOURCE:
FLORIDA DIVISION OF ELECTIONS; COMPILED BY STAFF RESEARCHER JEREMY MILARSKY


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH



All Rights Reserved
Page 412



SOUTH EDITION

SOUTH COUNTY'S TOP COP

BYLINE: By MEGHAN MEYER Palm Beach Post Staff Writer


LENGTH: 367 words


The chiefs of three south county police departments looked less imposing in uniforms of T-shirts and shorts Monday
afternoon, shooting baskets in the parking lot behind Boston's on the Beach.
Despite the casual attire, they lost none of their ability to focus under pressure in the 20th annual Labor Day Police
Challenge.
Most notably, Boynton Beach Chief Matt Immler showed nerves of steel.
With 10 chances to make a foul shot in the final challenge - the first two were darts and tossing a football through a tire
- Immler needed to make only five baskets to win. A hush fell over the crowd. Boston's owner Perry Don Francisco
called out the number of each shot, and finally, the fifth swished through the net to a cacophony of applause from the
Boynton Beach police on the sidelines. Immler stood, stoic, his arms in a victorious V.
It must have been the boat shoes. Immler wore a pair of decrepit canvas loafers of a gray-beige hue that defied catego-
rization. His opponents, Delray Beach Chief Larry Schroeder and Boca Raton Chief Dan Alexander, wore athletic
sneakers.
"As you can see," Immler said, "I'm dressed for basketball."
Immler racked up 18 points to Alexander's 17 and Schroeder's 14 in the chiefs' competition. Other team events included
basketball, volleyball, a foot race, darts and a stand-up comedy competition. The Delray Citizens for Delray Police, the
organization that ran the event, divided $4,000 among the winners of each challenge, to be donated to a charity or used
to pay for items that weren't included in the department's budget. Immler planned to direct his winnings to the Police
Athletic League. He also gets to keep the 6-foot-tall trophy, a multitiered affair with a statue of a police officer, the big-
gest organizer Andre Fladell could find.
How would he get it home?
"That's his problem," Fladell said. Immler said he might have to call for a truck.
The event gives officers who usually see each only other during emergencies a chance to socialize with their families,
Fladell said. And it's entertaining for the public.
"When it's sunny here, the public gets the chance to see the police sweat," Fladell quipped. "Usually, it's the other way
around."
- meghan_meyer@pbpost.com


Page 413
SOUTH COUNTY'S TOP COP Palm Beach Post (Florida) September 5, 2006 Tuesday

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


CHRIS MATULA/Staff Photographer Delray Beach police officers Scott Privitera (left) and Vinnie Gray battle each
other for the ball in a volleyball game against the Boynton Beach police team Monday at the 20th annual Labor Day
Police Challenge in Delray Beach.


All Rights Reserved
Page 414





Off-duty cops play for keeps

BYLINE: Nancy L. Othon, South Florida Sun-Sentinel


LENGTH: 513 words

Sep. 5--DELRAY BEACH -- After watching their officers sweat through some high-energy volleyball, relay and bas-
ketball competitions, the leaders of Palm Beach County's three south county police departments engaged in a contest of
their own Monday, testing their basketball shooting, football tossing and dart throwing skills.
The competition in question was the 20th annual Labor Day Police Challenge, and at stake for the three top cops were
bragging rights as the titleholder of the first chiefs competition and a towering, 6-foot trophy for the winner's police
station.
Boynton Beach Police Chief Matt Immler took the honors, not only by winning the chiefs competition, but adding
enough points to the day's cumulative total for Boynton to put his agency over the top in the overall competition. The
police department will donate its $1,200 in winnings to the Police Athletic League.
"Awesome," said Immler's 12-year-old son, Andrew. "I told him all week, 'You're going to win.'"
None of the chiefs actually prepared for the event, which involves Delray Beach and Boca Raton as well, but they did
good-naturedly speculate about Delray Beach Police Chief Larry Schroeder's skills in the dart competition.
"You can tell I haven't spent as much time in the bar as Chief Schroeder," joked Immler.
Boca Raton Police Chief Dan Alexander, who has been on the job since July, said he used to play high school sports
such as football and soccer.
"Obviously it didn't help here today," Alexander said.
The day was filled with lighthearted banter among the officers, who cheered their colleagues on the basketball court,
where a drizzle did nothing to stop the action, and on the beach, where the winds whipped the sand as players competed
in volleyball.
"It just builds camaraderie," said Delray Beach police Sgt. Scott Privitera. "It's fun, it's competitive."
Organizer and sponsor Andre Fladell said the event, held annually at Boston's On the Beach, provides an opportunity
for officers to get to know each other somewhere other than a crime scene.
"The benefits are not the prize money or bragging rights, it's the relationships," Fladell said.
Also new to this year's competition was a comedy contest, which Delray Beach Officer Paul Pitti -- the self-proclaimed
class clown of the department -- easily won with his animated delivery, R-rated jokes and enthusiastic half-splits.
Contestants from Boca Raton and Boynton Beach did not fare as well, earning few chuckles from audience members
who later roared with laughter during Pitti's routine. For his jokes and first-place finish, Pitti won two tickets to a Miami
Dolphins game, a two-night stay at the Delray Beach Marriott and a $100 gift certificate to Boston's.
Page 415
Off-duty cops play for keeps South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale) September 5, 2006 Tuesday

Nancy L. Othon can be reached at nothon@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6633.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

ACC-NO: 20060905-FL-0905-Off-duty-cops-play-for-keeps


JOURNAL-CODE: FL

Page 416



Palm Beach Edition

OFF-DUTY COPS PLAY FOR KEEPS

BYLINE: Nancy L. Othn Staff Writer


LENGTH: 458 words


After watching their officers sweat through some high-energy volleyball, relay and basketball competitions, the leaders
of Palm Beach County's three south county police departments engaged in a contest of their own Monday, testing their
basketball shooting, football tossing and dart throwing skills.
The competition in question was the 20th annual Labor Day Police Challenge, and at stake for the three top cops were
bragging rights as the titleholder of the first chiefs competition and a towering, 6-foot trophy for the winner's police
station.
Boynton Beach Police Chief Matt Immler took the honors, not only by winning the chiefs competition, but adding
enough points to the day's cumulative total for Boynton to put his agency over the top in the overall competition. The
police department will donate its $1,200 in winnings to the Police Athletic League.
"Awesome," said Immler's 12-year-old son, Andrew. "I told him all week, `You're going to win.'"
None of the chiefs actually prepared for the event, which involves Delray Beach and Boca Raton as well, but they did
good-naturedly speculate about Delray Beach Police Chief Larry Schroeder's skills in the dart competition.
"You can tell I haven't spent as much time in the bar as Chief Schroeder," joked Immler.
Boca Raton Police Chief Dan Alexander, who has been on the job since July, said he used to play high school sports
such as football and soccer.
"Obviously it didn't help here today," Alexander said.
The day was filled with lighthearted banter among the officers, who cheered their colleagues on the basketball court,
where a drizzle did nothing to stop the action, and on the beach, where the winds whipped the sand as players competed
in volleyball.
"It just builds camaraderie," said Delray Beach police Sgt. Scott Privitera. "It's fun, it's competitive."
Organizer and sponsor Andre Fladell said the event, held annually at Boston's On the Beach, provides an opportunity
for officers to get to know each other somewhere other than a crime scene.
"The benefits are not the prize money or bragging rights, it's the relationships," Fladell said.
Also new to this year's competition was a comedy contest, which Delray Beach Officer Paul Pitti -- the self-proclaimed
class clown of the department -- easily won with his animated delivery, R-rated jokes and enthusiastic half-splits.
Contestants from Boca Raton and Boynton Beach did not fare as well, earning few chuckles from audience members
who later roared with laughter during Pitti's routine. For his jokes and first-place finish, Pitti won two tickets to a Miami
Dolphins game, a two-night stay at the Delray Beach Marriott and a $100 gift certificate to Boston's.
Page 417
OFF-DUTY COPS PLAY FOR KEEPS Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) September 5, 2006 Tuesday

Nancy L. Othn can be reached at nothon@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6633.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

GRAPHIC: PHOTO
HIGH-ENERGY HOOPS: Eric Reynolds, of the Boynton Beach Police Department, left, grabs a rebound Monday
while being guarded by Delray Beach's Mark Lucas during the basketball portion of the 20th Annual Delray Citizens for
Delray Police Challenge in Delray Beach. Staff photo/Scott Fisher


All Rights Reserved
Page 418



FINAL EDITION

PRIMARY MARKS ELECTION CHIEF'S TOUGHEST EXAM



LENGTH: 1034 words

Arthur Anderson won't be on the ballot, but he may have more riding on Tuesday's primary elections than any of the
candidates up for election in Palm Beach County.
Tuesday marks the first countywide voting to be overseen by Anderson, the elections supervisor who came to office
without prior elections experience in 2004 by seizing upon voter discontent with former supervisor Theresa LePore.
Now the buck stops with Anderson.
After 20 months in office, a restructuring of staff, training, voter outreach, public meetings on voting equipment and
several municipal elections that were mostly - but not entirely - uneventful, Tuesday will be Anderson's biggest test to
date.
Elections supervisors get only a few opportunities to make or break their reputations.
"You can have a great 18 months, but you have a bad election day and it's going to be hung around your neck," said
Pasco County Elections Supervisor Kurt Browning, whose 26 years in office make him one of Florida's longest-serving
elections chiefs. "Is it fair? I don't know. But that's the way it is."
In Palm Beach County, where critiquing elections administration has become a cottage industry, Anderson knows he
and his office will be scrutinized Tuesday.
"As a former athlete, it's kind of like the day of the big game," said Anderson, who played football and basketball and
ran track in high school and college. "We have everything in place to be, if you will, victorious in this primary contest,
and the victory will be for the residents of Palm Beach County."
After Tuesday, there's the Nov. 7 general election. Then the next scheduled round of countywide elections will be in
2008, the year Anderson will be up for reelection. Wellington Councilman Bob Margolis has already said he plans to
challenge Anderson then.
"This is an opportunity for Arthur Anderson to silence his critics or give them fuel against him," said Delray Beach po-
litical operative Andre Fladell, who informally advised Anderson in 2004.
"This is like a final exam," Fladell said. "He will be graded on this."
Anderson acknowledges the personal stakes but says he's most concerned about how Tuesday's election affects the pub-
lic's perception of the elections process.
"The greatest challenge to the elections industry today is the restoration of voter confidence," Anderson said Friday.
"Wherever I go, people are just very anxious and concerned that their vote may not count. So, unfortunately, people are
still living in the aftermath or the context of those events that surrounded the 2000 election."
Page 419
PRIMARY MARKS ELECTION CHIEF'S TOUGHEST EXAM Palm Beach Post (Florida) September 4, 2006
Monday

Those events - confusion over LePore's two-page "butterfly ballot" design, frustration with the imprecision of
punch-card voting and its dimpled and hanging chads, and cynicism about the way recounts were handled - created the
climate that helped Anderson get elected four years later.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler made it his personal mission to find a candidate to defeat LePore and ended up
backing Anderson. Anderson capitalized on residual 2000 Democratic anger and added in criticism of the paperless
electronic voting machines the county purchased to replace punch cards on LePore's recommendation.
Many of Anderson's backers expected him to take action to install a ballot paper trail in Palm Beach County, either by
having printers attached to the county's touch-screen machines or by scrapping the touch screens and buying a system of
paper ballots counted by optical scanners.
A technology panel convened by Anderson recommended as much in May. Anderson called the recommendation "right
on the money" as a way of restoring voter confidence and has pledged to pursue a paper trail.
But two years after riding paperless voting fears into office, Anderson says that, until a paper trail is in place, he has
grown personally confident in the electronic machines he once criticized. That frustrates Allen Mergaman and other
paperless voting critics who have closely monitored Anderson's every move since he took office in January 2005. Mer-
gaman, a member of the Palm Beach Coalition for Election Reform, says a paperless election is a disaster waiting to
happen.
"I just think it's going to be a very difficult election," Mergaman said of Tuesday's primary.
The biggest embarrassment of Anderson's tenure, however, had to do with paper ballots rather than the controversial
electronic machines. In the March municipal elections, a stack of paper absentee and provisional ballots from Pahokee
was mistakenly added to vote totals from tiny Mangonia Park, leading the elections office to report the wrong winner in
a Mangonia Park council race. The error was corrected the next day.
While Anderson has already picked up some critics and at least one potential 2008 challenger, others say they are im-
pressed with the way he has handled the job.
"For someone coming in with really no elections experience, I think Dr. Anderson has done a really excellent job," said
League of Women Voters of Palm Beach County President Pamela Goodman. Anderson has kept several of LePore's
key staffers and brought on new personnel of his own to fill top positions. His management style is more collaborative
than that of LePore, who was sometimes criticized for not delegating enough responsibility.
"Our supervisor of elections is only as good as the people that he has working for him," Goodman said. "In my opinion,
I've seen nothing but really devoted, well-trained people."
Palm Beach County will have 441 polling places open Tuesday, with 4,462 voting machines and about 4,800 poll
workers who receive between 3 and 7 hours training and are paid between $125 and $170 on election day. Anderson's
office is responsible for training the poll workers, who are then responsible for opening polling sites, getting machines
running, verifying the identifications of voters and, at the end of the day, collecting results cartridges from each machine
and sending them to the elections office to be tallied.
"It comes to a point where you just have to turn it over to other people," said Browning, the veteran Pasco County elec-
tions chief. "I know of no other political official who turns over his political career to volunteers who have two or three
hours of training."


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


Arthur Anderson (mug)

Page 420
PRIMARY MARKS ELECTION CHIEF'S TOUGHEST EXAM Palm Beach Post (Florida) September 4, 2006
Monday

All Rights Reserved
Page 421



FINAL EDITION

NUNS' PLAN TO SELL LAND WORRIES NEIGHBORS

BYLINE: By DIANNA SMITH Palm Beach Post Staff Writer


LENGTH: 946 words


Some call them the choir of angels.
Harmonious tones that appear without instruments, from the mouths of cloistered nuns. They have spent 39 years sing-
ing heavenly hymns and leading simple lives in a monastery tucked between two neighborhoods off Military Trail.
There, they separate themselves from the material world.
But now they find themselves firmly in it.
The sisters are dipping into the real estate business, sacrificing land for money so they can build another monastery, a
new place to call home.
"We can't stay here any longer," said Sister Frances Vass of Christ the King Monastery. "We came here to be women of
prayer. We have to reclaim that stance. We can't be so frazzled."
But now nearby residents are frazzled as well.
The nine nuns who live in the deteriorating building have had difficulty with everything from the roof to the air condi-
tioner to the ceiling. They hope to sell most of the 11 acres to a developer who would demolish the monastery and build
24 townhomes and 24 single-family homes on the site. The news has upset neighbors, who immediately began to worry
about about the traffic, people and noise the development could bring.
Andre Fladell, who lives across the street from the monastery on Sherwood Boulevard, said he plans to file a lawsuit if
the development empties onto his street. His concern, he said, is the children who play along the boulevard.
"Even if I could stall the project for three years, it would be worth it," Fladell said. "This is about how many dollars can
be generated on land that once generated faith."
Land worth $2.6 million
Inside the unadorned, off-white building is a small chapel with 10 wooden pews. They sit beneath a discolored ceiling
and next to air vents slapped with duct tape. The sisters sit separate from the public, in rows of pews on the other side of
a partition, where they pray, sing and chant.
On the sides of the sanctuary, etched in glass, are images of St. Clare and St. Francis of Assisi, which the sisters hope to
move to the new chapel.
Vass said the sisters need at least $3 million to build a new chapel and living quarters. The land is worth at least an es-
timated $2.6 million. The monastery makes its money by supplying altar bread for South Florida churches, through do-
nations and by selling golf balls that land on the property from Lakeview Golf Course.
Page 422
NUNS' PLAN TO SELL LAND WORRIES NEIGHBORS Palm Beach Post (Florida) August 19, 2006 Saturday

The monastery is not only falling apart, Vass said, it's also too large for the nine women, whose ages range from the
mid-50s to 94. All are members of an 800-year-old meditative religious order called the Poor Clares, who took a vow of
poverty to dedicate their days to prayer.
They want a smaller, more intimate space, easier to care for. But they also want to remain on their land.
The monastery is trying to strike a deal with the Catholic Diocese of Palm Beach, which owns a small lot next to the
building. On the lot is a home the diocese built for retired priests, but it has remained empty for some time, Vass said. If
the monastery can purchase the lot, the group could move into the house and have an addition built, which could serve
as the chapel.
The current monastery will not be demolished until a new one is built, she said.
But Vass was hesitant to speak of any plans. The deal hasn't been made yet because the sisters must wait to see if Delray
Beach officials will change the property's zoning to allow multifamily housing. The issue will go before the city's plan-
ning and zoning board at 6 p.m. Monday at city hall. City commissioners will have the final say next month.
Vass said the monastery doesn't want to be in the real estate business.
"But if the sale does not go through, then we won't have the cash and we won't be able to build and people will have to
come forward and donate. We're not selling out," she said. "We have to protect our turf."
The quality of the neighborhood will not be compromised, Vass said. If the sisters sell the property, they will include
certain rules. They, too, want little noise and few distractions.
Talk of building homes on the property has been lingering for a while, luring some who have overheard to the chapel,
approaching the sisters after church services, asking if they could buy lots.
Residents who live near the monastery would prefer few lots and few people. If rezoned, a developer could build five
units on each acre.
"If I were the sisters, I'd try to get the most money I could," Ralph McGovney said. "But that's too many people coming
in."
End of era seen
Although the chapel can hold up to 90 people and as many as 40 rooms are in the monastery, the parking lot at Christ
the King is rarely full.
Mass is offered every morning. During Friday's 7 a.m. service, flames flickered from five candlewicks, and six people
sat quietly in front of black Bibles. The light smell of incense lingered throughout the chapel as the sun continued to rise
and darkness disappeared.
Sitting in a middle pew was Barbara Hayden, a regular at the monastery. For 15 years, she has watched the building fall
apart. But what keeps her coming to this spiritual place are the sisters, and the comfort, hope and respect they give.
If the building is demolished, Hayden said it would be the end of an era. But what really matters to Hayden is that the
sisters remain close.
"Whatever the sisters want," she said. "They are so welcoming."
What the sisters really want is to be rid of this mess. Of real estate, of disputes, of the material world. They want to go
back to filling their days and nights with prayer. Without distractions.
"We're women of faith," Vass said. "We know God is going to bring this to a good conclusion."
Religion writer Lona O'Connor contributed to this story.
- dianna_smith@pbpost.com


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

Page 423
NUNS' PLAN TO SELL LAND WORRIES NEIGHBORS Palm Beach Post (Florida) August 19, 2006 Saturday

GRAPHIC: PHOTO (C) & MAP (B&W)
1. (C) CHRIS MATULA/Staff Photographer Christ the King Monastery in Delray Beach now is home to nine clois-
tered nuns, for whom the space is too big and requires too much maintenance. 2. (B&W) MARK HEMPHILL/Staff
Artist Location of Christ The King Monastery.


All Rights Reserved
Page 424





Power player for fun



LENGTH: 4754 words

Aug. 19--DELRAY BEACH -- It's poker night, and longtime political activist Andre Fladell already has amassed a pile
of cash. In this hand, he appears to be cornered. His opponent holds a pair of aces.
Fladell grins. He pushes more cash into the pot.
Two final cards slide across the table, giving Fladell a straight. He rakes in the money. His poker buddies, who have
been gathering Mondays for eight years, groan. "The rich get richer," one said.
Fladell, in poker as in politics, has displayed a remarkable knack for finding winning hands. He's managed to maintain
his influence as a Palm Beach County political powerbroker over a quarter-century, outlasting most of the politicians he
advises. The genesis of his power -- condo communities' grip on local elections -- has long since ebbed, but Fladell re-
mains a fixture, retaining the loyal ear of Republicans and Democrats, and admired in equal measure by bitter political
rivals like County Commissioners Mary McCarty and Karen Marcus.
At 59, Fladell has kept his stature through political savvy and loyalty and with an offbeat sense of style that leaves even
his critics chuckling, friends and allies say. Independently wealthy, Fladell sees power not as a means to an end, but as a
game.
"I think politics should be a sport," Fladell mused during a recent Aug. 8 stroll down Atlantic Avenue, where everyone
from valet drivers to beach bums stopped to offer greetings.
McCarty said: "He wants to have the access and the relationships. And he truly enjoys being close to people that are in
power. It is not for his own personal gain, it's for his personal amusement."
In his Delray Beach chiropractic office, yellowed 1980s newspaper clips attest to Fladell's king making. County com-
missioners crowned him the "Prince of Palm Beach County" in 1985, a nod to his political hero, Machiavelli.
These days, Fladell said he uses the political tools available to him: argument, logic and an encyclopedic knowledge of
county politics. Fladell urged Joseph Abruzzo to bail last month on a race to unseat McCarty, convincing him that
McCarty's money and connections were too much to overcome. Abruzzo listened.
He helped Wahid Mahmood become the Democratic Party's county chairman last year and Arthur Anderson's 2004
victory in the elections supervisor race.
While his loyalties are to Democrats, Fladell is an independent operator, working on campaigns that interest him and
never accepting money for his services. He plots campaign strategy and raises money for candidates he supports, but he
rarely gives money to candidates himself.
"No one controls much of anything," Fladell said from his office, where he spends about three hours a day mostly field-
ing political calls rather than clients. "The question is, can you persuade? Persuading and controlling are different. If
you can persuade, you can win your argument, you can get the vote."
Page 425
Power player for fun South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale) August 19, 2006 Saturday

Especially during election season, candidates of all stripes come to Fladell for counsel. Democrat Kelly Skidmore calls
Fladell for advice on campaign tactics, even though he supports one of her opponents, Harvey Arnold, in her District 90
legislative race.
"He gets information from all different sides," she said. "He's the kind of person that everybody calls."
The Brooklyn native loves to confound stereotypes. He dresses in tank top T-shirts. When he's not barefoot, he wears
garish sneakers. At speaking gigs, he sports sequin-studded, rainbow-colored outfits. To stand opposite Fladell is to be
the straight man.
"I don't think Andre will ever go out of style, even though his clothes did about 20 years ago," joked state Sen. Dave
Aronberg, D-Greenacres.
McCarty added: "He's very compassionate and yet, he can be very devious and manipulative. But only when it comes to
the game of politics. He is a big student of it, and he wins a lot of the time."
Fladell's political connections have landed him in hot water. He was implicated in an FBI influence-peddling inquiry
stemming from a 1997 deal that involved Commissioner Burt Aaronson. No charges were ever brought. He also had
records seized from his chiropractic office in a 1980s Medicare fraud probe. The investigation led to nothing, but
Fladell was fined $1,000.
"I have been investigated, followed and tapped more than once by the best," he said. "The worst thing I've ever been
charged with is speeding in my Corvette."
Fladell mostly supports Democrats, but he's not a down-the-line liberal. He's staunchly against affirmative action, for
example. His two favorite elected leaders: Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich, saying both were students of history and
strong supporters of Israel.
In the 1980s, Fladell harnessed the condo associations' tremendous political force. Their influence was diminished by a
voter-approved 1988 plan that carved commission districts throughout the county rather than having them elected
at-large, but Fladell had arrived. He still maintains close ties to condo leaders, and he's tight with Aaronson.
"We're willing to listen to one another," said Murray Kalish, condo leader and founder of United South County Demo-
cratic Club. "We don't have to agree, but we listen, and we discuss it."
Fladell's main mission this season: getting gubernatorial candidate U.S. Rep. Jim Davis, D-Tampa, through the Demo-
cratic primary. That includes coordinating Davis' Palm Beach County efforts. Fladell spent a recent morning sketching
out a Davis campaign flier, which he says will be distributed through condo newsletters before the Sept. 5 primary.
Fladell said he supports Davis for one reason: He can win in the general election.
"It's a question of what I can do to deliver votes and help the campaign to avoid errors," Fladell said. "No one knows the
county better than someone in it."
Fladell is rich in contradictions. He keeps a bachelor pad funhouse, complete with an indoor basketball court, subsists
on little more than French fries, vanilla Oreos and butter cookies, and chases women half his age. Yet he won't touch
alcohol. His favorite topic of conversation is his 3-year-old son, Eli -- "Congressman Eli," as Fladell calls him.
"You couldn't craft a guy like him in a fiction book, because nobody would quite believe you," said Delray Beach
Mayor Jeff Perlman. "Spend 15 minutes in his office -- any 15 minutes -- and just see who's calling into that office. The
calls are coming from Washington, Tallahassee, and all over Palm Beach County, from Democrats, Republicans.
"The guy can quote Machiavelli, can quote Shakespeare, and can give you a discourse on Middle East history. And he
plays volleyball and chases young women. In my next life, I want to come back as Andre."


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
Page 426
Power player for fun South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale) August 19, 2006 Saturday

ACC-NO: 20060819-FL-0819-Power-player-for-fun


JOURNAL-CODE: FL

Page 427



Palm Beach Edition

POWER PLAYER FOR FUN;
POLITICAL KINGMAKER ANDRE FLADELL WORKS ONLY ON CAM-
PAIGNS THAT INTEREST HIM



LENGTH: 3206 words


It's poker night, and longtime political activist Andre Fladell already has amassed a pile of cash. In this hand, he ap-
pears to be cornered. His opponent holds a pair of aces.
Fladell grins. He pushes more cash into the pot.
Two final cards slide across the table, giving Fladell a straight. He rakes in the money. His poker buddies, who have
been gathering Mondays for eight years, groan. "The rich get richer," one said.
Fladell, in poker as in politics, has displayed a remarkable knack for finding winning hands. He's managed to maintain
his influence as a Palm Beach County political powerbroker over a quarter-century, outlasting most of the politicians he
advises. The genesis of his power -- condo communities' grip on local elections -- has long since ebbed, but Fladell re-
mains a fixture, retaining the loyal ear of Republicans and Democrats, and admired in equal measure by bitter political
rivals like County Commissioners Mary McCarty and Karen Marcus.
At 59, Fladell has kept his stature through political savvy and loyalty and with an offbeat sense of style that leaves even
his critics chuckling, friends and allies say. Independently wealthy, Fladell sees power not as a means to an end, but as a
game.
"I think politics should be a sport," Fladell mused during a recent Aug. 8 stroll down Atlantic Avenue, where everyone
from valet drivers to beach bums stopped to offer greetings.
McCarty said: "He wants to have the access and the relationships. And he truly enjoys being close to people that are in
power. It is not for his own personal gain, it's for his personal amusement."
In his Delray Beach chiropractic office, yellowed 1980s newspaper clips attest to Fladell's king making. County com-
missioners crowned him the "Prince of Palm Beach County" in 1985, a nod to his political hero, Machiavelli.
These days, Fladell said he uses the political tools available to him: argument, logic and an encyclopedic knowledge of
county politics. Fladell urged Joseph Abruzzo to bail last month on a race to unseat McCarty, convincing him that
McCarty's money and connections were too much to overcome. Abruzzo listened.
He helped Wahid Mahmood become the Democratic Party's county chairman last year and Arthur Anderson's 2004
victory in the elections supervisor race.
Page 428
POWER PLAYER FOR FUN; POLITICAL KINGMAKER ANDRE FLADELL WORKS ONLY ON CAMPAIGNS
THAT INTEREST HIM Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) August 19, 2006 Saturday

While his loyalties are to Democrats, Fladell is an independent operator, working on campaigns that interest him and
never accepting money for his services. He plots campaign strategy and raises money for candidates he supports, but he
rarely gives money to candidates himself.
"No one controls much of anything," Fladell said from his office, where he spends about three hours a day mostly field-
ing political calls rather than clients. "The question is, can you persuade? Persuading and controlling are different. If
you can persuade, you can win your argument, you can get the vote."
Especially during election season, candidates of all stripes come to Fladell for counsel. Democrat Kelly Skidmore calls
Fladell for advice on campaign tactics, even though he supports one of her opponents, Harvey Arnold, in her District 90
legislative race.
"He gets information from all different sides," she said. "He's the kind of person that everybody calls."
The Brooklyn native loves to confound stereotypes. He dresses in tank top T-shirts. When he's not barefoot, he wears
garish sneakers. At speaking gigs, he sports sequin-studded, rainbow-colored outfits. To stand opposite Fladell is to be
the straight man.
"I don't think Andre will ever go out of style, even though his clothes did about 20 years ago," joked state Sen. Dave
Aronberg, D-Greenacres.
McCarty added: "He's very compassionate and yet, he can be very devious and manipulative. But only when it comes to
the game of politics. He is a big student of it, and he wins a lot of the time."
Fladell's political connections have landed him in hot water. He was implicated in an FBI influence-peddling inquiry
stemming from a 1997 deal that involved Commissioner Burt Aaronson. No charges were ever brought. He also had
records seized from his chiropractic office in a 1980s Medicare fraud probe. The investigation led to nothing, but
Fladell was fined $1,000.
"I have been investigated, followed and tapped more than once by the best," he said. "The worst thing I've ever been
charged with is speeding in my Corvette."
Fladell mostly supports Democrats, but he's not a down-the-line liberal. He's staunchly against affirmative action, for
example. His two favorite elected leaders: Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich, saying both were students of history and
strong supporters of Israel.
In the 1980s, Fladell harnessed the condo associations' tremendous political force. Their influence was diminished by a
voter-approved 1988 plan that carved commission districts throughout the county rather than having them elected
at-large, but Fladell had arrived. He still maintains close ties to condo leaders, and he's tight with Aaronson.
"We're willing to listen to one another," said Murray Kalish, condo leader and founder of United South County Demo-
cratic Club. "We don't have to agree, but we listen, and we discuss it."
Fladell's main mission this season: getting gubernatorial candidate U.S. Rep. Jim Davis, D-Tampa, through the Demo-
cratic primary. That includes coordinating Davis' Palm Beach County efforts. Fladell spent a recent morning sketching
out a Davis campaign flier, which he says will be distributed through condo newsletters before the Sept. 5 primary.
Fladell said he supports Davis for one reason: He can win in the general election.
"It's a question of what I can do to deliver votes and help the campaign to avoid errors," Fladell said. "No one knows the
county better than someone in it."
Fladell is rich in contradictions. He keeps a bachelor pad funhouse, complete with an indoor basketball court, subsists
on little more than French fries, vanilla Oreos and butter cookies, and chases women half his age. Yet he won't touch
alcohol. His favorite topic of conversation is his 3-year-old son, Eli -- "Congressman Eli," as Fladell calls him.
"You couldn't craft a guy like him in a fiction book, because nobody would quite believe you," said Delray Beach
Mayor Jeff Perlman. "Spend 15 minutes in his office -- any 15 minutes -- and just see who's calling into that office. The
calls are coming from Washington, Tallahassee, and all over Palm Beach County, from Democrats, Republicans.
"The guy can quote Machiavelli, can quote Shakespeare, and can give you a discourse on Middle East history. And he
plays volleyball and chases young women. In my next life, I want to come back as Andre."
Page 429
POWER PLAYER FOR FUN; POLITICAL KINGMAKER ANDRE FLADELL WORKS ONLY ON CAMPAIGNS
THAT INTEREST HIM Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) August 19, 2006 Saturday


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

GRAPHIC: PHOTO 2
VARIED INTERESTS: Andre Fladell, right, who is passionate about volleyball, has his own signature nets on Delray
Beach. He plays with friends Adam Frankel, left, and Bruno Garozzo. Staff photo/Carey Wagner


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Page 430



FINAL EDITION

LIEBERMAN'S LOSS, REFUSAL TO QUIT RATTLE LOCAL FRIENDS



LENGTH: 632 words

Sen. Joe Lieberman's loss in last week's Connecticut Democratic primary produced conflicting emotions among Dems
in Palm Beach County, which has been a hotbed of Liebermania but is also home to the same brand of anti-Bush fervor
that produced Ned Lamont's win.
Since running for veep in 2000, Lieberman has been an adopted favorite son in South Florida's heavily Jewish Demo-
cratic precincts. His failed 2004 presidential campaign was backed by such local alpha-Dems as U.S. Rep. Robert
Wexler and County Commissioner Burt Aaronson.
Lieberman helped Arthur Anderson become county elections chief in 2004 and toured like a rock star in Jewish com-
munities for John Kerry. He also came here to raise cash for his 2006 reelection bid, turning to Boca Raton attorney Ted
Deutch and others for help.
It was Lieberman, in fact, who announced Deutch's state Senate bid last September while he was raising reelection
money in Boca.
"What happened in Connecticut, from my perspective from afar, was unfortunate," said Deutch, who called Lieberman
"an incredibly decent man full of integrity" and a friend. But Deutch declined to opine on his friend's plan to run for
reelection as an independent.
Democratic State Sen. and congressional hopeful Ron Klein also called Lieberman a friend but said he should bow out
after losing to Lamont. Wexler, too, opposes Lieberman's independent candidacy.
At a Democratic club meeting at Century Village west of Boca Raton last week, Marian Hoechstetter said Lieberman
"did it to himself" by being too close to Bush on the Iraq war. Emanuel Beckler also disliked Lieberman's ties to Bush
but said it shouldn't have cost him the primary. Club President Marvin Manning said he's disappointed his party doesn't
seem to have room for Lieberman's hawkishness.
"To me that's a rather sad commentary because I've always felt that the Democratic Party has been a very large tent and
capable of handling many points of view," Manning said.
"The Big Tent has a big exit," said Democratic activist Andre Fladell, who called Lieberman's loss an "unhealthy" sign.
Ouch. At the close of the school board portion of last week's Gold Coast Builders Association Great Debate, candidate
Bob Kanjian delivered a late hit on rival Terry Pereira.
"Having an opinion doesn't make you a statesman. Winning the lottery, as my opponent did, doesn't make you a leader,"
Kanjian said.
Pereira didn't get to respond as the audience reacted with a mixture of boos and puzzled expressions.
Page 431
LIEBERMAN'S LOSS, REFUSAL TO QUIT RATTLE LOCAL FRIENDS Palm Beach Post (Florida) August 14, 2006
Monday

In 1998, he was part of an 11-member group that divided a $5.38 million Florida Lotto prize to be paid out over 20
years. Kanjian said he raised the issue because Pereira's personal financial disclosure statement doesn't show any 2005
income from a lottery payout.
Pereira said his share was less than $100,000, and he arranged to get it in a lump sum several years ago by selling his
interest in the winnings to a finance company.
Opportunism's downside: Republican county commission hopeful Ed Shepherd, who just moved into western District 6
so he could run, missed the Great Debate. He never got an invite, Shepherd said, because "when I moved out to my new
home in Royal Palm Beach, all my mail got lost."
After angering many local Dems by quitting a county commission race and giving Republican Mary McCarty a free ride
to reelection, state House District 86 hopeful Joseph Abruzzo is going to San Francisco this week to raise campaign
bucks.
Friend Will Hearst IV (scion of William Randolph Hearst) and former San Francisco 49er Eric Wright are among the
hosts. The fog-town fete means there won't be a showdown Tuesday over whether Abruzzo can speak at a Democratic
Club of Greater Boynton candidate confab.
Club prez Jay Weitz was among the party bigs vowing to muzzle Abruzzo at Dem events.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH




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Page 432


US States News

August 9, 2006 Wednesday 4:24 AM EST

ANNUAL LABOR DAY POLICE CHALLENGE CELEBRATES 20 ANNI-
VERSARY AT THIS YEAR'S COMPETITION


LENGTH: 207 words


This is the 20th year the Delray Citizens For Delray Police Challenge, taking place on the Delray Beach Municipal
Beach at Atlantic and Ocean Blvd. (A1A), will entertain Labor Day crowds at the beach beginning at 12:00 noon on
Monday, September 4, 2006. This is a contest between the Police Departments of Delray Beach, Boca Raton and
Boynton Beach.
The first event will be a relay race on the beach followed by a volley ball tournament. Competitions in basketball,
darts and even stand-up comedy routines will be judged throughout the day climaxed by an Awards Ceremony at 3:00
PM in Boston's On The Beach, located at 40 S. Ocean Blvd, just opposite the municipal beach. Cash prizes, trophies
and annual bragging rights are at stake and the competition is always spirited. Best times for photogs; 12:45 PM to 2:30
PM.
Sponsors of this traditional Labor Day event are: Boston's On The Beach, Dr. Andre Fladell, Dan Burns, ICC Capi-
tal Management, Bank of America, Palm Beach Gym, the Hamlet Country Club, Delaire Country Club, attorney Adam
Frankel and Wal-Mart.
For more information, please call Perry DonFrancisco, (561) 278-3364 ext. 15.
Contact: Ivan Ladizinsky, 561/243-7009.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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Page 433



July 30, 2006 Sunday
FINAL EDITION

ABRUZZO, MCCARTY DENY DEAL IN SWITCH



LENGTH: 836 words

Republican Palm Beach County Commissioner Mary McCarty said she'd heard rumors during the previous two weeks
but didn't really believe them until Democrat Joseph Abruzzo himself phoned her a few hours before the 2006 candidate
filing deadline.
Abruzzo told McCarty that he had quit his race against her and was running for a state House seat instead.
McCarty was thrilled to be handed a fifth term without opposition. Many Democrats still are fuming more than a week
later at the maneuver that allowed one of the county's most conspicuous Republicans to get a free ride.
Blasting Abruzzo's "secretive" actions, the executive board of the county Democratic Party issued a statement last week
urging voters to reject his candidacy in the state House District 86 primary, where he is one of four Democrats running.
In Democratic circles and among some Republicans, speculation abounds that first-time candidate Abruzzo, 25, of Boca
Raton, and veteran politician McCarty must have struck some type of deal.
No way, Abruzzo and McCarty say.
"Let me be blunt. Did I get anything out of this? Did I cut a deal? No," Abruzzo said last week. "I made my switch. It
was 100 percent my decision. There was no deal cut. There was nothing offered."
During the past few months, McCarty encouraged mutual acquaintances to suggest to Abruzzo that he switch to another
race but said she never proposed any type of deal.
Andre Fladell, a Delray Beach chiropractor who is both a Democratic operative and a close McCarty friend, frequently
urged Abruzzo not to challenge McCarty, who is well-known and well-financed in a district where Republicans slightly
outnumber Democrats.
Fladell and other Democrats encouraged Abruzzo to run instead in Democrat-dominated commission District 6, where
incumbent Tony Masilotti decided not to seek a third term. Abruzzo rejected the idea, saying he would be a "carpetbag-
ger" if he switched to that race.
"Did I do everything I could to get him out?" Fladell said. "I think I presented logic, statistics and political intelligence."
Abruzzo said he quit the commission race after finding that McCarty had the support of several of the district's promi-
nent Democrats, including Fladell, Delray Beach Mayor Jeff Perlman and former Delray Beach Mayor Jay Alperin.
Perlman and Alperin now are endorsing Abruzzo's House bid.
Abruzzo said other elected Democrats declined to get involved in his commission race, including county Commissioner
Burt Aaronson and state Rep. Anne Gannon, D-Delray Beach. Abruzzo also said county Democratic Chairman Wahid
Mahmood and other party leaders did not offer his campaign the support he expected.
Mahmood disputes that, saying the party "was fully behind his candidacy."
Page 434
ABRUZZO, MCCARTY DENY DEAL IN SWITCH Palm Beach Post (Florida) July 30, 2006 Sunday

The week before Florida's July 17-21 candidate qualifying period, Gannon and others said they heard rumors that
Abruzzo would quit the commission race and run in House District 86.
Although he ended up doing just that, he said the rumors predated his consideration of the House race. He said he began
weighing the District 86 contest only the weekend before qualifying week.
On the first day of the qualifying period, Abruzzo contacted Perlman, the Delray Beach mayor and a friend of
McCarty's, about supporting him if he ran for state House.
County Republican Chairman Sid Dinerstein said he began hearing rumblings of a possible Abruzzo dropout that night.
He said he spent the rest of the week hoping Democrats did not find out.
Abruzzo said he did not make up his mind to switch races until the Wednesday night of qualifying week. He submitted
a letter withdrawing from the commission race the next morning, then flew to Tallahassee and filed for the state House
at 2:56 p.m., a little more than 21 hours before the next day's noon candidate qualifying deadline. The state's candidate
Web site did not post Abruzzo's information until Thursday night.
Abruzzo said he discussed his decision only with his campaign manager, Louis Modesti, his family in Illinois and his
Nashville-based media consultant. Left out of the loop were Abruzzo's local political consultant, county Democratic
leaders and perhaps his biggest booster, local AFL-CIO President Pat Emmert. Abruzzo said he regretted not telling
Emmert.
"I felt I had to make this decision myself without influence, since everyone has their own reasons for steering me in one
direction or another," he said.
Democratic Party leaders did not learn of Abruzzo's switch until the morning of July 21, too late to get a new McCarty
challenger before the noon deadline.
"It was horrible," county Democratic Treasurer Steve Nichol said. "He should have told us to give us enough time to
find and recruit someone else."
Abruzzo said the timing could not be avoided.
"As a deadline approaches, you start to think more about what's happening and what's evolving around you. My thought
process didn't really start until the weekend before qualifying," he said.
Not finding the support he wanted in the commission race, he said, "I had to make a decision."


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


1. Mary McCarty (mug) 2. Joseph Abruzzo (mug)


Page 435




STATE HOUSE CANDIDATE FEEDS ON CONTROVERSY;
OPPONENTS WITHIN DEMOCRATIC PARTY HAVE NO TASTE FOR
SLOSBERG'S STYLE OF CAMPAIGNING.

BYLINE: Josh Hafenbrack Staff Writer; Staff Writer Peter Franceschina contributed to this story.


LENGTH: 883 words

He's at war with his own party, an outcast among some of his legislative colleagues and an increasingly polarizing fig-
ure in the politically active senior communities in southwestern Palm Beach County.
And state Rep. Irv Slosberg, D-Boca Raton, relishes it.
To combat high-powered opposition to his campaign, Slosberg is reaching deep into his own pockets to finance a
time-tested campaign strategy that features buying voters bagels and corned beef sandwiches. His primary opponent,
attorney Ted Deutch, calls it the "Irv Slosberg meal plan."
Slosberg says this campaign is identical to the one he ran for his statehouse seat in 2000, the maverick outsider against
the "Democratic machine."
"It's the same formula," he said. "Everything is the same. It's the Democratic machine against the little Democrat of the
people, round two."
Political observers say just a few months ago, Slosberg seemed like a shoo-in for the Democratic nomination to replace
term-limited state Sen. Ron Klein, who is running for Congress. In heavily Democratic District 30, with no Republican
challenger, the primary winner is all but assured the seat in November. The district includes Parkland in Broward
County.
Now, a group of powerful local officials, headed by Commissioner Burt Aaronson and U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, are
standing in Slosberg's way. Political groups that include classroom teachers, unions and business interests back Deutch.
In many cases Slos- berg once had these endorsements, only to lose them because of what his critics call disloyalty to
the party and self-promoting behavior.
The Sept. 5 primary has become a high-stakes struggle pitting Slosberg's money and name recognition against Demo-
cratic leaders who want to deny him the seat, political observers say.
"Irv Slosberg is extremely wealthy, and you often find the sort of Ross Perot phenomenon," said Florida Atlantic Uni-
versity political science professor Robert Watson, who has used the race as an example in his college classes. "The par-
ty might oppose someone, but if he's very, very wealthy, they can neutralize that."
Slosberg already pumped $630,000 of his own money into the campaign, supplemented by $65,000 in donations, ac-
cording to a recent finance report. He already has spent $657,000.
Slosberg said he tried to hold a fundraising campaign. He sent out 600 letters and got one $250 contribution.
Famous for serving deli food at his campaign events, Slos- berg is stepping up the gifts he lavishes on voters. He took
about 150 residents in the Coral Lakes community west of Boynton Beach to a matinee movie, Click. Slosberg said he
Page 436
STATE HOUSE CANDIDATE FEEDS ON CONTROVERSY; OPPONENTS WITHIN DEMOCRATIC PARTY
HAVE NO TASTE FOR SLOSBERG'S STYLE OF CAMPAIGNING. Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) July 17,
2006 Monday

paid for the movie when the condo association wouldn't let him hold a campaign event in the community -- the result,
Slosberg said, of his unpopularity among "Democratic bosses."
For his part, Deutch has brought latkes to campaign events, but he criticized Slosberg's campaign style. Deutch has
raised $230,000, all from donations.
"He has created this Slos- berg meal plan, through which people are able to dine on corned beef sandwiches and Chi-
nese food," he said. "I'm sure the food tastes very good, but I think the idea of trying to buy the election is distasteful."
Deutch dismissed Slosberg's self-styled underdog role.
"When he had their support, he was happy to tout it, but the moment all these organizations and elected officials starting
endorsing my candidacy was the moment he decided he'd try to run the race as an outsider," he said. "Unfortunately,
he's been in the Legislature for six years."
In the senior communities west of Boca Raton, Delray Beach and Boynton Beach, the Slosberg-Deutch race has become
a dividing force. A measure of the passions: The West Boca Community Council changed its bylaws, which had banned
candidate endorsements, so it can back Deutch this week.
Jay Weitz, who runs the Democratic Club of Greater Boynton, said people are being tugged from both sides.
"There are people that feel strongly both ways," he said. "Rep. Slosberg is kind of his own worst enemy. It escalated far
beyond what is should have, this feud."
Slosberg continues to exacerbate tensions with local Democrats. He angered Aaronson last week by handing out door
hangers that promise emergency hurricane help to seniors, plastered with Slosberg's picture and campaign information.
Aaronson recently won $50,000 in county backing for similar door hangers, to be distributed by the Area Agency on
Aging, a nonprofit that focuses on health issues for seniors.
"Irving is self-promoting," Aaronson said. "He is doing things to confuse everybody else, and that's not the way you
help people in a hurricane."
Aaronson and other Democratic leaders say Slosberg created his own political problems. He could have kept the peace
with local Democrats and breezed to a primary victory, Aaronson said. In one high-profile example, Slosberg got boot-
ed off the Health Care District board for running what critics called misleading ads about his role in the agency.
Political insider Andre Fladell summarized the race as a contest between Slosberg and Aaronson and Wexler -- all
popular politicians in the district. "It's three guys who are genuinely liked in a civil war," he said.
Staff Writer Peter Franceschina contributed to this story.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

GRAPHIC: PHOTO
Slosberg


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Page 437



Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune News Service


Slosberg brushes his critics aside as campaign heats up



LENGTH: 926 words

Jul. 16--He's at war with his own party, an outcast among some of his legislative colleagues and an increasingly polar-
izing figure in the politically active senior communities in southwestern Palm Beach County.
people, round two."
challenger, the primary winner is all but assured the seat in November.
In many cases Slosberg once had these endorsements, only to lose them because of what his critics call disloyalty to the
party and self-promoting behavior.
Famous for serving deli food at his campaign events, Slosberg is stepping up the gifts he lavishes on voters. He took
paid for the movie when the condo association wouldn't let him hold a campaign event in the community the result,
Page 438
Slosberg brushes his critics aside as campaign heats up South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale) July 16, 2006
Sunday

"He has created this Slosberg meal plan, through which people are able to dine on corned beef sandwiches and Chinese
food," he said. "I'm sure the food tastes very good, but I think the idea of trying to buy the election is distasteful."


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

ACC-NO: 20060716-FL-0716-Slosberg-brushes-his-critics-aside-as-campaign-heats-up


JOURNAL-CODE: FL

Page 439



Palm Beach Edition

SLOSBERG BRUSHES HIS CRITICS ASIDE;
LEGISLATOR'S BEHAVIOR DURING CAMPAIGN RILES FORMER AL-
LIES

BYLINE: Josh Hafenbrack Staff Writer; Staff Writer Peter Franceschina contributed to this story


LENGTH: 874 words

He's at war with his own party, an outcast among some of his legislative colleagues and an increasingly polarizing fig-
ure in the politically active senior communities in southwestern Palm Beach County.
people, round two."
challenger, the primary winner is all but assured the seat in November.
In many cases Slosberg once had these endorsements, only to lose them because of what his critics call disloyalty to the
party and self-promoting behavior.
Famous for serving deli food at his campaign events, Slosberg is stepping up the gifts he lavishes on voters. He took
Page 440
SLOSBERG BRUSHES HIS CRITICS ASIDE; LEGISLATOR'S BEHAVIOR DURING CAMPAIGN RILES
FORMER ALLIES Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) July 16, 2006 Sunday

paid for the movie when the condo association wouldn't let him hold a campaign event in the community -- the result,
"He has created this Slosberg meal plan, through which people are able to dine on corned beef sandwiches and Chinese
food," he said. "I'm sure the food tastes very good, but I think the idea of trying to buy the election is distasteful."


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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Page 441



June 5, 2006 Monday
FINAL EDITION

CONTROVERSIES OPEN SLOSBERG TO ATTACK



LENGTH: 964 words

Democratic state Rep. Irving Slosberg's tenure on the Palm Beach County Health Care District board has roughly paral-
leled his fortunes with the local Democratic establishment.
Both are in jeopardy.
Slosberg's appointment to the health-care board, a reminder of a brief period when he was a member of his party's In
Crowd, appears likely to be yanked Tuesday by county commissioners upset with the way he used the appointment in a
printed ad for his state Senate campaign.
Slosberg's Senate bid, once considered a slam dunk against first-time candidate Ted Deutch, also faces intensifying op-
position from elected officials in his own party, including U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler and County Commissioner Burt
Aaronson.
Slosberg's critics say he's a self-promoter and not a team player. He says his foes are trying to punish him, both on
Tuesday and in his Senate primary, for refusing to be part of a local Democratic "machine," the term Slosberg uses to
describe prominent Democrats who are critical of him.
"It's Irv versus the Democratic machine, Round 2. I beat them the first time," Slosberg said.
Indeed, Slosberg was a consummate political outsider who defied the party establishment in 2000 and won his state
House seat by defeating an incumbent and close Aaronson ally in a Democratic primary.
But Slosberg hasn't always raged against the machine.
His 2004 appointment to the health-care board came at a time when he had formed a strange-bedfellows political alli-
ance with Aaronson. Aaronson that year faced a Democratic primary challenge for his county commission seat. His
reelection campaign got a big boost when former foe Slosberg endorsed him.
It was Aaronson who nominated Slosberg to the health-care board in August 2004 and helped him get appointed on a
4-3 vote.
And Aaronson was among the Democratic elites who signed up last year to endorse Slosberg's 2006 Senate campaign.
But Aaronson recently withdrew his support and is backing Deutch.
"Irv has had a complete turnaround from what Irv was two years ago. He is now, in my opinion, starting fights within
the Democratic Party," Aaronson said, referring to Slosberg's support for a primary challenger to state Rep. Richard
Machek, D-Delray Beach, and his public clashes with Wexler.
The seeds of Slosberg's troubles with Wexler were planted last year when the congressman quietly agreed to endorse
Slosberg's Senate bid, then had second thoughts. Wexler said the decision to withdraw his endorsement wasn't directed
at Slosberg in particular but reflected a general desire not to get embroiled in local primary races.
Page 442
CONTROVERSIES OPEN SLOSBERG TO ATTACK Palm Beach Post (Florida) June 5, 2006 Monday

Then came Hurricane Wilma, which made Slosberg a media star. Slosberg toted a bullhorn through senior condo com-
munities as he delivered ice and water and brought doctors and nurses to shut-ins. Cameras from CNN and other media
outlets were frequently in tow.
Slosberg said he didn't seek the publicity, but critics accused him of grandstanding. The manager of the huge Kings
Point retirement community called Slosberg disruptive and had him removed from the premises. Slosberg also was ex-
cluded from a post-hurricane meeting with Kings Point residents and other elected officials and their representatives.
Still, most of the criticism of Slosberg was confined to political insiders. That changed in March, when a public feud
erupted between Slosberg and Wexler.
It started when Slosberg and Wexler aide Wendi Lipsich had a discussion about Wexler's withdrawn endorsement. Lip-
sich said Slosberg repeatedly called her boss a vulgar name. Slosberg denied doing it. Wexler accused Slosberg of lying
and demanded an apology. Slosberg refused.
Their battle has escalated during the past three months, with Wexler accusing Slosberg of being a "Republican agent"
for encouraging primary challengers to other Democrats and noting that Slosberg voted for a GOP-drafted reapportion-
ment plan in 2002.
Slosberg said he's a loyal Democrat, but "Democrats are getting buried in Tallahassee. I want to shake things up."
The latest controversy came last month when Slosberg, one of seven appointees to the health-care district board, ran a
campaign ad describing himself as "the health care commissioner."
After commissioners began talk of removing Slosberg from the board, Slosberg launched a counteroffensive, calling the
district a "fiefdom" that has been "hoarding" taxpayer money by keeping an average cash balance of about $180 million
last year. District officials say the balance reflects policy decisions by the board to set aside money for several capital
projects, including a new Glades hospital, and to maintain significant cash reserves in case of emergencies.
State Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres, who endorsed Slosberg last year but also calls Deutch a good candidate, said
Slosberg's recent controversies are threatening what once looked like an easy path to a Senate seat.
"I don't think it has been helpful to Irv to have the controversies involving Congressman Wexler and the health care
district," Aronberg said. "Congressman Wexler is the most popular elected official in that district."
Others note that, although Slosberg beat the Democratic establishment in his 2000 House race, Wexler wasn't an active
player. Many Democrats now expect Wexler to become engaged in the Slosberg-Deutch Senate race the way he did in
defeating former Elections Supervisor Theresa LePore in 2004.
"Robert Wexler is not just liked by Democratic voters. They love him. Very few politicians can direct and transfer
votes. Robert has that ability and can affect results in this or any other local race," Democratic operative Andre Fladell
said.
Slosberg said he's not concerned.
"The community knows how hard I work at this job. I don't see any problems," Slosberg said. "The machine just wants
to make me problems."


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


RICHARD GRAULICH/Staff Photographer State Rep. Irving Slosberg drew criticism for calling himself 'the health
care commissioner,' the latest of several controversies he's been tied to. 42 criticize


Page 443
CONTROVERSIES OPEN SLOSBERG TO ATTACK Palm Beach Post (Florida) June 5, 2006 Monday

Page 444



June 3, 2006 Saturday
Palm Beach Edition

ALL EYES ARE ON SLOSBERG-COMMISSION SHOWDOWN

BYLINE: ANTHONY MAN COMMENTARY

SECTION: LOCAL; ANTHONY MAN COMMENTARY; Pg. 1B

LENGTH: 678 words

Political activist Andre Fladell sees Tuesday's expected showdown between
Palm Beach County commissioners and state Rep. Irv Slosberg, D-Boca Raton, as
"the best ticket in Palm Beach County."

Better than a Broadway show. A hotter ticket than Celine Dion in Vegas.

It all stems from Slosberg's knack for irritating many, perhaps most, of
his elected Democratic colleagues.

He's been openly feuding with several in recent months as he grabs
attention for his bid an open Florida Senate seat.

The issue of the day concerns his seat on the board of the county Health
Care District.

His term on the board, set to expire Sept. 30, was jeopardized after he put
out a glossy Senate campaign advertisement that hyped his role on the board.
That enraged County Commissioner Jeff Koons, who decided Slosberg must go.

Slosberg responded by going on the offensive, accusing the health care
district of accumulating bloated cash reserves while failing to adequately
serve the county's elderly residents. He said removal is an attempt to silence
him.

He also said Koons was playing politics. Regardless of whether that's true
-- Koons denies it -- politics is the only reason Slosberg is on the health
board in the first place.

His appointment was a political maneuver orchestrated by Commissioner Burt
Aaronson and supported by Koons.

In 2004, Aaronson was facing primary and general election challengers and
forged a political alliance with Slosberg. Aaronson persuaded a commission
majority to replace Republican Property Appraiser Gary Nikolits with Slosberg.
Page 445
ALL EYES ARE ON SLOSBERG-COMMISSION SHOWDOWN Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) June 3,
2006 Saturday

The three commission Democrats -- Aaronson, Koons and Addie Greene -- voted
to replace Nikolits with Slosberg. Republican Tony Masilotti supplied the
fourth vote. Nikolits' longtime executive assistant is Jeanne Ray, mother of
Commissioner Mary McCarty, who is a bitter political enemy of Masilotti's.

Within days of that vote, Greene said she regretted going along, calling it
"one of the biggest mistakes I've made in my political career."

Aaronson supports Koons' attempt to remove Slosberg.

There's even more political irony at play. The leading candidates to
replace Slosberg are two of his chief foes in the legislative delegation,
state Reps. Susan Bucher, D-Royal Palm Beach, and Richard Machek, D-Delray
Beach.

Other names circulating are Nikolits, who was ousted in the move that
installed Slosberg, state Rep. Anne Gannon, D-Delray Beach, and Clerk of the
Circuit Court Sharon Bock.

Deutch gains support

Gannon and Machek endorsed Slosberg's Democratic primary opponent, Ted
Deutch, this week.

"He has proven himself to be a team player, which is what we need," Machek
said.

Slosberg downplayed the endorsements, labeling them part of the Democratic
establishment's attempt to undo him.

"We fought Round 1 in 2000 and I beat 'em, and now it's time for Irv
Slosberg versus the machine Round 2 in 2006. Now I've got to fight them again
to get promoted," he said.

The Deutch campaign is expected to roll out more endorsements in the next
couple of weeks, including South County's most powerful Democrats: U.S. Rep.
Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton, and Aaronson.

Returning money

Early Friday morning, the campaign of U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fort Pierce,
put out an e-mail alert that his Democratic challenger Tim Mahoney took a
questionable $2,100 campaign contribution.

The information originated with the Stockton (Calif.) Record. In examining
a California candidate's finances, the newspaper reported Mahoney is one of
only two candidates to take money from M. Yaqub Mirza, a suspect investigated
for allegedly financing al-Qaida and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Mirza has said he is innocent and hasn't been charged with any crime.

Only 12 hours after the Foley drew attention to the report, Mahoney's
campaign said he'd "restore the public trust" by taking the favored route of
politicians who want to distance themselves from potentially sketchy money:
donating it to charity.
Page 446
ALL EYES ARE ON SLOSBERG-COMMISSION SHOWDOWN Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) June 3,
2006 Saturday

Anthony Man can be reached at aman@sun-sentinel.com or 561-228-5501.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH



All Rights Reserved
Page 447



Palm Beach Edition

TRIAL BALLOON ON DROPPING PARTY LABELS NEEDS MORE AIR



LENGTH: 697 words

Outnumbered by the Democrats, Palm Beach County Republicans want to make
some elected offices nonpartisan for an obvious reason: It would help them win
more elections.

Most controversial is removing the Democratic and Republican labels from
county commissioners.

"There's nothing partisan -- Democratic or Republican -- about roads or
zoning or hurricane relief," said Republican Commissioner Mary McCarty. "Party
affiliation just causes more trouble and more stress and tension than it
should because it has nothing to do with our jobs."

She's seeking re-election this year -- for the last time because of term
limits -- and the change couldn't be implemented in time to affect her.

Andre Fladell, a Democratic activist who, nevertheless, is close to
McCarty, disagrees.

He said county commissioners are like state legislators and members of
Congress. They legislate on policy matters, and that often means applying a
philosophical framework.

And Democratic Commissioner Burt Aaronson sees it as pure Republican
politics.

"It all sounds very good, and it's a very noble thing that we should all be
nonpartisan. Why not make the presidential race as well nonpartisan, the
governor's race nonpartisan?" he asked. "Republicans like to change things
when Democrats are in the majority, but they never want to change anything
when the Republicans are in the majority."

If commissioners place a referendum on the ballot this fall, and voters
approve, it would go into effect in 2008.

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TRIAL BALLOON ON DROPPING PARTY LABELS NEEDS MORE AIR Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida)

That creates one obvious beneficiary: Commissioner Warren Newell. He's
eligible to run for a final term in 2008. But he squeaked back into office in
2004, and that tight race and influx of Democrats to his district make him
appear vulnerable.

He'd like to see nonpartisan elections, and either Newell or a colleague
acting on his behalf is likely to bring it up soon for commission
consideration.

"What Warren learned in his race is people were voting straight party and
not on the person," McCarty said.

But Fladell said that when a long-serving commissioner such as Newell runs
for re-election, it's a referendum on performance, and a nonpartisan election
might not help him much.

Fladell parts with his party on the question of nonpartisan elections for
countywide offices that handle law enforcement, administer elections, assess
property or collect taxes.

He said nonpartisan races ultimately would produce better government, even
though they'd be bad for his party.

Republican County Chairman Sid Dinerstein said he likes the idea of
nonpartisan countywide elections, and acknowledged some self-interest.

"I kind of come down on the side of nonpartisan races, but only become were
the minority party," he said.

The latest push comes from Republican Pete Carney of Delray Beach,
appointed tax collector last month by Republican Gov. Jeb Bush to replace
longtime Democratic Tax Collector John K. Clark, who resigned.

It wouldn't help Carney in the short-term, because an election this fall
will pick the person who fills the last two years of Clark's term. It would
help Carney if he's either running for re-election or attempting a comeback
for a full term in 2008.

Voters in 2002 made the property appraiser, sheriff and elections
supervisor nonpartisan, and the 2004 candidates for those jobs ran without
party labels.

If it's on the ballot, Dinerstein said, it would pass easily.

And McCarty said the fastest-growing group of voters isn't registering in
either party. "The votes are telling us they're not interested in party
labels."

Counteroffensive

State Rep. Irv Slosberg, D-Boca Raton, wants to save his seat on the county
Health Care District Board.

Democratic County Commissioner Jeff Koons, who helped get Slosberg
appointed, now wants to replace him. Koons sees Slosberg as using the position
for political purposes.
Page 449
TRIAL BALLOON ON DROPPING PARTY LABELS NEEDS MORE AIR Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida)

Slosberg's supporters might turn out in force at the next County Commission
meeting on June 6.

"We're going to be there, me and some of the people who I represent ..., "
Slosberg said. "Other than that, it's going to be a surprise."



LANGUAGE: ENGLISH



All Rights Reserved
Page 450



Palm Beach Edition

MASILOTTI'S CREDIBILITY PUT TO TEST;
LAND DEAL MAY REDUCE HIS STATURE AS COUNTY OFFICIAL

BYLINE: Patty Pensa Staff Writer


LENGTH: 786 words

With federal investigators zeroing in on a complicated and controversial
land deal that netted County Commission Chairman Tony Masilotti's family $1.3
million, the usually commanding Republican leader is expected to finish his
term politically broken, officials and political insiders said.

His involvement in a government land deal has cut into his credibility and
his stature as the point man on the commission, officials and insiders say.

Federal officials on Thursday subpoenaed documents about a South Florida
Water Management District purchase in Martin County that Masilotti reportedly
pushed for environmental preservation. Masilotti's ex-wife, Susan, profited
though her name was not directly connected to the 3,500-acre sale, court and
land records showed.

"Credibility is a critical issue for an elected official. When you lose
credibility, your power evaporates," said Democratic activist Andre Fladell,
who is also close to Republican commissioners.

Masilotti's prowess will be deflated by distance as political figures
naturally back away from him, Fladell said. Earlier this month, Masilotti
announced he would not seek re-election this fall, a move that satisfied
Republicans unhappy the longtime politician didn't fully answer questions
about the land deal. To be sure, a core base of supporters remains unmoved by
accusations centering on the 48-year-old insurance agent.

Masilotti, whose seat stretches from Wellington to the Glades, will finish
his term in January.

"His answers were not complete enough and when you're in public office,
that just brings more questions," said Sid Dinerstein, county Republican Party
chairman. "[But] until it becomes obvious to him and everybody else that he
can no longer have the trust of his constituents, he's still in the
Page 451
MASILOTTI'S CREDIBILITY PUT TO TEST; LAND DEAL MAY REDUCE HIS STATURE AS COUNTY
OFFICIAL Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) May 27, 2006 Saturday

benefit-of-the-doubt area."

The FBI and Iternal Revenue Service are investigating the deal that
Masilotti has brushed aside, saying he did nothing wrong. Details of Susan
Masilotti's involvement were included in court filings in the couple's January
divorce case.

Federal officials declined to comment on the case. Water Management
district spokesman Roberto Fabricio said the agency would "cooperate fully,
100 percent, maybe 200 percent" with whatever investigators request.

The investigation comes two weeks after West Palm Beach City Commissioner
Ray Liberti surrendered to federal authorities, who had charged him with mail
fraud and obstruction of justice for an alleged scheme to profit from sales of
a nightclub and massage parlor.

Like Liberti, Masilotti's investigation would likely center on the
inappropriate use of a public office, specifically for financial gain, said
defense attorney Robert Gershman. There appear to be tax issues, such as tax
evasion or non-payment of taxes, because the IRS is involved, said Gershman,
who does not represent Masilotti but has been hired by other public officials.

The Masilotti probe might just be part of a string of future investigations
of public officials: "The grand jury may be looking at a whole bunch of people
-- city commissioners, county commissioners," Gershman said. "Liberti may have
been the little bump that got them going."

County Commissioner Burt Aaronson, a Democrat, said he hoped Masilotti
could finish his term with dignity.

So far, the stress of his situation has not been evident though Aaronson
expects Masilotti, as a lame duck, might let his attendance at commission
meetings slip.

Often criticized for poor attendance, Masilotti had improved until
recently. The day he announced he wouldn't be running for re-election, he
failed to show up for the commission meeting. This week, he left meetings
early.

"It certainly has to be a weight on him," Aaronson said. "Constituents lose
faith in government officials when there are any negatives. ... I'm sad that
when this happens, the public perception of politicians in general is
tainted."

Masilotti, though, has won some strong supporters during his eight years as
a commissioner. In Pahokee, officials plan to throw a "We love you, Tony"
party sometime in the fall, before he leaves office, Mayor J.P. Sasser said.

The controversy around the land deal has not proved to be a distraction for
Masilotti, Sasser suggested. Last week, the two talked about a new regional
water plant there. Sasser is concerned the Glades communities will suffer if
Masilotti's successor is more interested in the eastern communities in the
district.

"Masilotti is the first representation we've had at the county that even
cared about us," Sasser said. "The man can come to the Glades and he's treated
Page 452
MASILOTTI'S CREDIBILITY PUT TO TEST; LAND DEAL MAY REDUCE HIS STATURE AS COUNTY
OFFICIAL Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) May 27, 2006 Saturday

like he's from the Glades."

Patty Pensa can be reached at ppensa@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6609.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

GRAPHIC: PHOTO
INVESTIGATED: Tony Masilotti's role in a water district land deal may affect his power in the county, officials and
insiders say. File photo/Mark Randall


All Rights Reserved
Page 453



May 9, 2006 Tuesday
FINAL EDITION

JUDGE CONTESTS EVOLVE TO NO-HOLDS-BARRED



LENGTH: 1092 words

For years, judicial races - when they happen at all - have been staid affairs with smiling candidates monotonously recit-
ing where they went to law school, how many children they have and how they want to give back to the community.
The understandable reaction from voters?
Yawn.
This year, even as most judges are expected to waltz back into office unopposed, judicial races are shaping up to be
anything but boring.
Although their tactics and motivations differ dramatically, Democratic Party leaders and divorced women who feel
they've been wronged by the courts are working to force the four candidates vying for the same seat to drop any pre-
tense of civility and start acting like politicians.
"We want the gloves to come off," said Andre Fladell, a south county Democratic activist. "Negative campaigning -
good, bad or indifferent - is informative."
Shelia Jaffe, a former president of the south county chapter of the National Organization for Women, agreed that voters
need more information about judicial candidates who hold people's families, money and sometimes lives in their hands.
"People don't really pay attention to judges," she said. "Once they get in there's no accountability."
For the past three years, a NOW spinoff group, dubbed Families Against Court Travesties, has been watching judges
work and developing strong opinions about which ones should stay and which should go.
One of the judges on its hit list is Palm Beach County Circuit Court Judge Art Wroble, who was elected without opposi-
tion in 2000 and is up for reelection this year.
At a meeting of the Voters Coalition last week, a member of Jaffe's group that advocates on behalf of women in divorce
cases handed out a flier reading, "Judge Wroble: Please Resign Now."
"Yeah, we're not shy," Jaffe said of the strongly worded missive.
From talking with members of the group, Wroble said it seems they dislike all judges who preside over divorce cases.
Jaffe acknowledged that Wroble isn't the county's worst family court judge. But sadly, she said, he's the only one who
faces opposition so far.
Qualifying for the 13 circuit and four county court judgeships that are up for grabs this year began Monday and runs
through Friday. Although one circuit court and one county court judge are retiring, only one candidate has filed to fill
the open seats.
Page 454
JUDGE CONTESTS EVOLVE TO NO-HOLDS-BARRED Palm Beach Post (Florida) May 9, 2006 Tuesday

Attorney Theodore Herold, who filed to run against County Court Judge Nelson Bailey, withdrew from the race. Her-
old, who will be 67 on election day, would have faced mandatory retirement at age 70, three years before the six-year
term ends.
Although there is talk that other sitting judges may face opposition by week's end, most say it would be difficult to
mount a successful campaign for the Sept. 5 election.
Consider the candidacy of attorney Robin Rosenberg, the only announced candidate to replace retiring Circuit Court
Judge Roger Colton. Since she entered the race last year, she has raised $73,984 and invested another $33,494 of her
own money in the contest, according to campaign finance reports through March 31.
Her campaign war chest, political connections and qualifications have scared away any would-be challengers.
Cop-turned-attorney Kenneth Lemoine initially filed to run for Colton's seat. But when Rosenberg surfaced, he jumped
into Wroble's race.
Rosenberg, wife of attorney Michael McAuliffe, once heralded as State Attorney Barry Krischer's heir apparent, was
deemed unbeatable, Lemoine said.
"She's a female, she's Jewish and a Democrat," he said. "Those three things in Palm Beach County almost guarantee
you're going to win something."
Jerald Beer and David French, the two other candidates in the race, both said, with varying degrees of fervor, that they
want Wroble off the bench.
Beer was less vociferous, saying his background as a traffic court magistrate and an arbitrator piqued his interest in be-
coming a judge. He then mentioned a recent Palm Beach County Bar Association poll in which Wroble received the
lowest rating of all 47 circuit and county court judges.
"Apparently his judicial performance leaves something to be desired," Beer said.
French, on the other hand, said his only reason for running is to get rid of Wroble.
"He's the wrong man in the wrong job and it has to be corrected," he said. "The man has been absolutely atrocious."
French is also critical of his other opponents. He scoffs at Beer's contention that his work as a traffic magistrate has
prepared him to be a circuit court judge.
"That's like saying I'm a meter maid so I'm qualified to be on the SWAT team," French said.
Lemoine has been a lawyer for only 10 years, French said.
French, 56, touts his experience as a certified trial lawyer. Beer, 52, is a tax lawyer. Lemoine, 44, has a general practice.
Fladell, the south county Democratic leader, said he is glad French is speaking out. Such debate, he said, is healthy and
allows voters to make informed choices.
For too long, he said, candidates for the bench have hidden behind judicial canons and refused to answer tough ques-
tions.
In recent decade, rules, set by the Florida Supreme Court, have changed significantly and candidates now are allowed to
answer questions about their views as long as they make it clear that, as a judge, their duty is to be fair, impartial and
uphold the law.
Despite French's fiery rhetoric, however, Fladell and other Democratic leaders throughout the county said last week
they are going to endorse only incumbents in the upcoming judicial races. Their aim is to force challengers to push for
even fewer restrictions on what judicial candidates can say and do, he said.
Others suspect it is just a way for the clubs and political action committees to endorse Democrats in what are supposed
to be nonpartisan races.
But whatever the motives of Fladell and other Democrats, most court watchers said they are not surprised that judicial
races are joining the rough-and-tumble world of politics.
Wroble, 58, who dismissed his low ratings in the bar poll, saying it's just a popularity contest, said it appears he is a
target of what most predict is the end of the time-honored county tradition of letting sitting judges be.
Page 455
JUDGE CONTESTS EVOLVE TO NO-HOLDS-BARRED Palm Beach Post (Florida) May 9, 2006 Tuesday

Theodore Leopold, president of the county bar association, agreed that sitting judges are no longer safe.
"We're entering a new phase in our county that Dade and Broward counties have already gone through," he said. As the
population grows, fewer feel any allegiance to those who have served.
"The loyalty among attorneys of not contesting sitting judges will slowly and surely go by the wayside," he said.
- jane_musgrave@pbpost.com


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

1. Judge Art Wroble (mug) 2. Robin Rosenberg (mug) 3. Jerald Beer (mug) 4. David French (mug) 5. Kenneth Lem-
oine (mug)


Page 456



Palm Beach Edition

DELRAY LANDMARK GETS NEW OWNER

BYLINE: Erika Slife Staff writer


LENGTH: 403 words


Every time a hurricane raged over Boston's on the Beach, owner Perry
DonFrancisco waited in his third-floor office, keeping watch over the
restaurant he'd built his life around.

Boston's, a must for any Delray Beach visitor, was where DonFrancisco began
as a bartender while attending graduate school in 1980. He became manager and
then co-owner before the decade ended. This week, 26 years later, DonFrancisco
and his partner, Robert Kenney, sold the restaurant to Delray Beach-based
Ocean Properties.

"The game plan is to keep it like it is today," said Tom McMurrain, vice
president of Ocean Properties. All 175 employees -- cooks, hostesses, servers
-- will keep their jobs.

However, the man who hung every picture in the restaurant will be missed.
He is considered the heart of the operation where a customer could find more
than an ocean view, good food and a cold beer.

"It's a place that was built with a lot of affection and a lot of dignity.
You don't walk in, get fed and leave," said Andre Fladell, a 30-year resident
and close friend of DonFrancisco's. "It was Perry's larger house and everybody
knew that. It's an exceptional place."

It was in DonFrancisco's third-floor office where Mayor Jeff Perlman
debated running for office.

"He told me: Ì'm your friend for life. I knew you before you were mayor,
when you were a newspaper kid. I'll be your friend after the ride is over,'"
said Perlman, a former newspaper reporter.

DonFrancisco co-founded the Delray Citizens for Delray Police in 1986. He's
active in the Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce and holiday toy drives. Perlman
Page 457
DELRAY LANDMARK GETS NEW OWNER Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) May 4, 2006 Thursday

estimates DonFrancisco and his business have contributed at least $1 million
to philanthropic causes over the years, including giving scholarships for the
children of city police and firefighters.

But DonFrancisco credits Boston's success to others.

"Employees are commended here. The city of Delray Beach understands how
appreciative we are to do business here. And it was a wonderful opportunity,"
said the Worcester, Mass., native.The new owners took over Monday.
DonFrancisco will stay on board during the transition as a consultant. He
plans to remain in Delray Beach and continue with his charities. "I'm
excited," he said. "But also there is some tremendous history and memories
that I will carry with me the rest of my life."

Erika Slife can be reached at eslife@sun-sentinel.com or at 561-243-6690.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


All Rights Reserved
Page 458



Palm Beach Edition

TAX COLLECTOR VACANCY GENERATES A LOT OF INTEREST



LENGTH: 691 words

As word spread this week that Tax Collector John K. Clark would resign from
office in time for the election of a replacement this fall, talk turned to the
political dominos.

The possible candidacy of state Rep. Anne Gannon, D-Delray Beach, who said
she's thinking about running, would set off a chain reaction by opening her
seat in the state House of Representatives.

Harriet Lerman, a former Maine state representative, is so interested in
the seat that she's considered challenging Gannon in the Democratic primary.
Andre Fladell, a South County Democratic player, said Lerman would have close
to an incumbent's strength if Gannon isn't in the race.

Lerman has high name recognition from her narrow 2004 loss to County
Commissioner Warren Newell. If the Democrats had come up with more money for
her campaign, chances are good she would have won. Losing a commission seat
doesn't mean political death. Just ask U.S. Reps. Mark Foley, R-Fort Pierce,
and Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton, both of whom lost commission races and
prospered politically.

Other possibilities are Joseph Abruzzo and Mark Alan Siegel, both of whom
had explored running last year when Gannon was running for a state Senate
seat. Abruzzo has since decided to challenge Republican County Commissioner
Mary McCarty, but could easily move back to the House race. Siegel, who served
in the New York Legislature from 1975-90, opted out once Gannon decided to
seek re-election.

Harris still standing

It was the friendliest of possible venues: the monthly meeting of the Palm
Beach County Republican Party. Yet the Q&A for Jamie Miller showed continuing
unease about the prospects for U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris' campaign to unseat
Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson.

Miller is Harris' campaign manager. His midweek appearance was the same day
that rumors about a Harris withdrawal were so strong that the candidate
Page 459
TAX COLLECTOR VACANCY GENERATES A LOT OF INTEREST Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) March
11, 2006 Saturday

herself spoke out in an attempt to quash them.

She's been receiving a barrage of negative publicity because of allegations
a defense contractor illegally funneled money to her 2004 congressional
campaign. Miller defended Harris integrity and suggested Republicans get
information by signing up for campaign e-mail alerts rather than relying on
news reports.

When local Republicans said they'd like to see more of the candidate on the
campaign trail, Miller said she'd visit every county at least twice by the
primary. But, he acknowledged, fund-raising is the priority, especially as the
campaign capitalizes on the fame from her role as Florida secretary of state
in the aftermath of the 2000 presidential election.

"Obviously with her name ID throughout the country, she spends a good deal
of her time outside the state," Miller said.

He rejected the notion that Democrats would be energized by Harris' role in
making George W. Bush president after the disputed election.

"That is just hogwash," he said. "The more they [Democrats] try to stir
their base up with anger, the more chance we have of doing well."

Both sides I

Delray Beach City Commission candidates Fred Fetzer and Nick Loeb are both
Republicans, and the county party is staying out of the fray. But Party
Chairman Sid Dinerstein has given money to both.

Dinerstein said he gave Loeb $250 as a courtesy because he was a county
party trustee last year. That honor goes to someone who gives the party at
least $5,000. (Loeb didn't renew for 2006.)

When Fetzer entered, Dinerstein said figured he better give him $250. "I
didn't want it to look like I was picking sides."

Both sides II

Public relations agent Barry Epstein is a South County fixture most often
seen with Democrats. So it wasn't a surprise to see him Monday morning at a
campaign event for congressional candidate and state Sen. Ron Klein, D-Boca
Raton.

It was a bit surprising to see him just an hour later at Vice President
Dick Cheney's event for the man Klein is trying to defeat, U.S. Rep. Clay
Shaw, R-Fort Lauderdale.

"I work both sides of the street," he explained. "I'm a friend of Clay
Shaw. I'm a friend of Ron Klein."



Page 460
TAX COLLECTOR VACANCY GENERATES A LOT OF INTEREST Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) March
11, 2006 Saturday

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH



All Rights Reserved
Page 461



FINAL EDITION

GREENE'S LEVERAGING OF SCRIPPS VOTE WINS PRAISE FROM RI-
VALS



LENGTH: 1055 words

Even erstwhile foe Maude Ford Lee phoned Palm Beach County Commissioner Addie Greene with congratulations.
Rival James Henry "Hank" Harper Jr. was complimentary. So was sometime critic Mikel Jones.
Greene's unapologetic show-me-the-money-for-minority-business approach to deciding where to put a Scripps Research
Institute campus drew some criticism.
But, her Tuesday vote - and the $5 million or more she's now positioned to steer toward minority businesses and pro-
grams - drew applause from local black political leaders, including those who have had differences with Greene.
It was probably the most consequential vote cast by a black commissioner since Palm Beach County elected its first
black board member in 1990.
With her six white colleagues divided, Greene effectively decided where the heavily subsidized biotech giant would go.
She declared that three competing sites were about equal, and she chose a north-county location after developer George
de Guardiola promised $5 million over five years to be spent largely as Greene directs for minority initiatives.
De Guardiola's offer struck some as vote-buying.
"To have a developer stand up at the hearing and announce that he had collected $5 million worth of checks from other
developers to give to the commissioner to distribute to other African-American leaders was unseemly," said Boca Raton
Mayor Steven Abrams.
Boca Raton tried to woo Greene with a $4 million pot for minority initiatives.
That proposal was "more accountable," Abrams said, because it specified in writing how the money could be spent and
which entities would be represented on a board overseeing it.
Others said Greene was simply following standard commission operating procedure.
"Addie did nothing different than her white counterparts have been doing for years," said environmentalist Rosa Du-
rando, a longtime critic of developers' influence on commissioners.
"She had to represent her constituents. . . . I think all these commissioners do the same thing," said state Rep. Priscilla
Taylor, D-West Palm Beach, whose predominantly black legislative district includes many of Greene's constituents.
Lee, who became the county's first black commissioner in 1990 and served until Greene beat her in a bitter Democratic
primary in 2000, said Greene effectively represented commission District 7, where 47 percent of voters are black and 5
percent are Hispanic.
Lee said she never cast the deciding vote on any issue as big as Scripps.
Page 462
GREENE'S LEVERAGING OF SCRIPPS VOTE WINS PRAISE FROM RIVALS Palm Beach Post (Florida) February
19, 2006 Sunday

"This is, I think, the biggest issue that is going to give some real opportunity to grow some businesses in our communi-
ty," said Lee, who met with Greene a few days before the vote to urge her to push for money for minority businesses.
"That is the beauty of single-member districts. At least we are sitting at the table to make decisions," Lee said.
She was referring to the voter-approved 1988 measure that scrapped the old system of electing commissioners county-
wide. Since 1990, each of the seven commissioners has been elected only by the voters in his or her district.
The change from at-large to district elections was pushed by businesses seeking to limit the influence of south-county
Democratic condo groups and by blacks hoping to gain representation by carving out a favorable district for a minority
candidate.
Opponents of district elections predicted commissioners would focus on narrow, parochial concerns rather than the
good of the county as a whole.
That's what happened in the Scripps vote, said Harold Ostrow of the nonpartisan Voters Coalition.
"Each commissioner voted for what they thought was best for their constituents," Ostrow said. "I don't know if they
took a countywide view of things."
Greene said she did both.
"Scripps is in Palm Beach County for everyone," she said. "I did what I do best - work for my constituents."
The preeminent power broker under the old countywide voting format is a friend of Greene who praised the way she
used the new system to zero in on the concerns of her district.
"Addie represented her constituent base as good as it's ever been represented," said Delray Beach Democratic activist
Andre Fladell, who has helped Greene's campaigns and talks with her frequently.
Fladell said he would have preferred a south-county site for Scripps. But in discussing the issue with Greene, he said,
"my concern was that she get the best possible benefits for her constituent base."
Fladell was so successful at organizing south-county condo voters in the 1980s, often in support of measures that lim-
ited development, that business leaders complained the south had too much influence in the countywide commission
elections.
That led to the 1988 referendum creating district elections.
With the district format, Lee won three elections by focusing on minority issues. In 2000, Greene unseated Lee in part
by courting white voters in District 7.
But she, like Lee, has been identified primarily with minority concerns.
Those issues and Scripps began to intersect a few weeks ago when it became apparent Greene might be the swing vote
in choosing an alternative to the county's litigation-stalled Mecca Farms site.
As representatives of three alternate sites began paying more attention to Greene, she made it clear that her vote would
go the suitor whose offer of minority economic development incentives she liked best. She assembled a six-member
"think tank" to advise her.
Mikel Jones, the top local aide to U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar, said before the Scripps vote that Greene had
"failed the African-American community" by choosing advisers who were not "the best and the brightest."
Jones and Hastings have had a sometimes-rocky relationship with Greene. Hastings opposed Greene when she was a
state legislator and when she challenged Lee in 2000.
Since then, Hastings and Greene appear to have patched up their relationship. Jones sounded conciliatory as well after
the Scripps vote.
"I thought Addie Greene did OK. She did get something out of the deal. She did leverage it," Jones said.
Another past critic, Hank Harper, also commended Greene. Harper, a former state representative who unsuccessfully
challenged Greene in a 2004 commission race, said Greene was right to insist that incentives for minorities be part of
the Scripps package.
Page 463
GREENE'S LEVERAGING OF SCRIPPS VOTE WINS PRAISE FROM RIVALS Palm Beach Post (Florida) February
19, 2006 Sunday

"I herald her for insuring that those opportunities exist," Harper said.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


GRAPHIC: PHOTO (C)
Addie Greene (mug)


Page 464



January 21, 2006 Saturday
Palm Beach Edition

TIME FOR GETTING FALL CAMPAIGNS UNDER WAY IS NOW



LENGTH: 689 words

Though it's only January and the spring municipal elections are ahead, it's
getting late in the 2006 cycle for candidates who still haven't started their
fall campaigns.

Candidates are already lined up for most high-profile Palm Beach County
races, but there are still handfuls of potential contenders and power brokers
trying to match offices to office-seekers.

"Everybody's talking and talking, and everybody's trying to figure out
where they're going to land," said Andre Fladell, a south county Democratic
activist. "But talking and landing are two different things."

SILVER PONDERING

Former one-term state Rep. Barry Silver, out of office since the 1998
election, is likely to mount another comeback attempt this year.

Recent activities such as fighting the now-abandoned state citrus canker
eradication program and helping environmentalists challenge the Mecca Farms
site for Scripps, have generated plenty of publicity for the Boca Raton
lawyer.

He said he's likely to announce a campaign to return to the Legislature by
the end of February, probably for the state House seat being vacated by state
Rep. Irv Slosberg, D-Boca Raton, who's running for state Senate. Silver said
he might instead run for the Senate seat that Slosberg wants.

He said he wants to provide a voice for those with traditional Democratic
values, and took a jab at the party's incumbents whom he views as lacking.

"Many of the people who call themselves Democrats don't live up to what the
Democratic Party's all about," he said.

POSSIBLE MCCARTY FOE

Joseph Abruzzo also plans to run for office.
Page 465
TIME FOR GETTING FALL CAMPAIGNS UNDER WAY IS NOW Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) January
21, 2006 Saturday

In the fall, Abruzzo said he'd run for the seat held by state Rep. Anne
Gannon, D-Delray Beach, regardless of whether she sought re-election. Earlier
this month, he said he was in the race for the time being but avoided
answering if that meant he was considering something else.

Democrats said one possibility is running against County Commissioner Mary
McCarty or seeking the School Board seat held by Tom Lynch, who isn't expected
to run for re-election.

He didn't want to talk about either possibility this week. "I have nothing
new to report," he said repeatedly.

The 25-year-old, who has a background working for a Chicago-based marketing
company and serving in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve, moved to the county in
1999. If he's gotten the public service bug as he suggests, running against
McCarty might make sense.

He'd be going from a hard-to-win race against Gannon to a virtually
impossible race against McCarty. But challenging Gannon would alienate many
Democrats, damaging his future prospects. By contrast, he'd earn points by
taking on McCarty, which could serve him well in 2008 when Gannon has to leave
office because of term limits.

"If Abruzzo loses to Mary, then he's ingratiated [himself] to an element of
the party. If he runs against Anne Gannon, he takes on his own leadership and
breaks his ties to the future," Fladell said.

And the party needs to put up someone against McCarty, at least for show,
said Fladell, who gets along well with the commissioner despite their party
differences. "Abruzzo's as good as anybody."

ODDS & ENDS

The county Democratic Party isn't exactly on easy street, but it survived
2005 better off financially than it's been in the past. Democrats took in
$107,000 last year and spent $136,000. Income in the fourth quarter was an
anemic $5,800.

Republicans as usual were better off, taking in $381,000 last year and
spending $394,000. The party took in $60,400 in the last quarter.

The numbers are a one-year picture, and don't count anything left over from
2004. Both parties hope to raise more during this election year.

Local Republicans get a blast from the past when former Secretary of State
Alexander Haig keynotes a big February fund-raiser. The Democrats get their
taste of what might have been when former Vice President Al Gore headlines
state party fund-raising events in Palm Beach County on March 12. Host
committee member Gannon said location and prices haven't been set.


Page 466
TIME FOR GETTING FALL CAMPAIGNS UNDER WAY IS NOW Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) January
21, 2006 Saturday

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH



All Rights Reserved
Page 467



FINAL EDITION

LAWMEN TAKE TIME FOR FRIENDLY TURF BATTLE


LENGTH: 382 words


Labor Day may have been a day off for new Boynton Beach Police Chief Matt Immler, but his keen detective instinct
was not on holiday.
The pressing case today? How his city's officers placed second in the beach relay during the annual police challenge.
"One of our guys tripped," Immler deadpanned. "We think Delray probably did something to the beach . . . I'm going to
have some of my detectives come check it out."
But a friend of Immler's son quickly found a hole in the chief's theory. "But Delray lost," said Taylor Schoenfeld, 11.
"How could they have done something?" The Boca Raton Police Department won the event.
About 100 officers of the Delray Beach, Boca Raton and Boynton Beach police departments and the Palm Beach
County Sheriff's Office took part in the good-natured games Monday. Despite the cloudy weather, friends, family and
other police employees flocked to the public beach to watch the relay and volleyball matches before heading to the res-
taurant Boston's on the Beach for basketball, weight lifting and darts.
The event, now in its 19th year, is sponsored by Delray Citizens for Delray Police and raises $3,000 to $4,000 every
year for police departments and for scholarships, said organizer Andre Fladell. Next year, Fladell said, the event may
be expanded and moved to Miller Park in Delray Beach.
Sgt. Vinnie Gray, president of the Delray Beach police union, said the good cause was the major reason he came but
couldn't deny the sense of satisfaction that came from winning the supervisors' volleyball match.
"It's nothing personal, but we all want to win," he said.
Gray said it was the second straight year the department won the event. "We're trying to continue our legacy of Delray
Beach police being the winner," he said.
Though the weather turned windy for the officers' volleyball match, it didn't bother Boca Raton police Detective Jeff
Clare, part of the winning team.
"We're Boca," he said. "We're used to playing in this. We practice quite a bit."
Officers said they enjoyed catching up with friends from other departments and members of their own agency, whom
they may have spoken to for years but never met.
"I don't see a lot of these guys most of the time," said Mike DeBree, a Delray Beach police officer. "It's nice to see them
once a year."
rani_gupta@pbpost.com


Page 468
LAWMEN TAKE TIME FOR FRIENDLY TURF BATTLE Palm Beach Post (Florida) September 6, 2005 Tuesday

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


BOB SHANLEY/Staff Photographer Delray Beach policeman Michael Swigert gets his hand on the ball as officers
from Delray and Boca Raton play Monday. Boca won the officers' volleyball match at the 19th annual police challenge,
which also included Boynton Beach police and the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office.


Page 469


US States News

August 12, 2005 Friday 6:04 AM EST

DELRAY CITIZENS FOR DELRAY POLICE PREPARES FOR 19TH AN-
NUAL LABOR DAY POLICE CHALLENGE


LENGTH: 231 words


The 19th Annual Labor Day Police Challenge, pitting Delray Beach Police versus Boca Raton Police versus Boynton
Beach Police versus the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office is set for Monday, September 5th, Labor Day, 2005.
On the Municipal Beach, in front of the Pavilion at Atlantic Avenue and A1A, the contests begin at 11:30 am with a
relay race. The challenges continue as follows:
* Volleyball Tournament at 12:00 noon
* 3 on 3 Basketball Tournament at 1:30 pm adjacent to Boston's on the Beach
* Bench Press Contest at 1:30 pm at Boston's on the Beach
* Dart Throwing Contest at 2:00 pm in Boston's on the Beach
The awards ceremony will take place at 3:00 pm in Boston's on the Beach with prize money going to the winners
along with bragging rights for another year.
Sponsors and contributors for this event are Dr. Andre Fladell, Dan Burns, Delaire Country Club, Rittenhouse Fi-
nancial, Bank of America, Palm Beach Gym, The Hamlet Country Club, Walmart, ICC Capital Management and Bos-
ton's on the Beach.
This week's issue of Sporting News included a major article on Boston, Mass. selected as America's leading sports
town. In the article, Boston's on the Beach in Delray was mentioned as a "Boston fan's hotspot."
For more information, please call Perry, (561) 278-3364.
Contact: Ivan Ladizinsky, 561/243-7009.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


All Rights Reserved
Page 470



May 2, 2005 Monday
FINAL EDITION

DEMOCRATIC CLUB LEADERS LINE UP EARLY FOR MADDOX



LENGTH: 592 words

Assuming the conventional wisdom is right and state Democratic Chairman Scott Maddox launches a campaign for
governor, U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Delray Beach, and some of Palm Beach County's Democratic club presidents are
already lining up to support him in next year's primary.
Wexler took care of some political due diligence last week by conducting a conference call with about a dozen leaders
of Democratic clubs from around the county to gauge their support for Maddox.
"What they told me was, as individuals, they support Scott. . . . That's where my leaders are, and I have been very up-
front and said I want to be where my leaders are," Wexler said.
Wexler's cautious phrasing reflects the fact that Maddox isn't an official candidate yet and that Maddox's rivals include
one of Wexler's Democratic colleagues in the Florida congressional delegation: U.S. Rep. Jim Davis, D-Tampa.
"Jim Davis has an impeccable amount of integrity and I think he'd be an excellent governor," Wexler said.
Maddox, who's stepping down Saturday as state Democratic chairman, is expected to enter the race for the Democratic
governor nomination soon against Davis and state Sen. Rod Smith, D-Gainesville.
Among the Maddox-leaning party honchos participating in Wexler's tele-powwow: Marvin Manning from Century Vil-
lage of Boca, Lawrence Victoria from Kings Point, Mid-County Democratic Club President Grant Skolnick, Delray
strategist Andre Fladell and Democrats of Boca-Delray President Ken Rosenblatt.
Democratic clubs can't make endorsements in primaries, Rosenblatt noted, but as an individual he says he's already
made up his mind about Maddox.
"We've had a long time to examine Scott. Scott's made many trips to South Florida. . . . We truly feel like, even though
he's from North Florida, he's one of our own down here," Rosenblatt said.
Cautionary note for Maddox fans: Dozens of elite county Dems lined up behind Bill McBride early in the 2002 gover-
nor race, but Janet Reno still got 59.7 percent of the Democratic primary vote in Palm Beach County.
Attorney, businesswoman and Democratic fund-raiser Robin Rosenberg started a campaign for an open circuit judge-
ship last week and unveiled a powerful list of backers. Her campaign steering committee includes State Attorney Barry
Krischer, Public Defender Cary Haughwout, Sheriff Ric Bradshaw and Clerk and Comptroller Sharon Bock.
Rosenberg's hubby and law partner, Michael McAuliffe, is an oft-mentioned potential candidate who has eyed a run for
state attorney when Krischer retires. Rosenberg wants to replace Judge Larry Colton when Colton retires next year. At-
torney Kenneth Lemoine has also filed.
Looks like Florida Atlantic University poli sci Prof Robert Watson is serious about pursuing a Democratic congression-
al bid despite the presence of better-known, better-financed, better-connected state Sen. Ron Klein in the race. Gunster
Page 471
DEMOCRATIC CLUB LEADERS LINE UP EARLY FOR MADDOX Palm Beach Post (Florida) May 2, 2005
Monday

Yoakley attorneys Bryan Miller and Rebecca Cavendish expect about 50 business types for a luncheon meet-and-greet
with Watson in West Palm Beach Thursday. Watson and Klein want to unseat U.S. Rep. Clay Shaw, R-Fort Lauderdale.
Those who clip and save the Politics column might recall that, in November, the week after he polled a surprising 41.9
percent against Republican state Rep. Carl Domino of Jupiter, Democrat David Prestia lunched with county GOP boss
Sid Dinerstein to discuss switching parties. Prestia officially changed his registration last week. The new Republican
says he'll probably run for office in the future, maybe as soon as next year.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH




Page 472



FINAL EDITION

POLITICAL PLAYER



LENGTH: 1453 words


Andre Fladell is not a power player anymore.
At 57, the legendary south county political operative is still a regular competitor on the city's beach volleyball courts,
but age and a shoulder injury have forced him to change his game.
Instead of using the jump-serves and hard hits of youth, Fladell was winning last Saturday by avoiding mistakes, setting
up his partner and placing the ball where his opponents weren't.
"He's smarter than everyone else," said teammate Adam Frankel, a 33-year-old lawyer, after he and Fladell won a match
11-6. "He uses his brain over the brawn of the taller players."
Fladell was once an expert in the politics of brawn.
The brash Brooklyn-born chiropractor was so effective at organizing south county condo Democrats in the 1980s that
rivals persuaded voters to change the rules for electing county commissioners in the 1990s.
Fladell's power ebbed. But like an aging volleyballer who realizes he can no longer spike everything that comes near the
net, he has adapted.
These days, Fladell has influence as a well-connected strategist and tactician rather than the political boss who once
claimed he could deliver 30,000 votes.
He has enjoyed a resurgence of late, helping Arthur Anderson's successful run for elections supervisor last year and
playing a key role in the county Democratic power struggle that saw condo-backed Wahid Mahmood elected chairman
last month.
"He's extremely politically astute and a very brilliant individual," Anderson said. The new elections chief said advice
from Fladell, a longtime confidant, was "very helpful" in his victory.
U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Delray Beach, chats with Fladell regularly because "there's just no one better to bounce
strategic ideas off than Andre. Andre has his tentacles in many places."
Those tentacles arouse suspicion among some Democrats because they reach into Republican circles. Fladell's friend-
ships with GOP County Commissioners Karen Marcus and Mary McCarty are well-known. He and Republican mega-
developer Llwyd Ecclestone, epic combatants in the 1980s, now maintain communication and grudging respect.
"I like Andre," Ecclestone said. "Obviously he has his own agenda, his own program. . . . I don't lie to him and I don't
think he lies to me. He's very good at keeping relations all around."
Florida Democratic Party Chairman Scott Maddox says Fladell has "an incredibly strategic political mind."
Page 473
POLITICAL PLAYER Palm Beach Post (Florida) January 15, 2005 Saturday

When Maddox ran for state attorney general in 2002, he sought Fladell's help in making connections with the
high-turnout, heavily Jewish retirement communities of southern Palm Beach County.
Maddox and Fladell spoke on the phone a few times before meeting in person.
"I thought he would be older, because he was dealing with condo folks. I pictured him different," Maddox said. Instead
of hanging around a shuffleboard court, they shot baskets in the half-gym attached to Fladell's house.
Fladell has been "dealing with condo folks" since an unsuccessful 1980 run for mayor of Delray Beach. He received
few votes but drew attention. Fladell said rival condo kingpins approached him, seeing him as a neutral party who could
broker a peace deal.
He did. Instead of scattered fiefdoms making piecemeal arguments for traffic lights and fire stations near their commu-
nities, Fladell helped make the south county condos a cohesive Democratic political machine.
In those days, county commissioners were elected countywide. So commission candidates - and developers seeking
commission approval for their zoning petitions - had to genuflect to Fladell and his South County Political Cooperative.
Fladell's organization played a role in establishing developer impact fees and traffic-performance standards, bringing a
courthouse and civic center to south county and wrangling countless concessions from developers when they sought
approval for new homes or shopping centers.
Ecclestone and business heavyweights sought to curb Fladell's influence. Aligning themselves with blacks who wanted
a minority-dominated commission district, they pushed a successful 1988 referendum to elect commissioners from sep-
arate geographic districts.
Beginning in 1990, the influence of Fladell and the south county condos was confined to a single commission seat ra-
ther than the entire board.
Condo clout has never been the same.
But the condos remain a factor, particularly in Democratic primaries, internal party politics and south county races. And
Fladell's name remains synonymous with Democratic condo politics, even though little about him fits the South Florida
condo stereotype.
He doesn't live in a condo. He's a generation younger than the cohorts he represents. He doesn't toe the Democratic line
on issues such as affirmative action or inheritance taxes.
Then there's his wardrobe. Fladell dresses like a beach bum, not a Sansabelted condo commando.
His trademark daytime attire is sandals, baggy denim shorts and a tank top. For evening wear, he's likely to don a shirt
that looks like a shower curtain, or perhaps a crushed purple velvet number with sequins. He'll slip on one of the ap-
proximately 30 pairs of garish high-top sneakers or hiking boots displayed on shelves in his home.
"The idea of clothing to me is entertainment," Fladell said.
At a Democratic Executive Committee meeting last week, Fladell wore green suede high-top shoes, camouflage cargo
pants, a green army shirt and a baseball cap with a fake ponytail hanging out the back.
It was Fladell's first visit to a DEC meeting since 1986, when he and several other south county activists were booted
off the committee in an intraparty squabble most others have long forgotten.
Not Fladell. He blamed the 1986 purge on labor unions and got his revenge last month when he and south county lead-
ers helped engineer Mahmood's election as chairman over union- backed Carol Ann Loehndorf. In another leadership
race, former union official Joe Martin was ousted as the party's state committeeman by Jay Weitz, a Fladell ally.
The votes for Mahmood and Weitz were close, reflecting a divided party. Democratic opinion of Fladell is divided as
well.
Ousted committeeman Martin said Fladell puts pragmatism over principle and represents "the Republican wing of the
Democratic Party."
Others still detect a whiff of 1980s bossism in Fladell and other condo leaders with whom he networks.
Page 474
POLITICAL PLAYER Palm Beach Post (Florida) January 15, 2005 Saturday

"I don't have much respect for Andre because he's a supreme manipulator," said Rosa Durando, an environmentalist and
Democratic activist. "I don't like Tammany Hall. It's the same kind of politics."
Fladell was one of five people whose phones were tapped by the FBI in 1997 as part of an investigation of alleged po-
litical corruption in Palm Beach County.
The probe was launched after Fort Lauderdale developer William Tinnerman complained that Delray Beach developer
Lloyd Hasner demanded $20,000 to assure commission approval of a Tinnerman zoning petition. Hasner claimed the
money was to pay off friends of Commissioner Burt Aaronson, Fladell's closest political ally.
The phones of Fladell, Hasner, Aaronson, McCarty and west Delray activist Frank Behrman were tapped. No evidence
of a payoff scheme was found, and no charges or accusations of wrongdoing ever resulted against Fladell, Aaronson,
McCarty or Behrman.
The phone taps did lead to jail time for Hasner in an unrelated matter for collecting an illegal $22,500 payment as
chairman of the Palm Beach County Housing Finance Authority.
Fladell said he can't be tempted by bribes or payoffs because he is financially "very comfortable." He doesn't accept pay
for his political work. He said family money, investments and his chiropractic business allow him to indulge in politics
and other non-remunerative pursuits.
"I made my money the old-fashioned way: My father gave it to me," said Fladell, who remains close to his father, re-
tired New York businessman Martin Fladell. "I was given the gift to do what I wanted in my life."
What Fladell wants on most days is to put in less than four hours at his office, then hit the beach, participate in 20 to 40
political phone calls and spend time with his 2-year-old son, Eli.
Fladell and Eli's mother, Erica Benedetti, were married for about a year before divorcing in 2003. Benedetti was
Fladell's second wife. Fladell and Darlene Javits, a former Miss USA contestant and the niece of the late U.S. Sen. Ja-
cob Javits, divorced in 1987 after eight years of marriage. They have no children.
Fladell often calls his son "Congressman Eli" and said he plans to stick around to groom him for law school and public
service.
"I live in a cross between paradise and Disney World. There's no place I'd rather be," Fladell said. "I'm going to be in
politics in this county probably until they carry me away."


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


GRAPHIC: PHOTO (C & B&W)
1. (C) BOB SHANLEY/Staff Photographer Andre Fladell, renowned for organizing south county condo Democrats in
the '80s, enjoys another passion - volleyball. 2. 1980 staff file photo In 1980, Andre Fladell (right) ran unsuccessfully
for Delray Beach mayor. Here, he speaks at a Delray Beach Democratic Club candidates forum.


Page 475



MARTIN-ST. LUCIE EDITION

POLITICAL PLAYER IS MASTER OF POLITICS



LENGTH: 688 words


Andre Fladell is not a power player anymore.
At 57, the legendary south county political operative is still a regular competitor on the city's beach volleyball courts,
but age and a shoulder injury have forced him to change his game.
Instead of using the jump-serves and hard hits of youth, Fladell was winning last Saturday by avoiding mistakes, setting
up his partner and placing the ball where his opponents weren't.
"He's smarter than everyone else," said teammate Adam Frankel, a 33-year-old lawyer, after he and Fladell won a match
11-6. "He uses his brain over the brawn of the taller players."
Fladell was once an expert in the politics of brawn.
The brash Brooklyn-born chiropractor was so effective at organizing south county condo Democrats in the 1980s that
rivals persuaded voters to change the rules for electing county commissioners in the 1990s.
Fladell's power ebbed. But like an aging volleyballer who realizes he can no longer spike everything that comes near the
net, he has adapted.
These days, Fladell has influence as a well-connected strategist and tactician rather than the political boss who once
claimed he could deliver 30,000 votes.
He has enjoyed a resurgence of late, helping Arthur Anderson's successful run for elections supervisor last year and
playing a key role in the county Democratic power struggle that saw condo-backed Wahid Mahmood elected chairman
last month.
U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Delray Beach, chats with Fladell regularly because "there's just no one better to bounce
strategic ideas off than Andre. Andre has his tentacles in many places."
Those tentacles arouse suspicion among some Democrats because they reach into Republican circles. Fladell's friend-
ships with GOP County Commissioners Karen Marcus and Mary McCarty are well-known. He and Republican mega-
developer Llwyd Ecclestone, epic combatants in the 1980s, now maintain communication and grudging respect.
Florida Democratic Party Chairman Scott Maddox says Fladell has "an incredibly strategic political mind."
When Maddox ran for state attorney general in 2002, he sought Fladell's help in making connections with the
high-turnout, heavily Jewish retirement communities of southern Palm Beach County.
Fladell has been "dealing with condo folks" since an unsuccessful 1980 run for mayor of Delray Beach. He received
few votes but drew attention. Fladell said rival condo kingpins approached him, seeing him as a neutral party who could
broker a peace deal.
Page 476
POLITICAL PLAYER IS MASTER OF POLITICS Palm Beach Post (Florida) January 15, 2005 Saturday

He did. Instead of scattered fiefdoms making piecemeal arguments for traffic lights and fire stations near their commu-
nities, Fladell helped make the south county condos a cohesive Democratic political machine.
The condos remain a factor, particularly in Democratic primaries, internal party politics and south county races. And
Fladell's name remains synonymous with Democratic condo politics, even though little about him fits the South Florida
condo stereotype.
He doesn't live in a condo. He's a generation younger than the cohorts he represents. He doesn't toe the Democratic line
on issues such as affirmative action or inheritance taxes.
"I don't have much respect for Andre because he's a supreme manipulator," said Rosa Durando, an environmentalist and
Democratic activist. "I don't like Tammany Hall. It's the same kind of politics."
What Fladell wants on most days is to put in less than four hours at his office, then hit the beach, participate in 20 to 40
political phone calls and spend time with his 2-year-old son, Eli.
Fladell and Eli's mother, Erica Benedetti, were married for about a year before divorcing in 2003. Benedetti was
Fladell's second wife. Fladell and Darlene Javits, a former Miss USA contestant and the niece of the late U.S. Sen. Ja-
cob Javits, divorced in 1987 after eight years of marriage. They have no children.
Fladell often calls his son "Congressman Eli" and said he plans to stick around to groom him for law school and public
service.
"I live in a cross between paradise and Disney World. There's no place I'd rather be," Fladell said. "I'm going to be in
politics in this county probably until they carry me away."


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

Andre Fladell (mug)


Page 477



FINAL EDITION

THERESA LEPORE;
A NEW CHAPTER BEGINS . . .

BYLINE: By JAN TUCKWOOD Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

SECTION: ACCENT; Pg. 1D

LENGTH: 2299 words

The election of 2000, LePore often says, "was my perfect storm - without George Clooney."
Thirty-seven days of hell. Fifty-four lawsuits against her so far (she has won every one). Twenty-two pounds lost . . .
and counting.
She survived on Coca-Cola. She dropped from a size 18 to a size 12, and now the 12s are baggy. Sheriff's deputies es-
corted her to and from work.
Before Nov. 7, 2000, she was a respected, hard-working cog in the government wheel. After, she became the most un-
likely celebrity: a once-content member of life's audience suddenly thrust on stage in a drama to rival Shakespeare.
"She is not the kind of person who would seek high-profile notoriety or controversy," says Donna Brosemer, LePore's
2004 campaign manager. "She is very quiet. She doesn't talk about her personal anguish. She lives her life in meticulous
detail, doesn't like to make mistakes, works tirelessly to make sure that everything works properly."
But this time, everything did not work properly.
LePore created a facing-page ballot to make the type bigger for older voters. And her good intentions backfired in a way
no one could have predicted.
Her colleague, Doug Lewis, executive director of the nonprofit Elections Center in Houston, says he feels partly re-
sponsible for her choice.
He had asked LePore to join a national task force to study how to make voting easier for older people and the disabled.
"We were sensitized to the needs of those older voters," Lewis said. "I feel somewhat guilty for what happened."
Everyone knows what happened: 3,411 people in Palm Beach County voted for Pat Buchanan.
Most of those people wanted to vote for Al Gore. They got confused because Gore's name appeared second on the
left-hand page of the facing-page ballot, but the hole to vote for him was the third one down.
Al Gore's vote total in Palm Beach County: 269,732.
George W. Bush's total: 152,951.
Though Gore beat Bush by 116,781 votes in Palm Beach County, that wasn't enough: Gore lost Florida and the presi-
dency by 537 votes.
Statistically, LePore's butterfly ballot made a difference.
Personally, LePore was devastated.
Page 478
THERESA LEPORE; A NEW CHAPTER BEGINS . . . Palm Beach Post (Florida) January 1, 2005 Saturday

Politically, she became a target.
The morning after the election, Congressman Mark Foley went to LePore's office.
"Theresa was just crying, just sobbing," he recalls. "She was crestfallen. It was like a dagger to her heart, to have people
think that she did something intentionally with that ballot to confuse them. I said: 'Theresa, this is going to get crazy.
You've got to get your act together.' And, sure enough, an hour later, Wexler was out in the lobby screaming, and soon
there were TV stations from all over, from Korea and Taiwan."
Theresa LePore, the good Catholic girl, found herself unarmed against such a powerful and personal assault.
She was hard-wired not to scream back.
U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, a Democrat from Delray Beach, went on the talk shows to declare that George Bush stole the
election and LePore and her confusing ballot masterminded the heist.
Internet chat and 24-hour cable fueled the rage against her.
In a matter of hours, Theresa LePore was no longer an anonymous elections supervisor who tried to make it easier for
old voters to read the ballot. Suddenly, she was being called a tool for the GOP who purposely tried to befuddle people.
She did not defend herself forcefully, nor did she fall on the sword and beg the mercy of voters.
"Hindsight is 20/20," she said the day after the election. "But I'll never do it again."
Well-known attorney Bob Montgomery watched events unfold as one of LePore's lawyers.
"Her personality is that she wants to please. That's her strength. She's not forceful," he says. "She could have come out
swinging without gloves on. . . . When (then-Secretary of State) Katherine Harris sent her henchpersons down here,
when both sides put pressure on her during the recount, she could have raised hell, taken a position, given statements to
the press, showed outrage, played to the public - she could have made all kinds of self-serving declarations, but she re-
fused.
"She stayed calm, cool and collected, and made her own decisions. And I had all kinds of powerful people calling me . .
. senators, big shots from all over the place, and she did not bow to pressure. That is a sign of strength and honesty.
That's a sign of somebody who puts their job first."
LePore kept working diligently, day after day.
"She held her head high," says Brosemer. "She believed if she just did her job well, it would be enough. She was
amazed by the fact that anyone thought she could do anything dishonest."
While Wexler went on attack for the Democrats, Foley, a Republican, took LePore's side.
"Pinning a partisan political move on Theresa is the furthest thing from anyone's mind who knows Theresa. She was
never a political operative," Foley says.
In almost every way, LePore is the opposite of a political operative.
"She could have yelled back at Wexler, but that's not Theresa's style," Foley says. "In her eyes and in her heart, that
would be inappropriate. That is to her credit. But it contributed to her downfall."
Several of LePore's supporters, including Brosemer, wish LePore had been more assertive in her own defense.
"She should have done a press conference, said 'I regret any confusion,' tell people why it happened and how she
planned to correct it, and then we could try to move on," Brosemer says.
Instead, she put her head down and kept working. She did say she regretted any confusion the ballot had caused. But her
comments were buried in an avalanche of negative press. Later, her detractors jumped on her because she did not apol-
ogize profusely.
Looking back, she explains: "I know the difference between right and wrong. I make decisions not because of politics
but because of what I think is right at the time. But my decisions might not always be right."
In the end, her intentions didn't matter.
"Theresa became a symbol of that Democratic angst, of all their lost hopes," Foley said.
Page 479

Why did LePore become the symbol - and not, say, John Stafford, the supervisor of elections of Duval County?
Stafford's two-page ballot, dubbed the "caterpillar ballot," resulted in 22,000 overvotes, many in predominantly black
precincts that voted heavily for Gore.
But no one put up an Internet rage page about Stafford. No one reviled him on cable TV chat shows. No one made up a
nickname for him like "Captain Caterpillar." (Stafford resigned in October because of health problems.)
Even Wexler has "no idea" who the supervisor of elections was in Duval County in 2000.
LePore became the symbol. Why?
It made for great TV, that's why, says Pam Iorio, the former supervisor of elections of Hillsborough County who is now
mayor of Tampa.
The characters could have been right out of central casting: Old people crying that they voted for Buchanan. An elec-
tions supervisor with weary eyes (LePore herself says she has "red, white and blue eyes" because they are so sensitive).
A vocal Democratic member of the canvassing board, Carol Roberts, who stated she was ready to go to jail over the
recount. An affable county judge, Charles Burton, who tried to be a balancing voice of reason. And a congressman -
Wexler - who stridently defended his disenfranchised constituents in front of every camera he could find.
Many counties throughout Florida had voting problems, but no story was as juicy as the fluttering of Madame Butterfly.
Duval's problems weren't discovered until two days after the election, Iorio says. "By then, the CNN trucks were in
Palm Beach."
LePore's infamy "was plain, old bad luck."
Supervisors of elections have one of the most demanding jobs in government, Iorio says. Because there are so many
tedious details involved - ever-changing state statutes, last-minute deluges of voter registrations, evolving technology
and, yes, voters who don't always follow the instructions - the job is hard for outsiders to understand. That's one reason
it pays well. LePore's current salary of $121,490 is set by the state.
Even the argument for a paper trail is complicated, says Iorio, who bought the same touch-screen voting system for
Hillsborough that LePore bought for Palm Beach County. A supervisor can't simply hook up a printer. First, the state
has to agree on standards for those printers, and that hasn't happened yet, though a prototype printer is expected this
year.
"When you learn the ins and outs of elections administration, you're careful of what you say," Iorio says. "But it's easier
to hate Theresa than absorb the complicated realities."
The butterfly ballot was a bad choice, Iorio acknowledges, but she believes the punishment did not fit the crime.
"Theresa is a very good human being who doesn't want to hurt people," Iorio says. "All kinds of things caused the
537-vote margin in Florida. To single out one person for blame is a shorthand way of analyzing things that is a problem
in our society. It's not right."
But LePore did get the blame. She became the target.
Bob Montgomery has another word for what LePore became: scapegoat.
"She got a bum rap," Montgomery says. "Those guys at the south end wanted to throw their weight around. They need-
ed a sacrificial lamb. Wexler. (County Commissioner Burt) Aaronson. (Democratic activist Andre) Fladell. They were
all playing to the balcony. They've got to give the lions their meat. They wanted the sacrifice.
"It's a damn shame. It's a sad commentary on voters in this county that they couldn't see what this was really all about."
Wexler denies he was out to get LePore.
"I don't have political vendettas," Wexler says. "I'm not the vendetta type."
Politics is not personal, he says. "I wish her very well. I have no personal animosity toward her. It's just the opposite.
We had a fundamental difference of opinion on whether or not Palm Beach County should adopt a paper trail. It was a
professional difference."
Page 480

Wexler tried to recruit well-known Democrats to run against LePore. Former U.S. Rep. Harry Johnston and former
Palm Beach County Clerk of Courts Dorothy Wilken turned him down, among others. Finally, Wexler backed Arthur
Anderson, a Florida Atlantic University professor and former school board member. He spent $96,000 of his own cam-
paign money on ads for Anderson and lured Sen. Joe Lieberman and Howard Dean to Florida to campaign for Ander-
son.
When it was revealed in August that Anderson had tax problems - the IRS filed liens against him for 10 of the years
from 1988 to 2001 - one of his key backers, Andre Fladell, said Anderson's taxes mattered less than beating LePore.
(Anderson recently satisfied a $51,066 lien.)
"The voter is going to be anti-Theresa or not. . . . The candidate against her is fairly irrelevant," Fladell said.
Glenn MacLean, an engineer from Palm Beach Gardens, also wanted LePore out of office. He was persuaded by
"Democratic consultants" to run as a write-in candidate, forcing a three-candidate race in the primary, Aug. 31. If Mac-
Lean had not run, LePore and Anderson would have faced off on Nov. 2. But Democrats expected a high turnout on
Aug. 31, since Burt Aaronson also faced a primary challenge.
The strategy worked.
Anderson got 72.9 percent of the vote in Aaronson's district. He also beat LePore in the county's black precincts. She
lost by approximately 4,000 votes.
As the votes came in on election night, Karen Marcus put a protective, sisterly arm around LePore and sheltered her
from news photographers.
"It was devastating," Marcus says. "I said, 'You're done tonight, Theresa,' and told her to take the next day off."
Theresa's response was poignant. For a moment, she lamented not campaigning harder, not fighting tougher: "I was too
busy doing my job, which is what I'm supposed to be doing."
Even as she watched her career slip away, LePore kept working.
Judge Barry Cohen, who sits on the canvassing board with Marcus and LePore, sat by her side as they tried to match
signatures on disputed ballots.
"She tried to be as inclusive as possible. She really tried to make each vote count," Cohen says. "There she was, finding
a signature match that was a vote for Anderson. And I thought, 'That is the ultimate irony.' "
Now, elections are history for LePore and she, too, is part of the history books.
She is so uncomfortable talking about herself that she has trouble finding adjectives that describe her. Others do not.
Judge Burton says she is "the most honest person I've ever met."
After 2000, Burton switched his party affiliation from Democrat to "no party affiliation," because he was troubled by
the partisan rancor he saw.
Judge Cohen, who is registered as a Democrat, says the attacks on LePore and the conspiracy theories about her motives
have been "eating me up."
No one who gets close to the process, as he and Burton have, would consider LePore incompetent or partisan, he says.
"Theresa LePore is not a politician," he says. "But she is the essence of what we want in public service."
On Jan. 10, LePore will take another county job, probably with State Attorney Barry Krischer's office, for at least a few
months, so she can reach her 30-year pension with the county. After that, she's not sure.
She might write a book, but that would mean talking about herself. She might be a consultant. She might do something
completely different.
What she'll miss most about the job is going out to the schools, teaching kindergartners and Scouts about voting.
"I'll miss the kids quite a bit," she says wistfully.
And her identity. She'll miss that, too.
Kurt Browning thinks the Iron Maiden can stand up to the challenge of a new year and a new life.
Page 481

After all, she is sensitive but steely. Tender but tenacious. Vulnerable but courageous.
"When all is said and done, history will show: Palm Beach County will miss Theresa LePore."
Staff researchers Sammy R. Alzofon and Lelia Boyd Arnheim contributed to this story.
- jan_tuckwood@pbpost.com


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

NOTES: Part two of two.

Photos courtesy of THERESA LEPORE 1. 1979 As an airport ramp attendant LePore fueled private planes and waved
them to the gate in her early 20s. She dated the chief pilot for Saudi arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi. 2. 1974 Theresa the
tomboy Growing up in West Palm Beach , LePore loved sports and racing cars out at Moroso Speedway. 3. BOB
SHANLEY/Staff Photographer Theresa LePore with her mentor, Jackie Winchester LePore got her first job at the Palm
Beach County elections office when she was 16, and she worked throughout high school and college (she attended
Florida Atlantic University but did not finish). She became Winchester's assistant in 1978. When Winchester retired as
supervisor of elections in 1996, LePore was elected. The two have been estranged since 2000, when Winchester noted
that LePore tried to do too much herself, LePore's deputy, Charmaine Kelly, said LePore delegated more tasks after
2000. One thing Kelly wishes for LePore in 2005 is 'healing.' Photos by BRUCE R. BENNETT/Staff Photographer 4.
December 2004 With her fellow supervisors of elections Florida's elections supervisors are a close group, says Kurt
Browning of Pasco County, who, like LePore, has spent his entire career working in the elections office. (Browning, 46,
was first elected Pasco County's supervisor of elections in 1980.) Some of LePore's colleagues attended a party for her
in early December. Above, from left: Browning, Susan Gill of Citrus County, LePore, Kathy Dent of Sarasota County
and Bill Cowles of Orange County. 5. With her husband, Michael Lally Lally says he wants just one thing for his wife:
'Whatever makes her happy.' LePore wrote this message to residents of Palm Beach County: 'It has been my great honor
to serve the citizens of Palm Beach County for our great democracy for the past eight years as your supervisor of elec-
tions. I leave the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Office knowing that it is one of the best in the nation with
a nationally recognized voter outreach / education program as well as one of the most technologically advanced offices
in the country. I wish the staff and the new supervisor of elections well and the best of luck in the future.'


Page 482



December 6, 2004 Monday
FINAL EDITION

DEMOCRATS' CHAIR CHANGE: CHALK IT UP TO PAYBACK



LENGTH: 578 words

Wahid Mahmood's election as chairman of the Palm Beach County Democratic Party is being hailed as a powerful ex-
ample of modern multiculturalism.
But it also illustrates the potency of old-fashioned political payback.
Retiring Clerk of Courts Dorothy Wilken, who nominated Mahmood at Thursday night's meeting, may have been the
balance-tipper in the 109-to-103 vote to oust Chairwoman Carol Ann Loehndorf and install Bangladesh-born Mahmood.
Wilken isn't usually identified with the Burt Aaronson-dominated south county faction that supplied most of
Mahmood's support. In fact, Wilken went against the Aaronsonians and backed Loehndorf two years ago.
Since then, Wilken has been hounded by the labor wing of the party, which accuses her of undermining efforts by the
Service Employees International Union to organize Wilken's employees. Unions picketed a Democratic club's luncheon
honoring Wilken in May and campaigned, unsuccessfully, against Wilken's chosen successor, Sharon Bock.
Wilken blames Loehndorf.
"She tolerated a lot of bad behavior on their (unions') part toward me as a Democratic officeholder and Sharon as a
Democratic candidate," Wilken said. "That's how she lost my support."
A key Loehndorf ally, laborite State Committeeman Joe Martin, also got the boot Thursday night. He was defeated by
Jay Weitz, the chairman of the Aaronsonian People's Choice PAC.
Helping plot strategy for Mahmood and Weitz was Delray Beach activist Andre Fladell, who wanted payback for a
1986 party power struggle in which he and other south countians were purged by Martin-led union forces.
Fladell called Thursday's results "a referendum against the unions, the construction unions, that had really been bully-
ing."
Martin, the veteran of many political ups and downs, likened the party's internal battles to a back-and-forth football or
basketball game in which his foes, at least temporarily, have taken the lead.
"At this point," Martin conceded, "they're three points ahead."
Boca Raton Mayor Steve Abrams is among the names frequently mentioned as a potential 2006 state Senate candidate if
Sen. Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, gives up his seat to run for Florida chief financial officer.
But Abrams faces a dilemma if the Atwater seat comes open in the next few months. Abrams is running for reelection in
Boca's March municipal elections and facing a challenge from local pastor Mark Boykin.
Abrams wouldn't discuss the possibility of a Senate race last week.
"I'm focused on my mayoral reelection," Abrams said.
Page 483
DEMOCRATS' CHAIR CHANGE: CHALK IT UP TO PAYBACK Palm Beach Post (Florida) December 6, 2004
Monday

If current CFO Tom Gallagher makes an expected run for governor, and if Atwater runs for Gallagher's seat, then it will
be decision time for Abrams and others. Potential candidates to replace Atwater include Republican state Reps. Ellyn
Bogdanoff, Carl Domino and Adam Hasner.
In the biennial Capitol Hill scramble for prime office space, U.S. Rep. Clay Shaw, R-Fort Lauderdale, scored big this
month by snapping up the office of departing U.S. Rep. Dick Gephardt, D-Mo. Shaw's move from the Rayburn to the
Longworth House Office Building gives him more square footage and puts him closer to the Capitol and to the hearing
room of the Ways and Means Committee, where Shaw one day hopes to wield the chairman's gavel.
U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar, is also getting an office upgrade, moving from a courtyard view to an exterior
view in Rayburn. U.S. Reps. Mark Foley, R-West Palm Beach, and Robert Wexler, D-Delray Beach, are staying put.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH




Page 484



December 4, 2004 Saturday
FINAL EDITION

DEMOCRATS HOPE NEW LEADER UNITES PARTY

BYLINE: By BRIAN E. CROWLEY Palm Beach Post Political Editor

SECTION: LOCAL; Pg. 1F

LENGTH: 740 words

Cantankerous and bitterly divided, Palm Beach County's heavily Jewish Democratic Party is looking for healing and
unity in the hands of a soft-spoken 42-year-old Muslim.
Wahid Mahmood, a native of Bangladesh, was elected Thursday to lead the county Democratic Party in a close vote -
109 to 103 - ousting Carol Ann Loehndorf, 63, from the job.
Now, Mahmood must try to bring together a party that one leader describes as "almost at civil war" with itself.
And it won't be easy.
The party has 27 clubs and other affiliated and unaffiliated groups, each jealous of its turf, quick to take umbrage and
slow to forgive slights real or perceived.
Jay Weitz, president of the Democratic Club of Greater Boynton Beach, was part of a coalition of club presidents,
mostly from south county, backing Mahmood. Weitz himself won a slot Thursday as state committeeman, ousting
Loehndorf ally Joe Martin.
"Everybody knows him, and most people like him," Weitz said of Mahmood. And Weitz, who offered the "civil war"
description, believes that Mahmood brings a demeanor to the party that is just what is needed by the county's more than
329,000 Democrats.
"He can keep his cool a lot better than most people can," Weitz said. "He turns the other cheek and then does what
needs to be done."
Loehndorf was less kind. She said Friday that before Mahmood's election as chairman of the Democratic Executive
Committee, "he never did anything for the DEC."
Some in Loehndorf's camp believe Mahmood's quick rise had more to do with south county club leaders opposing
Loehndorf than Mahmood's political skills.
Mahmood came to Florida from Bangladesh in 1980. He said it was not as much of a culture shock as some people
might think.
"I came from a well-educated family, my dad is an M.D., and English is a required subject in school because it is the
international language," he said during a telephone interview between business meetings Friday.
He stayed in Palm Beach County for two reasons - the climate was the same as Bangladesh's and "I found the love of
my life," his wife, Patricia. A self-described entrepreneur, Mahmood, who lives in suburban Lake Worth, is involved in
commercial real estate, convenience stores and gas stations.
Mahmood also is the head of the county's United Bangladeshi American Democratic Club, which often attracts more
than 100 Democrats to its meetings. It is not lost on him that he is the first Muslim to lead the county party.
Page 485
DEMOCRATS HOPE NEW LEADER UNITES PARTY Palm Beach Post (Florida) December 4, 2004 Saturday

"This is a huge testimony of this country," he said. "It shows that we can work together, that anything is possible. I'm an
American first, who happens to be Muslim."
Andre Fladell, a longtime Delray Beach Democratic leader who supported Mahmood, noted that much of Mahmood's
backing came from Jewish Democrats.
"Of course it is significant," Fladell said. "For people who don't know him, they may want to paint him with a broad
brush, but just as all Jews are not the same, all Muslims are not the same."
Fladell said Mahmood impressed him with his calm demeanor. "He doesn't get angry just because someone disagrees
with him. He's always patient, always willing to talk it out."
Whether Democrats will be patient with Mahmood is yet to be determined. Fladell said he is giving Mahmood 60 days
to come up with new staff, money and a plan to move the party forward. Weitz, the Boynton club leader, said Mahmood
probably has until early summer to prove that he can raise money and organize the party.
Mahmood has promised to raise between $50,000 and $100,000 next year, a modest sum in an era of multimil-
lion-dollar campaigns. The party has about $65,000 in the bank, according to Loehndorf.
He also promised to meet frequently with the Democratic clubs and other groups and to try to unite the party activists.
Fladell said the party's problems were "caused by Loehndorf and the construction unions."
Pat Emmert, the local AFL-CIO president, who backed Loehndorf and Martin, said Friday, "I'm really thinking over
how involved the AFL-CIO's going to be in this Palm Beach County Democratic Party."
But there are signs that even some of his opponents are willing to give Mahmood a chance.
Sam Lender, president of the Democratic Club of Delray Beach, supported Loehndorf but said he is eager to work with
Mahmood for the good of the party.
"We have to do whatever we can to make this party stronger," Lender said. "That's the most important thing."
Staff writer George Bennett contributed to this story.
brian_crowley@pbpost.com


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


GRAPHIC: PHOTO (C)
Wahid Mahmood: Voted in Thursday as county Democratic Party's first Muslim leader. (mug)


Page 486



Correction Appended
FINAL EDITION

DEMOCRATS' CHALLENGER FOR TOP SPOT GAINS KEY SUPPORT



LENGTH: 554 words

Businessman Wahid Mahmood has lined up several Democratic club presidents and elected officials - including County
Commissioner Burt Aaronson and state Rep. Irving Slosberg, D-Boca Raton - to support his bid for chairman of the
Palm Beach County Democratic Party.
Mahmood, the president of the county's Bangladesh-American Democratic Club, is challenging county Democratic
Chairwoman Carol Ann Loehndorf at next month's party organizational meeting.
Mahmood's supporters include the party's current No. 2 official, Vice Chairman Jack Sadow, who says he's been shut
out of decision-making by Loehndorf. Sadow plans to run for party secretary next month.
Others running for Democratic leadership posts and backing Mahmood are Wellington activist Gail Skolnick for vice
chairwoman and Peoples Choice of Palm Beach County PAC Chairman Jay Weitz for state committeeman.
The Peoples Choice PAC is dominated by Aaronson, Delray Beach activist Andre Fladell and other south-county
Dems who lost a 2002 power struggle when Loehndorf was elected chairwoman with strong union support.
Democratic state committeeman and Loehndorf supporter Joe Martin says Mahmood and his allies are "coming out of
Andre Fladell's office."
Much of Mahmood's backing does come from south countians. But he's also endorsed by Mid-County Democratic Club
President Grant Skolnick (Gail Skolnick's son) and two key figures from the Democratic club at Century Village of
West Palm Beach: President Kurt Weiss and party stalwart Sam Oser.
Loehndorf will seek reelection on a slate that includes Martin, attorney Matthew Lane for vice chairman, Rodney Stat-
ham for secretary and Steve Nichol for treasurer. Statham is a legislative aide to state Rep. Shelley Vana, D-Lantana.
Nichol is the spokesman for outgoing Clerk of Courts Dorothy Wilken who lost a 2002 county commission race against
Republican Mary McCarty.
The Loehndorf-Mahmood race will likely be a referendum on the party's effectiveness and fund-raising ability. The
party has been cash-strapped for most of Loehndorf's term but raised about $200,000 in the two months before the elec-
tion with the help of state Sen. Ron Klein, D-Delray Beach, and other elected officials.
Rookie Democratic candidate David Prestia got 41.9 percent of the vote against state Rep. Carl Domino, R-Jupiter, de-
spite spending less than $5,000 in a Republican-dominated district. Prestia is peeved at a lack of support from the
Democratic Party and concerned that Democrats "just keep going left, more left, more left."
So Prestia had lunch last week with county GOP Chairman Sid Dinerstein to talk about switching parties. Prestia, 38,
owns a window treatment installation business and lives in Loxahatchee. He hasn't decided whether he'll jump to the
GOP, but says he plans to seek office again.
Page 487
DEMOCRATS' CHALLENGER FOR TOP SPOT GAINS KEY SUPPORT Palm Beach Post (Florida) November 15,
2004 Monday Correction Appended

Wellington Democrat Jeffrey Fisher, who waged a low-budget challenge of U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, R-West Palm Beach,
doesn't believe 68 percent of voters rejected his calls for "biomass" energy, hurricane-proof "Ekotecture" and other
"constitutional progressive liberal Democrat" stands. Though the election is over, Fisher has been continuously updating
his campaign Web site with calls for a national "revote" because of alleged "electronic manipulation" of tallies in his
race, the presidential contest and others


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


CORRECTION-DATE: November 18, 2004

CORRECTION: The Palm Beach Post on Monday misidentified the club that Wahid Mahmood heads. Mahmood is
president of the United Bangladeshi American Democratic Club. The error appeared in George Bennett's Politics col-
umn on the front page of the Local section.



Page 488



November 2, 2004 Tuesday
FINAL EDITION

GOP LAWYER ACTIVE IN 2000 KEEPING EYE ON VOTE BOARD



LENGTH: 383 words

Four years ago, he was the guy who duped the Democrats into causing a delay that some still believe was the beginning
of the end for presidential hopeful Al Gore.
This week, that same guy, attorney J. Reeve Bright, is again standing sentinel at the Palm Beach County Elections Can-
vassing Board meeting, making sure the GOP gets its way when it comes to disputed ballots.
Bright, a 57-year-old Delray Beach lawyer who has been representing the local Republican Party for at least 10 years,
carries more baggage than he did four years ago.
Earlier this year, he was placed on probation for two years by the Florida Supreme Court for not meeting with a psy-
chologist or psychiatrist twice a month as the high court ordered in 2001.
The doctor who briefly treated Bright testified that the lawyer had "an adjustment disorder with mixed emotional fea-
tures and an occupation disorder." He told the court that while Bright needed more treatment, it did not impair his abil-
ity to practice law.
Those who have watched Bright during his more than 25 years of involvement with the local Republican Party de-
scribed him as a tireless, but not a tiresome, advocate.
His clients include County Commissioner Mary McCarty, currently under a Florida Ethics Commission investigation of
two complaints that she accepted illegal contributions from lobbyists and companies.
Democratic activist Andre Fladell of Delray Beach said Bright is a cut above other lawyers often involved in partisan
politics.
"I'd rather he be on the other side than an angry, divisive, abusive character," said Fladell, who filed the first lawsuit
over the county's butterfly ballot. "He's a very, very classy individual."
Bright's role in the 2000 election wasn't to badger or rebuke. He made what seemed to be a harmless suggestion for torn
canvassing board officials to call then-Secretary of State Katherine Harris to ask whether they could begin a hand count
of the presidential ballots.
What he didn't tell them was that once they popped the question, Harris' opinion would be binding. Harris, a Republi-
can, not surprisingly said they couldn't recount the votes. Her decision put Palm Beach County's recount efforts in limbo
for three days, a delay that most agree cost Gore invaluable time and ultimately led to his undoing.
jane_musgrave@pbpost.com


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

Page 489
GOP LAWYER ACTIVE IN 2000 KEEPING EYE ON VOTE BOARD Palm Beach Post (Florida) November 2, 2004
Tuesday


J. Reeve Bright (mug)


Page 490



FINAL EDITION

LAWSUITS AND DIMPLES AND MOTHER, THERESA;
BUTTERFLY BALLOTS! PREGNANT CHADS!

BYLINE: By CHARLES PASSY Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

SECTION: ACCENT; Pg. 1D

LENGTH: 1518 words

The guy with the magnifying glass! Madame Butterfly! And Carol 'I'm Willing To Go To Jail' Roberts!
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
Catching up with our local election celebrities
They were the faces behind the ballot bedlam: The men and women who studiously analyzed every dimpled chad, who
weighed in on the crisis from a judicial perspective, who rose up and protested during the long, strange civics lesson
that was Election 2000.
And where are they now?
For the most part, the local players behind the ballot bedlam, some of whom attained national celebrity status, remain in
our community. We caught up with some of them, gathering their most precious - and bizarre - memories from four
years ago. And we heard about their plans for this year's presidential election.
PLAYER: Carol Roberts
Then: Palm Beach County commissioner and canvassing board member
Now: Retired from political life, but still active in numerous causes and organizations, including the Palm Beach Pho-
tographic Centre.
Key memories of Election 2000: A longtime force in local Democratic politics, Roberts was easily the most strident of
the canvassing board members, famous for her pushing for the full recount, even if it meant her going to prison. (Her
oft-quoted line: "Do we go to jail? Because I'm willing to go to jail.")
As she recalls it, "It was one of those things where I was totally frustrated. It just kind of popped out." But the election
debacle did yield some lighter moments. Roberts followed her long ordeal with a trip to Southeast Asia, but even there,
she saw her face on international TV while waiting at an airport in Singapore and sitting in her hotel room in Burma.
"That was kind of shocking to me," she says.
How she plans to spend Election 2004: Roberts has already cast an absentee ballot because she's in Gainesville today
with her sister, who's having eye surgery. On Tuesday, she expects to be driving home to West Palm Beach. "Nothing
exciting," she says of her Election Day experience this year.
PLAYER: Charles "Chuck" Burton
Then: Palm Beach County judge and election canvassing board chairman.
Now: Still a Palm Beach County judge, but no longer on canvassing board.
Page 491
LAWSUITS AND DIMPLES AND MOTHER, THERESA; BUTTERFLY BALLOTS! PREGNANT CHADS! Palm
Beach Post (Florida) November 1, 2004 Monday

Key memories from Election 2000: Burton, known for his affable demeanor during the most stressful times, recalls go-
ing to Washington to hear arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court about the Palm Beach County recounts. "What
really stuck out was . . . the night before. It was freezing cold and all these people were camping out waiting to get in.
At least it took something like this to get young people interested in the political process," he says.
On a less serious note, he also recalls a press conference in which a humorist working for a Web site asked some
off-the-wall questions. "He comes up and says, 'Is it true you're having an affair with Carol Roberts?' That was pretty
funny."
How he plans to spend Election 2004: "My wife and I are going to get up first thing in the morning and vote," he says.
And since he's no longer on the canvassing board, he doesn't have to worry about staying up through the night. But he
says this year's board shouldn't have to worry too much. "They won't have the punch cards," he says.
PLAYER: Jorge Labarga
Then: Palm Beach County judge who presided over key election case regarding the revote issue. He ruled it was uncon-
stitutional to give voters a second chance, a decision upheld by the Florida Supreme Court.
Now: Still a Palm Beach County judge.
Key memories from Election 2000: Most of all, Labarga recalls when he found out he was tapped for the case - as he
was returning from lunch and entering the courthouse. A reporter spotted him and called out his name. "All of a sudden
I had 20 microphones in front of me. . . . The next thing I knew I was on national TV, international TV. It seemed surre-
al," he says. Coming up with the actual decision was more stressful than surreal, however. "I knew that any decision I
made had an impact on who sat in the Oval Office. It was not an easy feeling," he says.
How he plans to spend Election 2004: He'll vote - and then hope "for a clear and unequivocal winner," so "the judicial
system doesn't have to get involved." He'd rather see the courts stay out of the political process.
PLAYER: Andre Fladell
Then: Chiropractor and Palm Beach County political activist who filed the first local lawsuit regarding the election.
Now: Still a major player in local politics: He helped advise Arthur Anderson in his successful race against Theresa
LePore for Palm Beach County supervisor of elections.
Key memories from Election 2000: Fladell recalls that he made the decision to file his lawsuit, which charged that the
Palm Beach County ballot was illegal, on Election Day itself. "I'm on the beach with my friends and they told me there
was a problem (with the voting)," he says. Soon after, he spoke to his lawyer and, one day later, he went forward, de-
spite objections from some Democratic activists. "I didn't portray the right image . . . I guess they wanted some Armani
guy," adds Fladell, who favors casual garb. Speaking of which, as Fladell found himself in demand for network TV
news programs, he had to buy more clothes. "I ran out of button-down shirts," he recalls.
How he plans to spend Election 2004: The way he always does - arriving at his polling place in Delray Beach at 6:45
a.m., so he's the first in line to vote. He talks with old friends, including the city's police chief. "I look forward to it," he
says of Election Day. More key players in the 2000 election debacle
Some other key players
PLAYER: Theresa LePore
Then: Palm Beach County supervisor of elections, and infamous Madame Butterfly, designer of the butterfly ballot.
Now: Still supervisor of elections - for the time being.
PLAYER: Robert Rosenberg
Then: Broward County judge and election canvassing board member. (He became famous when a photo of him exam-
ining a ballot through a magnifying glass turned into one of the election's most enduring images.)
Now: Still a Broward County judge, but when it comes to discussing his role in Election 2000, he doesn't grant inter-
views.
LOOSE 'CHAD-DER'
Page 492

Sound bites from the 2000 fracas
'Palm Beach County has emerged as the Love Canal of human stupidity.'
KERRY DOUGHERTY
Columnist for the Virginian-Pilot
'There hasn't been this much head-to-head competition in Florida since Murder She Wrote went up against Matlock.'
Late Night's CONAN O'BRIEN
on the Gore vs. Bush ballot bedlam
'If I was paid off, do you think I'd friggin' still be here? I'd be in the Bahamas.'
THERESA LEPORE
Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections and ballot designer, responding to charges that she was 'paid off' by Repub-
licans to make Al Gore lose.
HEY, WHO'S GOT THE CHADS?
We can't say for sure what happened to the chads that fell to the floor of the Palm Beach County Emergency Operations
Center, where the manual recount took place following the 2000 presidential election.
But those cards - pregnant, dimpled, hanging and otherwise - still attached to ballots are now in Tallahassee. In 2003,
the ballots found a new home in the state archives, where they're being kept for their historical value. Palm Beach
County elections supervisor Theresa LePore was glad to see them go, because they took up considerable space in a
storage room. "It becomes cumbersome to keep tripping over them," she said last year, before they were shipped off.
- Charles Passy
THE BUTTERFLY EFFECTS
Unforgettable phrases that entered our lexicon
Punch cards: Palm Beach County's voting method circa 2000 (a k a the Dark Ages).
Votomatic: The machine that's used for punch-card voting. Too bad there's nothing 'automatic' about it.
Butterfly ballot: Ballot where candidates' names appear on facing pages. Guaranteed to cause confusion among the old,
the young and just about every other voting bloc in Florida.
Madame Butterfly: Not the operatic heroine, but the woman behind the butterfly ballot: Palm Beach County Supervisor
of Elections Theresa LePore. Can't say we've heard her sing any arias.
Chad: That little piece of paper a voter 'punches' out on a punch-card ballot. And, yes, the fate of the free world pretty
much depended on them.
Pregnant chad: One of many things that can happen to a chad when an election goes awry. A pregnant chad is one that
has clearly been pierced (as opposed to merely "dimpled"), but that's still attached to the ballot. Other variations: hang-
ing-door chad (one corner still attached to ballot), swinging-door chad (two corners still attached), tri-chad (three cor-
ners still attached).
Overvote/undervote: Another part of the ballot mess. When you "overvote," you vote for more than one candidate.
When you "undervote," you vote for none. And what about when you vote for just one? It's called a normal election.
Manual recount: What happens when you get in a big room and try to make sense of all those ballots and chads.
Canvassing board: The suckers - oops, we mean honorable officials - in charge of that recount.
Floriduh: The term preferred by many a wise-cracking headline writer to describe not just a state, but a state of mind.
Yes, that was us in Election 2000.
- Charles Passy

Page 493


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


1. (C) A PHOTO FINISH: A photo autographed by Carol Roberts (left), Charles Burton (center, in white shirt) and
Theresa LePore (right) examining ballots in the recount. 2. (C) 2000 File Photo by ALAN DIAZ/The Associated Press
PROBLEMS MAGNIFIED: Broward County canvassing board member Judge Robert Rosenberg examines a ballot for
the infamous hanging chads. 3. (C) Carol Roberts (mug) 4. (B&W) 2000 File photo by BRUCE R. BENNETT/Staff
Photographer Judge Jorge Labarga was acutely aware that any decision he made could affect who became president. 5.
(B&W) Charles "Chuck" Burton 6. (B&W) Andre Fladell (mug) 7. (B&W) Robert Rosenberg 8. (B&W) Theresa Le-
Pore 9. (B&W) A ballot box from the 2000 election, where pregnant chads, swinging-door chads and tri-chads mingled.


Page 494


The Miami Herald

October 11, 2001 Thursday FINAL EDITION

PALM BEACH COUNTY WEARY OF SPOTLIGHT

BYLINE: AMY DRISCOLL AND STEVE HARRISON, adriscoll@herald.com


LENGTH: 1025 words


Palm Beach County has been here before. The national press. The government heavyweights. The nonstop news reports,
live, from the emergency operations center in West Palm Beach.
But this is no battle between butterfly ballots and hanging chads. This is a disturbing new brand of notoriety, fueled by
terrorist hideouts and anthrax spores. It's the unwelcome glare of the national spotlight, trained on Palm Beach County
for the second time in less than a year.
"It's been a strange year," said County Judge Charles Burton, who played a central role in last fall's presidential vote
recount. "It kind of makes you wonder what's going on in Palm Beach County."
If the coastal Florida county was known at all before the presidential election, it was probably for posh Palm Beach and
its retiree population. But the county burst onto the national scene last fall, when political operatives staked a do-or-die
claim there to help decide the next presidency.
BUTT OF JOKES
For weeks, the press camped out, and the citizenry became the butt of national jokes as late-night talk-show hosts took
turns poking fun at the two-page "butterfly" ballot.
All of that turmoil finally had receded into the rearview mirror - until Sept. 11, and revelations that terrorists had lived
in Delray Beach, and the outbreak of anthrax in Boca Raton.
"My first thought was, 'Why us?' " said Brad Merriman, assistant county administrator for Palm Beach County. "We're
hoping when this is resolved, it'll be a while before the national spotlight comes around again - please."
The comparisons between ballot-counting and bioterrorism crop up everywhere. The emergency operations center that
is now headquarters for the public-health investigation into anthrax is the same bunkerlike building used during the
election to recount presidential ballots.
LIKE OLD TIMES
The cordoned-off area for the press is the same. The podium used for press conferences is the same. Even some mem-
bers of the media are the same. Two TV cameramen from other parts of the country gave each other hugs in the parking
lot; they hadn't seen each other since the election.
Inside the building, the experts are gathered under tight security, just as before. But instead of top political figures, these
were an elite medical corps: epidemiologists, health department heads, medical detectives from the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention.
Page 495
PALM BEACH COUNTY WEARY OF SPOTLIGHT The Miami Herald October 11, 2001 Thursday FINAL
EDITION

"It does bring back flashbacks," said Peyton McArthur, a Democratic Party worker during the election. "There's one kid
on CNN who was here for the elections, and every time I see him talking about Afghanistan, it's like, you again? Didn't
we just do this?"
He doesn't think Palm Beach County has been unfairly singled out for more than its share of bad publicity.
'JUST COINCIDENCE'
"Some people certainly feel that way, but those are the same people who would be more concerned in any stressful situ-
ation," he said. "Some people are visibly nervous, but I think it's just coincidence that so much has happened here."
There's a jitteriness now that wasn't part of everyday life in Palm Beach County. The county sheriff's office received
two calls this week about a cardboard tube mailed to residents.
Printed on the side, newly ominous-sounding words: "RX active ingredient." It turned out to be an advertisement from a
car company.
"The irony is that 'Delray: America's City' became 'Delray: Terrorism City.' And now it's 'Delray: Anthrax City,' " said
Andre Fladell, a Delray Beach chiropractor who sued the county over the butterfly ballot, which he said caused him to
vote for Pat Buchanan instead of Al Gore.
"I don't think the city wanted to get its name in the headlines that way," he said. "Delray and Boca certainly have their
names on the map now."
STRANGE FORCES
Some insist there are mysterious forces at work. Developer Loran Radford, browsing the magazine rack at a Boca Raton
Barnes & Noble, said he attributes the confluence of events to the county's proximity to the powerful Gulf Stream in the
Atlantic Ocean.
"Palm Beach County is the closest part of Florida to the Gulf Stream. Maybe there's a certain magic or strangeness.
There's a unique energy here," he said.
There's an entirely different feel in the Delray Beach neighborhood where some of the terrorists lived, on Dotterel Road,
where terrorism has become personal.
Erik Kretchmar, 28, an Internet consultant, lives in an apartment just below the one occupied by terrorists. He received
calls from friends all over the country when pictures of his apartment complex hit the news after the attacks.
"It's strange - Delray Beach was nothing before, in terms of America. And the election was really a big joke. People
were kidding me about it," he recalled. "But when the anthrax hit, I was scared as hell."
TAKEN LIGHTLY
In the Floral Park neighborhood in Lantana, where anthrax victim Bob Stevens lived, some residents shrugged off the
bioterrorism threat.
"Nothing surprises me about South Florida anymore," said Heidi Gordon, a 20-year resident. "It's like living in Los An-
geles or New York."
Gladys Vuin, 72, said she wasn't willing to give threats of anthrax or terrorism top billing over the election fiasco.
"The election is still the worst part," she insisted, sitting outside her ranch-style home. "I'm a Democrat, and the butter-
fly ballot still upsets me the most."
Some residents worry that all of the negative news coming out of Palm Beach County has obscured the reasons that
people live there.
"If people took the time to see what we really offer, they'd see this is a wonderful place," said Estelle Friedman, of
Greenacres, a suburb of West Palm Beach. "That gets lost when people see all these other things, things that could have
happened anywhere."
Donna Wood of Boca Raton, an insurance collector, has lived in Palm Beach County for 11 years. She said it's time for
another county or state to be under the unpleasant spotlight.
"What is it with Florida? What is it with Palm Beach?" Wood said. "It's not giving us much of a reputation."
Page 496
PALM BEACH COUNTY WEARY OF SPOTLIGHT The Miami Herald October 11, 2001 Thursday FINAL
EDITION

Herald staff writer Larry Lebowitz contributed to this report.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

All Rights Reserved
Page 497


CNN

December 16, 2000; Saturday

SHOW: CNN LIVE EVENT/SPECIAL 22:00

What Have We Learned from Election 2000?

BYLINE: Bill Hemmer

SECTION: News; Domestic

LENGTH: 8058 words

HIGHLIGHT: Five amazing weeks unfolded day by day, hour by hour, and many times minute by minute. A look
back from Election Day up to this week's concession and acceptance speeches.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANNOUNCER: This is a CNN Election 2000 special report.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Bill Hemmer at the CNN Center in Atlanta.
Chances are, it will be a very long time before any of us think of Florida the same way again. That famous sunshine
and surf now eclipsed by dimple, chad and butterfly ballots. But what a wild ride it was, and what an amazing educa-
tion for all of us.
But looking back now, what did we learn?
Tonight we're hitting the rewind button, how five amazing weeks unfolded day by day, hour by hour, and many times
minute by minute. We begin, though, where else, with the one night everyone thought would give America it's next
president: November 7, 2000, election night.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GOV. GEORGE W. BUSH (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Greg? George W. Bush, seeking the Presidency.
I'm doing great today. I feel good. I will feel better when I know that our people are going to go to the polls, and
that's why I'm calling.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: As voting continues, literally, at this hour...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People seem to be coming out to say, look, this is about me, it's about my future.
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: At the midnight hour, we may still be counting
ballots in Florida.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Many analysts call the closeness of the Florida race the biggest surprise of election 2000. It
was long believed that Governor Jeb Bush could easily carry Florida for his brother.
WOODRUFF: A big call to make, CNN announces that we call Florida in the Al Gore column.
JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SENIOR ANALYST: This is a roadblock the size of a boulder to George W. Bush's path to
the White House. CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Boy, you begin to look at
those other big battleground states, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and they become so much more important now.
Page 498
What Have We Learned from Election 2000? CNN December 16, 2000; Saturday

JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: This, a major boost for the Gore campaign. A
cheer going up here in Nashville.
MIKE MCCURRY, FORMER WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I think the results in Florida have got to be
bitter sweet for the Bush family, of course, the brother of Governor Bush, the sitting governor in Florida. That can't be a
happy one for the Bush family.
BUSH: I don't believe that some of these states that they've called, like Florida, I just don't believe that we got enough
evidence to be able to call the state right now.
MARY MATALIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: There are a half-a-million absentee ballots out there. I'm just
telling you, that state's going to flip. I really feel that way.
GREENFIELD: George Bush has to more or less run the table on it. He has got to wiin Ohio. He has got to Tennessee
and Arkansas. He has got to win Missouri. These projections are not infallbile. There are times when the networks
have to eat a hearty portion of crow.
BERNARD SHAW, CNN ANCHOR: Stand by. CNN right now is moving our earlier declaration of Florida into the
too close to call ...
GREENFIELD: Waiter, one order of crow, please.
CROWLEY: I think you can hear the crowd reaction.
KARL ROVE, BUSH CAMPAIGN: You all called Florida before Florida even closed it's polls. Florida is a state
which votes in two time zones.
MARK FABIANI, GORE CAMPAIGN: Two-thirds of the outstanding votes in Florida are from the Democrat strong-
holds in that state.
SHAW: We're making a call in Iowa, in the Hawkeye State. CNN declares that Al Gore has won Iowa's seven elec-
toral votes.
GREENFIELD: Whoever wins Florida will be the next President of the United States.
SHAW: The United States has a new president. He's the Texas governor, George Walker Bush.
Bush wins. Florida goes to George Bush. The Presidency is Bush. That's it.
KING: There were gasps of no and screams of no, the faces quite glum, the Vice-President placed a phone call to the
Texas governor, congratulated him on winning the election, and in brief remarks here tonight to his supporters and, of
course, to the American people, will wish the Governor well. SCHNEIDER: CNN is double checking the vote count,
county by county, in the state of Florida. We are going through that exercise.
KING: There will be an automatic recount under Florida state law.
CROWLEY: Put me on. Gore has retracted his concession.
SCHNEIDER: We do not have a winner in our Electoral College count, because the state of Florida is now rated offi-
cially as a toss up.
HAL BRUNO, CNN ELECTION ANALYST: Never have we seen anything like this in the entire history of the coun-
try.
KING: Here he is, Billy Daley.
WILLIAM DALEY, GORE CAMPAIGN CHAIRMAN: I've been in politics a very long time, but I don't think there's
ever been a night like this one.
GREENFIELD: We are in a state of political suspended animation.
CROWLEY: At the Governor's mansion, they are trying to figure this out.
WOODRUFF: Don Evans, a long time close friend of George W. Bush.
DON EVANS, BUSH CAMPAIGN CHAIRMAN: They're still counting. They're still counting. And I'm confident
when it's all said and done we will prevail.
Page 499

SHAW: It's not over. It simply is not over.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: Now, why are you here? You have a comfortable life. You could be home watching this on television.
ROB REINER, DIRECTOR: Well, you know, I'm quite attracted to you, John, and that's why I'm here. You know, it's
getting a little late. We're getting punchy. We're getting punchy.
SHAW: I especially love your straight face, too, John.
GREENFIELD: You know, I think that somehow that was absolutely in keeping with the way this night may be devel-
oping.
SHAW: Exactly.
WOODRUFF: A new day, but still no new president. The White House is still up for grabs.
HEMMER: It is a presidential election still too close to call on this, the morning after.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bush wins it. A couple of hours later, the Miami Herald comes out
with "Not Over Yet".
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's certainly an accurate headline this morning, because we just
don't know where things stand.
BUSH: How many hours of sleep did you get last night?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: About two. How about you?
BUSH: About three -- and a half, actually.
Good morning.
MESERVE: The campaign remained confident that they will be able to pull this out.
BUSH: Secretary Cheney and I will do everything in our power to unite the nation.
JONATHAN KARL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Here is the Nashville Tennesseean.
AL GORE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We still do not know the outcome of yesterday's vote.
This matter must be resolved expeditiously, but deliberately and without any rush to judgement.
MIKE BOETTCHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Here in Florida, hurricane country, they're saying this is the eye of
the hurricane.
ZARRELLA: They began the recount of some 587,000 votes.
JENNY BACKUS, DNC SPOKESWOMAN: We don't think this election is over. And what we're upset about, mov-
ing quickly right now, is the fact that this is all being done in the dark of night. Where is the sunshine in the Sunshine
State?
MARK POTTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They're also dealing with an issue up in the Palm Beach area, where
some voters have claimed that the voting procedure is confusing.
Al Gore is the second name on this side, but the third hole down.
REP. ROBERT WEXLER (D), FLORIDA: There is no doubt there was mass confusion in Palm Beach County.
ROGER COSSACK, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Sue, yesterday you went to vote, what happened?
SUE BLUM, SOUTH PALM BEACH VOTER: I could cast my vote, but it was not in line with my candidate. I had
to either go above it or below it.
GOV. JEB BUSH (R), FLORIDA: This ballot, as is the law, was published, I believe, in newspapers. It may have
been sent out in mailings, in some counties that's the case. So people had ample opportunity to challenge the ballot
itself. POTTER: The state of Florida is in a national spotlight right now. What happens here in the state will determine
the next presidency of the United States.
Page 500

WILLIAM J. CLINTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The American people have now spoken. But it's
going to take a little while to determine exactly what they said.
DALEY: I saw in on CNN's screen. It was 400 a vote spread.
HEMMER: The surrogates have flown in here from the Gore camp and the Bush camp.
Are you safe saying that there is a legal fight ensuing in this race?
DALEY: Oh, already there's been suits filed. And I would imagine this will continue for awhile -- as it should.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're calling it ballot bedlam.
JESSE JACKSON, RAINBOW/PUSH COALITION: This ballot is-it is deceptive.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: None of these people really know who they voted for. They're just upset, in my opinion,
that Gore lost.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Trust the people. Trust the people.
GREENFIELD: As the Presidency hung in the balance, the tensions and the voices continued to rise.
Nowhere was tension higher than in Palm Beach County.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are a very intelligent lady. You should read your sample ballot.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why didn't those 19,000 people go up to the people that were working the polls in the thing
and say, we've got a problem. Nineteen thousand? I doubt it.
KATHERINE HARRIS, FLORIDA SECRETARY OF STATE: We will all remember these times as some of the most
critical and defining moments in our nation's history.
BOB CRAWFORD, FLORIDA AGRICULTURE COMMISSIONER: This is democracy in action. If you want sim-
plicity, just go about 70 miles south of Florida and you've got Cuba and they're very simple. They have no elections.
DAVID CARDWELL, CNN ELECTION LAW ANALYST: Each time those ballots are fed through it you will get
different results because the machine will read them differently.
TREVOR POTTER, ELECTION LAW ANALYST: Sometimes when it's put into the machine, the machine doesn't
read that the hole has been pushed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's right, sometimes the debris gets in the way.
T. POTTER: What the election law folk call a hanging chad.
HEMMER: C-H-A-D, I believe, Brian (ph).
LINDA STOUFFER, CNN ANCHOR: As the final county reported, we understand that there was a margin out with
327 votes.
BOB DOLE, (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think it's time for Al Gore to look people in the eye and
say, "Well, we gave it our best shot."
The stock markets are effected.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wall Street does not like uncertainty, and with the presidential
cliff hanger stretching into day three, that's exactly what we still have here.
WARREN CHRISTOPHER, GORE CAMPAIGN OBSERVER: What we're doing is a constitutional process. There
is no constitutional crisis.
We're going to proceed here in a very careful and lawful way.
BUSH: I understand there's still votes to be counted, but I'm in the process of planning, in a responsible way, a potential
administration.
KAREN HUGHES, BUSH CAMPAIGN SPOKESWOMAN: I don't think anyone thinks that a lengthy and protracted,
scores of lawyers, endless legal battles, with no reasonable or forseeable conclusion, would be healthy for the country.
Page 501

CLARK: Bush, we are told, has given Baker the authority to challenge the hand count of the ballots in Florida.
For, among other reasons, according to the filing, the hand count scheme produces arbitrary and capricious decision
making.
JAMES BAKER, BUSH CAMPAIGN OBSERVER: Machines are neither Republicans nor Democrats and therefore
can be neither consicously nor unconsciously biased. We ask that there be no further recounts of already recounted
ballots.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Now, you might think this count would take place behind closed
doors. Indeed it is. But there are lots of windows in the room too, so you can get a live look at this historical count in
progress.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There are actually three types of chad that are being counted as a
vote. Hanging chad, that's attached by a corner, swinging door chad, connected by two corners, and tri-chad that is
attached by three corners. BOB NICHOLS, PALM BEACH COUNTY SPOKESMAN: But the chad that is fully at-
tached, bearing only an indentation, should not be counted as a vote.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pregnant chad.
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Very good.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I actually know what a pregnant chad is.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Chad?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a very serious process and this process is going to continue for awhile.
CAROL ROBERTS, PALM BEACH COUNTY CANVASSING BOARD: The results of the manual recount of 1 per-
cent clearly would effect the results of the national election. I move that this board conduct a manual recount of all the
ballots for the Presidential election for the year 2000.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The twists and turns of Election 2000 continue. The Secretary of State of Florida
givinig us the latest information.
HEMMER: A two-page statement here from Kathrine Harris, the Secretary of State, just being handed out now to re-
porters.
BOETTCHER: Secrtary of State told Warren Christopher, in a meeting, that the election will be certified at 5:00 p.m.
tomorrow.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And there's the ballot.
BOETTCHER: So, whatever counts are in at that time, that's it.
POTTER: We've had a ruling here at the Miami Federal Court House that has gone badly for the Republicans. Judge
Donald Melbrooks refused to issue an injunction that would have halted the manual ballot count in four counties, so that
count now continues.
TUCHMAN: There's no way they'd be able to count 100 percent of these votes by a 5:00 p.m. deadline tomorrow.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have entered the action in asking the court to stop the Secretary of State from ending the
vote counting tomorrow night.
GORE: Look, I would not want to win the Presidency by a few votes cast in error. And I don't think Governor Bush
wants that either.
HARRIS: Governor George Bush, 2,910,000...
BOETTCHER: It is up to the Secretary of State to determine whether any such corrective or supplemental return filed
after 5:00 p.m. today are to be ignored. HARRIS: Thank you very much.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: The outcome is by no means a foregone conclusion, although the 300 vote differ-
ential is clearly something in George W. Bush's favor.
BOBBIE BATTISTA, CNN ANCHOR: Gettinig wild here tonight.
Page 502

ANDRE FLADELL, SUING PALM BEACH COUNTY: This is a copy of a sample ballot. Please vote for Pat Bu-
chanan according to the instructions.
BATTISTA: Well, you can't do that -- well you can, but there's no arrow to the right, so you would have to ...
FLADELL: Please just mark your vote according to the instructions.
BATTISTA: How did I get on trial here?
FLADELL: How does it feel to be called confused? She doesn't have common sense, apparently.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TUCKER CARLSON, CNN COMMENTATOR: ... are not the only Republicans collecting chads. In fact, I have here
chads. We collected these, Bill, as evidence, and I just want to show you what an actual chad-these are actual chads.
These are both pregnant and dimpled.
BILL PRESS, CNN COMMENTATOR: I love it.
CARLSON: See, perfectly innocuous and yet they could change ...
PRESS: Seventy-eight pieces of (INAUDIBLE)
CARLSON: We found those at CNN.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, as always, we seem to be at ground zero here in Palm Beach County. Here's the front
page of this mornings "Palm Beach Post": "Bush by 300 and recounting".
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Recounting is necessary in all counties.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You need to have some kind of standard, uniform way of counting.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Counting is not a science.
SEN. FRED THOMPSON (R), TENNESSEE: The Republican secretary of state certainly has taken a lot of grief. The
Gore spokesman who called her a hack.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Katherine Harris is someone who has been caught in the headlights of history. UNIDENTI-
FIED MALE: Katherine Harris is a fine lady and they should lay off of her.
HARRIS: For the past six hours, I have applied these criteria in deliberating upon the specific requests of the counties,
contemplating manual vote recounts. As a result of these deliberations, I've decided it is my duty under Florida law to
exercise my discretion in denying these requested amendments.
DALEY: I think it is an act that indicates that there is a desire to try to shut this down too quickly, and I think that's un-
fortunate.
GORE: I will abide by the result. I will take no legal action to challenge the result and I will not support any legal
action to challenge the result.
BUSH: Unfortunately, what the vice president proposes is exactly what he's been proposing all along, continuing with
selective hand recounts that are neither fair nor accurate. Or compounding the error by extending a flawed process
statewide.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You want to take a look at this?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I don't want to disturb Your Honor.
BLITZER: It is day nine without a President-elect. The lawyers are busy. The candidates are in limbo. And the
election outcome is still very much in doubt.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's happening is this. It's being negated.
WOODRUFF: At this hour, election officials in Palm Beach County plan to launch a full hand recount of the presiden-
tial ballots after getting a green light from Florida's Supreme Court.
Page 503

DALEY: We think it is particularly significant that the Florida Supreme Court sent a clear signal to the counties that
their counts could continue not withstanding the secretary's efforts to terminate those counts three times in the past three
days.
BAKER: I'd like to suggest to you that you have just witnessed a superb example of the art of legal spin.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: These could be the main factor in this election.
HUGHES: No one who aspires to be commander in chief should seek to unfairly deny the votes of the men and women
he would seek to command.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you voted and you did it correctly, it ought to count.
GENE RANDALL, CNN ANCHOR: And now I am told that the Associated Press is reporting the George W. Bush
lead going into Florida's State Supreme Court on Monday is 930 votes and this includes the overseas absentee ballots.
CHRIS BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Gore campaign officials always said that if they kept the Bush gain to
under 1000 votes, they could make it up, they believed, in the recount.
ZARRELLA: Let's give you some updated numbers here this morning. What we have out of Palm Beach County is 202
precincts of the 531 have been counted, that's 34 percent of the total ballots.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And just like in Palm Beach County, there are all kinds of accusa-
tions flying about here, some as strange as a Democratic observer allegedly munching on the chad from a ballot to a
Republican operative offering me a Ziplock baggie filled with chads that he claimed were collected from the room over
here.
MARY HALL, BROWARD COUNTY VOTE COUNTER: The most memorable moment is ripping, running, not get-
ting enough sleep.
HEMMER: Just a few moments ago the Bush legal team did file their legal brief in the state Supreme Court here in
Tallahassee. Within the next two or three hours, the Gore team will respond.
GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Let me tell you what this boils down to. It's this: are hand
counts prohibited in the state of Florida and must the Secretary of State accept any hand count votes after the deadline
of Tuesday, which was just a few days ago? That's the whole issue here.
HEMMER: We wanted to let you know that 148 very lucky people will be allowed to go inside the State Supreme
Court building. Some folks will be able to see history.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, the Florida Supreme Court.
CHIEF JUSTICE CHARLES T. WELLS, FLORIDA SUPREME COURT: What's the date, the outside date, that we're
looking at in which puts Florida's votes in jepordy?
PAUL HANCOCK, ATTORNEY FOR FLORIDA ATTORNEY GENERAL: December 12th, Your Honor, is my un-
derstanding, that the Electoral College meets on December 18th.
DAVID BOIES, GORE CAMPAIGN ATTORNEY: This court certainly has the power to say, "What we're going to do
is tell the county boards that you've got this amount of time to complete your recount."
VAN SUSTEREN: And what the court focused in was wether or not you could do this hand count and still meet the
federal requirements to get the December 12th electors elected, essentially, to then go vote on December 18th to vote
for President of the United States.
JUSTICE BARBARA J. PARIENTE, FLORIDA SUPREME COURT: So, even if we said that everyone has the chance
for a window period to request a recount, the position of Governor Bush is that he would not go along with wanting
recounts in the other counties because the process is flawed?
MICHAEL CARVIN, BUSH CAMPAIGN ATTORNEY: No, Your Honor. I think we should follow the process
that's set out in the statute.
PARIENTE: But I'm asking you that question.
Page 504

BOETTCHER: I think that people looked at each other a lot during the exchanges between Justice Pariante and Michael
Carvin, the attorney for George W. Bush. That was kind of seen there as the most pointed questioning during the pe-
riod, the two hour period, that these arguments occurred.
HEMMER: The motto here at the state Supreme Court here in Florida translates from Latin into English the following
way: soon enough if right. But how do we define soon, that's what we're waiting for here in Tallahassee, with the state
Supreme Court building behind us.
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Bush and Gore teams jobs are done. Now the Justices need
for an opinion, which one of them chosen by lottery, will write. When that opinion is issued as a ruling is anyone's
guess.
BLITZER: The Florida Supreme Court is still in business at this hour.
CRAIG WATERS, FLORIDA SUPREME COURT SPOKESMAN: The court has issued a 42-page opinion this even-
inig in the Presidential election cases. In it's opinion, the court has reversed the two orders of the trial court.
GORE: The Florida Supreme Court has now spoken, and we will move forward now with a full, fair and accurate count
of the ballots in question.
BAKER: It is simply not fair, ladies and gentlemen, to change the rules, either in the middle of the game or after the
game has been played. Therefore, we intend to examine and to consider whatever remedies we may have to correct
this unjust result.
RANDALL: This is a special expanded edition of "CNN SATURDAY." I'm Gene Randall in Atlanta. We welcome
our international viewers.
It is only 2:00 p.m. here on the East Coast, but already it has turned into the night the lights went out in Georgia.
We're having light problems here in Atlanta, and we hope to fix that as soon as a manual recount of our lighting system
is done.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Our election map helped guide us across America's political geography. Some of us may actually believe
we've earned a degree from this thing called the Electoral College. But even weeks after the election, it was not at all
clear where Florida would end up, what ballots would be recounted by hand, what standards would be used for counting
a vote. And again, ultimately, who would be the forty-third president? The surprises were not over yet.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is a clear intent when you write George Bush. The clear intent is they're voting for
George Bush, and I'm inclined to give this to George Bush.
HEMMER: Day 15 now in the count does continue.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ballot number five.
HEMMER: The local headline today in the paper here, the "Tallahassee Democrat," "Unanimous Supreme Court says
keep counting."
CARDWELL: In Broward County, obviously, no problem finishing there. Palm Beach County should be able to. I
think the question mark is going to be Miami-Dade.
HEMMER: A major decision just issued. Miami-Dade canvassing board has decided now to consider only the
so-called undercount.
STOUFFER: We're just getting in some breaking news from the Associated Press. They are quoting the Bush cam-
paign as saying that Republican running mate Dick Cheney has been hospitalized in Washington, apparently complain-
ing of chest pains.
DR. ALAN WASSERMAN, GWU MEDICAL CENTER: There was a very slight heart attack.
LARRY KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": How are you feeling, Dick?
RICHARD B. CHENEY (R), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I feel pretty good, Larry.
Page 505

KING: No doubt about your serving?
CHENEY: No doubt about my serving. All we have to do now is get elected.
UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: Let us in! Let us in! Let us in!
FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Republican observers who are protesting upstairs were trying to
get into the area where the canvassing board was moving its votes to observe what was going on.
UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: Let us in! Let us in!
BUCKLEY: They were not being allowed in.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Frank, it sounds like you're in the middle of a prison riot. I mean, are you getting
a feeling that this is out of control?
BUCKLEY: These are the observers who have been a part of this process who are now being told they were no longer
needed. They felt they were being excluded. And that's where some of this anger is coming from.
UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: Let us see the ballots! Let us see the ballots?
BUCKLEY: Another development...
UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: Arrest him! Arrest him! Arrest him!
BUCKLEY: ... we are now on the ground floor where a Democratic attorney for the Democrats has been surrounded by
police. Crime scene tape has been put up around him because he was back in that office area. And the Republicans
fingered him and said, he has a ballot.
UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: Thief! Thief?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... Have twice voted no.
(APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is not physically possible to continue with this task.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That is the unanimous decision of this canvassing board that we will not be proceeding fur-
ther with a manual recount.
NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: George W. Bush is authorizing his lawyers to file an appeal with the U.S. Su-
preme Court in an effort to shut down all hand recounts of Florida ballots.
PRESS: Can you believe it? It's the night before Thanksgiving. And we still don't know which one of these turkeys is
going to win.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Many Americans giving thanks this morning. But the presidential limbo is not
taking a holiday. But Al Gore and George W. Bush are planning their next legal moves.
BUSH: I want to wish everybody, all of my friends and family, a happy Thanksgiving.
PHILLIPS: It's Thanksgiving break where we're in our news room where, of course, everything is very busy.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And you know what? CNN is serving turkey in seven minutes.
PHILLIPS: That is the official CNN Thanksgiving dinner.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roll the turkeys.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Gore campaign lawyers are headed to Florida Supreme Court to file their appeal to get
Miami-Dade County to do a hand recount.
WATERS: Vice President Gore's attorneys filed a petition for a writ of mandamus and seeking other relief here in the
court. The court now has the matter under advisement.
COSSACK: They want the court to say, oK, you volunteers, give up this turkey and Thanksgiving. Well, you know
what the Miami-Dade County Board is going to say, well, listen, you count. We don't want to do this anymore.
Page 506

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALES (singing): You put your stylus in, you put your stylus out. You put your stylus in, and
you punch Buchanan out.
HEMMER: With a clear punch...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): You do the Palm Beach Pokey and you turn it all around.
HEMMER: Wow, I didn't do so hot.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's what it's all about.
MOOS: If you wanted to vote for this guy right here, Blues Clues, which of these holes would you pick? That hole
right there, huh? Very good.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think now it's getting a little ridiculous.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm just looking forward to it just being over.
UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: Bush! All right, Bush-Cheney, Bush-Cheney, Bush-Cheney...
CANDIOTTI: This is a group of about 100 or so Bush supporters. Their argument is that this hand recount business
must stop, that Vice President Gore must concede the vote, and that what's happening here is an illegal process.
UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: Bush won twice! Bush won twice!
CHARLES BURTON, PALM BEACH COUNTY CANVASSING BOARD: I have no idea how this is accomplished.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Counting and protests both under way here as we stand outside the emergency operations
center here in Palm Beach County.
UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: Certify the vote now! Certify the vote now!
SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN (D-CT), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Vice President Gore and I call on the
demonstrators and all who may be organizing or encouraging them to stop these activities immediately.
UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: Certify now! Certify now!
PRESS: Republicans will do anything to win, even act like Democrats.
UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: Gore must concede! Gore must concede!
HEMMER: Al Gore on one side and George W. Bush on the other. I don't know if it's come to that just yet. I'll
watch it for you.
HARRIS: I bet if you flip that coin it lands on its edge, too.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you think of the coin flip idea?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Floridians may be surprised that they have the same law here. In doing the research, if this
vote would end up in a tie, it would be chosen by a flip of the coin.
STEPHEN FRAZIER, CNN ANCHOR: This remarkable development of the last few minutes that the United States
Supreme Court has agreed to hear one of the two Bush arguments in favor of stopping the hand recounts in Florida.
GREENFIELD: Hearing that for the first time in our history could directly affect the outcome of a presidential election.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The last ballot.
(APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's a net increase for Al Gore of 563 votes. And that's the result that we intend at this
time to certify.
BURTON: Dear Secretary Harris, we have been working diligently to complete the hand count of this election. Your
consideration of our request to extend the deadline for final selection of this hand count would be greatly appreciated.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's the very latest?
Page 507

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've counted 1,800 ballots this morning. As of this moment, it looks like there's about
2,000 left to count.
HEMMER: We're getting confirmation now the secretary of state's office here in Tallahassee has told the vote counters
down in Palm Beach that the extension for that deadline will not happen.
BURTON: Your request for filing an amended certification after 5:00 p.m. today is denied.
HARRIS: We are here today to certify the result of the election that occurred November 7, 2000. The certified result
of the presidential race in Florida is as follows. Governor George W. Bush, 2,912,790. Vice President Al Gore,
2,912,253.
LIEBERMAN: This evening, the secretary of state of Florida has decided to certify what by any reasonable standard is
an incomplete and inaccurate count of the votes cast in the state of Florida.
BUSH: The election was close. But tonight after a count, a recount, and yet another manual recount, Secretary Cheney
and I are honored and humbled to have won the state of Florida, which gives us the needed electoral votes to win the
election.
GEORGE BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is a true story. She said, "Where are you
going?" I said, "I'm going in to watch our son debate."
She said, "I don't want to listen to it." I said, "Fine." So I went in, listened to it. Five minutes after the debate ended,
she said, "Well, how did he do?" Came in the bedroom.
I said, "Well, I thought he did very well. But I've got to listen to this CNN here to tell me what I think. I can't make
up my own mind."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MOOS: Pity the poor butterfly having its image tarnished by the election flap, though not everyone is aware that's what
they call the two-page ballots with the punch holes in the middle.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, butterflies are ballots that flew out the window?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, really? OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It never had a ballot with wings.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Alcoholics for Bush! Alcoholics for Bush! Here's your camera right here.
GORE: The American people have shown dignity, restraint, and respect as the process has moved forward. This is
America.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Gore legal team this morning is expected to file motions in the Leon County Circuit
Court asking the judge to move this ahead on the fast track.
BAKER: Therefore, I would like to introduce the senior members of the litigation team who will be defending the vote
of Floridians in favor of Governor Bush and Secretary Cheney.
KING: Dick, how do you want to be called? Do you want to be called secretary? Do you want to be called vice
president-elect? Is that presumptuous?
CHENEY: Dick is fine, Larry.
The transition foundation now is up and running and has been incorporated under the laws of the state of Texas.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How do avoid the appearance that he's retreating to his Texas ranch while you take
charge?
CHENEY: On the one hand, we've been criticized for being too forward-leaning. Now you suggest maybe we're too
laid back. I would suggest you can't have it both ways.
Page 508

GORE: Once we have that full and accurate count of the ballots cast...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He needs to show evidence by this weekend that this court is actually going to count votes.
But the Democrats are increasingly of the view that perhaps this is not going to work out.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It has been almost all Gore all the time on the television networks.
GORE: You know, the only way to avoid having a cloud over the next president is to count all the votes.
JUDGE N. SANDERS SAULS, LEON COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT: I have no idea what we're going to do concern-
ing ballots, counting, or not counting the ballots.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here's what's happening. Lawyers for George W. Bush and Al Gore have filed so many
motions over the past three weeks that one Florida judge says it's like getting nibbled to death by a duck. That's a real
quote.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was actually with the Gore attorneys as they just filed their appeal. They are asking the
Supreme Court of the state of Florida to immediately count contested ballots.
DAVID BOIES, GORE CAMPAIGN ATTORNEY: They can send up the ballots that are contested right now. We
can't think of any need to hold up our ballots, the contested ballots, which are a few thousand in each case, for the hun-
dreds of thousands of other ballots.
SAULS: I'm going to leave it to them. What do you all want to do down there? Do you want to send up two times,
or you want to do it once? It's your call.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One time from Miami.
SAULS: One time it is. All right, that's it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are awaiting the Ryder truck. We anticipate it to come later this afternoon, possibly
between 3:00 or 4:00 depending on progress on the interstate system here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a very sensitive cargo, to say the least. And they're taking pretty strict precautions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we could have talked to a fortune teller before November 7 and they would have told you
that a key part of the presidential election would be three weeks afterwards a yellow Ryder truck going down a high-
way, you would say, "Yeah, what were you drinking?"
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's true.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just surreal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now we see George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Laura Bush, Mrs. Cheney, and the Powells
walking out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Governor, with Al Gore all over the airwaves, is this press availability in part because you're
responding to criticism that you've appeared out of touch in the past few days? Out of sight and out of touch?
BUSH: That's pretty humorous, Dave. Thank you all for coming.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's because we love the press, right?
CROWLEY: Bush aides say the notion that Bush is too removed is silly and believe that Al Gore's anywhere-anytime
approach to the media is, quote, "not presidential."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The big difference that we can see here, Bill, is that we've got Isuzu trucks today as opposed
to Ryder trucks yesterday. But that's about it.
But I can tell you the Republicans are playing a little psychological warfare. They are the car in front of the Demo-
cratic car. And they've got a little sign on the back of their car that says "W1."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Count the vote, read our lips, baby.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Charles, quite a day.
Page 509

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes it is, Frank, unlike anything I've ever seen here at the Supreme Court. It's getting kind
of loud and blustery.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a little bit of street theatre here outside our revered Supreme Court.
The issues are, of course, whether the Florida Supreme Court acted appropriately and whether the U.S. Supreme Court
has any business getting into this case. That's the fundamental question.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did you hear? You're our first connection to what's going on in there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Frank, it was an incredibly dramatic day. At 10:01, we heard Justice Rehnquist announce
the case and introduce Mr. Ted Olson (ph), who argued on behalf of the Bush team. Olson argued for no more than
two minutes before the questions came. And they came hot and heavy. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is what de-
mocracy looks like.
FRANK SESNO, CNN ANCHOR: The audio tapes of the Supreme Court proceeding, the court being called to order,
are being cued up. The audio technicians are about to press that play button. And for the first time in history, you
will be hearing the workings of the Supreme Court in almost real time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How could it make a difference? What's the consequence of our going one way or another
now in this case?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, some of these counties that have an enormous number of votes to conduct their manual
recount.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's only about the Florida election votes.
SAULS: Good morning. Let's see, we want to call at this time, this is the case of Albert Gore, Jr. et al versus Kathe-
rine Harris, the secretary of state of Florida.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The chads just arbitrarily drop off the page?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's an automatic machine.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dimples that were never intended as votes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's why you need manual recounts. Isn't that correct, sir? Yes or no. (INAUDIBLE)
JOHN AHMANN, VOTING MACHINE EXPERT: You need either a re- inspection or manual recount where you have
that situation. Yes you do, if you've got a very close election.
PRESS: How about that guy? The Bush people puts this machine expert on the witness stand. And he ended up tes-
tifying basically agreeing with the Gore people.
CARLSON: Angels on the head of a pin, though, Bill. It makes no difference.
SAULS: I'm going to take it under submission. And I will give you a decision in the morning.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The court will stand in recess.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We would also appreciate if possible to have some help unloading the transfer boxes. I be-
lieve there will be 167 of them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our clerk is not that big.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What standard would she use in the situation I proposed then?
JOSEPH KLOCK, ATTORNEY FOR FLORIDA SECRETARY OF STATE: Justice Brennan, the difficulty is that --
I'm sorry. That's why they tell you not to do that.
What I'm saying is...
Page 510

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They have to throw their hands up.
KLOCK: ... No, Justice Breyer, what I'm saying is that...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm Justice Souter. You'd better cut that out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Klock, I'm Scalia.
KLOCK: Yes, sir.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm here watching the (INAUDIBLE) right there. The word coming across the wire is
that the U.S. Supreme Court has set aside the ruling on hand counted votes in Florida.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pardon me for being out of breath. The judgment of the Supreme Court is vacated.
VAN SUSTEREN: ... that it was a tie. But it's a tie that's going to be broken at some point because we're racing
against the clock.
SAULS: There is no credible statistical evidence...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a very serious blow to the Gore campaign.
GREENFIELD: You've got to come up with almost like a Perry Mason moment.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're talking about the election that will not die.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I tend to feel like the popular vote ought to take it, that we've gone beyond a need for an
Electoral College.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If there's something better, they haven't found it yet anywhere.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Didn't really think it was important. But now we know it is. Bummer.
GREENFIELD: But unless or until they amend the constitution, the Electoral College will choose. And on January 5,
2001, the new Congress will gather to hear the votes tallied by none other than Vice President Gore.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just hope they decide it soon.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People just want this thing settled even if it means involving the Florida legislature.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hear ye, hear he...
HEMMER: Day 30, and again we sit here and wait.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They are sure to face some tough questioning.
BOIES: My name is David Boies.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Before David Boies had almost gotten out of his mouth "good morning," Chief Justice Wells
was all over him.
BARRY RICHARD, ATTORNEY FOR BUSH CAMPAIGN: There is no evidence in this case that the ballots were
ever compromised.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of the judges, who I'm not going to tell which judge it is, but one of the judges needs
more time to finish her ruling.
(LAUGHTER)
TERRE CASS, LEON COUNTY COURT ADMINISTRATOR: We have a ruling in both the Seminole County case
and the Martin County case.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A win for George W. Bush along...
Page 511

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chamber of horrors for Al Gore.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Governor, do you have most of your cabinet posts picked out?
BUSH: Well, I think we've got -- no?
(LAUGHTER)
VAN SUSTEREN: It's a must-win for Vice President Al Gore.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The count shall commence immediately.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With those words, a new lease on life.
WILLIAM DALEY, GORE CAMPAIGN CHAIRMAN: It is a victory for fairness and accountability...
HEMMER: The majority of the counting is going to be conducted... UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In performing the vote
recount...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The counters sworn in.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very big news, a stay on the recount in Florida.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were ready to start the manual recount.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They had CNN on in the count room. So as a result they just stopped.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to need a neck brace before this thing is all over.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: With the nation and the world watching...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The surroundings couldn't be more auspicious. The stakes couldn't be higher.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of passion, a lot of fury outside, a lot of very strong feelings.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thank Al Gore for making me a Republican activist.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is America. Count the votes.
VAN SUSTEREN: This is business. You hit the gavel.
JUSTICE WILLIAM REHNQUIST, U.S. SUPREME COURT: George W. Bush and Richard Cheney versus Albert
Gore.
KLOCK: The only problem that we have here is created by people who did not follow instructions.
JUSTICE SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR, U.S. SUPREME COURT: Why isn't the standard the one that voters are in-
structed to follow, for goodness sakes?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Indented ballots in another county...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Around Tallahassee, Florida, like all over the country and the world watching those Supreme
Court arguments and waiting for the latest once-and-for-all, now-we'll-really-know, this- is-it, this-is-really-it decision.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've got all the patience in the world. We have a president.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Others not so serene.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is really a joke, though. It's just gone on way too long. People are getting really upset
about this.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Upset about it going on and/or not going on.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is anybody here sick and tired of what's going on?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no. Count the ballots.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Count the ballots, count the votes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But while they waited, no one could count on anything.
Page 512

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The decision is going to come out...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It all started on the night of November 7.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The judgment of the Supreme Court of Florida...
GREENFIELD: The Democrats believed they had won the presidency.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is reversed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They have found a constitutional violation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Still, my colleagues madly going through a decision.
SHAW: Listen to this language from the justices.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Without substantial additional work...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The safe harbor day is really December, is today.
GREENFIELD: One smack against the calendar.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to have to extract that. Why don't you talk to Ken while I look?
SHAW: Vice President Al Gore is learning from CNN...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Clearly a sense to a person on the Gore team that this is a bad decision.
SEN. ROBERT TORRICELLI (D-NJ): It appears that the last vote in Florida has now been counted.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This, a statement from William Daley. "It will take time to completely analyze this opin-
ion."
CROWLEY: A sense of confidence that this is indeed a victory for George W. Bush.
BAKER: This has been a long and arduous process for everyone involved on both sides.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Twenty-four years after entering public office, Al Gore, Jr. prepares to leave.
GORE: Good evening. Just moments ago, I spoke with George W. Bush and congratulated him on becoming the for-
ty-third president of the United States. And I promised him that I wouldn't call him back this time.
SHAW: Bush will become the nineteenth Republican president, the seventeenth governor to become president, the first
Texas governor ever to become president.
BUSH: Our country has been through a long and trying period. And I hope the long wait of the last five weeks will
heighten a desire to move beyond the bitterness and partisanship of the recent past.
Whether you voted for me or not, I will do my best to serve your interests. And I will work to earn your respect.
SHAW: Thirty-six days later, it's over.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: And so we move away now from Election 2000. But there will be plenty of new stories and new faces and
new lessons to learn. At times it may have seemed that Election 2000 was one endless civics class. But hopefully,
we're all a bit smarter now about our elections, our courts, and our country.
It sure was a wild ride. I'm Bill Hemmer. And thanks for watching.
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Page 513

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Page 514


CNN

December 16, 2000; Saturday


What Have We Learned from Election 2000?

BYLINE: Bill Hemmer


LENGTH: 8058 words

HIGHLIGHT: Five amazing weeks unfolded day by day, hour by hour, and many times minute by minute. A look
back from Election Day up to this week's concession and acceptance speeches.

ANNOUNCER: This is a CNN Election 2000 special report.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Bill Hemmer at the CNN Center in Atlanta.
Chances are, it will be a very long time before any of us think of Florida the same way again. That famous sunshine
and surf now eclipsed by dimple, chad and butterfly ballots. But what a wild ride it was, and what an amazing educa-
tion for all of us.
But looking back now, what did we learn?
Tonight we're hitting the rewind button, how five amazing weeks unfolded day by day, hour by hour, and many times
minute by minute. We begin, though, where else, with the one night everyone thought would give America it's next
president: November 7, 2000, election night.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GOV. GEORGE W. BUSH (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Greg? George W. Bush, seeking the Presidency.
I'm doing great today. I feel good. I will feel better when I know that our people are going to go to the polls, and
that's why I'm calling.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: As voting continues, literally, at this hour...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People seem to be coming out to say, look, this is about me, it's about my future.
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: At the midnight hour, we may still be counting
ballots in Florida.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Many analysts call the closeness of the Florida race the biggest surprise of election 2000. It
was long believed that Governor Jeb Bush could easily carry Florida for his brother.
WOODRUFF: A big call to make, CNN announces that we call Florida in the Al Gore column.
JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SENIOR ANALYST: This is a roadblock the size of a boulder to George W. Bush's path to
the White House. CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Boy, you begin to look at
those other big battleground states, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and they become so much more important now.
Page 515

JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: This, a major boost for the Gore campaign. A
cheer going up here in Nashville.
MIKE MCCURRY, FORMER WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I think the results in Florida have got to be
bitter sweet for the Bush family, of course, the brother of Governor Bush, the sitting governor in Florida. That can't be a
happy one for the Bush family.
BUSH: I don't believe that some of these states that they've called, like Florida, I just don't believe that we got enough
evidence to be able to call the state right now.
MARY MATALIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: There are a half-a-million absentee ballots out there. I'm just
telling you, that state's going to flip. I really feel that way.
GREENFIELD: George Bush has to more or less run the table on it. He has got to wiin Ohio. He has got to Tennessee
and Arkansas. He has got to win Missouri. These projections are not infallbile. There are times when the networks
have to eat a hearty portion of crow.
BERNARD SHAW, CNN ANCHOR: Stand by. CNN right now is moving our earlier declaration of Florida into the
too close to call ...
GREENFIELD: Waiter, one order of crow, please.
CROWLEY: I think you can hear the crowd reaction.
KARL ROVE, BUSH CAMPAIGN: You all called Florida before Florida even closed it's polls. Florida is a state
which votes in two time zones.
MARK FABIANI, GORE CAMPAIGN: Two-thirds of the outstanding votes in Florida are from the Democrat strong-
holds in that state.
SHAW: We're making a call in Iowa, in the Hawkeye State. CNN declares that Al Gore has won Iowa's seven elec-
toral votes.
GREENFIELD: Whoever wins Florida will be the next President of the United States.
SHAW: The United States has a new president. He's the Texas governor, George Walker Bush.
Bush wins. Florida goes to George Bush. The Presidency is Bush. That's it.
KING: There were gasps of no and screams of no, the faces quite glum, the Vice-President placed a phone call to the
Texas governor, congratulated him on winning the election, and in brief remarks here tonight to his supporters and, of
course, to the American people, will wish the Governor well. SCHNEIDER: CNN is double checking the vote count,
county by county, in the state of Florida. We are going through that exercise.
KING: There will be an automatic recount under Florida state law.
CROWLEY: Put me on. Gore has retracted his concession.
SCHNEIDER: We do not have a winner in our Electoral College count, because the state of Florida is now rated offi-
cially as a toss up.
HAL BRUNO, CNN ELECTION ANALYST: Never have we seen anything like this in the entire history of the coun-
try.
KING: Here he is, Billy Daley.
WILLIAM DALEY, GORE CAMPAIGN CHAIRMAN: I've been in politics a very long time, but I don't think there's
ever been a night like this one.
GREENFIELD: We are in a state of political suspended animation.
CROWLEY: At the Governor's mansion, they are trying to figure this out.
WOODRUFF: Don Evans, a long time close friend of George W. Bush.
DON EVANS, BUSH CAMPAIGN CHAIRMAN: They're still counting. They're still counting. And I'm confident
when it's all said and done we will prevail.
Page 516

SHAW: It's not over. It simply is not over.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: Now, why are you here? You have a comfortable life. You could be home watching this on television.
ROB REINER, DIRECTOR: Well, you know, I'm quite attracted to you, John, and that's why I'm here. You know, it's
getting a little late. We're getting punchy. We're getting punchy.
SHAW: I especially love your straight face, too, John.
GREENFIELD: You know, I think that somehow that was absolutely in keeping with the way this night may be devel-
oping.
SHAW: Exactly.
WOODRUFF: A new day, but still no new president. The White House is still up for grabs.
HEMMER: It is a presidential election still too close to call on this, the morning after.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bush wins it. A couple of hours later, the Miami Herald comes out
with "Not Over Yet".
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's certainly an accurate headline this morning, because we just
don't know where things stand.
BUSH: How many hours of sleep did you get last night?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: About two. How about you?
BUSH: About three -- and a half, actually.
Good morning.
MESERVE: The campaign remained confident that they will be able to pull this out.
BUSH: Secretary Cheney and I will do everything in our power to unite the nation.
JONATHAN KARL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Here is the Nashville Tennesseean.
AL GORE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We still do not know the outcome of yesterday's vote.
This matter must be resolved expeditiously, but deliberately and without any rush to judgement.
MIKE BOETTCHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Here in Florida, hurricane country, they're saying this is the eye of
the hurricane.
ZARRELLA: They began the recount of some 587,000 votes.
JENNY BACKUS, DNC SPOKESWOMAN: We don't think this election is over. And what we're upset about, mov-
ing quickly right now, is the fact that this is all being done in the dark of night. Where is the sunshine in the Sunshine
State?
MARK POTTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They're also dealing with an issue up in the Palm Beach area, where
some voters have claimed that the voting procedure is confusing.
Al Gore is the second name on this side, but the third hole down.
REP. ROBERT WEXLER (D), FLORIDA: There is no doubt there was mass confusion in Palm Beach County.
ROGER COSSACK, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Sue, yesterday you went to vote, what happened?
SUE BLUM, SOUTH PALM BEACH VOTER: I could cast my vote, but it was not in line with my candidate. I had
to either go above it or below it.
GOV. JEB BUSH (R), FLORIDA: This ballot, as is the law, was published, I believe, in newspapers. It may have
been sent out in mailings, in some counties that's the case. So people had ample opportunity to challenge the ballot
itself. POTTER: The state of Florida is in a national spotlight right now. What happens here in the state will determine
the next presidency of the United States.
Page 517

WILLIAM J. CLINTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The American people have now spoken. But it's
going to take a little while to determine exactly what they said.
DALEY: I saw in on CNN's screen. It was 400 a vote spread.
HEMMER: The surrogates have flown in here from the Gore camp and the Bush camp.
Are you safe saying that there is a legal fight ensuing in this race?
DALEY: Oh, already there's been suits filed. And I would imagine this will continue for awhile -- as it should.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're calling it ballot bedlam.
JESSE JACKSON, RAINBOW/PUSH COALITION: This ballot is-it is deceptive.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: None of these people really know who they voted for. They're just upset, in my opinion,
that Gore lost.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Trust the people. Trust the people.
GREENFIELD: As the Presidency hung in the balance, the tensions and the voices continued to rise.
Nowhere was tension higher than in Palm Beach County.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are a very intelligent lady. You should read your sample ballot.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why didn't those 19,000 people go up to the people that were working the polls in the thing
and say, we've got a problem. Nineteen thousand? I doubt it.
KATHERINE HARRIS, FLORIDA SECRETARY OF STATE: We will all remember these times as some of the most
critical and defining moments in our nation's history.
BOB CRAWFORD, FLORIDA AGRICULTURE COMMISSIONER: This is democracy in action. If you want sim-
plicity, just go about 70 miles south of Florida and you've got Cuba and they're very simple. They have no elections.
DAVID CARDWELL, CNN ELECTION LAW ANALYST: Each time those ballots are fed through it you will get
different results because the machine will read them differently.
TREVOR POTTER, ELECTION LAW ANALYST: Sometimes when it's put into the machine, the machine doesn't
read that the hole has been pushed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's right, sometimes the debris gets in the way.
T. POTTER: What the election law folk call a hanging chad.
HEMMER: C-H-A-D, I believe, Brian (ph).
LINDA STOUFFER, CNN ANCHOR: As the final county reported, we understand that there was a margin out with
327 votes.
BOB DOLE, (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think it's time for Al Gore to look people in the eye and
say, "Well, we gave it our best shot."
The stock markets are effected.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wall Street does not like uncertainty, and with the presidential
cliff hanger stretching into day three, that's exactly what we still have here.
WARREN CHRISTOPHER, GORE CAMPAIGN OBSERVER: What we're doing is a constitutional process. There
is no constitutional crisis.
We're going to proceed here in a very careful and lawful way.
BUSH: I understand there's still votes to be counted, but I'm in the process of planning, in a responsible way, a potential
administration.
KAREN HUGHES, BUSH CAMPAIGN SPOKESWOMAN: I don't think anyone thinks that a lengthy and protracted,
scores of lawyers, endless legal battles, with no reasonable or forseeable conclusion, would be healthy for the country.
Page 518

CLARK: Bush, we are told, has given Baker the authority to challenge the hand count of the ballots in Florida.
For, among other reasons, according to the filing, the hand count scheme produces arbitrary and capricious decision
making.
JAMES BAKER, BUSH CAMPAIGN OBSERVER: Machines are neither Republicans nor Democrats and therefore
can be neither consicously nor unconsciously biased. We ask that there be no further recounts of already recounted
ballots.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Now, you might think this count would take place behind closed
doors. Indeed it is. But there are lots of windows in the room too, so you can get a live look at this historical count in
progress.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There are actually three types of chad that are being counted as a
vote. Hanging chad, that's attached by a corner, swinging door chad, connected by two corners, and tri-chad that is
attached by three corners. BOB NICHOLS, PALM BEACH COUNTY SPOKESMAN: But the chad that is fully at-
tached, bearing only an indentation, should not be counted as a vote.
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Very good.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a very serious process and this process is going to continue for awhile.
CAROL ROBERTS, PALM BEACH COUNTY CANVASSING BOARD: The results of the manual recount of 1 per-
cent clearly would effect the results of the national election. I move that this board conduct a manual recount of all the
ballots for the Presidential election for the year 2000.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The twists and turns of Election 2000 continue. The Secretary of State of Florida
givinig us the latest information.
HEMMER: A two-page statement here from Kathrine Harris, the Secretary of State, just being handed out now to re-
porters.
BOETTCHER: Secrtary of State told Warren Christopher, in a meeting, that the election will be certified at 5:00 p.m.
tomorrow.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And there's the ballot.
BOETTCHER: So, whatever counts are in at that time, that's it.
POTTER: We've had a ruling here at the Miami Federal Court House that has gone badly for the Republicans. Judge
Donald Melbrooks refused to issue an injunction that would have halted the manual ballot count in four counties, so that
count now continues.
TUCHMAN: There's no way they'd be able to count 100 percent of these votes by a 5:00 p.m. deadline tomorrow.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have entered the action in asking the court to stop the Secretary of State from ending the
vote counting tomorrow night.
GORE: Look, I would not want to win the Presidency by a few votes cast in error. And I don't think Governor Bush
wants that either.
HARRIS: Governor George Bush, 2,910,000...
BOETTCHER: It is up to the Secretary of State to determine whether any such corrective or supplemental return filed
after 5:00 p.m. today are to be ignored. HARRIS: Thank you very much.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: The outcome is by no means a foregone conclusion, although the 300 vote differ-
ential is clearly something in George W. Bush's favor.
BOBBIE BATTISTA, CNN ANCHOR: Gettinig wild here tonight.
Page 519

ANDRE FLADELL, SUING PALM BEACH COUNTY: This is a copy of a sample ballot. Please vote for Pat Bu-
chanan according to the instructions.
BATTISTA: Well, you can't do that -- well you can, but there's no arrow to the right, so you would have to ...
BATTISTA: How did I get on trial here?
FLADELL: How does it feel to be called confused? She doesn't have common sense, apparently.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TUCKER CARLSON, CNN COMMENTATOR: ... are not the only Republicans collecting chads. In fact, I have here
chads. We collected these, Bill, as evidence, and I just want to show you what an actual chad-these are actual chads.
These are both pregnant and dimpled.
BILL PRESS, CNN COMMENTATOR: I love it.
CARLSON: See, perfectly innocuous and yet they could change ...
PRESS: Seventy-eight pieces of (INAUDIBLE)
CARLSON: We found those at CNN.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, as always, we seem to be at ground zero here in Palm Beach County. Here's the front
page of this mornings "Palm Beach Post": "Bush by 300 and recounting".
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Recounting is necessary in all counties.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You need to have some kind of standard, uniform way of counting.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Counting is not a science.
SEN. FRED THOMPSON (R), TENNESSEE: The Republican secretary of state certainly has taken a lot of grief. The
Gore spokesman who called her a hack.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Katherine Harris is someone who has been caught in the headlights of history. UNIDENTI-
FIED MALE: Katherine Harris is a fine lady and they should lay off of her.
HARRIS: For the past six hours, I have applied these criteria in deliberating upon the specific requests of the counties,
contemplating manual vote recounts. As a result of these deliberations, I've decided it is my duty under Florida law to
exercise my discretion in denying these requested amendments.
DALEY: I think it is an act that indicates that there is a desire to try to shut this down too quickly, and I think that's un-
fortunate.
GORE: I will abide by the result. I will take no legal action to challenge the result and I will not support any legal
action to challenge the result.
BUSH: Unfortunately, what the vice president proposes is exactly what he's been proposing all along, continuing with
selective hand recounts that are neither fair nor accurate. Or compounding the error by extending a flawed process
statewide.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You want to take a look at this?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I don't want to disturb Your Honor.
BLITZER: It is day nine without a President-elect. The lawyers are busy. The candidates are in limbo. And the
election outcome is still very much in doubt.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's happening is this. It's being negated.
WOODRUFF: At this hour, election officials in Palm Beach County plan to launch a full hand recount of the presiden-
tial ballots after getting a green light from Florida's Supreme Court.
Page 520

DALEY: We think it is particularly significant that the Florida Supreme Court sent a clear signal to the counties that
their counts could continue not withstanding the secretary's efforts to terminate those counts three times in the past three
days.
BAKER: I'd like to suggest to you that you have just witnessed a superb example of the art of legal spin.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: These could be the main factor in this election.
HUGHES: No one who aspires to be commander in chief should seek to unfairly deny the votes of the men and women
he would seek to command.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you voted and you did it correctly, it ought to count.
GENE RANDALL, CNN ANCHOR: And now I am told that the Associated Press is reporting the George W. Bush
lead going into Florida's State Supreme Court on Monday is 930 votes and this includes the overseas absentee ballots.
CHRIS BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Gore campaign officials always said that if they kept the Bush gain to
under 1000 votes, they could make it up, they believed, in the recount.
ZARRELLA: Let's give you some updated numbers here this morning. What we have out of Palm Beach County is 202
precincts of the 531 have been counted, that's 34 percent of the total ballots.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And just like in Palm Beach County, there are all kinds of accusa-
tions flying about here, some as strange as a Democratic observer allegedly munching on the chad from a ballot to a
Republican operative offering me a Ziplock baggie filled with chads that he claimed were collected from the room over
here.
MARY HALL, BROWARD COUNTY VOTE COUNTER: The most memorable moment is ripping, running, not get-
ting enough sleep.
HEMMER: Just a few moments ago the Bush legal team did file their legal brief in the state Supreme Court here in
Tallahassee. Within the next two or three hours, the Gore team will respond.
GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Let me tell you what this boils down to. It's this: are hand
counts prohibited in the state of Florida and must the Secretary of State accept any hand count votes after the deadline
of Tuesday, which was just a few days ago? That's the whole issue here.
HEMMER: We wanted to let you know that 148 very lucky people will be allowed to go inside the State Supreme
Court building. Some folks will be able to see history.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, the Florida Supreme Court.
CHIEF JUSTICE CHARLES T. WELLS, FLORIDA SUPREME COURT: What's the date, the outside date, that we're
looking at in which puts Florida's votes in jepordy?
PAUL HANCOCK, ATTORNEY FOR FLORIDA ATTORNEY GENERAL: December 12th, Your Honor, is my un-
derstanding, that the Electoral College meets on December 18th.
DAVID BOIES, GORE CAMPAIGN ATTORNEY: This court certainly has the power to say, "What we're going to do
is tell the county boards that you've got this amount of time to complete your recount."
VAN SUSTEREN: And what the court focused in was wether or not you could do this hand count and still meet the
federal requirements to get the December 12th electors elected, essentially, to then go vote on December 18th to vote
for President of the United States.
JUSTICE BARBARA J. PARIENTE, FLORIDA SUPREME COURT: So, even if we said that everyone has the chance
for a window period to request a recount, the position of Governor Bush is that he would not go along with wanting
recounts in the other counties because the process is flawed?
MICHAEL CARVIN, BUSH CAMPAIGN ATTORNEY: No, Your Honor. I think we should follow the process
that's set out in the statute.
PARIENTE: But I'm asking you that question.
Page 521

BOETTCHER: I think that people looked at each other a lot during the exchanges between Justice Pariante and Michael
Carvin, the attorney for George W. Bush. That was kind of seen there as the most pointed questioning during the pe-
riod, the two hour period, that these arguments occurred.
HEMMER: The motto here at the state Supreme Court here in Florida translates from Latin into English the following
way: soon enough if right. But how do we define soon, that's what we're waiting for here in Tallahassee, with the state
Supreme Court building behind us.
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Bush and Gore teams jobs are done. Now the Justices need
for an opinion, which one of them chosen by lottery, will write. When that opinion is issued as a ruling is anyone's
guess.
BLITZER: The Florida Supreme Court is still in business at this hour.
CRAIG WATERS, FLORIDA SUPREME COURT SPOKESMAN: The court has issued a 42-page opinion this even-
inig in the Presidential election cases. In it's opinion, the court has reversed the two orders of the trial court.
GORE: The Florida Supreme Court has now spoken, and we will move forward now with a full, fair and accurate count
of the ballots in question.
BAKER: It is simply not fair, ladies and gentlemen, to change the rules, either in the middle of the game or after the
game has been played. Therefore, we intend to examine and to consider whatever remedies we may have to correct
this unjust result.
RANDALL: This is a special expanded edition of "CNN SATURDAY." I'm Gene Randall in Atlanta. We welcome
our international viewers.
It is only 2:00 p.m. here on the East Coast, but already it has turned into the night the lights went out in Georgia.
We're having light problems here in Atlanta, and we hope to fix that as soon as a manual recount of our lighting system
is done.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Our election map helped guide us across America's political geography. Some of us may actually believe
we've earned a degree from this thing called the Electoral College. But even weeks after the election, it was not at all
clear where Florida would end up, what ballots would be recounted by hand, what standards would be used for counting
a vote. And again, ultimately, who would be the forty-third president? The surprises were not over yet.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is a clear intent when you write George Bush. The clear intent is they're voting for
George Bush, and I'm inclined to give this to George Bush.
HEMMER: Day 15 now in the count does continue.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ballot number five.
HEMMER: The local headline today in the paper here, the "Tallahassee Democrat," "Unanimous Supreme Court says
keep counting."
CARDWELL: In Broward County, obviously, no problem finishing there. Palm Beach County should be able to. I
think the question mark is going to be Miami-Dade.
HEMMER: A major decision just issued. Miami-Dade canvassing board has decided now to consider only the
so-called undercount.
STOUFFER: We're just getting in some breaking news from the Associated Press. They are quoting the Bush cam-
paign as saying that Republican running mate Dick Cheney has been hospitalized in Washington, apparently complain-
ing of chest pains.
DR. ALAN WASSERMAN, GWU MEDICAL CENTER: There was a very slight heart attack.
LARRY KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": How are you feeling, Dick?
RICHARD B. CHENEY (R), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I feel pretty good, Larry.
Page 522

KING: No doubt about your serving?
CHENEY: No doubt about my serving. All we have to do now is get elected.
UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: Let us in! Let us in! Let us in!
FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Republican observers who are protesting upstairs were trying to
get into the area where the canvassing board was moving its votes to observe what was going on.
UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: Let us in! Let us in!
BUCKLEY: They were not being allowed in.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Frank, it sounds like you're in the middle of a prison riot. I mean, are you getting
a feeling that this is out of control?
BUCKLEY: These are the observers who have been a part of this process who are now being told they were no longer
needed. They felt they were being excluded. And that's where some of this anger is coming from.
UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: Let us see the ballots! Let us see the ballots?
BUCKLEY: Another development...
UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: Arrest him! Arrest him! Arrest him!
BUCKLEY: ... we are now on the ground floor where a Democratic attorney for the Democrats has been surrounded by
police. Crime scene tape has been put up around him because he was back in that office area. And the Republicans
fingered him and said, he has a ballot.
UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: Thief! Thief?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... Have twice voted no.
(APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is not physically possible to continue with this task.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That is the unanimous decision of this canvassing board that we will not be proceeding fur-
ther with a manual recount.
NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: George W. Bush is authorizing his lawyers to file an appeal with the U.S. Su-
preme Court in an effort to shut down all hand recounts of Florida ballots.
PRESS: Can you believe it? It's the night before Thanksgiving. And we still don't know which one of these turkeys is
going to win.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Many Americans giving thanks this morning. But the presidential limbo is not
taking a holiday. But Al Gore and George W. Bush are planning their next legal moves.
BUSH: I want to wish everybody, all of my friends and family, a happy Thanksgiving.
PHILLIPS: It's Thanksgiving break where we're in our news room where, of course, everything is very busy.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And you know what? CNN is serving turkey in seven minutes.
PHILLIPS: That is the official CNN Thanksgiving dinner.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roll the turkeys.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Gore campaign lawyers are headed to Florida Supreme Court to file their appeal to get
Miami-Dade County to do a hand recount.
WATERS: Vice President Gore's attorneys filed a petition for a writ of mandamus and seeking other relief here in the
court. The court now has the matter under advisement.
COSSACK: They want the court to say, oK, you volunteers, give up this turkey and Thanksgiving. Well, you know
what the Miami-Dade County Board is going to say, well, listen, you count. We don't want to do this anymore.
Page 523

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALES (singing): You put your stylus in, you put your stylus out. You put your stylus in, and
you punch Buchanan out.
HEMMER: With a clear punch...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): You do the Palm Beach Pokey and you turn it all around.
HEMMER: Wow, I didn't do so hot.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's what it's all about.
MOOS: If you wanted to vote for this guy right here, Blues Clues, which of these holes would you pick? That hole
right there, huh? Very good.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think now it's getting a little ridiculous.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm just looking forward to it just being over.
UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: Bush! All right, Bush-Cheney, Bush-Cheney, Bush-Cheney...
CANDIOTTI: This is a group of about 100 or so Bush supporters. Their argument is that this hand recount business
must stop, that Vice President Gore must concede the vote, and that what's happening here is an illegal process.
UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: Bush won twice! Bush won twice!
CHARLES BURTON, PALM BEACH COUNTY CANVASSING BOARD: I have no idea how this is accomplished.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Counting and protests both under way here as we stand outside the emergency operations
center here in Palm Beach County.
UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: Certify the vote now! Certify the vote now!
SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN (D-CT), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Vice President Gore and I call on the
demonstrators and all who may be organizing or encouraging them to stop these activities immediately.
UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: Certify now! Certify now!
PRESS: Republicans will do anything to win, even act like Democrats.
UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: Gore must concede! Gore must concede!
HEMMER: Al Gore on one side and George W. Bush on the other. I don't know if it's come to that just yet. I'll
watch it for you.
HARRIS: I bet if you flip that coin it lands on its edge, too.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you think of the coin flip idea?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Floridians may be surprised that they have the same law here. In doing the research, if this
vote would end up in a tie, it would be chosen by a flip of the coin.
STEPHEN FRAZIER, CNN ANCHOR: This remarkable development of the last few minutes that the United States
Supreme Court has agreed to hear one of the two Bush arguments in favor of stopping the hand recounts in Florida.
GREENFIELD: Hearing that for the first time in our history could directly affect the outcome of a presidential election.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The last ballot.
(APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's a net increase for Al Gore of 563 votes. And that's the result that we intend at this
time to certify.
BURTON: Dear Secretary Harris, we have been working diligently to complete the hand count of this election. Your
consideration of our request to extend the deadline for final selection of this hand count would be greatly appreciated.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's the very latest?
Page 524

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've counted 1,800 ballots this morning. As of this moment, it looks like there's about
2,000 left to count.
HEMMER: We're getting confirmation now the secretary of state's office here in Tallahassee has told the vote counters
down in Palm Beach that the extension for that deadline will not happen.
BURTON: Your request for filing an amended certification after 5:00 p.m. today is denied.
HARRIS: We are here today to certify the result of the election that occurred November 7, 2000. The certified result
of the presidential race in Florida is as follows. Governor George W. Bush, 2,912,790. Vice President Al Gore,
2,912,253.
LIEBERMAN: This evening, the secretary of state of Florida has decided to certify what by any reasonable standard is
an incomplete and inaccurate count of the votes cast in the state of Florida.
BUSH: The election was close. But tonight after a count, a recount, and yet another manual recount, Secretary Cheney
and I are honored and humbled to have won the state of Florida, which gives us the needed electoral votes to win the
election.
GEORGE BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is a true story. She said, "Where are you
going?" I said, "I'm going in to watch our son debate."
She said, "I don't want to listen to it." I said, "Fine." So I went in, listened to it. Five minutes after the debate ended,
she said, "Well, how did he do?" Came in the bedroom.
I said, "Well, I thought he did very well. But I've got to listen to this CNN here to tell me what I think. I can't make
up my own mind."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MOOS: Pity the poor butterfly having its image tarnished by the election flap, though not everyone is aware that's what
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, butterflies are ballots that flew out the window?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It never had a ballot with wings.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Alcoholics for Bush! Alcoholics for Bush! Here's your camera right here.
GORE: The American people have shown dignity, restraint, and respect as the process has moved forward. This is
America.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Gore legal team this morning is expected to file motions in the Leon County Circuit
Court asking the judge to move this ahead on the fast track.
BAKER: Therefore, I would like to introduce the senior members of the litigation team who will be defending the vote
of Floridians in favor of Governor Bush and Secretary Cheney.
KING: Dick, how do you want to be called? Do you want to be called secretary? Do you want to be called vice
president-elect? Is that presumptuous?
CHENEY: Dick is fine, Larry.
The transition foundation now is up and running and has been incorporated under the laws of the state of Texas.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How do avoid the appearance that he's retreating to his Texas ranch while you take
charge?
CHENEY: On the one hand, we've been criticized for being too forward-leaning. Now you suggest maybe we're too
laid back. I would suggest you can't have it both ways.
Page 525

GORE: Once we have that full and accurate count of the ballots cast...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He needs to show evidence by this weekend that this court is actually going to count votes.
But the Democrats are increasingly of the view that perhaps this is not going to work out.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It has been almost all Gore all the time on the television networks.
GORE: You know, the only way to avoid having a cloud over the next president is to count all the votes.
JUDGE N. SANDERS SAULS, LEON COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT: I have no idea what we're going to do concern-
ing ballots, counting, or not counting the ballots.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here's what's happening. Lawyers for George W. Bush and Al Gore have filed so many
motions over the past three weeks that one Florida judge says it's like getting nibbled to death by a duck. That's a real
quote.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was actually with the Gore attorneys as they just filed their appeal. They are asking the
Supreme Court of the state of Florida to immediately count contested ballots.
DAVID BOIES, GORE CAMPAIGN ATTORNEY: They can send up the ballots that are contested right now. We
can't think of any need to hold up our ballots, the contested ballots, which are a few thousand in each case, for the hun-
dreds of thousands of other ballots.
SAULS: I'm going to leave it to them. What do you all want to do down there? Do you want to send up two times,
or you want to do it once? It's your call.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One time from Miami.
SAULS: One time it is. All right, that's it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are awaiting the Ryder truck. We anticipate it to come later this afternoon, possibly
between 3:00 or 4:00 depending on progress on the interstate system here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a very sensitive cargo, to say the least. And they're taking pretty strict precautions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we could have talked to a fortune teller before November 7 and they would have told you
that a key part of the presidential election would be three weeks afterwards a yellow Ryder truck going down a high-
way, you would say, "Yeah, what were you drinking?"
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's true.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just surreal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now we see George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Laura Bush, Mrs. Cheney, and the Powells
walking out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Governor, with Al Gore all over the airwaves, is this press availability in part because you're
responding to criticism that you've appeared out of touch in the past few days? Out of sight and out of touch?
BUSH: That's pretty humorous, Dave. Thank you all for coming.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's because we love the press, right?
CROWLEY: Bush aides say the notion that Bush is too removed is silly and believe that Al Gore's anywhere-anytime
approach to the media is, quote, "not presidential."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The big difference that we can see here, Bill, is that we've got Isuzu trucks today as opposed
to Ryder trucks yesterday. But that's about it.
But I can tell you the Republicans are playing a little psychological warfare. They are the car in front of the Demo-
cratic car. And they've got a little sign on the back of their car that says "W1."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Count the vote, read our lips, baby.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Charles, quite a day.
Page 526

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes it is, Frank, unlike anything I've ever seen here at the Supreme Court. It's getting kind
of loud and blustery.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a little bit of street theatre here outside our revered Supreme Court.
The issues are, of course, whether the Florida Supreme Court acted appropriately and whether the U.S. Supreme Court
has any business getting into this case. That's the fundamental question.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did you hear? You're our first connection to what's going on in there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Frank, it was an incredibly dramatic day. At 10:01, we heard Justice Rehnquist announce
the case and introduce Mr. Ted Olson (ph), who argued on behalf of the Bush team. Olson argued for no more than
two minutes before the questions came. And they came hot and heavy. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is what de-
mocracy looks like.
FRANK SESNO, CNN ANCHOR: The audio tapes of the Supreme Court proceeding, the court being called to order,
are being cued up. The audio technicians are about to press that play button. And for the first time in history, you
will be hearing the workings of the Supreme Court in almost real time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How could it make a difference? What's the consequence of our going one way or another
now in this case?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, some of these counties that have an enormous number of votes to conduct their manual
recount.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's only about the Florida election votes.
SAULS: Good morning. Let's see, we want to call at this time, this is the case of Albert Gore, Jr. et al versus Kathe-
rine Harris, the secretary of state of Florida.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The chads just arbitrarily drop off the page?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's an automatic machine.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dimples that were never intended as votes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's why you need manual recounts. Isn't that correct, sir? Yes or no. (INAUDIBLE)
JOHN AHMANN, VOTING MACHINE EXPERT: You need either a re- inspection or manual recount where you have
that situation. Yes you do, if you've got a very close election.
PRESS: How about that guy? The Bush people puts this machine expert on the witness stand. And he ended up tes-
tifying basically agreeing with the Gore people.
CARLSON: Angels on the head of a pin, though, Bill. It makes no difference.
SAULS: I'm going to take it under submission. And I will give you a decision in the morning.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The court will stand in recess.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We would also appreciate if possible to have some help unloading the transfer boxes. I be-
lieve there will be 167 of them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our clerk is not that big.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What standard would she use in the situation I proposed then?
JOSEPH KLOCK, ATTORNEY FOR FLORIDA SECRETARY OF STATE: Justice Brennan, the difficulty is that --
I'm sorry. That's why they tell you not to do that.
What I'm saying is...
Page 527

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They have to throw their hands up.
KLOCK: ... No, Justice Breyer, what I'm saying is that...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm Justice Souter. You'd better cut that out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Klock, I'm Scalia.
KLOCK: Yes, sir.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm here watching the (INAUDIBLE) right there. The word coming across the wire is
that the U.S. Supreme Court has set aside the ruling on hand counted votes in Florida.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pardon me for being out of breath. The judgment of the Supreme Court is vacated.
VAN SUSTEREN: ... that it was a tie. But it's a tie that's going to be broken at some point because we're racing
against the clock.
SAULS: There is no credible statistical evidence...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a very serious blow to the Gore campaign.
GREENFIELD: You've got to come up with almost like a Perry Mason moment.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're talking about the election that will not die.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I tend to feel like the popular vote ought to take it, that we've gone beyond a need for an
Electoral College.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If there's something better, they haven't found it yet anywhere.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Didn't really think it was important. But now we know it is. Bummer.
GREENFIELD: But unless or until they amend the constitution, the Electoral College will choose. And on January 5,
2001, the new Congress will gather to hear the votes tallied by none other than Vice President Gore.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just hope they decide it soon.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People just want this thing settled even if it means involving the Florida legislature.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hear ye, hear he...
HEMMER: Day 30, and again we sit here and wait.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They are sure to face some tough questioning.
BOIES: My name is David Boies.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Before David Boies had almost gotten out of his mouth "good morning," Chief Justice Wells
was all over him.
BARRY RICHARD, ATTORNEY FOR BUSH CAMPAIGN: There is no evidence in this case that the ballots were
ever compromised.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of the judges, who I'm not going to tell which judge it is, but one of the judges needs
more time to finish her ruling.
(LAUGHTER)
TERRE CASS, LEON COUNTY COURT ADMINISTRATOR: We have a ruling in both the Seminole County case
and the Martin County case.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A win for George W. Bush along...
Page 528

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chamber of horrors for Al Gore.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Governor, do you have most of your cabinet posts picked out?
BUSH: Well, I think we've got -- no?
(LAUGHTER)
VAN SUSTEREN: It's a must-win for Vice President Al Gore.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The count shall commence immediately.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With those words, a new lease on life.
WILLIAM DALEY, GORE CAMPAIGN CHAIRMAN: It is a victory for fairness and accountability...
HEMMER: The majority of the counting is going to be conducted... UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In performing the vote
recount...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The counters sworn in.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very big news, a stay on the recount in Florida.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were ready to start the manual recount.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They had CNN on in the count room. So as a result they just stopped.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to need a neck brace before this thing is all over.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: With the nation and the world watching...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The surroundings couldn't be more auspicious. The stakes couldn't be higher.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of passion, a lot of fury outside, a lot of very strong feelings.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thank Al Gore for making me a Republican activist.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is America. Count the votes.
VAN SUSTEREN: This is business. You hit the gavel.
JUSTICE WILLIAM REHNQUIST, U.S. SUPREME COURT: George W. Bush and Richard Cheney versus Albert
Gore.
KLOCK: The only problem that we have here is created by people who did not follow instructions.
JUSTICE SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR, U.S. SUPREME COURT: Why isn't the standard the one that voters are in-
structed to follow, for goodness sakes?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Indented ballots in another county...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Around Tallahassee, Florida, like all over the country and the world watching those Supreme
Court arguments and waiting for the latest once-and-for-all, now-we'll-really-know, this- is-it, this-is-really-it decision.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've got all the patience in the world. We have a president.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Others not so serene.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is really a joke, though. It's just gone on way too long. People are getting really upset
about this.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Upset about it going on and/or not going on.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is anybody here sick and tired of what's going on?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no. Count the ballots.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Count the ballots, count the votes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But while they waited, no one could count on anything.
Page 529

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The decision is going to come out...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It all started on the night of November 7.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The judgment of the Supreme Court of Florida...
GREENFIELD: The Democrats believed they had won the presidency.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is reversed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They have found a constitutional violation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Still, my colleagues madly going through a decision.
SHAW: Listen to this language from the justices.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The safe harbor day is really December, is today.
GREENFIELD: One smack against the calendar.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to have to extract that. Why don't you talk to Ken while I look?
SHAW: Vice President Al Gore is learning from CNN...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Clearly a sense to a person on the Gore team that this is a bad decision.
SEN. ROBERT TORRICELLI (D-NJ): It appears that the last vote in Florida has now been counted.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This, a statement from William Daley. "It will take time to completely analyze this opin-
ion."
CROWLEY: A sense of confidence that this is indeed a victory for George W. Bush.
BAKER: This has been a long and arduous process for everyone involved on both sides.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Twenty-four years after entering public office, Al Gore, Jr. prepares to leave.
GORE: Good evening. Just moments ago, I spoke with George W. Bush and congratulated him on becoming the for-
ty-third president of the United States. And I promised him that I wouldn't call him back this time.
SHAW: Bush will become the nineteenth Republican president, the seventeenth governor to become president, the first
Texas governor ever to become president.
BUSH: Our country has been through a long and trying period. And I hope the long wait of the last five weeks will
heighten a desire to move beyond the bitterness and partisanship of the recent past.
Whether you voted for me or not, I will do my best to serve your interests. And I will work to earn your respect.
SHAW: Thirty-six days later, it's over.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: And so we move away now from Election 2000. But there will be plenty of new stories and new faces and
new lessons to learn. At times it may have seemed that Election 2000 was one endless civics class. But hopefully,
we're all a bit smarter now about our elections, our courts, and our country.
It sure was a wild ride. I'm Bill Hemmer. And thanks for watching.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

Page 530


All Rights Reserved
Page 531


The Associated Press State & Local Wire

These materials may not be republished without the express written consent of The Asso-
ciated Press

December 14, 2000, Thursday, BC cycle

Palm Beach voters angry, numb over U.S. Supreme Court decision

BYLINE: By KARIN MEADOWS, Associated Press Writer

SECTION: Political News

LENGTH: 480 words

DATELINE: WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.

Rabbi Richard Yellin says the U.S. Supreme Court forgot the hundreds of Palm Beach County voters who cast a vote
for the wrong presidential candidate or punched the ballot twice in an attempt to fix a mistake.
"I have to try to heal the wounds," Yellin said of the dozens of mostly elderly people in his congregation who cast bal-
lots on Election Day at his synagogue voting place.
Yellin and a poll worker stopped the voting at Temple Emeth and announced to citizens there was a problem with some
of the ballots - that the punch holes for presidential candidates didn't line up with the candidates' names on some voting
machines.
"I'm not happy, and I feel like every vote should count," senior citizen Belle Prado Wednesday as she sat on a bench at
lunch time outside Triple G's Gourmet Deli in Delray Beach. "I don't feel Bush really earned it. I don't think the Su-
preme Court ruling was correct."
Many residents here refused to accept Al Gore's defeat and couldn't bear to think of George W. Bush as their new pres-
ident.
"There is nothing they can do on earth that is going to make me call that man president," said Rachel Burstein, a Boca
Raton voter who mistakenly cast her ballot for Buchanan instead of Gore. "It isn't just Florida that is being totally dis-
enfranchised. It is all of America."
The mood was somber at Palm Beach County Democratic headquarters, where Executive Director Peyton McArthur,
who took calls and statements from angry, crying voters on Election Day, was answering ringing telephones again.
"They are saying what you would expect, that they lost quite a lot of respect for the U.S. Supreme Court," McArthur
said. "A lot want to know what we can do. I'm having a hard time explaining to them there is no appeal. Many are hav-
ing a problem coming to terms with that."
Andre Fladell, a plaintiff in the first lawsuit filed against the Palm Beach County Canvassing Board over the makeup
of the presidential ballot, knew attempts for a fair count of ballots were over when the Florida Supreme Court ruled the
Palm Beach ballot wasn't illegal.
Fladell punched the second hole, a vote for Pat Buchanan, when he meant to vote for Gore. Buchanan took 3,704 votes
in the heavily Democratic county, a much larger percentage of votes compared to other Florida counties and more than
enough to put either Gore or Bush over the top.
Page 532
Palm Beach voters angry, numb over U.S. Supreme Court decision The Associated Press State & Local Wire December
14, 2000, Thursday, BC cycle

"They (the Florida Supreme Court) said the ballot wasn't substantially noncompliant enough. That was their ruling,"
said Fladell, a 52-year-old Delray Beach chiropractor. "The instructions said punch the hole to the right and you had to
punch the hole to the left."
Fladell also said he lost respect for the Florida Supreme Court and U.S. Supreme Court.
"I used to hold those two as the only place above all of this political junk," Fladell said. "The truth of the matter is they
are no different."


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

Copyright 2000 Associated Press
All Rights Reserved
Page 533


December 14, 2000, Thursday, BC cycle

Palm Beach County voters angry, numb over U.S. Supreme Court decision



LENGTH: 480 words


Rabbi Richard Yellin says the U.S. Supreme Court forgot the hundreds of Palm Beach County voters who cast a vote
for the wrong presidential candidate or punched the ballot twice in an attempt to fix a mistake.
"I have to try to heal the wounds," Yellin said of the dozens of mostly elderly people in his congregation who cast bal-
lots on Election Day at his synagogue voting place.
Yellin and a poll worker stopped the voting at Temple Emeth and announced to citizens there was a problem with some
of the ballots - that the punch holes for presidential candidates didn't line up with the candidates' names on some voting
machines.
"I'm not happy, and I feel like every vote should count," senior citizen Belle Prado Wednesday as she sat on a bench at
lunch time outside Triple G's Gourmet Deli in Delray Beach. "I don't feel Bush really earned it. I don't think the Su-
preme Court ruling was correct."
Many residents here refused to accept Al Gore's defeat and couldn't bear to think of George W. Bush as their new pres-
ident.
"There is nothing they can do on earth that is going to make me call that man president," said Rachel Burstein, a Boca
Raton voter who mistakenly cast her ballot for Buchanan instead of Gore. "It isn't just Florida that is being totally dis-
enfranchised. It is all of America."
The mood was somber at Palm Beach County Democratic headquarters, where Executive Director Peyton McArthur,
who took calls and statements from angry, crying voters on Election Day, was answering ringing telephones again.
"They are saying what you would expect, that they lost quite a lot of respect for the U.S. Supreme Court," McArthur
said. "A lot want to know what we can do. I'm having a hard time explaining to them there is no appeal. Many are hav-
ing a problem coming to terms with that."
Andre Fladell, a plaintiff in the first lawsuit filed against the Palm Beach County Canvassing Board over the makeup
of the presidential ballot, knew attempts for a fair count of ballots were over when the Florida Supreme Court ruled the
Palm Beach ballot wasn't illegal.
Fladell punched the second hole, a vote for Pat Buchanan, when he meant to vote for Gore. Buchanan took 3,704 votes
in the heavily Democratic county, a much larger percentage of votes compared to other Florida counties and more than
enough to put either Gore or Bush over the top.
"They (the Florida Supreme Court) said the ballot wasn't substantially noncompliant enough. That was their ruling,"
said Fladell, a 52-year-old Delray Beach chiropractor. "The instructions said punch the hole to the right and you had to
punch the hole to the left."
Fladell also said he lost respect for the Florida Supreme Court and U.S. Supreme Court.
"I used to hold those two as the only place above all of this political junk," Fladell said. "The truth of the matter is they
are no different."
Page 534
Palm Beach County voters angry, numb over U.S. Supreme Court decision December 14, 2000, Thursday, BC cycle


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

All Rights Reserved
The Associated Press
Page 535


St. Petersburg Times (Florida)

December 01, 2000, Friday, 0 South Pinellas Edition

See you in court

SECTION: NATIONAL; ELECTION 2000; Pg. 11A

LENGTH: 1143 words

Here's a look at key cases and courts involved in the fight over the presidential election in Florida.
LEON COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT
CASE: Contest of Florida election results
FILED BY: Al Gore
FILED AGAINST: Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris and the Florida state canvassing board; the canvassing
boards of Miami-Dade, Nassau and Palm Beach counties; and George W. Bush
WHAT'S AT STAKE: Gore is asking the court to invalidate Harris' Nov. 26 certification of Florida's election results
and declare him the winner instead of Bush. His court filing said the certification totals "include illegal votes and do not
include legal votes that were improperly rejected. The number of such votes is more than sufficient to place in doubt,
indeed to change the result of the election."
TIMELINE: The judge on Tuesday rejected Gore's request to immediately start recounts while legal action was pend-
ing, deferring consideration of his emergency motion until a hearing on Saturday. The judge also ordered nearly
1-million ballots - including 13,000 disputed ones - sample voting booths and voting machines from Miami-Dade and
Palm Beach counties to be brought to his court by Friday. On Thursday, Gore's lawyers filed an urgent plea with the
Florida Supreme Court asking the seven justices, all with Democratic ties, to start hand-counting ballots while Sauls
decides whether the recounts could be added to Gore's totals.
ABOUT THE COURT: Judge N. Sanders Sauls precides over this case in Florida's 2nd Circuit Court in Tallahassee. Its
rulings can be appealed to the state appeals court and from there to the Florida Supreme Court. The Leon County court
serves as a venue for this suit because the state capital, Tallahassee - and the secretary of state's office - is in the county.
Sauls is a registered Democrat appointed to the bench by Republican Gov. Bob Martinez in 1989.
CASE: Contest of Seminole County absentee ballots
FILED BY: Harry N. Jacobs, a Democratic voter
FILED AGAINST: Seminole County canvassing board, Seminole Supervisor of Elections Sandra Goard, Michael
Leach of the Florida Republican Party, Bush and others
WHAT'S AT STAKE: A printer glitch stripped required voter ID numbers from thousands of absentee ballot applica-
tions mailed out by the Republican Party in Seminole County. Goard allowed her fellow Republican Leach to, unsuper-
vised, correct the ballot applications she had set aside to be destroyed, and absentee ballots were then sent out. Demo-
crats were outraged at the unprecedented action and pointed to a state law passed after Miami's fraudulent 1997 mayoral
race that says only the voter, an immediate family member or legal guardian may fill out an absentee ballot request.
Since Bush received nearly 4,800 more of the 15,000 absentee votes cast here, invalidating all of them would easily
give Gore the victory in Florida and the presidency.
TIMELINE: The judge refused Tuesday to add this lawsuit to the Gore contest of the election. Instead, she ordered it to
proceed in an expedited manner, beginning Wednesday.
Page 536
See you in court St. Petersburg Times (Florida) December 01, 2000, Friday, 0 South Pinellas Edition

ABOUT THE COURT: Judge Nikki Clark is presiding over this case. She was appointed to the bench by a Democratic
governor.
FLORIDA SUPREME COURT
CASE: Contest of Palm Beach County ballot
FILED BY: Andre Fladell and others (suits by several Democratic voters have been combined)
Filed against: Palm Beach County canvassing board, county Supervisor of Elections Theresa LePore, Bush and others
WHAT'S AT STAKE: Democratic voters are asking for a new election in Palm Beach County, saying that a confusing
two-column ballot design led as many as 22,000 people either to vote mistakenly for Reform Party candidate Pat Bu-
chanan or to invalidate their ballots by double-punching them.
TIMELINE: The court received briefs Tuesday from the parties involved arguing whether the justices should take the
case but made no decision.
ABOUT THE COURT: The state's highest court, the Florida Supreme Court is in Tallahassee. All seven of its justices
were appointed during the terms of Democratic governors. The court's rulings can be appealed to the U.S. Supreme
Court, as was its ruling last week on the issue of recounts.
U.S. SUPREME COURT
CASE: Appeal of ruling allowing recounts to go forward
FILED BY: Bush, Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris and others
FILED AGAINST: Gore, Florida Democratic Party, Palm Beach County canvassing board and others
WHAT'S AT STAKE: Bush is appealing last week's ruling by the Florida Supreme Court that required Harris to accept
hand-counted ballots after the Nov. 14 deadline she said was set by state law. He is arguing that Article II of the U.S.
Constitution explicitly gives full power to a state's Legislature - not its courts - over the appointment of presidential
electors. Gore's campaign is arguing that the court did nothing wrong in interpreting Florida's election law and that it is
a state matter and therefore not appropriate for the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene. Gore has been relying on recounts
to give him enough votes to pass Bush; if the U.S. Supreme Court decides that the recounts are invalid, it may make
Gore's challenge of the certified results moot.
TIMELINE: Both campaigns filed briefs outlining their positions Tuesday. On Thursday, Bush's lawyers argued that the
Florida Legislature has the constitutional power to appoint its own set of presidential electors. Gore's lawyers replied
that the Legislature would be on shaky constitutional ground if it set up a new, rival set of electors. Oral arguments are
scheduled for Friday.
ABOUT THE COURT: The U.S. Supreme Court, located in Washington, is the nation's highest court, with ultimate
authority over all other U.S. courts. The nine justices are appointed by the president and serve life terms. Seven of the
nine now serving were appointed by Republican presidents, two by a Democrat.
OTHER COURTS AND CASES
+The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta postponed arguments until next week in two cases, one filed by
Bush that sought to disqualify the Florida manual recounts and one filed by Brevard County voters who contend a Flor-
ida law allowing selective hand recounts is illegal. The Florida Democratic Party filed a motion Tuesday asking the
court to dismiss Bush's appeal.
+The Rev. Al Sharpton filed a lawsuit Monday in U.S. District Court in Miami against Harris, Florida's board of elec-
tions and Bush, saying timing of the state certification - before Miami-Dade County could complete its manual recount -
disenfranchised minority voters.
+The Bush campaign filed state lawsuits late Sunday in Hillsborough, Okaloosa, Orange, Pasco and Polk counties,
charging that their canvassing boards improperly rejected several overseas absentee ballots, including those that were
not dated or postmarked.
SOURCES: MSNBC, ASSOCIATED PRESS

Page 537
See you in court St. Petersburg Times (Florida) December 01, 2000, Friday, 0 South Pinellas Edition


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

GRAPHIC: COLOR PHOTO, (7); Al Gore; George W. Bush; Katherine Harris; N. Saunders Sauls; Harry N. Jacobs;
Nikki Clark; Al Sharpton

Copyright 2000 Times Publishing Company
Page 538


Los Angeles Times

November 29, 2000, Wednesday, Home Edition

DECISION 2000 / AMERICA WAITS;
JUSTICES CONSIDER PALM BEACH CASE;
LAW: FLORIDA HIGH COURT WEIGHS APPEAL OF CIRCUIT JUDGE'S
RULING BY VOTERS. THEY SEEK A NEW ELECTION BECAUSE OF
CONFUSION OVER THE 'BUTTERFLY' BALLOT.

BYLINE: MICHAEL FINNEGAN, TIMES STAFF WRITER

SECTION: Part A; Part 1; Page 24; National Desk

LENGTH: 691 words

DATELINE: TALLAHASSEE, Fla.

A group of voters on Tuesday urged the Florida Supreme Court to overturn a lower court's order denying their request
for a second presidential election in Palm Beach County.
The voters charged in court papers that more than 20,000 voters "were disenfranchised due to the confusing, deceptive
and illegal 'butterfly' ballot" used by Palm Beach in the Nov. 7 election.
But lawyers for Texas Gov. George W. Bush, the Republican presidential candidate, called on the state Supreme Court
to uphold the Nov. 20 ruling by Circuit Judge Jorge Labarga, who found he had no authority under the U.S. Constitution
to order a new election.
"Certainly, no provision is made in Florida or federal law which would allow for a revote or new election," Bush attor-
ney Barry Richard told the court in a brief filed Tuesday.
The state Supreme Court has not decided whether to hear the appeal by Delray Beach, Fla., chiropractor Andre Fladell
and other Palm Beach County voters who say the butterfly ballot was illegal.
A court spokesman, Craig Waters, said it was unclear how long it would take the justices to decide whether to take the
case.
The court agreed on Tuesday to accept papers up to 4 p.m. today on whether it should also hear a similar case filed by
Julius and Lilian Katz and two other Palm Beach County couples who supported Vice President Al Gore, the Demo-
cratic nominee.
If the high court takes the cases, it would add to the uncertainty of the outcome of Florida's presidential election.
Gore's lawyers have not cited the format of the Palm Beach ballot as an issue in his lawsuit contesting Florida's certifi-
cation of Bush's victory by a margin of 537 votes out of some 6 million cast.
The Palm Beach ballot listed two columns of presidential candidates divided by a row of punch holes. Many Gore sup-
porters have said the format led them to vote mistakenly for Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan, or to nullify their
ballots by voting inadvertently for two candidates.
The Fladell suit says the ballot was illegal on two counts. First, the holes were to the left of some of the presidential
candidates, and state law says ballots should be printed so that voters mark the space to the right of their preferred can-
didate.
Page 539
DECISION 2000 / AMERICA WAITS; JUSTICES CONSIDER PALM BEACH CASE; LAW: FLORIDA HIGH
COURT WEIGHS APPEAL OF CIRCUIT JUDGE'S RULING BY VOTERS. THEY SEEK A NEW ELECTION
BECAUSE OF CONFUSION OVER THE 'BUTTERFLY' BALLOT. Los Angeles Times November 29, 2000,
Wednesday,

Second, it says Buchanan's name, listed in the right-hand column, was the second highest on the ballot, a spot that, by
law, belonged to the Democratic candidate.
Florida law says the presidential candidates must be listed on the ballot in the order of the parties whose candidates won
the highest number of votes in the last gubernatorial election, meaning Republican first and Democrat second.
Bush's name was just above Gore's in the left-hand column of the Palm Beach ballot. But the punch hole for Buchanan
was just above the one for Gore and below the one for Bush.
"As a result of the misleading and confusing format of this unique and unprecedented ballot, massive voter confusion
occurred in Palm Beach County, leading to votes for Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan and over-votes that defy
statistical odds," Fladell's lawyers wrote in their Supreme Court brief.
As an alternative to a new election in Palm Beach County, Fladell's lawyers are seeking an adjustment of the results
based on examination of the countywide returns.
They cited previous cases involving "simple calculations of ratios based on total vote" but said courts also "have used
more sophisticated statistical techniques to discern what adjustment to the vote would be appropriate."
Labarga did not address that possibility in his ruling. The lower court judge also did not weigh any evidence on whether
the Palm Beach ballot was legal, saying he didn't need to do so once he decided he had no power to order a new elec-
tion.
In the brief for Bush, Richard argued that Labarga was correct in finding that the Constitution and federal law require
the presidential election to be held everywhere in the country on the same day. Richard also argued that the case was
improperly filed in Palm Beach County when, under Florida law, it should have been filed in Leon County Circuit
Court in Tallahassee.


LANGUAGE: English

Copyright 2000 Los Angeles Times
All Rights Reserved
Page 540


The Miami Herald

November 29, 2000 Wednesday FINAL EDITION

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION LEGAL DISPUTES

BYLINE: JAY WEAVER, jweaver@herald.com

SECTION: FRONT; Pg. 25A

LENGTH: 1495 words

These are the crucial legal cases:
Case: Bush v. Palm Beach County Canvassing Board et al., U.S. Supreme Court. The nine-member court has set oral
arguments for 10 a.m. Friday
The GOP lawsuit argues the Florida Supreme Court overstepped the authority of the state Legislature by imposing a
new vote certification deadline after the Nov. 7 presidential election.
Republican Argument: The state Supreme Court rewrote election law when it postponed the seven-day deadline to cer-
tify the presidential vote until Nov. 26, so that South Florida canvassing boards' hand recounts of ballots could be in-
cluded. The seven Florida justices violated both federal law and the U.S. Constitution governing the selection of a
state's electors to the Electoral College.
Democratic Argument: The state high court was simply interpreting conflicting legislative statutes. By extending the
date, the court espoused the legal principle of a full and accurate vote tally over the discretion of the secretary of state.
At Stake: If the nation's highest court sides with Bush, Gore's last legal bid in state circuit court for manual recounts in
Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties could be damaged. But if the U.S. Supreme Court upholds the Florida high
court's action, Gore would be on firm legal ground to pursue his recounts.
Case: Gore v. Secretary of State Katherine Harris et al., Leon County Circuit Court. Circuit Judge N. Sanders Sauls has
scheduled no emergency hearing on the merits, but has set a hearing for Friday on whether an independent special mas-
ter should recount disputed ballots in Palm Beach County.
The suit is Gore's official contest of the election, and it pivots on whether the state should consider late hand ballot re-
counts and uncounted ballots with dimpled chads. The judge must decide whether those ballots might change the out-
come of the presidential race - "the will of the people" - before ordering more recounts to find the answer.
Democratic argument: The wrong candidate, George W. Bush, was certified as the winner. Gore asserts that 215 votes
for him, counted by the Palm Beach County Canvassing Board, and 157 votes for him, counted by the Miami-Dade
Canvassing Board, should have been added in the state's official tally. In addition, both canvassing boards should have
counted about 13,000 ballots that could not be read by tabulating machines because voters had not fully punched the
vote holes.
The Nassau County Canvassing Board submitted an illegal tabulation to the state. It turned in results from the Nov. 7
unofficial tally rather than the automatic machine recount the following day, thereby giving Bush 54 additional votes.
Republican argument: The manual recounts were illegal because they were conducted after the Nov. 14 certification
deadline set by the state Legislature. All the ballots were counted more than once, and the secretary of state had the dis-
cretion to reject counties' incomplete and late filings under the Nov. 26 deadline imposed by the Florida Supreme Court.
Page 541
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION LEGAL DISPUTES The Miami Herald November 29, 2000 Wednesday FINAL
EDITION

At Stake: This is perhaps the most important legal action so far - assuming the U.S. Supreme Court upholds the state
Supreme Court's action. The circuit judge has leeway to fashion any remedy, which could lead to a fast-track hand re-
count of those 14,000 ballots. Gore's goal is to garner enough to eclipse Bush's official 537 vote victory.
Case: Henry Jacobs v. Seminole County Supervisor of Elections Sandra Goard. It was originally filed in Seminole
County, but has been moved to Leon County Circuit Court.
Jacobs, a Central Florida attorney, alleges that Goard improperly allowed Republican volunteers to fill in essential in-
formation on 4,700 absentee-ballot applications after they were submitted to her office by voters.
Democratic Argument: Goard gave the GOP volunteers special treatment by allowing them access to her office to cor-
rect those flawed absentee requests.
Republican Argument: The GOP helpers were simply adding such information as the voters' registration ID's on the
absentee applications - not tampering with actual ballots.
At Stake: If the state circuit judge finds that Goard committed official misconduct, the GOP absentee-ballot applications
could be tainted. All 15,000 ballots cast in Seminole County might be tossed out under Florida law and legal precedent,
which would strip away Bush's roughly 5,000-absentee vote lead over Gore - overturning the Republican's 537-vote
victory in Florida.
Case: Andre Fladell et al. v. Palm Beach County Canvassing Board. The Florida Supreme Court set a 5 p.m. Tuesday
deadline for all parties to file their pleadings.
Fladell and other Palm Beach citizens claim that the so-called "butterfly ballot" designed by the county's supervisor of
elections, Theresa LePore, was defective because she caused confusion for voters by placing the names of presidential
candidates on facing pages with their punch holes next to one another.
Democratic Argument: Thousands of Palm Beach voters mistakenly voted for Reform Party candidate Patrick Buchan-
an instead of Gore because Buchanan's punch hole followed Bush's on the ballot. Though Gore's name was listed after
Bush's, the vice president's punch hole came after Buchanan's on the ballot.
The Democrats support Palm Beach voters' suit seeking another presidential vote in that county, but Circuit Judge Jorge
Labarga ruled that he did not have the authority to offer such a remedy. The Fourth District Court of Appeal certified
voters' complaint as one of "great public importance" for the Florida Supreme Court.
Republicans Argument: The "butterfly" ballot is legal because under Florida law the Palm Beach County's elections
supervisor had broad discretion to design the ballot the way she did. And voters should have been able to find the names
of candidates on the ballot.
The proposed remedy of a revote only in Palm Beach County would be unprecedented in a presidential election, and a
revote statewide would violate federal law.
At Stake: Legal experts say it is highly unlikely the state high court would side with Palm Beach voters, primarily be-
cause the remedy of a revote is considered so extreme. But, if the justices ordered another vote, it would seem to benefit
Gore in this heavily Democratic county.
Case: Bush v. Hillsborough, Okaloosa, Orange, Pasco and Polk counties canvassing boards. His campaign filed chal-
lenges in all five counties aiming to force their boards to accept and count overseas' military ballots that were rejected
because they were not dated or postmarked.
Republican Argument: These ballots should not be disqualified for lacking dates or postmarks, as required under federal
law, because every legitimate vote should be included in the state's certification. Three of the counties, Pasco, Polk and
Okaloosa, voluntarily re-examined their military absentees - giving Bush another eight votes. But Orange and Hills-
borough county refuse to budge on the rules, saying they are "clear and unambiguous."
Democratic Argument: While the Gore campaign believes these disqualified military absentees should not be counted,
they have not aggressively opposed the Republicans in court because of a potential backlash by veterans and others.
At Stake: Bush could pick up dozens of valuable military absentees if Hillsborough and Orange counties lose in court.
Case: Ned Siegel v. Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Theresa LePore. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Ap-
peals has postponed until Dec. 5 the Bush campaign's claim that manual recounts are unconstitutional. The case fell on
Page 542
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION LEGAL DISPUTES The Miami Herald November 29, 2000 Wednesday FINAL
EDITION

the appellate court's lap after U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks rejected Bush's petition to stop recounts in a
handful of Florida counties on grounds that the Miami federal court should not get involved in state-run elections.
Republican Argument: The manual recounts violate the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment because voters'
ballots in other counties were not being recounted by hand. Hand-recounted ballots are being treated differently from
machine-counted ballots, thereby violating the constitutional rights of a majority of Florida voters.
Democratic Argument: The GOP argument is specious because every vote in Florida was counted at least once and re-
counting ballots can only enfranchise voters because it provides more accuracy in the final tally. Moreover, the federal
courts have no business meddling in the state's presidential election.
At Stake: It is possible the appellate court in Atlanta will never rule on Bush's claim because it may become moot fol-
lowing U.S. Supreme Court action. But if the court does review it - and sides with Bush - the Gore campaign would
immediately appeal to the high court. Legal experts, however, predict the 12-member appeallate court would reject
Bush's constitutional argument.
- JAY WEAVER
Editor's note: For exact text as appeared in the newspaper please see microfilm for this date.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


All Rights Reserved
Page 543


Chicago Tribune

November 28, 2000 Tuesday, CHICAGO SPORTS FINAL EDITION

DEMOCRATS FRUSTRATED BY THEIR VOTING MISTAKES

BYLINE: By E.A. Torriero and Monica Davey, Tribune Staff Writers.

SECTION: News; Pg. 12; ZONE: N

LENGTH: 514 words

DATELINE: BOCA RATON, Fla.

They are survivors of the Holocaust, Great Depression and World War II and are proud of their legacies.
History, though, will link them with the 2000 presidential election. How they voted--or failed to vote--decidedly swung
the outcome toward George W. Bush.
"They are carrying around a lot of self-guilt," said Kartik Krishnaiyer, a Democratic consultant in Florida.
Thousands of mostly elderly, staunchly Democratic voters in Palm Beach County mistakenly punched the wrong hole
on the presidential ballot. Thousands more failed to poke out the hole on the ballot card completely.
On Sunday night, they watched helplessly as a Palm Beach County canvassing board missed a deadline for a hand re-
count that could have aided their cause. And Monday morning, with Bush certified as the winner in Florida by a mere
537 votes, many of them were glum that they seemingly had helped defeat the man they wanted to elect: Vice President
Al Gore. Their hopes now rest in legal challenges filed by the Democrats.
"No amount of analysis will ever take away the fact that they threw the election the way they didn't want it to go,"
Krishnaiyer said. "Take those thousands of votes and put them in the Gore category and the next four years will look
different. They will live with this for the rest of their lives."
Since Election Day, retirees in the Boca Raton area have been the butt of jokes by Jay Leno and David Letterman. Mis-
reading the ballot, thousands of them accidentally voted for Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan. Many voters said the
ballot was poorly designed, difficult to decipher and misleading.
"My vote counts, but it counts for the wrong guy," said Ricki Golden, a volunteer community board leader who fre-
quently has appeared on national newscasts telling of her Election Day mistake. "It's depressing to dwell on it."
Some, realizing their error in the voting booth, tried to fix it by also voting for Gore. The double-punch invalidated the
ballot.
"Please tell the world we are not idiots," said Eleanor Apler, a retiree. "The ballot was idiotic, not us."
Not all of the voters who made mistakes were elderly.
Andre Fladell, a chiropractor and Democratic Party operative in his 50s from Delray Beach, says he believes he also
made a mistake when he voted three weeks ago.
Fladell is among several Democratic voters suing in state court to get a new election. An appeals court referred the case
Monday to the Florida Supreme Court.
"Voters were wronged. Only a new election will make it right," he said.
For nearly three weeks, upset voters have kept a close eye on the news, hoping something would happen to change
Democratic fortunes. Bitterness has grown into partisan bickering.
Page 544
DEMOCRATS FRUSTRATED BY THEIR VOTING MISTAKES Chicago Tribune November 28, 2000 Tuesday,
CHICAGO SPORTS FINAL EDITION

"It's clear to me that the Republicans stole the race here," county Democratic leader Monte Friedkin said of GOP chal-
lenges to recounts.
But county Republican leader Frank DeMario says the outcome is clear. "George Bush is the president; they can kick
and scream all they want," he said. "There were questioned ballots on both sides."

IN PALM BEACH COUNTY.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

Copyright 2000 Chicago Tribune Company
Page 545


Los Angeles Times

November 28, 2000, Tuesday, Home Edition

REVOTE REQUEST A STEP CLOSER TO HIGH COURT;
LAW: FLORIDA JUSTICES TO CONSIDER HEARING DEMOCRATIC
VOTERS' LAWSUIT, WHICH DEMANDS A NEW ELECTION IN PALM
BEACH COUNTY OVER 'BUTTERFLY BALLOTS.'

BYLINE: MICHAEL FINNEGAN, TIMES STAFF WRITER


LENGTH: 430 words


The Florida Supreme Court agreed Monday to review arguments on whether it should consider a lawsuit seeking a se-
cond presidential election in Palm Beach County.
The state's high court told lawyers handling the case to file papers by 5 p.m. today on "all issues in this case, including
why this court should exercise its discretion" to hear it.
If the Supreme Court takes the case, it would add yet another layer of uncertainty to the outcome of Florida's chaotic
presidential election.
A group of Palm Beach County Democrats is seeking a revote in the presidential election there.
They say the county's confusing "butterfly ballot" led thousands of county residents to vote mistakenly for Reform Party
candidate Pat Buchanan instead of Vice President Al Gore.
The Democrats say the ballot with a vertical row of punch holes dividing two lists of candidates also may have led more
than 19,000 others to nullify their votes by unwittingly choosing two presidential contenders.
"I got snookered," said Andre Fladell, a Delray Beach chiropractor who is one of those suing for a revote. "It's sup-
posed to be a fair vote."
A three-judge panel of Florida's 4th District Court of Appeal had been scheduled to hold a hearing Monday on the vot-
ers' appeal of a Nov. 20 ruling by Circuit Court Judge Jorge Labarga, who found he had no authority to order a revote.
But the appellate judges canceled the hearing and referred the case directly to the state's high court. They cited the certi-
fication of statewide election results on Sunday night by Secretary of State Katherine Harris.
"Because of the vote certification last night, the justices decided that this was a matter of extreme public interest, and
have certified the matter to the Supreme Court of Florida," said court marshal Glen Rubin.
Lawyers seeking the revote acknowledged they face a tough battle and a looming deadline of Dec. 12, when Florida's
electoral college slate must be finalized. Even so, attorney Gary Farmer, who represents the plaintiffs, said the Demo-
cratic voters intend to press their case.
"There is time to make this happen," Farmer said outside the West Palm Beach courthouse. "We need to stop delaying,
however."
Page 546
DECISION 2000 / AMERICA WAITS; REVOTE REQUEST A STEP CLOSER TO HIGH COURT; LAW: FLORIDA
JUSTICES TO CONSIDER HEARING DEMOCRATIC VOTERS' LAWSUIT, WHICH DEMANDS A NEW
ELECTION IN PALM BEACH COUNTY OVER 'BUTTERFLY BALLOTS.' Los Angeles Times November 28, 2000,
Tuesday,

But Mark F. Bideau, a lawyer for Texas Gov. George W. Bush, said Labarga was correct to deny the request for a re-
vote. Under the U.S. Constitution, he said, the presidential election is held on one day every four years, and courts do
not have the authority to change that.
"There's no basis legally to do a revote in a presidential election," Bideau said.


LANGUAGE: English

All Rights Reserved
Page 547


CNN

November 27, 2000; Monday

SHOW: CNN MORNING NEWS 09:00

The Florida Vote: Bush Declared Winner in Sunshine State; Gore Vows Legal
Challenges; Palm Beach County Voter Discusses Lawsuit Over Ballot

GUESTS: Andre Fladell

BYLINE: Daryn Kagan, Chris Black, Gary Tuchman, Bill Hemmer, Mark Potter


LENGTH: 1998 words

HIGHLIGHT: Florida has declared a winner in the presidential election and George W. Bush has claimed victory.
Meanwhile, the Gore legal team is vowing more challenges. Meanwhile, another legal challenge is taking place in
Palm Beach County. Plaintiff Andre Fladell discusses his claim that the so-called butterfly ballot used there was ille-
gal.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: The top news from Florida, which the state has declared a winner. George W.
Bush has claimed victory. Meanwhile, the Gore legal team is vowing more challenges.
The nation is now in its third week after the presidential election and the outcome is still in legal limbo. The Gore le-
gal team is planning to file more court challenges this morning after Bush claimed victory and the presidency. Florida
Secretary of State Katherine Harris says that Bush won the state and its all-important electoral votes by a razor-thin
margin of 537 votes. That is out of more than 6 million votes that were cast statewide in Florida.
Meanwhile, though, the Gore campaign says that contested ballots which were counted but not certified actually gave
the Democrat the edge by nine votes. Bush has asked the Gore team to concede in the best interest of the country.
The Texas governor has been named -- has named his running mate, Dick Cheney, and former Transportation Secretary
Andrew Card to head his transition team. But the federal General Services Administration says that legal issues are
not resolved, and until they are, the Bush campaign will not be given any money or office space to begin that transition
process.
As for Al Gore, he plans to take his case, both legal and political, to the American public today. The vice president is
expected to deliver a speech later today.
And our Chris Black is covering the Gore camp, joining us with the latest from Washington.
Chris, any idea what we will be hearing from the vice president later today?
CHRIS BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Daryn, the vice president, who is now up at the official residence at
the naval observatory, is actually working on a draft of his speech with aides, we're told.
The vice president and his advisers say it's very important for him to continue to make this case to the American people
and explain why he is fighting the results, why he is contesting the election results. And one of the things he will say
is that he feels it's very, very important to -- and he feels an obligation to the 50 million Americans who voted for him
and for his agenda -- to make sure that every last vote is counted.
Page 548
The Florida Vote: Bush Declared Winner in Sunshine State; Gore Vows Legal Challenges; Palm Beach County Voter
Discusses Lawsuit Over Ballot CNN November 27, 2000; Monday

Meanwhile, his lawyers, as you know, are heading to court this hour. They are also going to file a number of motions
along with the actual contest of the election results with the intent of trying to speed up the action a little bit. The mo-
tion -- they will ask the judge to expedite the timetable for the Republicans' response. The law says 10 days. They
will say 24 hours should be enough.
The Gore lawyers say they're ready to go to trial as soon as Wednesday. They will also ask for the ballots from South
Florida to be shipped up to Tallahassee. And they will ask the judge to appoint a special master to help look at those
ballots, examine them to determine who the voter voted for.
Earlier today, the vice president's top lawyer, David Boies, outlined his case on CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID BOIES, GORE CAMPAIGN ATTORNEY: First, an election's not over until the votes have been counted.
And you have 9,000 or 10,000 votes that have never been counted once. Second, it's important that this election be
decided by the courts and not by a partisan secretary of state who was one of the candidates' campaign manager, and
who's made every single decision that she was able to make to favor one candidate. This is an election that's too im-
portant to the American people to be decided other than in the impartial forum of the courts. Your third thing, I would
say, is that Gov. Bush, his lawyers, have repeatedly said, certify, then contest. That's exactly what we're doing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACK: Meanwhile, most Democrats seem to be standing by their man. In just a few hours, the top Democrats from
Congress, Dick Gephardt from the House, Tom Daschle from the Senate, will hold a press conference in Florida to
show solidarity with the Democratic nominee.
Now to my colleague Gary Tuchman, who is watching the action in Leon County -- Gary.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Chris, within five minutes or so, we expect an
attorney for Al Gore to enter this courthouse behind me. This is the Leon County Circuit Court in Tallahassee, Flori-
da, and it's here where the Gore campaign will officially challenge the results of the 2000 Florida vote certification.
Everyone realizing this will be an historic moment when the complaint is filed, officially called a contest. They've set
up cameras inside the lobby, the courts allowing it, knowing that history is going to be made. And right now, every-
one is waiting for that Gore attorney to come in and file the complaint.
The complaint will involve both counts in three Florida counties; from largest to smallest, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach
County and Nassau County. The allegation: if the counts were accurate in those counties, it would be Al Gore who
would be the certified vote leader in the state of Florida and not George W. Bush.
Now, under Florida election law, when there are complaints against multiple counties, the suit gets moved to the state
capital county. And, indeed, in this case it's Leon County.
Now, last night, the Florida secretary of state, Katherine Harris, certified the vote total with her two cohorts on the
Florida Canvassing Board. Katherine Harris was not known by very many people outside the state of Florida before
this month. Now she's nationally renowned.
One of the thing they did, they made the decision, the canvassing board, not to include the partial hand-count totals from
Palm Beach County. Palm Beach County, after days of counting, finished more than 90 percent of the counting.
However, the canvassing board said it was partial and therefore it would not be included. And that will be one of the
complaints leveled by the Gore attorneys that those votes should be included.
Now, it's very possible -- not probable, but very possible that court action will start as early as today inside the circuit
court. The judge will be picked randomly, and we'll know very soon who the judge will be in this case. It's done by
computer. As soon as the papers are filed, the judge will be named. There are four civil judges in this court so we
will know that very soon.
Ultimately, though, they will not have the final say. They'll have a say here, but not the final say. We do expect that
whichever side loses will appeal this to the Florida Supreme Court. You got to know those seven justices last week.
You'll probably get to know them again.
This is Gary Tuchman, CNN, live in Tallahassee, Florida.
KAGAN: Gary, thank you very much.
Page 549

And now let's go to not too far from where you are. My partner Bill hanging out in Tallahassee as well with more on
that -- Bill.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Daryn, good morning once again.
After such an extraordinary night here in Tallahassee last evening -- some would say it was a wild night. There were
hundreds of protesters behind us last night. They were well-behaved but quite loud behind us, again, last evening
when that certification came down.
Relative to last evening, though, today is a rather calm morning thus far in Tallahassee. The weather's cleared out, the
skies are nice and blue, there is no more rain or even chilly weather here in the air. But, however, we know throughout
the course of the past 20 days, that could change at a moment's notice.
Now, the legal challenges will continue here in Leon County. We do know that. But also got to talk about another
part of Florida, specifically Palm Beach County, where CNN's Mark Potter is watching another legal challenge take
place down there. Mark, good morning to you.
MARK POTTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill. Well, we're at the Fourth District Court of Appeal
in West Palm Beach, Florida where, once again, lawyers will be arguing over whether there should be a new presiden-
tial election in Palm Beach County.
If you recall, a number of residents filed lawsuits here asking for a new election, claiming they lost their vote because of
confusion over the butterfly ballot. Now, the lead case here is called Andre Fladell et al versus the Canvassing Board.
We couldn't find et al, but we found Andre Fladell. He's here.
Andre, explain to us: There has been the certification of the vote. Why should we have a new election?
ANDRE FLADELL, PLAINTIFF: Well, if the error that occurred in this county is a result of voter confusion, then
maybe we shouldn't have a new election. But if the ballot, in fact, were illegal, if the ballot were in violation of stat-
utes, more than one, then maybe the voter wasn't the only responsibility here. If they were taken away from their vote
by a ballot that, in fact, violates the statutes of the state, then the question is, who would bare the responsibility for that
loss of the right to vote?
POTTER: So your claim, indeed, is that this was an illegally constructed ballot.
FLADELL: The parties did not match the sequence they should have been in. The format for the left/right notation
didn't follow the format it should have been in; the instructions were not changed to even coincide with the ballot as the
ballot was changed; the sample didn't match up with the actual ballot. Yes, in fact, there were so many things that took
away the right to vote that this is not a question of count or election, it's a question of right to vote.
POTTER: And how many people do you think were affected by that. And how personally were you affected?
FLADELL: It cost me my intent. My choice went to someone I didn't choose. But more than that, the statistical ir-
regularities in this county are really startling. And clearly a lot of people seem to have lost their intent and their free
will to vote. And it's not only for me I do this, but for just a lot of people. I think they should have had a fair oppor-
tunity and a fair system. The people who vote most often and most frequently are clearly the ones that were most lost
because they expected something and they didn't get what they expected.
POTTER: Andre Fladell, thank you very much. We'll hear what happens in the court in about an hour from now.
FLADELL: Thank you so much.
POTTER: Last week, the circuit judge who heard this case first, Jorge Labarga, denied a request for a new election,
claiming that he simply didn't have the constitutional power to order a new election. He also suggested that it might be
unfair for other residents of Florida if the ones in Palm Beach get a chance to vote once again.
And as I said, the judges will be hearing this case in less than an hour. The parties will each get a half hour in oral
argument.
Excuse me, Bill. Back to you.
HEMMER: All right, Mark Potter, thanks again in West Palm. Hang in there down there.
Page 550

Once again back here in Leon County, in Tallahassee. Going to show you the room again on the second floor of the
circuit court building where we anticipate at any moment now the Gore team will file its latest lawsuit here in the battle
for the White House. We anticipate this lawsuit to include Nassau County, Miami-Dade County and Palm Beach
County. As soon as that is filed, we'll certainly take you there live. And also we'll talk with some of the attorneys
who will plan to file that lawsuit here.
Once, again, one other housekeeping note in Tallahassee: Tom Daschle, Dick Gephardt scheduled to arrive here in the
Florida capital about 10:30 a.m. Eastern time, which is just about 19 minutes away. They will brief reporters here at
about noon Eastern time. That's the plan right now. We'll see if that lies throughout the morning.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


All Rights Reserved
Page 551


CNN

November 27, 2000; Monday

SHOW: CNN MORNING NEWS 09:00

The Florida Vote: Bush Declared Winner in Sunshine State; Gore Vows Legal
Challenges; Palm Beach County Voter Discusses Lawsuit Over Ballot

GUESTS: Andre Fladell

BYLINE: Daryn Kagan, Chris Black, Gary Tuchman, Bill Hemmer, Mark Potter


LENGTH: 1998 words

HIGHLIGHT: Florida has declared a winner in the presidential election and George W. Bush has claimed victory.
Meanwhile, the Gore legal team is vowing more challenges. Meanwhile, another legal challenge is taking place in
Palm Beach County. Plaintiff Andre Fladell discusses his claim that the so-called butterfly ballot used there was ille-
gal.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: The top news from Florida, which the state has declared a winner. George W.
Bush has claimed victory. Meanwhile, the Gore legal team is vowing more challenges.
The nation is now in its third week after the presidential election and the outcome is still in legal limbo. The Gore le-
gal team is planning to file more court challenges this morning after Bush claimed victory and the presidency. Florida
Secretary of State Katherine Harris says that Bush won the state and its all-important electoral votes by a razor-thin
margin of 537 votes. That is out of more than 6 million votes that were cast statewide in Florida.
Meanwhile, though, the Gore campaign says that contested ballots which were counted but not certified actually gave
the Democrat the edge by nine votes. Bush has asked the Gore team to concede in the best interest of the country.
The Texas governor has been named -- has named his running mate, Dick Cheney, and former Transportation Secretary
Andrew Card to head his transition team. But the federal General Services Administration says that legal issues are
not resolved, and until they are, the Bush campaign will not be given any money or office space to begin that transition
process.
As for Al Gore, he plans to take his case, both legal and political, to the American public today. The vice president is
expected to deliver a speech later today.
And our Chris Black is covering the Gore camp, joining us with the latest from Washington.
Chris, any idea what we will be hearing from the vice president later today?
CHRIS BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Daryn, the vice president, who is now up at the official residence at
the naval observatory, is actually working on a draft of his speech with aides, we're told.
The vice president and his advisers say it's very important for him to continue to make this case to the American people
and explain why he is fighting the results, why he is contesting the election results. And one of the things he will say
is that he feels it's very, very important to -- and he feels an obligation to the 50 million Americans who voted for him
and for his agenda -- to make sure that every last vote is counted.
Page 552

Meanwhile, his lawyers, as you know, are heading to court this hour. They are also going to file a number of motions
along with the actual contest of the election results with the intent of trying to speed up the action a little bit. The mo-
tion -- they will ask the judge to expedite the timetable for the Republicans' response. The law says 10 days. They
will say 24 hours should be enough.
The Gore lawyers say they're ready to go to trial as soon as Wednesday. They will also ask for the ballots from South
Florida to be shipped up to Tallahassee. And they will ask the judge to appoint a special master to help look at those
ballots, examine them to determine who the voter voted for.
Earlier today, the vice president's top lawyer, David Boies, outlined his case on CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID BOIES, GORE CAMPAIGN ATTORNEY: First, an election's not over until the votes have been counted.
And you have 9,000 or 10,000 votes that have never been counted once. Second, it's important that this election be
decided by the courts and not by a partisan secretary of state who was one of the candidates' campaign manager, and
who's made every single decision that she was able to make to favor one candidate. This is an election that's too im-
portant to the American people to be decided other than in the impartial forum of the courts. Your third thing, I would
say, is that Gov. Bush, his lawyers, have repeatedly said, certify, then contest. That's exactly what we're doing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACK: Meanwhile, most Democrats seem to be standing by their man. In just a few hours, the top Democrats from
Congress, Dick Gephardt from the House, Tom Daschle from the Senate, will hold a press conference in Florida to
show solidarity with the Democratic nominee.
Now to my colleague Gary Tuchman, who is watching the action in Leon County -- Gary.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Chris, within five minutes or so, we expect an
attorney for Al Gore to enter this courthouse behind me. This is the Leon County Circuit Court in Tallahassee, Flori-
da, and it's here where the Gore campaign will officially challenge the results of the 2000 Florida vote certification.
Everyone realizing this will be an historic moment when the complaint is filed, officially called a contest. They've set
up cameras inside the lobby, the courts allowing it, knowing that history is going to be made. And right now, every-
one is waiting for that Gore attorney to come in and file the complaint.
The complaint will involve both counts in three Florida counties; from largest to smallest, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach
County and Nassau County. The allegation: if the counts were accurate in those counties, it would be Al Gore who
would be the certified vote leader in the state of Florida and not George W. Bush.
Now, under Florida election law, when there are complaints against multiple counties, the suit gets moved to the state
capital county. And, indeed, in this case it's Leon County.
Now, last night, the Florida secretary of state, Katherine Harris, certified the vote total with her two cohorts on the
Florida Canvassing Board. Katherine Harris was not known by very many people outside the state of Florida before
this month. Now she's nationally renowned.
One of the thing they did, they made the decision, the canvassing board, not to include the partial hand-count totals from
Palm Beach County. Palm Beach County, after days of counting, finished more than 90 percent of the counting.
However, the canvassing board said it was partial and therefore it would not be included. And that will be one of the
complaints leveled by the Gore attorneys that those votes should be included.
Now, it's very possible -- not probable, but very possible that court action will start as early as today inside the circuit
court. The judge will be picked randomly, and we'll know very soon who the judge will be in this case. It's done by
computer. As soon as the papers are filed, the judge will be named. There are four civil judges in this court so we
will know that very soon.
Ultimately, though, they will not have the final say. They'll have a say here, but not the final say. We do expect that
whichever side loses will appeal this to the Florida Supreme Court. You got to know those seven justices last week.
You'll probably get to know them again.
This is Gary Tuchman, CNN, live in Tallahassee, Florida.
KAGAN: Gary, thank you very much.
Page 553

And now let's go to not too far from where you are. My partner Bill hanging out in Tallahassee as well with more on
that -- Bill.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Daryn, good morning once again.
After such an extraordinary night here in Tallahassee last evening -- some would say it was a wild night. There were
hundreds of protesters behind us last night. They were well-behaved but quite loud behind us, again, last evening
when that certification came down.
Relative to last evening, though, today is a rather calm morning thus far in Tallahassee. The weather's cleared out, the
skies are nice and blue, there is no more rain or even chilly weather here in the air. But, however, we know throughout
the course of the past 20 days, that could change at a moment's notice.
Now, the legal challenges will continue here in Leon County. We do know that. But also got to talk about another
part of Florida, specifically Palm Beach County, where CNN's Mark Potter is watching another legal challenge take
place down there. Mark, good morning to you.
MARK POTTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill. Well, we're at the Fourth District Court of Appeal
in West Palm Beach, Florida where, once again, lawyers will be arguing over whether there should be a new presiden-
tial election in Palm Beach County.
If you recall, a number of residents filed lawsuits here asking for a new election, claiming they lost their vote because of
confusion over the butterfly ballot. Now, the lead case here is called Andre Fladell et al versus the Canvassing Board.
We couldn't find et al, but we found Andre Fladell. He's here.
Andre, explain to us: There has been the certification of the vote. Why should we have a new election?
ANDRE FLADELL, PLAINTIFF: Well, if the error that occurred in this county is a result of voter confusion, then
maybe we shouldn't have a new election. But if the ballot, in fact, were illegal, if the ballot were in violation of stat-
utes, more than one, then maybe the voter wasn't the only responsibility here. If they were taken away from their vote
by a ballot that, in fact, violates the statutes of the state, then the question is, who would bare the responsibility for that
loss of the right to vote?
POTTER: So your claim, indeed, is that this was an illegally constructed ballot.
FLADELL: The parties did not match the sequence they should have been in. The format for the left/right notation
didn't follow the format it should have been in; the instructions were not changed to even coincide with the ballot as the
ballot was changed; the sample didn't match up with the actual ballot. Yes, in fact, there were so many things that took
away the right to vote that this is not a question of count or election, it's a question of right to vote.
POTTER: And how many people do you think were affected by that. And how personally were you affected?
FLADELL: It cost me my intent. My choice went to someone I didn't choose. But more than that, the statistical ir-
regularities in this county are really startling. And clearly a lot of people seem to have lost their intent and their free
will to vote. And it's not only for me I do this, but for just a lot of people. I think they should have had a fair oppor-
tunity and a fair system. The people who vote most often and most frequently are clearly the ones that were most lost
because they expected something and they didn't get what they expected.
POTTER: Andre Fladell, thank you very much. We'll hear what happens in the court in about an hour from now.
POTTER: Last week, the circuit judge who heard this case first, Jorge Labarga, denied a request for a new election,
claiming that he simply didn't have the constitutional power to order a new election. He also suggested that it might be
unfair for other residents of Florida if the ones in Palm Beach get a chance to vote once again.
And as I said, the judges will be hearing this case in less than an hour. The parties will each get a half hour in oral
argument.
Excuse me, Bill. Back to you.
HEMMER: All right, Mark Potter, thanks again in West Palm. Hang in there down there.
Page 554

Once again back here in Leon County, in Tallahassee. Going to show you the room again on the second floor of the
circuit court building where we anticipate at any moment now the Gore team will file its latest lawsuit here in the battle
for the White House. We anticipate this lawsuit to include Nassau County, Miami-Dade County and Palm Beach
County. As soon as that is filed, we'll certainly take you there live. And also we'll talk with some of the attorneys
who will plan to file that lawsuit here.
Once, again, one other housekeeping note in Tallahassee: Tom Daschle, Dick Gephardt scheduled to arrive here in the
Florida capital about 10:30 a.m. Eastern time, which is just about 19 minutes away. They will brief reporters here at
about noon Eastern time. That's the plan right now. We'll see if that lies throughout the morning.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


All Rights Reserved
Page 555


New York Observer

November 27, 2000

Crushed Under Their Tons of Books, L'il Wonks Put Wheels on Backpacks!

BYLINE: Amy Berkowitz

SECTION: MEDIA[SOCIETY] NY World

LENGTH: 1663 words

First there was the scooter. It was silver. It was shiny. The kids loved it. Now the latest obsession of New York City's
school kids is the rolly backpack, a backpack with rubber wheels and a retractable plastic handle so it can be towed
around. All over Manhattan, students are pulling their rolly backpacks like miniature business travelers, tripping up
passers-by and wiping out on sharp turns.
At Macy's, where the Olympia backpack-on-wheels is available for $19.99, a sales representative said that his depart-
ment has been selling well over 100 a day. "They're selling like gangbusters," said Pam Stoesser, a spokesperson for
Kiva Designs, makers of the Rolling Scholar. "The demand is 200 percent more than we're supplying -- we sold out by
the third quarter." A manager at the Civilized Traveler, said that sales of rolly backpacks are up 30 percent since last
fall.
Like the scooter before it, the rolly backpack is simply an update of a conventional piece of school equipment. But un-
like "scooter," as it came to be known, the demand for rolly backpacks arose out of a crisis among today's students,
namely too many school books and not enough kid to carry them.
"My old bag weighed about 45 pounds," said Chris Dietz, a sixth-grade student at Hunter College Elementary School. "I
was carrying around all my textbooks, plus two or three Calvin and Hobbes books, and it strained my back a lot. My
new backpack is way more convenient."
Thea Filappatos, a third grader at Hunter, said, "We had heavy, heavy books, and my backpack used to hurt my shoul-
ders. I used to have to borrow my mother's back massager."
"I decided to get one because my old bag made my back ache," said Alexandra Malfitano-Berenbaum, a sixth grader at
the East Side Middle School. "It was really heavy because I had to carry two composition books, one reading book and
three textbooks."
Unlike a lot of new fads, this one comes pre-approved by the adult authorities. Elaine Sarfati, Hunter's school nurse,
said, "Considering the amount of weight they carry, these backpacks-on-wheels are probably saving their backs in the
long run."
But for every trend, there will be some people who just don't get it.
"Rolly backpacks are annoying because when you're rolling them, you can't use your hands," said Angelica Rodriguez,
a seventh grader at Trinity School with a blue rolly backpack. "I was trying to roll mine down the street and eat a bag of
chips, and it was really hard."
Her classmate, Andre Simone, got a rolly backpack at the beginning of the year, but switched back to a traditional de-
sign. "I hated carrying the rolly backpack up and down stairs," he said. "When I tried wearing it as a backpack, the
wheels poked at me, but when I pulled it down the stairs, the handle snapped off. That's when I decided to get a regular
backpack."
Page 556
Crushed Under Their Tons of Books, L'il Wonks Put Wheels on Backpacks! New York Observer November 27, 2000

Ricki Weitzen, a seventh grader at Robert F. Wagner Middle School, also made the switch back. "When I wheeled it
through the halls, too many kids would walk behind it and trip over it," she said. "They'd yell at me for bumping into
them."
Bumping and other hazards like jostling and roughhousing may just be the price that any rolly-backpack owner has to
pay.
Megan Nashban, an eighth grader at Hunter, said: "I know this one kid, Morris, who runs through the halls and actually
tries to knock people over with his."
"Someone rolled theirs over my new shoes," said Hunter student Chris Dietz.
"Then we got into a fight, swinging our backpacks at each other," he added. "Rolly backpacks are more fun to swing
around than regular backpacks because of the long handles."
Gwynnie Rock
Bounce is a poor man's Jerry Maguire: There's the brash young salesman (Ben Affleck as Tom Cruise) humbled by
love; the wry gay sidekick character who plays a key role in the leads' courtship; and the bespectacled moppet, birthed
improbably from Gwyneth Paltrow's pre-adolescent hips. Renee Zellweger was way more convincing as a young single
mom. But there's one thing Ms. Paltrow has that Ms. Zellweger didn't: her very own Vonda Shepard.
Ms. Shepard is that annoying, toothy blond woman who comes on during the (frequent) plot lapses of Ally McBeal to
bleat renditions of soul classics. Ms. Paltrow's Vonda? Dido. The Lilith Fair veteran and namesake of the mythical
queen of Carthage was on the Sliding Doors soundtrack, singing a song called "Thank You" that was later sampled by
that creepy rapper, Eminem. And here is Dido on the Bounce soundtrack, warbling a ballad called "Here With Me" --
the perfect backdrop for Ben and Gwyn's misty lovemaking. (Also, it so happens, the theme song for Channel 11's Ro-
swell. But no matter.) As with Ms. Shepard, Dido is a somewhat more physically substantive stand-in for our spindly
heroine, voicing those innermost, ineffable yearnings that even strenuous acting can't convey. As does Calista Flock-
hart, Ms. Paltrow sometimes takes to the mike herself, with mixed results (see Duets).
Hear the sweet, coy, fey, folksy, Indigo Girl -- ish strains of Dido and you are meant to think "windy," "wispy," "wist-
ful," "winsome" and all the other W words that conjure up your favorite loathsomely ethereal Oscar winner in
high-thespian mode. In short, hearing Dido should be a big red flag in your head that says: "Brace yourself, here comes
Gwynnie."
-- Alexandra Jacobs
The Guy Who Started It All
Andre Fladell was the first person in Palm Beach County, Fla., to file a lawsuit over the so-called butterfly ballot.
Since Election Day, he has been on CNN six times and on Good Morning America and Canadian TV. He's spoken with
Larry King and Charles Gibson and with reporters from Time, The Philadelphia Inquirer, even the London Daily Ex-
press. "I would like to vote for who I want to vote for," Mr. Fladell told Mr. King. "I would like to vote for Gore, and I
would like to vote for Lieberman. I don't want to vote for Pat Buchanan. He may be a nice person, but he's not my
vote."
Mr. Fladell is a 53-year-old chiropractor who spent the first 30 years of his life in Brooklyn and Long Island before set-
tling into a beach-bum routine in South Florida. A graduate of Hofstra University and the New York Chiropractic
School, he came of age in a rigid Republican corner of Long Island where he rebelled against just about everything. He
organized anti-war demonstrations in the 1960's. More recently, he has taken to wearing only sneakers and dressing up
for formal events in wacky, some might say goofy, outfits.
On television, Mr. Fladell seems like an average, albeit well-informed voter. He wears T-shirts, fidgets a lot and says
things like, "I went into a place expecting a simple, fair ballot. I got a crossword puzzle with some configuration no one
had ever told me about."
But not everyone's buying the act. Last Friday on CNN, Tucker Carlson said: "If there's one person on whom we could
pin this entire fiasco, I think it would be Andre Fladell." Some Republicans have even accused Mr. Fladell of being a
Gore operative.
Page 557

While Mr. Fladell is certainly not a Gore operative, neither is he your run-of-the-mill voter. What reporters outside
Florida don't seem to have picked up is that Mr. Fladell is one of the most politically connected men in Palm Beach
County.
"He wasn't any confused voter," said Mary McCarty, the Republican point person for the Bush-Cheney team in Palm
Beach who is a good friend of Mr. Fladell's. "To have him show up on Good Morning America saying, 'Well golly gee,
I'm just this bumpkin who doesn't know what he's doing' is just ridiculous. He's making a mockery out of the media."
In the early 80's, Mr. Fladell -- who once ran unsuccessfully to become the mayor of Delray Beach -- organized the
fractious, mostly Jewish condominium community into a cohesive Democratic voting block. This year, Mr. Fladell mo-
bilized the Haitian and dairy-farming populations to help Democrat Bill Nelson defeat a Republican incumbent in the
race for the United States Senate.
In 1985, the County Commission bestowed on him the honorary title "The Prince of Palm Beach County." Last De-
cember, he appeared in The Palm Beach Post's rundown of the 100 people who have had the most influence on the
county in the last century. Contacted by phone from New York, Mr. Fladell said: "I wasn't real happy. I don't like being
with 99 other people."
Mr. Fladell, who is independently wealthy, donates all of his advice free of charge. Although he's widely perceived as a
Democrat, he sometimes infuriates his political pals by backing Republicans, including George W.'s brother Jeb. "Let
me tell you what kind of Democratic operative I am," said Mr. Fladell. "I have three shirts with buttons on them; the rest
of my shirts are T-shirts. I don't own a pair of shoes. Everything I've got is sneakers. I don't have a pair of slacks that
aren't jeans, and I've got opinions on everything."
Mr. Fladell is a character. He has a closet full of costumes -- spikes and leather and Arab headdresses -- that he breaks
out for special events. He was married, for four years, to Darlene Javits, the niece of Senator Jacob Javits, who was
Miss New York in 1978. Now he dates women he meets on the beach. He sees patients early in the mornings three days
a week. His father's money has allowed him to spend the rest of his time at the beach, or at the race track, or stumping
for a particular cause or candidate.
Mr. Fladell thought his political activity for the year was concluded after he voted early on Nov. 7 in Delray Beach. But
after talking with friends he realized that they had had problems deciphering the ballot. That's when he decided to take
action. He called up his friend Henry Handler, an attorney for a number of condominium associations, and the following
morning he filed a lawsuit. Since then, the media hasn't stopped calling. And Mr. Fladell hasn't stopped answering.
-- Jay Cheshes


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

Copyright 2000 The New York Observer, L.P.
Page 558


New York Observer

November 27, 2000

Crushed Under Their Tons of Books, L'il Wonks Put Wheels on Backpacks!

BYLINE: Amy Berkowitz

SECTION: THEFRONTPAGE; Front Page 4

LENGTH: 1663 words

First there was the scooter. It was silver. It was shiny. The kids loved it. Now the latest obsession of New York City's
school kids is the rolly backpack, a backpack with rubber wheels and a retractable plastic handle so it can be towed
around. All over Manhattan, students are pulling their rolly backpacks like miniature business travelers, tripping up
passers-by and wiping out on sharp turns.
At Macy's, where the Olympia backpack-on-wheels is available for $19.99, a sales representative said that his depart-
ment has been selling well over 100 a day. "They're selling like gangbusters," said Pam Stoesser, a spokesperson for
Kiva Designs, makers of the Rolling Scholar. "The demand is 200 percent more than we're supplying -- we sold out by
the third quarter." A manager at the Civilized Traveler, said that sales of rolly backpacks are up 30 percent since last
fall.
Like the scooter before it, the rolly backpack is simply an update of a conventional piece of school equipment. But un-
like "scooter," as it came to be known, the demand for rolly backpacks arose out of a crisis among today's students,
namely too many school books and not enough kid to carry them.
"My old bag weighed about 45 pounds," said Chris Dietz, a sixth-grade student at Hunter College Elementary School. "I
was carrying around all my textbooks, plus two or three Calvin and Hobbes books, and it strained my back a lot. My
new backpack is way more convenient."
Thea Filappatos, a third grader at Hunter, said, "We had heavy, heavy books, and my backpack used to hurt my shoul-
ders. I used to have to borrow my mother's back massager."
"I decided to get one because my old bag made my back ache," said Alexandra Malfitano-Berenbaum, a sixth grader at
the East Side Middle School. "It was really heavy because I had to carry two composition books, one reading book and
three textbooks."
Unlike a lot of new fads, this one comes pre-approved by the adult authorities. Elaine Sarfati, Hunter's school nurse,
said, "Considering the amount of weight they carry, these backpacks-on-wheels are probably saving their backs in the
long run."
But for every trend, there will be some people who just don't get it.
"Rolly backpacks are annoying because when you're rolling them, you can't use your hands," said Angelica Rodriguez,
a seventh grader at Trinity School with a blue rolly backpack. "I was trying to roll mine down the street and eat a bag of
chips, and it was really hard."
Her classmate, Andre Simone, got a rolly backpack at the beginning of the year, but switched back to a traditional de-
sign. "I hated carrying the rolly backpack up and down stairs," he said. "When I tried wearing it as a backpack, the
wheels poked at me, but when I pulled it down the stairs, the handle snapped off. That's when I decided to get a regular
backpack."
Page 559

Ricki Weitzen, a seventh grader at Robert F. Wagner Middle School, also made the switch back. "When I wheeled it
through the halls, too many kids would walk behind it and trip over it," she said. "They'd yell at me for bumping into
them."
Bumping and other hazards like jostling and roughhousing may just be the price that any rolly-backpack owner has to
pay.
Megan Nashban, an eighth grader at Hunter, said: "I know this one kid, Morris, who runs through the halls and actually
tries to knock people over with his."
"Someone rolled theirs over my new shoes," said Hunter student Chris Dietz.
"Then we got into a fight, swinging our backpacks at each other," he added. "Rolly backpacks are more fun to swing
around than regular backpacks because of the long handles."
Gwynnie Rock
Bounce is a poor man's Jerry Maguire: There's the brash young salesman (Ben Affleck as Tom Cruise) humbled by
love; the wry gay sidekick character who plays a key role in the leads' courtship; and the bespectacled moppet, birthed
improbably from Gwyneth Paltrow's pre-adolescent hips. Renee Zellweger was way more convincing as a young single
mom. But there's one thing Ms. Paltrow has that Ms. Zellweger didn't: her very own Vonda Shepard.
Ms. Shepard is that annoying, toothy blond woman who comes on during the (frequent) plot lapses of Ally McBeal to
bleat renditions of soul classics. Ms. Paltrow's Vonda? Dido. The Lilith Fair veteran and namesake of the mythical
queen of Carthage was on the Sliding Doors soundtrack, singing a song called "Thank You" that was later sampled by
that creepy rapper, Eminem. And here is Dido on the Bounce soundtrack, warbling a ballad called "Here With Me" --
the perfect backdrop for Ben and Gwyn's misty lovemaking. (Also, it so happens, the theme song for Channel 11's Ro-
swell. But no matter.) As with Ms. Shepard, Dido is a somewhat more physically substantive stand-in for our spindly
heroine, voicing those innermost, ineffable yearnings that even strenuous acting can't convey. As does Calista Flock-
hart, Ms. Paltrow sometimes takes to the mike herself, with mixed results (see Duets).
Hear the sweet, coy, fey, folksy, Indigo Girl -- ish strains of Dido and you are meant to think "windy," "wispy," "wist-
ful," "winsome" and all the other W words that conjure up your favorite loathsomely ethereal Oscar winner in
high-thespian mode. In short, hearing Dido should be a big red flag in your head that says: "Brace yourself, here comes
Gwynnie."
-- Alexandra Jacobs
The Guy Who Started It All
Andre Fladell was the first person in Palm Beach County, Fla., to file a lawsuit over the so-called butterfly ballot.
Since Election Day, he has been on CNN six times and on Good Morning America and Canadian TV. He's spoken with
Larry King and Charles Gibson and with reporters from Time, The Philadelphia Inquirer, even the London Daily Ex-
press. "I would like to vote for who I want to vote for," Mr. Fladell told Mr. King. "I would like to vote for Gore, and I
would like to vote for Lieberman. I don't want to vote for Pat Buchanan. He may be a nice person, but he's not my
vote."
Mr. Fladell is a 53-year-old chiropractor who spent the first 30 years of his life in Brooklyn and Long Island before set-
tling into a beach-bum routine in South Florida. A graduate of Hofstra University and the New York Chiropractic
School, he came of age in a rigid Republican corner of Long Island where he rebelled against just about everything. He
organized anti-war demonstrations in the 1960's. More recently, he has taken to wearing only sneakers and dressing up
for formal events in wacky, some might say goofy, outfits.
On television, Mr. Fladell seems like an average, albeit well-informed voter. He wears T-shirts, fidgets a lot and says
things like, "I went into a place expecting a simple, fair ballot. I got a crossword puzzle with some configuration no one
had ever told me about."
But not everyone's buying the act. Last Friday on CNN, Tucker Carlson said: "If there's one person on whom we could
pin this entire fiasco, I think it would be Andre Fladell." Some Republicans have even accused Mr. Fladell of being a
Gore operative.
Page 560

While Mr. Fladell is certainly not a Gore operative, neither is he your run-of-the-mill voter. What reporters outside
Florida don't seem to have picked up is that Mr. Fladell is one of the most politically connected men in Palm Beach
County.
"He wasn't any confused voter," said Mary McCarty, the Republican point person for the Bush-Cheney team in Palm
Beach who is a good friend of Mr. Fladell's. "To have him show up on Good Morning America saying, 'Well golly gee,
I'm just this bumpkin who doesn't know what he's doing' is just ridiculous. He's making a mockery out of the media."
In the early 80's, Mr. Fladell -- who once ran unsuccessfully to become the mayor of Delray Beach -- organized the
fractious, mostly Jewish condominium community into a cohesive Democratic voting block. This year, Mr. Fladell mo-
bilized the Haitian and dairy-farming populations to help Democrat Bill Nelson defeat a Republican incumbent in the
race for the United States Senate.
In 1985, the County Commission bestowed on him the honorary title "The Prince of Palm Beach County." Last De-
cember, he appeared in The Palm Beach Post's rundown of the 100 people who have had the most influence on the
county in the last century. Contacted by phone from New York, Mr. Fladell said: "I wasn't real happy. I don't like being
with 99 other people."
Mr. Fladell, who is independently wealthy, donates all of his advice free of charge. Although he's widely perceived as a
Democrat, he sometimes infuriates his political pals by backing Republicans, including George W.'s brother Jeb. "Let
me tell you what kind of Democratic operative I am," said Mr. Fladell. "I have three shirts with buttons on them; the rest
of my shirts are T-shirts. I don't own a pair of shoes. Everything I've got is sneakers. I don't have a pair of slacks that
aren't jeans, and I've got opinions on everything."
Mr. Fladell is a character. He has a closet full of costumes -- spikes and leather and Arab headdresses -- that he breaks
out for special events. He was married, for four years, to Darlene Javits, the niece of Senator Jacob Javits, who was
Miss New York in 1978. Now he dates women he meets on the beach. He sees patients early in the mornings three days
a week. His father's money has allowed him to spend the rest of his time at the beach, or at the race track, or stumping
for a particular cause or candidate.
Mr. Fladell thought his political activity for the year was concluded after he voted early on Nov. 7 in Delray Beach. But
after talking with friends he realized that they had had problems deciphering the ballot. That's when he decided to take
action. He called up his friend Henry Handler, an attorney for a number of condominium associations, and the following
morning he filed a lawsuit. Since then, the media hasn't stopped calling. And Mr. Fladell hasn't stopped answering.
-- Jay Cheshes


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

Copyright 2000 The New York Observer, L.P.
Page 561


The Atlanta Journal and Constitution

November 21, 2000, Tuesday, Home Edition

BUTTERFLY BALLOTS: Law doesn't allow revote, judge rules;
ELECTION 2000: PRESIDENTIAL RACE

BYLINE: Mark Sherman, Staff

SOURCE: CONSTITUTION

SECTION: News; Pg. 11A

LENGTH: 509 words

West Palm Beach, Fla. --- A Palm Beach County judge ruled Monday against voters who wanted a new election be-
cause of confusion over the "butterfly" presidential ballot.
The ruling was a setback, though not surprising, for supporters of Vice President Al Gore. Complaints about the config-
uration of the ballot began on Election Day, and more than 19,000 voters in the heavily Democratic county cast two
votes for president.
Those ballots were disqualified in the initial machine count.
In his ruling, Circuit Court Judge Jorge Labarga said the law does not allow him to order a revote. The Constitution, he
added, requires that the national election for president take place on the same day across the country.
"The plaintiffs in this action cite no case law authority in the history of our nation, nor can the court find any, where a
revote or new election was permitted in a presidential race," Labarga wrote.
Lawyers for the voters quickly filed an appeal Monday, and the American Civil Liberties Union said it, too, would join
the appeal.
Andre Fladell, one of several plaintiffs, said the ballot was illegal.
"If we the people are expected to adhere to the rule of law or be held responsible when we violate it, then so should the
government be held responsible," Fladell said.
Patrick Lawlor, a lawyers for some of the plaintiffs, said that they " didn't have the opportunity to show the people of
the world that we're not crazy down here, that the ballot was invalid."
Labarga canceled a hearing in which testimony was expected from experts and residents who said they were confused
by the punch-card ballot, which had candidates' names on either side of a row of punch holes.
The most contentious aspect of the ballot was that the names of Gore and Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan ap-
peared in close proximity on facing pages. Several county residents said they had punched the hole for Buchanan mis-
takenly, then the hole for Gore in an effort to cast the vote they intended.
In a sample recount of several Palm Beach precincts, the Gore-Buchanan combination was by far the most prominent of
the double-punched ballots.
Labarga, who came to the United States from Cuba as a child, emphasized that his ruling should not be construed as a
rejection of the plaintiffs' concerns.
"This court is well aware that the right to vote is as precious as life itself," Labarga said.
Page 562
BUTTERFLY BALLOTS: Law doesn't allow revote, judge rules; ELECTION 2000: PRESIDENTIAL RACE The
Atlanta Journal and Constitution November 21, 2000, Tuesday,

Tucker Eskew, campaign spokesman for Texas Governor George W. Bush, said the campaign was pleased with the rul-
ing: "There are few legal scholars that would argue a revote is called for or allowed in one county in one state out of
50."
Palm Beach is just one of several locales across Florida in which lawsuits have been filed in connection with the elec-
tion.
In Seminole County, a judge ruled Monday that a Democratic activist could proceed with his lawsuit that challenges
4,700 absentee ballots. At issue in that case are contentions that election workers favored Republicans in filling in in-
complete applications for absentee ballots.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

GRAPHIC: Photo
Jorge Labarga

Copyright 2000 The Atlanta Constitution
Page 563


The New York Times

November 21, 2000, Tuesday, Late Edition - Final

COUNTING THE VOTE: PALM BEACH COUNTY;
Florida Judge Says He Can't Order Revote

BYLINE: By DON VAN NATTA Jr.

SECTION: Section A; Page 22; Column 6; National Desk

LENGTH: 646 words

DATELINE: WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., Nov. 20

A state judge here concluded today that he lacked the legal authority to order a second presidential election in Palm
Beach County, even if he were to determine that the county's "butterfly" ballot design had confused enough voters to
make a difference in the election.
The judge, Jorge LaBarga of Palm Beach County Circuit Court, rejected the revote remedy that had been sought by
dozens of voters here, saying that the Constitution stated clearly that the presidential election must be held on the same
day throughout the United States.
"Given the uniqueness of presidential elections and the undue advantage a revote or new election may afford one can-
didate over the other(s), it was the clear and unambiguous intention of the framers of the Constitution of the United
States that presidential elections be held on a single day throughout the United States," Judge LaBarga wrote.
Palm Beach County voters who filed the lawsuit said they were extremely disappointed. Within an hour of the judge's
order this morning, lawyers for the voters filed an appeal with a state appeals court.
The butterfly ballot in Palm Beach County was "illegal, unfair and misleading," Andre Fladell, the lead plaintiff, said
at a news conference at his lawyer's office in Boca Raton. "We went to court to prove that. Today, the judge said even if
we are right, there is nothing he could do. If the people are expected to adhere to the rule of law and be held responsible,
then so, too, should the government be held responsible to the rule of law."
Never before in American history has a judge ordered a revote in a presidential election. "The plaintiffs in this action
cite no case law authority in the history of our nation, nor can the court find any, where a revote or new election was
permitted in a presidential race," Judge LaBarga said.
The judge's order also canceled an evidentiary hearing that was to determine whether the ballot's design had confused
voters.
"I'm disappointed that we couldn't get to the point that someone would say this election was fair or unfair," said Henry
Handler, a lawyer for the voters.
"He cost me my right to vote," Mr. Fladell said of the judge, "and that upsets me."
The voters had intended to argue that 19,120 voters in Palm Beach County had their ballots thrown out because they
voted for at least two presidential candidates. Many of them, they say, had intended to vote for Vice President Al Gore
but were confused by the ballot's design and accidentally voted for Mr. Gore and Patrick J. Buchanan, the Reform Party
candidate.
In a sampling of 144 of the so-called double-vote ballots reviewed by the Palm Beach County canvassing board more
than a week ago, 80 showed votes for both Mr. Gore and Mr. Buchanan.
Page 564
COUNTING THE VOTE: PALM BEACH COUNTY;Florida Judge Says He Can't Order Revote The New York Times
November 21, 2000, Tuesday, Late Edition - Final

In addition, more than 10,000 ballots in Palm Beach County had no recorded selection for president. It is those so-called
under-vote ballots that are getting the closest scrutiny in the manual recount now being conducted here.
Judge LaBarga, who emigrated from Cuba as a young boy, said at a hearing on Friday that he cherished the sanctity of
the vote. He said if the Constitution required him to reject a county revote, it would represent "the hardest decision I
would ever have to make."
In his order today, Judge LaBarga wrote, "Clearly, a great number of patriotic and deeply concerned citizens of Palm
Beach County fear that they may have unwittingly cast their vote for someone other than their candidate."
"However," the judge wrote, "for over two centuries we have agreed to a Constitution and to live by the law. Indeed, it
is because we are first and foremost a nation that respects our constitutional tradition that our country continues to go
about its business, despite the very important issues raised by the election of Nov. 7, 2000. Consequently, this court
must follow the mandates of the law."
http://www.nytimes.com


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company
Page 565


Newsday (New York)

November 21, 2000, Tuesday ALL EDITIONS
Correction Appended

ELECTION 2000 / THE PRESIDENCY / JUDGE: NO REVOTE IN PALM
BEACH

BYLINE: By Tom Brune. WASHINGTON BUREAU

SECTION: NEWS; Page A05

LENGTH: 689 words

West Palm Beach, Fla.-For the thousands of people here who complained that their vote for president went astray be-
cause of a confusing ballot, the hope for a revote, or for any second chance to make their voices heard, is fast fading.
State Circuit Court Judge Jorge Labarga yesterday issued a written ruling that said he had no authority to order a new
presidential election for Palm requested.
Labarga said that because he could order no remedy, he would not decide whether the notorious "butterfly ballot" was
illegal under Florida state law and disenfranchised voters by confusing them, as charged by the suits.
The ruling was immediately appealed.
But Connie Kaufman, 64, who said in an affidavit submitted with one of the suits that she had intended to vote for
Democrat Al Gore but mistakenly did not, said, "I have a feeling that it's all over but for the shouting, at this point."
CORRECTION: Due to an editing error, a story yesterday about a Florida judge's decision that he had no authority to
order a revote in Palm Beach County incorrectly stated that an affidavit from voter Connie Kaufman was submitted as
part of a lawsuit. Pg. A02 NS 11/22/00
To her and many others, that means Republican George W. Bush is likely to win the presidency, possibly by a slim
margin even after completion of hand recounts in the state's three most populous, and Democratic, counties.
Kaufman and others say Gore's victory may have been thrown out here with the 19,000 ballots tossed for having more
than one presidential vote, or lost among the near-miss ballot punches that gave a strikingly high 3,400 votes to Reform
candidate Pat Buchanan.
"I definitely feel that Gore would have won if the votes had been counted properly," Kaufman said.
Republican Rep. Mark Foley, who represents part of Palm Beach County, disagreed, saying that the number of dis-
carded ballots was no higher than in many other Florida counties and that Buchanan has more support here than many
believe.
In his ruling, Labarga said federal law leaves it up to states to devise ways to select electors should a vote fail to do so,
but said Florida law was silent on this issue. But he said federal statutes and case law intended "a procedure other than a
second election" to select electors in the absence of a clear vote.
Finally, he said the framers of the Constitution clearly intended that presidential elections be held across the country on
one day given their "uniqueness" and "the undue advantage a revote or new election may afford one candidate over the
other."
In ruling he could not order the remedy the plaintiffs sought, Labarga concluded that "it is legally unnecessary" to hold
hearings on the ballot.
Page 566
ELECTION 2000 / THE PRESIDENCY / JUDGE: NO REVOTE IN PALM BEACH Newsday (New York)
November 21, 2000, Tuesday

Andre Fladell, the first named plaintiff on the consolidated suits before Labarga, said afterward, "The ballot in Palm
Beach was in violation of more than one statute and more than one law. It was illegal, unfair and misleading. ... Today
the court said even if we are right, there is nothing he could do."
Henry Handler, Fladell's attorney, said the appeal would ask for a hearing and a ruling on the legality of the ballot.
Handler said he would be ready to argue that case as soon as it could begin, perhaps in a week. It would be heard in the
state's District Court of Appeals.
"It's lawyer against lawyer now. There is nothing that we as a people can do. We can yell all we want. We can march.
We can have signs," said Edith Michaels, a retired locksmith originally from Williston Park. "But if the court rules
against us, it's over."
Elaine Valentine, formerly of Long Beach, was philosophical about the turn of events. Like Michaels, Valentine filed a
complaint with local Democrats about the ballots but was not a party to the suits.
"We've learned a lesson, and I hope that everybody's learned a lesson," Valentine said. "I think that any thinking per-
son is going to know their vote counts, and that they've got to be careful it goes to the person they want to vote for."
DATE:001121. Tuesday


LANGUAGE: English

CORRECTION: Due to an editing error, a story yesterday about a Florida judge's decision that he had no authority to
order a revote in Palm Beach County incorrectly stated that an affidavit from voter Connie Kaufman was submitted as
part of a lawsuit. Pg. A02 NS 11/22/00

Copyright 2000 Newsday, Inc.
Page 567


The Philadelphia Inquirer

NOVEMBER 21, 2000 Tuesday SF EDITION

BY THE MATH, GORE'S HOPES MAY BE SLIM

BYLINE: Shankar Vedantam and Craig R. McCoy, INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS

SECTION: NATIONAL; Pg. A01

LENGTH: 1304 words


If Al Gore is pinning his hopes on votes he may gain in hand recounts, experts are cautiously predicting that those are
slim hopes at best.
The experts base their views on the first numbers that emerged from sample recounts last week in Palm Beach, Broward
and Miami-Dade Counties, and on how those counties' votes went in the original statewide count. They said the latest
partial totals from those recounts - now the subject of a legal battle in the Florida Supreme Court - had borne out their
earlier projections.
"The chance is .1 - one tenth - of 1 percent that Gore can pick up 930 votes," economist Bruce Hansen of the University
of Wisconsin said yesterday in a telephone interview. "So that's unlikely."
The figure 930 is Republican George W. Bush's lead over Gore in the statewide vote.
In Broward County, for example, Gore had gained only a net increase of 117 votes by last night, with recounts complete
in 83 percent of the county's precincts.
While cautioning that there was still "tremendous uncertainty" about the possible outcome, Harvard economist Law-
rence Katz said yesterday: "My best guess is that you would pick up 190 votes for Gore" when Broward's entire vote is
retabulated by hand.
In Palm Beach County, about half of the votes had been counted by yesterday. While hard figures were not available,
overall, "there has been very little change," said Judge Charles Burton, the Democrat who heads the county's canvassing
board, the panel overseeing the hand recount.
Democratic Party lawyers voiced optimism. "We expect to see a sizable number of ballots that are partially perforated
or dimpled going for Gore once the canvassing board has a chance to look at them closely," said Denis Newman, one of
the party's observers at the Palm Beach recount.
Just over 10 percent of votes had been recounted last night in Miami-Dade County, and officials there estimated they
would need 10 days to complete the hand recount. But Miami-Dade went only marginally for Gore on Election Day,
and thus has never been regarded as a treasure trove of uncounted Gore votes.
The results so far seem to bear out last week's statistical forecasts by Hansen, Katz and a third economist, all of whom
are experts in statistical analysis. As the Miami Herald reported, the three estimated last week that Gore would likely
pick up about 500 votes in all from the recount.
Should Gore fall short in the hand recount, Democrats may find their options narrowing. Still pending is a lawsuit in
Seminole County, where Democrats claim Republican activists were allowed to make improper revisions to absen-
Page 568
BY THE MATH, GORE'S HOPES MAY BE SLIM The Philadelphia Inquirer NOVEMBER 21, 2000 Tuesday SF
EDITION

tee-ballot applications. Bush won the county's absentee votes by roughly 10,000, to 5,000 for Gore. A judge agreed
yesterday to give that suit a hearing.
Also yesterday, a Palm Beach County Circuit Court judge, Jorge Labarga, rejected a request for a "revote," saying he
lacked the authority to order one. Labarga's ruling addressed seven lawsuits from voters who had complained that the
county's "butterfly" ballot design caused them to be effectively disenfranchised.
His ruling was appealed by lawyers for some of those voters. Philadelphia attorneys Mark A. Aronchick and Stephen
Sheller predicted their case would move quickly to the state Supreme Court.
Last week, Gore offered to drop all legal challenges if Bush agreed that the hand recounts could proceed.
The figures that have emerged in the recounts so far have not been encouraging for Gore.
In Palm Beach County, although half of the nearly half-million ballots that were cast have been manually recounted,
officials have announced results for only 22 percent of the county's precincts. In those, Gore netted only a three-vote
increase, the Associated Press reported.
The apparent difference between the large number of votes counted and the small number of precincts finished is due to
the two-step procedure for recounting under way in the county.
Here, two dozen teams are counting the ballots. Each team is assigned a Republican and a Democratic observer, who
can question the decision of any counter on any ballot. Such questioned ballots then are scrutinized by another tier of
reviewers - along with top Republican and Democratic lawyers - to make the final call.
With the controversy over dimpled votes and displaced chads, large numbers of ballots have ended up in this questioned
pile. And for a precinct to be declared complete, all the questionable ballots must be scrutinized.
Still, Burton said the process so far did not seem to be working to deliver a surge of votes to Gore.
When Gore touted the hand recount as a way forward last week, Democrats had also cited Volusia County as a fourth
key county where such a hand recount was needed. But officials there completed their review later last week, and it net-
ted Gore only 98 votes.
Those new votes, along with absentee ballots from abroad, left Bush with the 930-vote lead in the official state results
released Saturday.
To spur momentum for a recount, Democrats last week presented the Miami-Dade County canvassing board with an
analysis by Christopher Carroll, an economics professor at John Hopkins University in Maryland, about how the re-
count would likely turn out.
Carroll, in that analysis, noted that election officials in Miami-Dade County early last week had conducted a "test" hand
recount of selected precincts.
Extrapolating from that test, Carroll then estimated the number of votes that could be retrieved countywide by human
scrutiny of ballots, as opposed to a count by a machine. He then apportioned those newly "harvested" votes, precinct by
precinct, awarding them to Bush or Gore in the same proportion as the more massive, known machine-counted votes.
Carroll noted that similar forecasts had been done by two other economists, one of Broward County votes by a Har-
vard's Katz and the other of Palm Beach County votes by Hansen of the University of Wisconsin.
The three experts, collectively, forecast that Gore would gain 610 votes from the recounts in the three counties. Even
their most optimistic models still fall a few votes short of putting Gore ahead.
Carroll could not be reached for comment on his written analysis.
Henry Handler, an attorney for the plaintiffs who were rebuffed here yesterday by Judge Labarga, said he was hopeful
that the federal appellate judges would inform Labarga he did have authority to order such a revote.
"It's the same as if there was a catastrophe [on Election Day] or massive fraud," said Handler, who is representing
Delray Beach chiropractor Andre Fladell and others.
"This is an issue that has always taken a second seat to the count and recount process," he said. "Once this counting is-
sue is resolved, there's still an issue whether these ballots failed to meet Florida law."
Page 569
BY THE MATH, GORE'S HOPES MAY BE SLIM The Philadelphia Inquirer NOVEMBER 21, 2000 Tuesday SF
EDITION

Yesterday, Judge Labarga, who was brought to America as a child by his parents from Cuba, wrote: "The right to vote
freely for the candidate of one's choice is of the essence in a democratic society, and any restrictions of that right strike
at the heart of representative government."
Saying that the call for a revote was an unprecedented legal question, Labarga said that "cases are legion throughout our
nation which stand for the proposition that a new election is permissible due to ballot irregularities."
However, he wrote: "Notable, in each instance where a revote or a new election was permitted, the circumstances in-
volved a race for a public office other than the Presidency and Vice Presidency of the United States. The plaintiffs in
this action cite no case law authority in the history of our nation, nor can the court find any, where a revote or new elec-
tion was permitted in a presidential race."
Shankar Vedantam's e-mail address is svedantam@phillynews.com


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

Copyright 2000 Philadelphia Newspapers, LLC
All Rights Reserved
Page 570


St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Missouri)

November 21, 2000, Tuesday, FIVE STAR LIFT EDITION

JUDGE REJECTS NEW ELECTION FOR PALM BEACH COUNTY;
EVEN IF "BUTTERFLY" BALLOTS WERE FAULTY, A REVOTE WOULD
BE ILLEGAL, HE RULES

BYLINE: From News Services

SECTION: NEWS, Pg. A1

LENGTH: 864 words

DATELINE: WEST PALM BEACH, FLA.NATIONAL POLITICS; BALLOT RECOUNT; FLORIDA COUNTY
COURT; RULING DECISION; NEW ELECTION REJECTION

A Florida judge concluded Monday that he lacked the legal authority to order a second presidential election in Palm
The judge, Jorge LaBarga of Palm Beach County Circuit Court, rejected the appeal for a new election that had been
sought by dozens of voters, saying that the Constitution stated clearly that the presidential election must be held on the
same day throughout the United States -- the Tuesday after the first Monday of November, every four years.
States that presidential elections be held on a single day throughout the United States," LaBarga wrote in his 17-page
order.
Palm Beach County voters who filed the lawsuit said they were extremely disappointed. Within an hour of the judge's
order Monday morning, lawyers for the voters filed an appeal with a state appeals court.
The butterfly ballot in Palm Beach County, where presidential candidates were listed on both sides of the punch holes,
was "illegal, u nfair and misleading," Andre Fladell, the lead plaintiff, said at his lawyer's office in Boca Raton.
"We went to court to prove that," Fladell said. "Today, the judge said even if we are right, there is nothing he could do.
If the people are expected to adhere to the rule of law and be held responsible, then so, too, should the government be
held responsible to the rule of law."
Never before in American history has a judge ordered a revote in a presidential election.
LaBarga said, "The plaintiffs in this action cite no case law authority in the history of our nation, nor can the court find
any, where a revote or new election was permitted in a presidential race."
voters.
Fladell said of the judge: "He cost me my right to vote, and that upsets me."
Page 571
JUDGE REJECTS NEW ELECTION FOR PALM BEACH COUNTY;EVEN IF "BUTTERFLY" BALLOTS WERE
FAULTY, A REVOTE WOULD BE ILLEGAL, HE RULES St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Missouri) November 21, 2000,
Tuesday, FIVE STAR LIFT EDITION

but were confused by the ballot's design and accidentally voted for Gore and Pat Buchanan, the Reform Party candidate.
than a week ago, 80 showed votes for both Gore and Buchanan.
In addition, more than 10,000 ballots in Palm Beach County had no recorded selection for president. It is those ballots
that are getting the closest scrutiny in the manual recount now being conducted here.
As of Monday, Bush's official lead was 930 votes. Gore picked up 166 votes in manual recounts by 10 p.m. Monday,
which if counted would reduce Bush's margin to 764.
Hundreds of workers in three counties where Gore had asked for a recount continued counting ballots by hand - and so
far finding few new votes for Gore. In one county, at least, Bush appeared to be holding his own.
"There's been very little change" in the margin between the two men, said Judge Charles Burton, head of the Palm
Beach County canvassing board.
Down the coast, Broward County elections supervisor Jane Carroll, 70, said the long recount was taking its toll on
workers.
"I feel like I'm incarcerated, with lunch and dinner brought in to me and six attorneys sitting across from me the entire
day," she said hours before quitting her post. A replacement for her was found later in the day.
The Broward County board had been setting aside any ballots that did not have two corners poked out of the chad - the
scrap of paper in a punch-card ballot. But all three board members agreed Sunday to re-evaluate ballots with a slight
indentation, just one corner of the chad poked out or other questionable chad. They had segregated the disputed ballots
so they could easily be rechecked.
Ballots from 544 of the county's 609 precincts and 139 absentee ballots had been recounted when work stopped Monday
night. Al Gore gained 117 votes over last week's official tallies.
In Palm Beach County, Gore's allies were complaining. They said the bo ard was being too strict in its determination of
what votes to approve. With one-fifth of the precincts hand tallied, Gore had picked up just three votes.
Tensions flared in Miami-Dade County, where officials began a hand-count that could drag into next month.
"I do not expect observers to be arguing or putting into this process their personal opinion," elections board chairman
Lawrence King told GOP and Democratic operatives on hand to watch the vote-counting.
Gore had gained 46 votes after 67 of 614 precincts were counted.


LANGUAGE: English

NOTES: DECISION 2000

Copyright 2000 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Inc.
Page 572


St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Missouri)

November 21, 2000, Tuesday, THREE STAR EDITION

JUDGE REJECTS NEW ELECTION FOR PALM BEACH COUNTY;
EVEN IF "BUTTERFLY" BALLOTS WERE FAULTY, A REVOTE WOULD
BE ILLEGAL, HE RULES

BYLINE: From News Services


LENGTH: 868 words

DATELINE: WEST PALM BEACH, FLA.NATIONAL POLITICS; BALLOT RECOUNT; FLORIDA COUNTY
COURT; RULING DECISION; NEW ELECTION REJECTION

A Florida judge concluded Monday that he lacked the legal authority to order a second presidential election in Palm
The judge, Jorge LaBarga of Palm Beach County Circuit Court, rejected the appeal for a new election that had been
sought by dozens of voters, saying that the Constitution stated clearly that the presidential election must be held on the
same day throughout the United States -- the Tuesday after the first Monday of November, every four years.
States that presidential elections be held on a single day throughout the United States," LaBarga wrote in his 17-page
order.
Palm Beach County voters who filed the lawsuit said they were extremely disappointed. Within an hour of the
judge's order Monday morning, lawyers for the voters filed an appeal with a state appeals court.
The butterfly ballot in Palm Beach County, where presidential candidates were listed on both sides of the punch holes,
was "illegal, unfair and misleading," Andre Fladell, the lead plaintiff, said at his lawyer's office in Boca Raton.
"We went to court to prove that," Fladell said. "Today, the judge said even if we are right, there is nothing he could do.
If the people are expected to adhere to the rule of law and be held responsible, then so, too, should the government be
held responsible to the rule of law."
Never before in American history has a judge ordered a revote in a presidential election.
LaBarga said, "The plaintiffs in this action cite no case law authority in the history of our nation, nor can the court find
any, where a revote or new election was permitted in a presidential race."
voters.
Fladell said of the judge: "He cost me my right to vote, and that upsets me."
Page 573
JUDGE REJECTS NEW ELECTION FOR PALM BEACH COUNTY;EVEN IF "BUTTERFLY" BALLOTS WERE
FAULTY, A REVOTE WOULD BE ILLEGAL, HE RULES St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Missouri) November 21, 2000,
Tuesday, THREE STAR EDITION

but were confused by the ballot's design and accidentally voted for Gore and Pat Buchanan, the Reform Party candidate.
than a week ago, 80 showed votes for both Gore and Buchanan.
In addition, more than 10,000 ballots in Palm Beach County had no recorded selection for president. It is those ballots
that are getting the closest scrutiny in the manual recount now being conducted here.
As of Monday, Bush's official lead was 930 votes. Gore picked up 133 votes in manual recounts by late Monday, which
if counted would reduce Bush's margin to 797.
Hundreds of workers in three counties where Gore had asked for a recount continued counting ballots by hand - and so
far finding few new votes for Gore. In one county, at least, Bush appeared to be holding his own.
"There's been very little change" in the margin between the two men, said Judge Charles Burton, head of the Palm
Beach County canvassing board.

Some counters get cranky
Down the coast, Broward County elections supervisor Jane Carroll said the long recount was taking its toll on workers.
"I feel like I'm incarcerated, with lunch and dinner brought in to me and six attorneys sitting across from me the entire
day," she said hours before quitting her post. A replacement for her was found later in the day.
The Broward County board had been setting aside any ballots that did not have two corners poked out of the chad - the
scrap of paper in a punch-card ballot. But all three board members agreed Sunday to re-evaluate ballots with a slight
indentation, just one corner of the chad poked out or other questionable chad. They had segregated the disputed ballots
so they could easily be rechecked.
"This thing is rigged," said Rep. David Hobson, R-Ohio, who joined a parade of politicians in Florida to monitor the
recounts. "It is a joke to our democracy."
Democratic lawyer Kendall Coffey said allegations of fraud are outrageous.
In Palm Beach County, it was Gore's allies who were complaining. They said the board was being too strict in its de-
termination of what votes to approve. With one-fifth of the precincts hand tallied, Gore had picked up just three votes.
Tensions flared to Miami-Dade County, where officials began a hand-count that could drag into next month.
"I do not expect observers to be arguing or putting into this process their personal opinion," elections board chairman
Lawrence King told GOP and Democratic operatives on hand to watch the vote-counting.


LANGUAGE: English

NOTES: DECISION 2000

Copyright 2000 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Inc.
Page 574


The Star-Ledger (Newark, New Jersey)

FINAL EDITION

Judge rules there's no basis for a revote in Palm Beach County

BYLINE: JENNIFER PELTZ, FOR THE STAR-LEDGER

SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 10

LENGTH: 663 words


After six other judges recused themselves from hearing lawsuits calling for a revote, a judge who heard the case yester-
day ruled there is no provision in the law that would allow Palm Beach County voters to get another chance at picking a
president.
Local Judge Jorge Labarga didn't take on the crux of the request: claims that the ballot design here led some supporters
of Vice President Al Gore to vote unintentionally for Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan. But the judge concluded,
"It is not legally possible to have a revote or a new election."
Like the ballot recounts under way in three southeast Florida counties, a revote was considered a possibility for Gore
to pull ahead in the close race, giving the Democrat Florida's 25 electoral votes and, with them, the presidency.
Voters in two of the five cases seeking a revote appealed Labarga's ruling within hours. The Fourth District Court of
Appeal is expected to consider the cases today.
"He should have ruled on who was right, and who was wrong," said Andre Fladell, who was the first voter to sue and
quick to appeal. "The question is simple: Is the ballot legal, fair and not misleading? . . . Someone, at some point, needs
to say something."
Labarga, who was handed the revote case after six other judges recused themselves, acknowledged "the enormous re-
sponsibility" of weighing the unprecedented requests. They came from a broad spectrum of voters, including Holocaust
survivors, Haitian immigrants, African-Americans and senior citizens.
"This Court is well aware that the right to vote is as precious as life itself to those who have been victimized by the
horror of war, to those whose not-too-distant relatives were prohibited from exercising the right to vote simply because
of their race or gender, and to those who have risked it all by venturing across an unforgiving sea in makeshift rafts or
boats in order to one day exercise the right to vote," wrote Labarga, who himself immigrated from Cuba as a child.
But he said the U.S. Constitution, Florida law and previous cases gave him no room to order a revote. They stress that
presidential elections are to be held on a single day throughout the country, with no suggestion that there should be a
revote if that election is inconclusive, he wrote.
Gore's Republican opponent, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, has opposed a revote. Bush's lawyers have argued that
courts have no power to say when an election should be held.
But revote supporters say courts can order new balloting when natural disasters, widespread fraud or other major
problems have disrupted voting. They note that Florida judges have called for revotes in state races here, and courts in
other states have done likewise in congressional elections.
Page 575
Judge rules there's no basis for a revote in Palm Beach County The Star-Ledger (Newark, New Jersey) November 21,
2000 Tuesday

"We don't think there's any difference because it's the presidential election," said Henry B. Handler, a lawyer for
Fladell and some of the other voters. Even if the residents persuade a court that it can order a revote, they will still have
to prove that it should. Their claims center the two-sided layout of the punch-card ballots used in Palm Beach County
Nov. 7. The "butterfly" ballot listed the Republican and Democratic candidates on the left. Buchanan was listed between
them, but on the right.
Democratic officials last week reported collecting 10,000 signatures from voters who believed they had punched the
wrong hole or punched more than one. Meanwhile, statisticians hired for the re-vote lawsuit said the 3,400 votes tallied
for the conservative Buchanan were considerably more than expected here.
Some Gore supporters believe a revote could give the vice president enough votes to win. Officially, Bush leads by
only 300 votes in Florida. Absentee ballots not included in the tally raised the gap to 930.
Ongoing recounts in populous, predominantly Democratic Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties also could
change the totals. Gore supporters hope that the manual recounts will tally Gore votes that machine counts missed.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

GRAPHIC: CHART:

Counting the recounts

The dispute over the Florida results boils down to this: Can Al Gore find enough extra votes in three counties to over-
take George W. Bush's 930-vote lead in the state?

If the courts allow the recounts into the total, and if the extra votes are there, Gore can win the presidency. Nationally,
the counting of absentee ballots in four Western states pushed Gore's vote total past the 50 million mark and increased
his lead over Bush to 300,849 votes.

The numbers as of yesterday:

National Gore Bush
Popular 50,099,002 49,798,153
Electoral* 267 246
Florida Gore Bush
Absentees 750 1,380
Popular 2,910,192 2,910,492
Total 2,910,942 2,911,872
The counties Gore Bush
Miami/Dade 328,861 289,574
Palm Beach 269,754 152,964
Broward 386,614 177,360

*Undeclared: Florida (25)

SOURCE: Associated Press


JOURNAL-CODE: nsl

Copyright 2000 Newark Morning Ledger Co.
All Rights Reserved
Page 576



November 20, 2000, Monday, BC cycle

Judge says no to revote in Palm Beach

BYLINE: By MARCY GORDON, Associated Press Writer


LENGTH: 497 words


Residents who complained they were confused by Palm Beach County's ballot said Monday they would appeal a judge's
denial of their request for a new election.
"We didn't have the opportunity to show the people of the world that we're not crazy down here, that the ballot was in-
valid," said Patrick Lawlor, who represented the residents in their lawsuit.
Palm Beach Circuit Judge Jorge Labarga ruled he did not have the authority to order a revote. He canceled a hearing
that had been scheduled to hear from experts and voters who said they either punched two holes in the ballot or voted
for the wrong candidate out of confusion.
Andre Fladell, one of several plaintiffs, said the ballot was illegal and that he would appeal.
government be held responsible," he said.
Labarga said states have the authority to enact laws to protect citizens' rights to vote, and that also provide a way to deal
with situations where that right has been infringed.
However, lawyers cited no cases in which a revote was done for a presidential election.
"The plaintiffs in this action cite no case law authority in the history of our nation, nor can the Court find any, where a
revote or new election was permitted in a Presidential race," Labarga wrote.
That should come as no surprise, he said, because the U.S. Constitution clearly states the presidential "electors" must be
elected on the same day throughout the nation - the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, every fourth year.
Labarga, who immigrated from Cuba as a child, said during a hearing last Friday that if he had to rule the Constitution
did not permit a revote, it would be "the hardest decision I ever make."
Meanwhile, the hand counting of ballots resumed at the county's Emergency Operations Center. No new figures were
released; officials said too many questionable ballots remained.
Republican George W. Bush had a net gain of 12 votes with 31 of the 531 precincts tallied after Saturday's counting was
complete.
The pace of the work, with Republican and Democratic observers making frequent objections to ballots, made it "ex-
tremely unlikely" the job will be completed by Thanksgiving, said canvassing board spokeswoman Denise Cote.
Palm Beach voters cast 462,350 ballots in the Nov. 7 election. About 30,000 were thrown out during the initial machine
counts, including about 10,000 ballots on which no vote was registered by the machines. Those so-called "undervotes"
are the ballots getting the closest scrutiny during the hand recounts.
Page 577
Judge says no to revote in Palm Beach The Associated Press State & Local Wire November 20, 2000, Monday, BC
cycle

Democratic lawyer Dennis Newman, overseeing the Palm Beach recount, said Monday that there were 276 dimpled
ballots for Democrat Al Gore and 73 dimpled ballots for Bush that were not counted. They have been set aside in case a
judge orders the board to change its standards of determining whether a vote is valid.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

All Rights Reserved
Page 578




County releases batch of recount figures; more dud than dynamite



LENGTH: 473 words


Al Gore has gained a net three votes in Palm Beach County so far in a hand recount of ballots, according to a partial
tally with one-fifth of the job done.
Gore's slim gain so far in the Democratic-leaning county came after 103 of 531 precincts were hand counted since
Thursday night. The Democrat is hoping to gain votes from the manual recount in order to erase a 930-vote lead Repub-
lican George W. Bush holds in the official statewide tally.
are the ballots getting the closest scrutiny during the hand recounts - and causing the most objections.
Democratic lawyer Dennis Newman, overseeing the Palm Beach recount, said there were 276 dimpled ballots for Gore
and 73 dimpled ballots for Bush that weren't counted. The ballots - showing an indentation, but no punch-through - have
been set aside in case a judge orders the board to change its standards of determining whether a vote is valid.
Meanwhile, residents who complained they were confused by Palm Beach County's ballot design said Monday they
would appeal a judge's denial of their request for a new election.
for the wrong candidate - Reform Party contender Pat Buchanan instead of Gore - out of confusion.

Page 579
County releases batch of recount figures; more dud than dynamite The Associated Press State & Local Wire November
20, 2000, Monday, BC cycle

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

All Rights Reserved
Page 580




County releases batch of recount figures



LENGTH: 592 words


Al Gore netted three votes from a hand recount of ballots in Palm Beach County, according to a partial tally with
one-fifth of the job done.
Thursday night. The Democrat hopes to gain votes from the manual recount in this and two other counties to erase Re-
publican George W. Bush's official state lead of 930 votes.
Republicans downplayed the early results.
"As for the numbers, whether Governor Bush or Al Gore benefits is beside the point," said Bush campaign spokesman
Tucker Eskew. "The process is flawed, regardless of who benefits."
Page 581
County releases batch of recount figures The Associated Press State & Local Wire November 20, 2000, Monday, BC
cycle

The American Civil Liberties Union said late Monday it would join in the appeal and criticized Labarga for trying to
carve out what amounted to a "presidential exception" to the right to vote.
"This ruling is absurd and must be challenged," said Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida. "Under
Judge Labarga's reasoning, even if someone willfully destroyed 20,000 ballots for either presidential candidate, once the
deadline is passed, the courts are powerless to order a remedy."


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

All Rights Reserved
Page 582




So far, Gore's gains minimal in Palm Beach County recount



LENGTH: 708 words


Al Gore has netted just three votes with about one-fifth of the precincts hand counted in Democratic-leaning Palm
Beach County, elections officials said Monday. Meantime, a Palm Beach County judge ruled he did not have the au-
thority to order a revote sought by residents who said they were confused by the punch-card ballot.
The Gore campaign hopes to gain votes enough votes from manual recounts in three counties to erase Republican
George W. Bush's official state lead of 930 votes. But with 103 of 531 Palm Beach precincts hand counted since
Thursday night, he had made only a minimal gain.
The Gore and Bush campaigns played down the Palm Beach recount total, focusing instead on the method of counting.
Democratic Party spokesman Bill Buck said it "premature to speculate on the numbers."
"We continue to be concerned about the narrow definition of voter intent," he said.
Democratic lawyer Dennis Newman, overseeing the Palm Beach recount, said there were 276 "dimpled" ballots for
Gore and 73 dimpled ballots for Bush that weren't counted. The ballots - which show an indentation, but no
punch-through - have been set aside in case a judge orders the board to change its standards of determining whether a
vote is valid.
"As we have said all along, we want a full, fair and accurate count of the Florida vote and the best way to achieve that is
to use the same standard of voter intent that Governor Bush signed into law in Texas," Buck said.
Texas law calls for dimpled ballots to be counted.
that had been scheduled to hear from experts and voters who said they either punched two holes in the ballot or inad-
vertently voted for Reform Party contender Pat Buchanan instead of Gore because of the ballot design.
Page 583
So far, Gore's gains minimal in Palm Beach County recount The Associated Press State & Local Wire November 20,
2000, Monday, BC cycle



LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

All Rights Reserved
Page 584



Judge says no revote in Palm Beach



LENGTH: 497 words


Residents who complained they were confused by Palm Beach County's ballot said Monday they would appeal a judge's
denial of their request for a new election.
for the wrong candidate out of confusion.
Labarga, who immigrated from Cuba as a child, said during a hearing last Friday that if he had to rule the Constitution
did not permit a revote, it would be "the hardest decision I ever make."
Meanwhile, the hand counting of ballots resumed at the county's Emergency Operations Center. No new figures were
released; officials said too many questionable ballots remained.
Republican George W. Bush had a net gain of 12 votes with 31 of the 531 precincts tallied after Saturday's counting was
complete.
The pace of the work, with Republican and Democratic observers making frequent objections to ballots, made it "ex-
tremely unlikely" the job will be completed by Thanksgiving, said canvassing board spokeswoman Denise Cote.
are the ballots getting the closest scrutiny during the hand recounts.
Democratic lawyer Dennis Newman, overseeing the Palm Beach recount, said Monday that there were 276 dimpled
ballots for Democrat Al Gore and 73 dimpled ballots for Bush that were not counted. They have been set aside in case a
judge orders the board to change its standards of determining whether a vote is valid.
Page 585
Judge says no revote in Palm Beach November 20, 2000, Monday, BC cycle


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

All Rights Reserved
Page 586



County releases batch of recount figures; more dud than dynamite



LENGTH: 473 words


Al Gore has gained a net three votes in Palm Beach County so far in a hand recount of ballots, according to a partial
tally with one-fifth of the job done.
Thursday night. The Democrat is hoping to gain votes from the manual recount in order to erase a 930-vote lead Repub-
lican George W. Bush holds in the official statewide tally.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
Page 587
County releases batch of recount figures; more dud than dynamite November 20, 2000, Monday, BC cycle

All Rights Reserved
Page 588



County releases batch of recount figures



LENGTH: 592 words


Al Gore netted three votes from a hand recount of ballots in Palm Beach County, according to a partial tally with
one-fifth of the job done.
Thursday night. The Democrat hopes to gain votes from the manual recount in this and two other counties to erase Re-
publican George W. Bush's official state lead of 930 votes.
Republicans downplayed the early results.
Page 589
County releases batch of recount figures November 20, 2000, Monday, BC cycle



LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

All Rights Reserved
Page 590



So far, Gore's gains minimal in Palm Beach County recount



LENGTH: 708 words


Al Gore has netted just three votes with about one-fifth of the precincts hand counted in Democratic-leaning Palm
Beach County, elections officials said Monday. Meantime, a Palm Beach County judge ruled he did not have the au-
thority to order a revote sought by residents who said they were confused by the punch-card ballot.
The Gore campaign hopes to gain votes enough votes from manual recounts in three counties to erase Republican
George W. Bush's official state lead of 930 votes. But with 103 of 531 Palm Beach precincts hand counted since
Thursday night, he had made only a minimal gain.
The Gore and Bush campaigns played down the Palm Beach recount total, focusing instead on the method of counting.
Democratic Party spokesman Bill Buck said it "premature to speculate on the numbers."
"We continue to be concerned about the narrow definition of voter intent," he said.
Democratic lawyer Dennis Newman, overseeing the Palm Beach recount, said there were 276 "dimpled" ballots for
Gore and 73 dimpled ballots for Bush that weren't counted. The ballots - which show an indentation, but no
punch-through - have been set aside in case a judge orders the board to change its standards of determining whether a
vote is valid.
"As we have said all along, we want a full, fair and accurate count of the Florida vote and the best way to achieve that is
to use the same standard of voter intent that Governor Bush signed into law in Texas," Buck said.
Texas law calls for dimpled ballots to be counted.
that had been scheduled to hear from experts and voters who said they either punched two holes in the ballot or inad-
vertently voted for Reform Party contender Pat Buchanan instead of Gore because of the ballot design.
Page 591
So far, Gore's gains minimal in Palm Beach County recount November 20, 2000, Monday, BC cycle



LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

All Rights Reserved
Page 592


Chicago Tribune

November 19, 2000 Sunday, CHICAGOLAND FINAL EDITION

FLORIDA BECOMES THE MAGNET FOR A CAVALCADE OF LAWYERS

BYLINE: By Stephen J. Hedges and Andrew Martin, Tribune Staff Writers. Tribune staff writers Jill Zuckman in Tal-
lahassee, Bob Kemper in Austin and Naftali Bendavid in Washington contributed to this report.

SECTION: News; Pg. 12; ZONE: C

LENGTH: 1525 words

DATELINE: PALM BEACH, Fla.

Amid the contentious Florida vote recounts that will decide the presidency, Vice President Al Gore strode confidently
out of the White House a few days ago and told reporters that "there's something special about our process that depends
totally on the American people having a chance to express their will without any intervening interference."
Cut to a dingy, overheated, other-side-of-the-tracks warehouse in the shadow of downtown Ft. Lauderdale. While Gore
was extolling the virtues of non-interference, his lawyers were interfering in a most deliberate way, looking over the
shoulders of vote counters, arguing about the validity of ballot cards, making tense calls on cell phones to other lawyers
in Tallahassee and Washington.
The Republicans did the same. A team of GOP lawyers from Washington marched into the warehouse in Broward
County, commandeered a dark back room from which to monitor events and made their own terse cellular dispatches to
minders in Tallahassee, Washington and Austin, Texas.
The scene in the warehouse has been replicated a dozen times over in recent days along South Florida's coast, and in
Tallahassee, the epicenter of the political and legal brawl over the U.S. presidency.
Since the Nov. 7 election, and complaints about a confusing ballot form in Palm Beach County, throngs of lawyers from
Washington, Boston, Philadelphia, Austin and Nashville, as well as local Florida lawyers, have descended on Florida
elections offices.
"It's amazing that it is working so well," said Ben Kuehne, one of the lead Gore lawyers. "We have had a lot of lawyers
just calling to offer their services."
The lawyers are no doubt working hard, but Florida's voters and county officials say the blue suits are just gumming up
the works, and, in the process, taking over the state's election process from the people Floridians have hired and elected
to make it run.
Just ask Andre Fladell. He was the first Palm Beach County resident to file a lawsuit over what he says was the coun-
ty's confusing presidential ballot, the issue that started the tortured battle over Florida's votes in the first place.
"My suit is a local issue, a small local issue," said Fladell, a shorts- and sandals-wearing chiropractor and political gad-
fly who goes to the beach each day at 10 a.m., no matter what.
"It's the right to vote, the responsibility of government to either help or hinder. But these people are so busy running up
numbers and fixing the numbers and acting like everyone who didn't vote right is ignorant or stupid. They just all need
to go home."
The first word of voter problems in Florida came in the late-morning hours of Nov. 7, Election Day. People in Palm
Beach County didn't understand their ballots and might have voted for the wrong person. In particular, many Gore sup-
porters might have voted for Reform Party candidate Patrick Buchanan.
Page 593
FLORIDA BECOMES THE MAGNET FOR A CAVALCADE OF LAWYERS Chicago Tribune November 19, 2000
Sunday, CHICAGOLAND FINAL EDITION

As the vote tallying stretched into the morning of Nov. 8, word came to Florida Democratic Party officials that a team
of three lawyers had been dispatched from Gore headquarters in Nashville. They were led by Ron Klain, a Washingto-
nian and Gore's former chief of staff.
Once the team arrived, the lawyers looked at the complaints of people like Fladell and decided to have nothing to do
with them.
"Pretty quickly we dismissed the idea of challenging the whole confusing ballot issue in Palm Beach County," said Bob
Poe, the Florida Democratic Party chairman who took part in the discussions. "They looked at the case law and saw that
it probably wasn't going to work as a challenge in court."
In fact, Poe said, the national party lawyers have warned local Democrats to stay away from the more than a dozen
lawsuits filed by Palm Beach County voters.
Instead, the legal team decided to challenge the machine voting process in Palm Beach and in two other South Florida
counties, Broward and Miami-Dade, though there had been no reports of significant voter irregularities there. In es-
sence, they used confusion over ballots in Palm Beach County as a springboard to raise questions about vote counts in
other counties.
Their strategy was simple: Palm Beach, Miami-Dade and Broward Counties were Gore strongholds, and all three had a
good chunk of "undercount" votes--ballots on which voters had not registered votes for a candidate in every race. To-
gether, the three counties represented more than 28,000 undercount ballots.
Each of the three counties also uses punch-out ballot cards, in which voters use a metal stylus to puncture a perforated
square next to their candidate's name. The Gore lawyers suspected that many of the undercounted ballot cards held
votes for their candidate, votes that the machine might not have read because the punch mark wasn't pushed all the way
through. All three counties have large populations of senior citizens who might not be so dexterous when punching the
ballot, they figured.
Under state law, the slender, 1,700-vote statewide edge George W. Bush held over Gore after the election mandated a
machine recount of all 67 Florida counties. The Gore team, using another clause of the election law, cited the possibility
of the machines not counting partially punched ballot cards as reason enough to conduct a sample hand count of 1 per-
cent of the vote in each of the South Florida counties.
The Gore recount strategy was put in motion on Thursday, Nov. 9, two days after the election. In Palm Beach, state
party chairman Poe filed a request for a manual recount of votes. Gore campaign lawyers drafted the document, Poe
said.
In Broward County, Democratic Party Chairman Mitch Ceasar filed a similar request.
The party chairman in Miami-Dade, Joe Geller, did the same, noting in his letter, "The risk of some votes not being
counted, especially in such a close race, creates an unacceptable situation in a democracy."
The recount request law allows the parties filing the complaints to pick the precincts that make up that 1 percent. Gel-
ler's letter even states that he would be the one picking the precincts. But in each case, lawyers working for the national
campaign, not the local county party, arrived to select the precincts that would be hand counted, according to party offi-
cials.
"I don't know who really picked the precincts," Ceasar said. "I wasn't really involved in that. I only filed the complaint."
The Gore campaign's ultimate goal was to win countywide recounts in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach, where
they stood the best chance of picking up the most votes. Sample recounts in other counties were not requested, though
Duval County, which Bush won, had the highest percentage of ballot cards tossed out because of voter mistakes.
Kuehne, one of Gore's Florida lawyers, said that the party's choice of recount counties was not weighted by candidate.
"It wasn't cherry-picking," Kuehne said. "You show this to anyone and say 'What do you think about the 2000 election
vote counting and all of these undercounted votes?' and they would find it a problem. These were the places with the
highest undercounts."
As the request for recounts were made, a slew of lawyers from both parties were arriving in Tallahassee and South
Florida to engage in the coming legal skirmishes. Two former secretaries of state, Warren Christopher and James Baker
III, set up office in the Florida capital as the legal surrogates for Gore and Bush, respectively. Christopher, William Da-
Page 594
FLORIDA BECOMES THE MAGNET FOR A CAVALCADE OF LAWYERS Chicago Tribune November 19, 2000
Sunday, CHICAGOLAND FINAL EDITION

ley, Gore's campaign chairman, and Miami lawyer Kendall Coffey appeared together before reporters to criticize the
voting irregularities and suggest that legal steps were under way.
By election week's end, Klain was assembling an ad hoc Florida law firm. The partners in this new firm, he said, came
from "all over," including Nashville, Washington and Boston.
Also with Klain in Tallahassee is Michael J. Whouley, Gore's chief strategist at the Democratic National Committee.
Bush's team appears to be using fewer legal resources. Bush has generally remained secluded at his Crawford, Texas,
ranch, 100 miles from the state capital, Austin. Like Gore's effort, Bush's campaign headquarters has been transformed
into recount central. His top aides remain at work there, but the brunt of Bush's legal effort rests with Baker in Talla-
hassee.
Baker is essentially running a legal defense of the vote count as it stands, with GOP lawyers rushing to stop outbreaks
of recounts. Unlike the Democrats, the GOP also seems to have dispatched fewer out-of-state litigators, instead enlisting
local GOP lawyers to work the local elections offices, county canvassing boards and courts.
When a key courtroom hearing was held in West Palm Beach on Tuesday over whether the county could go ahead with
a manual recount of all 461,988 votes cast in the general election, Barry Richard--the Bush team's equivalent of Ron
Klain--argued the motion on the telephone from Tallahassee.
In Broward County, Bush campaign lawyers have popped in and out of proceedings, but many of the decisions and ar-
guments have been made by Ed Pozzuoli, the Broward County Republican chairman who is also a lawyer, and state
Sen. Jim Scott.

LEGAL BRIGADE.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

Page 595


Chicago Tribune

November 17, 2000 Friday, CHICAGO SPORTS FINAL EDITION

JUDGE'S CHALLENGE TO LAWYERS: FIND A PRECEDENT

BYLINE: By Andrew Martin and Stephen J. Hedges, Tribune Staff Writers.

SECTION: News; Pg. 6; ZONE: N

LENGTH: 830 words


Before he adjourned a courtroom packed with lawyers and journalists, Palm Beach County Judge Jorge Labarga gave
the attorneys an assignment for their next court appearance, scheduled for Friday morning.
"I want you to find me a case in the continental United States since the year 1776 when there has been a revote for the
presidential election," Labarga said at Wednesday's hearing. "That's my homework for you lawyers."
The answer to Labarga's question may decide the outcome of a half-dozen private lawsuits filed by Palm Beach County
voters outraged over what they saw as a confusing "butterfly" ballot that may have caused them to vote for Reform Par-
ty candidate Pat Buchanan instead of Democrat Al Gore. It could also influence the outcome of the election because the
plaintiffs are seeking a revote in Democrat-friendly Palm Beach County, where 19,147 ballots were nullified because
more than one presidential candidate was selected.
"I am saying to the Democrats, to the Republicans, to the state that they don't have the right to take away my vote," said
Andre Fladell, a chiropractor who is one of the plaintiffs. "You can't snooker me and say it's OK."
While lawyers for the Democratic Party and the plaintiffs apparently were unable to find a case in which a presidential
election was revoted, they expressed confidence that such an action would pass constitutional muster.
"Certainly, there is appellate authority for a revote," said Mark Cullen, an attorney for 54 Palm Beach County voters
who claim the ballot was misleading. "Our position is for a revote," said Cullen, who added that there is precedent for
revoting, although never in a presidential race.
In a brief submitted to Labarga on Thursday, Cullen cited a 1982 Georgia case in which the date of a congressional
election was moved because the court disapproved of a congressional district reapportionment plan.
"Election of Florida's presidential electors on November 7, 2000, was no more constitutionally mandated than was the
election, on that same date, as Florida's Senators and Representatives," he wrote. Attorneys for the plaintiffs also noted
a 1998 Florida Supreme Court ruling that a judge must toss out the results of a vote if there is a finding of substantial
irregularity with the election procedure and if the election glitch "resulted in doubt as to whether a certified election
reflected the will of the voters."
"If the results of an entire election are to be voided or set aside, there could only be one remedy--a new election," wrote
Gary Farmer, another plaintiff's attorney, in his brief to Labarga. "It is hard to imagine any other remedy."
But Republicans and several legal experts said holding a revote would be not only unprecedented but probably illegal.
The judge is "going to rule against them," predicted Terence Anderson, a law professor at the University of Miami.
"They are entitled to relief, but they aren't going to get it."
Anderson noted that the only two remedies that have ever been allowed by Florida courts are voiding the ballots in
question or tossing out the results of the particular election. And both are unattractive to Democrats seeking more Palm
Beach County votes for Gore.
Page 596
JUDGE'S CHALLENGE TO LAWYERS: FIND A PRECEDENT Chicago Tribune November 17, 2000 Friday,
CHICAGO SPORTS FINAL EDITION

While he conceded that the ballot may have been illegal and may have affected the election, Anderson said, "I cannot
think of a constitutional remedy that the court could order to solve the problem."
Joseph Little, a University of Florida law professor, predicted the plaintiffs will have trouble showing the ballot was
illegal and even more problems proving that Gore would have won the election. He cited a 1980 decision by a Florida
appellate court in Lakeland over a voting machine that held that voters are expected to exercise some care when enter-
ing a voting booth.
Furthermore, he said the plaintiffs' case that the ballot was defective would be hurt by the fact that several hundred
thousand Palm Beach County residents voted successfully. Even if the judge allows that the ballot was defective and
that it influenced the results of the election, the plaintiffs have a tough battle in seeking a revote, the experts said.
One problem is that federal law prescribes the date for a presidential election, a "single day throughout the union," ac-
cording to a brief filed in support of the defendants by the American Center for Law and Justice, a conservative
non-profit group. Another concern is that a second election could be distorted by the knowledge of the first election, the
experts said.
For instance, voters who originally voted for Ralph Nader or Buchanan could decide to vote for Bush or Gore, knowing
the importance of their votes.
"[Palm Beach County] votes are counting more than yours and my vote counted," Anderson said.
Added Little: "Can you imagine the amount of money that would pour into Palm Beach [if there was a revote]? Every
voter would drive to the polls in a Rolls-Royce."

PALM BEACH COUNTY VOTERS' SUITS.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

GRAPHIC: PHOTOPHOTO: Charles Burton, head of Palm Beach County's canvassing board, announces receipt of a
ruling allowing start of ballot hand counting. AP photo.

Page 597


CNN

November 17, 2000; Friday


The Spin Room: Election 2000 Goes to the Florida Supreme Court

GUESTS: Lois Frankel Nancy Detert, Andre Fladell

BYLINE: Tucker Carlson, Jake Tapper, Joie Chen, Jeanne Moos

SECTION: Vice President Gore

LENGTH: 8572 words

HIGHLIGHT: Bush got a boost from the absentee ballots and Gore scored points in the courts. Who won the day?
More importantly, who put out the best spin?

TUCKER CARLSON, HOST: It's Friday. It's Florida. It's time to count. So turn off the football, grab your ballots
and let's start the tally.
Welcome to THE SPIN ROOM. I'm Tucker Carlson. Joining me tonight is Jake Tapper of salon.com. We're going
to need every minute. We're talking to two long-time Katherine Harris watchers and to a real life Florida voter. How
confused is he? We'll find out,
So tell us what you think. You can call us toll-free 1-800-310- 4CNN. You can join our live, online chat at cnn.com
or you can send us an e-mail. The address is spin@cnn.com. And we particularly appreciate all chad-related corre-
spondence. And we have been getting tons of it.
JAKE TAPPER, CO-HOST: We like chad.
CARLSON: We love chad. We are very pro-chad. Not as pro-chad as some of the viewers, however, and let's just
start with an e-mail from someone named Luna.
TAPPER: Ah, I know Luna's work.
CARLSON: You do. Well, it is work.
Luna writes to say: "There once there was a man from Palm Beach who grabbed all the chads in reach. He said with a
grin as he listened to spin whoever gets in, we'll impeach.
That's something faintly obscene about that, but I think that's why I like it.
TAPPER: You know, you should be embarrassed to even present a limerick, you know, because what we have here...
CARLSON: Oh, you have something better.
TAPPER: Well, there's a professor at the University of Arkansas School of Law name Rick Peltz and he's started a con-
test for chad haiku.
CARLSON: What's haiku?
TAPPER: The ancient Japanese poetry form, 5-7-5 syllables. You know what that is.
Page 598
The Spin Room: Election 2000 Goes to the Florida Supreme Court CNN November 17, 2000; Friday

CARLSON: Of course I do.
TAPPER: You're familiar with haiku.
CARLSON: Oh, deeply. Intimately.
TAPPER: That was you major at Trinity, I thought.
CARLSON: Oh, it was a sub-major, but sure, yes.
TAPPER: So I would like to read the first chad haiku of the long list that Mr. Peltz -- that's been circulating on the
e-mail list. It's from Chad Horner, in Little Rock, Arkansas. And it goes a little something like this: "Chad hangs on
tightly/antiquated punch card's fault/or chad's scared to fall?
CARLSON: That is...
TAPPER: Think about it. Think about it.
CARLSON: That is so incredibly deep. See, I think the possibilities with chad never end. I'm going to read one last
chad- related e-mail. This is from Jim.
TAPPER: Give it me.
CARLSON: This is the kind of thing that has been clogging the e- mail boxes of Americans around the country. If
Gore wins, he will name his next grandchild Chad. He will not be born on the Fourth of July, however.
TAPPER: Interesting.
CARLSON: I'm sort of ready for the chad stuff to be over, but, you know, I can't get enough of chad.
TAPPER: No, no, no, no. Bring on the chad.
CARLSON: Tonight we're going to be talking about the woman who is in control with an intimate familiarity with all
things chad, and that, of course, is Katherine Harris. My new heroine. As I said last night, we're having something of
a Katherine Harris vigil at my house. My living room is surrounded with candles. We're all wearing black arm bands.
having a moment of silence on the hour for Katherine Harris
TAPPER: That's sad. That's disturbing. That's a disturbing image.
CARLSON: Katherine Harris is something of a hero. You want to hear my new Katherine Harris theory? Here it is.
If she's innocent, then she is the new Richard Jewell. She's been maligned and she's got an excellent lawsuit in the
making.
If she's guilty, then she's a corrupt Republican and amen, there aren't enough of them. Republicans -- how many Re-
publicans actually steal election? Not many. She would be one of the few, the proud, the Republican election steal-
ers. I'm for her either way.
TAPPER: You support that no matter what?
CARLSON: Well, there's something appealing about it. I don't know. She's a hero.
TAPPER: You are familiar with the fact that in January 2000 she went up to New Hampshire to help George W. Bush
in the "Freezing for a Reason" tour with Jeb.
CARLSON: Yes, yes.
TAPPER: And now she's deciding who's going to be the next president.
CARLSON: That's one of the reasons I like her so much.
TAPPER: You like that.
CARLSON: She is a heroic figure.
Page 599

CARLSON: We're going to hear -- we're going to be talking Katherine Harris the entire hour. So send us your e-mails.
Call in. Chat in our chat room. And here's Joie Chen in Atlanta with a closer look, an intimate look at the woman Bill
Press likes to call Katherine the Great.
JOIE CHEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, hang on a minute. Hang on a minute here, Tucker. Are we giving Press credit
for coming up with the Katherine the Great thing? Did he actually come up with that? Are we giving him credit for
that? I don't know. Do you buy that?
CARLSON: I can't hear you, Joie. But if it's for Katherine, I'm for her.
CHEN: OK, well, we're thinking about declaring a winner in Election 2000. Is it Al Gore? George bush? No, not
them.
How about Katherine Harris? Just think about it. Can you name any other state secretary of state, even your own?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CROWD: We support Harris
CHEN (voice-over): Yes, she's the one secretary of state we all know now. It seems everyone has something to say
about Katherine Harris
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Katherine Harris is someone who's been caught in the headlights of history.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Katherine Harris is a fine lady and they should lay off of her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AL GORE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Neither Governor Bush, nor the Florida secretary of state,
nor I, will be the arbiter of this election.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHEN: Well, maybe.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KATHERINE HARRIS, FLORIDA SECRETARY OF STATE: I've decided it is my under Florida law to exercise my
discretion.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHEN: So, who is Katherine Harris and where did she develop that discretion she exercises with such panache. She's
a fourth generation Floridian. She's married. She's rich. Granddaddy was into citrus and cattle.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: I'm Katherine Harris, and we're drawing a line in this sand.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHEN: Are you sure that's sand and not chad? She as elected the to the Florida state Senate in 1994. Moved up to
secretary of state in 1998. Want to know more? The secretary of state's official Web site describes her as a strong
champion of economic development.
She did ran up a bigger travel bill last year than Governor Jeb Bush's. And a forceful advocate of the arts. OK.
Away from the official line, the partisans say she's either Cruella de Katherine, turning all those lovable, helpless un-
counted ballots into a spotted Republicans coat.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
Page 600

SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN (D-CT), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Secretary of State Harris basically said
that she was going to do whatever she wanted to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHEN: Or valiant and brave St. Katherine, martyr.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Republican secretary of state certainly has taken a lot of grief. The Gore spokesman
have called her a hack. And others called her worse from that camp.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHEN: Yes, but guess who may have the last laugh? Harris's job, Florida secretary of state, disappears in 2002. But
Senator Bob Graham, he is a Democrat, of course, who's term is up then in 2004. Now think about this. Who's got a
running start here? Huge name recognition. What more do you need then a few million chad. What do you think,
guys?
CARLSON: Oh, I think that's absolutely right. I think Katherine Harris 2004. I'm signing up right now.
TAPPER: For what?
CARLSON: For something. Thanks Joie. What is that? What is that thing?
TAPPER: Oh, this is my D.C. lottery form. I'm sorry.
CARLSON: I bet unlike Florida voters, you've punched the right holes.
TAPPER: No, I did in fact punch the right holes and strangely enough, Governor Bush won. It's very odd.
CARLSON: That's kind of what happens when you hit the wrong ones. Now, Bill Press is not here tonight.
TAPPER: I know.
CARLSON: But somehow, the spirit -- Bill is on the West Coast doing important West Coast trip.
TAPPER: I feel his essence.
CARLSON: I do too. Hovering in the studio.
TAPPER: The seat's a little warm and it's a little spooky.
CARLSON: That's not attractive.
TAPPER: I know, tell me about it.
CARLSON: But you know, he's always here. And I just want to read you something that Bill wrote in his column
recently. This is from Bill Press' "L.A. Times" column and it sort of brings back the spirit of Bill Press. He says...
TAPPER: Share it.
CARLSON: "Harris is in charge of Florida's election process but expecting her to be fair and objective in her job is like
expecting the proverbial fox to protect the chickens." Those must be the proverbial chickens. And that is from the
proverbial Bill Press who will join us again Monday night when we come back.
And when we do come back, we will speak to two representatives from Florida who have different takes on Katherine
Harris. The sainted, the dastardly. We want your nominations for the "Spin of the Day." You can call toll-free
1-800-310-4CNN. You can join our live, online chat at cnn.com. Or you can send us an e-mail. The address is
spin@cnn.com. And keep in mind we can't get enough of the chad gags.
TAPPER: Love chad.
CARLSON: Send them. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TAPPER: Welcome back to THE SPIN ROOM, or as we call it, the chad of Madison County.
(LAUGHTER)
Page 601

Tucker and I are getting bombarded with e-mails here. And have here one from Brian; it's a chad joke. And he says:
"Hmm, does it take two voters to make a chad pregnant?" Hmm, think about it.
Tucker, what have you got there?
(LAUGHTER)
I know -- I know you've got one.
Thanks, Brian.
CARLSON: We have some rougher-edged e-mail, and of course, we like to get the nasty stuff early. This is from Kip.
He says: "Is this the way the vice president made it through college? Having instructors keep grading his exams until
he achieved the grade he desired."
TAPPER: You know what's that all about?
CARLSON: What is that all about.
TAPPER: Kip is bitter that this is not a debate about "kips." He's upset that it's chads.
(LAUGHTER)
He's upset...
CARLSON: You think -- you think all the one-syllable name people are upset.
TAPPER: All the Buffies, all the Muffies -- everyone is jealous.
CARLSON: Well, those are -- those are two syllable.
TAPPER: There's a lot of chad-envy going on out there, and it's not very pretty. I don't like it, and I won't stand for it.
CARLSON: Well, let's take the temperature of the "Left Coast." We have a caller from California. Welcome to THE
SPIN ROOM.
Can you hear us?
CALLER: Me?
CARLSON: Yes. Do we have a call from California?
TAPPER: Hello.
CARLSON: Hello.
CALLER: Hello. Hello, I'm here.
CARLSON: Hi. Yes. What do you think?
CALLER: Well, I think the Supreme Court's decision today to stop the certification and let the people keep counting
was a really slap in the face to the GOP for their craven and unethical push to coronate -- and I should say coronate
again -- Bush before all the votes are even counted, while they're still suing to make this legal counting process stop
even though they know that supreme courts all over the country have approved these processes and decided elections
this way. And I'm a Republican, and it makes me nauseous.
CARLSON: Well, thanks so much. I hope you feel better.
CALLER: Thanks a lot.
TAPPER: Wow...
CARLSON: Craven...
TAPPER: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
CARLSON: Well, we are joined now from Tallahassee by two veteran Katherine Harris watchers, State Representative
Lois Frankel, a Democrat, and State Representative Nancy Detert is a Republican.
Good evening. Thanks for joining us in THE SPIN ROOM.
Page 602

Representative Frankel, tell us what -- now, you know Katherine Harris. Give us your case for why she's a biased ar-
biter in all of this.
LOIS FRANKEL (D), FLORIDA STATE REPRESENTATIVE: Well, you know, I'll give you an analogy. We have a
big football game coming up tomorrow, and what if the head football coach ran on the field with the last two minutes to
go and became the head referee. That's exactly what Katherine Harris did.
CARLSON: But hasn't -- I mean...
(CROSSTALK)
But hasn't she been secretary of state for some time?
FRANKEL: Yes, but she signed up to be the co-chair of the Bush campaign when she's supposed to be the head election
official of Florida.
TAPPER: Interesting. Representative Detert, if I could jump in with a question, I know that you had...
NANCY DETERT (R), FLORIDA STATE REPRESENTATIVE: Yes, sir.
TAPPER: ... I know that you had a press conference the other day, and you stood up for the secretary of state and said
she never asked for this and all that sort of thing.
My question for you is this: Jeb Bush, the governor, had the class to recuse himself from the elections board that is go-
ing to decide this. My question is if the person who replaced him was a Democrat, Bob Crawford, but he's a Democrat
who endorsed George W. Bush. Do you not think that there should be at least one person on that three-person panel
who supported Al Gore?
DETERT: Well, we have Bob Butterworth...
TAPPER: But he's not on the panel.
DETERT: He supported Al Gore. It's very difficult to get to that level of politics and not have some political connec-
tions. So basically, under your scenario, everyone would have to recuse themselves and no one up here would be do-
ing their job.
TAPPER: No, I'm not saying that. I'm saying that of the three- person panel, shouldn't there be at least one person that
voted for Al Gore as opposed to all three people in charge in Florida being supporters of George W. Bush? Shouldn't
at least one of them be a Gore supporter?
DETERT: Well, that wasn't what I thought we were discussing. We just held a press conference this morning, some
women legislators, to say that we like Katherine Harris as a female role model, as an elected official. We want to
support her. Our constituents have been calling us. They feel the woman's been vilified. They feel she's been criti-
cized for her clothes, her hair, her makeup, and that in general people should get off of her back.
CARLSON: Let's -- I have to say, let's take up the cudgel for poor Katherine Harris. Now, Lois Frankel, you must
admit that that is -- that that is true. That she -- this poor woman has been criticized for her appearance, and she's also
had these ugly rumors about her private life spread around and accused of all these things. I mean, as a woman,
doesn't it pain you to see that?
FRANKEL: There's no call for that, and there should be no personal attacks. But I think -- in terms of her actions, I
think her actions are subject to criticism, and she set herself up for that. She is the top election officer in this state, and
she signed up for the Bush campaign to be the co-chair. She should have recused herself just as Jeb Bush did.
CARLSON: No, but she signed up as a co-chair of the Bush campaign about a year ago, and presumably you've known
about this the entire time. She was pretty public about it. Did you complain earlier about it?
FRANKEL: I'll tell you something, it's her responsibility as the chief election officer. She made that decision. When
it came time for her to become the arbitrator of this election, she should have recused herself. That was her decision
then.
CARLSON: But it seems like nobody said anything about it until she got in the way of their political aims. I mean, I
wonder why nobody said anything about it previously.
Page 603

FRANKEL: You know, I mean, it's the same thing -- well, look, what if we said to Jeb Bush, you can't be the governor
because your brother is running -- running for governor? He took himself off the canvassing board. He did the right
thing. And so, that's what -- Katherine Harris should have done that.
CARLSON: Well, we will be back. Representative Detert and Frankel, we'll be back in a moment to bat Katherine
Harris and the rumors and other stuff around. Send us your e-mails and send us your spins of the day. That's the
moment you are so horrified by what someone says on television, you wish the earth would swallow up him and all
those around him. So send us your nominations. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CARLSON: Welcome back to THE SPIN ROOM. I'm Tucker Carlson here with Jake Tapper of Salon.com. We're
mulling over Katherine Harris. Some of us are defending her; others of us are not. Talking about chad and the election
that will not end.
And before we go further, we have a little bit of housekeeping to take care of here.
TAPPER: Please.
CARLSON: Last night, we introduced "The Mock the Viewer Segment," probably the shortest-lived segment in the
history of this network. We held up an e-mail we received from a man named Bob Jeffreys (ph), who had written us to
complain about the grammar in some of the e-mails. In so doing, he used the incorrect pronoun and we thumped him.
Well, he wrote back today. He said -- I'm quoting now -- "I was rolling in laughter and horror at my errors. Lots of
fun. One must be careful if one is to succeed at taunting the media. PS: I'll personally write you a check for $20 if
you manage to slip an ounce of clean toilette into Bill Press' coffee."
Consider it done. Make the check payable to me...
TAPPER: That's Bill Press' coffee.
CARLSON: That's C-A-R-L-S-O-N. Exactly.
TAPPER: Bill Press' coffee, not mine.
CARLSON: All right.
TAPPER: We're going to go right back to the representatives from Florida: Lois Frankel, a Democrat, and Nancy Deter,
a Republican. Thanks for being with us tonight.
Representative Deter, I have a question for you about Secretary of State Katherine Harris, and my question is this: Can
you name one thing she's done since this whole election mess began on the morning of November 8th, can you name
one thing she's done, one decision, one lawsuit, anything, that George W. Bush's campaign in Austin was not happy
with?
DETERT: I don't speak to George Bush''s campaign in Austin, Texas, and I don't know if Katherine does either. I've
followed what Katherine's done, and as far as I'm concerned, she stopped the Mexican standoff that existed here by
reading the letter of the law, and certifying and validating the election Tuesday at 5 o'clock, as she has to do by statute.
And that became the agent that started all the flurry of lawsuits.
She did her part. She served her role and fulfilled her statutory obligation. And then if they all want to walk across
the street to court, they can do that. I do not think the woman is taking direction from campaign headquarters in Texas.
I truly don't.
I know Katherine personally. She's from my town. And she's well-respected in our area. She's considered an hon-
orable person. I think it's ludicrous to think she's going to steal an election in the midst of all these cameras and satel-
lite dishes. I don't think the woman's that brilliant.
CARLSON: Well, let's get to that, Lois Frankel, if I could just ask Lois Frankel a question here. Is there any evidence,
do you have any evidence at all -- and by evidence I mean actual evidence rather than implications -- that she's acting
out of political bias? That is do you know -- do you have any evidence that her motives are impure here?
FRANKEL: Well, let's start with the fact that she's the co-chair of the Bush campaign. I think that's No. 1 - and when
she's the highest elected official that's supposed to be objective in running these elections. Let's look at the fact that on
Page 604

Saturday night -- and I tell you, I was in West Palm Beach Saturday night at 2:45 a.m. when that canvassing board de-
cided to recount the votes in Palm Beach County. They didn't get to start until today. What's that? Five days later?
Because there's been about five decisions by Katherine Harris to obstruct the recounting.
I'll tell you what, everybody here in Florida, we are frustrated. All we would like to do is recount the votes in a way so
that every vote can be counted and we can find out who won this election.
She had a result that she wanted to reach, and that result was for George Bush to be president. And she was going to
interpret every law in a manner to reach that result.
And that's the problem I have with her. It has nothing to do with her makeup or her dress or anything else. She's just
not being fair.
CARLSON: Thank you.
DETERT: I've got to...
(CROSSTALK)
... with Lois.
CARLSON: We're going -- I'm sorry, but we're going to have to -- we're going to have to go on here, but I just wanted
to think you both representatives, Detert and Frankel, thank you, and we'll see what happens tonight.
Coming up in a little bit, a real-live voter, an actual voter, who is suing Palm Beach County to let everyone vote again,
perhaps again, and get away with it.
But first, more about America's newest buzz word, and that, of course, is chad. Kind of like the word salacious during
the Clinton impeachment area. One minute you know -- you didn't even know it was in the dictionary -- some of us
did -- the next minute everyone's using it.
TAPPER: Chad?
CARLSON: Chad.
At least chad is easier to say and easier to use in mixed company. Here's Jeanne Moos with scads about chad.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Before you join in making jokes about Floridians being
dumb, test your own election IQ. When you turn on the TV, do you have a clue what folks are referring to?
ALAN SIMPSON (R), FORMER U.S. SENATOR: Now, we have the hanging, the dangling, the open, the pimpled, the
dimpled...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hanging chads, pregnant chads, dimpled chads.
MOOS (on camera): You know everything.
(voice-over): With everyone talking about the Florida recount, don't be counted out because you don't speak the lingo.
MOOS (on camera): We're doing the Florida recount vocabulary quiz.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh dear.
MOOS: C-H-A-D.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have no idea.
MOOS (voice-over): Don't confuse chad with the country in Africa, and no, it's not a reference to Chad Everett, an actor
who used to play a doctor. Apparently, there was a St. Chad, but no saints have surfaced yet in the election story.
Chad is the tiny piece of paper voters punched out in those disputed Palm Beach ballots, only in some cases they didn't
get punched out all the way.
Page 605

BOB NICHOLS, PALM BEACH COUNTY SPOKESMAN: There's the hanging chad, which is counted because it's
hanging by one corner, but the rest of it is out. There is the swinging-door chad. Now, the swinging-door chad ob-
viously looks like a swinging door, because two of the tops are attached and the thing is out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chad is a fish.
MOOS: Actually, that's shad, S-H-A-D. But don't feel bad. Even anchor men have blown it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHARLES GIBSON, JOURNALIST: ... and chards and butterfly ballots may go down as political shorthand.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOOS: Pit the poor butterfly having its image tarnished by the election flap, though not everyone's aware that's what
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. A butterfly's a ballot that flew out the window.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) ballots with wings. MOOS: You know electoral language has gone
mainstream when it shows up in cartoons. "I ordered biscuits and gravy, but you brought me chicken fried steak.
Must be the butterfly menu."
A vocabulary test wouldn't be complete without the sunshine test.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's when you hold it up and you see if you can see sunlight through the partially punched
hole.
MOOS (on camera): Where the chad used to be.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where the chad used to be.
MOOS (voice-over): The mess in Florida has given birth to perhaps the oddest term.
NICHOLS: That's a pregnant chad.
MOOS (on camera): What do you think pregnant chad?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's probably a swollen one, a swollen hole.
MOOS: Very good. That's good.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She knows. She has (UNINTELLIGIBLE) five kids.
MOOS (voice-over): When a chad bulges rather than being poked out, it's considered...
MOOS (on camera): Very good.
MOOS: What is it?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He is a guy that somehow has a uterus.
MOOS (voice-over): Who could have imagined we'd end up discussing the birds and the bees of ballots?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two or more chads stuck together.
MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TAPPER: Ooh! A guy with a uterus named pregnant chad. Actually, I think he was in my fraternity in college.
(LAUGHTER)
But I have to tell you -- I have to tell you, Tucker. There really is news going on.
Page 606

CARLSON: No, there's not, Jake.
TAPPER: Yes, there is -- that doesn't involve chad or recounts or lawsuits. And once again, here's Joie Chen in At-
lanta with that.
CHEN: All right, guys. So in an alternate universe, the one in which Florida voters -- not to mention the counting
machines -- never make any mistakes, no one ever says do-over, this would be a very big story.
President Clinton -- yes, we still do have him -- is in Vietnam. He talked about trade and economics with big shots, and
lectured students about freedom and democracy, and of course, he worked the crowds. He does that pretty well.
But this is one for Tucker. One student said: "It is like he is our own president, a great man, like our Uncle Ho Chi
Minh." Tucker, we thought you'd enjoy that.
Yasser Arafat today told Palestinians to stop shooting at Israelis. This time it was an order. The response from the
Israeli prime minister, Ehud Barak, his country still wants a way to peace with Palestinians. The talk, though, disre-
garded: As least, six Palestinians died in today's clashes. Since late September, well over 200 people have died.
Most of them have been Palestinians.
Fidel Castro made a big entrance at an international conference in Panama today. As soon as he got there, the Cuban
president slammed what he says is a plot to assassinate him during the visit.
He blames -- these are his words here -- "terrorist elements organized, financed and led from the United States."
Now, we know at this hour Castro is still very much alive, and so are Jake and Tucker, who will be back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CARLSON: Welcome back to THE SPIN ROOM. We're still looking for nominations for the spin of the day, so call
in toll free. That means no cost to you -- 1-800-310-4CNN. You can join our live, online, again, free chat at
CNN.com. Or, send us an e-mail. The address is Spin@cnn.com. But before we go a moment further, we have the
SPIN ROOM culture moment.
TAPPER: I would like once again to offer a chad Haiku, courtesy of professor Peltz.
CARLSON: This is like a humanities class, Jake. I like this.
TAPPER: It's another chad Haiku. This one comes from Chad Avery in Littlerock, Arkansas. "Chad, the enigma,
mystical and elusive, what will you divine?" That's a good one.
CARLSON: You know, it's not only good poetry, Jake, it's also a good question. And speaking of questions, we have
John from New Mexico on the line. John, you have any insights? New Mexico has just called for Gore apparently. Is
that right?
JOHN: I believe so. Well, my comment is that over 50 years ago I started my professional career working with IBM
cards. And I suspect all these people that are talking about chads have never worked with IBM cards. If a chad falls
out of an IBM card it's because it was punched and was meant to fall out. And furthermore, IBM cards do not degrade
with handling for further handling. You can handle them dozens of time. They just don't degrade that way. They
would if you tried to put them through a machine again, but not for handling by hand. Anyway, chads that fall out are
meant to fall out. It's not something bad that happens. That's my comment.
CARLSON: Unless, of -- thank you, John. Unless, of course, you have pole workers with BBs glued to their fingers.
TAPPER: That's interesting. An eye current theory going around.
CARLSON: What John said also poses the age-old philosophical question if a chad falls in Florida, does it make a
sound?
TAPPER: Well, you know, I'm glad you asked that because we have someone who may be able to answer that question.
Joining us now from West Palm Beach is Andre Fladell, one of the plaintiffs suing Palm Beach County for a partial
revote as a result of errors and irregularities in the election process.
Mr. Fladell, you're suing. Why?
Page 607

ANDRE FLADELL, PLAINTIFF: Well, I went to vote like I've always gone to vote and we found this time they had
changed the ballot but they didn't give anybody notice and any warning. Everybody talks about the rule of law. The
rule of law is that the Republican and Democratic parties go first and second in Palm Beach County because the gover-
nors party is always on top and the Democrat will always be second, and that didn't occur in this ballot. The rule of
law is that in a manual punch ballot the name always goes on the left and the punch hole always goes on the right.
That didn't happen in this county. You would think if someone were going to change the rules they would change the
instructions, but they left the instructions from the old form of voting. So, what they did was they gave us five minutes
to make 23 choices. On this ballot we had 23 choices. That means we had 12.5 seconds to make each choice and
then they slipped in a new way of voting with the first page. So, when the people made mistakes who vote most often
-- and the reason that people who vote most often made those mistakes is we rely because we understand this process.
I understand I only had to look for the second punch hole because that's the way the law is written in this state and I got
snickered and I got taken.
Yes, sir.
TAPPER: Mr. Fladell, if I could just jump in with a question. I think a lot of people in the country feel the pain of the
voters of Palm Beach and understand there are a lot of upset people. But my question is this, and I don't mean to
sound harsh. But 93 percent of the people in Palm Beach County who voted figured out how to do it correctly and
now, because of the seven percent, and I recognize that that is larger than the average number of people who have bal-
lots not counted, but still, it is still seven percent. Because of that seven percent, do you think it's fair that the entire ...
FLADELL: Don't ask that directly.
TAPPER: OK. If the entire Palm Beach has to revote.
FLADELL: First of all, I believe that every vote counts and I believe that my vote is as important as anyone else's.
But let me ask you a question directly, because you work with statistics. You used 93 percent as a number. The peo-
ple who voted for George Bush only had one choosing. There was a top hole. So, let's talk about the 50 percent that
voted for the other. The people who vote in primaries and primary runoffs, they're only seven and eight percent of this
county. The people who vote most frequently are only the eight percent. It's the eight percent that vote most often
that rely on consistency. The people who vote once every two years, they go in there, they don't know what they're
looking at because they're not familiar, they're not regular voters. So, they go in and they hunt and peck like on a
typewriter. Those of us who vote a lot and regular walked into what we relied on to be a legal ballot, like we've al-
ways seen it, and they change on page for no reason with no warning. So, the eight percent of us who are participants in
this process seem to have been the most handicap by our knowledge of the process.
TAPPER: Well, but ...
CARLSON: So, in other words, you went in there expecting the very same ballot that you see every two years and you
were so shocked by the fact the ballot had changed you ended up voting for Pat Buchanan?
TAPPER: Is that what you're telling us, Mr. Fladell?
FLADELL: On the contrary. I can do quadratic equations and write in iambic pentameter. My education is sufficient
and I resent the implication that I'm not bright. I gave this test to a lady, Ms. Battista, on CNN and she couldn't figure
out the place to vote. So, I'll put her in my economic and I'll put in my educational category.
But the point I'm making is this, that we who vote most often rely on the law as far as the conformity and ballot. We
rely on something consistent. We rely on trusting government to give us a fair and legal ballot. The ballot was not
fair. It was not legal. In fact, it was a quiz and I wasn't there to take the SAT's, by the way, which I did well on. I was
there to vote. That ballot did not lead me to my candidate. That ballot led me away from my candidate. And if you
don't care that my vote was led away, I do. So, I did what I was supposed to.
TAPPER: But wasn't the ballot printed in the newspaper? I know you're a liked -- you're a frequent voter, so you must
have seen the ballot -- the sample ballot printed in the newspaper.
FLADELL: The ballot that everyone's viewing on television, the sample ballot, didn't in any way what was put in front
of us. I can see the difference in a half an inch on height. But you try measuring the distance of depth of 1/16 of an
inch of an pinhole. People in this country are looking at a black mark on a television screen when that black mark is
magnified it's like watching a replay on a football game. Why don't you watch. The play the first time and make the
Page 608

right call. We saw the depth of a pinhole and you couldn't judge the depth of 1/16 of an inch any better than we did.
We lined up the second name as we should with the second pinhole as we should and that pinhole should not have been
a Reform Party candidate by statute. I knew it had to be a Democrat.
CARLSON: Mr. Fladell, thank you very much. We're not done with you. We're not done with you.
TAPPER: No, we're not.
CARLSON: We're going to go to a break and we're going to come back because we like you and we like what you have
to stay. So, please stay with us and be -- come back right to THE SPIN ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CARLSON: Welcome back to THE SPIN ROOM, or as we like to call it, "The Andre Fladell Show."
Because joining us, playing a little game of who wants to be a Pat Buchanan Voter from Palm Beach County is Andre
Fladell. And Andre is upset about the stereotypical way that West Palm Beach and Palm Beach County voters have
been portrayed. He does not think that they are stupid just because eight percent of them could not understand the
butterfly ballot.
So, Mr. Fladell, I have one question for you. I understand the situation. I -- again, I do have sympathy. I don't think
you're stupid. Tucker might disagree. But the question I have for you is is it fair for the entire country's electoral
process to be hung up because eight percent of the people in one county in one state had trouble with a ballot that was,
by many legal scholars account, legal, if not perfect?
FLADELL: You know, Martin Luther King once said that injustice against anyone is injustice against everyone. If
one person loses their right to vote in Palm Beach County, be careful Missouri, be careful in California. If this country
thinks that our ballot didn't violate the law, then my case really doesn't matter. But if this country really broke the
statutes of our own state and people made error based on the government not producing an honest ballot, then be con-
cerned about us. But let me tell you a bigger problem. The Bush campaign and the Gore campaign they promised to
trust people. These two parties promise that if we have a problem in our states, in our counties they trust local people
to solve local problems. I ...
CARLSON: Andre, I think the helicopters are coming for you, buddy.
FLADELL: Well, I think so.
CARLSON: I'm sorry to interrupt you. Let me just ask you a quick question here. Now, one of the problems seems
to me if you're ...
FLADELL: They don't trust ...
CARLSON: ... in Palm Beach -- well, that's where they're sending the helicopters, Andre. But look, I want to show
you something that's going on the Internet right now. This is ...
FLADELL: Probably missing (ph) league (ph).
CARLSON: This is graph we're going to put up on the screen gives you a sense of the way people are talking about
voters in your state and, indeed, your county. I actually got this on my computer the other day. It says "Voting for
dummies, a reference for Florida reference and other dumb voters by Bill Daley". Now, tell me, it seems to me that
filing lawsuits that admit you couldn't understand a simple ballot are going to do nothing but reinforce this perception,
don't you think?
FLADELL: I think sometimes when you get a telephone bill and you expect to pay seven cents a minute and they
charge you 29 cents, don't call and complain because you're the kind of guy that'll take the extra payment and think it's
not your fault. You see, when I think when I get billed wrong I call up and I complain. When I get snookered on a
vote, I complain. The way I complain is through the courts because I'm not like in the Middle East where you take
guns and you shoot them in the air. We have a court system which needs to listen to a fair complaint. We have
24,000 people who are very unhappy. That's not one person, one vote. That's 24,000 people. But there's a bigger issue,
the image in West Palm Beach ...
CARLSON: Now, you've been in ...
Page 609

FLADELL: The image of West Palm Beach is being sent by people who don't live here. The Gore campaign and the
Bush campaign talk for us, explain us. They tell you what we think, how we think, how we live. There's nobody
from this area that's allowed to even make a comment. Every time the people in this country hear about what's going on
here it's some guy from Texas or Tennessee that makes a decision on our behalf without consulting us. We have ...
CARLSON: Well, actually Mr. Fladell, if I could take -- Mr. Fladell, if I could say one thing, actually, Vice President
Gore and Governor George W. Bush have been very, very quiet this past week. And actually, I've seen you on TV a lot.
So, I don't know that that is a fair thing to say. But my question still stands. Is it fair for the entire country's electoral
process to be hung up because seven percent of the voters or eight percent in one county in one state could not figure
out a ballot that, by many legal scholar's opinion, was legally vetted and was proposed by a Democrat? FLADELL:
Then a person in a court needs to agree that the ballot violated the law. And if they can't give a better remedy, then at
least they agree that our complaint is correct and we get a reprieve from this image that we're stupid and someone ac-
cepts the responsibility. My choice is to get my vote back. My choice is to have my vote for Buchanan stricken from
this record of this country. My choice is not to have Pat Buchanan. If 354 votes in a Jewish condominium of people
who voted straight Democrat on 15 other votes on that ballot and then voted against the Jewish candidate for someone
they perceived as anti-Semitic, you cannot allow that to stand in the history of this country. That one person and that
354 votes and my 24,000 neighbors are entitled to be free from the burden of this era, which we didn't create.
CARLSON: Well, thank you. Andre Fladell, Florida voter, Buchanan voter, filer of the lawsuit, straightener out of
misconceptions, we appreciate your coming to SPIN ROOM. Thank you very much.
FLADELL: Any time. Thank you so much.
CARLSON: Thanks.
We have a caller. Ken in Indiana. What do you think of the current mess in Florida? Are you with us?
KEN: Yes, I am. I think if 99 percent of the Florida people are smart enough to vote for the candidate of their choice
does Gore really want to be the president of the people that's confused? I mean, some of these people took a lot of
time to learn how to vote and why should their votes not count just because somebody's confused?
CARLSON: That is an excellent point. Thank you, Ken.
TAPPER: That is an excellent point, actually, Jake. It does seem to be the Gore constituency here that's having trouble
reading the ballots and voting for Pat Buchanan. Don't you see ...
CARLSON: I don't know. See, the thing is I think that that's one of the ironies of this election ...
TAPPER: These are Al Gore's people.
CARLSON: ... is that a lot of people who are now stereotyped as being dumb may end up electing to the highest office
of the land, somebody that the media stereotyped as being dumb, which is George W. Bush, which, by the way, I don't
think he is.
TAPPER: But it is sort of the double reverse.
CARLSON: But there is -- yeah, there's a pixel going on there, an axel twist. You know what, never mind.
TAPPER: We are almost out of SPIN, but Joie Chen in Atlanta is going to be here a lot longer. She has a preview of
what's coming later tonight. And there's a lot. What's going on, Joie?
CHEN: I am. I am. I'm trying to figure out what that spin is on that. All right, so the witching hour is upon all of
us, or at least it is upon me. My SPIN ROOM coach is to turn back into a pumpkin in just a few minutes, so I'll be
popping over the news desk over there to give you the official line on the news. At one point, midnight Eastern, was
supposed to be something of a deadline for the Florida vote totals. Of course, that's been blown right out of the water.
But lots of stuff happened on Lorrybeat (ph) today. We'll connect the dots for you at the top of the hour. You know
how it's going to be serious stuff? You can watch for a change of clothing. That's how you know, guys.
CARLSON: We can't wait. We will be watching, Joey. And I know millions of other people will be too. And when
we come back we will have our spins of the day. We need yours, please. There have been many today. Send them
in. You can e-mail them. You can post them in the chat room. You can call us on the telephone. You can send us
a telegram probably. When we come back we will also rebegin our culture hour...
Page 610

TAPPER: Oh, yeah.
CARLSON: ... with Jake Tapper.
TAPPER: One more Haiku. This one I wrote.
CARLSON: One more Haiku on the SPIN ROOM. Join us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TAPPER: Welcome back to THE SPIN ROOM, or a show we like to call "Embrace the Chad."
And, you know, something's been bothering me all night, Tucker and I really have to get it off my chest.
CARLSON: Is it chad related?
TAPPER: It's somewhat chad related. Do you know who you remind me of a lot tonight?
CARLSON: No.
TAPPER: "Landslide" Green.
CARLSON: A relative if "Mean" Joe? Who's "Landslide" Green?
TAPPER: No, no, "Landslide" Green -- it's funny that you ask that because I happened to coincidentally have a...
CARLSON: Is that true? An out-of-the-blue card, can you imagine?
TAPPER: "Landslide" Green is also known as Representative Rick Green of Dripping Springs, Texas, He's a Republi-
can.
CARLSON: There's not really place called Dripping Springs.
TAPPER: Dripping Springs, Texas, yes, there is. I've been there. It's lovely.
And in 1998 Green lost by 20 votes in a House race. He called for a manual recount, they did it -- that's a hand recount
with the tabs. They did it, he ended up winning by 35 votes, and that's why George W. Bush calls him "Landslide"
Green won only because of a law that George W. Bush signed in 1997 that set -- that called for manual hand recounts,
which is good if you're in Dripping Springs, Texas, apparently but not if you're in Florida.
CARLSON: Right, that means the electoral standards of Dripping Springs, Texas, ought to be made...
TAPPER: It's the whole state of Texas.
CARLSON: ... applied to every county in the country.
TAPPER: No, no, it's the whole state of Texas.
CARLSON: Bring Dripping Springs to America. I dig it.
TAPPER: It's the whole state of Texas. George W. Bush signed the law, my friend. He signed the law.
CARLSON: If it's good enough for Dripping Springs, it's good enough for me.
We have a phone call, Tim in Washington state, not Dripping Springs state.
Tim, what do you think?
TIM: Hey, good evening.
CARLSON: Good evening.
TIM: Hey, I've got the spin of the week for you. We keep hearing the Democrats saying that every vote counts and
that's why this is so important. But I've got two ways to show that it isn't. In the county right next to Dade, they had
15,000 of these votes that weren't counted for the same reasons, but they're not asking for a recount of those because it's
not a Democrat-going county and they're not in charge of it.
Second example, Cook County, Illinois, Daley's home place. Over 100,000 votes in that county were disallowed be-
cause of over, under or double voting, but you don't hear anybody asking for those recounted. They're only asking for
Page 611

the ones in the counties that they know they'll win. They never asked for all of Florida until it was too late and they
knew it was a hollow offer.
CARLSON: Well didn't Al Gore say that he would be willing to have the whole state counted?
TIM: Too late.
CARLSON: See, what I think Tim may be suggesting, and this is a little bit shocking I think to me, is that Al Gore may
be more concerned with winning than with the rights of each and every voter of the state of Florida.
TAPPER: Interesting, interesting, as opposed to Governor Bush.
CARLSON: I don't believe it either way. But we have a number of spins of the day.
Here's one from Christie, and she asks a very good question, in mu opinion: "Why are we blaming Katherine Harris
when we should be blaming" -- and believe me, we ought to be blaming somebody -- the people who messed up in the
voting booth?
TAPPER: Like Andre Fladell.
CARLSON: Like Andre Fladell.
TAPPER: Not unlike Andre Fladell.
CARLSON: I think if there's one person on whom we could pin this entire fiasco, I think it would be Andre Fladell.
TAPPER: You'd like to blame it on Andre?
CARLSON: In fact, I herewith blame it on Andre Fladell.
TAPPER: Heretofore?
CARLSON: Heretofore.
TAPPER: Well I have a SPIN ROOM e-mail. It's a "Spin of the Day."
"Those counties hand counting in Florida need to save the chads and sell them on eBay to recoup some of the cost."
That's from Doug. Thanks, Dougie.
CARLSON: I guess my question is, who would buy a chad on eBay?
TAPPER: I would.
CARLSON: Get enough you could have a beanbag chair.
TAPPER: A buck a chad.
CARLSON: A buck a chad, a bucket o' chad.
TAPPER: Oh, yes, that's nice.
CARLSON: Here's another honest e-mail. "I think the most ridiculous 'Spin of the Week' is the Bush camp's constant
sniping about hand counting being inaccurate and mystical."
Well I have to say hand counting is mystical as far as I'm concerned. There is a kind of crystal ball quality to it that
does bother me. Do you have your "Spin of the Day"?
TAPPER: I do have one more "Spin of the Day": "Definitely" -- this is from Caroline, by the way -- you know Caroline.
TAPPER: "Definitely the Bush legal adviser who proclaimed that, quote, 'Harris did not have a horse in this race,' un-
quote." Hysterical stuff, Caroline says, because obviously Secretary of State Kathleen Harris was the co-chair of George
W. Bush's Florida campaign, so she had a horse.
CARLSON: Horses, races...
TAPPER: That's her point -- horse.
Page 612

CARLSON: Well let me -- let's cut right to my "Spin of the Day." And this comes -- normally I like to do "Spins of the
Day" from Commander Daley, but this we're getting a little deviation here. This is from Warren Christopher.
Listen to what Warren Christopher said earlier today and tell me if this is not galling and appalling.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WARREN CHRISTOPHER, GORE CAMPAIGN OBSERVER: There is a tremendous burden on all involved in this
process to try to make sure that the next president has the legitimacy, carries with the confidence of the people of the
United States. And I think taking this matter next steps to the Florida Supreme Court would tend to enhance the le-
gitimacy of Governor Bush if he's ultimately the winner.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Whoa.
CARLSON: See, I guess what all of this is, Warren Christopher with a straight face is saying, sending this matter to the
Florida Supreme Court, a move designed to deny Bush victory would in fact legitimize a Bush victory.
TAPPER: Doesn't he kind of look like one of the talking trees from "The Wizard Of Oz"?
CARLSON: Yes at the very least, or maybe one of the flying monkeys. But I don't think we should go there.
TAPPER: Speaking of flying monkeys, like go to Secretary of State Jim Baker trying to put a huge face on two huge
legal setbacks for the Bush team today if we have that clip.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BAKER: As the Florida Supreme Court stated in this recently issued order, the court's action is designed to maintain the
status quo until its hearing on Monday. The court issued an order that neither side requested. Nevertheless, its action
is not an order on the merits of the case.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Whoa. OK, well before we have leave.
CARLSON: I'm dizzy from those.
TAPPER: I know, that was very, very -- don't try that at home without a net. I'd like to say. One last thing, I'd like to
give my chad to the professor out there. This is my chad haiku.
CARLSON: You wrote this yourself?
TAPPER: I wrote this myself.
CARLSON: No.
TAPPER: Yes, I did.
Swinging, hanging, tri, pregnant, dimpled, on the floor, you are mighty chad.
Add it up, five-seven-five.
CARLSON: I feel like we're at a coffee house. We need a little acoustical guitar...
TAPPER: Give me some snaps, give me some snaps.
CARLSON: ... a little Peter, Paul and Mary -- fantastic.
The Florida Supreme Court says the fun has to continue on Monday, so we will be here. Keep your helmets, face-
masks and cleats handy for the latest on the Florida recount, and join us at 11 p.m. Eastern for all the spin.
Tucker Carlson here with Jake Tapper of Salon.
TAPPER: Good night.
CARLSON: Good night, Joie Chen. See you Monday.
Page 613



LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


All Rights Reserved
Page 614


CNN

November 17, 2000; Friday


The Spin Room: Election 2000 Goes to the Florida Supreme Court

GUESTS: Lois Frankel Nancy Detert, Andre Fladell

BYLINE: Tucker Carlson, Jake Tapper, Joie Chen, Jeanne Moos

SECTION: Vice President Gore

LENGTH: 8572 words

HIGHLIGHT: Bush got a boost from the absentee ballots and Gore scored points in the courts. Who won the day?
More importantly, who put out the best spin?

TUCKER CARLSON, HOST: It's Friday. It's Florida. It's time to count. So turn off the football, grab your ballots
and let's start the tally.
Welcome to THE SPIN ROOM. I'm Tucker Carlson. Joining me tonight is Jake Tapper of salon.com. We're going
to need every minute. We're talking to two long-time Katherine Harris watchers and to a real life Florida voter. How
confused is he? We'll find out,
So tell us what you think. You can call us toll-free 1-800-310- 4CNN. You can join our live, online chat at cnn.com
or you can send us an e-mail. The address is spin@cnn.com. And we particularly appreciate all chad-related corre-
spondence. And we have been getting tons of it.
JAKE TAPPER, CO-HOST: We like chad.
CARLSON: We love chad. We are very pro-chad. Not as pro-chad as some of the viewers, however, and let's just
start with an e-mail from someone named Luna.
TAPPER: Ah, I know Luna's work.
CARLSON: You do. Well, it is work.
Luna writes to say: "There once there was a man from Palm Beach who grabbed all the chads in reach. He said with a
grin as he listened to spin whoever gets in, we'll impeach.
That's something faintly obscene about that, but I think that's why I like it.
TAPPER: You know, you should be embarrassed to even present a limerick, you know, because what we have here...
CARLSON: Oh, you have something better.
TAPPER: Well, there's a professor at the University of Arkansas School of Law name Rick Peltz and he's started a con-
test for chad haiku.
CARLSON: What's haiku?
TAPPER: The ancient Japanese poetry form, 5-7-5 syllables. You know what that is.
Page 615

TAPPER: You're familiar with haiku.
CARLSON: Oh, deeply. Intimately.
TAPPER: That was you major at Trinity, I thought.
CARLSON: Oh, it was a sub-major, but sure, yes.
TAPPER: So I would like to read the first chad haiku of the long list that Mr. Peltz -- that's been circulating on the
e-mail list. It's from Chad Horner, in Little Rock, Arkansas. And it goes a little something like this: "Chad hangs on
tightly/antiquated punch card's fault/or chad's scared to fall?
CARLSON: That is...
TAPPER: Think about it. Think about it.
CARLSON: That is so incredibly deep. See, I think the possibilities with chad never end. I'm going to read one last
chad- related e-mail. This is from Jim.
TAPPER: Give it me.
CARLSON: This is the kind of thing that has been clogging the e- mail boxes of Americans around the country. If
Gore wins, he will name his next grandchild Chad. He will not be born on the Fourth of July, however.
CARLSON: I'm sort of ready for the chad stuff to be over, but, you know, I can't get enough of chad.
TAPPER: No, no, no, no. Bring on the chad.
CARLSON: Tonight we're going to be talking about the woman who is in control with an intimate familiarity with all
things chad, and that, of course, is Katherine Harris. My new heroine. As I said last night, we're having something of
a Katherine Harris vigil at my house. My living room is surrounded with candles. We're all wearing black arm bands.
having a moment of silence on the hour for Katherine Harris
TAPPER: That's sad. That's disturbing. That's a disturbing image.
CARLSON: Katherine Harris is something of a hero. You want to hear my new Katherine Harris theory? Here it is.
If she's innocent, then she is the new Richard Jewell. She's been maligned and she's got an excellent lawsuit in the
making.
If she's guilty, then she's a corrupt Republican and amen, there aren't enough of them. Republicans -- how many Re-
publicans actually steal election? Not many. She would be one of the few, the proud, the Republican election steal-
ers. I'm for her either way.
TAPPER: You support that no matter what?
CARLSON: Well, there's something appealing about it. I don't know. She's a hero.
TAPPER: You are familiar with the fact that in January 2000 she went up to New Hampshire to help George W. Bush
in the "Freezing for a Reason" tour with Jeb.
CARLSON: Yes, yes.
TAPPER: And now she's deciding who's going to be the next president.
CARLSON: That's one of the reasons I like her so much.
TAPPER: You like that.
CARLSON: She is a heroic figure.
Page 616

CARLSON: We're going to hear -- we're going to be talking Katherine Harris the entire hour. So send us your e-mails.
Call in. Chat in our chat room. And here's Joie Chen in Atlanta with a closer look, an intimate look at the woman Bill
Press likes to call Katherine the Great.
JOIE CHEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, hang on a minute. Hang on a minute here, Tucker. Are we giving Press credit
for coming up with the Katherine the Great thing? Did he actually come up with that? Are we giving him credit for
that? I don't know. Do you buy that?
CARLSON: I can't hear you, Joie. But if it's for Katherine, I'm for her.
CHEN: OK, well, we're thinking about declaring a winner in Election 2000. Is it Al Gore? George bush? No, not
them.
How about Katherine Harris? Just think about it. Can you name any other state secretary of state, even your own?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CROWD: We support Harris
CHEN (voice-over): Yes, she's the one secretary of state we all know now. It seems everyone has something to say
about Katherine Harris
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Katherine Harris is someone who's been caught in the headlights of history.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Katherine Harris is a fine lady and they should lay off of her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AL GORE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Neither Governor Bush, nor the Florida secretary of state,
nor I, will be the arbiter of this election.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHEN: Well, maybe.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KATHERINE HARRIS, FLORIDA SECRETARY OF STATE: I've decided it is my under Florida law to exercise my
discretion.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHEN: So, who is Katherine Harris and where did she develop that discretion she exercises with such panache. She's
a fourth generation Floridian. She's married. She's rich. Granddaddy was into citrus and cattle.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: I'm Katherine Harris, and we're drawing a line in this sand.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHEN: Are you sure that's sand and not chad? She as elected the to the Florida state Senate in 1994. Moved up to
secretary of state in 1998. Want to know more? The secretary of state's official Web site describes her as a strong
champion of economic development.
She did ran up a bigger travel bill last year than Governor Jeb Bush's. And a forceful advocate of the arts. OK.
Away from the official line, the partisans say she's either Cruella de Katherine, turning all those lovable, helpless un-
counted ballots into a spotted Republicans coat.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
Page 617

SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN (D-CT), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Secretary of State Harris basically said
that she was going to do whatever she wanted to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHEN: Or valiant and brave St. Katherine, martyr.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Republican secretary of state certainly has taken a lot of grief. The Gore spokesman
have called her a hack. And others called her worse from that camp.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHEN: Yes, but guess who may have the last laugh? Harris's job, Florida secretary of state, disappears in 2002. But
Senator Bob Graham, he is a Democrat, of course, who's term is up then in 2004. Now think about this. Who's got a
running start here? Huge name recognition. What more do you need then a few million chad. What do you think,
guys?
CARLSON: Oh, I think that's absolutely right. I think Katherine Harris 2004. I'm signing up right now.
TAPPER: For what?
CARLSON: For something. Thanks Joie. What is that? What is that thing?
TAPPER: Oh, this is my D.C. lottery form. I'm sorry.
CARLSON: I bet unlike Florida voters, you've punched the right holes.
TAPPER: No, I did in fact punch the right holes and strangely enough, Governor Bush won. It's very odd.
CARLSON: That's kind of what happens when you hit the wrong ones. Now, Bill Press is not here tonight.
TAPPER: I know.
CARLSON: But somehow, the spirit -- Bill is on the West Coast doing important West Coast trip.
TAPPER: I feel his essence.
CARLSON: I do too. Hovering in the studio.
TAPPER: The seat's a little warm and it's a little spooky.
CARLSON: That's not attractive.
TAPPER: I know, tell me about it.
CARLSON: But you know, he's always here. And I just want to read you something that Bill wrote in his column
recently. This is from Bill Press' "L.A. Times" column and it sort of brings back the spirit of Bill Press. He says...
TAPPER: Share it.
CARLSON: "Harris is in charge of Florida's election process but expecting her to be fair and objective in her job is like
expecting the proverbial fox to protect the chickens." Those must be the proverbial chickens. And that is from the
proverbial Bill Press who will join us again Monday night when we come back.
And when we do come back, we will speak to two representatives from Florida who have different takes on Katherine
Harris. The sainted, the dastardly. We want your nominations for the "Spin of the Day." You can call toll-free
1-800-310-4CNN. You can join our live, online chat at cnn.com. Or you can send us an e-mail. The address is
spin@cnn.com. And keep in mind we can't get enough of the chad gags.
TAPPER: Love chad.
CARLSON: Send them. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TAPPER: Welcome back to THE SPIN ROOM, or as we call it, the chad of Madison County.
(LAUGHTER)
Page 618

Tucker and I are getting bombarded with e-mails here. And have here one from Brian; it's a chad joke. And he says:
"Hmm, does it take two voters to make a chad pregnant?" Hmm, think about it.
Tucker, what have you got there?
(LAUGHTER)
I know -- I know you've got one.
Thanks, Brian.
CARLSON: We have some rougher-edged e-mail, and of course, we like to get the nasty stuff early. This is from Kip.
He says: "Is this the way the vice president made it through college? Having instructors keep grading his exams until
he achieved the grade he desired."
TAPPER: You know what's that all about?
CARLSON: What is that all about.
TAPPER: Kip is bitter that this is not a debate about "kips." He's upset that it's chads.
(LAUGHTER)
He's upset...
CARLSON: You think -- you think all the one-syllable name people are upset.
TAPPER: All the Buffies, all the Muffies -- everyone is jealous.
CARLSON: Well, those are -- those are two syllable.
TAPPER: There's a lot of chad-envy going on out there, and it's not very pretty. I don't like it, and I won't stand for it.
CARLSON: Well, let's take the temperature of the "Left Coast." We have a caller from California. Welcome to THE
SPIN ROOM.
Can you hear us?
CALLER: Me?
CARLSON: Yes. Do we have a call from California?
TAPPER: Hello.
CARLSON: Hello.
CALLER: Hello. Hello, I'm here.
CARLSON: Hi. Yes. What do you think?
CALLER: Well, I think the Supreme Court's decision today to stop the certification and let the people keep counting
was a really slap in the face to the GOP for their craven and unethical push to coronate -- and I should say coronate
again -- Bush before all the votes are even counted, while they're still suing to make this legal counting process stop
even though they know that supreme courts all over the country have approved these processes and decided elections
this way. And I'm a Republican, and it makes me nauseous.
CARLSON: Well, thanks so much. I hope you feel better.
CALLER: Thanks a lot.
TAPPER: Wow...
CARLSON: Craven...
TAPPER: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
CARLSON: Well, we are joined now from Tallahassee by two veteran Katherine Harris watchers, State Representative
Lois Frankel, a Democrat, and State Representative Nancy Detert is a Republican.
Good evening. Thanks for joining us in THE SPIN ROOM.
Page 619

Representative Frankel, tell us what -- now, you know Katherine Harris. Give us your case for why she's a biased ar-
biter in all of this.
LOIS FRANKEL (D), FLORIDA STATE REPRESENTATIVE: Well, you know, I'll give you an analogy. We have a
big football game coming up tomorrow, and what if the head football coach ran on the field with the last two minutes to
go and became the head referee. That's exactly what Katherine Harris did.
CARLSON: But hasn't -- I mean...
(CROSSTALK)
But hasn't she been secretary of state for some time?
FRANKEL: Yes, but she signed up to be the co-chair of the Bush campaign when she's supposed to be the head election
official of Florida.
TAPPER: Interesting. Representative Detert, if I could jump in with a question, I know that you had...
NANCY DETERT (R), FLORIDA STATE REPRESENTATIVE: Yes, sir.
TAPPER: ... I know that you had a press conference the other day, and you stood up for the secretary of state and said
she never asked for this and all that sort of thing.
My question for you is this: Jeb Bush, the governor, had the class to recuse himself from the elections board that is go-
ing to decide this. My question is if the person who replaced him was a Democrat, Bob Crawford, but he's a Democrat
who endorsed George W. Bush. Do you not think that there should be at least one person on that three-person panel
who supported Al Gore?
DETERT: Well, we have Bob Butterworth...
TAPPER: But he's not on the panel.
DETERT: He supported Al Gore. It's very difficult to get to that level of politics and not have some political connec-
tions. So basically, under your scenario, everyone would have to recuse themselves and no one up here would be do-
ing their job.
TAPPER: No, I'm not saying that. I'm saying that of the three- person panel, shouldn't there be at least one person that
voted for Al Gore as opposed to all three people in charge in Florida being supporters of George W. Bush? Shouldn't
at least one of them be a Gore supporter?
DETERT: Well, that wasn't what I thought we were discussing. We just held a press conference this morning, some
women legislators, to say that we like Katherine Harris as a female role model, as an elected official. We want to
support her. Our constituents have been calling us. They feel the woman's been vilified. They feel she's been criti-
cized for her clothes, her hair, her makeup, and that in general people should get off of her back.
CARLSON: Let's -- I have to say, let's take up the cudgel for poor Katherine Harris. Now, Lois Frankel, you must
admit that that is -- that that is true. That she -- this poor woman has been criticized for her appearance, and she's also
had these ugly rumors about her private life spread around and accused of all these things. I mean, as a woman,
doesn't it pain you to see that?
FRANKEL: There's no call for that, and there should be no personal attacks. But I think -- in terms of her actions, I
think her actions are subject to criticism, and she set herself up for that. She is the top election officer in this state, and
she signed up for the Bush campaign to be the co-chair. She should have recused herself just as Jeb Bush did.
CARLSON: No, but she signed up as a co-chair of the Bush campaign about a year ago, and presumably you've known
about this the entire time. She was pretty public about it. Did you complain earlier about it?
FRANKEL: I'll tell you something, it's her responsibility as the chief election officer. She made that decision. When
it came time for her to become the arbitrator of this election, she should have recused herself. That was her decision
then.
CARLSON: But it seems like nobody said anything about it until she got in the way of their political aims. I mean, I
wonder why nobody said anything about it previously.
Page 620

FRANKEL: You know, I mean, it's the same thing -- well, look, what if we said to Jeb Bush, you can't be the governor
because your brother is running -- running for governor? He took himself off the canvassing board. He did the right
thing. And so, that's what -- Katherine Harris should have done that.
CARLSON: Well, we will be back. Representative Detert and Frankel, we'll be back in a moment to bat Katherine
Harris and the rumors and other stuff around. Send us your e-mails and send us your spins of the day. That's the
moment you are so horrified by what someone says on television, you wish the earth would swallow up him and all
those around him. So send us your nominations. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CARLSON: Welcome back to THE SPIN ROOM. I'm Tucker Carlson here with Jake Tapper of Salon.com. We're
mulling over Katherine Harris. Some of us are defending her; others of us are not. Talking about chad and the election
that will not end.
And before we go further, we have a little bit of housekeeping to take care of here.
TAPPER: Please.
CARLSON: Last night, we introduced "The Mock the Viewer Segment," probably the shortest-lived segment in the
history of this network. We held up an e-mail we received from a man named Bob Jeffreys (ph), who had written us to
complain about the grammar in some of the e-mails. In so doing, he used the incorrect pronoun and we thumped him.
Well, he wrote back today. He said -- I'm quoting now -- "I was rolling in laughter and horror at my errors. Lots of
fun. One must be careful if one is to succeed at taunting the media. PS: I'll personally write you a check for $20 if
you manage to slip an ounce of clean toilette into Bill Press' coffee."
Consider it done. Make the check payable to me...
TAPPER: That's Bill Press' coffee.
CARLSON: That's C-A-R-L-S-O-N. Exactly.
TAPPER: Bill Press' coffee, not mine.
CARLSON: All right.
TAPPER: We're going to go right back to the representatives from Florida: Lois Frankel, a Democrat, and Nancy Deter,
a Republican. Thanks for being with us tonight.
Representative Deter, I have a question for you about Secretary of State Katherine Harris, and my question is this: Can
you name one thing she's done since this whole election mess began on the morning of November 8th, can you name
one thing she's done, one decision, one lawsuit, anything, that George W. Bush's campaign in Austin was not happy
with?
DETERT: I don't speak to George Bush''s campaign in Austin, Texas, and I don't know if Katherine does either. I've
followed what Katherine's done, and as far as I'm concerned, she stopped the Mexican standoff that existed here by
reading the letter of the law, and certifying and validating the election Tuesday at 5 o'clock, as she has to do by statute.
And that became the agent that started all the flurry of lawsuits.
She did her part. She served her role and fulfilled her statutory obligation. And then if they all want to walk across
the street to court, they can do that. I do not think the woman is taking direction from campaign headquarters in Texas.
I truly don't.
I know Katherine personally. She's from my town. And she's well-respected in our area. She's considered an hon-
orable person. I think it's ludicrous to think she's going to steal an election in the midst of all these cameras and satel-
lite dishes. I don't think the woman's that brilliant.
CARLSON: Well, let's get to that, Lois Frankel, if I could just ask Lois Frankel a question here. Is there any evidence,
do you have any evidence at all -- and by evidence I mean actual evidence rather than implications -- that she's acting
out of political bias? That is do you know -- do you have any evidence that her motives are impure here?
FRANKEL: Well, let's start with the fact that she's the co-chair of the Bush campaign. I think that's No. 1 - and when
she's the highest elected official that's supposed to be objective in running these elections. Let's look at the fact that on
Page 621

Saturday night -- and I tell you, I was in West Palm Beach Saturday night at 2:45 a.m. when that canvassing board de-
cided to recount the votes in Palm Beach County. They didn't get to start until today. What's that? Five days later?
Because there's been about five decisions by Katherine Harris to obstruct the recounting.
I'll tell you what, everybody here in Florida, we are frustrated. All we would like to do is recount the votes in a way so
that every vote can be counted and we can find out who won this election.
She had a result that she wanted to reach, and that result was for George Bush to be president. And she was going to
interpret every law in a manner to reach that result.
And that's the problem I have with her. It has nothing to do with her makeup or her dress or anything else. She's just
not being fair.
CARLSON: Thank you.
DETERT: I've got to...
(CROSSTALK)
... with Lois.
CARLSON: We're going -- I'm sorry, but we're going to have to -- we're going to have to go on here, but I just wanted
to think you both representatives, Detert and Frankel, thank you, and we'll see what happens tonight.
Coming up in a little bit, a real-live voter, an actual voter, who is suing Palm Beach County to let everyone vote again,
perhaps again, and get away with it.
But first, more about America's newest buzz word, and that, of course, is chad. Kind of like the word salacious during
the Clinton impeachment area. One minute you know -- you didn't even know it was in the dictionary -- some of us
did -- the next minute everyone's using it.
TAPPER: Chad?
CARLSON: Chad.
At least chad is easier to say and easier to use in mixed company. Here's Jeanne Moos with scads about chad.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Before you join in making jokes about Floridians being
dumb, test your own election IQ. When you turn on the TV, do you have a clue what folks are referring to?
ALAN SIMPSON (R), FORMER U.S. SENATOR: Now, we have the hanging, the dangling, the open, the pimpled, the
dimpled...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hanging chads, pregnant chads, dimpled chads.
MOOS (on camera): You know everything.
(voice-over): With everyone talking about the Florida recount, don't be counted out because you don't speak the lingo.
MOOS (on camera): We're doing the Florida recount vocabulary quiz.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh dear.
MOOS: C-H-A-D.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have no idea.
MOOS (voice-over): Don't confuse chad with the country in Africa, and no, it's not a reference to Chad Everett, an actor
who used to play a doctor. Apparently, there was a St. Chad, but no saints have surfaced yet in the election story.
Chad is the tiny piece of paper voters punched out in those disputed Palm Beach ballots, only in some cases they didn't
get punched out all the way.
Page 622

BOB NICHOLS, PALM BEACH COUNTY SPOKESMAN: There's the hanging chad, which is counted because it's
hanging by one corner, but the rest of it is out. There is the swinging-door chad. Now, the swinging-door chad ob-
viously looks like a swinging door, because two of the tops are attached and the thing is out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chad is a fish.
MOOS: Actually, that's shad, S-H-A-D. But don't feel bad. Even anchor men have blown it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHARLES GIBSON, JOURNALIST: ... and chards and butterfly ballots may go down as political shorthand.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOOS: Pit the poor butterfly having its image tarnished by the election flap, though not everyone's aware that's what
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. A butterfly's a ballot that flew out the window.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) ballots with wings. MOOS: You know electoral language has gone
mainstream when it shows up in cartoons. "I ordered biscuits and gravy, but you brought me chicken fried steak.
Must be the butterfly menu."
A vocabulary test wouldn't be complete without the sunshine test.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's when you hold it up and you see if you can see sunlight through the partially punched
hole.
MOOS (on camera): Where the chad used to be.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where the chad used to be.
MOOS (voice-over): The mess in Florida has given birth to perhaps the oddest term.
NICHOLS: That's a pregnant chad.
MOOS (on camera): What do you think pregnant chad?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's probably a swollen one, a swollen hole.
MOOS: Very good. That's good.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She knows. She has (UNINTELLIGIBLE) five kids.
MOOS (voice-over): When a chad bulges rather than being poked out, it's considered...
MOOS (on camera): Very good.
MOOS: What is it?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He is a guy that somehow has a uterus.
MOOS (voice-over): Who could have imagined we'd end up discussing the birds and the bees of ballots?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two or more chads stuck together.
MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TAPPER: Ooh! A guy with a uterus named pregnant chad. Actually, I think he was in my fraternity in college.
(LAUGHTER)
But I have to tell you -- I have to tell you, Tucker. There really is news going on.
Page 623

CARLSON: No, there's not, Jake.
TAPPER: Yes, there is -- that doesn't involve chad or recounts or lawsuits. And once again, here's Joie Chen in At-
lanta with that.
CHEN: All right, guys. So in an alternate universe, the one in which Florida voters -- not to mention the counting
machines -- never make any mistakes, no one ever says do-over, this would be a very big story.
President Clinton -- yes, we still do have him -- is in Vietnam. He talked about trade and economics with big shots, and
lectured students about freedom and democracy, and of course, he worked the crowds. He does that pretty well.
But this is one for Tucker. One student said: "It is like he is our own president, a great man, like our Uncle Ho Chi
Minh." Tucker, we thought you'd enjoy that.
Yasser Arafat today told Palestinians to stop shooting at Israelis. This time it was an order. The response from the
Israeli prime minister, Ehud Barak, his country still wants a way to peace with Palestinians. The talk, though, disre-
garded: As least, six Palestinians died in today's clashes. Since late September, well over 200 people have died.
Most of them have been Palestinians.
Fidel Castro made a big entrance at an international conference in Panama today. As soon as he got there, the Cuban
president slammed what he says is a plot to assassinate him during the visit.
He blames -- these are his words here -- "terrorist elements organized, financed and led from the United States."
Now, we know at this hour Castro is still very much alive, and so are Jake and Tucker, who will be back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CARLSON: Welcome back to THE SPIN ROOM. We're still looking for nominations for the spin of the day, so call
in toll free. That means no cost to you -- 1-800-310-4CNN. You can join our live, online, again, free chat at
CNN.com. Or, send us an e-mail. The address is Spin@cnn.com. But before we go a moment further, we have the
SPIN ROOM culture moment.
TAPPER: I would like once again to offer a chad Haiku, courtesy of professor Peltz.
CARLSON: This is like a humanities class, Jake. I like this.
TAPPER: It's another chad Haiku. This one comes from Chad Avery in Littlerock, Arkansas. "Chad, the enigma,
mystical and elusive, what will you divine?" That's a good one.
CARLSON: You know, it's not only good poetry, Jake, it's also a good question. And speaking of questions, we have
John from New Mexico on the line. John, you have any insights? New Mexico has just called for Gore apparently. Is
that right?
JOHN: I believe so. Well, my comment is that over 50 years ago I started my professional career working with IBM
cards. And I suspect all these people that are talking about chads have never worked with IBM cards. If a chad falls
out of an IBM card it's because it was punched and was meant to fall out. And furthermore, IBM cards do not degrade
with handling for further handling. You can handle them dozens of time. They just don't degrade that way. They
would if you tried to put them through a machine again, but not for handling by hand. Anyway, chads that fall out are
meant to fall out. It's not something bad that happens. That's my comment.
CARLSON: Unless, of -- thank you, John. Unless, of course, you have pole workers with BBs glued to their fingers.
TAPPER: That's interesting. An eye current theory going around.
CARLSON: What John said also poses the age-old philosophical question if a chad falls in Florida, does it make a
sound?
TAPPER: Well, you know, I'm glad you asked that because we have someone who may be able to answer that question.
Joining us now from West Palm Beach is Andre Fladell, one of the plaintiffs suing Palm Beach County for a partial
revote as a result of errors and irregularities in the election process.
Mr. Fladell, you're suing. Why?
Page 624

ANDRE FLADELL, PLAINTIFF: Well, I went to vote like I've always gone to vote and we found this time they had
changed the ballot but they didn't give anybody notice and any warning. Everybody talks about the rule of law. The
rule of law is that the Republican and Democratic parties go first and second in Palm Beach County because the gover-
nors party is always on top and the Democrat will always be second, and that didn't occur in this ballot. The rule of
law is that in a manual punch ballot the name always goes on the left and the punch hole always goes on the right.
That didn't happen in this county. You would think if someone were going to change the rules they would change the
instructions, but they left the instructions from the old form of voting. So, what they did was they gave us five minutes
to make 23 choices. On this ballot we had 23 choices. That means we had 12.5 seconds to make each choice and
then they slipped in a new way of voting with the first page. So, when the people made mistakes who vote most often
-- and the reason that people who vote most often made those mistakes is we rely because we understand this process.
I understand I only had to look for the second punch hole because that's the way the law is written in this state and I got
snickered and I got taken.
Yes, sir.
TAPPER: Mr. Fladell, if I could just jump in with a question. I think a lot of people in the country feel the pain of the
voters of Palm Beach and understand there are a lot of upset people. But my question is this, and I don't mean to
sound harsh. But 93 percent of the people in Palm Beach County who voted figured out how to do it correctly and
now, because of the seven percent, and I recognize that that is larger than the average number of people who have bal-
lots not counted, but still, it is still seven percent. Because of that seven percent, do you think it's fair that the entire ...
FLADELL: Don't ask that directly.
TAPPER: OK. If the entire Palm Beach has to revote.
FLADELL: First of all, I believe that every vote counts and I believe that my vote is as important as anyone else's.
But let me ask you a question directly, because you work with statistics. You used 93 percent as a number. The peo-
ple who voted for George Bush only had one choosing. There was a top hole. So, let's talk about the 50 percent that
voted for the other. The people who vote in primaries and primary runoffs, they're only seven and eight percent of this
county. The people who vote most frequently are only the eight percent. It's the eight percent that vote most often
that rely on consistency. The people who vote once every two years, they go in there, they don't know what they're
looking at because they're not familiar, they're not regular voters. So, they go in and they hunt and peck like on a
typewriter. Those of us who vote a lot and regular walked into what we relied on to be a legal ballot, like we've al-
ways seen it, and they change on page for no reason with no warning. So, the eight percent of us who are participants in
this process seem to have been the most handicap by our knowledge of the process.
TAPPER: Well, but ...
CARLSON: So, in other words, you went in there expecting the very same ballot that you see every two years and you
were so shocked by the fact the ballot had changed you ended up voting for Pat Buchanan?
TAPPER: Is that what you're telling us, Mr. Fladell?
FLADELL: On the contrary. I can do quadratic equations and write in iambic pentameter. My education is sufficient
and I resent the implication that I'm not bright. I gave this test to a lady, Ms. Battista, on CNN and she couldn't figure
out the place to vote. So, I'll put her in my economic and I'll put in my educational category.
But the point I'm making is this, that we who vote most often rely on the law as far as the conformity and ballot. We
rely on something consistent. We rely on trusting government to give us a fair and legal ballot. The ballot was not
fair. It was not legal. In fact, it was a quiz and I wasn't there to take the SAT's, by the way, which I did well on. I was
there to vote. That ballot did not lead me to my candidate. That ballot led me away from my candidate. And if you
don't care that my vote was led away, I do. So, I did what I was supposed to.
TAPPER: But wasn't the ballot printed in the newspaper? I know you're a liked -- you're a frequent voter, so you must
have seen the ballot -- the sample ballot printed in the newspaper.
FLADELL: The ballot that everyone's viewing on television, the sample ballot, didn't in any way what was put in front
of us. I can see the difference in a half an inch on height. But you try measuring the distance of depth of 1/16 of an
inch of an pinhole. People in this country are looking at a black mark on a television screen when that black mark is
magnified it's like watching a replay on a football game. Why don't you watch. The play the first time and make the
Page 625

right call. We saw the depth of a pinhole and you couldn't judge the depth of 1/16 of an inch any better than we did.
We lined up the second name as we should with the second pinhole as we should and that pinhole should not have been
a Reform Party candidate by statute. I knew it had to be a Democrat.
CARLSON: Mr. Fladell, thank you very much. We're not done with you. We're not done with you.
TAPPER: No, we're not.
CARLSON: We're going to go to a break and we're going to come back because we like you and we like what you have
to stay. So, please stay with us and be -- come back right to THE SPIN ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CARLSON: Welcome back to THE SPIN ROOM, or as we like to call it, "The Andre Fladell Show."
Because joining us, playing a little game of who wants to be a Pat Buchanan Voter from Palm Beach County is Andre
Fladell. And Andre is upset about the stereotypical way that West Palm Beach and Palm Beach County voters have
been portrayed. He does not think that they are stupid just because eight percent of them could not understand the
butterfly ballot.
So, Mr. Fladell, I have one question for you. I understand the situation. I -- again, I do have sympathy. I don't think
you're stupid. Tucker might disagree. But the question I have for you is is it fair for the entire country's electoral
process to be hung up because eight percent of the people in one county in one state had trouble with a ballot that was,
by many legal scholars account, legal, if not perfect?
FLADELL: You know, Martin Luther King once said that injustice against anyone is injustice against everyone. If
one person loses their right to vote in Palm Beach County, be careful Missouri, be careful in California. If this country
thinks that our ballot didn't violate the law, then my case really doesn't matter. But if this country really broke the
statutes of our own state and people made error based on the government not producing an honest ballot, then be con-
cerned about us. But let me tell you a bigger problem. The Bush campaign and the Gore campaign they promised to
trust people. These two parties promise that if we have a problem in our states, in our counties they trust local people
to solve local problems. I ...
CARLSON: Andre, I think the helicopters are coming for you, buddy.
FLADELL: Well, I think so.
CARLSON: I'm sorry to interrupt you. Let me just ask you a quick question here. Now, one of the problems seems
to me if you're ...
FLADELL: They don't trust ...
CARLSON: ... in Palm Beach -- well, that's where they're sending the helicopters, Andre. But look, I want to show
you something that's going on the Internet right now. This is ...
FLADELL: Probably missing (ph) league (ph).
CARLSON: This is graph we're going to put up on the screen gives you a sense of the way people are talking about
voters in your state and, indeed, your county. I actually got this on my computer the other day. It says "Voting for
dummies, a reference for Florida reference and other dumb voters by Bill Daley". Now, tell me, it seems to me that
filing lawsuits that admit you couldn't understand a simple ballot are going to do nothing but reinforce this perception,
don't you think?
FLADELL: I think sometimes when you get a telephone bill and you expect to pay seven cents a minute and they
charge you 29 cents, don't call and complain because you're the kind of guy that'll take the extra payment and think it's
not your fault. You see, when I think when I get billed wrong I call up and I complain. When I get snookered on a
vote, I complain. The way I complain is through the courts because I'm not like in the Middle East where you take
guns and you shoot them in the air. We have a court system which needs to listen to a fair complaint. We have
24,000 people who are very unhappy. That's not one person, one vote. That's 24,000 people. But there's a bigger issue,
the image in West Palm Beach ...
CARLSON: Now, you've been in ...
Page 626

FLADELL: The image of West Palm Beach is being sent by people who don't live here. The Gore campaign and the
Bush campaign talk for us, explain us. They tell you what we think, how we think, how we live. There's nobody
from this area that's allowed to even make a comment. Every time the people in this country hear about what's going on
here it's some guy from Texas or Tennessee that makes a decision on our behalf without consulting us. We have ...
CARLSON: Well, actually Mr. Fladell, if I could take -- Mr. Fladell, if I could say one thing, actually, Vice President
Gore and Governor George W. Bush have been very, very quiet this past week. And actually, I've seen you on TV a lot.
So, I don't know that that is a fair thing to say. But my question still stands. Is it fair for the entire country's electoral
process to be hung up because seven percent of the voters or eight percent in one county in one state could not figure
out a ballot that, by many legal scholar's opinion, was legally vetted and was proposed by a Democrat? FLADELL:
Then a person in a court needs to agree that the ballot violated the law. And if they can't give a better remedy, then at
least they agree that our complaint is correct and we get a reprieve from this image that we're stupid and someone ac-
cepts the responsibility. My choice is to get my vote back. My choice is to have my vote for Buchanan stricken from
this record of this country. My choice is not to have Pat Buchanan. If 354 votes in a Jewish condominium of people
who voted straight Democrat on 15 other votes on that ballot and then voted against the Jewish candidate for someone
they perceived as anti-Semitic, you cannot allow that to stand in the history of this country. That one person and that
354 votes and my 24,000 neighbors are entitled to be free from the burden of this era, which we didn't create.
CARLSON: Well, thank you. Andre Fladell, Florida voter, Buchanan voter, filer of the lawsuit, straightener out of
misconceptions, we appreciate your coming to SPIN ROOM. Thank you very much.
FLADELL: Any time. Thank you so much.
CARLSON: Thanks.
We have a caller. Ken in Indiana. What do you think of the current mess in Florida? Are you with us?
KEN: Yes, I am. I think if 99 percent of the Florida people are smart enough to vote for the candidate of their choice
does Gore really want to be the president of the people that's confused? I mean, some of these people took a lot of
time to learn how to vote and why should their votes not count just because somebody's confused?
CARLSON: That is an excellent point. Thank you, Ken.
TAPPER: That is an excellent point, actually, Jake. It does seem to be the Gore constituency here that's having trouble
reading the ballots and voting for Pat Buchanan. Don't you see ...
CARLSON: I don't know. See, the thing is I think that that's one of the ironies of this election ...
TAPPER: These are Al Gore's people.
CARLSON: ... is that a lot of people who are now stereotyped as being dumb may end up electing to the highest office
of the land, somebody that the media stereotyped as being dumb, which is George W. Bush, which, by the way, I don't
think he is.
TAPPER: But it is sort of the double reverse.
CARLSON: But there is -- yeah, there's a pixel going on there, an axel twist. You know what, never mind.
TAPPER: We are almost out of SPIN, but Joie Chen in Atlanta is going to be here a lot longer. She has a preview of
what's coming later tonight. And there's a lot. What's going on, Joie?
CHEN: I am. I am. I'm trying to figure out what that spin is on that. All right, so the witching hour is upon all of
us, or at least it is upon me. My SPIN ROOM coach is to turn back into a pumpkin in just a few minutes, so I'll be
popping over the news desk over there to give you the official line on the news. At one point, midnight Eastern, was
supposed to be something of a deadline for the Florida vote totals. Of course, that's been blown right out of the water.
But lots of stuff happened on Lorrybeat (ph) today. We'll connect the dots for you at the top of the hour. You know
how it's going to be serious stuff? You can watch for a change of clothing. That's how you know, guys.
CARLSON: We can't wait. We will be watching, Joey. And I know millions of other people will be too. And when
we come back we will have our spins of the day. We need yours, please. There have been many today. Send them
in. You can e-mail them. You can post them in the chat room. You can call us on the telephone. You can send us
a telegram probably. When we come back we will also rebegin our culture hour...
Page 627

TAPPER: Oh, yeah.
CARLSON: ... with Jake Tapper.
TAPPER: One more Haiku. This one I wrote.
CARLSON: One more Haiku on the SPIN ROOM. Join us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TAPPER: Welcome back to THE SPIN ROOM, or a show we like to call "Embrace the Chad."
And, you know, something's been bothering me all night, Tucker and I really have to get it off my chest.
CARLSON: Is it chad related?
TAPPER: It's somewhat chad related. Do you know who you remind me of a lot tonight?
CARLSON: No.
TAPPER: "Landslide" Green.
CARLSON: A relative if "Mean" Joe? Who's "Landslide" Green?
TAPPER: No, no, "Landslide" Green -- it's funny that you ask that because I happened to coincidentally have a...
CARLSON: Is that true? An out-of-the-blue card, can you imagine?
TAPPER: "Landslide" Green is also known as Representative Rick Green of Dripping Springs, Texas, He's a Republi-
can.
CARLSON: There's not really place called Dripping Springs.
TAPPER: Dripping Springs, Texas, yes, there is. I've been there. It's lovely.
And in 1998 Green lost by 20 votes in a House race. He called for a manual recount, they did it -- that's a hand recount
with the tabs. They did it, he ended up winning by 35 votes, and that's why George W. Bush calls him "Landslide"
Green won only because of a law that George W. Bush signed in 1997 that set -- that called for manual hand recounts,
which is good if you're in Dripping Springs, Texas, apparently but not if you're in Florida.
CARLSON: Right, that means the electoral standards of Dripping Springs, Texas, ought to be made...
TAPPER: It's the whole state of Texas.
CARLSON: ... applied to every county in the country.
TAPPER: No, no, it's the whole state of Texas.
CARLSON: Bring Dripping Springs to America. I dig it.
TAPPER: It's the whole state of Texas. George W. Bush signed the law, my friend. He signed the law.
CARLSON: If it's good enough for Dripping Springs, it's good enough for me.
We have a phone call, Tim in Washington state, not Dripping Springs state.
Tim, what do you think?
TIM: Hey, good evening.
CARLSON: Good evening.
TIM: Hey, I've got the spin of the week for you. We keep hearing the Democrats saying that every vote counts and
that's why this is so important. But I've got two ways to show that it isn't. In the county right next to Dade, they had
15,000 of these votes that weren't counted for the same reasons, but they're not asking for a recount of those because it's
not a Democrat-going county and they're not in charge of it.
Second example, Cook County, Illinois, Daley's home place. Over 100,000 votes in that county were disallowed be-
cause of over, under or double voting, but you don't hear anybody asking for those recounted. They're only asking for
Page 628

the ones in the counties that they know they'll win. They never asked for all of Florida until it was too late and they
knew it was a hollow offer.
CARLSON: Well didn't Al Gore say that he would be willing to have the whole state counted?
TIM: Too late.
CARLSON: See, what I think Tim may be suggesting, and this is a little bit shocking I think to me, is that Al Gore may
be more concerned with winning than with the rights of each and every voter of the state of Florida.
TAPPER: Interesting, interesting, as opposed to Governor Bush.
CARLSON: I don't believe it either way. But we have a number of spins of the day.
Here's one from Christie, and she asks a very good question, in mu opinion: "Why are we blaming Katherine Harris
when we should be blaming" -- and believe me, we ought to be blaming somebody -- the people who messed up in the
voting booth?
TAPPER: Like Andre Fladell.
CARLSON: Like Andre Fladell.
TAPPER: Not unlike Andre Fladell.
CARLSON: I think if there's one person on whom we could pin this entire fiasco, I think it would be Andre Fladell.
TAPPER: You'd like to blame it on Andre?
CARLSON: In fact, I herewith blame it on Andre Fladell.
TAPPER: Heretofore?
CARLSON: Heretofore.
TAPPER: Well I have a SPIN ROOM e-mail. It's a "Spin of the Day."
"Those counties hand counting in Florida need to save the chads and sell them on eBay to recoup some of the cost."
That's from Doug. Thanks, Dougie.
CARLSON: I guess my question is, who would buy a chad on eBay?
TAPPER: I would.
CARLSON: Get enough you could have a beanbag chair.
TAPPER: A buck a chad.
CARLSON: A buck a chad, a bucket o' chad.
TAPPER: Oh, yes, that's nice.
CARLSON: Here's another honest e-mail. "I think the most ridiculous 'Spin of the Week' is the Bush camp's constant
sniping about hand counting being inaccurate and mystical."
Well I have to say hand counting is mystical as far as I'm concerned. There is a kind of crystal ball quality to it that
does bother me. Do you have your "Spin of the Day"?
TAPPER: I do have one more "Spin of the Day": "Definitely" -- this is from Caroline, by the way -- you know Caroline.
TAPPER: "Definitely the Bush legal adviser who proclaimed that, quote, 'Harris did not have a horse in this race,' un-
quote." Hysterical stuff, Caroline says, because obviously Secretary of State Kathleen Harris was the co-chair of George
W. Bush's Florida campaign, so she had a horse.
CARLSON: Horses, races...
TAPPER: That's her point -- horse.
Page 629

CARLSON: Well let me -- let's cut right to my "Spin of the Day." And this comes -- normally I like to do "Spins of the
Day" from Commander Daley, but this we're getting a little deviation here. This is from Warren Christopher.
Listen to what Warren Christopher said earlier today and tell me if this is not galling and appalling.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WARREN CHRISTOPHER, GORE CAMPAIGN OBSERVER: There is a tremendous burden on all involved in this
process to try to make sure that the next president has the legitimacy, carries with the confidence of the people of the
United States. And I think taking this matter next steps to the Florida Supreme Court would tend to enhance the le-
gitimacy of Governor Bush if he's ultimately the winner.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Whoa.
CARLSON: See, I guess what all of this is, Warren Christopher with a straight face is saying, sending this matter to the
Florida Supreme Court, a move designed to deny Bush victory would in fact legitimize a Bush victory.
TAPPER: Doesn't he kind of look like one of the talking trees from "The Wizard Of Oz"?
CARLSON: Yes at the very least, or maybe one of the flying monkeys. But I don't think we should go there.
TAPPER: Speaking of flying monkeys, like go to Secretary of State Jim Baker trying to put a huge face on two huge
legal setbacks for the Bush team today if we have that clip.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BAKER: As the Florida Supreme Court stated in this recently issued order, the court's action is designed to maintain the
status quo until its hearing on Monday. The court issued an order that neither side requested. Nevertheless, its action
is not an order on the merits of the case.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Whoa. OK, well before we have leave.
CARLSON: I'm dizzy from those.
TAPPER: I know, that was very, very -- don't try that at home without a net. I'd like to say. One last thing, I'd like to
give my chad to the professor out there. This is my chad haiku.
CARLSON: You wrote this yourself?
TAPPER: I wrote this myself.
CARLSON: No.
TAPPER: Yes, I did.
Swinging, hanging, tri, pregnant, dimpled, on the floor, you are mighty chad.
Add it up, five-seven-five.
CARLSON: I feel like we're at a coffee house. We need a little acoustical guitar...
TAPPER: Give me some snaps, give me some snaps.
CARLSON: ... a little Peter, Paul and Mary -- fantastic.
The Florida Supreme Court says the fun has to continue on Monday, so we will be here. Keep your helmets, face-
masks and cleats handy for the latest on the Florida recount, and join us at 11 p.m. Eastern for all the spin.
Tucker Carlson here with Jake Tapper of Salon.
TAPPER: Good night.
CARLSON: Good night, Joie Chen. See you Monday.
Page 630



LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


All Rights Reserved
Page 631



NOVEMBER 17, 2000 Friday SF EDITION

SUING VOTER IS NO 'OPERATIVE' ANDRE FLADELL, THOUGH FED UP
WITH BOTH SIDES, SAYS BALLOTS MISLED AND ONLY A REVOTE
WILL FIX THAT.

BYLINE: Shankar Vedantam, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER


LENGTH: 907 words


Andre Fladell lounges on a beach chair, coconut trees in the background, waves breaking before him, wearing nothing
but a pale green baseball cap and a pair of blue swim trunks that, if they were any shorter, would put him at risk of vio-
lating public decency laws.
Fladell, 52, a Brooklyn native and a chiropractor by trade, is at the center of the vote-counting controversy in Florida. A
judge in West Palm Beach plans to hear arguments today in the lawsuit Fladell brought against the "butterfly ballot" that
he and other voters say caused them to punch the hole for Patrick Buchanan instead of the one for Al Gore. "It misled
me," Fladell says of the ballot.
He is famous because it seems he may have been the very first Palm Beach County voter to sue over the ballot. But
fame does not sit entirely well with him. For one thing, his court appearance today creates sartorial problems: He pro-
fesses to own just three shirts with buttons, all of which are already soiled, and not a single pair of formal trousers or
shoes.
For another, he and his friends think politicians will leave his county worse than they found it.
"Palm Beach County is not going to heal when they leave," Fladell says of the parties and their spin doctors and law-
yers. "People here have never fought at this level. We have a fire, and the people from the Bush and Gore campaign
each came with a bucket of gasoline. They don't care what happens to us."
A few minutes before he left yesterday for the beach - a place he visits everyday, making exceptions only for Category
4 hurricanes - network TV producers from Washington, D.C., called him to arrange an interview.
As Fladell tells it, the conversation went like this:
Fladell: "I'll be at the beach."
Producer: "But this is important."
Fladell: "So is the beach."
Fladell says he didn't climb on any bandwagon; he called his lawyer the morning after Election Day and sued, demand-
ing a "revote" in predominantly liberal Palm Beach County. Democrats embraced him; the Republican candidate for
president, George W. Bush, sent a lawyer to argue against him. In the charged-up partisan atmosphere of South Florida,
this led many people to assume Fladell was, as he put it, "a Democratic operative."
Page 632
SUING VOTER IS NO 'OPERATIVE' ANDRE FLADELL, THOUGH FED UP WITH BOTH SIDES, SAYS
BALLOTS MISLED AND ONLY A REVOTE WILL FIX THAT. The Philadelphia Inquirer NOVEMBER 17,
2000 Friday SF EDITION

But if Fladell is their operative, the Democrats are in trouble. He wants a revote because, well, he just wants to vote
again. He says he marginally prefers Gore to Bush, but in the main he dislikes both parties, and more so now after all
the bickering.
Fladell has an opinion, too, on James A. Baker 3d and Warren Christopher, the former U.S. secretaries of state sent in
by Bush and Gore respectively: "We are the fourth-largest state, and they can't find a Republican and a Democrat to talk
for us? They have to bring in a couple of retreads who couldn't solve the Cold War?" A little over a week after waking
up to the realization that their votes - or mis-votes - could decide who becomes president, Fladell and his friends have
come to believe that the public spotlight will eventually move on, and that when it does, things won't be the same here.
People who used to argue and laugh about politics over dinner have stopped having dinner together, says Fladell, who
has lived here for 22 years. Friendships have dissolved. Passion has given way to bitterness.
The politicians who once said they supported Fladell on a matter of principle - that everyone had a right to a vote - no
longer seem to hold that principle dear. Gore said Wednesday night that he would settle for a recount; he said nothing
about letting Palm Beach County vote again. He said that if the Republicans agreed to a hand recount of Florida's votes,
he would drop his support for all the lawsuits.
Like Fladell's.
Though Bush promptly rejected Gore's olive branch, the state Supreme Court yesterday cleared the way for Palm Beach
to keep recounting. Revoting wasn't even an issue.
Fladell shifts his weight in his folding beach chair. Unruly locks of salt-and-pepper hair stick out from under his green
ball cap. Under the Florida sun, sweat rolls off his skin, which appears to be just on the verge of getting sauteed.
He smiles ruefully at the fact that although both parties say every vote counts, neither supports his demand for a revote,
an election that would surely take his vote into account.
"Everyone should have a right to vote," he says. "That's all. Everything else is spin."
Fladell's lawyer, Henry Handler of Boca Raton, said the suit would proceed even if it didn't have the blessing of either
party. Gore, he said, was not in the suit, and neither was the Democratic Party.
Like many other voters, Fladell says he voted for Buchanan because of the way the ballot was designed: "I find a name,
I matched it to the hole. Second name, second hole. It never occurred to me a trick was going on."
On the beach, Fladell is flanked by his usual pals, Richard Bouchard, 53, a retired telephone worker and Adam Frankel,
28, a lawyer.
Bouchard is a Republican and voted for Bush, and thinks there should be no revotes. Frankel says he supports Gore be-
cause of his running mate, Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, but fears that he, too, may have voted for Buchanan.
"We laugh at elections in other countries," says Frankel, who joins the older men on weekends and whenever he can
escape his office. "I feel this was a crooked election."
Shankar Vedantam's e-mail address is svedantam@phillynews.com


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

GRAPHIC: PHOTO;
PHOTO
Andre Fladell, a chiropractor at the center of one election lawsuit, believes Palm Beach County will be worse off after
high-powered politicos leave. (L.M. OTERO, Associated Press)

All Rights Reserved
Page 633


The Miami Herald

November 15, 2000 Wednesday FINAL EDITION
Correction Appended

IN THE COURTROOM HISTORIC POLITICAL BATTLE ATTRACTS
HORDES OF LAWYERS LARGE, SMALL NAMES JOIN THE FRAY

BYLINE: ELINOR J. BRECHER, ebrecher@herald.com

SECTION: FRONT; Pg. 17A

LENGTH: 868 words

Wherever a Florida "pregnant chad" labors, it seems there's a lawyer standing by to deliver.
Florida hasn't endured an esquire invasion of such magnitude since the last American Bar Association convention at
Disney World in August 1996.
If it feels like the state's post-election frenzy has sucked in all 972,900 American attorneys, plus Florida's 50,000, that's
because some of the profession's biggest names are busily filing briefs alongside indigenous counselors known mainly
to their local clients.
A few on the Democratic side: Harvard Law School constitutional scholar Laurence Tribe; former Miami-Dade U.S.
Attorney Kendall Coffey, who represented Elian Gonzalez's Miami relatives; past Dade County Bar Association presi-
dent Benedict P. Kuehne; Robert Brochin of Miami, former deputy general counsel to late Gov. Lawton Chiles; Joseph
Geller and partner Peggy Fisher, Miami government law experts; Tallahassee government lawyer Mark Herron.
For the Republican Party: one-time Kenneth Starr partner Theodore A. Olsen; former Coral Gables state legislator Barry
Richard, a Florida Press Association lobbyist; former U.S. Attorney Roberto Martinez; former state Rep. Miguel De
Grandy; Greenberg Traurig's Raquel Rodriguez; Sue Cobb, last year's interim Florida Lottery director.
And here are a few of the others:
Alan Dershowitz. If it's controversial - and made for TV - expect the Harvard University law professor and civil-rights
champion to show up. He represents seven disgruntled Palm Beach County voters, and helped Tribe persuade a Miami
federal judge Monday to continue hand recounts of disputed ballots. The Brooklyn College graduate, 62, got his law
degree at Yale University. He writes a syndicated column and has authored or co-authored 16 books. His 1986 book,
Reversal of Fortune: Inside the Von Bulow Case, became a hit movie.
Dershowitz successfully defended socialite Claus Von Bulow against attempted murder charges. He also has represent-
ed O.J. Simpson; heiress and accused '70s radical bank robber Patty Hearst; "Queen of Mean" tax cheat Leona
Helmsley, and disgraced televangelist Jim Bakker.
Gonzalo Dorta. Last year, Gov. Jeb Bush appointed the Coral Gables Republican to the Judicial Nominating Commis-
sion for the 11th Judicial Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County. Dorta, 39, was one of seven Florida named plaintiffs in
the Bush/Cheney federal-court suit dismissed Monday.
The Cuban-born University of Miami graduate got his law degree at Georgetown University. He represents Mi-
ami-Dade homeowners in blasting-damage suits against the rock-mining industry, and MasterMedia Group in a suit
filed by Beasley Reed Acquisitions, which claims that MasterMedia's WAFN-1700 tried to lure sports talk host Joe
Page 634
IN THE COURTROOM HISTORIC POLITICAL BATTLE ATTRACTS HORDES OF LAWYERS LARGE, SMALL
NAMES JOIN THE FRAY The Miami Herald November 15, 2000 Wednesday FINAL EDITIONCorrection
Appended

Rose from WQAM-560. In 1998, he won unspecified millions for single mother Aileen Aguiles, 21, brain damaged in a
1993 car wreck.
Henry Handler. The Boca Raton Democrat, 47, served on the party's Palm Beach County executive committee from
1986-1988, and once was Attorney General Bob Butterworth's campaign coordinator in the county. He filed the first
election-related, circuit-court suit on Nov. 8, after Delray Beach chiropractor Andre Fladell, one of three named plain-
tiffs, told him that the county's confusing ballot caused him to vote for Pat Buchanan instead of Al Gore.
The Princeton University graduate holds a University of Virginia law degree, and practices complex commercial litiga-
tion. Last year, the Palm Beach County school board asked him to investigate charges by some of its members that a
school system attorney threatened them, saying she would "get a shotgun and go postal." Handler found no disciplinary
grounds. He represented the board when it ousted superintendent Monica Uhlhorn in 1995.
Jon May. The Fort Lauderdale criminal lawyer filed suit Tuesday against Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris,
seeking to halt her certification of Florida's electors (based on the theory that the state's "winner take all" Electoral Col-
lege system is unconstitutional). May, 45, holds degrees from Emory University and the University of Florida Law
School.
He was on Manuel Noriega's legal team. Last year, May and co-counsel Frank Rubino got the Panamanian dictator's
federal-prison sentence knocked down from 40 years to 30. May also represented drug lords Willie Falcon and Sal
Magluta. Two months ago, May - who wasn't charged - invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination
during a trial to determine whether some of the pair's 39 lawyers laundered drug money.
Bruce Rogow. The Nova Southeastern University Shepard Broad Law Center professor, 60, represents Palm Beach
County's beleaguered elections supervisor, Theresa LePore. An appellate specialist, Rogow holds degrees from the
University of Miami, and the University of Florida Law School.
He successfully defended 2 Live Crew's First Amendment right to talk dirty on the group's rap albums, after Broward
County sheriff Nick Navarro tried to have their work declared obscene in 1990.
He also represented Florida Death Row inmate Jesse Tafero, whose gruesome, 1990 electric-chair execution renewed
arguments over "Old Sparky's" humaneness.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

NOTES: ELECTION 2000; Correction ran on November 16, 2000; see end of text

CORRECTION-DATE: November 16, 2000

CORRECTION: *In Wednesday's Herald, Republican Party lawyer Theodore Olson's name was misspelled.

GRAPHIC: photo: Alan Dershowitz (a), Gonzalo Dorta (a), Henry Handler
(a), Jon MAY, Bruce Rogow (a);
CARL JUSTE, HERALD STAFF ALAN DERSHOWITZ: Also a columnist, book author.
HECTOR GABINO, EL NUEVO HERALD GONZALO DORTA: Plaintiff in Bush, Cheney suit.
WALTER MICHOT, HERALD STAFF HENRY HANDLER: Filed first election suit in circuit court.
AP FILE JON MAY: Filed suit against secretary of state.
ED COX, AP BRUCE ROGOW: Represents elections supervisor.

All Rights Reserved
Page 635


Saint Paul Pioneer Press (Minnesota)

November 15, 2000 Wednesday CITY EDITION

DISGUST WITH GORE OVERWHELMS ENTIRE ELECTION PROCESS

BYLINE: Thomas J. Lucente Jr. Commentator

SECTION: EDITORIAL; Pg. 17A

LENGTH: 748 words

I am disgusted.
I am disgusted with President Clinton, our national embarrassment, and everything associated with him, including Vice
President Al Gore, the loser in last week's election in more ways than one.
It should not surprise anyone who has been paying attention these God-awful past eight years that Gore would ignore
the constitutional process of electing a president and head to the courts.
Gore's comments that he feels duty-bound to fight this election in the courts for the people is reminiscent of Clinton's
equally silly statement about fighting his impeachment in order to save the very Constitution he holds in such low re-
gard.
I am disgusted with the uninformed electorate. How could 49 million Americans possibly believe a lying slimeball and
probable felon would make a good president? I could never, in good conscience, cast a vote for someone I know to be a
consummate liar and who should be in prison for his activities.
I am disgusted with the liberal mind set that allowed Gore even to be in a position to fight this election.
If it were not for liberals who believe government should give them stuff, Gore wouldn't have gotten a single vote.
Every person who voted for Gore - and I believe I can say this unequivocally - voted for him because Gore promised to
give him or her stuff from the public treasury.
Wake up. This is nothing but government-sanctioned theft.
A little economic and civics lesson for you liberals. Government produces nothing. It creates no wealth. Every dime
government spends, it takes from those who work.
Every time government gives money to one of those social programs liberals love so much - Medicare, Social Security,
welfare, National Endowment for the Arts - it has to take it from me and millions of other workers.
I live from paycheck to paycheck because liberals feel government should give stuff away.
We have an Electoral College; Bush won that vote. He is legally the president-elect, provided the absentee ballots don't
reverse that fact. But, after eight years of Clinton's complete disregard for this nation's charter, it is not hard to see how
people might forget we are a constitutional republic and not a true democracy.
I am disgusted with the people of Florida. If you are too ignorant to vote properly or to ask for help if you're confused,
then it is probably better for the sake of the republic that your vote is discounted.
I am disgusted with the battalion of attorneys the Democrats have sent to Florida. Demanding a hand recount of the
ballots is the typical Clinton-Gore legal strategy of obfuscation, confusion and intimidation.
I am disgusted with those who think the Electoral College should go. It is the only thing that gives all voters a real voice
in selecting the president.
Page 636
DISGUST WITH GORE OVERWHELMS ENTIRE ELECTION PROCESS Saint Paul Pioneer Press (Minnesota)
November 15, 2000 Wednesday CITY EDITION

The vote nationally shows Bush has the support of most of the nation. He won 2,434 counties compared with Gore's
677. Gore only has a large popular vote because he won in the major urban centers such as Los Angeles and New York.
Do we really want a president elected by the denizens of a few cities?
I am disgusted with the media, particularly the television media. They are driving this story rather than reporting it.
I am also disgusted with the media for giving Jesse Jackson a forum to spout his hate-mongering and divisive rhetoric.
Finally, I am disgusted with the Florida residents who have filed the lawsuits (and the media for not challenging their
claims).
The three plaintiffs - Abigail McCarthy, Lillian Gaines and Andre Fladell - are political activists with extensive politi-
cal experience, not confused voters. McCarthy is a county commissioner, Gains is a former member of the Children's
Services Council in Palm Beach County, and Fladell is a political consultant and Democratic activist.
They weren't confused. They lost and see a legal challenge as the only way to enforce their will on the rest of the nation.
Gore could put an end to this mess by doing the manly thing and conceding the race rather than asking for more re-
counts. But the history of the Clinton-Gore tenure shows this won't happen.
Instead, Gore and the Democrats will drag this nation through the mud one last time before stepping down, thereby
making us the world's joke once again.
I am just plain disgusted with this administration and Al Gore.
Just go!
Lucente is the editorial-page editor of the Lima (Ohio) News, P.O. Box 690, Lima OH 45802. Distributed by KRT
News Service.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

Copyright 2000 St. Paul Pioneer Press
All Rights Reserved
Page 637


The Evening Standard (London)

November 14, 2000

Meet the real loser of the US election

BYLINE: Molly Watson

SECTION: Pg. 24

LENGTH: 521 words

THERESA LEPORE used to be known as Miss Perfection by her friends in West Palm Beach. Now the woman who
designed the ill-fated "butterfly ballot" at the centre of the battle for the Presidential Election has been dubbed Little
Miss Catastrophe.
Hers is the nightmarish story of a devoted small-town clerk who finds her honest mistake has unwittingly fouled up the
election of the leader of the free world.
As county elections supervisor, Ms LePore produced the Palm Beach County ballot papers. They were publicly ap-
proved before the election but proved so confusing on polling day that more than 19,000 voters selected more than one
candidate and voided their vote.
Several thousand others mistakenly voted for extremist Pat Buchanan when they intended to vote for Democrat Al
Gore. To make matters worse LePore is a registered Democrat although members of her own party are now trying to
kick her out.
The spinster, who has devoted her life to holding fair elections, is the subject of numerous lawsuits filed by her neigh-
bours and the target of national hatred.
After spending much of the time since Election Night in tears, and vowing "I'll never do it again", Ms LePore now
lives as a recluse. At press conferences she is a ghostlike figure, unable to speak or function properly as boisterous
crowds chant outside for her resignation.
The irony is that Ms LePore had dreamed of becoming an elections supervisor since childhood. She joined the elec-
tions office as a 16-year-old and eventually achieved her dream 25 years later in 1996. She was recently re-elected un-
opposed to the 50,000a-year post in tribute to her spotless record and reputation for integrity.
"I don't know why she's getting the blame," says LePore's younger brother Dave. "She eats, sleeps and everything with
the elections. I mean, that's her life."
Andre Fladell, a Palm Beach County chiropractor who knows her, says: "Theresa LePore is a wonderful, gracious,
honest woman. Theresa LePore in no way did anything willfully to harm anyone, ever."
However, Mr Fladell is also suing her, seeking a new election. He suspects that the butterfly ballot was a result of Ms
LePore being too diligent, saying: "You know how sometimes doctors talk in a language that patients don't understand
because they assume the patient knows what they are talking about?
"She's been in this business for 20 years. It's simple to her because that's what she knows.'' Gwen White, a florist, is
less forgiving, declaring: "Theresa LePore looks like a fool. It was a bad ballot.
Her head is going to roll.'' Her lawyer, Robert Montgomery Jnr, says: "This is a very, very deadly serious business.
Who would have ever thought that this particular job - supervisor of elections - would engender such national and in-
ternational flap?"
Page 638
Meet the real loser of the US election The Evening Standard (London) November 14, 2000

Republican voter Hector Young surprised himself by pitying Theresa LePore, saying: "I hate Democrats and a I hate
bureaucrats. But if Bush loses how tough can it be for him?
"He's a multimillionaire with a baseball team. She has to sit in this small town feeling like an idiot forever."


LANGUAGE: English

GRAPHIC: MADAM BUTTERFLY: THERESA LEPORE AND HER CONFUSING BALLOT PAPER

PUB-TYPE: Paper

Copyright 2000 Associated Newspapers Ltd.
Page 639


The Washington Times

November 13, 2000, Monday, Final Edition

Democrats in positions of control over tally

BYLINE: Steve Miller; THE WASHINGTON TIMES

SECTION: PART A; Pg. A1

LENGTH: 801 words


WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The outcome of the 2000 presidential election is now in the hands of Florida Demo-
crats.
"These are not people who are interested in the rule of the law," said Palm Beach County Republican Party member Sid
Dinerstein, speaking of local Democrats. "They are interested in winning."
Four Democrats are wielding extraordinary power in the race between Al Gore and George W. Bush:
* Palm Beach County Commissioner Carol Roberts joined with Democratic colleague Theresa LePore to outvote the
panel's sole Republican to approve a manual recount of the county's 462,657 votes. The move came after a sampling
of four precincts found that Mr. Gore received a previously unrecorded 33 votes to Mr. Bush's 14.
* Palm Beach Circuit Judge Kathleen Kroll granted an injunction preventing the Elections Canvassing Board from cer-
tifying Tuesday's presidential election vote until today's hearing in Miami to decide the merits of a Republican request
to block manual recounts in Florida counties.
* U.S. District Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks, a Clinton appointee and son-in-law of former Democratic U.S.
Rep. Harry Johnston, will consider the Republican petition in Miami.
"It really sounds like they're running things, doesn't it?" said Barni Shuhi, president of the Royal Palm Republican
Women's Club, a rare organizational presence in the county.
"Theresa LePore is a Democrat, and her staff is mostly Democrats," Miss Shuhi said. "It the ballot was made up by
the staff and approved by the staff and the Democratic Party. And now, when their candidate loses, they make these
claims. It is truly a partisan situation that is controlled by Democrats."
In a contentious struggle early yesterday morning, Miss Roberts, a commissioner since 1986 and local Democratic fix-
ture since being elected to the West Palm Beach City Commission in 1975, was joined by Miss LePore in voting for the
countywide hand recount.
The hand recount of 1 percent of the precincts showed Mr. Gore gaining 19 votes.
"Based on the sample, there would be 1,900 votes that would not have been picked up" countywide, Miss Roberts said,
over the dismayed disapproval of County Judge Charles Burton, who had moved to ask the Secretary of State's Office
for an opinion before proceeding with the lengthy manual count.
Miss LePore, a lifelong Democrat who moved from clerk to supervisor with the wealthy backing of local Democratic
clubs, seconded her motion, giving the recount a majority.
The postelection votes have added up for Mr. Gore. A requisite mechanical recount in Palm Beach County last week
found 751 more votes for Mr. Gore. Mr. Bush now has a 279-vote lead in Florida in unofficial returns.
Page 640
Democrats in positions of control over tally The Washington Times November 13, 2000, Monday, Final Edition

Several lawsuits have been filed by voters whose complaints range from intimidation at the polls to a flawed ballot that,
they say, made them vote for the wrong candidate or prompted them to accidentally vote twice.
One of the first suits came from local Democratic activist Andre Fladell, who said his action was not partisan. His
suit says he was denied his right to vote by a confusing ballot.
"The Republicans and the Democrats can bang each other's heads together," Mr. Fladell said. He was trying to vote
for Mr. Gore but feared he voted for Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan. He also voted for Bill Clinton twice.
And a striking coincidence after the second recount made some Republicans uneasy: Mr. Bush held a lead of 1,754
votes in 53 counties that had been so far the exact difference between the candidates after the initial state count was
completed Wednesday.
Kevin McCarty, a state committeeman from Delray Beach in Palm Beach County, said the situation does not look good.
He worked with a group of Republican lawyers to go "judge shopping" last week when it appeared the election went
awry.
"We ended up with Kathleen Kroll, who is an ultraliberal," Mr. McCarty said. "Then we get Middlebrooks . . . this
couldn't have happened in a worse place, because we have the large retired community and, in this election, had the
Lieberman effect."
The "Lieberman effect" is the rallying of the substantial Jewish vote in South Florida's Jewish retirement communities.
Anticipating another round of complaints from the Democrats, Florida Republican Party spokesman Jim Smith cau-
tioned absentee voters who failed to send in their ballots at this point, since the deadline was Nov. 7.
Mr. Smith said at a press conference that "our system has never seen such abuses." Mr. Smith cited news reports that
some absentee voters who did not vote were now being encouraged to do so.
He cautioned that to do so would be felonious, and that encouraging others to vote fraudulently is also a crime.
Absentee ballots are scheduled to be tabulated on Friday.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

Copyright 2000 The Washington Times LLC
All Rights Reserved
Page 641


Sunday Mail (Queensland, Australia)

November 12, 2000, Sunday

Poor old Theresa


LENGTH: 112 words

FLORIDA election official Theresa LePore, 45, a longtime Democrat, is devastated by her ballot paper blunder.
Since election night, Mrs LePore's only recorded comment on the controversy has been: "Hindsight is 20-20. But I'll
never do it again."
But friend and fellow official Mary McCarty said: "I think it's unconscionable what's happened to her. She is emotion-
ally distraught."
Voter Andre Fladell, who knows Mrs LePore, said: "Theresa LePore is a wonderful, gracious, honest woman. She in
no way did anything wilfully to harm anyone, ever."
This has not, however, stopped Mr Fladell suing the official, claiming that her ballot paper design misled him.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

JOURNAL-CODE: SML

Copyright 2000 Nationwide News Pty Limited
Page 642


CNN

November 11, 2000; Saturday

SHOW: CNN TALKBACK LIVE 20:00

What Do Palm Beach Voters Think About Election 2000?

GUESTS: Frank DeMario, Monte Friedkin, Andre Fladell, J. Reeve Bright

BYLINE: Bobbie Battista, Greta Van Susteren, Andria Hall, Martin Savidge, Jeanne Meserve, Greg LaMotte


LENGTH: 7368 words

HIGHLIGHT: Despite attempts by the Bush campaign to end the political wrangling over the results of the presiden-
tial election, a manual ballot recount began today in Palm Beach County. Meanwhile, Florida's top election official
says that the system is near meltdown.

BOBBIE BATTISTA, HOST: Live from West Palm Beach, Florida, a special prime time edition of TALKBACK
LIVE. Talk to the voters in the country's most talked about electoral districts.
Hear what they have to say about recounts and lawsuits.
Good evening, everyone, and welcome to this special prime time edition of TALKBACK LIVE.
We are once again at Palm Beach Atlantic College in West Palm Beach, and we might add we welcome our worldwide
audience tonight, as we are also appearing on CNN International.
Welcome to you.
We have lots to talk about tonight, obviously, as Florida's top election official says that the system is near meltdown
here in the county, and the Bush campaign is challenging the hand count going on.
But first, we'll get the very latest from Andria Hall in Atlanta.
ANDRIA HALL, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you, Bobbie.
That's right. Despite attempts by the Bush campaign to end the political wrangling over the results of the presidential
election, a manual ballot recount began today in Palm Beach County.
Joining us with the very latest from West Palm Beach, with an explanation of what a chad is, CNN national corre-
spondent Martin Savidge -- Marty..
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well good evening to you, Andria.
Explaining chad is going to take some work, but actually let me tell you -- bring you up to speed where we are right
now. The hand recount is about six hours into its operation here at the government building.
If you want to see history being made, take a peer beyond the glass windows here because that is exactly what is hap-
pening inside there. You are looking at the elections canvas board, as they closely, carefully, very, very delicately
look at the ballots, at least 1 percent of them, that were cast on Tuesday in this particular county.
Page 643
What Do Palm Beach Voters Think About Election 2000? CNN November 11, 2000; Saturday

They are looking at what are called the questionable ballots. These are the ballots that have been kicked out by the elec-
tronic counting machines in which a vote could not be determined in the presidential race. It could be that some of the
ballots were double punched or over voted or other ballots that were under voted, meaning that there was no clear indi-
cation, at least to the machine, how the voter intended to vote for the presidential race. So they are hoping that the
human eye and the human brain can come up with some sort of consensus.
And reports from inside say there has been some additions to the vote columns of both presidential candidates, specifi-
cally 19 votes have been added to the column of George W. Bush and 30 votes have been added to the column of Vice
President Albert Gore.
Now that is only about half of a precinct actually, and what Democrats are talking about now is that if they see those
numbers, that sort of irregularity, if you extrapolate it across all 500-plus precincts in this county, then they could begin
asking the question, maybe we should hand count all of the ballots in this county. No one is too anxious to think about
that, because this process is taking a long time.
Also, chads -- that's what's been talked about it. It may sound comical, but it is deadly serious inside of that room, the
bits of cardboard that hang from the cardboard ballot, the indication of how the voter may have voted.
Listen to this. This is some sound coming to us from the communications director of Palm Beach County, Robert
Nichols, explaining the is the various types of chads.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOB NICHOLS, PALM BEACH COUNTY SPOKESMAN: These are the guidelines on ballots with chads not com-
pletely removed. The instructions in the voting machines are as follows, and these are the printed rules as we were
going: To vote, hold the punch straight up and punch down through the card next to the preferred candidate's name or
issue position.
The guidelines assume that these directions have been understood and followed. Therefore, a chad that is hanging or
partially punched may be counted as a vote since it is possible to punch through the card and still not totally dislodge
the chad. But a chad that is fully attached bearing only an indentation should not be counted as a vote.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: Are you confused? There are many people who are. There are actually three types of chad that are being
counted as a vote: hanging chad that's attached by a corner, swinging-door chad connected by two corners, and tri chad
that's attached by three corners. They are not counting what's called pregnant chad. Pregnant chad is an indentation
but not a perforation of the voting card.
So the three above were ones that are being counted as a vote. A pregnant chad does not count as a vote. It may
sound comical, but as we say it's very important in that room. And the Republicans this evening are not happy the way
proceedings are going.
Reporting live, Martin Savidge, CNN, West Palm Beach, Florida.
HALL: Thank you, Marty.
Nothing comical about how the Bush camp has proceeded. They have filed a lawsuit asking for a court injunction to
stop the manual recounts in four counties in Florida.
With more from the Texas capital, we are joined by CNN's Jeanne Meserve -- Jeanne.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Andria, that's right. The Bush campaign went to court today to try
and stop that hand count, asking for an injunction in U.S. District Court in Florida.
Former Secretary of State James Baker, who is the Bush campaign's emissary to Florida, said to hand count ballots in
only selected areas distorted the political process.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES BAKER, BUSH CAMPAIGN OBSERVER: We feel we have no other choice. The manual vote count sought
by the Gore campaign would not be more accurate than an automated count. Indeed, it would be less fair and less ac-
curate. Human error, individual subjectivity and decisions to, quote, "determine the voter's intent," close quote, would
replace precision machinery in tabulating millions of small marks and fragile hole punches.
Page 644

There would be countless opportunities for the ballots to be subject to a whole host of risks. The potential for mischief
would exist to a far greater degree.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MESERVE: Hand counts often boost the vote total for the person who won the election, and these hand counts are be-
ing conducted in Democratic areas that Al Gore won.
The Republicans could counter by asking for hand recounts in Republican parts of the state, hoping to boost George W.
Bush's vote tally, but no decision will be made on that, I am told, until the judge rules on the injunction request on
Monday morning.
Governor Bush, meanwhile, remained at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, with vice presidential running mate Dick Chen-
ey. He would head any Bush transition effort. Also with him, Andrew Card, named as a possible White House chief
of staff in any Bush administration.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GOV. GEORGE W. BUSH (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Everybody's keeping
their powder dry. It's just an interesting period, Ken. We're all in limbo. And there are some responsible -- I keep
using the word "responsible," because I think the people of America understand there's a very good chance that Dick
and I will be the president and vice president, and we need to be, when that happens, we need to be prepared. It's an
awesome responsibility, and so we're planning. I've told the state staff to, you know, be steady.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MESERVE: Bush aides say what they have seen of the recount process in Florida supports their case for an injunction.
One aide told me anyone who watches TV and sees what is happening in Florida should be queasy about the process.
Jeanne Meserve, CNN, reporting live from Austin, Texas.
HALL: Thank you, Jeanne.
From the Bush camp to the Gore camp, what is it doing? Well, it is defending its request for the Florida hand counts,
and it is also asking Bush to call off his lawsuit that aims to block them.
Gore campaign observer Warren Christopher says machines aren't guaranteed to give correct results. He says the
Democrats simply are trying to get an accurate read of the will of the American people.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WARREN CHRISTOPHER, GORE CAMPAIGN OBSERVER: When doubts have arisen, a hand count is seen as the
best way to ascertain the true views of the voters. This is common procedure around the nation. Machines can some-
times misread or fail to detect the way ballots are punched, particularly if there is a design flaw in the ballots them-
selves. In fact, the state of Texas recently enacted a law signed by Governor Bush providing for a hand count as the
best way to reach an accurate result in certain disputed situations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HALL: Warren Christopher said Gore campaign officials are considering various legal options, but he said they have
not decided yet if they will resort to any of them at this point.
Well, in West Palm Beach, Florida, the ballot count continues. But steady up, Florida is not the only state in play. In
New Mexico, election officials are recounting the presidential results in one county, and the statewide race there is still
too close to call.
CNN's Greg LaMotte has more from Albuquerque -- Greg.
GREG LAMOTTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, election officials say they are going to need to verify at least 150
votes, possibly as many as 160, to find out in essence who won this election.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GREG LAMOTTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Robert Lucero says he's had about three hours of sleep
over the past four days. He is a very tired election official in the state of New Mexico, where he's dealt with computer
Page 645

glitches, more than 250 missing ballots and complaints from several hundred residents who said they didn't receive ab-
sentee ballots.
But Lucero says almost all the problems have been taken care of, and everyone seems satisfied.
ROBERT LUCERO, NEW MEXICO ELECTION OFFICIAL: We brought in a district judge, we brought in represent-
atives from the Democratic Party, the Republican Party and the Green Party, who has a major party status in New Mex-
ico. This three individuals' attorneys watched the process from start to finish, so they've been by our side day in and
day out, and they approved of this process.
LAMOTTE (on camera): So who won the election in New Mexico?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not sure. Gore is what I thought, but it's very unclear right now.
LAMOTTE (voice-over): Al Gore once led in New Mexico by 7,000 votes. Now George Bush is ahead by 17, and no
one knows who's going to win the state's five electoral votes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It shows you how each person's vote counts.
LAMOTTE (on camera): Is it making you a little crazy?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I'd like to get it over with.
LAMOTTE (voice-over): But while everything that can be done has, New Mexicans will have to wait possibly until
Tuesday, maybe until Thursday, for the final result.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAMOTTE: Election officials say they still need to verify the votes of some 150 voters. These are the folks who said
that they didn't get a chance to vote absentee. State election officials say that they will need verify that these people
didn't actually end up voting twice.
So where is the state of New Mexico? The vote so close, this election could be decided by just a handful of votes.
Greg LaMotte, CNN live, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
HALL: That seems to be the mantra in Florida, as well.
I'm Andria Hall at CNN Center in Atlanta.
Back now to Bobbie Battista with a special edition of TALKBACK LIVE in West Palm Beach -- Bobbie.
BATTISTA: All right, Andria. Well, we have hanging chads, tri chads and pregnant chads to talk about when we
come back.
As we go to break here, though, let me do a couple e-mails for you.
Bill in New York says, "Republicans are calling for Gore to step aside for the good of the country. But why is making
sure that all the ballots are counted bad for the country?"
Michael in Maryland says,, why would we expect anything but challenges, complaints finger pointing and legal ma-
neuvering from the current administration?"
Just a sample of what you'll hear when we come back.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BATTISTA: Welcome back everybody to our prime time edition here in West Palm Beach of TALKBACK LIVE.
Joining us first today is CNN legal analyst Greta Van Susteren. Next to her is Frank DeMario, who is chairman of the
West Palm Beach Republican Party, and Monte Friedkin, who is chairman of the West Palm Beach Democratic Party.
Welcome to all of you.
Page 646

Frank, let me start with you, because that's where the latest news is coming from, out of the Bush camp, that they are
refusing to withdraw that injunction against the land count going on in West Palm Beach County. Why was an injunc-
tion filed? Why do they want to stop the hand the count?
FRANK DEMARIO, WEST PALM BEACH REPUBLICAN PARTY: Well, I look at it as, in my particular case, I
think a hand count is dangerous, because now you put a human factor in there. You're asking someone to look at a
ballot and then make a determination as to what someone was thinking when they punched that hole. Did they punch
it all the way? Did they stop punching it? They didn't push it enough to make the chad fall off.
I think that the machine count, we've had two mechanical counts. We won on both counts. How many counts -- that
was a test count, the third count today, but do they want us to keep counting until they get it right for them?
BATTISTA: Monte, go ahead. You want to answer that?
MONTE FRIEDKIN, WEST PALM BEACH DEMOCRATIC PARTY: Listen, the answer is very simple. There's
29,000 votes sitting out there that were voted incorrectly in one form or another or not voted all for the president of the
United States. It's very difficult to believe that an average American citizen in Palm Beach County would walk into
the polls and vote for the county clerk but wouldn't vote for the president of the United States in 10,000 cases.
DEMARIO: I would like to respond.
BATTISTA: Yes, go ahead.
DEMARIO: That is common in every election. There are many people that do not want to vote for the president of the
United States because they don't like any of the choices. It's happened in every election that I can ever remember.
Ten thousand people did not vote, and that's why I think when they ask for a revote it's ludicrous. Because what do you
do with those 10,000? Give them a second shot? I think it's totally wrong.
BATTISTA: But let me ask you this, if discrepancies are found in favor of Al Gore, for example, isn't it likely there
have been indications from the Bush camp that they would also ask for hand counts in counties that might favor George
Bush.
DEMARIO: Right, I mean we can do that. We can go on forever. What I feel like right now, I'd like to wait, do our
count, get it over with, let the Constitution take its course. We have laws in Florida. Let's wait until the absentee
ballots come in Friday. Everybody go home, relax, wait. The demonstration and all the noise that's going on is not
going to mean a hill of beans. Friday, when we get the absentee ballots, let's count. Whoever wins, that's it, declared
the winner. If it's Gore, we support him.
BATTISTA: Greta, this injunction, the judge is supposed to rule on it, what, maybe Monday morning?
GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Nine thirty a.m. Monday morning there's a hearing to see
whether or not the request for the injunction will be granted.
BATTISTA: I hate to ask you to speculate...
VAN SUSTEREN: Well...
BATTISTA: ... but I'm going to.
VAN SUSTEREN: You know what? I'm always willing to speculate, Bobbie, but, you know, you speculate based on
precedent, on history, when it's happened before. You can usually make something of an educated guess. And
they're always just guesses. You can't get inside a judge's head and try to guess what a judge is going to do -- we do it
anyway as lawyers. But in this case, there's nothing to look at. We have nothing to sort of look backwards. This is
such a unique situation.
I will tell you some sort of interesting aspects. I have read the lengthy filing by the Bush people and Republican voters
-- there's actually two sets of plaintiffs in this case. But what the -- they have to do two things. They have to show
irreparable harm and that they're likely to win on the merits. And the interesting thing is the irreparable harm is us,
because what they claim is that the media will publicize the recount. And if there's still -- and declare a winner. And
then if there's another recount and declare a different winner, that we somehow destabilize the American people and
their confidence in the system.
So the media is the irreparable harm that they assert if they should do this.
Page 647

BATTISTA: Let me go to the audience here quickly. Let me take -- is this a student here in the back. I think? Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, this is for Greta.
In regards to the people actually counting the votes, is there a provision made for Republicans and Democrats to be
equal in that where -- or is it just two parties, where it could be a Green and a Republican or a Green and a Democrat
represented there?
VAN SUSTEREN: Well let me tell you about this process because I've seen it talked about a lot on television. One of
the advantages of actually coming here is you get to see how it's really done. And I have to tell you, while there may
be a lot of bad publicity for this state about how it counts or doesn't count or any errors, I'll tell you one thing, this
county ought to be very proud about the way they do the recount. I have never seen anything so open.
Not only do they have a Republican and a Democrat, and not only do they have lawyers for the Republican Party -- or
for the Republican candidate, lawyers for the Democratic candidate, but they have the entire media watching through a
glass window. We have cameras, we're five feet away. It is the most accessible, open thing I've ever seen, and I
think Palm Beach County deserves a lot of credit because this is a very open process.
BATTISTA: I've got to take a break. As we do, a couple more e- mails that have come in. Steve in Louisiana says,
"Florida law mandates a recount. The law allows voters to ask for a manual recount. Republicans say Gore should
ignore the law and concede. They are career hippocrits." That's hippo -- H-I-P, that's critical of hippos.
OK, Sherri in North Carolina says, "I've come to the conclusion that nothing is fair in this country. I can only hope
and pray that Bush is victorious over the evil Democrats." Oooh, those would be fighting words.
We'll be back in just a minute.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BATTISTA: We're back, and we're still -- we're talking about the recount that is going on here, the hand count that's
going on in Palm Beach County. Greta was just talking about the canvassing board and the process, because she spent
a lot of time down there, and a gentleman in the audience had question here for Greta.
Go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I was asking how it can possibly be fair if the election canvassing board consists of three
members, Theresa Le Poor (ph), a judge, and a county commissioner, all of whom are Democratic. The Democrats
also selected the precincts within the county for a recount. So we have a Democratic selection initially of presumably
high precincts that contain a high percentage of Democratic voters, and we have the arbitrators. or the final -- the people
who are making the final decisions in the election canvassing board are all three Democrats. That has a taint to it.
I'm not saying that it is tainted, but...
VAN SUSTEREN: Let me...
BATTISTA: Let me have them address that before we run out of time.
VAN SUSTEREN: Let me answer several of those questions. First of all, those precincts that were selected, that is a
right by the person seeking the recount. That's the first thing. That -- if it were the -- if the shoe were on the other
foot, the Republicans could do that. That's your law here in the state of Florida.
But let me tell you about why I'm so impressed with the process here in Palm Beach. It is so open -- and I would chal-
lenge almost any other country in this world to have such an open process. We have media out there watching with
cameras. We have Danish media, we have Dutch media, we have Italy -- we have the media from Italy, we have Ger-
many, we have all the major networks, we have the local press here. We're all watching this.
And while there may be three Democrats who have the -- who are sitting there looking at the cards -- they do this labo-
rious process where they're looking at them carefully and they're passing them around, but right there sitting behind
them are two lawyers, both with red -- with blue tags that say Republican.
And I can't tell you about the three actual people, but I will tell you the process is so far out in the open for all of us to
police that the process itself is quite impressive.
Page 648

BATTISTA: Monte, let me ask you, that if the hand count is allowed to continue and discrepancies are found in the 1
percent that they're recanvassing, what is that going to mean? Does that mean you're going to have to recount all the
Palm Beach county votes?
FRIEDKIN: It's up to the board to make the decision, but normally if there's a significant change they're going to con-
tinue going through the county and doing additional precincts until they get, in my opinion, all the way to the other end.
BATTISTA: Can the system sustain that? Can you do it by 5:00 on Tuesday like you're supposed to, or...
FRIEDKIN: No, not, it can't be done, not based on what they're doing today. They've done a half... BATTISTA: So
we have more legal entanglements coming up.
FRIEDKIN: In five hours -- in five hours, I think, five or six hours, they did a half a precinct today.
BATTISTA: OK -- oh, boy. I've got to take a quick break again, and as we do we say goodbye to our CNN Interna-
tional viewers and thank them for joining us.
We'll continue here right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm from Texas. I'm not even from Palm Beach, so I didn't vote here. But, you know,
there's riots going on in Dallas now and everyone, you know, has problems there. But they're saying, let's get on.
Lets elect our president and go on. And if George Bush has been elected, I honestly feel for Al Gore, too. And I re-
ally like him. But if we've elected a president, let's elect him.
BATTISTA: But we haven't yet.
FRIEDKIN: That's the problem. We haven't elected a president. It's not final yet.
BATTISTA: Let me straighten something out with Monte here. As we were going to the break, we were saying that
the 5:00 deadline on Tuesday is supposed to be the end of this recount, correct? And if it is not accomplished, then a
federal judge has to extend it. But you say that if discrepancies are found, it will automatically get extended, or what?
How does that work?
FRIEDKIN: If there's a significant amount of discrepancies, they can, the board can, decide to extend it. And if they
do that, this could go on god knows when.
BATTISTA: Well we -- I did see a quote earlier from Bob Crawford, who I believe is your top election official, saying
that he just doesn't know if the system can maintain it if you have to go to an entire new recount in the whole county of
West Palm Beach, that the system's in for a meltdown.
FRIEDKIN: Palm Beach.
BATTISTA: Palm Beach.
BATTISTA: Where am I?
FRIEDKIN: It's being done in other counties right now, as we talk. They're counting other counties in the state of
Florida by hand right now. And they started Saturday, or today, this morning, and they'll finish by Monday or Tues-
day. And what's happened here is they've gone for this 1 percent rule. And at the end of the day, when the 1 percent
rule is finished, if there's enough discrepancies -- and in the first half of the first precinct, there were 30 additional votes
for Gore and 19 for Bush. So there's a net gain for Gore of 11. That's what's happened in the first half of the first pre-
cinct.
And the bottom line is, they will continue to go forward one way or other because they have to go through the process.
There's no choice to it. We're living in a democracy. It's the finest system in the world. It may not be perfect, but
everybody else's is worse. It's as simple as that.
VAN SUSTEREN: Do you think it's a little bit odd, though, that whenever anyone does recounts anyplace, whether it's
in the state of Florida or New Mexico or Wisconsin, I mean, that the numbers always change so? I mean, it doesn't
give at least -- you know, in this day and age we put a man on the moon, we have aircraft carriers run by nuclear power
with 5,000 people living on it, but every time we count ballots it changes a little.
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BATTISTA: Different every time. It does shake the confidence, I think a little bit, in the voters. It's not a great sys-
tem, and that, we hope, is what will be the changes that come out of this whole thing is a better system.
FRIEDKIN: The system -- the system is OK, it's the machines that are not OK. The machines don't work. That's the
problem.
BATTISTA: The way we do it -- the way we do it.
Are you guys all disagreeing? You want the old machines from 1892? That's OK with you? Is that what you're
saying?
FRIEDKIN: We need some better system.
BATTISTA: Well hold on. Let me get a microphone up there to you real quick.
She doesn't have a name tag. She's a Yankee.
KELLY: My name is Kelly.
You cannot decide to change the system just because your candidate did not get in. How many recounts are we going
to do just to see that Al Gore gets in? You're going to keep doing recounts and recounts and recounts until your can-
didate gets in?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This election is not over. We've always elected the president by the electoral college, not by
our popular vote. So the election's not over, the vote's have not been counted, and Bush has not been elected.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I also have to say, regarding Bush getting in, one, Bush is not in. And, two, if the shoe was
on the other foot, don't think for a second Mr. Bush wouldn't be doing the same thing that the Gore camp is requesting.
LARRY: I think I have a new perspective here. I taught law 25 years ago in this state on the west coast, and I've been
in the Democratic Party and the Republican Party.
I have a problem that Greta didn't talk about with irreparable harm in terms of in the last 48 hours, before the Bush
campaign lodged its papers, I was digging through papers myself -- and I may in fact still join in that -- and I find that
this last what I called assessment by individuals is fallible as opposed to the machine.
Now don't get me wrong. I don't think we have anything better, but we had two machine-run votes. If you have peo-
ple looking at something and you have to assess, we now have a third -- I think, Bobbie, you gave us a term for that
little chad...
VAN SUSTEREN: Can I ask you just a question, Larry?
LARRY: Yes.
VAN SUSTEREN: The fact that we do these manual votes, they differ significantly from the machines, does that mean
that you think the machines are infallible and the people are the fallible ones, even though they have these checks and
balances, they have several people looking? What gives you the confidence in the machine over the people?
LARRY: Well, Greta, it's not so much that I have confidence in people versus machinery, but in terms of looking at
practicality of what we have to live with in running a country, a republic as big as we have.
There are problems in every single election I've ever seen in my life, whether I've been politically active in my life or
not politically active.
Right now, if we don't follow the rules as set...
BATTISTA: Can I ask you something? Is it correct...
VAN SUSTEREN: Oh, but see, there, the rules are being followed, because they have had a right to do that. I mean,
the rules are being followed.
LARRY: But, Greta...
BATTISTA: Let me ask you this, because maybe -- in Texas law, isn't it -- wasn't -- didn't George Bush sign something
a couple years ago -- in '97, right -- that said that hand counting was the best way to settle a voting dispute? So how do
we -- I mean -- is that...
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VAN SUSTEREN: Well, according to the Texas law -- I mean, and according to what is being said by the Democratic
Party is that two years ago or three years -- I guess my math is bad as it is down here, sorry. It's three years -- fuzzy
math. I've got some fuzzy math myself. Oops -- is that George W. Bush signed some legislation which had a pref-
erence for manual recount.
And so, you know, it's a little bit of an issue that the Republican Party may have to deal with. But forget all that. I
mean, forget the politics. I mean, the problem is that we've got to figure out what the votes are and what the people
voted for.
BATTISTA: Frank, go ahead.
DEMARIO: This all started because someone said that they had difficulty punching the holes or trying to find the hole,
OK? Which I find rather odd. And they're trying to say that all those votes that were cast were cast in error, that's
why they were cast for Buchanan instead of Gore.
And I have -- I had my office, the director of my party, run some numbers for me to try to compare and see what the
registration was for the precincts that voted so overwhelmingly, supposedly, for Buchanan. And the numbers are way
below the registration for the Reform Party and all the other independents combined for those precincts and I'll go
heavy Democrat, heavy Republican.
This all started from someone saying that I think I had trouble -- did you have any trouble when you went to the voting
booth? Oh, yes, I think I did. You know, I might not have voted for Al Gore. I think I voted for Buchanan. And I
heard people saying that here last night. And I find that, you have to be told by someone. And that's where this
started.
And I can go even further and show you, well, I mean...
BATTISTA: I've got to...
DEMARIO: ... did they know the ballot? Did they know what they were doing? Here, punch No. 5. This is the
Democratic club of Century Village. And I'll also say, Mr. Friedkin, you, as I, the memorandum that told us to look at
the ballot.
FRIEDKIN: I've never seen this.
DEMARIO: Well, you should have. I got mine. Did you get yours?
FRIEDKIN: I didn't got one.
DEMARIO: Oh, you didn't get one, right?
BATTISTA: I've got to go to break. I've got to go to break.
DEMARIO: OK.
BATTISTA: But, Frank, Monte, thank you very much for joining us today. You guys have some hard work ahead of
you, and we appreciate the work you're doing. And thanks very much for coming in tonight.
Greta Van Susteren, thank you once again for joining us.
We'll continue right here after the break.
Don't go away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BATTISTA: Welcome back.
We are at Palm Beach Atlantic College for this special prime time edition of TALKBACK LIVE.
More e-mail: Brad in Kentucky says, "What I don't understand is how Bush does not want the votes manually recount-
ed. Isn't this the man who said he trusts the people?"
Elle in Nevada says, "Gore wants to hold the country hostage, while he counts and recounts and recounts tries to steal
this very close election. Hang in there, George, you have a right to defend your position."
Page 651

All right, joining us now are two more special guests, Andre Fladell -- is that right? I said that correctly, right? You
are suing...
ANDRE FLADELL, SUING PALM BEACH COUNTY: Fladell.
BATTISTA: Fladell -- you are suing the county of Palm Beach, demanding a revote there. And also with you is J.
Reeve Bright, who is an attorney for the West Palm Beach Republican Party. And the interesting thing here is you
guys have known each other for 20 years, you're good friends, and now you're not so good friends anymore.
J. REEVE BRIGHT, ATTORNEY, WEST PALM BEACH REPUBLICAN PARTY: No, we're still good friends...
BATTISTA: You're working on it.
BRIGHT: ... and we want to say hello to our friends in Boston.
BATTISTA: OK, Andre, tell me why you're suing the county?
FLADELL: Well, let me just do something relatively easy. This is a copy of a sample ballot -- I'm sure you've seen it.
BATTISTA: Yes, we have, many times.
FLADELL: This is a copy of these instructions given in the booklet by the supervisor of elections. All I want is one
thing, and then I'll be pretty much done. This is voting instructions. Read step three as if this were your pen, and just
-- I'm going to show you something. Read step three.
BATTISTA: All right. Step three says, "To vote, use the punching instrument attached by change to the vote-o-matic.
Punch straight down through the hole to the right of the arrow by the candidate or issue of your choice. Do not use any
other punching instruments.
FLADELL: Take this and please vote for Pat Buchanan according to the instructions.
BATTISTA: Well you can't do that because -- well, you can, but there's no arrow to the right, so you would have to...
BATTISTA: How did I get on trial here? How did I get on trial?
OK, I cannot -- I'm staying out of this. I'm staying out of this. All I'm saying is that I cannot put -- I cannot mark to
the right of Pat Buchanan on this ballot.
FLADELL: Thank you, you've just lost your right to vote in Palm Beach County.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The problem is that...
FLADELL: How does it feel to be called confused? You know, you must be confused, because you couldn't follow the
instructions approved by both parties on the sample ballot approved.
Well, I agree. She doesn't have common sense apparently.
BATTISTA: But, you see, I would have looked to the arrow that's by the name.
FLADELL: OK, so put it by the arrow by the name, to the right of the arrow,
BATTISTA: OK, then the hole's right there.
FLADELL: That's left of the arrow, isn't it?
BATTISTA: Well, but I found it, didn't I? Right? I mean, if I wanted to vote, I think I could find it.
FLADELL: So on the second time, you finally figured by not following the instructions you could make a correction
and vote where you wanted.
In the state of Florida, in this county, in 22 years, on every ballot, on every page I have ever voted, I have always gone
to the name on the left of anyone who's ever run, looked across for the hole and marked it.
I went into the ballot, saw the person I wanted -- I didn't read all 10 presidential candidates, neither did the people for
George Bush. But what they did was mark the hole across the first for Bush, the second for Gore and the third, and
then you flipped the page.
Page 652

BATTISTA: Let me get J. Reeve in here. Does he have a case?
BRIGHT: Of course he doesn't have a case.
Andre, you know as well as I do that you never read these instructions when you went in -- before you went to the vot-
ing booth. You know that you didn't read those instructions any more than your party chairman, Monte Friedkin, did
when he got the letter from the registrar, supervisor of elections, telling her -- telling him what it was going to say a
month before the election and didn't complain.
You know you didn't read those instructions any more than anybody who saw them in the "Palm Beach Post" and who
never complained, and they went to every voter.
The issue is -- the issue is, was anybody confused? Could you possibly be confused if you'd come down here? Can
you not just...
FLADELL: You need to look at it like this...
BRIGHT: There you go.
FLADELL: You see, you don't look -- you see how this looks standing straight up? Why don't you look at it like we
see it? Why don't you look at it at the angle? Number one...
BATTISTA: Let me -- you know what? Do I have any folks in the audience who had problems with the ballot? Let
me -- over here to Myrna, I think it was. Or I can go over there, Chris, because you're working the other side of the
room here -- Myrna.
MYRNA: Well, first I'd like to say that when I went into the booth to vote I was in a big hurry, because I have a job and
I had to get there. And I'm an American citizen and I wanted to vote. So that was No. 1. I was in a hurry. And I
thought that in this election, even if the Republican was No. 1, the Democrat would be No. 2,, not No. 3. And second
of all, I can't understand where on the sample, in every other page the arrows are on the right as the instruction says, but
only on the page with the president -- and I also have one very big question: Why did the president start with No. 3?
What happened to 1 and 2? The thing is that if Bush won...
BATTISTA: Let me ask you something, Myrna, did you vote for the right person? Do you think...
MYRNA: I don't know. I really and truly don't know.
BATTISTA: Oh, boy. J. Reeve, what about folks who are saying they don't know?
BRIGHT: You're asking me what about the folks who say they don't know?
BATTISTA: Yes, she -- Myrna says she doesn't know.
BRIGHT: Isn't that an interesting thing. I have yet to meet a voter who would say to me, I didn't vote for the right
person. If you didn't vote...
FLADELL: I didn't vote for the right person.
BRIGHT: Here's the first one.
I've known Andre 20 years. It's the first time he's been confused. And I say to anybody who says, I didn't vote -- I
know I didn't vote for the right person... FLADELL: I know I didn't vote for the right person.
BRIGHT: Why did you leave the voting booth?
BATTISTA: Andre, Andre, hold on, I've got to take a break. I'm pushing the commercial break so I'll let you answer
that question when we come back.
We'll be back in a minute.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BATTISTA: It's getting wild here tonight.
We just had a question from the chat room that pretty much mirrored the one that J. Reeve had asked you, Andre, about
how can somebody leave a voting booth and not know who they voted for and not be sure about it?
Page 653

FLADELL: First of all, I have read these instructions. I read them six years ago, four years ago. I've read these more
than once.
Secondly, in the state of Florida, whoever the governor is, their party always goes first. By statute, by law, the Demo-
crat and Republican Party go first and second on the Florida ballot. It's the law. I'm sure you all know that. This
violates that law. As you can see, it goes -- nobody -- the Democrat and Republican goes first and third.
Secondly, by statute in the state of Florida by law, the name on a manual punch ballot, a ballot that is not a machine
ballot, by law on a manual ballot, hand punched, the name must be on the left and the punch hole must be on the right.
Therefore, in the five minutes you are given to vote in Palm Beach County, you cannot go into the voting booth and
start to figure out on one page for the first time in 22 years they have a new system where you have to read zig-zag, di-
agonal, descending. You go in, you find your second hole, you match it, and you leave.
BATTISTA: OK, let me go to my polling place person here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have something very important to say. I spent 6:00 in the morning to 9:00 at night
working on the polls. I was a poll inspector. I had no one really come up to me and say they were confused. The
few people that did ask me for help, everyone was treated very cordially.
And by the way, Dr. Tracy, you must know something. We had training. Every single inspector has to attend a class
in order to be an inspector. And we are very thoroughly trained. We don't even touch -- excuse me. You had your
turn.
FLADELL: If no one...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just want to tell you that -- I want to tell you something very important hasn't been
brought out. On those 19,000 cards that they said were thrown out, do you realize that every voter that came to me and
came to any one of the inspectors who made a mistake on their card was given another card? And they had up to --
OK. They had up to three cards they could get. And these were counted in the 19,000.
BATTISTA: Andre, did you ask for help from anybody at the polling place.
FLADELL: I had no idea that I didn't do what I always did and that it was wrong until an hour later. But...
BRIGHT: Come on. Give me...
BATTISTA: Let me let J. Reeve get in here quickly, because he -- I've got to go to commercial soon, and I want to be
fair.
FLADELL: But if there was nothing wrong with the ballot...
BRIGHT: Can I just...
FLADELL: ... then why did this supervisor of elections issue a warning to all voters that there was a problem in the
polls? If there was nothing wrong, why was the ballots issued a warning?
BATTISTA: Let me have J. Reeve answer that.
BRIGHT: The supervisor issued that advisory after people brought it to her attention on Election Day.
Let me tell you just one thing. It says No. 5 on the sample ballot that the Democratic clubs handed out, the No. 5.
And it's the same number right where you punch it on the ballot. So there couldn't be much confusion.
My question is, if these people who got confused can't read and follow a simple arrow, are these the same citizens and
constituents who don't want to be tested for their driver's license every year?
FLADELL: Maybe you can't read.. This is -- maybe -- my good friend may not be able to read. This is not handed
out by the Democratic clubs. Read who put it out. Read on the bottom who put it out? Can you read? Read the
bottom. Who put it out, Reeve? Can you read? Can you read? What were you saying? Go ahead, read it.
BATTISTA: What is it? Who put it out.
FLADELL: He says we can't read.
BRIGHT: It says United Democratic club of Century Village.
Page 654

FLADELL: No, read the bottom. Who out it out? Who paid for that?
BRIGHT: I couldn't read that.
FLADELL: You couldn't read it, could you? BRIGHT: And I've got bifocals.
BATTISTA: Let me go to the audience here quickly.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think before we talk about a revote, we have to realize how disingenuous it is for James
Baker and the Bush camp to be talking about the precision of the mechanical ballots, when in essentially 50/50 election,
the votes change from 1,850 in favor of Bush to 327 in favor of Bush. And I think that's why right now a recount is of
the utmost importance.
BRIGHT: Can I just -- let me just say one thing to that. The problem with the recount, the manual recount, is that it
becomes subjective. You go over there to the courthouse -- let me tell you, I've done three manual recounts, and I've
been involved in this. I've been there all day, and I'm going back. It is a completely subjective decision by the can-
vassing board. It is -- nobody there can tell you what the clear intent of the voter was, and you are substituting three
people's opinion for what the voter did, and they're trying to guess.
BATTISTA: I've got to jump in here...
BRIGHT: That's the problem.
BATTISTA: ... I've got to let that be the last word.
J. Reeves, thanks very much for joining us, and, Andre, you, too.
BATTISTA: We're out of time, and again I would just like to thank Paul Arcourts (ph) and all the staff here at Palm
Beach Atlantic College for letting us use the facilities this weekend. You guys have been a great audience.
And we'll be back in Atlanta on Monday for more TALKBACK LIVE.
Stay tuned for an all-star cast on LARRY KING LIVE.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


All Rights Reserved
Page 655


CNN

November 11, 2000; Saturday

SHOW: CNN TALKBACK LIVE 20:00

What Do Palm Beach Voters Think About Election 2000?

GUESTS: Frank DeMario, Monte Friedkin, Andre Fladell, J. Reeve Bright

BYLINE: Bobbie Battista, Greta Van Susteren, Andria Hall, Martin Savidge, Jeanne Meserve, Greg LaMotte


LENGTH: 7368 words

HIGHLIGHT: Despite attempts by the Bush campaign to end the political wrangling over the results of the presiden-
tial election, a manual ballot recount began today in Palm Beach County. Meanwhile, Florida's top election official
says that the system is near meltdown.

BOBBIE BATTISTA, HOST: Live from West Palm Beach, Florida, a special prime time edition of TALKBACK
LIVE. Talk to the voters in the country's most talked about electoral districts.
Hear what they have to say about recounts and lawsuits.
Good evening, everyone, and welcome to this special prime time edition of TALKBACK LIVE.
We are once again at Palm Beach Atlantic College in West Palm Beach, and we might add we welcome our worldwide
audience tonight, as we are also appearing on CNN International.
Welcome to you.
We have lots to talk about tonight, obviously, as Florida's top election official says that the system is near meltdown
here in the county, and the Bush campaign is challenging the hand count going on.
But first, we'll get the very latest from Andria Hall in Atlanta.
ANDRIA HALL, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you, Bobbie.
That's right. Despite attempts by the Bush campaign to end the political wrangling over the results of the presidential
election, a manual ballot recount began today in Palm Beach County.
Joining us with the very latest from West Palm Beach, with an explanation of what a chad is, CNN national corre-
spondent Martin Savidge -- Marty..
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well good evening to you, Andria.
Explaining chad is going to take some work, but actually let me tell you -- bring you up to speed where we are right
now. The hand recount is about six hours into its operation here at the government building.
If you want to see history being made, take a peer beyond the glass windows here because that is exactly what is hap-
pening inside there. You are looking at the elections canvas board, as they closely, carefully, very, very delicately
look at the ballots, at least 1 percent of them, that were cast on Tuesday in this particular county.
Page 656

They are looking at what are called the questionable ballots. These are the ballots that have been kicked out by the elec-
tronic counting machines in which a vote could not be determined in the presidential race. It could be that some of the
ballots were double punched or over voted or other ballots that were under voted, meaning that there was no clear indi-
cation, at least to the machine, how the voter intended to vote for the presidential race. So they are hoping that the
human eye and the human brain can come up with some sort of consensus.
And reports from inside say there has been some additions to the vote columns of both presidential candidates, specifi-
cally 19 votes have been added to the column of George W. Bush and 30 votes have been added to the column of Vice
President Albert Gore.
Now that is only about half of a precinct actually, and what Democrats are talking about now is that if they see those
numbers, that sort of irregularity, if you extrapolate it across all 500-plus precincts in this county, then they could begin
asking the question, maybe we should hand count all of the ballots in this county. No one is too anxious to think about
that, because this process is taking a long time.
Also, chads -- that's what's been talked about it. It may sound comical, but it is deadly serious inside of that room, the
bits of cardboard that hang from the cardboard ballot, the indication of how the voter may have voted.
Listen to this. This is some sound coming to us from the communications director of Palm Beach County, Robert
Nichols, explaining the is the various types of chads.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOB NICHOLS, PALM BEACH COUNTY SPOKESMAN: These are the guidelines on ballots with chads not com-
pletely removed. The instructions in the voting machines are as follows, and these are the printed rules as we were
going: To vote, hold the punch straight up and punch down through the card next to the preferred candidate's name or
issue position.
The guidelines assume that these directions have been understood and followed. Therefore, a chad that is hanging or
partially punched may be counted as a vote since it is possible to punch through the card and still not totally dislodge
the chad. But a chad that is fully attached bearing only an indentation should not be counted as a vote.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: Are you confused? There are many people who are. There are actually three types of chad that are being
counted as a vote: hanging chad that's attached by a corner, swinging-door chad connected by two corners, and tri chad
that's attached by three corners. They are not counting what's called pregnant chad. Pregnant chad is an indentation
but not a perforation of the voting card.
So the three above were ones that are being counted as a vote. A pregnant chad does not count as a vote. It may
sound comical, but as we say it's very important in that room. And the Republicans this evening are not happy the way
proceedings are going.
Reporting live, Martin Savidge, CNN, West Palm Beach, Florida.
HALL: Thank you, Marty.
Nothing comical about how the Bush camp has proceeded. They have filed a lawsuit asking for a court injunction to
stop the manual recounts in four counties in Florida.
With more from the Texas capital, we are joined by CNN's Jeanne Meserve -- Jeanne.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Andria, that's right. The Bush campaign went to court today to try
and stop that hand count, asking for an injunction in U.S. District Court in Florida.
Former Secretary of State James Baker, who is the Bush campaign's emissary to Florida, said to hand count ballots in
only selected areas distorted the political process.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES BAKER, BUSH CAMPAIGN OBSERVER: We feel we have no other choice. The manual vote count sought
by the Gore campaign would not be more accurate than an automated count. Indeed, it would be less fair and less ac-
curate. Human error, individual subjectivity and decisions to, quote, "determine the voter's intent," close quote, would
replace precision machinery in tabulating millions of small marks and fragile hole punches.
Page 657

There would be countless opportunities for the ballots to be subject to a whole host of risks. The potential for mischief
would exist to a far greater degree.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MESERVE: Hand counts often boost the vote total for the person who won the election, and these hand counts are be-
ing conducted in Democratic areas that Al Gore won.
The Republicans could counter by asking for hand recounts in Republican parts of the state, hoping to boost George W.
Bush's vote tally, but no decision will be made on that, I am told, until the judge rules on the injunction request on
Monday morning.
Governor Bush, meanwhile, remained at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, with vice presidential running mate Dick Chen-
ey. He would head any Bush transition effort. Also with him, Andrew Card, named as a possible White House chief
of staff in any Bush administration.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GOV. GEORGE W. BUSH (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Everybody's keeping
their powder dry. It's just an interesting period, Ken. We're all in limbo. And there are some responsible -- I keep
using the word "responsible," because I think the people of America understand there's a very good chance that Dick
and I will be the president and vice president, and we need to be, when that happens, we need to be prepared. It's an
awesome responsibility, and so we're planning. I've told the state staff to, you know, be steady.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MESERVE: Bush aides say what they have seen of the recount process in Florida supports their case for an injunction.
One aide told me anyone who watches TV and sees what is happening in Florida should be queasy about the process.
Jeanne Meserve, CNN, reporting live from Austin, Texas.
HALL: Thank you, Jeanne.
From the Bush camp to the Gore camp, what is it doing? Well, it is defending its request for the Florida hand counts,
and it is also asking Bush to call off his lawsuit that aims to block them.
Gore campaign observer Warren Christopher says machines aren't guaranteed to give correct results. He says the
Democrats simply are trying to get an accurate read of the will of the American people.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WARREN CHRISTOPHER, GORE CAMPAIGN OBSERVER: When doubts have arisen, a hand count is seen as the
best way to ascertain the true views of the voters. This is common procedure around the nation. Machines can some-
times misread or fail to detect the way ballots are punched, particularly if there is a design flaw in the ballots them-
selves. In fact, the state of Texas recently enacted a law signed by Governor Bush providing for a hand count as the
best way to reach an accurate result in certain disputed situations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HALL: Warren Christopher said Gore campaign officials are considering various legal options, but he said they have
not decided yet if they will resort to any of them at this point.
Well, in West Palm Beach, Florida, the ballot count continues. But steady up, Florida is not the only state in play. In
New Mexico, election officials are recounting the presidential results in one county, and the statewide race there is still
too close to call.
CNN's Greg LaMotte has more from Albuquerque -- Greg.
GREG LAMOTTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, election officials say they are going to need to verify at least 150
votes, possibly as many as 160, to find out in essence who won this election.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GREG LAMOTTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Robert Lucero says he's had about three hours of sleep
over the past four days. He is a very tired election official in the state of New Mexico, where he's dealt with computer
Page 658

glitches, more than 250 missing ballots and complaints from several hundred residents who said they didn't receive ab-
sentee ballots.
But Lucero says almost all the problems have been taken care of, and everyone seems satisfied.
ROBERT LUCERO, NEW MEXICO ELECTION OFFICIAL: We brought in a district judge, we brought in represent-
atives from the Democratic Party, the Republican Party and the Green Party, who has a major party status in New Mex-
ico. This three individuals' attorneys watched the process from start to finish, so they've been by our side day in and
day out, and they approved of this process.
LAMOTTE (on camera): So who won the election in New Mexico?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not sure. Gore is what I thought, but it's very unclear right now.
LAMOTTE (voice-over): Al Gore once led in New Mexico by 7,000 votes. Now George Bush is ahead by 17, and no
one knows who's going to win the state's five electoral votes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It shows you how each person's vote counts.
LAMOTTE (on camera): Is it making you a little crazy?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I'd like to get it over with.
LAMOTTE (voice-over): But while everything that can be done has, New Mexicans will have to wait possibly until
Tuesday, maybe until Thursday, for the final result.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAMOTTE: Election officials say they still need to verify the votes of some 150 voters. These are the folks who said
that they didn't get a chance to vote absentee. State election officials say that they will need verify that these people
didn't actually end up voting twice.
So where is the state of New Mexico? The vote so close, this election could be decided by just a handful of votes.
Greg LaMotte, CNN live, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
HALL: That seems to be the mantra in Florida, as well.
I'm Andria Hall at CNN Center in Atlanta.
Back now to Bobbie Battista with a special edition of TALKBACK LIVE in West Palm Beach -- Bobbie.
BATTISTA: All right, Andria. Well, we have hanging chads, tri chads and pregnant chads to talk about when we
come back.
As we go to break here, though, let me do a couple e-mails for you.
Bill in New York says, "Republicans are calling for Gore to step aside for the good of the country. But why is making
sure that all the ballots are counted bad for the country?"
Michael in Maryland says,, why would we expect anything but challenges, complaints finger pointing and legal ma-
neuvering from the current administration?"
Just a sample of what you'll hear when we come back.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BATTISTA: Welcome back everybody to our prime time edition here in West Palm Beach of TALKBACK LIVE.
Joining us first today is CNN legal analyst Greta Van Susteren. Next to her is Frank DeMario, who is chairman of the
West Palm Beach Republican Party, and Monte Friedkin, who is chairman of the West Palm Beach Democratic Party.
Welcome to all of you.
Page 659

Frank, let me start with you, because that's where the latest news is coming from, out of the Bush camp, that they are
refusing to withdraw that injunction against the land count going on in West Palm Beach County. Why was an injunc-
tion filed? Why do they want to stop the hand the count?
FRANK DEMARIO, WEST PALM BEACH REPUBLICAN PARTY: Well, I look at it as, in my particular case, I
think a hand count is dangerous, because now you put a human factor in there. You're asking someone to look at a
ballot and then make a determination as to what someone was thinking when they punched that hole. Did they punch
it all the way? Did they stop punching it? They didn't push it enough to make the chad fall off.
I think that the machine count, we've had two mechanical counts. We won on both counts. How many counts -- that
was a test count, the third count today, but do they want us to keep counting until they get it right for them?
BATTISTA: Monte, go ahead. You want to answer that?
MONTE FRIEDKIN, WEST PALM BEACH DEMOCRATIC PARTY: Listen, the answer is very simple. There's
29,000 votes sitting out there that were voted incorrectly in one form or another or not voted all for the president of the
United States. It's very difficult to believe that an average American citizen in Palm Beach County would walk into
the polls and vote for the county clerk but wouldn't vote for the president of the United States in 10,000 cases.
DEMARIO: I would like to respond.
BATTISTA: Yes, go ahead.
DEMARIO: That is common in every election. There are many people that do not want to vote for the president of the
United States because they don't like any of the choices. It's happened in every election that I can ever remember.
Ten thousand people did not vote, and that's why I think when they ask for a revote it's ludicrous. Because what do you
do with those 10,000? Give them a second shot? I think it's totally wrong.
BATTISTA: But let me ask you this, if discrepancies are found in favor of Al Gore, for example, isn't it likely there
have been indications from the Bush camp that they would also ask for hand counts in counties that might favor George
Bush.
DEMARIO: Right, I mean we can do that. We can go on forever. What I feel like right now, I'd like to wait, do our
count, get it over with, let the Constitution take its course. We have laws in Florida. Let's wait until the absentee
ballots come in Friday. Everybody go home, relax, wait. The demonstration and all the noise that's going on is not
going to mean a hill of beans. Friday, when we get the absentee ballots, let's count. Whoever wins, that's it, declared
the winner. If it's Gore, we support him.
BATTISTA: Greta, this injunction, the judge is supposed to rule on it, what, maybe Monday morning?
GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Nine thirty a.m. Monday morning there's a hearing to see
whether or not the request for the injunction will be granted.
BATTISTA: I hate to ask you to speculate...
VAN SUSTEREN: Well...
BATTISTA: ... but I'm going to.
VAN SUSTEREN: You know what? I'm always willing to speculate, Bobbie, but, you know, you speculate based on
precedent, on history, when it's happened before. You can usually make something of an educated guess. And
they're always just guesses. You can't get inside a judge's head and try to guess what a judge is going to do -- we do it
anyway as lawyers. But in this case, there's nothing to look at. We have nothing to sort of look backwards. This is
such a unique situation.
I will tell you some sort of interesting aspects. I have read the lengthy filing by the Bush people and Republican voters
-- there's actually two sets of plaintiffs in this case. But what the -- they have to do two things. They have to show
irreparable harm and that they're likely to win on the merits. And the interesting thing is the irreparable harm is us,
because what they claim is that the media will publicize the recount. And if there's still -- and declare a winner. And
then if there's another recount and declare a different winner, that we somehow destabilize the American people and
their confidence in the system.
So the media is the irreparable harm that they assert if they should do this.
Page 660

BATTISTA: Let me go to the audience here quickly. Let me take -- is this a student here in the back. I think? Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, this is for Greta.
In regards to the people actually counting the votes, is there a provision made for Republicans and Democrats to be
equal in that where -- or is it just two parties, where it could be a Green and a Republican or a Green and a Democrat
represented there?
VAN SUSTEREN: Well let me tell you about this process because I've seen it talked about a lot on television. One of
the advantages of actually coming here is you get to see how it's really done. And I have to tell you, while there may
be a lot of bad publicity for this state about how it counts or doesn't count or any errors, I'll tell you one thing, this
county ought to be very proud about the way they do the recount. I have never seen anything so open.
Not only do they have a Republican and a Democrat, and not only do they have lawyers for the Republican Party -- or
for the Republican candidate, lawyers for the Democratic candidate, but they have the entire media watching through a
glass window. We have cameras, we're five feet away. It is the most accessible, open thing I've ever seen, and I
think Palm Beach County deserves a lot of credit because this is a very open process.
BATTISTA: I've got to take a break. As we do, a couple more e- mails that have come in. Steve in Louisiana says,
"Florida law mandates a recount. The law allows voters to ask for a manual recount. Republicans say Gore should
ignore the law and concede. They are career hippocrits." That's hippo -- H-I-P, that's critical of hippos.
OK, Sherri in North Carolina says, "I've come to the conclusion that nothing is fair in this country. I can only hope
and pray that Bush is victorious over the evil Democrats." Oooh, those would be fighting words.
We'll be back in just a minute.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BATTISTA: We're back, and we're still -- we're talking about the recount that is going on here, the hand count that's
going on in Palm Beach County. Greta was just talking about the canvassing board and the process, because she spent
a lot of time down there, and a gentleman in the audience had question here for Greta.
Go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I was asking how it can possibly be fair if the election canvassing board consists of three
members, Theresa Le Poor (ph), a judge, and a county commissioner, all of whom are Democratic. The Democrats
also selected the precincts within the county for a recount. So we have a Democratic selection initially of presumably
high precincts that contain a high percentage of Democratic voters, and we have the arbitrators. or the final -- the people
who are making the final decisions in the election canvassing board are all three Democrats. That has a taint to it.
I'm not saying that it is tainted, but...
VAN SUSTEREN: Let me...
BATTISTA: Let me have them address that before we run out of time.
VAN SUSTEREN: Let me answer several of those questions. First of all, those precincts that were selected, that is a
right by the person seeking the recount. That's the first thing. That -- if it were the -- if the shoe were on the other
foot, the Republicans could do that. That's your law here in the state of Florida.
But let me tell you about why I'm so impressed with the process here in Palm Beach. It is so open -- and I would chal-
lenge almost any other country in this world to have such an open process. We have media out there watching with
cameras. We have Danish media, we have Dutch media, we have Italy -- we have the media from Italy, we have Ger-
many, we have all the major networks, we have the local press here. We're all watching this.
And while there may be three Democrats who have the -- who are sitting there looking at the cards -- they do this labo-
rious process where they're looking at them carefully and they're passing them around, but right there sitting behind
them are two lawyers, both with red -- with blue tags that say Republican.
And I can't tell you about the three actual people, but I will tell you the process is so far out in the open for all of us to
police that the process itself is quite impressive.
Page 661

BATTISTA: Monte, let me ask you, that if the hand count is allowed to continue and discrepancies are found in the 1
percent that they're recanvassing, what is that going to mean? Does that mean you're going to have to recount all the
Palm Beach county votes?
FRIEDKIN: It's up to the board to make the decision, but normally if there's a significant change they're going to con-
tinue going through the county and doing additional precincts until they get, in my opinion, all the way to the other end.
BATTISTA: Can the system sustain that? Can you do it by 5:00 on Tuesday like you're supposed to, or...
FRIEDKIN: No, not, it can't be done, not based on what they're doing today. They've done a half... BATTISTA: So
we have more legal entanglements coming up.
FRIEDKIN: In five hours -- in five hours, I think, five or six hours, they did a half a precinct today.
BATTISTA: OK -- oh, boy. I've got to take a quick break again, and as we do we say goodbye to our CNN Interna-
tional viewers and thank them for joining us.
We'll continue here right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm from Texas. I'm not even from Palm Beach, so I didn't vote here. But, you know,
there's riots going on in Dallas now and everyone, you know, has problems there. But they're saying, let's get on.
Lets elect our president and go on. And if George Bush has been elected, I honestly feel for Al Gore, too. And I re-
ally like him. But if we've elected a president, let's elect him.
BATTISTA: But we haven't yet.
FRIEDKIN: That's the problem. We haven't elected a president. It's not final yet.
BATTISTA: Let me straighten something out with Monte here. As we were going to the break, we were saying that
the 5:00 deadline on Tuesday is supposed to be the end of this recount, correct? And if it is not accomplished, then a
federal judge has to extend it. But you say that if discrepancies are found, it will automatically get extended, or what?
How does that work?
FRIEDKIN: If there's a significant amount of discrepancies, they can, the board can, decide to extend it. And if they
do that, this could go on god knows when.
BATTISTA: Well we -- I did see a quote earlier from Bob Crawford, who I believe is your top election official, saying
that he just doesn't know if the system can maintain it if you have to go to an entire new recount in the whole county of
West Palm Beach, that the system's in for a meltdown.
BATTISTA: Palm Beach.
BATTISTA: Where am I?
FRIEDKIN: It's being done in other counties right now, as we talk. They're counting other counties in the state of
Florida by hand right now. And they started Saturday, or today, this morning, and they'll finish by Monday or Tues-
day. And what's happened here is they've gone for this 1 percent rule. And at the end of the day, when the 1 percent
rule is finished, if there's enough discrepancies -- and in the first half of the first precinct, there were 30 additional votes
for Gore and 19 for Bush. So there's a net gain for Gore of 11. That's what's happened in the first half of the first pre-
cinct.
And the bottom line is, they will continue to go forward one way or other because they have to go through the process.
There's no choice to it. We're living in a democracy. It's the finest system in the world. It may not be perfect, but
everybody else's is worse. It's as simple as that.
VAN SUSTEREN: Do you think it's a little bit odd, though, that whenever anyone does recounts anyplace, whether it's
in the state of Florida or New Mexico or Wisconsin, I mean, that the numbers always change so? I mean, it doesn't
give at least -- you know, in this day and age we put a man on the moon, we have aircraft carriers run by nuclear power
with 5,000 people living on it, but every time we count ballots it changes a little.
Page 662

BATTISTA: Different every time. It does shake the confidence, I think a little bit, in the voters. It's not a great sys-
tem, and that, we hope, is what will be the changes that come out of this whole thing is a better system.
FRIEDKIN: The system -- the system is OK, it's the machines that are not OK. The machines don't work. That's the
problem.
BATTISTA: The way we do it -- the way we do it.
Are you guys all disagreeing? You want the old machines from 1892? That's OK with you? Is that what you're
saying?
FRIEDKIN: We need some better system.
BATTISTA: Well hold on. Let me get a microphone up there to you real quick.
She doesn't have a name tag. She's a Yankee.
KELLY: My name is Kelly.
You cannot decide to change the system just because your candidate did not get in. How many recounts are we going
to do just to see that Al Gore gets in? You're going to keep doing recounts and recounts and recounts until your can-
didate gets in?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This election is not over. We've always elected the president by the electoral college, not by
our popular vote. So the election's not over, the vote's have not been counted, and Bush has not been elected.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I also have to say, regarding Bush getting in, one, Bush is not in. And, two, if the shoe was
on the other foot, don't think for a second Mr. Bush wouldn't be doing the same thing that the Gore camp is requesting.
LARRY: I think I have a new perspective here. I taught law 25 years ago in this state on the west coast, and I've been
in the Democratic Party and the Republican Party.
I have a problem that Greta didn't talk about with irreparable harm in terms of in the last 48 hours, before the Bush
campaign lodged its papers, I was digging through papers myself -- and I may in fact still join in that -- and I find that
this last what I called assessment by individuals is fallible as opposed to the machine.
Now don't get me wrong. I don't think we have anything better, but we had two machine-run votes. If you have peo-
ple looking at something and you have to assess, we now have a third -- I think, Bobbie, you gave us a term for that
little chad...
VAN SUSTEREN: Can I ask you just a question, Larry?
LARRY: Yes.
VAN SUSTEREN: The fact that we do these manual votes, they differ significantly from the machines, does that mean
that you think the machines are infallible and the people are the fallible ones, even though they have these checks and
balances, they have several people looking? What gives you the confidence in the machine over the people?
LARRY: Well, Greta, it's not so much that I have confidence in people versus machinery, but in terms of looking at
practicality of what we have to live with in running a country, a republic as big as we have.
There are problems in every single election I've ever seen in my life, whether I've been politically active in my life or
not politically active.
Right now, if we don't follow the rules as set...
BATTISTA: Can I ask you something? Is it correct...
VAN SUSTEREN: Oh, but see, there, the rules are being followed, because they have had a right to do that. I mean,
the rules are being followed.
LARRY: But, Greta...
BATTISTA: Let me ask you this, because maybe -- in Texas law, isn't it -- wasn't -- didn't George Bush sign something
a couple years ago -- in '97, right -- that said that hand counting was the best way to settle a voting dispute? So how do
we -- I mean -- is that...
Page 663

VAN SUSTEREN: Well, according to the Texas law -- I mean, and according to what is being said by the Democratic
Party is that two years ago or three years -- I guess my math is bad as it is down here, sorry. It's three years -- fuzzy
math. I've got some fuzzy math myself. Oops -- is that George W. Bush signed some legislation which had a pref-
erence for manual recount.
And so, you know, it's a little bit of an issue that the Republican Party may have to deal with. But forget all that. I
mean, forget the politics. I mean, the problem is that we've got to figure out what the votes are and what the people
voted for.
BATTISTA: Frank, go ahead.
DEMARIO: This all started because someone said that they had difficulty punching the holes or trying to find the hole,
OK? Which I find rather odd. And they're trying to say that all those votes that were cast were cast in error, that's
why they were cast for Buchanan instead of Gore.
And I have -- I had my office, the director of my party, run some numbers for me to try to compare and see what the
registration was for the precincts that voted so overwhelmingly, supposedly, for Buchanan. And the numbers are way
below the registration for the Reform Party and all the other independents combined for those precincts and I'll go
heavy Democrat, heavy Republican.
This all started from someone saying that I think I had trouble -- did you have any trouble when you went to the voting
booth? Oh, yes, I think I did. You know, I might not have voted for Al Gore. I think I voted for Buchanan. And I
heard people saying that here last night. And I find that, you have to be told by someone. And that's where this
started.
And I can go even further and show you, well, I mean...
DEMARIO: ... did they know the ballot? Did they know what they were doing? Here, punch No. 5. This is the
Democratic club of Century Village. And I'll also say, Mr. Friedkin, you, as I, the memorandum that told us to look at
the ballot.
FRIEDKIN: I've never seen this.
DEMARIO: Well, you should have. I got mine. Did you get yours?
FRIEDKIN: I didn't got one.
DEMARIO: Oh, you didn't get one, right?
BATTISTA: I've got to go to break. I've got to go to break.
DEMARIO: OK.
BATTISTA: But, Frank, Monte, thank you very much for joining us today. You guys have some hard work ahead of
you, and we appreciate the work you're doing. And thanks very much for coming in tonight.
Greta Van Susteren, thank you once again for joining us.
We'll continue right here after the break.
Don't go away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BATTISTA: Welcome back.
We are at Palm Beach Atlantic College for this special prime time edition of TALKBACK LIVE.
More e-mail: Brad in Kentucky says, "What I don't understand is how Bush does not want the votes manually recount-
ed. Isn't this the man who said he trusts the people?"
Elle in Nevada says, "Gore wants to hold the country hostage, while he counts and recounts and recounts tries to steal
this very close election. Hang in there, George, you have a right to defend your position."
Page 664

All right, joining us now are two more special guests, Andre Fladell -- is that right? I said that correctly, right? You
are suing...
ANDRE FLADELL, SUING PALM BEACH COUNTY: Fladell.
BATTISTA: Fladell -- you are suing the county of Palm Beach, demanding a revote there. And also with you is J.
Reeve Bright, who is an attorney for the West Palm Beach Republican Party. And the interesting thing here is you
guys have known each other for 20 years, you're good friends, and now you're not so good friends anymore.
J. REEVE BRIGHT, ATTORNEY, WEST PALM BEACH REPUBLICAN PARTY: No, we're still good friends...
BATTISTA: You're working on it.
BRIGHT: ... and we want to say hello to our friends in Boston.
BATTISTA: OK, Andre, tell me why you're suing the county?
FLADELL: Well, let me just do something relatively easy. This is a copy of a sample ballot -- I'm sure you've seen it.
BATTISTA: Yes, we have, many times.
FLADELL: This is a copy of these instructions given in the booklet by the supervisor of elections. All I want is one
thing, and then I'll be pretty much done. This is voting instructions. Read step three as if this were your pen, and just
-- I'm going to show you something. Read step three.
BATTISTA: All right. Step three says, "To vote, use the punching instrument attached by change to the vote-o-matic.
Punch straight down through the hole to the right of the arrow by the candidate or issue of your choice. Do not use any
other punching instruments.
FLADELL: Take this and please vote for Pat Buchanan according to the instructions.
BATTISTA: Well you can't do that because -- well, you can, but there's no arrow to the right, so you would have to...
BATTISTA: How did I get on trial here? How did I get on trial?
OK, I cannot -- I'm staying out of this. I'm staying out of this. All I'm saying is that I cannot put -- I cannot mark to
the right of Pat Buchanan on this ballot.
FLADELL: Thank you, you've just lost your right to vote in Palm Beach County.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The problem is that...
FLADELL: How does it feel to be called confused? You know, you must be confused, because you couldn't follow the
instructions approved by both parties on the sample ballot approved.
Well, I agree. She doesn't have common sense apparently.
BATTISTA: But, you see, I would have looked to the arrow that's by the name.
FLADELL: OK, so put it by the arrow by the name, to the right of the arrow,
BATTISTA: OK, then the hole's right there.
FLADELL: That's left of the arrow, isn't it?
BATTISTA: Well, but I found it, didn't I? Right? I mean, if I wanted to vote, I think I could find it.
FLADELL: So on the second time, you finally figured by not following the instructions you could make a correction
and vote where you wanted.
In the state of Florida, in this county, in 22 years, on every ballot, on every page I have ever voted, I have always gone
to the name on the left of anyone who's ever run, looked across for the hole and marked it.
I went into the ballot, saw the person I wanted -- I didn't read all 10 presidential candidates, neither did the people for
George Bush. But what they did was mark the hole across the first for Bush, the second for Gore and the third, and
then you flipped the page.
Page 665

BATTISTA: Let me get J. Reeve in here. Does he have a case?
BRIGHT: Of course he doesn't have a case.
Andre, you know as well as I do that you never read these instructions when you went in -- before you went to the vot-
ing booth. You know that you didn't read those instructions any more than your party chairman, Monte Friedkin, did
when he got the letter from the registrar, supervisor of elections, telling her -- telling him what it was going to say a
month before the election and didn't complain.
You know you didn't read those instructions any more than anybody who saw them in the "Palm Beach Post" and who
never complained, and they went to every voter.
The issue is -- the issue is, was anybody confused? Could you possibly be confused if you'd come down here? Can
you not just...
FLADELL: You need to look at it like this...
BRIGHT: There you go.
FLADELL: You see, you don't look -- you see how this looks standing straight up? Why don't you look at it like we
see it? Why don't you look at it at the angle? Number one...
BATTISTA: Let me -- you know what? Do I have any folks in the audience who had problems with the ballot? Let
me -- over here to Myrna, I think it was. Or I can go over there, Chris, because you're working the other side of the
room here -- Myrna.
MYRNA: Well, first I'd like to say that when I went into the booth to vote I was in a big hurry, because I have a job and
I had to get there. And I'm an American citizen and I wanted to vote. So that was No. 1. I was in a hurry. And I
thought that in this election, even if the Republican was No. 1, the Democrat would be No. 2,, not No. 3. And second
of all, I can't understand where on the sample, in every other page the arrows are on the right as the instruction says, but
only on the page with the president -- and I also have one very big question: Why did the president start with No. 3?
What happened to 1 and 2? The thing is that if Bush won...
BATTISTA: Let me ask you something, Myrna, did you vote for the right person? Do you think...
MYRNA: I don't know. I really and truly don't know.
BATTISTA: Oh, boy. J. Reeve, what about folks who are saying they don't know?
BRIGHT: You're asking me what about the folks who say they don't know?
BATTISTA: Yes, she -- Myrna says she doesn't know.
BRIGHT: Isn't that an interesting thing. I have yet to meet a voter who would say to me, I didn't vote for the right
person. If you didn't vote...
FLADELL: I didn't vote for the right person.
BRIGHT: Here's the first one.
I've known Andre 20 years. It's the first time he's been confused. And I say to anybody who says, I didn't vote -- I
know I didn't vote for the right person... FLADELL: I know I didn't vote for the right person.
BRIGHT: Why did you leave the voting booth?
BATTISTA: Andre, Andre, hold on, I've got to take a break. I'm pushing the commercial break so I'll let you answer
that question when we come back.
We'll be back in a minute.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BATTISTA: It's getting wild here tonight.
We just had a question from the chat room that pretty much mirrored the one that J. Reeve had asked you, Andre, about
how can somebody leave a voting booth and not know who they voted for and not be sure about it?
Page 666

FLADELL: First of all, I have read these instructions. I read them six years ago, four years ago. I've read these more
than once.
Secondly, in the state of Florida, whoever the governor is, their party always goes first. By statute, by law, the Demo-
crat and Republican Party go first and second on the Florida ballot. It's the law. I'm sure you all know that. This
violates that law. As you can see, it goes -- nobody -- the Democrat and Republican goes first and third.
Secondly, by statute in the state of Florida by law, the name on a manual punch ballot, a ballot that is not a machine
ballot, by law on a manual ballot, hand punched, the name must be on the left and the punch hole must be on the right.
Therefore, in the five minutes you are given to vote in Palm Beach County, you cannot go into the voting booth and
start to figure out on one page for the first time in 22 years they have a new system where you have to read zig-zag, di-
agonal, descending. You go in, you find your second hole, you match it, and you leave.
BATTISTA: OK, let me go to my polling place person here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have something very important to say. I spent 6:00 in the morning to 9:00 at night
working on the polls. I was a poll inspector. I had no one really come up to me and say they were confused. The
few people that did ask me for help, everyone was treated very cordially.
And by the way, Dr. Tracy, you must know something. We had training. Every single inspector has to attend a class
in order to be an inspector. And we are very thoroughly trained. We don't even touch -- excuse me. You had your
turn.
FLADELL: If no one...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just want to tell you that -- I want to tell you something very important hasn't been
brought out. On those 19,000 cards that they said were thrown out, do you realize that every voter that came to me and
came to any one of the inspectors who made a mistake on their card was given another card? And they had up to --
OK. They had up to three cards they could get. And these were counted in the 19,000.
BATTISTA: Andre, did you ask for help from anybody at the polling place.
FLADELL: I had no idea that I didn't do what I always did and that it was wrong until an hour later. But...
BRIGHT: Come on. Give me...
BATTISTA: Let me let J. Reeve get in here quickly, because he -- I've got to go to commercial soon, and I want to be
fair.
FLADELL: But if there was nothing wrong with the ballot...
BRIGHT: Can I just...
FLADELL: ... then why did this supervisor of elections issue a warning to all voters that there was a problem in the
polls? If there was nothing wrong, why was the ballots issued a warning?
BATTISTA: Let me have J. Reeve answer that.
BRIGHT: The supervisor issued that advisory after people brought it to her attention on Election Day.
Let me tell you just one thing. It says No. 5 on the sample ballot that the Democratic clubs handed out, the No. 5.
And it's the same number right where you punch it on the ballot. So there couldn't be much confusion.
My question is, if these people who got confused can't read and follow a simple arrow, are these the same citizens and
constituents who don't want to be tested for their driver's license every year?
FLADELL: Maybe you can't read.. This is -- maybe -- my good friend may not be able to read. This is not handed
out by the Democratic clubs. Read who put it out. Read on the bottom who put it out? Can you read? Read the
bottom. Who put it out, Reeve? Can you read? Can you read? What were you saying? Go ahead, read it.
BATTISTA: What is it? Who put it out.
FLADELL: He says we can't read.
BRIGHT: It says United Democratic club of Century Village.
Page 667

FLADELL: No, read the bottom. Who out it out? Who paid for that?
BRIGHT: I couldn't read that.
FLADELL: You couldn't read it, could you? BRIGHT: And I've got bifocals.
BATTISTA: Let me go to the audience here quickly.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think before we talk about a revote, we have to realize how disingenuous it is for James
Baker and the Bush camp to be talking about the precision of the mechanical ballots, when in essentially 50/50 election,
the votes change from 1,850 in favor of Bush to 327 in favor of Bush. And I think that's why right now a recount is of
the utmost importance.
BRIGHT: Can I just -- let me just say one thing to that. The problem with the recount, the manual recount, is that it
becomes subjective. You go over there to the courthouse -- let me tell you, I've done three manual recounts, and I've
been involved in this. I've been there all day, and I'm going back. It is a completely subjective decision by the can-
vassing board. It is -- nobody there can tell you what the clear intent of the voter was, and you are substituting three
people's opinion for what the voter did, and they're trying to guess.
BATTISTA: I've got to jump in here...
BRIGHT: That's the problem.
BATTISTA: ... I've got to let that be the last word.
J. Reeves, thanks very much for joining us, and, Andre, you, too.
BATTISTA: We're out of time, and again I would just like to thank Paul Arcourts (ph) and all the staff here at Palm
Beach Atlantic College for letting us use the facilities this weekend. You guys have been a great audience.
And we'll be back in Atlanta on Monday for more TALKBACK LIVE.
Stay tuned for an all-star cast on LARRY KING LIVE.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


All Rights Reserved
Page 668


Daily News (New York)

November 11, 2000, Saturday

EX-BROOKLYNITE IN VOTE SUIT

BYLINE: By WILLIAM SHERMAN and DAVE SALTONSTALL DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS


LENGTH: 354 words

Growing up as a kid in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, Andre Fladell remembers what his teachers at Public School 206
told him: "Your vote counts. Every vote is important."
That's why Fladell, 52, now a Palm Beach County chiropractor, added his name this week to a growing list of lawsuits
that aim to overturn that county's presidential election returns, which many believe are riddled with problems.
"This is not about either George Bush or Al Gore," Fladell said yesterday from his Delray office. "This is about basic
fairness."
Fladell's case is one of eight lawsuits that have been filed in state and federal courts to challenge the Florida results,
including six in Palm Beach County and two in Tallahassee.
The suits, which many expect to be condensed into one case for a hearing Tuesday or Wednesday, raise the specter of a
presidential election that ultimately could be decided not by ballots, but by the bench.
The suits charge that the county's butterfly-shaped ballot was both confusing and illegal and caused voters to mistakenly
cast ballots for the Reform Party's Pat Buchanan instead of Democrat Al Gore. Most of the lawyers say they seek noth-
ing short of a new election.
"Our goal here is that this election be done right, rather than right away," said attorney Gary Farmer, who successfully
sought an injunction barring the county from certifying its election tally until the next court hearing.
Lawyer Mark Cullen, whose clients include Miami Fusion soccer team owner Ken Horowitz, conceded yesterday that
he had given $500 to Florida's new senator-elect, Bill Nelson, a Democrat.
"But that's not what this is about," Cullen said. "Our clients all have very divergent political views, and they all believe
that the ballot was confusing."
No matter what, Democrats could have a hard time finding relief. Under Florida law, it's not enough to say an election
was flawed - unless you can show it caused the wrong person to be elected.
"And that's going to be a hard thing to do," said University of Florida law Prof. Joseph Little. "The courts are loath to
overturn the results of an election."


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

Copyright 2000 Daily News, L.P.
Page 669


Edmonton Journal (Alberta)

November 11, 2000 Saturday Final Edition

'Butterfly' ballot creator a devastated Gore supporter: Veteran of Florida elec-
tions office named in lawsuits

SOURCE: Reuters

SECTION: Top Copy; Pg. A3

LENGTH: 510 words

DATELINE: Miami

The woman who designed the "butterfly ballot" at the heart of the current election storm in Florida is described by col-
leagues as a conscientious official who has been devastated by the controversy.
"Theresa LePore is a wonderful, gracious, honest woman; Theresa LePore in no way did anything wilfully to harm an-
yone, ever," said Andre Fladell, a Palm Beach County voter who knows LePore but is suing her nevertheless in an at-
tempt to force another vote in Palm Beach County.
LePore, 45, a Democrat, has worked for the elections office since she was 16, rising from secretary to the county's top
elections official four years ago.
She had a spotless record until this week. But the design of the Palm Beach County ballot has become the focal point of
the disputed U.S. presidential election. Critics say Democrat Al Gore may lose because of her ballot.
LePore has had little to say since the storm clouds began to gather, staying out of sight. But of the controversial ballot,
she told the Palm Beach Post shortly after election night: "Hindsight is 20-20. But I'll never do it again."
Hundreds of Palm Beach County voters have said the ballot design caused them to mistakenly vote for Reform party
candidate Pat Buchanan when they meant to vote for Vice-President Gore. Backing those claims, statistical analyses
show an unusually high Buchanan vote in the county, a Democratic stronghold Gore won by 100,000 votes.
The two-page ballot she designed had Bush and Gore listed first and second on the left page and Buchanan on the facing
page, lower than Bush but higher than Gore. The single column of punch holes, in the middle of the two pages, were
aligned with the first hole for Bush, the second for Buchanan and the third for Gore.
Many voters, especially elderly ones who had difficulty matching up the holes with the correct candidate, said they
wanted to vote for the vice-president but punched the second hole for Buchanan by mistake.
Noisy demonstrators protested Thursday outside LePore's office, demanding a new election. Several lawsuits have been
filed, claiming the ballot was illegal under Florida law.
LePore, who has been named in at least two lawsuits, has been devastated by the controversy, friends and acquaintances
have said.
"I think it's unconscionable what's happened to her. She is emotionally distraught," said Palm Beach County Commis-
sioner Mary McCarty.
"She is a Democrat and I'm a Republican but she enjoys the support of both parties in this county. She is known for her
integrity."
Fladell, a chiropractor, agrees that it was an innocent mistake.
Page 670
'Butterfly' ballot creator a devastated Gore supporter: Veteran of Florida elections office named in lawsuits Edmonton
Journal (Alberta) November 11, 2000 Saturday Final Edition

"You know how sometimes doctors talk in a language that patients don't understand because they assume the patient
knows what they are talking about. She's been in this business for 20 years. What she sees out of her eyes is like the
doctor.
"It's simple to her because that's what she knows."
The ultimate irony: LePore designed the ballot to make it easier for senior citizens to read. A one-column ballot would
have required smaller print.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

GRAPHIC: Photo: AP; A protester takes a stand outside the governor's mansion in Austin, Texas, on Friday. The in-
conclusive election results have sparked angry words between Republicans and Democrats. Some people are calling for
a new vote in Florida, where many voters were confused by the ballot. Photo: Journal Stock; Palm Beach County elec-
tions supervisor Theresa LePore, who designed the disputed ballot

TYPE: News

Copyright 2000 CanWest Interactive, a division of
CanWest Global Communications Corp.
All Rights Reserved
Page 671


The Express

November 11, 2000

ONE MAN, ONE VOTE, THAT MAY CHANGE HISTORY

BYLINE: TIM SHIPMAN IN PALM BEACH

LENGTH: 504 words

It was just an ordinary election day for Andre Fladell until he went to the beach.
Looking forward to a lazy afternoon on Florida's golden sands, the 52-year-old chiropractor instead found himself
catapulted into the eye of a political hurricane following the most controversial ballot in U.S. history.
Mr Fladell has launched a legal action demanding a new vote in Palm Beach County, where Al Gore supporters be-
lieve 19,000 votes have been unfairly disqualified because confusing ballot papers led them to vote for Reform Party
candidate Pat Buchanan by mistake.
Andre, who has been voting in Palm Beach County for 22 years, had no idea anything was amiss until he met some
friends at the beach after voting on Tuesday.
He recalled: "They said they had great difficulty with the Presidential vote. I was telling them they were stupid. I said
'You just go down the list and match up the holes.' They said 'It's not like that on that page.' I said 'Sure it is'. Then I got
a copy of the ballot and found I had voted for Pat Buchanan. I was made to feel like the stupid one."
Andre puts the blame squarely at the door of the ballot paper which listed Mr Gore's name second on the list of candi-
dates on the left-hand page, but required voters to punch a hole in the third box down on the right-hand page.
"When I arrived at the polling station I was asked if I had any questions. I said 'No, I have voted many times before.' I
saw the first name on the ballot, which said Bush-Cheney, I saw the second name, which was Gore-Lieberman and I
punched the second hole. I didn't go in there to take a test, I went in there to vote for the President of the United States."
When he realised what had occurred he called lawyer Henry Handler. "I said 'This stinks, what can I do? I want to
complain because it's wrong.' He said 'Do you want to vote again?' I said 'You're damn right I do'."
Despite launching the action which might help to determine the next incumbent of the Oval Office, Andre is not even a
passionate opponent of George Bush, but instead has acted out of principle.
"I could have existed with Bush or Gore," he said. "But this is a country where you have one person, one vote. This
county got sometimes one vote, sometimes no vote. I don't feel good about participating in a Presidential election where
my vote doesn't count."
Andre denies he was put up to the lawsuit by the Gore camp. He said: "They called to ask me not to move so fast be-
cause it would cause problems, it wasn't the way they wanted to do it. But I'm not doing this for them, I'm doing it for
the people in my county who screwed up on the ballot paper."
Even Pat Buchanan admits that the number of votes he received in a solid Democratic enclave is suspicious.
Andre admits that he is bewildered by the pace of events and the publicity he has garnered. Nor is he impressed that
his lawsuit might go down in history. "This is a big story," he admitted, "but mine is a local story about the right to
vote."


LANGUAGE: English
Page 672
ONE MAN, ONE VOTE, THAT MAY CHANGE HISTORY The Express November 11, 2000

PUB-TYPE: Newspaper

Copyright 2000 EXPRESS NEWSPAPERS
Page 673


The Globe and Mail (Canada)

November 11, 2000 Saturday

Ballot's designer 'devastated'

SECTION: INTERNATIONAL NEWS; U.S. election; Pg. A24

LENGTH: 249 words

The woman who designed the two-column "butterfly ballot" at the heart of the current election storm in Florida is de-
scribed by colleagues as a conscientious official who has been devastated by the controversy.
"Theresa LePore is a wonderful, gracious, honest woman; Theresa LePore in no way did anything willfully to harm
anyone, ever," said Andre Fladell, a Palm Beach County voter who knows Ms. LePore but is suing her nevertheless in
an attempt to force another vote in Palm Beach County. She has been named in at least two lawsuits.
Ms. LePore, 45, a Democrat, has worked for the elections office since she was 16, rising from secretary to the county's
top elections official.
She had a spotless record until this week. But the design of the Palm Beach County ballot has become the focal point
of the disputed U.S. presidential election. Critics say Democratic candidate Al Gore may lose because of her ballot.
Ms. LePore has had little to say since the storm clouds began to gather, staying out of sight. Of the controversial ballot,
"I think it's unconscionable what's happened to her. She is emotionally distraught," said Palm Beach County commis-
sioner Mary McCarty. "She is known for her integrity."
The ultimate irony: Ms. LePore designed the butterfly ballot to make it easier for senior citizens to read. A one-column
ballot would have required smaller print. Reuters


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


Copyright 2000 The Globe and Mail, a division of CTVglobemedia Publishing Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Page 674



November 11, 2000 Saturday, METRO

CRITICIZED PALM BEACH ELECTIONS BOSS 'NOT A POLITICAL
PERSON';
SHE HAD BEEN AN INDEPENDENT BUT JOINED THE DEMOCRATIC
PARTY WHEN SEEKING OFFICE.

BYLINE: NEIL SANTANIELLO and BRAD HAHN, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

SECTION: A SECTION; Pg. A21

LENGTH: 503 words

For four years, Theresa LePore enjoyed a gleaming record as Palm Beach County's top electoral cop. But in one day,
she became a villain, regarded by half the country as the architect of ballot confusion that may have helped tilt a ra-
zor-thin race toward George W. Bush.
The supervisor of elections' high crime: the now infamous butterfly ballot she created, which some voters think deliv-
ered bunches of Al Gore votes, to their surprise and tears, to Pat Buchanan. Voters have gathered outside LePore's of-
fice, toting signs demanding a new county vote. Five lawsuits are pending.
Some people are calling for the resignation of LePore, 45, who has worked in the elections office for 29 years and who
clinched her second term as supervisor on Tuesday after drawing no opponent. With her instant negative celebrity, Le-
Pore has reached out for celebrity-size legal help, hiring attorney Robert Montgomery, who defended two former Sal-
vadoran generals cleared of responsibility in a Miami courtroom last week for the 1980 murders of four American
church women.
"Who would have ever thought that this particular job -- supervisor of elections -- would engender such national and
international flap?" said Montgomery, a lead attorney in Florida's successful lawsuit against the tobacco industry.
Yet amid the growing furor, some local Democratic leaders and county officials defend their elections chief, saying she
doesn't deserve the scorn being heaped upon her.
Andre Fladell, a longtime Democratic activist who said he voted for Buchanan after misreading the ballot, was a
co-plaintiff in a lawsuit Wednesday demanding a new county election.
But he said he could not fault LePore entirely.
"She's kind, she's sweet, she's considerate, she's nice," he said. "I don't bear her any malice, in any form, in any man-
ner."
LePore first went to work in the elections office as a teenager in 1971.
She rose from secretary to Jackie Winchester, the former elections supervisor, to deputy elections supervisor, and, fi-
nally, to supervisor after Winchester retired in 1996.
Those who know her well swear she is less a Democrat than nonpartisan. Until she ran for supervisor, LePore was reg-
istered as an independent on the very voter rolls she keeps.
"When she had to run for office, she joined the Democratic Party because they had the biggest voter registration in the
county," said County Commissioner Mary McCarty, a Republican. "She's not a political person."
Page 675
CRITICIZED PALM BEACH ELECTIONS BOSS 'NOT A POLITICAL PERSON'; SHE HAD BEEN AN
INDEPENDENT BUT JOINED THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY WHEN SEEKING OFFICE. Orlando Sentinel (Florida)
November 11, 2000 Saturday, METRO

She is a driven person, always striving to improve the elections process, say those who know her. LePore eagerly talks
to Democratic clubs and other voter groups and explains the workings of her office.
The current gaffe is a perfect example: LePore said she chose to list presidential candidates on two facing pages on the
ballot to make it easier on elderly voters' eyes. Stacking them in a row would have required tinier print.
"I think her job is her life," said Winchester, her former boss. "She's very hard-working and very conscientious."


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

GRAPHIC: PHOTO: Theresa LePore

COLUMN: Election 2000

Page 676



NOVEMBER 11, 2000 Saturday SF EDITION

VOTE OF NO-CONFIDENCE THERESA LEPORE WAS "MISS PERFEC-
TION" - TILL ELECTION DAY.

BYLINE: Neil Santaniello and Brad Hahn, KNIGHT RIDDER NEWS SERVICE


LENGTH: 790 words


She is a fixture in Palm Beach County, a basically apolitical public official who has made it her life's work to widen
voter participation and run elections fairly and efficiently.
Yet Theresa LePore, Palm Beach County's supervisor of elections, finds herself the focus of red-hot controversy in the
deadlocked presidential race, accused of disenfranchising thousands of voters by blundering the design of the ballot
used at county polling places.
Blamed for hindering the Democratic nominee's election, she is herself a Democrat, one who earned widespread respect
from both parties for her impartiality.
For four years, LePore enjoyed a gleaming record as the county's top electoral cop. But in one voting day, she went
from local elections heroine to national villain, regarded by half the country's electorate as the architect of ballot confu-
sion that may have helped tilt a tight race toward George W. Bush.
Her high crime: the butterfly ballot she created, which on Tuesday is alleged to have delivered bunches of Al Gore vot-
ers, to their surprise and tears, to Reform Party nominee Patrick J. Buchanan.
"She is Miss Perfection - or has been up until this day," said Isabella Fink, president of the Century Village West Dem-
ocratic Club.
Just outside LePore's West Palm Beach office Thursday, voters toted signs demanding a new county vote and banged on
the glass doors of the county governmental center with the same message. Lawsuits have been filed.
Democratic leaders said some had called for the resignation of LePore, 45, who has worked in the elections office for 29
years and cinched her second term as supervisor Tuesday after drawing no opponent.
"A lot of people have said that [she should step down], but the Democratic Party isn't urging that," said Peyton McAr-
thur, executive director of the county Democratic Party.
With her instant negative celebrity, LePore has reached out for celebrity-size legal help, hiring noted West Palm Beach
lawyer Robert Montgomery, a lead attorney in Florida's successful lawsuit against the tobacco industry.
Yet amid the growing furor, some local Democratic leaders and county officials defended their elections chief, calling
her a highly competent person of integrity who did not deserve the scorn being heaped upon her.
Andre Fladell, a chiropractor and longtime Democratic activist who said he voted for Buchanan after misreading the
ballot, was a co-plaintiff in a lawsuit filed Wednesday demanding a new county election.
Page 677
VOTE OF NO-CONFIDENCE THERESA LEPORE WAS "MISS PERFECTION" - TILL ELECTION DAY. The
Philadelphia Inquirer NOVEMBER 11, 2000 Saturday SF EDITION

But Fladell said he could not fault LePore entirely for his misdirected vote.
"She's kind, she's sweet, she's considerate, she's nice," he said. "I don't bear her any malice, in any form, in any man-
ner."
LePore's tenure would almost make her a landmark on a walking tour of downtown West Palm Beach. She first went to
work in the elections office as a teenager in 1971.
She rose from secretary to elections supervisor, to deputy elections supervisor, and finally to supervisor in 1996.
Until she ran for supervisor, LePore was registered as an independent on the very voter rolls she keeps.
"When she had to run for office, she joined the Democratic Party because they had the biggest voter registration in the
county," said County Commissioner Mary McCarty, a Republican. "She's not a political person."
LePore is loath to delegate duties, acquaintances say. She personally trained an army of paid poll workers each election,
running classes for 4,500 of them herself.
She is a driven person, always striving to improve the elections process, say people who know her. LePore eagerly talks
to Democratic clubs and other voter groups and explains the workings of her office.
The current gaffe is a perfect example: LePore said she chose to list presidential candidates on two facing pages on the
ballot to make it easier on elderly voters' eyes. Stacking them in a row would have required smaller print.
"I think her job is her life," said Winchester, her former boss. "She's very hardworking and very conscientious."
Former elections supervisor Jackie Winchester said the job was packed with stress. LePore oversees 531 precincts in a
county of more than 650,000 voters. Her office can churn out 100 different ballots for an election tailored to the varying
county-commission, school-board, state-legislative and congressional districts that cross the county.
"There's an awful lot of chances for mistakes," Winchester said.
LePore made a "terrible" one with the ballot design, Democratic chief McArthur said.
"She needs to apologize to the people," he said. "As a Democrat, I would like to see her publicly acknowledge it was an
error."
Still, he said: "Theresa is a wonderful, well-meaning person."


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

GRAPHIC: PHOTO;
PHOT
Theresa LePore, who designed the Palm Beach County ballot, counts absentee ballots. Many who know her say she is
hardworking, competent and undeserving of scorn. (MARLA BROSE, Palm Beach Post)

All Rights Reserved
Page 678


The Vancouver Sun (British Columbia)

November 11, 2000 Saturday FINAL EDITION

Designer of confusing 'butterfly ballot' left devastated

SOURCE: Reuters


LENGTH: 447 words

DATELINE: MIAMI

The woman who designed the "butterfly ballot" at the heart of the current election storm in Florida is described by col-
leagues as a conscientious official who has been devastated by the controversy.
"Theresa LePore is a wonderful, gracious, honest woman; Theresa LePore in no way did anything wilfully to harm an-
yone, ever," said Andre Fladell, a Palm Beach County voter who knows LePore but is suing her nevertheless in an at-
tempt to force another vote in Palm Beach County.
LePore, 45, a Democrat, has worked for the elections office since she was 16, rising from secretary to the county's top
elections official four years ago.
She had a spotless record until this week. But the design of the Palm Beach County ballot has become the focal point of
the U.S. presidential election. Democrats believe her ballot denied their man the presidency.
LePore has had little to say since the storm clouds began to gather, staying out of sight. But of the controversial ballot,
Hundreds of Palm Beach County voters have said the ballot design caused them to mistakenly vote for Reform party
candidate Pat Buchanan when they meant to vote for Vice-President Al Gore. Backing those claims, statistical analyses
show an unusually high Buchanan vote in the county, a Democratic stronghold Gore won by 100,000 votes.
The two-page ballot she designed had George W. Bush and Gore listed first and second on the left page and Buchanan
on the facing page, lower than Bush but higher than Gore. The single column of punch holes, in the middle of the two
pages, were aligned with the first hole for Bush, the second for Buchanan and the third for Gore.
Many voters, especially elderly ones who had difficulty matching up the holes with the correct candidate, said they
wanted to vote for the vice-president but punched the second hole for Buchanan by mistake.
Noisy demonstrators protested Thursday outside LePore's office, demanding a new election. Several lawsuits have been
filed, claiming the ballot was illegal under Florida law.
LePore, named in at least two lawsuits, has been devastated by the controversy, friends have said.
"I think it's unconscionable what's happened to her. She is emotionally distraught," said Palm Beach County Commis-
sioner Mary McCarty. "She is a Democrat and I'm a Republican but she enjoys the support of both parties in this coun-
ty. She is known for her integrity."
The ultimate irony: LePore designed the butterfly ballot to make it easier for senior citizens to read. A one-column bal-
lot would have required smaller print.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
Page 679
Designer of confusing 'butterfly ballot' left devastated The Vancouver Sun (British Columbia) November 11, 2000
Saturday

GRAPHIC: Photo: (THERESA) LEPORE

TYPE: News

Copyright 2000 CanWest Interactive, a division of
CanWest Global Communications Corp.
All Rights Reserved
Page 680


ABC NEWS

November 10, 2000, Friday

SHOW: GOOD MORNING AMERICA (7:00 AM ET)

THREE VOTERS FROM BOCA RATON, FLORIDA, TALK ABOUT LAW-
SUIT FILED SEEKING TO OVERTURN ELECTION RESULTS IN PALM
BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA

ANCHORS: CHARLES GIBSON

LENGTH: 1262 words

CHARLES GIBSON, co-host:
Joining us this morning from the city of Boca Raton, Florida, are three voters. They are the three who filed the first
lawsuit seeking to overturn the results of the presidential voting in Palm Beach County, Florida. They are Andre
Fladell, Alberta McCarthy and Lillian Gaines. And also joining us this morning is their attorney, Henry Handler. And
I appreciate all of you being with us. Mr. Fladell, let me turn to you. I--I now know your voting record. You vote a
lot. You are a very conscientious voter. Tell me what happened with you on Tuesday.
Mr. ANDRE FLADELL (Palm Beach County Voter): For 22 years, I've been voting regularly, and every time I vote on
every page for every candidate, the name is always on the left, and the punch hole is always on the right. In addition,
every time I've ever voted in this county for 20 years, the Democrat or Republican parties are always first and second. I
went into the precinct, showed them my identification. They asked me if I needed help. I told them I did not. I
went to the booth. I flipped over the first page, as I always do. The first name I saw was Cheney-Bush, the second
name was Gore-Lieberman. And as I always do, I punched the second hole, which was next to that name. I thought
that...
GIBSON: So you thought you had voted--you thought you had voted for Al Gore?
Mr. FLADELL: I voted as I always do. I went to the second name and the second hole. I then went on and voted
for--we have a five-minute time limit, which no one seems to mention. We must be out of the booth by five minutes in
Palm Beach County. And we had referendum questions, so I went on and I left. It wasn't until, being at the beach at
lunchtime, that I had any idea that there was such difficulty, and people I had spoken to said they had problems. And I
didn't understand with what. I had thought they just didn't understand how to vote. And it turns out that, because I
had done this so many times in exactly the same way, that this new format for this one page, that had never been used
before, putting other parties in between the Democrats and Republicans, and had people coming from another side on
another page. Every time...
GIBSON: So you--you know you voted for the wrong person?
Mr. FLADELL: I punched the second hole next to the second candidate. That's what I would do. I always read page
by page. I do that in everything I read in this language. I never read alternative pages back and forth, diagonal.
GIBSON: All right. And let me turn to Alberta McCarthy. Do you know if you voted for the wrong person or the
person that you didn't want to vote for?
Ms. ALBERTA MCCARTHY (Palm Beach County Voter): I'm not certain.
GIBSON: But--but you think you voted for Buchanan?
Page 681
THREE VOTERS FROM BOCA RATON, FLORIDA, TALK ABOUT LAWSUIT FILED SEEKING TO
OVERTURN ELECTION RESULTS IN PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA ABC NEWS November 10, 2000,
Friday

Ms. McCARTHY: It is possible. My experience was a little bit different than Andre's. When I went there, and I'm
aware of the five-minute period that we have to vote as well, but when I went there, first I was told that my name wasn't
there, for me to sign in and to vote in. And once I overcame that objection, then--then I was asked for my photo ID,
which I presented, of course. And then after I gave them my photo ID, then they tested me to see if I knew where I
lived. So I was a little distracted. I--you know, I hear about these things happening to people quite often, but you nev-
er expect it to happen to you. So, by the time I got to the booth, I was a little distracted. And when I focused and went
to the next pages, which were single item names to the left, holes to the right, I actually went back to the first page
again, because something just didn't seem right. So I'm not certain.
GIBSON: Hmmm. And Lillian Gaines, how about you?
Ms. LILLIAN GAINES (Palm Beach County Voter): Yes. I was confused initially. I had an unsettling feeling when
I went through the ballot. And I completed the voting, and went out of the poll, and started to think there was something
wrong. And the more I thought about it, more people came up to me and said, there's something wrong with that bal-
lot. I think I voted for Buchanan.
GIBSON: Hmmm.
Ms. GAINES: And I started thinking, and like Andre, I re--I'm almost certain that I, too, punched that second hole, be-
cause Gore-Lieberman were the second lis--was the second--second listing.
GIBSON: Second name listed but the third hole down?
Ms. GAINES: That's correct.
GIBSON: Henry Handler, let me turn to you. You're the attorney in this suit. What legal redress are you asking for?
Mr. HENRY HANDLER (Attorney): We're asking the court to make a declaration that the ballot itself was improperly
formatted, the election should be void, and for the court to order a re-vote of the presidential election in Palm Beach
County.
GIBSON: But you know the threshold for getting that is very, very high, because courts don't like to interfere in elec-
tions.
Mr. HANDLER: The law in Florida, from our Supreme Court, is that the courts will void an election if there's a demon-
stration, even as a result of unintentional wrongdoing, that if there is an impropriety, if the Florida statute has not been
followed and it casts doubt, reasonable doubt, that the will of the people has not been articulated in the vote, the courts
will void an election.
GIBSON: And you have to prove as I understand it, that election guidelines were broken and that it made a difference in
the result, right?
Mr. HANDLER: We're going to have to establish that the ballot didn't match the statute. It didn't follow the statute,
and therefore the results were not the true reflection of the intent of the voters.
GIBSON: All right. So you proceed in court. I wonder, just very quickly, Andre, what your reaction was last night.
A judge in a similar lawsuit, another lawsuit, not yours, said the election can't be certified until that case is heard. Did
that give you some hope?
Mr. FLADELL: Well, this is a local issue of the right of people to walk out of a voting booth and know who they voted
for. This is--this may be a big issue to everyone, but to us, it's a very simple issue. One person, one vote. I don't
want to go down having my vote going for the wrong person. Who wins the race, wins it. Who loses, loses, that's
not an issue. Our issue is that the ballot really did not really reflect a fair chance. I didn't go to take a puzzle, I didn't
go to take a test. I went to vote. I wasn't led to my vote, I was led away from my vote. And as you'll see, you look at a
reference in front of you, like a sample, that's not what the voting ballot looked like. We don't see it straight up facing
us. We see it lying on a table. There's not black marks matching which is higher, like you see on television. These
are pin holes a sixteenth of an inch apart. It's one thing to measure height. It's another thing to measure depth. Sec-
ondly, we had a--we're used to voting left to right, not diagonal back and forth.
GIBSON: I...
Mr. FLADELL: This was a mess. This was an absolute mess.
Page 682
THREE VOTERS FROM BOCA RATON, FLORIDA, TALK ABOUT LAWSUIT FILED SEEKING TO
OVERTURN ELECTION RESULTS IN PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA ABC NEWS November 10, 2000,
Friday

GIBSON: And we're going to take a look at that ballot in just a few moments. But I thank all three of you litigants for
joining us, and your attorney, Mr. Handler as well. Thank you for being here.
Mr. FLADELL: Thank you.
Ms. GAINES: Thank you.
Ms. McCARTHY: Thank you.
Mr. HANDLER: Thank you, Charlie. GIBSON: Thirteen minutes now after 8:00. How we vote, and the machine that
figures so heavily in the Palm Beach controversy. That when we continue.
(Commercial break)


LANGUAGE: English

TYPE: Interview

Copyright 2000 American Broadcasting Companies, Inc.
Page 683


All Rights Reserved
The Boston Globe

November 10, 2000, Friday ,THIRD EDITION

ELECTION 2000 / DEMOGRAPHICS;
RESIDENTS INSIST ON NEW ELECTION, FILE MORE SUITS

BYLINE: By David Abel, and Lynda Gorov, GLOBE STAFF

SECTION: NATIONAL/FOREIGN; Pg. A36

LENGTH: 1283 words

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Homemade signs in hand, the housekeeper, the stockbroker, and the retired dentist yes-
terday demanded a new election, a clamor that spread across the county and threatened to further delay the naming of
the nation's next president.
Thousands of like-minded residents - many of them furious over apparent voting irregularities, all of them insistent on a
revote - attended rallies around Palm Beach County, at the center of the state's election controversy.
Jews and Catholics, blacks, and whites, the wealthy and the poor, even Republicans, came together in a rare display
of unity in a county known for the dividing lines of walled-off communities.
"I am not defending Bush; I am not defending Gore," Cecilia Campoverde, a professor of social work and a registered
Republican, said at the largest of yesterday's demonstrations. "I am defending the system. It didn't work for us and we
have to do something about it."
With only a couple of hundred votes out of almost 6 million cast separating Al Gore and George W. Bush in the ongo-
ing automatic recount and absentee ballots still arriving from overseas, residents filed additional lawsuits calling for the
county to nullify Tuesday's results and set a date for a new election. Similar legal action is expected throughout the state
after claims of voting irregularities were lodged from the Panhandle to Miami.
In Tallahassee, William Daley, Gore's campaign chairman, called for a hand count of a representative sample of ballots
in four Florida counties: Palm Beach, Miami-Dade, and Broward in South Florida, and Volusia in the northeast. Repub-
lican leaders also called for a second recount in Palm Beach County, where Gore extended his lead over Bush by 751
votes. Both the hand count and the recount are slated for tomorrow morning.
With a miniscule margin separating the candidates, the presidency of the United States will come down to the remaining
overseas absentee ballots. The state officials have given varying estimates of the number outstanding, ranging from
1,000 to 5,000. The ballots must arrive in Florida by Nov. 17 to be valid.
"Technicalities should not determine the president of the United States," Daley said. "The will of the people should."
Although Milton Miller, a retiree from Boca Raton, withdrew his lawsuit from federal court yesterday, Democratic offi-
cials promised to support legal action that would ensure everyone could vote for the candidate of their choice.
While Gore kept quiet, national party leaders and lawyers descended on Tallahassee to investigate voter complaints and
consider their own options.
Despite efforts to create an easier-to-read ballot for the county's large elderly population, local election officials from
both parties approved a special butterfly-style ballot that apparently confused many voters and possibly violated state
election laws.
Page 684
ELECTION 2000 / DEMOGRAPHICS;RESIDENTS INSIST ON NEW ELECTION, FILE MORE SUITS All Rights
ReservedThe Boston Globe November 10, 2000, Friday

Instead of punching the ballot for Gore, many say they mistakenly voted for Patrick J. Buchanan, the Reform Party can-
didate, who won more votes in the traditionally Democratic county than in any other Florida county. More than 4 per-
cent of Palm Beach County voters accidentally cast two presidential votes, and 19,120 ballots were thrown out.
"There's a substantial basis for thinking that something should be done legally," said Terence Anderson, a University of
Miami law professor. "The remedy is what no one knows."
For Andre Fladell, a Delray Beach chiropractor, the answer was to join with two other residents to file a lawsuit in
Palm Beach County Court. The suit seeks to void the election and force a new vote.
"I've lived in this county for many years, and I know it's improbable that so many people, many of them Jews, would
vote for an anti-Semitic candidate like Buchanan," he said.
A 1998 ruling by the Florida Supreme Court set the current standard for how to judge whether elections are valid. The
court ruled that a vote could be declared invalid even in the absence of fraud or intentional wrongdoing. All that must be
shown is the possibility that the will of the people was thwarted.
Legal observers said evidence suggests that Fladell and others who are suing Palm Beach County and election supervi-
sor Teresa LePore, among others, have a strong case in calling for a revote. Still, with the presidency in the balance,
they called it unlikely that a state judge would void the vote.
Lawyers representing Miller, who withdrew his federal lawsuit yesterday, said the lifelong Democrat had decided to let
Gore take on the legal fight. Miller's decision avoided an emergency court hearing before a Reagan appointee, US Dis-
trict Judge Kenneth Ryskamp.
"They weren't going to get anywhere with Ryskamp," said Robert Jarvis, a professor of constitutional law at Nova
Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale.
Bruce Rogou, a lawyer representing LePore, said he expected additional lawsuits to be filed and heard in circuit county
court, where they properly belong. "Anyone who thinks there will be a speedy resolution to this is engaged in wishful
thinking," he said.
Not everyone in the county, however, endorsed the idea of a new election. County Commissioner Merry McCarty said
voters get just one chance and must live with their mistake. "I don't think there should be a remedy," she said. "And if
there is a remedy, it should be in future elections."
At a rally in Boca Raton in the southern part of Palm Beach County, a region better known for gated communities and
cautious drivers than political protest, hundreds of disgruntled voters vented their anger by holding up hand-made signs
such as "Misleading Ballots Are Not Democracy" and by shouting "Re-vote, Re-vote!"
Crowding the entrance to one of the county's many malls, 73-year-old Arthur Seiler said he could not believe the elec-
tion might be determined based on confusing ballots. "I'm a cum laude graduate from Harvard, and I think I didn't vote
right," said Seiler, a retired dentist and registered Republican who intended to vote for Gore. "This is a disgrace. I feel
completely disenfranchised."
The day's larger rally was in West Palm Beach, where the Rev. Jesse Jackson addressed more than 5,000 residents. Like
Jackson, most of the protesters supported Gore. Still, they insisted that their position was not partisan but a matter of
fairness. Some Republicans who came with Bush-Cheney placards took the same position.
"The issue today is not about black and white; it's about wrong and right," Jackson said. In denouncing the ballot design,
Jackson noted, "If you're driving down the road and your wheels are not aligned properly, you have a wreck. We had a
wreck here in West Palm."
In the packed crowd, some of the talk spun off into hyperbole: bus driver Robert Pierson compared county residents to
Kosovars and a woman shouted her demand for international monitors in the next election. But most people sounded
genuinely aggrieved and disappointed.
"I feel like I've been cheated," said Darryl Fleming, 34, an automobile mechanic who meant to vote for Gore and took
an unpaid day off to rally for a revote.
"I remember now pushing the [wrong] hole. My vote doesn't count, and something's not right with that." SIDEBAR:
The election in the balance George W. Bush's aoparent lead over Al Gore in Florida eroded from 1,784 on election night
to 229 votes yesterday, as county election officials sent recounts to Tallahassee for certification. State officials have said
Page 685
ELECTION 2000 / DEMOGRAPHICS;RESIDENTS INSIST ON NEW ELECTION, FILE MORE SUITS All Rights
ReservedThe Boston Globe November 10, 2000, Friday

it could be next Tuesday before official figures are released. Absentee ballots will not be officially tabulated until Nov.
17. PLEASE REFER TO MICROFILM FOR CHART DATA. GLOBE STAFF CHART / SEAN McNAUGHTON
AND ED WIEDERER


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

GRAPHIC: PHOTO MAP CHART, Doris Church, 82, at a rally with granddaughter Tracy Hill (top) in Palm
Beach, Fla., yesterday. Church says she voted incorrectly. / GLOBE STAFF PHOTO/JONATHAN WIGGS

Copyright 2000 Globe Newspaper Company
Page 686


CTV Television, Inc.

7:14:20 - 7:19:30 Eastern Time

SHOW: CANADA AM

November 10, 2000

Some Citizens Want A New Vote in Palm Beach [Florida]

ANCHOR: Jennifer Ward

GUEST: Andre Fladell, Confused Palm Beach Voter; Henry Handler,Lawyer Representing Disgruntled Palm Beach
Voter

LENGTH: 821 words

WARD: Across the border Americans are waiting for the
outcome of Tuesday's presidential election. The race depends on a
crucial vote recount in Florida. So far, George W. Bush is leading
by only a slim margin. And in one county a confusing ballot has
led to calls for a re-vote.
Joining us now from Boca Raton, Florida is Andre Fladell and his
lawyer Henry Handler. Andre is asking the state court to order a
new vote in his county of Palm Beach.

Now, first of all, Andre, what happened to you? What was wrong
with the ballot?
FLADELL: Well, for 22 years I have lived in his county and I have
voted in every election. And on every ballot on every page they
always have the names on one side and punch hole -- we have a
manual punch hole -- on the other. That's always in every
election. Secondly, on every ballot for 22 years, on every page
they always have the Republican and the Democrat next to each
other, first and second.
So I went to vote as I always do -- 50, 60 times before -- and you
show your identification, they say, "If you need any help let us
know." I went in, I saw the first candidate, Bush-Cheney. There
was a little hole. There was a second candidate, Gore-Lieberman,
in the second hole. I punched to second hole appropriately as I
always do, flipped the page, went on to the next, did exactly the
same on every page as I always do. And I left.
There were people complaining outside that the ballot was
confusing or difficult. And I didn't pay any attention because I
had done this a lot, often. I then went to the beach. And at
lunchtime they started talking that everyone had a problem with the
presidential ballot. And I said, "What was the problem? You just
Page 687
Some Citizens Want A New Vote in Palm Beach [Florida] CTV Television, Inc. November 10, 2000

match holes." And they said, "Not this time." We then --
WARD: Sorry to break in, Andre. But, Henry, just for some
background, why does this area have a different ballot from
everybody else?
HANDLER: It shouldn't. The supervisor of elections created a
format that violates Florida law. We feel that she did not have
the discretion under Florida law with which to change the ballot
from what the statute of Florida says that the ballot should look
like. Her explanation is that she attempted to make the ballot
more user-friendly, voter-friendly. But in reality, it departed
from the statute, violated the law, and just created a very
confusing ballot that has tossed us into a situation where
thousands of people were confused and voted in such a way so as to
either invalidate their vote or voted for Pat Buchanan when they
intended to vote for Al Gore.
WARD: Henry, you are representing Andre in court. What is your
legal argument?
HANDLER: Our legal argument is that under the law of Florida,
Florida courts shall void an election where there is noncompliance
with the Florida statute governing ballots and that noncompliance
results in a legitimate doubt as to whether the intent of voters
was truly and correctly expressed.
WARD: There are a lot of people in Florida who think, you know,
"Hey, you made a mistake: tough." You know, you had enough time to
look at it, you had an opportunity to ask questions. How do
respond to that?
HANDLER: It's not merely a mistake. There was noncompliance with
the law. This ballot violated the law. As far as we know, none of
the other ballots used in the state of Florida departed from the
Florida statute. It is very clear and very simple as to what the
ballot looked like.
And as for the argument that the people knew beforehand, the
sample ballot that was sent out before the vote was not the ballot
that was in the polling booths. The electorate of Palm Beach
County saw the ballot in the polling booth for the first time.
They were unaware as to where the hole punches were situated next
two candidates' names until they went there Tuesday to cast their
vote.
WARD: Andre, I understand that this type of court battle is very
tough, at best. Are you prepared to stick it out? What do you
hope to gain from this?
FLADELL: First of all, I wound up voting for a person I don't
even particularly care for as President of the United States.
Secondly, in this county there were 19,000 people that had their
ballots voided by double-voting. There were 3,470 people that
voted for Buchanan. This is a county that's a very liberal county.
We came up seven times with a greater number for Pat Buchanan than
most any other county in the state -- about 67 counties.
What I hope to accomplish is that these 24 or 25 thousand people
walk away from a one-vote situation where they can feel comfortable
Page 688
Some Citizens Want A New Vote in Palm Beach [Florida] CTV Television, Inc. November 10, 2000

that they participated in the election of their own president
instead of all feeling that they have lost something and lost their
vote.
WARD: Alright, I have to stop you there. Thank you both so much.
HANDLER: Thank you.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

Copyright 2000 CTV Television, Inc.
Page 689


The Guardian (London)

November 10, 2000

Race for the White House: Florida: Ballot blunder that caused a crisis: Poll de-
bacle exposes state's murky reputation to examination

BYLINE: Martin Kettle in Washington

SECTION: Guardian Home Pages, Pg. 3

LENGTH: 1378 words

When they finally write the history of this presidential election, the key names in the story could be those of Al Gore,
George W Bush - and Theresa LePore.
Ms LePore is the superviser of elections for Florida's Palm Beach county. It is a place where the population mush-
roomed at the end of the 20th century, an affluent area which attracted tens of thousands of retirees from the
north-eastern US, lured by the sun and the absence of income tax. A lot are Jewish, most are Democrats and, for many
of them, their eyesight is not what it once was.
It was Ms LePore who decided that the ballot paper in Tuesday's presidential election in the county needed to be rear-
ranged so elderly voters could read the names of candidates more easily. With 10 names to cram on the ballot, she de-
cided that two pages would be better than one, and rearranged the ballot paper so that the two pages meshed with one
another.
It was by far the biggest blunder of a series of Florida ballot irregularities and mysteries that have thrown the entire
presidential election into chaos. It was a decision which led to 19,000 spoiled ballot papers being thrown into the bin on
Tuesday night. And with them may have gone Al Gore's claim to the White House.
On the left-hand page of the ballot, Mr Bush's name appeared at the top, with Mr Gore's name below it. On the
right-hand page, just between the two, was Pat Buchanan's name. This meant that although Mr Gore's name was second
on the list, the hole which voters were required to punch to vote for him was the third from the top, below the holes for
Mr Bush and Mr Buchanan.
Ms LePore showed her redesign to the two other people on the local canvassing board which supervises the county's
elections, Carol Roberts and Judge Charles Burton. Both approved it for use on Tuesday. She showed it to representa-
tives of the parties too. None objected.
Despair
It was a decision which may have decided the fate of US presidency, to say nothing of the health care prospects of
millions of Americans, the right of women to have a legal abortion, the possibility of reform to the campaign finance
jungle and the future of international nuclear weapons agreements, among others.
As a result of the confusion, thousands of voters in Palm Beach county did what they would not normally do. They
voted for Pat Buchanan's rightwing, anti-Israeli, isolationist programme. When they realised their mistake, some
punched a second hole on the ballot paper, invalidating their votes.
In Florida yesterday, the local newspapers and the airwaves were full of people in despair over what they had done.
"I would have voted for anyone but Buchanan," said Andre Fladell, a chiropractor from Delray Beach, who is one of
several local voters preparing to take the issue to the courts. "When I left, I thought it was me, and I thought I had been
careless. As I spoke to other people and I saw the ballot again, I realised I got suckered."
Page 690
Race for the White House: Florida: Ballot blunder that caused a crisis: Poll debacle exposes state's murky reputation to
examination The Guardian (London) November 10, 2000

"I voted for Buchanan instead of Gore," said Siggy Flicker of Boca Raton. "I am Jewish and Lieberman is running, but
I made the mistake. I was so humiliated and embarrassed and felt so stupid." Irma Fleischman from West Boca, who
attended a rally on Wednesday where affidavits were being collected from people who say they voted incorrectly, add-
ed: "In a community like this, most people are very liberal Democrats. None of them would have ever voted for Bu-
chanan."
In Palm Beach county, 3,407 people voted for Mr Buchanan, more than three times the number that voted for him in
any other of Florida's 67 counties. Even Mr Buchanan thought yesterday that that was far more than he should have got.
"I don't want votes that were not intended for me," he said.
But the really jaw-dropping figure was the number of ballot papers from Palm Beach that had to be discarded because
they were punched twice. Ms LePore's office confirmed that 19,120 ballot papers were invalidated because of this error
on Tuesday night. In the US Senate election in the county, only 3,783 people made a similar mistake.
Yesterday, Ms LePore was crestfallen and apologetic. "I'll never use facing pages like that again. I was trying to make
the ballot more readable for our elderly voters. I was trying to do a good thing."
The complaints about Palm Beach county were at the centre of a series of planned legal challenges against the con duct
of the election which could eventually lead to a fresh ballot in parts of the state, or even in the whole of Florida. Florida
is no stranger to such lawsuits and reruns. The election for Miami's mayor had to be rerun as recently as 1998 after
complaints of fraud. Large numbers of non-US voters - overwhelmingly Cubans - tried to take part in the original poll.
The argument about irregularities like those in Palm Beach county mounted as Florida continued to carry out a quite
separate recount after Tuesday's election showed Mr Bush just 1,784 votes ahead of Mr Gore in an electorate of 6m.
Even when the recount is completed, the final result will not be officially declared until November 17, because over-
seas postal votes can still qualify until then, providing that they are postmarked on or before election day, November 7.
Most of the overseas postal votes are thought to come either from military voters stationed overseas, or from Florida
residents currently in Israel.
Although Florida's elections division director, Clay Roberts, said yesterday that a ballot box that was apparently left
behind in one Dade county precinct on election might - and widely shown on national television - contained no ballots
but only election supplies such as marker pens, irregularities alleged to have taken place in Florida's poll include:
*Intimidation of voters: In Woodville, outside Tallahassee, civil rights workers said that the Florida highway patrol set
up a drivers' licence checkpoint near the local polling station, and charged that its purpose was to pressure black voters
into staying away from the polls. A third of the local population in Woodville is black. A spokesman for the highway
patrol denied the allegation and said that the officers handed out 13 tickets to white motorists and six to blacks.
A poll watcher for the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People in Hillsborough County near
Tampa said a police deputy posted out side a polling station asked black men for identification and turned them away
after checking police records.
*Address changes: One of the most widespread complaints was that voters who turned up with evidence of their
changes of address were not allowed to vote because supervisors were unable to obtain authorisation from electoral au-
thorities. This is normally a standard procedure for which telephone authorisation is regularly given, but lines were
jammed across the state.
"I got through once, at 7.30 in the morning," said Nat Rothenburg, a poll supervisor in Lauderhill, where 500 voters
were turned away. "I felt so bad for these people who wanted to vote." Hazel Bostwick added: "I had clerks pulling out
their hair because they couldn't get through. It was not fair. It was not fair."
*Closing of polling stations: People in several parts of Florida complained that they were unable to vote because poll-
ing stations were closed and no instructions were posted about alternative sites.
A school in Pompano Beach which had been advertised as a polling station remained closed all day. The turnout in that
precinct was only two-thirds the turnout for the county as a whole. In Miramar City, constituents were directed to vote
at a local fire station which was not in use as a polling station. In Hallandale Beach some voters said they were told the
election "would be tomorrow" - Wednesday.
Page 691
Race for the White House: Florida: Ballot blunder that caused a crisis: Poll debacle exposes state's murky reputation to
examination The Guardian (London) November 10, 2000

*Inaccurate voter rolls: Officials received many complaints that individual voters were not allowed to take part in the
election because their names were incorrectly omitted from the rolls. At Pembroke Pines, up to 50 apparently qualified
voters were turned away because they were not registered. A similar complaint was reported in North Lauderdale. Billie
Young, a voter in Tamarac, was told that she was not allowed to vote because she was registered as dead.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

Copyright 2000 Guardian Newspapers Limited
Page 692


Hamilton Spectator (Ontario, Canada)

November 10, 2000 Friday Final Edition

Gore vows to fight in court; Constitutional crisis looms over balloting fiasco

SOURCE: The Canadian Press

BYLINE: Robert Russo

SECTION: WORLD VIEW WEEKLY; Pg. B04

LENGTH: 785 words

DATELINE: WASHINGTON

U.S. democracy was paralysed Thursday after Al Gore vowed to fight for the presidency in court even if a Florida re-
count gave the White House to George W. Bush.
Bush, the Republican governor of Texas, claimed a tiny and unofficial margin of victory in Florida pointed to him be-
coming the new president.
Aides to Gore insisted balloting irregularities in Florida would make Bush an illegitimate leader.
The only near certainty is that whoever emerges as the next U.S. president would be a contested, if not tainted, chief
executive presiding over a bitterly divided country.
Gore, the vice-president, launched a direct appeal to the American people, bypassing all constitutional niceties.
"We are taking steps to make sure that the people's choice becomes our president," said William Daley, Gore's cam-
paign chairman.
Florida's 25 electoral college votes are mandatory for either man to amass the 270 votes needed to claim the keys to the
White House.
Officials conducting the state's recount said Bush had a 1,784-vote edge over Gore with 53 of 67 counties reporting
recount results.
An unofficial count by The Associated Press had the difference at less than 300 votes with 65 of 67 counties reporting.
Just who the new occupant of the Oval Office will be could take days or weeks to divine while absentee ballots are
counted.
The United States could lurch toward an escalating constitutional crisis in the interim.
Stock markets dived in the minutes after Democrats announced they could turn the disputed election into a courtroom
brawl.
Americans were confounded by the increasingly shrill post-election bickering common to unstable far-flung republics
and unheard of in a country that prides itself on being a paragon of democracy.
A long-held tradition in the United States sees the losing presidential candidate graciously offering his support to the
victor. But statesmanship has given way to pitched sniping between the two candidates in this election.
More than 19,000 rejected ballots in Palm Beach County, Fla., was proof positive of duplicitous manoeuvring, Demo-
crats charged.
Page 693
Gore vows to fight in court; Constitutional crisis looms over balloting fiasco Hamilton Spectator (Ontario, Canada)
November 10, 2000 Friday Final Edition

How did a liberal, mostly Jewish Palm County end up casting a disproportionate share of votes for arch-conservative
Pat Buchanan? Daley, Gore's campaign chief, raised the question and then suggested the confusing ballot which placed
Gore's and Buchanan's names side by side was the only plausible answer.
"Technicalities should not determine the president of the United States, the will of the people should," he said.
Daley called for a recount by hand of vote tabulations in four counties and signalled Gore's support for a court fight to
overturn results in Palm Beach County.
Bush campaign chairman Don Evans accused Gore of risking serious harm to America's fundamental system of gov-
ernment.
"The Democrats who are politicizing and distorting these events risk doing so at the expense of our democracy," Evans
said.
"Our democratic process calls for a vote on election day. It does not call for us to continue voting until someone likes
the outcome."
Gore's representatives knew of the Palm Beach County ballots long before the election and approved them back then, he
said.
Bush's spokeswoman, Karen Hughes, wouldn't even countenance the possibility that Gore would ignore the results of
the Florida recount.
"We expect that the vice-president will respect the will of the people of Florida."
Bush went ahead with planning a presidential transition, prompting calls of arrogance from Democrats.
"I believe that their actions to try to presumptively crown themselves the victors, to try to put in place a transition, run
the risk of dividing the American people and creating a sense of confusion," said Daley.
The Bush campaign threatened to demand automatic recounts in Wisconsin, Iowa and New Mexico if Gore did not re-
lent. All three states were narrowly won by the vice-president.
Several lawsuits were filed by Palm Beach County residents complaining that their vote was unfairly nullified.
Andre Fladell, of Palm Beach, Fla., was among those who was suing for a recount because of what he called a confus-
ing ballot.
"I got a crossword puzzle with some configurations no one had ever told me about," he said.
Buchanan, who left Bush's Republican party earlier this year, sided with Gore. He said most of the 3,407 votes he got in
Palm Beach County belonged to Gore and that people had voted for him by mistake because of a confusing change in
the design of the ballot.
The Reform party candidate received more than three times the votes in Palm Beach than he drew in any other Florida
county, and almost 20 per cent of his total in the state.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

GRAPHIC: Photo: Colin Braley, Reuters; Shirley Greenlaw of Palm Beach, Fla., protests that Florida's voting form
was misleading and demands a new vote.

TYPE: News

Copyright 2000 Metroland Media Group Ltd
Page 694


Los Angeles Times

November 10, 2000, Friday, Home Edition

FLORIDA JUDGES HAVE POWER TO UPSET ELECTIONS

BYLINE: DAVID G. SAVAGE and HENRY WEINSTEIN, TIMES STAFF WRITERS


LENGTH: 1181 words

DATELINE: WASHINGTON

Florida's Supreme Court has given judges in the state broad power to overturn an election if flawed ballots create "rea-
sonable doubt" that the outcome truly reflects "the will of the voters."
The law is not clear, however, on how to remedy such a mistake, especially when a flawed ballot in one county might
have changed a statewide result--let alone possibly determine the outcome of a national election for president of the
United States.
"We are in uncharted territory," said University of Florida Law School Dean Jon Mills.
Yet Democratic lawyers in Florida were pointing Thursday to legal decisions that give them a basis for going to court to
challenge the outcome there because of ballot confusion in Palm Beach County.
In an opinion issued in 1998, the Florida Supreme Court said that disputed elections can be voided even when there is
no evidence of fraud or vote stealing. The justices stressed that election results should reflect the will of the voters.
"If a court finds substantial noncompliance with statutory election procedures and also makes a factual determination
that reasonable doubt exists as to whether the certified election expressed the will of the voters, then the judge should
void the contested election, even in the absence of fraud or intentional wrongdoing," the state Supreme Court said.
Election law experts in Florida and elsewhere said that they thought the campaign of Vice President Al Gore had a fair-
ly strong claim of voting irregularities.
"I think you can make out a highly persuasive case" that the ballots used in Palm Beach County violated the law, said
University of Miami law professor Terence J. Anderson. The ballot did not meet all the standards written in state law,
and voters were confused, he said.
Since Tuesday evening, Democratic activists have complained that many voters in Palm Beach County may have mis-
takenly punched the hole designated for Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan.
Complaints have focused on the unusual design of the county's ballot, which listed candidates' names side by side rather
than top to bottom, as state law requires. On the left side of the so-called butterfly ballot, Gore's name was listed below
that of Texas Gov. George W. Bush. But to the right and slightly above Gore's name was the box for Buchanan. In be-
tween the list of names were the punch holes.
Adding to Democrats' suspicions of miscast ballots was Buchanan's total of 3,407 votes in Palm Beach County, far
more than he received in the state's larger and more conservative counties.
"We have come to believe that there are serious and substantial irregularities resulting from the ballot used only in one
county," said former Secretary of State Warren Christopher, a Gore legal advisor. He called the county's ballot "illegal"
and said that there is a "need for redress."
Page 695
DECISION 2000 / AMERICA WAITS; FLORIDA JUDGES HAVE POWER TO UPSET ELECTIONS Los Angeles
Times November 10, 2000, Friday,

In response, Bush campaign officials pointed out that the county's ballot had been drawn up by local officials, including
elected Democrats, and had been approved by state officials.
Stanford University law professor Pamela Karlan, a voting rights expert, offered a different perspective.
"It is the right of voters and not the right of a political party that is at issue here," Karlan said. "It is the right of a voter
to cast a ballot for the candidate that the voter prefers."
In the past, Florida judges have thrown out disputed ballots but have been wary of ordering a new round of voting. And
never have they confronted the question of whether to void a statewide result.
In this case, Christopher and other Gore advisors have not said how they think the problem should be remedied.
Law professor Anderson said: "I just can't think of a fair remedy."
But former Florida Supreme Court Justice Gerald Kogan said that a judge "clearly can fashion a remedy to undo the
wrong." It would be "easy enough" to have the same Palm Beach voters who appeared on Nov. 7 vote again in a special
election, he told The Times.
Yet if a new round of voting were to take place in Palm Beach County, Republicans could complain that the election
would be unfair. As one example, Anderson said, those voters, knowing the results of Tuesday's election and the huge
effect of their new votes, almost surely would ignore Green Party candidate Ralph Nader.
"Either way this turns out, 50% of the people nationwide are going to say they were robbed," Anderson said.
Still, many other lawyers questioned whether a judge would order new voting, even if the confusion in Palm Beach was
apparent.
"Courts are very, very reluctant to overturn elections. They will bend over backward to uphold an election unless some-
thing is blatantly obvious that adversely affected the outcome," said David E. Cardwell, a Florida lawyer and former
director of elections for the state.
Others pointed to the larger implications of the irregularities in Palm Beach County.
"Something went really wrong here," said Karlan. "It will cast serious doubt on the legitimacy of the presidency for the
next four years if people think the determination came from messed up ballots."
Columbia University law professor Samuel Issacharoff, a national voting rights expert, said that federal law could be
compromised if new county elections are ordered.
"There is important federal policy that all elections take place on the same day," Issacharoff said. "A new election for
Palm Beach is extraordinarily problematic" because both parties would try to influence the relative handful of voters
who would decide the presidency.
Issacharoff said he anticipates the possibility that the election will be decided in the House of Representatives.
If Florida cannot certify a slate of electors by Dec. 18, they may not be allowed to cast their votes for president, he said.
If so, neither candidate would have the necessary 270 votes needed for victory in the electoral college.
Under the Constitution, the issue would then go to the House. There, each state delegation would have one vote and a
majority of delegations are dominated by Republicans.
The legal drama was the subject of intense discussions among legal scholars and political scientists on the Internet all
day. In addition, Andre Fladell, one of the aggrieved Palm Beach voters, went on CNN's "Larry King Live" Thursday
night with his lawyer, Howard Weiss.
Weiss said that he would file suit to void the results of the voting in Palm Beach County and seek a new vote. He main-
tained that the ballot there did not conform with Florida law and at the very least was confusing to voters, with the con-
sequence that their rights were violated.
Fladell said that he believed he had lost his vote as a result of what happened Tuesday. "I would like to vote for Al Gore
and Joe Lieberman, not Pat Buchanan," Fladell said.
*
Savage reported from Washington and Weinstein from Los Angeles.
Page 696
DECISION 2000 / AMERICA WAITS; FLORIDA JUDGES HAVE POWER TO UPSET ELECTIONS Los Angeles
Times November 10, 2000, Friday,

Scorecard
ELECTORAL VOTE
Bush: 246
Gore: 255
Electoral votes needed to win: 270
STILL OUT
STATE: VOTES
FLORIDA: 25
OREGON: 7
NEW MEXICO: 5
*
Source: Associated Press


LANGUAGE: English

GRAPHIC: GRAPHIC: Scorecard, Los Angeles Times

TYPE: Infobox

All Rights Reserved
Page 697


ABC NEWS

November 9, 2000, Thursday

SHOW: WORLD NEWS NOW (2:00 AM ET)

VOTERS IN PALM BEACH, FLORIDA, FILE SUIT OVER BALLOTS

ANCHORS: ALISON STEWART

LENGTH: 273 words

ALISON STEWART, co-anchor:
The biggest disputes in Florida involve ballots in Palm Beach county where three voters have filed suit demanding a
new election. They claim they were confused by the way the names on the ballots were lined up and that supporters of
Al Gore may have inadvertently cast their votes for Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan.
Ms. LILLIAN GAINES (Palm Beach County Voter/Plaintiff): Somehow, my right to vote has been taken away from
me. And the reason I was so concerned about that is because I talked to a lot of other people who feel the same way,
following--after coming out of the polls. Several people said, 'You know, that was the most confusing ballot, and I
believe I voted for the wrong person.'
Mr. ANDRE FLADELL (Palm Beach County Voter/Plaintiff): I think I was able to very easily see what I was doing, I
think I was misled by a format that's not consistent with any publication that you publish or any ballot I've ever seen
before.
STEWART: Buchanan got about 3400 votes in Palm Beach County, which is heavily Democratic. In the same county,
more than 19,000 ballots were disqualified and never counted, because people voted for more than one presidential can-
didate.
SCIUTTO: All of these alleged irregularities in Florida seem to be pushing the Gore campaign toward legal action. A
senior Gore campaign official tells ABC's Chris Bury that things are "definitely moving in the direction of a major legal
challenge by the Democrats to the Florida results." State Democratic chairman in Florida says the party has received
thousands of phone calls claiming irregularities.


LANGUAGE: English

TYPE: Newscast

Copyright 2000 American Broadcasting Companies, Inc.
Page 698


CNN

November 9, 2000; Thursday

SHOW: CNN INSIDE POLITICS 17:00

Florida Recount Leaves Presidential Race in Limbo

GUESTS: Kenneth Gross, Robert Strauss, Tom Fiedler, Joe Andrew, Jim Nicholson

BYLINE: Bernard Shaw, Judy Woodruff, Mike Boettcher, John King, Candy Crowley, William Schneider, Jeff
Greenfield, Mark Potter, Greta Van Susteren, Pat Neal, Brooks Jackson, Gary Tuchman, Patty Davis, John Zarrella,
Bruce Morton


LENGTH: 14844 words

HIGHLIGHT: Down by a razor-thin margin in Florida's recount, Al Gore's campaign has launched an all-out effort
to claim the Sunshine State and with it, the presidency. Gore's team is calling for a hand count in four counties and
supporting a legal challenge to the vote in Palm Beach. Far from sitting back, the George W. Bush camp is upping the
ante, suggesting that the vote count in some of Gore's states might be worth taking a look at.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAM DALEY, GORE CAMPAIGN CHAIRMAN: They put a demand for finality ahead of the pursuit of fairness.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERNARD SHAW, CNN ANCHOR: ... in limbo, the Gore campaign's strategy, as the vice president's dreams of the
presidency hinge on Florida.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DON EVANS, BUSH CAMPAIGN CHAIRMAN: Vice President Gore's campaign did not like the outcome of Election
Day. And it seems they're worried that they won't like the official recount result either.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: The Texas governor concentrates on the future, as his staff counts on vote-tally
victory.
Plus:
SHAW: Protests and lawsuits: the confusion and controversy in one Florida county.
ANNOUNCER: This is a special edition of INSIDE POLITICS, with Bernard Shaw at election headquarters and Judy
Woodruff in Washington, and analysts Jeff Greenfield and Bill Schneider.
WOODRUFF: Thank you for joining us.
Down by a razor-thin margin in Florida's recount, Al Gore's campaign has launched an all-out effort to claim the Sun-
shine State and with it, the presidency. Gore's team is calling for a hand count in four counties and supporting a legal
challenge to the vote in Palm Beach.
Page 699
Florida Recount Leaves Presidential Race in Limbo CNN November 9, 2000; Thursday

Far from sitting back, the George W. Bush camp is upping the ante, suggesting that the vote count in some of Gore's
states might be worth taking a look at. Our coverage of all of these dramatic developments begins in Tallahassee,
where CNN's Mike Boettcher is waiting for the results of that official count -- Mike.
MIKE BOETTCHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Judy, in terms Floridians can understand, it's sort of like
tracking an incoming hurricane. And this result just in to us: 63 of 67 counties, showing Governor Bush up by 341
votes over Vice President Gore. If you will remember, after the election, the figure was closer to 1,800 votes. So the
vice president has gained about 1,500 votes with four counties remaining.
Now, that is the figure from the Associated Press, which has been independently calling the various counties which are
counting the totals. The state total has lagged behind. We suspect that most -- and I have been told by sources in the
capital -- that most of the counties have reported in up there. They have been slower to produce those, mostly due to
the mechanics of counting those, getting those added in.
But they have been pretty slow about that today. They were quicker earlier in the morning and yesterday. But we are
told, in about 55 minutes, that there will be a press conference by the Division of Elections and state officials here.
And at that time, we have been led to believe over the past two days, that we may have a complete figure by that time
that the state sanctions. Now, after that happens, there is a certification process that will get under way.
The election results from Tuesday have to be certified by this coming Tuesday. The overseas ballots have to be certi-
fied by a week from Friday. So there's still a long ways to go if this total of this gap remains very thin between the
vice president and the governor. So it's a very still close, close process, with some time to go -- Judy.
WOODRUFF: So, Mike, just to clarify two things; Number one, we won't know the final, final count in Florida at least
until a week from Friday, when all of those overseas ballots come in and are counted.
BOETTCHER: Correct. That is correct. What we don't know, Judy, is, we don't know how many of those overseas
ballots came in over before the election or on Election Day. Those have been counted in this total we're seeing right
now. And the only thing we have to go by is the 1996 election. And they look at historic perspectives. They say that
2,300 of those ballots were cast after the Tuesday.
And Florida law says if you postmarked your ballot -- if you are overseas and you postmark it on the day of the election
and send it in, it's valid. And it's counted when it's received here, if it is received within 10 days. Some of those have
already been sent in and got here before the elections. Others have not. And those are the ones to be counted.
By the way, in that race, Dole took 55 percent and Clinton took 45 percent. So that was the total back four years ago.
WOODRUFF: Mike, just one other quick question. You talked about this recount or canvass -- whatever it's being
called -- that is under way right now resulting in a change of some 1,500 votes in favor of Al Gore. Do you have any
idea what caused the change? Did somebody just miscount?
BOETTCHER: Yes, no, it was a miscount. The strange thing, is, Judy, if you look at it, both sides have gained vote.
I mean, more votes were cast than originally thought. Governor Bush did not lose votes. He gained votes. It's just
that Vice President Gore gained more votes. And there were ballots that stuck together, various little things like that.
And they added up when you are talking about a six million vote total.
WOODRUFF: All right, remarkable, every bit of it. Mike Boettcher, thanks very much. And we'll come back to you
a little later -- Bernie.
SHAW: Although both campaigns are well represented in Florida today, the two candidates remain in their home states,
watching the fight from a distance. Our John King is in Nashville, Tennessee, with a look at the Gore strategy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
AL GORE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're having a great run here.
JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The vice president took a jog in Nashville, as his strategy turned
more aggressive on two fronts: a stepped-up legal challenge in Florida and angry criticism of Governor Bush for acting
as if he is already the president-elect.
DALEY: I believe that their actions to try to presumptively crown themselves the victors, to try to put in place a transi-
tion, run the risk of dividing the American people and creating a sense of confusion.
Page 700

KING: The Democrats demanded that the votes in four Florida counties be recounted by hand. Nearly 1.8 million
votes were cast in the four counties: Palm Beach, Dade, Broward and Volusia.
DALEY: If the will of the people is to prevail, Al Gore should be awarded a victory in Florida and be our next presi-
dent.
KING: And the Democrats want a new election or some other remedy taken in Palm Beach County, saying this confus-
ing ballot may have cost the vice president perhaps as many as 20,000 votes.
KENDALL COFFEY, DEMOCRATIC PARTY ATTORNEY: That ballot was completely illegal. It confused voters.
It led to an unprecedented number of voters, many of whom were elderly, who waited for hours, who had their votes
disqualified because it was very hard, looking at it, to figure out exactly what to do.
KING: Republicans believe the law is on their side: that any objections to the ballot needed to be raised before the elec-
tion. But a senior Bush legal adviser tells CNN -- quote -- "If they somehow revisit the Palm Beach County vote, then
Gore wins the election." The vice president leads in the popular vote, and at least, for now, in the Electoral College
count. So talk out of Austin about naming Cabinet members has soured already poor relations between the two camps.
The Gore team sees it as a deliberate strategy to steer attention away from the Florida recount, and as an attempt by
Republicans to paint the vice president as a sore loser, and to turn public opinion in favor of a quick resolution.
DALEY: All we are seeking is this: that the candidate who the voters preferred become our president. That is what
our constitutional principles demand. That is what true fidelity to our Constitution suggests.
KING: While this increasingly bitter drama plays out, the vice president is heading back to Washington. And his legal
and political teams will relocate with him.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: Now, the Gore camp's view is that all this could take several weeks or even more to resolve. And their public
line is that, since the new president isn't inaugurated until January 20, there is no reason to rush -- Bernie.
SHAW: John, do the Gore people plan to raise their profile to counter what the Bush people are doing?
KING: Well, that is what they did today, Bernie. Yesterday, when the vice president came out, you'll note that he did
not claim victory. He did not say that he thought he had won the election. What he said then was he thought there
should not be a rush to judgment. What changed in the Gore strategy overnight was when they all this talk out of
Washington about naming a Cabinet, about picking a White House chief of staff.
At that point, the Gore people decided they believe what Bush is up to is a calculated political strategy to convince the
American people this is over and to paint the vice president as a sore loser. They believe that they needed to step up and
be more aggressive today. And we're told that once this recount -- and the Gore campaign does not expect this recount
to swing into the vice president's favor. That's why they want all that hand-counting in those four big counties.
Once that is announced in Florida tonight, we will see Mr. Daley and Mr. Christopher again. They will not cede the
public spotlight to the Bush people at all here.
SHAW: Fascinating, John King in Nashville, thank you.
Judy, back to you.
WOODRUFF: Well, aides to George W. Bush complain that the Gore campaign is, as you've been hearing, trying to
politicize the situation in Florida. CNN's Candy Crowley joins us now from Austin, Texas -- Candy.
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Judy, we just finished a news conference here by
three top advisers to Governor Bush. Their take on this whole thing is that it is Al Gore who is trying to politicize the
situation. They believe that the Gore campaign is handing out partial facts that do not tell the entire story about the
history, among other things, of Palm Beach County.
But primarily, what you are seeing here is that this is not a matter of mathematics: who voted for who in Florida and
what that is. This is now, between these two camps, a matter of politics. And from the Bush campaign point of view, it
is Al Gore who is trying to seed some confusion out there and to perhaps redo an election that took place on Tuesday
evening.
Page 701

Here is Don Evans, the campaign chairman.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EVANS: Vice President Gore's campaign did not like the outcome of Election Day. And it seems they're worried that
they won't like the official recount results either. The Democrats, who are politicizing and distorting these events, risk
doing so at the expense of our democracy. One of the options that they seem to be looking at is new elections. Our
democratic process calls for a vote on Election Day. It does not call for us to continue voting until someone likes the
outcome.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CROWLEY: Now, the Bush campaign, while it is paying most of its attention to Florida, there are other states they are
looking at where there have been very close votes. Political strategist Karl Rove:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KARL ROVE, BUSH CAMPAIGN STRATEGIST: There are at least three other states in which automatic recounts are
likely. The state of Wisconsin, Gore's lead has shrunk to 5,050 votes. I have talked to Governor Thompson's chief of
staff this morning who says that he believes that after the Tuesday canvas, this will fall under a standard that may re-
quire a recount or offer the opportunity of a recount.
In the state of Iowa, the margin is now just several thousand votes between Vice President Gore and Governor Bush and
this -- and several ballot boxes from, we think, Republican counties, have yet to be counted. This may fall under the
automatic trigger that exists in Iowa law.
And there is also a recount going on, as we speak, in Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Albuquerque, the largest county
in the state. Twenty-seven thousand ballots were not counted on election night.
(END VIDEO CLIP) CROWLEY: Now, just one addendum, there is not an automatic recount in Iowa in the case of a
close vote, although a candidate can request one. The same apparently holds true in Wisconsin. In any case, what we
have is a confusing situation in Florida and the Bush campaign now looking at other places. This is more, apparently,
about the popular vote than any change in the electoral vote. Karl Rove said that he believed that that popular-vote
margin that you are seeing might just shrink a bit as those absentee ballots come in into a number of states and final
votes are gotten out in other states that were gotten close -- Judy and Bernie.
WOODRUFF: Candy, this notion, we just heard John King say he expects the Gore people expect they will call for a
hand recount or a hand count in a number of Florida counties. Will the Bush people go along with that?
CROWLEY: Well, I'm not sure that's up to the Bush people. Will they complain about it? I'm not sure. I mean,
their basic theory is that the Gore campaign is trying to drag this out, to find any way that they can to drag this out, sow
the seeds of doubt in Florida. So, whether or not they would specifically be opposed to a hand count, all they're saying
here is, look, we're certain when the final count is in that Governor Bush will get the electoral vote and thus the presi-
dency. And we want it to be done in a fair and thorough manner.
WOODRUFF: All right, Candy Crowley in Austin, thanks -- Bernie.
SHAW: This is a presidential campaign that has gone into overtime, as you know, and it's not clear, yet, how long, or
how far, the two sides will go. Joining us to sort things out are CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider in Atlanta,
and CNN senior analyst Jeff Greenfield in New York.
Bill, you first, what's the big picture right now?
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Bernie, it's still election night. In fact, it's a very slow
election night and the results are still coming in. We don't know the answer yet. It's an election night like we used to
have 125 years ago when it would take weeks to determine the outcome of an election.
Welcome to 1876, and I choose that year carefully, because 1876 was the last time we had a disputed outcome in the
presidential election. That one was settled by a corrupt political deal. Now, nobody is talking about that kind of deal
this year, so far. This is an extraordinary situation, but it's not a crisis, unless the candidates choose to turn it into one.
SHAW: Jeff, potentially, what could happen down the road?
Page 702

JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SENIOR ANALYST: Heed Mr. Schneider's warning, because what's around the road are
pitfalls the size of the Grand Canyon. I'll just give you a couple for openers. Let's say that this contentiousness con-
tinues and ripens into bitterness.
You could have a situation where, once Florida decides who it thinks has won, on January 5, 2001, the new Congress
convenes in joint session to certify the electoral vote. If one senator and one congressman object, the House is then
adjourned to their prospective houses and decides. And you could have a situation, if Maria Cantwell wins in Wash-
ington, where a fifty-fifty Senate with Al Gore, still the vice president on January 5, 2001, would reject the votes.
Now, it takes both houses to reject electoral votes. So, presumably, the Republican House would approve of them.
But think of the legitimacy issue. A new president Bush, coming into office, probably having lost the popular vote,
with one of the two houses of Congress saying we don't think you actually won. We are a long way down that road.
Unfortunately we're a heck of a lot closer to it than we were when the votes started being counted on Tuesday.
SHAW: Given what Jeff just told us, what are the political calculations each candidate has to make?
SCHNEIDER: Well, essentially this, Bernie: How much is winning this election worth? Is it worth creating a consti-
tutional crisis? Is it worth undermining your ability to lead? Because, those things are at stake if each candidate pushes
this thing too far. I think Bush appears presumptuous and arrogant by talking about rallies and transition teams. This
outcome is not beyond dispute.
And I think Gore takes a risk if he sounds like he's willing to win on legal challenges and on technicalities. He risks
sounding like he's a candidate who would do anything to win the election. You know, legal challenges in Florida
could open the floodgates to legal challenges all over the country. There are other instances of ballot confusion and
disputed results and recounts can be made in other states that Gore won narrowly.
We have seen a dangerous escalation in the rhetoric today and a dangerous politicization of the vote counting process.
Whichever side is seen as responsible for politicizing this process is the loser, even if that candidate becomes president
of the United States.
SHAW: And, Jeff, a quick thought from you.
GREENFIELD: Well, it should be noted that we have three times had folks lose a popular vote and get the electoral
vote. And each of those times they were one-termers. So, even that casts a shadow of a doubt on a new president.
But if you have a president come in in the midst of court fights and street demonstrations and the kind of rhetoric we
have seen all over cable television in the last 48 hours where there is no dispassion.
I mean, if you are a Republican, you think that the outcome in Florida is fine. If you are a Democrat, you think it was
outrageous. If this is how we are dividing in the first days of this, what I'm really concerned about is that all of the
mechanisms that we've never had to employ: Electoral College mechanisms, faithless electors who might switch their
votes, Congress dueling over who the real president is.
You think about things like the markets. You think about the international community. You think about how the
United States has always been seen as a bedrock of political stability. I'm not suggesting riots in the streets, but I'm
suggesting some real potential problems.
SHAW: Indeed, indeed, Jeff Greenfield in New York.
Bill Schneider, thank you very much.
Still ahead here on INSIDE POLITICS.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REVEREND JESSE JACKSON, RAINBOW/PUSH COALITION: This ballot is fuzzy. It is deceptive.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SHAW: The controversy over the Palm Beach County ballot, Mark Potter with the latest on the confusion that's sparked
legal action.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
Page 703

PAT BUCHANAN, REFORM PARTY PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It does seem to me that those are probably
not my votes in those precincts in Palm Beach County, the outsized nature of my vote. And I've looked at that ballot,
and it is -- on the left side, it is Bush and then Gore, 1, 2, but if you -- the dots 1, 2, are Bush, Buchanan. And so my
guess is, I probably got some votes down there that really did not belong to me, and I feel -- I do not feel well about
that. I don't want to take any votes that don't belong to me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SHAW: Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan today on the question regarding the ballots in Palm Beach County.
Some voters there say a confusing ballot led them to mistakenly vote for Buchanan instead of Vice President Gore.
Mark Potter has the latest on the complaints, the legal actions and the political protests.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARK POTTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Several hundred protesters gathered outside the Palm Beach
County elections office demanding a new countywide vote in the presidential race.
Their argument is that Vice President Gore was deprived of thousands of votes because of a confusing ballot form.
The protesters were joined by the Reverend Jesse Jackson.
JACKSON: This ballot is fuzzy. It is deceptive. While there is over and over again, a call for a recount in West
Palm, there must be a first count. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Democratic Party, may I help you?
Do you feel that your vote was either incorrect, or you are unsure of who you voted for yesterday?
POTTER: A block from the protest, a law firm working with the Democratic Party set up a phone bank to document
complaints from angry voters. Attorneys say since Wednesday morning they have received more than 5,000 calls, a
partner in the firm argues that according to state law the ballot was configured improperly, thus confusing thousands of
voters.
MARK CLARK, ATTORNEY: These are folks that voted mistakenly for Pat Buchanan that intended to vote for Al
Gore.
POTTER: But Bruce Rogow, an attorney for Theresa LePore, the Palm Beach County supervisor of elections, says she
did her job properly.
BRUCE ROGOW, ATTORNEY: Theresa LePore put the ballot together. The ballot was approved in Tallahassee.
There is nothing wrong with anything that Theresa LePore did.
POTTER: But several lawsuits have been filed in state court asking for a new Palm Beach County presidential election.
Andre Fladell, a chiropractor and political activist, is one of the plaintiffs who says he was disenfranchised.
ANDRE FLADELL, LAWSUIT PLAINTIFF: I went into a place expecting a simple, fair ballot. I got a crossword
puzzle with some configuration no one had ever told me about.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
POTTER: Now, a short while ago, the Palm Beach County canvassing board held a public meeting and announced that
they would not be certifying this latest recount. Instead, they are going to do a manual recount of 1 percent of the vote,
about 4,000 votes in three precincts, that was requested by the Democrats, they're going to do that on Saturday.
They're also going to do a machine count of all the ballots, that was requested by the Republicans. Representatives of
both parties will be present during those recounts, and the results of all of that will be announced on Monday.
Bernie, back to you.
SHAW: Thank you, Mark Potter -- Judy.
WOODRUFF: Well, joining us now to talk more about all the legal issues involved, CNN's Greta Van Susteren, she
joins us from Tallahassee; and election law expert Kenneth Gross, he's here in Washington.
Greta, to you first. This Palm Beach County ballot, I assume you have taken a look at it, Jesse Jackson and others are
saying it's deceptive. What is your take on it? GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, Judy,
ultimately the take -- the take that matters is what a judge will think, should the case get before the judge. But let me
tell you what the Florida law is, the analysis that a judge will have to make in examining the ballot.
Page 704

First, is there an irregularity under Florida election law? And what the judge would do is to actually look to the elec-
tion law in Florida and try to make a decision whether he or she thinks it's an irregularity. If it is an irregularity, the
next step is to determine whether that irregularity is material and does it establish reasonable doubt whether the election
manifests the will of the people. And what the Gore people will be able to do is they will be able to bring in both wit-
nesses and also statistical evidence in an effort to prove their point that it does not manifest, that is the election, the will
of the people.
So at this particular point, no one really knows, you know, what a judge will do. But I tell you one thing, lawyers al-
ways make sure that they go into court with all their evidence and they hope they have the judge that is sympathetic to
their point of view.
WOODRUFF: Kenneth Gross, how high a standard are we talking about here, for a judge to go along with a challenge,
for a group of voters who agree with Jesse Jackson that these ballots are deceptive? What standard?
KENNETH GROSS, ELECTION LAW EXPERT: Well, it's a high standard. There has to be a substantial irregularity
that's thwarting the will of the people, and that's going to be a difficult hurdle to overcome. On the other hand, from
what we've been seeing there is a substantial irregularity here.
We have a tremendous amount of voting for -- from -- for Buchanan in an area where it's clear that Buchanan doesn't
have that level of support, combined and corroborated by the statements of the voters saying that they were confused,
that the ballot didn't actually work properly when it went in there as far as measuring the dots and punching the holes on
it. All this combined together creates a weight of evidence and is going to confront the court with the more difficult
question as to what the remedy can be in a situation like this.
WOODRUFF: Well, and I want to ask you both about that -- Greta, what are the remedies in a situation like that, as-
suming a judge in a courtroom determines that the challenge has merit, what do you do? What can be done?
VAN SUSTEREN: You know, Judy, I think the judge would have an enormous array of possibilities of what he or she
could do, and I actually think that in this particular instance if the judge is convinced that there is substantial evidence of
an irregularity and that it does not -- the vote does not reflect the will of the people as a result, I think the judge could --
I'm not saying the judge will, but I think the judge has the authority to invalidate and order a new election in that area.
Now, the problem with all of this is that to great extents we are in uncharted waters, because this is a presidential elec-
tion and we're having -- and we have state law to look for in terms of trying to decide what to do. So all lawyers are
very sort of careful in terms of telling us what we think will happen, because frankly, no one knows for sure.
WOODRUFF: Kenneth Gross, what about a revote? Is there any precedent for that, number one? And number two,
how likely is a judge to call for something like that?
GROSS: Well, it would be an extraordinary act but within the judges's powers, and one of the difficulties with this situ-
ation, it appears to be the only satisfactory remedy. I don't know how you rehabilitate a vote like that.
If you have mismarked absentee ballots or other mistakes like that, a judge could say, well, we're going to count them
anyhow, because they reflect the will of the voter, we're going to throw them out, but it doesn't require a revoting -- here
I think that may be the only way to actually make sure that there was a proper expression of the will of the people. It
may be the only remedy available if the court is convinced that there is sufficient evidence.
I know of no case in Florida where they have done that, there are examples of cases around the country where revoting
has been the solution even in the absence of fraud -- and we're not talking about fraud here, but irregularities in the elec-
tion process, so there is some support for that result around the country.
WOODRUFF: And, Greta, presumably where -- again, where this is all if, if, if -- we're very much in the realm of spec-
ulation here -- but there could potentially be a revote in a few Florida counties. We're not talking about a statewide re-
vote, are we?
VAN SUSTEREN: I don't think so, Judy. I think what a judge will try to do is take the very cautious approach and I
think the judge would look at the individual area in which an irregularity occurred. I think that's the only place a judge
would be within his or her power to declare that a revote take place. You know, if there is a good vote in another area
of the state, it seems to me that the judge would be hard-pressed to vacate the will of the people in that area. But who
knows?
Page 705

I mean, listen, this is so unusual, the situation so bizarre, but my wild guess is that the judge, if he or she finds an irreg-
ularity and finds that it's so substantial that it does -- that it undermines the will of the electorate, I would suspect he or
she would do the very limited area. For instance, here if it's Palm Beach County, my guess would be that the revote
would only occur there.
GROSS: Yes, I would agree with that entirely. In fact, it could well be limited to just those who actually voted last
time. I think it would be as limited as it could possibly be.
WOODRUFF: All right, Kenneth Gross, Greta Van Susteren, thank you both.
How did Florida become such a tight battleground state? When INSIDE POLITICS continues, we'll meet some of the
voters.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SHAW: Since early Tuesday evening, Florida voters have found themselves the focus of U.S. politics. From the very
start of the vote count through the recount, Florida has kept the nation guessing. What made the state so hard to fore-
cast?
CNN's Pat Neal tried to find out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAT NEAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Democrat Dottie Shay of Davie voted for Al Gore. She says he
is being robbed.
DOTTIE SHAY, FLORIDA VOTER: It upsets me to even think about it. The most powerful man in the world and it's
got to be right.
NEAL: Shay may be upset, but her fellow seniors are a big reason for Gore's current predicament. In years past,
Democrats could count on 60 percent of Florida seniors. But this time Gore got just half. Slightly younger and more
conservative newcomers are gradually replacing the older, reliably Democratic seniors.
Phil Lucia voted for George W. Bush. He didn't buy Gore's position on Social Security.
PHIL LUCIA, FLORIDA VOTER: Social Security is an issue for Americans that deserve good Social Security pro-
grams. I don't know about the lock box. I don't know if that's feasible nor intelligent.
NEAL: Others liked Bush's stance on strengthening the military and his reluctance to commit U.S. forces overseas.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Foreign policy: We have to conduct foreign policy our own American way without influence
of the rest of the world.
NEAL: Beyond demographics -- geography. The post-election map shows a state that's finely balanced with a lot of
independents.
KEVIN HILL, FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY: Over 20 percent of the electorate has no party affilia-
tion. Those people will swing each way every time and it doesn't take 20 percent. I mean, this election, is going to
be decided by less than one-half of 1 percent.
NEAL: Bush won the swing districts around Tampa and racked up lots of votes from Jacksonville, across the conserva-
tive, northern part of the state into the panhandle, where Bush's dad, former President Bush, campaigned for his son.
Gore won big in southeast Florida with help from African- Americans and Jewish voters. Gore also took a victorious
ride in Orange County, home of Disney World and the Florida Christian Coalition, but it's also where the state's large,
Democratic Puerto Rican community lives.
(on camera): Florida has increasingly trended Republican, but neither party can reliably count on it. That's because the
political landscape constantly changes with the continuous flow of newcomers to the state.
Pat Neal, CNN, Miami.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WOODRUFF: Still much more head on this edition of INSIDE POLITICS. Still to come: Waiting for the outcome.
Will the undecided presidential race have an impact on the nation?
Page 706

Plus:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BROOKS JACKSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's Al Gore's biggest talking point.
GORE: Joe Lieberman and I won the popular vote.
JACKSON: But it's not true, not yet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WOODRUFF: Brooks Jackson on why the popular vote is also too close to call.
Plus:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Two days after the election, and the extra sleep has been
postponed because America does not yet have a president-elect.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WOODRUFF: Gary Tuchman on the campaign staffs with their immediate futures on hold.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SHAW: Joining us in our Washington studio to talk about this election situation, an election still undecided, Robert
Strauss, former Democratic National Committee chairman and chairman of President Carter's campaigns in '76 and '80.
He enjoys the respect of Democrats and Republicans. He was ambassador to Moscow under former President George
Bush.
Bob Strauss, is this situation putting the nation on the verge of national trauma? ROBERT STRAUSS, FORMER DNC
CHAIRMAN: No, I don't think it is. In fact, what worries me is that some people are acting that way on both sides.
They get, understandably, terribly overwrought. But this country, this republic, is very strong, and we will work our
way through this. We're a nation of laws and this process will work. It's going to be difficult. The biggest problem
we have, I think, Bernie, is that we're spoiled in this country. We expect instantaneous results and results that are to-
tally clean and clear and understandable -- well, that's going to be a luxury, obviously, we're not going to get right now.
There's not going to be an instantaneous result here and people have got to keep that in perspective that we have strong
institutions -- and the world sees that -- and behave that way.
SHAW: What is it you dislike about what Gore's doing and about what Bush is doing?
STRAUSS: To tell you the truth, I'm embarrassed to tell you, I haven't even looked at the television today and I've been
busy, I just came in here to do this show.
I don't dislike anything that either of them are doing. I think this country, since you mentioned it, I think we're very
lucky with this terribly difficult, messy situation on our hands, that we have people like Jim Baker and Warren Christo-
pher, two distinguished former secretaries of state, two distinguished American citizens who won with Bush and the
other one with Gore involved. And we have Bill Daley and Don Evans, one with Bush and one with Gore, represent-
ing their parties.
So, with four people like that involved, it'll be controversial, but they'll be sensible and responsible and the people will
react to that if we give them a chance.
SHAW: But what will the situation do to the next president taking office?
STRAUSS: It's going to make it very difficult. The next president will have a terribly, terribly difficult time and he's
going to need -- I don't know who it will be -- I'm sorry, I'm sort of in a strange situation, as you mentioned, I served in
Jimmy Carter's administration, I was campaign chairman, I was democratic chairman, I've also served in the Bush ad-
ministration, I'm a very close friend of the Bush family -- so I think I'm reasonably objective about this. And I know that
either one of these fellows that get there are going to have a terribly, terribly difficult time and I suspect the country will
rally around them when they have to. But it's not an easy time.
SHAW: Fitting for the vice president to carry this challenge all the way to the end?
Page 707

STRAUSS: Well, that's the vice president's decision, and I don't even know the facts. What either one of these people
do depends on the facts. I hear all kinds of stories and I don't think most of them you need to pay much attention to.
But I know one thing, as I said earlier, that this is a strong -- we have strong institutions in this country and the public
has a right to rely on them and will rely on them if we give them a chance.
SHAW: Are those electors who meet next week -- or next month -- in Washington to be trusted?
STRAUSS: Well, we have a long history -- with one or two or three exceptions, to the best of my recollection in all
these years of an elector who was not faithful to the people who elected him and her. And I suspect that will be true
again this time.
But I really think that we're in for confusing days and I think we need to be sober and cautious and responsible as citi-
zens. I think we owe it to each other and we owe it to both sides of this thing. I can't understand why the terribly
partisan people on each side -- well-motivated, well-meaning, intelligent people -- are terribly upset and distraught and
emotional. This is a time to settle down and let these processes work in the way they should work.
SHAW: Bob Strauss, always a pleasure to hear you and your wisdom.
STRAUSS: Thank you, it's nice to be here.
SHAW: Thank you, good to have you on, believe me.
And up next, going into overtime -- the campaign staffs still waiting for the answer to question numero uno.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WOODRUFF: It is two whole days after the election and the staff members of both campaigns, had expected to be
packing up and moving on by now. But with the presidential race still in doubt, staffers on both sides are still at work
and still in limbo.
Gary Tuchman reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TUCHMAN (voice-over): They've been working for Al Gore for months and, in many cases, years. And with all the
hard work of a presidential campaign, they all had a good reason to look forward to the days after the election.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I probably would have been asleep, when it comes down to it, because I haven't slept since
July.
TUCHMAN (on camera): What were you going to be doing today?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sleeping. My No. 1 goal was just to rest.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was hoping to be asleep for a couple days, so -- it's exciting, though, to be here, so sleep can
wait.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And the ballot law in Florida states that the hole has to be to the right of the name?
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Two days after the election, and the extra sleep has been postponed because America does
not yet have a president-elect.
It's a similar scene at Bush headquarters in Austin, where sleep- deprived staffers and volunteers field phone calls from
supporters.
Back in Nashville, the Gore staff tries to sound optimistic.
TUCHMAN (on camera): Right now, you're not nervous at all?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's hard to be nervous because we know that he won the popular vote and he's going to
win the popular vote in Florida and we're just going to keep going at it.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): A hotel suite right below the vice president's suite has been made into a makeshift campaign
office -- an unmade bed and an extra bed propped up against a wall make the room look more like a college dorm than
the center of Al Gore's braintrust.
Twenty-two-year-old Brian Rich (ph) is the so-called "technological guru" of the campaign.
Page 708

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I carry, you know, two cell phones, three pagers, two laptops, printers and all of those things;
and my job is to, basically, manage, process and pull down all of the information for the vice president, for the cam-
paign staff.
TUCHMAN: Which means Brian Rich is now busier than ever.
(on camera): Are you nervous?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Optimistically nervous. I mean, you know, I would have preferred to win the other day, but
I think things are going well and I think they're where we want them.
TUCHMAN: So plans have been changed, vacations canceled. The campaign may be over, but the jobs of the cam-
paign workers are not.
Gary Tuchman, CNN, Nashville.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SHAW: And when INSIDE POLITICS returns, Al Gore says he won the popular vote. But is that a sure bet?
Brooks Jackson looks at why it might not be.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WOODRUFF: An update now on that recount canvassing, whichever you want to call it, going on in Florida. At this
hour there are -- there is a vote difference of 362 separating Al Gore, the vice president, from Texas Governor George
W. Bush. Governor Bush in the lead by 362 votes. And that is with 64 of 67 Florida counties having been counted.
We're waiting any moment now for a news conference that will be held by the Florida Board of Elections to bring us an
update on all of this.
At this hour, there is at least at least one trump card in Al Gore's hand, his slim lead over George W. Bush in the nation-
al popular vote. But there's guarantee that that will be the case when the dust finally settles in this extraordinary elec-
tion.
CNN's Brooks Jackson explains why.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JACKSON (voice-over): It's Al Gore's biggest talking point.
JACKSON: He claims he's won the popular vote and supporters echo that.
JOE ANDREW, DNC NATIONAL CHAIRMAN: Democrats won the popular vote in the race for the White House.
JACKSON: Saying it gives Gore moral authority to press a legal challenge in Florida.
WILLIAM DALEY, GORE CAMPAIGN CHAIRMAN: And more voted for Al Gore than Governor Bush.
JACKSON: But it's not true -- not yet. There are still millions more votes to be tallied before it's clear who won the
popular vote.
CURTIS GANS, ELECTIONS ANALYST: 1.1 million outstanding ballots in California, absentees that haven't been
counted. 900,000 that haven't been counted in Washington. 400,000 that have been impounded in New York -- you
can only begin a count today. And about 300,000 votes in Oregon under that all-mail system that they're having trou-
ble getting a final count on. And then there are scatterings of votes in other places, including Alaska, whose votes are
highly incomplete. There are more than enough votes to close a 200,000-vote gap.
JACKSON: Gore does lead in the unofficial tally of the popular vote, but by a narrow and changing margin. On elec-
tion night, he was running behind by half a million votes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WOODRUFF: This is the raw vote total at this hour with...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Page 709

JACKSON: The next day he led by a quarter-million. Thursday afternoon his lead over Bush had shrunk to less than
200,000 votes out of more than 100 million counted for all candidates. But those are just unofficial totals gathered by
the news media, subject to change due to recounts or late tallied absentees.
In 1996, the unofficial totals being reported the morning after Election Day showed a total of nearly 93 million votes
cast for president. But weeks later the final, official vote tally showed well over 96 million votes were actually cast.
That's nearly 3.5 million additional votes.
President Clinton's winning margin changed significantly when all the votes were counted. Morning-after totals had
him beating Bob Dole by just over seven million -- 7,760,000 votes. His official winning margin turned out to be
more than 8 million, a change of more than 440,000 votes. But this time, a change could go either way.
GANS: Absentee voters are, in general, tend to be more upscale and therefore likely to be more Republican. On the
other hand, the bulk of the absentee is in the West Coast and particularly in California and that tends to be a little more
liberal. So we don't know.
JACKSON (on camera): And we won't know -- not for a while. This one is still too close to call.
Brooks Jackson, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SHAW: Much more still ahead on this expanded edition of INSIDE POLITICS. The latest on the dramatic events in
the Sunshine State and we're going to talk with David Broder of "The Washington Post" and Tom Fiedler of "The Mi-
ami Herald."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SHAW: ... a look at the recount, the questions, and the potential impact of this unprecedented election.
WOODRUFF: A day of escalating rhetoric and dramatic developments in the presidential election: with the presidency
hinging, apparently, on the Florida vote, a still-to-be-completed recount, or canvas, right now shows George W. Bush
leading by fewer than 400 votes out of 6 million cast. The final result will have to wait at least a week until all the
overseas absentee ballots are counted. With the tallies still not complete, the Gore campaign already is calling for
counts by hand in four Florida counties. Also under question: the vote in Palm Beach County, where Al Gore's cam-
paign chairman says a confusing ballot could cost the vice president thousand of votes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DALEY: Because this disenfranchisement of these Floridians is so much larger than the reported gap between Governor
Bush and Vice President Gore, we believe this requires the full attention of the courts in Florida and concerned citizens
all around our country. More a than 100 million Americans voted on Tuesday and more voted for Al Gore than Gov-
ernor Bush. Here in Florida, it also seems very likely more voters went to the polls believing that they were voting for
Al Gore than for George Bush. If the will the people is to prevail, Gore should be awarded a victory in Florida and be
our next president.
EVANS: The Democrats, who are politicizing and distorting these events, risk doing so at the expense at our democra-
cy. One of the options that they seem to be looking at is new elections. Our democratic process calls for a vote on
Election Day. It does not call for us to continue voting until someone likes the outcome. Throughout this process, it
is important that no party to this election act in a precipitous manner or distort an existing voting pattern in an effort to
misinform the public.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WOODRUFF: Florida may not be the only state in question. Bush strategist Karl Rove suggested this day that re-
counts might be needed in three other states, states that Gore won narrowly.
Let's bring in our reporters who have been covering the candidates. John King is in Nashville. Candy Crowley is in
Austin.
John King, we heard Don Evans say that Al Gore is just really, and his people are really just waiting to see -- waiting
for the results that they want to see. How do the Gore people react to that?
Page 710

KING: Well, the Gore people react, Judy, by saying this election is so close that either side, if the outcome were like
this, would be asking for a recount. And indeed, on election night, when we were going through all the confusion back
and forth about the state of Florida, even Bush campaign officials were saying that night that if the vice president won,
they fully expected that there would be questions about the balloting.
So, what the Gore people are saying that this is standard operating procedure. Obviously the stakes higher than anyone
can remember, a presidency at stake here, but that either side, a margin of three, 400 votes out of six million cast, that
the losing side would always be asking for a recount and, indeed, most state laws would require a recount. What they
want now is a very detailed hand recount in the four counties where they believe the vice president performed the
strongest. They believe that will reverse the Bush lead and, of course, they are also thinking about court action, or
supporting court action in Palm Beach.
This a process the Gore campaign says could go on for several more weeks, and what they say is going on here is that
the Bush campaign is worried that if the process goes on, the results might end up in a Gore victory, so that they are
trying to create this public impression that this is sore losers, lawyers, too many lawyers, and they're trying to get the
public to demand an end to this. They say it could go on for quite some time.
WOODRUFF: All right, John, we're just about a minute away, I'm told, from the Florida secretary of state holding a
news conference, presumably to tell us the result of this county-by-county recount.
But while we're waiting for that to get started, Candy, how do the Bush people respond to the statement by Bill Daley,
the Gore campaign chairman, that we just want, the American people just want the person in the presidency who most
people wanted, the preferred person? CROWLEY: Well, as it relates to Florida, that's what the Bush campaign would
say, that is what they want, an honest recount of what the votes were in Florida. But they also believe that the Gore
campaign is fomenting this kind of -- you know, there's fraud here, there's fraud there. The ballot was confusing.
They came armed at a news conference with their own copy of the controversial ballot in Palm Beach County, saying,
look, the arrows point from the name of the candidate to the hole you're supposed to punch. They point out that Dem-
ocrats signed off on this ballot, that it was in the newspaper, that it was sent to voters, that it was not confusing.
And they believe, watching the protest outside various Florida facilities, one of them led by the Reverend Jesse Jackson,
a strong Democrat, a Gore supporter, that the Gore campaign is just fomenting this sort of turbulence to make things
seem more uncertain than they actually are. They believe they are handing out sort of half facts about what went on in
Palm Beach, that kind of thing. So, you know, what you have is this...
WOODRUFF: Candy, I am going to have to interrupt you because I am told that the secretary of state in Tallahassee is
about to begin this press conference. And let's listen.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
KATHERINE HARRIS, FLORIDA SECRETARY OF STATE: Good afternoon.
As secretary of state, I am chief elections officer, and I would like to introduce to you the Election Canvassing Com-
mission that will be certifying the state recount results: Commissioner Bob Crawford, commissioner of agriculture, and
Clay Roberts, the division director for state of Florida Division of Elections.
We will all remember these times as some of the most critical and defining moments in our nation's history, a time when
we as Americans are working to ensure the meaning and vitality of our democratic system.
To that end, here in Florida our local supervisors of elections, our Division of Elections staff, and countless volunteers
have dedicated themselves to the accurate reporting of election results.
All of us take this responsibility seriously, given the national implications of this election and our statutory responsibil-
ity to ensure the integrity and accuracy of our elections process.
This recount is mandated by Florida law whenever a final ballot puts the margin of victory at less than 0.5 percent.
The Department of State requested all of our locally elected supervisors of elections to forward their recount results by 5
p.m. today.
As of 5, the Divisions of Elections reported receiving recount results from 53 counties in Florida. We are still awaiting
the results from the supervisors of elections in 14 Florida counties, which by law have until Tuesday, November 14, to
submit those returns to the Office of the Secretary of State. Official certification by the Elections Canvassing Commis-
sion, consisting of our commissioner of agriculture, the division director of elections and the secretary of state, will not
Page 711

commence until the original signed forms from all 67 counties, attesting to their certified results, have been received by
our office.
As of 5 p.m. today, the unofficial certified results of the recount are as follows: Governor George W. Bush, 2,909,661;
Vice President Al Gore, 2,907,877; a difference of 1,784.
HARRIS: The following is very important: Under statutory law, legally cast Florida ballots received from overseas
must be counted by the supervisors of elections for 10 days following the general election. That deadline is November
17, 2000.
Hear this: We will continue to perform our responsibilities and this process with all due speed, but with a determination
to assure the full accuracy and independence of this process.
Thank you.
QUESTION: Secretary Harris, is your office prepared to vigorously defend what is certain to be a legal challenge about
the way that ballot was constructed in Palm Beach County?
HARRIS: Can we address that?
CLAY ROBERTS, DIVISION DIRECTOR, FLORIDA DIVISION OF ELECTIONS: Yes, we expect legal challenges.
Our policy is we are not going to comment on litigation. The secretary will exercise her duty as chief elections officer,
and where she is required to legally defend a lawsuit she will do so.
QUESTION: A quick follow-up. On September 7, Clay, you sent a memo to all 67 election supervisors dictating the
order of candidates. That was dictated by Florida statute. Did Palm Beach County follow the order as specified in your
memorandum?
ROBERTS: As far as I know, they did.
I have not reviewed their ballot, though. I have seen on the television their presidential ballot. I haven't seen any of
their other candidate ballots. And that's pending litigation so I am not going to answer you further.
QUESTION: Secretary of State, if you want to certify this, have you gotten word from the Gore campaign that they
intend to file suit in order to keep you from finalizing and certifying the recount?
HARRIS: I have not received any contact from the Gore campaign in that regard.
QUESTION: The wire services -- it's being widely reported, many more counties in and much closer number. Can
you put -- can you explain to the viewers why the discrepancy? Why is it we're hearing 61 counties are actually in and
we're hearing those numbers and a number that's much closer.
HARRIS: Actually, we've been glued to our TVs as well following your results. I hope they're going to be a lot more
accurate than the other night, but -- on the polling.
(LAUGHTER)
Sorry.
But at any rate, the differences for the viewers is specifically that we are reporting all the unofficial certified results.
And they are behind the -- when many of the news stations are contacting the supervisors or some of their staff directly
and posting those results.
We are not putting any results out until they are unofficially certified. By that, it means that we've received word from
them the certified results. But until we have the physical certification in our hands, they are not officially certified.
And we're only reporting those that are unofficially certified at the Department of State presently.
QUESTION: What do you think the policy -- the manual recount in four counties by the Democrats, how long do you
think that may delay these final tallies?
HARRIS: I'm delighted to talk about process, and I don't want to speculate, but actually the request for the local counts
is a decision that is made by the local canvassing boards consisting of the supervisors of election -- the supervisor of
election in that county, the county commission chairman, and a local judge.
QUESTION: If they were to deny that request, does the decision then go to you?
Page 712

ROBERTS: As far as requesting the manual recount, that is a decision solely within the control of the local canvassing
board and there's no appeal to the Secretary of State's Office.
QUESTION: Does the request have any effect on whether or not ballots -- whether or not this count is certified? I
mean, does it stop that process at all (OFF-MIKE)
ROBERTS: Under the statutes, the local canvassing board has to certify to the State Division of Elections and the Of-
fice of the Secretary of State, no later than seven days after the election. Whatever procedure that the canvassing board
is going through, whether it's a hand recount, whether it's a machine recount, whatever other processes they want to go
through, they must certify within seven days so we can begin our work.
STAFF: At this point, we're going to turn it over to Secretary Crawford, to make his comments.
QUESTION: Secretary Crawford, do you, sir, as an open supporter of George W. Bush feel that you should be in the
position you're in in terms of canvassing and affirming the results? BOB CRAWFORD, FLORIDA'S SECRETARY OF
AGRICULTURE: Well, I would say that anybody that's going to serve on this commission had to vote for somebody.
And I'm a Democrat. I happened vote for George W. Bush. When you serve on a commission like this, it's not about
politics, it's about process and the integrity of the electoral system. And that's certainly the most important thing be-
fore us, and that's what we're going to stick to.
And let me just say, too, that Secretary Harris and Clay have done a fantastic job under very difficult circumstances.
And I know a lot of people in this country are watching Florida right now, and I want people to know that while there's
a lot of frustration surrounding this election, nobody ever said that democracy is simple or efficient. But this is de-
mocracy in action. If you want simplicity, just go about 70 miles south of Florida and you've got Cuba, and they're
very simple. They have no elections.
So it's frustrating, it's confusing, it's perplexing, and it's all worth it because it's our democracy. And we're going to get
through it and it's going to all work out.
(CROSSTALK)
STAFF: We have a statement available on this side of the room at this point. Thank you all for coming.
WOODRUFF: I think those must be voters or something. They don't sound like reporters.
SHAW: Well, the positive statement there made at the end by Bob Crawford, Florida's agriculture commissioner indi-
cating that we're going to get through this. This is we're going to get through this and he said if you want simplicity,
go 90 miles south to Cuba, where they have a lot of simplicity.
Very briefly, two important things. Along with latest vote count, which showed Governor Bush in Florida's raw vote
total having 2,909,661 to Vice President Gore's 2,907,877 was the point about those absentee ballots. Perhaps you
heard Katherine Harris say at one point that legally cast Florida ballots, absentee ballots, must be counted for 10 days --
for 10 days following the election and that deadline is November 17th. Another point she made: 53 of Florida's 67
counties have reported. They are awaiting results from 14 and they have until Tuesday, November 14th.
Joining us now, Tom Fiedler of "The Miami Herald." Tom, what was going through your mind as these points of date
and numbers were ticked off?
TOM FIEDLER, "THE MIAMI HERALD": Well, my main reaction to all of that was why did we bother getting to-
gether here? She basically repeated the same numbers that we knew or very close to knew on the close of election
night there. So apparently as she said there, the more recent tally that we're getting where we have 64 of 67 counties
and the gap with slightly more than 350 between the two of them That's based really on the news media's -- the consor-
tium that the news media has that goes directly to the county supervisor. So, I think the session that we just saw ad-
vance the ball not one yard down the field.
SHAW: What about the legal changes or challenges? What are you hearing about them right now?
FIEDLER: Well, you know, there was one interesting point. One of the questions that came up in that conference was
directed to the state Elections Department Director where he was asked if he had seen the Palm Beach County ballot
and whether it complied with a memo that he had written.
What that memo said was that the order of presidential candidates must follow the order of the results in the last gover-
nor's race, which means the first line of the ballot had to be Republicans, the second line the Democrats and the follow-
Page 713

ing lines below that would be the minority parties. In fact, in the disputed ballot in Palm Beach County, the first line
on the ballot and the first punch hole on the ballot is the Republicans. But the second punch hole on the ballot was Pat
Buchanan's. The third punch hole was then Al Gore's.
So the basis of or one of the basis of the legal challenges that are being or are about to be brought to that Palm Beach
County ballot is that it in fact was in violation of Florida law and in violation of the state Supervisor of Elections mem-
orandum, and if that legal -- if in fact the ballot itself was illegal, than any actions -- any invalid action by the voter in
effect doesn't matter because the ballot itself was polluted.
So that was a fundamentally important question and I have a sense that the state Supervisor of Elections realized he was
about to step into a bear trap and kind of pulled back by saying he really hadn't looked at this issue. But I think it's
going to be fundamental issue.
SHAW: That was really very, very noticeable. You could see him, practically hear him thinking, do I really want to
answer that question? I'd better back off.
FIEDLER: That's right.
SHAW: What do we know who might be the sitting judge?
FIEDLER: Actually, we don't know. This should be a blind rotation system where the case will simply come up on
what they call the wheel. And then we'll see whether the judge will entertain this. Florida election law has been fairly
open about entertaining cases where there's suggested fraud primarily, and the state law does give the trial judge here,
the circuit court judge, enormous power to remedy the situation.
Of course there will be appeals from this, but the judge could -- has the authority to order a recount, can order a new
election or the trial judge could in effect say all the ballots here are illegal and therefore we'll throw them all out and
that would mean basically Palm Beach County's votes wouldn't count at all and that would be draconian. But there is
that kind of power invested in the judge. SHAW: You know, politically I was struck by the fact that the Florida Agri-
culture Commissioner Bob Crawford, a Democrat said he voted for Texas Governor George Bush but he was reassuring
in declaring that process is what matters here and he said, quote, "We're going to get through this."
What were you thinking when he said that?
FIEDLER: Well, I was thinking he was in many ways, again, trying to step very carefully there. As a Democrat who
is publicly supporting the Republican, he's already out there on a tightrope. So, probably the safest line that he could
walk was to say exactly what he said. I don't mean to minimize it, I think his words were well chosen, well spoken,
but the safest position for him to take was, I am not voting either my party registration or what happens to be my pref-
erence, I am just going to make sure that I preserve the process here and go by the Constitution. It was -- I think,
again, he was just minding his words quite carefully there.
SHAW: And the governor of the state where you are, what are you hearing about Jeb Bush's mood and predicament?
FIEDLER: Yes, his -- it's an extraordinary difficult predicament. Of course, his heart is involved in this, but he also
has to be very mindful of his executive authority. I think, in my personal view, he's handled this as well as you could
expect him to. He has taken himself off of the state canvassing board, saying he would not play a part in that, and I think
he has to.
At this point, there is clearly -- the integrity of the balloting process is so fundamental, it rises above any individual
race, any individual person. So the governor's action here -- not only, I think, is he following his heart, but I think he
also is following his duty here in trying to assure people that he will not in any way put his finger on the scale.
SHAW: Tom Fiedler, "Miami Herald," good to see you again. Thank you.
FIEDLER: Sure. Thanks, Bernie.
SHAW: You're quite welcome.
And still to come here on INSIDE POLITICS, coming up, Judy talks with the chairman of the Republican and Demo-
cratic National Committees, and more.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
Page 714

WOODRUFF: The fight over Florida's electoral votes involves legal issues and moral issues to some extent, but no one
is pretending it is not political.
Joining us now, RNC Chairman Jim Nicholson and DNC National Chairman Joe Andrew.
Gentlemen, thank you both for being with us.
Joe Andrew, we just heard Florida's secretary of state say now that it's going to be next week before -- apparently before
we have the official count from all of Florida's 67 counties. Where does this stand from the standpoint of the Demo-
cratic National Committee?
ANDREW: Well, Judy, Democrats want what all Americans want, which is a fair and accurate count of every ballot in
every election, but particularly for president of the United States of America. We need to make sure that that count is
credible, that it's clear, that the process is transparent as well, and maybe even more importantly, people have confi-
dence in the result of it. And I think that's why we need to do, as President Carter, who's reviewed dozens of elections
all across the country, said, is to be patient here, be patient with democracy, let this process go forward and make sure
that it's a result that people have confidence in.
WOODRUFF: Jim Nicholson, as the head of the Republican National Committee, do you -- does your party have diffi-
culty with the idea of making sure that the votes were counted correctly, that the final count is one that everyone can
have confidence in?
JIM NICHOLSON, RNC CHAIRMAN: We have no difficulty with that at all. That's the goal. This more than being
political, or moral, or legal, Judy, is constitutional. What's involved in -- here is our way of government, the way we
conduct elections, we have to do this very carefully and I think people are doing the country and potentially our freedom
a disservice when they act irrational about this, when they go down there and hold demonstrations, when they try to
incite people to riot.
WOODRUFF: Who are you saying exactly is irrational?
NICHOLSON: Well, Jesse Jackson is down there right now, you know, ginning up people. That's not what we need.
We need leadership, we need people who respect the Constitution so strongly that they will lead, and that they will ad-
vise constraint on the part of all people involved so that we do get this done and we get it done right consistent with the
Constitution, and I think when that's done, Governor Bush is going to have a majority of the votes in Florida, which will
give him Florida's electoral votes and he'll be elected president of the United States.
WOODRUFF: But you would acknowledge we don't know that for certain until all the votes are counted?
NICHOLSON: That's correct. And there is still...
WOODRUFF: Including the absentee.
NICHOLSON: ... absentee votes that need to be counted.
WOODRUFF: Joe Andrew, what about Jim Nicholson's statement that you have people, including Jesse Jackson, who
seem to be trying to stir things up down in south Florida? ANDREW: I don't think Reverend Jackson is trying to stir
things up. I think he's helping to express the will of a lot of people down there who are concerned and don't have con-
fidence in the result or in the process right now. Again, the most important thing here is to make sure that people have
confidence in the process and that we need to make sure that all Americans recognize that it may take some patience
and may take some time.
WOODRUFF: Let me ask you this, what is it going to take -- well, let me -- I'm sorry. Let me turn it around and ask it
this way.
Today, we heard Karl Rove, who's the chief strategist for Governor Bush, say that, OK, if we're taking a look at Florida,
then let's think about Wisconsin, let's think about Iowa, New Mexico, some other states...
NICHOLSON: Oregon.
WOODRUFF: Oregon, states where the vote was very close, ended up in Gore's favor. Would you support a look at
some of the -- at the balloting in some of these other states if things go forward in Florida so that maybe there is a re-
vote, maybe it goes into court? We don't know yet.
Page 715

NICHOLSON: I don't know. I can't answer that, Judy, but it's -- you know, our elections across our country are huge
and they're scope and scale, and there are always some irregularities, and it's an imperfect process, and what I think Karl
was saying is, if we're going to zero in one county, then we're going to have to zero in on a lot of counties around this
country.
I mean, in Milwaukee, for example, we know that a leader from the Democrat Party was in there taking homeless peo-
ple from a shelter down, giving them an absentee ballot and voting them, and giving them a pack of cigarettes as their
reward. Should we be contesting that? We know in St. Louis they kept the ballot place open in contravention of a fed-
eral judge's order so people could vote. Should we be contesting that? And we could go on and on.
I think what we need here is real sound, mature judgment, people who revere our freedom and our Constitution -- I
fought for that myself in combat. This is not something we ought to take lightly and we shouldn't be acting irrational-
ly, with placards and -- this is not a campaign, this is more important.
WOODRUFF: Joe Andrew, what about this point, that if you're going to go down and open everything up all over again
in one state, or in one county, or four counties, why not do it in other places where there were close races?
ANDREW: Well, we should. There is no question that we should look at everything. For example, in response, par-
ticularly, to what Jim just said; in the situation in Milwaukee, while it wasn't a democratic leader, it was just a volunteer
-- actually, the Republican Party is contesting it there. In each one of these circumstances he issues an example, it is
being contested, it is being looked at right now. There are state, obviously, investigations going on all across this
country as there always are after elections.
WOODRUFF: What is it going to take, gentlemen, for each of you, for the political organizations that you represent to
be satisfied with the results? I mean, some people would look at what's been going on and the rhetoric that we've been
hearing in the last day or so -- wait a minute, this is like two trains headed for a collision; we just had an election.
I mean, what is it going to take for there to be an acceptance of the results?
NICHOLSON: I think it's for the people who have that responsibility, particularly in Florida, to make their decision and
then certify their decision. And people, I think, will accept that.
WOODRUFF: Whatever it is in Florida, because we know that, whichever way those 25 electoral votes from Florida
go, it will either be Governor Bush or Vice President Gore who will be the next president?
NICHOLSON: Well, you make a good point; and as Joe mentions, you know, these other areas, in Wisconsin, in Iowa,
in Oregon, in New Mexico. Those are very close elections, none of which we won. So, you know, if there's litigation
over this, if there's a protracted dispute over this, those are areas that we will have to look at because, you know, the
counts there are so close that maybe they are wrong.
WOODRUFF: Joe Andrew, just quickly, what will it take to...
ANDREW: We have to have a clear, transparent process. We've got to make sure we understand what the will of the
voters was and will of individual voters, as well. That's what Americans want and that's what will breed confidence.
I think in the end, that's exactly what we'll get.
WOODRUFF: All right; Joe Andrew, Jim Nicholson, chairman of their respective parties, the Democrats and the Re-
publicans. Thank you both very much.
And I want to tell our viewers that we are waiting for a second news conference this day by Bill Daley, who's the
chairman of the Gore campaign, and Warren Christopher, former secretary of state, who has been appointed by Al Gore
to serve as his legal emissary to Florida while this recount and some of these questions are outstanding.
We'll be back in just a minute with more of this special edition.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SHAW: For our viewers in search of the "MONEYLINE NEWS HOUR," normally beginning at 6:30 Eastern, CNN
INSIDE POLITICS has an extended program because we're expecting a news conference by the national campaign
chairman for Vice President Al Gore William Daley and the vice president's legal representative Warren Christopher.
We're standing by for that, and as soon as we wrap up then, of course, the "MONEYLINE NEWS HOUR" will come
on.
Page 716

We're going to take you back to Florida now and check in with two of our correspondents for an update on what is hap-
pening.
First to you, Patty Davis, in Tallahassee; what's the latest?
PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you're hoping for some resolution here in Tallahassee, but that is
not to be the case. Florida secretary of state Katherine Harris just holding her press conference saying, in fact, that only
53 out of Florida's 67 counties have reported their recount numbers, 14 are still missing.
They now have until Tuesday, November 14, to come in with their numbers. What the state official numbers now
show is that Bush is still up 1,784 votes in the recount at this point. There's a difference, now, with what The Associ-
ated Press and the voter news service is reporting -- those are unofficial numbers as well. But those reports are in the
counties, actually where the recounts are taking place. They are showing that 64 of 67 counties are reporting their
numbers; 362 is the number that George W. Bush is up according to AP and VNS.
Now, we may not know the final numbers here until Tuesday; as I said, that's when all the counties are required to re-
port their numbers, and then there is the sticky problems of those absentee overseas ballot. They do not have to be
received until the following Tuesday -- actually, on the 17th, which is Thursday, 10 days after the election, Bernie.
SHAW: That's the absentee ballots?
DAVIS: That's right, those are the absentee ballots from overseas. They have to have them postmarked by the Elec-
tion Day, but they have to be received by the 17th, which would be 10 days after the actual election.
SHAW: OK Patty, would you please stand by.
Let's go down the East Coast of Florida and check in with John Zarrella in West Palm Beach.
John, what's the very latest where you are?
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the very latest is that the protesters are still here and they're still
saying, "don't throw my vote away." They've been here since about 7:00 or 8:00 this morning.
A couple of other developments here in Palm Beach County is that the supervisor of elections office, just a little while
ago said that they would go ahead and recount the votes again for a third time. The Republican Party has asked for a
machine recount. That will be conducted beginning at 9:00 a.m. Saturday morning. The Democratic Party asked for
a manual recount, that will also be conducted beginning at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday morning, but will only be of 1 percent
of the vote, and that's about 4,000 votes that they will recount from three precincts here, randomly selected precincts in
Palm Beach County.
And what we also understand is that a federal lawsuit that was about to be filed here has been withdrawn and that there
will no longer be any federal challenge, at least not by one individual here in Palm Beach County who was planning to
file a federal lawsuit, saying that the election -- they were mislead, they were duped, and that the election should be
thrown out and a new election in Palm Beach County should be handled.
But right now you can see all of these protesters behind me, Bernie. They have been here, again, all day. The Rev-
erend Jesse Jackson was here about 1:00 this afternoon. He said that the vote here could not stand, there had to be
some sort of a revote, which is what the people here are asking and demanding. When all of this will shake out in
Palm Beach County; very, very difficult to say; 19,000 votes were thrown out here because people voted for two presi-
dential candidates. Another 3,400 votes are in question because they went to Pat Buchanan, and that's five times more
votes Pat Buchanan got here than he got in Broward County, which has twice the number of voters. So that's appears to
be suspicious.
And that all hinges on the ballot here in Palm Beach County that is suspect in the way it was put together, and which
has been the subject of contention all day by -- and questioning, even a little while ago in that press conference held in
Tallahassee with the elections commission officials as to whether the ballot is wrong, whether it's a bad ballot, whether
it, indeed, should not have been used.
So, many developments still to untold, regardless of the what this final count is in the recount of the 67 counties -- Ber-
nie.
SHAW: John Zarrella with the latest from West Palm Beach, we thank you as we thank Patty Davis in Tallahassee.
Page 717

INSIDE POLITICS will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CRAWFORD: While there's lot of frustration surrounding this election, nobody ever said that democracy was simple or
efficient. But this is democracy in action. If you want simplicity just go about 70 miles south of Florida and you got
Cuba and they're very simple. They have no elections. So, it's frustrating. It's confusing. It's perplexing and it's all
worth it because it's our democracy and we're going to get through it and it's going to all work out.
(END VIDEO CLIP) WOODRUFF: Those were the comments just a short time ago. Bob Crawford, who is the Flori-
da state agriculture commissioner, he was there with the Florida secretary of state talking about the recount, the can-
vassing of votes going on at this hour still in the state of Florida. We are waiting for a news conference by the cam-
paign chairman for Al Gore, Bill Daley and also by Vice President Gore's legal -- the head of his legal team, Warren
Christopher, down in Florida. And we're going to go to that just as soon as it gets underway.
But in the meantime we're going to bring back with us Ken Gross, the election law expert. And Ken, you are here in
Washington. Jeff Greenfield joins us from New York.
I want to ask Ken Gross, first, you listen to the secretary of state and her colleagues, are we any further along in under-
standing where we stand with this recount, Ken Gross?
GROSS: It didn't do anything for me. It sounded like we were back where we were a couple days ago. In fact, the
information we've been getting from CNN is coming directly from the field, as they say out in Florida, and that seems to
be more accurate or at least more developed information than we got from the secretary of state. So I didn't see that
moving the ball at all.
WOODRUFF: What about the question that went to the -- I'm sorry, I didn't write down his name. He was the gen-
tleman who I guess runs the state election board.
GROSS: Right.
WOODRUFF: He was asked about the order of names on the ballot, and he did not answer the question. Now why
would that be significant?
GROSS: Well, it was an interesting question and I think even a more interesting reaction because he kind of pulled
back. The reason it's important is if the ballot in its design is not in compliance with state law, that's just another basis
for a challenge and throwing out the Palm Beach votes that were based on this butterfly ballot.
And I guess the question really comes down to if you read the column, you know, one from column a and one from
column b, it looks like they're not in order of the presidential primary -- the major party candidates first. It looks like
it's major party, minor party, major party. Of course, if you read the first column all the way down and then you go
over to the second column then they are in order. So that's just another problem with this butterfly ballot.
WOODRUFF: Jeff Greenfield, it is increasingly looking as if there may well be a legal assault here on the election at
least in Palm Beach County, perhaps in other counties. What does all this do to the process of picking a president?
What are we really dealing with here?
GREENFIELD: Here's what I'm beginning to sense, and I hope I'm wrong. I'm getting the sense that I'm looking at a
stately, magnificent automobile, a classic automobile parked on a grade, slowly beginning to roll down the hill. And at
the bottom of this hill, actually, there's a cliff. There's plenty of time to stop the car. Everybody loves the car. Eve-
rybody wants to preserve but the car faster this car gains momentum, the harder it will be to stop what could be a very
ugly crash.
And part of the reason, I suggest, is we are once again, just as with impeachment, employing a 200-year-old mechanism
that we never thought we were ever going to get around to employing again.
I mean, just one other point. To look at these 362 votes, if that's the unofficial estimate, I tried to do the arithmetic like
Tuesday night, Judy. It represents something on the order of 3/10,000 of 1 percent of the national popular vote and
that is the number that may or may not determine the next president because of our electoral system.
Page 718

And whatever you want to argue, and the partisans are getting more and more loud, you know, more vociferous, more
contentious, that's a very troublesome thing to be at a time when we should be talking about the transition and the new
president.
WOODRUFF: Well, Jeff Greenfield is saying we may be heading for a crisis, but Ken Gross, I mean, after all, there is
process for dealing with serious challenges to election outcomes, is there not?
GROSS: There is, and I think we're going to see it played out because there is a basis under the court system, the state
court system in Florida to bring challenges. Where they'll end up, we don't know, but the Democrats here are certainly
entitled to due process and I think we're going to watch it unfold.
WOODRUFF: All Right, Ken Gross here in Washington; Jeff Greenfield in New York. We're going to take a break.
More of this special edition of INSIDE POLITICS when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE H. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're very, very proud of him. And I'm
very pleased that he has Jim Baker helping him there. And I'm very proud of Jeb. I'll tell you, as a dad, some of
what's been said about him, questioning him just kills me.
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION: Do you think it'll come out all right?
QUESTION: Do you support the recount?
G. BUSH: The most nervous time in my entire life. I'll leave that to the pros. I'm a father -- a very proud father.
I'm proud of the way my son has conducted himself and is conducting himself. And it's very hard to describe it to
people. That's where it is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SHAW: Former President of the United States George Herbert Walker Bush, he's in the rain under that umbrella just
outside Blair House. He and Mrs. Bush, along with former first families, president Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn, Jerry
Ford, former President Ford, his wife, Betty, and former first lady, Ladybird Johnson, they're all at the White House
tonight for dinner, hosted by President and Mrs. Clinton, part of those celebrations commemorating the 200th birthday
of the White House.
Now, quickly, to our correspondents in the field covering both campaigns in both camps. Candy Crowley in Austin.
John King, you're in Nashville. John, what is it with this news conference by William Daley, the campaign chairman,
and Warren Christopher, the top legal representative?
KING: Well, Bernie, they were preparing to respond to whatever the Florida secretary of state said about recount, the
initial recount. The Gore campaign now saying it doesn't know what there is to respond to because she said so little.
She gave no new information, no firm number on where the initial recanvassing, as the Gore campaign calls it, is.
So, whether we will hear from Mr. Daley and Mr. Christopher, I think, is in doubt. And if they do come out, I was just
told by a senior campaign official, they really have very little new to say. They coming out to react to her new numbers
and then she didn't release any, because she said the process is not complete.
SHAW: And Candy, I presume that until John just reported that latest information, the Bush campaign was ready to
respond to the Gore campaign responding to the Florida officials.
CROWLEY: Well, that seems to be the way we're going. They certainly left open the option that we might hear from
them further this evening. There was nothing planned as of about an hour ago. So, you know, obviously, Bernie,
what we're seeing is that this has become as much about politics as it does about adding numbers up. When the Gore
campaign had a news conference earlier today, the Bush campaign did feel that it needed to get out there with its side of
the story. So, I imagine this is something we are going to see over the next week or so, I guess.
Page 719

SHAW: And Candy, we just heard former President George Bush expressing some very deeply held emotional feelings
about his two sons, Jeb Bush, governor of Florida and, of course, Texas Governor George Bush. Was the president
reflecting pretty much what you're hearing about the Bush family and the emotions that are just percolating?
CROWLEY: Absolutely, I think that what we've seen over the course of this campaign and, indeed, when George Bush,
the father, was in office, is that this is a close family and a family that sticks together. They were, Jeb Bush, George
Bush and George Bush the father, were all there with their wives in the governor's mansion as these returns came in on
Tuesday night. There is obvious affection in the family and obviously, you know, a proud dad. And George Bush is
always saying the only worse thing than being the guy who's running is being a relative or a loved one of the guy who's
running. Probably, father George Bush is in the toughest position of either of his two sons at this point.
SHAW: Candy Crowley in Austin, John King in Nashville, I know you're tired of standing, so we're going to get out of
your lives for a while. Thank you.
When we come back we're going to hear from Bruce Morton.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WOODRUFF: It is an election that will go down in history like few others. While some may find humor in it, or be
shocked by it, our Bruce Morton reports, there have been other controversial elections, and the nation managed to sort
them out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRUCE MORTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's funny, of course. The late-night guys love it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE TONIGHT SHOW")
JAY LENO: Man, and what is it down to, just a couple of votes? Boy, wouldn't it be great if this whole thing wound up
being decided by Elian Gonzalez's crazy relatives? Uncle Lazarus and the crazy fisherman, we got the final vote right
here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MORTON: But it isn't just funny. Oprah's worried.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE OPRAH WINFREY SHOW")
OPRAH WINFREY: But we are live in Chicago on November 9th and we are leaderless. Aren't we still shocked?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MORTON: And some of us are.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's a lot of problems with counting and exactly how many votes are actually valid and
whatnot, and it just makes me think that, whoever they elect, is that really our president? or is it a counting mistake?
MORTON: Nowadays, everything is instant. But elections used to be slow. And even then, the U.S. always mud-
dled through, somehow. Abraham Lincoln was murdered. His vice president, Andrew Johnson, was impeached in a
country bitterly divided at the end of the Civil War. But power passed smoothly. Andrew Jackson won the popular
vote and the electoral vote but not a majority. And the House elected John Quincy Adams president. Power passed
smoothly. And Jackson won the presidency four years later. Same with Grover Cleveland, won the popular vote, but
the Electoral College went for Benjamin Harrison and Cleveland got elected four years later.
When Richard Nixon resigned the presidency -- something that had never happened before, in 1974 -- people said, this
will be bad for the country. But it was only bad for Nixon. The country, under Gerald Ford, was calm. It was the
same Nixon who, when he lost a very close election to John Kennedy in 1960, did not pursue vote fraud charges in Illi-
nois, but accepted the results. This time, well everyone's talking about it.
TERESA CHAPPEL, REPUBLICAN ELECTOR: If I was on the other side, I probably would say, yes, the popular
vote. However, it is the Electoral College in this country that elects our president and I think that should hold.
MORTON: They'll debate changing the system for next time. But the odds are this election will be decided under the
law, fairly calmly, no coups, no national collapse. And if we need a temporary president, somebody to mind the store
Page 720

while the lawsuits get settled, I know just the guy, and so do you. You know he'd love to be asked; it absolutely beats
being the spouse of a famous senator.
Bruce Morton, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SHAW: Always willing to help.
That's all for this edition of INSIDE POLITICS. I'm Bernard Shaw.
WOODRUFF: And I'm Judy Woodruff. We will join the "MONEYLINE NEWS HOUR," already in progress.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


All Rights Reserved
Page 721


CNN


SHOW: CNN LARRY KING LIVE 21:00

Who Won the Presidential Election?

GUESTS: Jack Quinn, George Shultz, Patrick Buchanan, Andre Fladell, Howard Weiss, Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Robert
Wexler, Sander Vanocur, Floyd Abrams

BYLINE: Larry King, Mike Boettcher, William Schneider


LENGTH: 7717 words

HIGHLIGHT: Jack Quinn, a Gore campaign senior adviser, discusses why he believes Al Gore should be declared
the winner of Florida's 25 electoral votes. Former Secretary of State George Shultz discusses the presidential race in
Florida.

LARRY KING, HOST: Tonight, who won it? The nation chews its nails as the presidential cliffhanger rolls on.
Joining us in Washington, the senior adviser to the Gore campaign, Jack Quinn. In Augusta, Georgia, the former Sec-
retary of State George Shultz, a top adviser to George W. Bush. Back in D.C., Pat Buchanan, the Reform Party's
presidential candidate for election 2000.
Also, a top-flight roundtable. In New York, renowned constitutional lawyer Floyd Abrams. In Los Angeles, veteran
political journalist Sander Vanocur. And in Atlanta, CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider. All that and more
next on LARRY KING LIVE.
Let's begin with the latest on the counting going on in Florida, and we'll go to our correspondent on the scene, Mike
Boettcher. What's up, Mike? What's the latest?
MIKE BOETTCHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Larry, so close and yet so far. The count continues. We
thought it would be over today. When we arrived here early yesterday morning, we were told that by end of business
today they had hoped to have a recount. Well, it's not completely done yet.
There are two counts -- and we'll try to be very clear about this -- 53 counties being counted by the state of Florida re-
porting here at the division of elections. They show a gap of 1,784 between Governor Bush and Vice President Gore,
with, of course, Governor Bush in the lead. Now, there is a second count, done by the Associated Press. They are
ahead of the state counts, and we'll try to explain what's going on there. They are reporting 65 of 67 counties, and only
a gap of 225 votes between Governor Bush and Vice President Gore with, of course, Governor Bush in the lead.
Now, why the gap? Well, I talked to someone earlier today about an hour ago on the phone, who's worked up here in
the State Capitol, who still does, who says he believes that the discrepancy is because the counties that are still out
there, not reported to the state, have some mistakes in them, and they want to make sure that those figures are right. So
they're holding back. They're trying to make sure that these big discrepancies that they haven't reported yet are -- are
indeed big discrepancies.
Page 722
Who Won the Presidential Election? CNN November 9, 2000; Thursday

So they haven't reported it to the state yet, and I guess that's what's going on, Larry. That's what they believe is going
on here between the two figures. KING: Thanks, Mike. Well-reported. Mike Boettcher -- he's been on top of the
scene all day in Tallahassee.
Now, let's go to Washington and Jack Quinn, well-known name, former White House counsel, Gore campaign senior
adviser. The campaign has made a decision today.
There are definitely going to be lawsuits, Jack?
JACK QUINN, GORE CAMPAIGN SENIOR ADVISER: Larry, I can't say whether there are going to be lawsuits or
whether they're not going to be lawsuits. What I can tell you is that we are absolutely committed to make sure that the
most sacred right of the American people, to be able to cast a vote freely and have it count, will be vindicated in this
election.
KING: If you feel that Palm Beach -- and many, many voters were -- many voters had double votes, they voted for two
presidents because of confusion. Some voted for the wrong person, it's said. Are you going to challenge that partic-
ular county?
QUINN: Let me tell you what I believe, Larry. I believe with all my heart that more people in the state of Florida left
their homes and their workplaces on Tuesday, went to the polls intending to vote for Al Gore, than those who intended
to vote for George Bush. I think Al Gore won the vote in the state of Florida. I think that he, therefore, should have
been elected president on Tuesday.
I think that Governor Bush has an extraordinary opportunity and obligation right now to understand what's going on, to
appreciate that if he were to do anything that would in any way denigrate the right of these people to have their votes
counted, that he would assume the presidency with a cloud that would just be horrible for him and for the country.
KING: What do you want to happen if those people were denied their right to, that we all have, to express it because of
an error or stupidity or a ballot done poorly? What do you want? You want it redone?
QUINN: Well...
KING: What do you want to happen? What's the solution?
QUINN: I want us to go through a dignified, respectful, careful, and expeditious process to make sure that the will of
the people who went to the polls on election day in Florida is reflected in the outcome.
KING: Is the only way to do that have them go again? What's another way to do it?
QUINN: It might be. Well, there are any number of solutions to this. I mean, this is not entirely new territory. You
have had situations where ballots, like the 19,000 we're concerned about -- and I trust that the viewers know what we're
talking about, why we're concerned about this, why we believe they were Gore ballots. But let's assume for the mo-
ment that we've got 19,000 votes that we think were ours that were not counted.
But there are -- there have been any number situations in which this sort of thing has happened. Some courts, some
have decided that those votes ought to be apportioned in the same proportion as the other votes that were in fact count-
ed.
The most important thing to get across today, I think, is that the recount is not the end of this process, because it is a
simply a recount of the votes that were counted on election day. We have, we believe, 19,000 votes that were unlaw-
fully put aside and not counted.
And the other thing, Larry, I want to make one very important point here. This is not about Al Gore. This is not
about George Bush. This is about the right of those 19,000 Americans and the 200,000 million Americans who voted
with them to vote, to engage in, again, the most sacred trust and obligation we have in this country, the right to vote in
our elections.
KING: Do you think you will prevail?
QUINN: Yes, I do, because I believe...
KING: You think that the courts are going to come to your aid? It's going to have to be the courts.
Page 723

QUINN: I -- you know what, Larry, I believe today to the bottom of my heart that more people went out in the state of
Florida to vote for Al Gore than to vote for George Bush. I believe we won the state of Florida. I know we won the
popular vote from east to west, north to south, across this country. I know the American people on election day in the
year 2000 chose Albert Gore to be the next president of the United States.
KING: And do you think he will be?
QUINN: Yes, because we have had 200-plus years of people doing everything they could to preserve and sanctify this
extraordinary democracy that we've got. It is inconceivable to me that either judges or Governor Bush or anyone else
would do anything to thwart the will of the American people. And I do believe that in the coming days, it's going to be
abundantly clear that Al Gore won the state of Florida, and therefore, won the presidency of the United States.
And I believe that on January 20th, he is going to be the man to raise his right hand and take the oath of office.
KING: Thanks, Jack. Jack Quinn, former White House counsel and Gore campaign senior adviser. When we come
back, former secretary of state, the Honorable George Shultz might have different thoughts. Don't go away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DON EVANS, BUSH CAMPAIGN CHAIRMAN: The Democrats who are politicizing and distorting these events risk
are doing so at the expense of our democracy. One of the options that they seem to be looking at is new elections.
Our democratic process calls for vote on election day. It does not call for us to continue voting until someone likes the
outcome.
Throughout this process, it's important that no party to this election act in a precipitous manner or distort an existing
voting pattern in an effort to misinform the public.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: This will have many more days to go, by the way. We have absentee ballots, ballots coming from across the
sea, people out of country, certification. This could go right through next week. It could go longer with lawsuits.
And we now go to Augusta, Georgia, George Shultz, Secretary of State under Ronald Reagan, held other cabinet posts
as well. Adviser to George W. Bush and the bush campaign.
You heard, Mr. Secretary, what Jack Quinn said. He says he's convinced that more people left their homes in Florida
to vote for Gore. Somebody is disenfranchised. What are your thoughts?
GEORGE SHULTZ, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: Well, my thoughts are that we have a constitutional pro-
cess. And we have in the state of Florida a set of rules that they've established about the conduct of elections. So far
as I can see, they are conscientiously trying to follow their procedures. And we ought to respect them, and to be ready
and prepared to accept the results as they announce them.
KING: One of the procedures in the constitutional government is the right to go to court. Do you respect their right,
the other side's right to challenge this?
SHULTZ: Anyone can go to court and challenge. But I don't quite see what they're going to challenge. And I do
think that people ought to take a look and remember what Richard Nixon did in 1960. You remember, the vote was
very close then. And as distinct from Florida, where there are no allegations of fraud, there were real allegations of
fraud in Illinois. And Nixon was urged to file a suit, and he said no, the election stands, and we don't want to put the
country through that.
Personally, it seems to me that Florida has its procedures, people have been -- ballots have been disqualified before. In
the '96 election, a lot of ballots were disqualified for voting twice for a given office, and that is their rule. So, they
follow that rule and they have a process that is going on. They have a recount because that's what their law calls for.
And so we should respectfully wait and see what that brings. Obviously, since it is so close, you have to wait for the
absentee ballots because there's no reason why people overseas, people serving in the military should be deprived of a
vote.
KING: Are you, therefore, asking Vice President Gore tonight to do what Richard Nixon did and if he loses in that vote,
not challenge in Palm Beach and give it up?
Page 724

SHULTZ: I'm just saying that there is a process for establishing the victor in Florida. And the people of Florida, their
officials, are conducting that process and when they get through doing it. Then, it seems to me, that is the result and
we should accept that result.
KING: What did you think of the ballot itself? Did you have any problems with it?
SHULTZ: Well, I'm not that close to it. Apparently, it was somewhat confusing, although at least people say that.
Although I have seen tests when people are given it and they vote and they don't seem to have any troubles doing that.
I might say that, as I understand it, the Reform Party and Pat Buchanan have quite a few registered voters in Palm
Beach. And so it isn't surprising that some people would vote for him.
KING: You've been around a long time. You've served your country well. In this instance, whoever goes into that
office in January 20th, obviously has no mandate. Will it be a difficult presidency?
SHULTZ: I think that whoever goes into the office does have a mandate. He will have won and it's up to him to be
president of all the people, and I have been encouraged all along during the campaign by the way Governor Bush has
conducted himself, and his constant refrain of having a more civilized Washington, of reaching across party lines and
trying to find consensus, and it seems to me very clear that that's what a new president will have to do.
KING: Do you think that President-elect Bush might put a Democrat or two on the Cabinet?
SHULTZ: Well, that's up to him, of course. There are some good Democrats. And so he will have to decide on his
Cabinet. I don't want to try to prejudge that. But there is going to be a process of reaching across, and Governor
Bush has said that long before it turned out that the election was so close. That comes natural to him. He is a healer.
He is a leader. He'll bring people together.
KING: Mr. Secretary, do you think this is going to be resolved without a crisis?
SHULTZ: Well, I hope that it will be resolved by the officials of the state of Florida as they count these votes, including
the absentee ballots. And that's the way it ought to be resolved.
KING: Thank you so much. Always good seeing you, George.
SHULTZ: Thank you.
KING: The former secretary of state, George Shultz speaking as an adviser as well to Governor Bush. When we come
back, the man in question, Pat Buchanan. Don't go away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAM DALEY, GORE CAMPAIGN CHAIRMAN: I believe that their actions to try to presumptively crown
themselves victors, to try to put in place a transition, run the risk of dividing the American people, and creating a sense
of confusion. Let the legal system run its course. Let the true and accurate rule of the people prevail. And if at the
end of the process, George Bush is the victor, we will honor, and obviously respect those results.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: Pat Buchanan joins us from Washington. You got 3,407 vote ins Palm Beach County. You didn't campaign
there or spend money there. What do you make of it, Pat.
PATRICK BUCHANAN (REF), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, certainly I think we got some votes in Palm
Beach County, but I don't doubt the number of those ballots that those votes cast for me, probably were intended for
Vice President Gore. I do know that by sort of from extrapolation and by comparison with other counties in the state.
But as matter of fact, Larry, those ballots were cast for me. And my name was the one that they registered, and I think
those votes have to go to me, and I don't see how you can take that back even though folks are saying they intended to
vote for someone else. I think it stands.
KING: Does it make you feel funny?
BUCHANAN: No, it does not. I did nothing wrong. And I looked at ballot, and I do believe the ballot is somewhat
confusing. You've got Mr. Bush's name first on the left column, Mr. Gore's name second, but if you vote the second
Page 725

button, it votes for me. So I think someone who went in there very quickly and didn't look at it could fairly easily vote
by mistake for me.
But I don't have any fault here. I do believe this, Larry, that in the last analysis, they've got to take a look at who got
the ballots. They have to count them. They have to recount them, and count the absentees, and when that is done,
Florida ought to certify the winner of the Florida vote, and that's next president of the United States. And I hope and
pray Al Gore, if it is not him, has the sense of honor and dignity that Richard Nixon had when he simply out- and-out
refused to challenge in any way the returns from Illinois and Texas.
KING: So even though he -- what you're saying here is even though he may be right, even though those votes may have
wanted for him, he should back off if he loses Florida with all other votes counted?
BUCHANAN: He didn't get the votes. The votes went for me. And so when all the votes are counted, if he's got a
plurality or a majority, he wins the state we all ought to rally behind him. Conversely, if Governor Bush and Mr. Chen-
ey win, I think Mr. Gore ought to give it up.
I hope he will not drag this through courts all the way up until the inaugural. I think that would be terribly divisive,
and I think would tear the country apart. Let's let the people in Florida certify the winner of that state, and if it's Mr.
Bush, let's get on with the transition.
KING: How about the statement that Jack Quinn made? If they're right, more people in Florida went out on Tuesday
to vote for Gore.
BUCHANAN: Well, you know, look...
KING: If they're right
BUCHANAN: I don't know the truth to that. Well, maybe they did but how does Jack know that for certain? And, I
mean, and there's a probability that some people voted for me, Larry that intended to vote for Gore. I can see that out-
right and openly, but if they voted for -- if they voted for me, how do you decide?
You can't have a revote in all of West Palm Beach County. You know, that is grossly unfair to Mr. Bush because all
the Nader people would immediately vote for Mr. Gore there, and moreover, the electorate has been totally contami-
nated by 48 hours of all this media being poured into it. So, I think the vote has got to...
KING: So, you can't do it over?
BUCHANAN: You cannot do it over in one county. It's grossly unjust to Mr. Bush. This is a heavily Democratic
county, and as I say, all Nader's votes would automatically just about go to Mr. Gore.
KING: What do you think this is going to do? What -- there's no mandate for the next president, is there?
BUCHANAN: I disagree. Jack Kennedy won by 100,000 votes and that was questionable whether it was legal or not.
And he went and set country off in a direction in foreign policy and domestic policy. It was a dramatic time from
Dwight Eisenhower. If Mr. Bush wins this, the best thing for him to do is to run a Republican -- strong, Republican
administration, a conservative administration, a compassionate conservatism and then in two years let the voters decide
if that's what they wanted.
KING: Thanks, Pat. Pat Buchanan.
BUCHANAN: Thank you.
KING: In the news whether he wants to be or not. Pat Buchanan from Washington.
When we come back, we're going to meet an attorney who is filing a lawsuit. The thing Pat didn't want to happen is
going to happen and we'll meet the man he's representing right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: Joining us now in West Palm Beach, Florida is Howard Weiss, one of the attorneys representing Andre Fladell.
Mr. Fladell is one of the voters who is representing that he was disenfranchised and he is suing for a revote.
Andre, what happened to you on Tuesday?
Page 726

ANDRE FLADELL, PALM BEACH COUNTY VOTER: Well, for the 22 years I've lived in Palm Beach County, on
every ballot I've ever seen, on every ballot I've ever voted, on every page I've ever voted, they always have the name on
one side and the punch holes on the other. This has been going on for 22 years. I've never seen a ballot in any other
way. In every ballot I've ever seen for 22 years, the Republican and Democrat were next to each other, first and se-
cond. There was never anything between them.
When I went to vote, I gave them my license, my identification, my voters registration. They said, do you have any
questions? I said no, I've voted many times before. I went in, I flipped page. I saw the first name, which was
Bush-Cheney, the first hole. I saw second name, which was Gore-Lieberman, and the second punch hole and I pro-
ceeded punched the second punch hole.
I then turned to next page, and you know, in this county we only have five minutes to vote. This isn't a freebie where
you stay as long as you want, and we have referendum questions. So I punched the next, as I always did. I finished
my voting and I left.
When I then went to beach later that day, many of friends were there. We were at restaurant, Boston's on the Beach,
and they said that the ballot was difficult and they had great difficulty with president vote. I thought they were pretty
silly because I vote a lot.
I figured they don't know how to vote and they said, well, how did you vote. And I said just go down the list and
match up hole. They said it's not like that on that page. I said sure it is. We went and got a copy of ballot we found
out at that point that you had to look diagonally, zig-zag, across in some fashion I had never anticipated.
(CROSSTALK)
KING: Now Howard Weiss, what are you contending then in the lawsuit representing Mr. Fladell? What are you ask-
ing them to do?
HOWARD WEISS, ATTORNEY: We're asking them to invalidate the election results of Palm Beach County because
there's a reasonable doubt as to whether or not those results reflect a will of the people and the basis of that lawsuit is
the following: that they violated the Florida statutes. The Florida statutes require that the name be on the left side and
the punch hole be on the right side. That was not done here. Rather than doing so, with respect on the Democrats
and Republicans, the Democrats following the Republicans, the punch hole was on right-hand side.
However, the punch hole with respect to the Reform Party Buchanan and the minor political parties were on the left side
in a direct pattern vertical with punch holes for the Republican and Democratic parties. In addition, to that, there was
confusion.
As a result of that, there were not just the 3,000 votes in question as to Mr. Buchanan, but there were 19,000 votes that
were invalidated. Nineteen thousand ballots were invalidated because people reasonably thought that they were voting
-- there were two punch holes next to Gore-Lieberman, and they punched both.
KING: I got you, yes. And what redress of grievance are you asking? How does the state make this up to your cli-
ent?
FLADELL: I would like to vote for who I want to vote for. I would like to vote for Gore, and I would like to vote for
Lieberman. I don't want to vote for Pat Buchanan. He may be nice person, but he's not for my vote.
This country is looking at a ballot on this television that looks like this. That's not what we see when we vote. This
is what we see when we vote. This country looking at which black mark is higher. Why don't they try seeing which
one is further.
The punch hole isn't a black mark looking at a television screen (UNINTELLIGIBLE) about 1/16 of an inch apart look-
ing at direction on this level. When the country thinks we can't identify which dot is higher, I can identify a higher dot.
But you can't identify dots laying across a plain on a right angle. That dot that I punched was right next to the name of
Gore and Lieberman. I punched the right dot. I had no idea that in this country you have to read zig-zag and diago-
nal to know who you're voting for.
(CROSSTALK)
KING: Weren't there arrows, Andre, telling where you to go?
Page 727

FLADELL: No, there were arrows on both sides pointing to the middle that. Look, I read the dictionary. I read en-
cyclopedias. I read textbooks. I've never read in our language anything of any type that was a puzzle. I didn't go in
there to take a test. I went in to vote for president of the United States.
(CROSSTALK)
KING: Howard, do you think you have a chance here?
WEISS: Yes, absolutely. I think that the ballot was definitely violative of the Florida statutes. I think that the second
name should have been, as required, since the Democrats came in second in the group gubernatorial election, their name
should be in the second position. In terms of the punch holes, the Reform Party was placed in second position. That
placed a reasonable doubt as to whether the election represents a will of people. The Florida statutes were indeed vio-
lated. The punch holes were not placed to the right of candidates, and I feel that both as to 3,000 votes which Bu-
chanan obtained, and more importantly, the 19,000 ballots that were invalidated because people thought they were
punching for Gore and Lieberman rather than just one single vote, and they followed the election...
KING: All right...
WEISS: ... in the instructions it said, go to the right and punch the hole to the right. If they did so, they voted for Gore-
Lieberman.
KING: Howard Weiss and Andre Gladel, and they're bringing it to court.
When we come back, two congressmen for a brief couple of moments to discuss this, and then our panel, which will
include Floyd Abrams, Sandra Vanocur and Bill Schneider. We'll meet our two congressmen quickly right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: The voices and noise that you hear in the background are the protesters. They are outside the courthouse in
West Palm Beach, where lots of goings-on are taking place over this hullabaloo over this incredible election.
We go to Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart. He's a Republican of Florida and he is co-chairman of the George W.
Bush campaign. With him is Congressman Robert Wexler, Democrat of Florida. He was with us last night as well.
We'll have a few moments with these gentlemen.
Congressman Diaz-Balart, what do you say to the gentleman we just had on who went to vote for Gore, voted for the
wrong thing because he had been voting for years, he punched it wrong? How do we redress this grievance?
REP. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART (R), FLORIDA: Bill, I'm really sorry that that happened. I looked at that ballot. It
was the same ballot that was used in 1996 and in the primary this year. There was never a challenge before.
A number of people, by the way, contacted our offices after the election, especially some elderly people, because they
were confused here in Miami-Dade County. Unfortunately, some confusion inevitably exists in any election...
KING: So just...
DIAZ-BALART: But we have a -- we have a procedure, which is the Florida law establishes it when the -- any election
is won by less than half of a percent there's an automatic recount.
And the ballot -- you saw Jeanne Moos on CNN. I was watching earlier this evening. And she showed it to a lot of
people, and almost everybody got it right.
The reality of the matter is that the Florida law says if you vote for more than one candidate for one position, that vote,
unfortunately, has to be invalidated.
KING: Congressman Wexler, what Congressman Diaz-Balart is saying it's unfortunate, it's sad, but it's the breaks of the
game. You have no way out.
REP. ROBERT WEXLER (D), FLORIDA: No, that's not the full story. The facts speak for themselves here, Larry:
19,000 people had their votes invalidated because of an illegal ballot that was extremely confusing.
And with all due respect to my friend Lincoln Diaz-Balart, the ballot that was used this past Tuesday in Palm Beach
County was not used four years ago. This was the first time it's been used in at least 10 years, and the supervisor her-
self issued a warning, Larry, on the day of the election, late in the day, to the poll workers, saying that people had com-
Page 728

plained before the ballots had closed, that there was mass confusion, and that poll workers should warn the voters not to
vote for two candidates.
KING: And that was -- that was late in the day?
WEXLER: That was about 4:30, about 4:30.
KING: OK. Hold on. All right, hold it right there. Congressman Diaz-Balart, what do you make of that?
DIAZ-BALART: Larry, four years ago, when the turnout was a lot less, 15,000 votes were invalidated in Palm Beach
County.
KING: So something's wrong in Palm Beach then, right?
DIAZ-BALART: This year -- this year, 19,000 votes were invalidated.
KING: But isn't something wrong then?
DIAZ-BALART: Unfortunately...
WEXLER: Larry...
KING: Hold it, Bob. Don't interrupt.
DIAZ-BALART: Unfortunately, people make mistakes. But is it better to have people be able to vote for both candi-
dates? Is that what the opposition is saying?
Now, I think the key here...
KING: In other words, Congressman Diaz, you're not concerned that in two straight elections 15,000, 19,000 votes were
invalidated with people voting for two people? Why didn't they change the ballot? DIAZ-BALART: Unfortunately,
people make mistakes, but what the law is clear on is that you don't vote for more than one candidate for one position.
KING: I know that.
DIAZ-BALART: And when they do that, unfortunately, we don't know which of the two candidates they meant to vote
for, and so Florida law is clear. The key here is that Florida law has to be followed, and it's being followed.
KING: All right, Congressman -- Congressman Wexler.
WEXLER: Yes. Congressman Diaz-Balart is repeating the numbers that the Republican Party has been spewing.
They are false. In 1996, there was not in Palm Beach County 15,000 votes that were disqualified because people voted
for two candidates for president. In fact, the number was about half of that.
But let's not lose sight of the primary issue. The election of the president of the United States hinges on the couple of
hundred votes in the state of Florida, and in just the Palm Beach County region 23,000 votes were effectively invalidat-
ed.
This is not about Al Gore or George Bush. This is about democracy. This is about protecting Americans' right to
vote and have their vote be counted.
KING: And Congressman Diaz-Balart, how would you respond to that?
DIAZ-BALART: I agree exactly. That's why we have procedures and we have the law. And the law says that a re-
count occurs if the loser asks for it when the winner wins by less than one-half of 1 percent. The state is going through
that procedure. It's going through it with tremendous seriousness and with dignity. And we have to follow this pro-
cedure and not make it now one where, like I heard Mr. Daley said, they're going to court.
That is the judicialization of our democracy. That's extremely dangerous.
And these allegations that -- like Florida statute says, Florida law says that if it's a paper ballot, names have to be on the
left. No, not on computerized ballots. They're even misstating the law. And this judicialization of our democracy...
KING: But shouldn't...
DIAZ-BALART: ... is an extreme threat to our country.
Page 729

KING: I've got a whole bunch of guests. Congressman -- Congressman Diaz-Balart, why not let the judge decide it
then?
DIAZ-BALART: Oh, no. Obviously, anyone can go to court. What I'm saying is that the law is clear, that misstate-
ments were made before with regard to statements such as you have to vote -- all names have to be on one side of the
ballot. That's a misstatement of the law.
We're following the law. The state is following the law.
KING: Congressman Wexler, you think they're not?
WEXLER: Larry, my friend, Lincoln Diaz-Balart, knows this better than anybody. This is the United States of Amer-
ica. This is not Cuba. In America, we go to vote and we expect our votes to be counted, and when that count is ille-
gitimate a court of law must address the issue.
And to elect a president of the United States on anything less than that would shake the foundation of democracy in
America.
DIAZ-BALART: Precisely...
KING: We will do more tomorrow night.
DIAZ-BALART: Precisely, since we're in America...
KING: We thank you both very much. We want to get to our panel.
DIAZ-BALART: ... whoever gets more votes wins. And it's very serious when...
WEXLER: Yes.
DIAZ-BALART: ... instead of following the tradition of American democracy, the opposition, like in this case the Gore
campaign, starts judicializing the elections in the United States. That's extremely dangerous.
KING: Thank you both very much.
WEXLER: Al Gore...
KING: Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Congressman Robert Wexler. When we come back, Floyd Abrams,
Sander Vanocur and Bill Schneider. Don't go away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: Let's welcome our panel. They are the renowned constitutional attorney Floyd Abrams. He joins us from
New York. Here in Los Angeles is Sander Vanocur, who's reported politics for NBC and ABC and early on, on CBS,
"New York Times," "Washington Post," and he hosts "Movies in Time" on the History Channel. And a very familiar
place -- face around these parts, Bill Schneider, senior political analyst, syndicated columnist.
We now, I see up on the board, have 66 counties, right, Bill?
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: We have 66 counties in Florida. Florida has 67
altogether. So there's only one county out. And according to the Associated Press, Bush now leads Al Gore in the
recount by 229 votes.
KING: And that is, of course, unofficial, but it's an AP tab.
SCHNEIDER: It's an AP tab.
KING: OK. Floyd Abrams, we've heard the arguments through the night. We heard the congressmen. Who's right?
FLOYD ABRAMS, CONSTITUTIONAL ATTORNEY: Well, my reaction, Larry, is this is precisely the sort of thing
that may have to be decided by a court. When the argument's made that this is a judicialization of our political pro-
cess, I think that's really inside out. I think the reality is here in an election in which the vice president carried the
popular vote in the country and has at least a very plausible claim that things have been done which prevented, probably
in good faith, but prevented a significant number of people in Florida from voting as they wanted to, I don't think that it
is a bad thing for somebody to go to court and say in substance, look, I wanted to vote this way, I was misled.
Page 730

Maybe he'll lose. You know, these cases are hard to win. They're supposed to be hard to win. It's an uphill battle for
the vice if he or one of these voters go to court. But he may win or they may win. And it seems to me that our coun-
try is not as fragile as a lot of people think. I think we can take it, because we want to know -- we want to know the
truth about who really won this election.
KING: What's your read on it, Sander?
SANDER VANOCUR, JOURNALIST: I agree with Floyd. I think that -- I've been thinking all day about John Find-
ley Dunn (ph) and Mr. Dooley (ph). And Mr. Dooley said, "Politics ain't bean bag."
This is a very tough call, but again to quote somebody, other person, Bismarck, who said of governance, "It's like sau-
sage: You better not watch it being made if you want to eat it."
KING: Would you, if you were a citizen who voted Tuesday and you were like the gentleman we had on, felt that you
had voted incorrectly through the fault of the ballot, would you do as he is doing?
VANOCUR: Of course I would.
KING: You would sue.
All right, that's two, Bill. Bill Schneider, I know you have to analyze these things. Do you think we're going to go to
court? Do you think there will be a court case somehow resolved before January 20th?
SCHNEIDER: Well, I think that someone -- certainly, there will be a case brought to court, and I frankly hope the judge
would throw it out, because once you start going into court, look, you open up the floodgates. You're going to find
confusing ballots all over the country. Believe me, there are a lot of states that Al Gore carried, Iowa, Wisconsin, maybe
Oregon -- it hasn't been declared yet; New Hampshire was carried by Bush -- but states carried by very tiny margins.
I'm sure the Bush campaign can find people who say, look, the ballot here was confusing, I think that I was misled.
And this can go on and on and on.
It is a misfortune, but nobody has charged that it was fraudulent. Or it's been debated whether it was illegal. If you
can show it's illegal, that's something else.
KING: So if it had happened to you, you would not sue?
SCHNEIDER: I would say the ballot was confusing. I voted the wrong way. But that is a misfortune.
KING: Floyd, that's the other aspect of it, isn't it?
ABRAMS: Yes, it is. It is, and I...
KING: Breaks of the game?
ABRAMS: I respected that of you. And look, I don't think that presidential candidates ought lightly to go to court,
because it does have the potential for not only slowing things down, but for delegitimizing the system.
Here I think it's the opposite. I think in this case you almost need a judge to say, look, this was basically fair. Sure,
some people got taken advantage of. That's life.
But I think without that, I mean, if we are left in a situation in this country where the vice president has carried the day
broadly across the country in the court of public opinion by votes, where he has a really strong case, and more im-
portantly, where voters have a really strong case that they were taken advantage of, in good faith, but taken advantage
of, the idea of having a judge say, one way or the other, look, this is either tolerable or intolerable in our country, I think
it's a good idea.
SCHNEIDER: Well, I'd like to add...
KING: Sander, that makes -- Bill, hold it one second, Sander. That makes the governing easier if the judge has said it.
VANOCUR: We have to legitimize this presidential election. I am not optimistic we are going to be able to do it.
But we've got to legitimize it somehow.
KING: Bill, what's wrong with legitimize it? How else could it be legitimized without a court?
Page 731

SCHNEIDER: Well, it would be nice if the court said that, you know, there is no legal redress, but I'm wondering -- I'm
wondering a question if Mr. Abrams knows. If the judge decides that the ballot was somehow unfair, what's he going
to do? Is he going to order the county to revote?
And then the circumstances of that revote trouble me greatly. You're going to have a revote among a small group of
voters who know that they are choosing in Palm Beach County the next president of the United States, something that
voters nowhere knew on November 7th all by themselves. And also, they will know something that nobody else knew
on November 7th: namely, how the rest of the country voted.
Is that a fair process? I'm not sure.
ABRAMS: Well, I think what you have to do is to balance that against the loss to the voters and the loss to all of us as a
country in having a result which may well be inconsistent with what the country and the people of Florida wanted. I
think that's -- that's very heavy-duty. And...
KING: It's a very interesting aspect. It pauses one to think, and we'll have Vanocur do that for us when we come back,
right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: Before we have a question for Bill and Floyd, I think Sander has a thought on the media's role here.
VANOCUR: Well, I think we'd be a lot better off today if the media on Tuesday night had not gone into that classic
case of premature exaggeration, going back and forth.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a good line.
VANOCUR: And I think that the networks have a lot on this show, and they're admitting it today, for having created the
kind of climate we are going to have to deal with.
KING: But we still have this voting machine. We still have the closeness of the vote. Everything would be the same.
VANOCUR: Yes, but what was so exacerbating about the other night is it kept going back and forth, creating...
KING: But that doesn't change this vote total?
VANOCUR: No, no. But it creates the kind atmosphere in which we are going to have to proceed.
KING: It led to this?
VANOCUR: Yes.
KING: OK. Bill Schneider, who could end it if a judge couldn't end it?
SCHNEIDER: If the vote in Florida is announced, even if it's extremely close -- they've done a count, they've done a
recount, they've counted the overseas ballots -- no matter how close it is, there's one guy who I think could put an end to
it, and that's the president of the United States. We haven't heard from him yet.
He's there as the protector of the Constitution. That's what he's for, when he was inaugurated back in 1997. And I
think if he spoke out and said, look, we can quarrel with these results, they can be debated forever, there is a shadow of
legitimacy over this. But you know, we have to respect the electoral college process, and I think this process should
come to an end. President Clinton could do that.
KING: That integrity also could mean some electors could vote differently, right, Bill? That's part of the Constitution,
too? They don't have to.
SCHNEIDER: They don't have to. That's right. And if they choose, they could decide that they want to abide by the
will of the people. After all, the electoral college is sovereign in this process.
The popular vote has moral and political standing. Gore is leading in the popular vote right now. It hasn't been com-
pleted. So some electors could decide to abide by the will of the people and to vote for Al Gore for president.
(CROSSTALK)
Page 732

KING: And that would be constitutional as well. Floyd and Bill and Sander, how do you think the founding fathers
would have dealt with this?
SCHNEIDER: Oh, I know. They would have had a duel. They would have had a duel. They had it. Alexander
Hamilton wrote the Constitution. He was killed in a duel.
KING: Same case.
ABRAMS: Also, the founding fathers, for all their greatness, didn't exactly think awfully well of the masses.
KING: True.
ABRAMS: And, you know, the Founding Fathers would have been very happy to have this decided in the House of
Representatives, and take it away from the people. One of the reasons that I'm, what shall I say, sympathetic or at least
not unsympathetic to the idea of at least having a judge pass upon lawsuits brought in this area is that I think that it is
part of the process to assure that the people who are in fact serving as the electors deserve to be there.
I mean, what could be more inconsistent with the whole theory of our system than to have 25 people from Florida who
really got less votes or for whom the people of Florida wanted not to vote, to go to attend this convening of cardinals as
it were. KING: Hold it right there. Let me get a break and when we come back, we'll ask each of the gentlemen to tell
us what they think will happen. They've been around a while. Don't go away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: Floyd Abrams, what's going to happen?
ABRAMS: Well, let me answer this way. First, what I don't think is going to happen is that we're going to have prob-
lems starting December 18th of legitimacy. that is to say, I think one way or the other, one candidate or another will,
even if this is in court, if this isn't resolved by the time the electors are supposed to meet, I think it's more likely than not
that one or the other will withdraw. One or the other will allow the other person to become president.
That said, though, I think we will have a judicial look at this. I view this as a very close case. You heard the con-
gressmen arguing about what Florida law is, about where the names have to be on the left side or not. I mean, that's a
strict issue of law for a judge to decide. You heard them arguing about whether there's confusion of a sort that should
lead to a new election. I think that's an issue of law.
I think we're going to have a judge in Florida, maybe some appellate judges also on a super-expedited basis make a de-
cision about whether this was sufficiently unfair that a new election is required, and I think the vice president's chances
are pretty decent about getting a new election in Florida.
KING: Sander?
VANOCUR: All I wish for is no rush to judgment. Everybody was saying today we'll know by the end of today. We
won't know squat by the end of today. We may know something when the absentee ballots are in and counted an I'd
like to leave it to the good officials of the state of Florida for them to come a conclusion before we go anywhere else.
KING: In other words, they come to a conclusion. Then a lawsuit, if there's a lawsuit?
VANOCUR: Let them decide. It's their state. And let them decide it in all deliberate speed, but deliberate speed.
KING: Bill, what do you think?
SCHNEIDER: I think there'd better be a rush to judgment because the people of the United States and of the entire
world are waiting to see what the outcome of this is. My guess is in the end, a judge will look at this and decide this is
a political matter and the courts really ought not be involved here.
What's important here is to realize what the people did on Tuesday. I mean, it's amazing. They split the Congress
down the middle. They were divide in the electoral vote. They were closely divided in the popular vote. Does this
mean Americans are deeply polarized? I don't think so. I think this is an electorate that really simply said, we can't
make up our minds. We have things we like about each. Things we don't like about each candidate.
KING: Sander wants to say something in response to that.
SCHNEIDER: Period, you know, I don't think we're deeply polarized.
Page 733

VANOCUR: Bill, we don't have to rush. We do not have a crisis and I do not think that the election was as close as
people say it was. I think I heard you before, you're absolutely right but what we need is some time and I don't think
the people in this country think we have a crisis yet unless we in the media create it, which we often do.
SCHNEIDER: We had an election and we don't know who the winner is. I'm not saying that there should be a hyster-
ical rush. I think the results should be announced exactly on the timetable of the people of Florida. The procedures
should be followed, and then they have to be abided by. You can take it to court, but my guess the courts will be re-
luctant to get involved in what is really a political question.
(CROSSTALK)
ABRAMS: I'm sorry, Bill. I think that may well be true, but it seems to me, one thing is sure, the courts will handle
this on a super-expedited basis. They will attend it with the greatest amount of seriousness that is possible, and I think
one way or the other, that it will add more, not less.
KING: We're running out of time. Sander, quickly.
VANOCUR: If they decide it quickly, what are we going to do for a living?
SCHNEIDER: I'd like to go home.
KING: Floyd Abrams, Sander Vanocur, Bill Schneider, you may go home.
SCHNEIDER: Thank you.
KING: Stay tuned, a special town meeting in Palm Beach. We'll hear from the people themselves right on the spot
itself. We'll be back tomorrow night with more of the same on LARRY KING LIVE. Thanks for joining us and
good night.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


All Rights Reserved
Page 734


CNN



THE SPIN ROOM: Do You Know Who Your Next President is?

GUESTS: David Royce, Rep. Robert Wexler, Rep. Joe Scarborough, Carol Laham

BYLINE: Bill Press, Rich Lowry, Joie Chen


LENGTH: 7314 words

HIGHLIGHT: Do you know who your next president is? A look at why not, and whether you ever will.

ANNOUNCER: From CNN Washington to our Atlanta Newsroom and all over the United States, THE SPIN ROOM is
open.
BILL PRESS, CO-HOST: It's 11:00 on the East Coast, 8:00 on the West Coast. Do you know who your next president
is? Why not? And will you ever?
Good evening, everybody. Welcome to THE SPIN ROOM. I'm Bill Press.
You're not going to believe this, but Tucker Carlson had the audacity to leave town tonight, perhaps thinking it would
all be over. Big mistake. He'll be back tomorrow night, but we're in great shape because tonight, sitting in for Tucker,
we have the equally young, equally conservative, equally irreverent and outrageous Rich Lowry, who's editor for "The
National Review."
Great to have you here tonight, Rich.
RICH LOWRY, GUEST HOST: Thanks for having me, Bill. I'm glad I could join you just in time for the constitu-
tional crisis.
PRESS: I know. I mean, this is like impeachment round two, right?
LOWRY: Exactly. If you ever need spin, it's during a constitutional crisis.
PRESS: That's when you need it. Exactly.
And we need your spin. Don't forget the great thing about this show is you get to sound off. This is our democracy
on the line, folks. So we want to hear from you. Three ways to do it. By phone, OK. You can reach us any time
during the hour. We want to take your calls at 1-800-310-4CNN. You could join our chat room online at cnn.com,
or send us those e-mails. Rich and I will be reading your e- mails throughout the show. The address for e-mails is
spin@cnn.com.
OK. So, Rich Lowry, let's say, a week ago, you and I were sitting in bar, and I said to you, you know, "Forty-eight
hours after this election, there'll be a difference of 229 votes out of 100 million between George Bush and Al Gore, and
we still won't know who the next president of the United States is." You would have said to me? LOWRY: Well, it's --
it's absolutely incredible. I mean this is -- this is the kind of thing that pundits make a living scoffing at, this sort of
scenario. I mean, it's -- it's like a horror movie when -- it's an election that won't die. Every time there's a stake
Page 735
THE SPIN ROOM: Do You Know Who Your Next President is? CNN November 9, 2000; Thursday

through its heart, it's up again and right at us, and the amazing thing is, you know, Gore, obviously, had a surge the last
couple of days in the election.
PRESS: Yeah.
LOWRY: The surge seems to be going right into the recount. "When does it end?" I think the Republicans are asking
themselves tonight all over the country.
PRESS: I think George W. Bush is probably asking that tonight in the country.
But, you know, what gets me is why are we surprised. I mean, we are talking about Florida, right? This is Florida.
A friend of mine today called me and pointed out to me -- I want to show you something here. First of all, he said that
in -- there's this one section in the Florida ballot, and it says this, "A ballot is a document that must provide maximum
clarity and correctness." Now I'd like to show you and all of our viewers on the screen -- here's what the Florida presi-
dential ballot officially looks like. You see? It's -- the --
No. Seriously, folks, this is an e-mail that's going around, but it's got the straight line for voting for Bush, and you can
follow, if you can, how you vote for any of the others.
LOWRY: And that's -- that's either the Florida ballot or the Hillary health-care plan. One or the other, right?
But, Bill, look, I like -- I like old people. I like old...
PRESS: Eight years ago, it was the Hillary health-care plan. This year, it may be the -- the Florida ballot. I don't
know.
LOWRY: There you go.
I -- I like old and confused people as much as anyone, but isn't there sort of a basic civic responsibility if you go into the
-- the voting booth and the -- and you see something that looks like that to you? Shouldn't you ask someone or display
some curiosity about whether you're actually voting for the right person?
PRESS: You see, that's the difference between liberals and conservatives. You guys see these people, and you say,
"What morons." We see them, and we say, "What victims. We need to help these people."
LOWRY: Exactly. Personal responsibility. Do -- Bush wants to start the responsibility era, Bill, and this is -- this is
a good way to get it off the ground. PRESS: I want to give you another quick hit about Florida. Again, I say why are we
surprised when we're talking about Florida. A couple of years ago, they cleaned up the voter rolls in the State of Flor-
ida. Here's, among other things, what they found, Rich. You'll be -- you'll be interested in this, OK.
Here's Florida now. They found on the voter rolls for -- 50,483 felons who are not allowed to vote, 47,000 people who
were registered in more than one location, and 17,702 dead people. Rich, I want to know -- this is -- you know, like --
you know what happened? Chicago moved South, right? How many dead people do you think voted in this elec-
tion...
LOWRY: It...
PRESS: ... and for whom?
LOWRY: It sounds positively Missouri-like, doesn't it? You know, the...
PRESS: Yeah, the...
(CROSSTALK)
LOWRY: ... dead people in -- in an election. You know, cons -- this is embarrassing for conservatives for a couple of
reasons, Bill. You know, we always talk about local government, and what we're getting now a big dose of here in
Florida is a microscopic examination of local government, and it's not -- it's not very pretty. You know, it's as bum-
bling and -- and as incompetent as the federal government.
PRESS: Well, there is, certainly, it seems to me, a little shadow or a little cloud over the Sunshine State today. It has
been another day from hell, and who would -- who would have imagined, in fact, like a week ago that anybody but a
crazy football fan would have even cared about the State of Florida at this point.
Page 736

But for what's been happening in Florida, for how bad it is, for how big that cloud is over the Sunshine State, let's go to
our great partner in Atlanta, our SPIN ROOM's Joie Chen.
Joie -- so, where are we now? Can you tell us?
JOIE CHEN, CNN ANCHOR: I think we're lost. Maybe we're on a turnpike somewhere in Florida.
PRESS: Yes.
CHEN: Hey, Rich. Welcome to THE SPIN ROOM.
LOWRY: Hi, Joie. How are you doing?
CHEN: Great.
Hey, so, you know, Florida has a lot more going for it than just some cutting-edge ballot designers. It is certainly no
stranger to the spotlight of national politics. You'll remember Key Biscayne and Nixon's Florida White House. So,
of course, everybody wants to vacation in Florida, but, after this week, you political junkies have plenty more reason to
set your sights on the Sunshine State.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHEN (voice-over): Watch your steps, everyone. Florida's boom started in the middle of the last century, turning
what once was the South's least populous state into the sun and fun capital of the world. Now it's the center of the po-
litical universe. Just think of the tourist slogans they'll come up with now.
"Florida, where every ballot is an adventure."
ANDRE FLADELL, PALM BEACH COUNTY VOTER: I went into a place expecting a simple, fair ballot. I got a
crossword puzzle with some configuration no one had ever told me about.
CHEN: Try this one. "Florida, where you may get to vote until you get it right." Or "Florida, where the recount keeps
going and going and going."
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: This is democracy in action. If you want simplicity, just go about 70 miles south of Florida,
and you've got Cuba, and they're very simple. They have no elections.
CHEN: OK. Maybe this one is a stretch. "Orange you glad you voted in Florida? Don't you wish everybody did?"
How about, "Welcome to Little Brother's Big Doghouse"? Here's one. "Florida, when it comes to politics, we don't
Mickey Mouse around."
doing so at the -- at the expense of our democracy.
CHEN: How does this grab you? "Florida, the state where we politicize politics!" "Retire here all your political
dreams."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHEN: A very Magic Kingdom, indeed, guys. You know, I have another idea. Something like, "Florida, bringing
anarchy to the United States." A leaderless society. I mean, this is great.
PRESS: I liked "Orange you glad you voted?"
CHEN: Do you like that one? "Orange you glad?"
What about you, Rich? Think any of those had potential with the Florida Tourism Board?
LOWRY: That's -- that's a -- the best -- the best thing about Florida, as far as I'm concerned, is Rush Limbaugh is based
there.
CHEN: In Palm Beach, isn't he?
LOWRY: Yeah, he is.
PRESS: In Palm Beach? There it is.
LOWRY: See, maybe -- maybe it is Buchanan country.
Page 737

PRESS: There's -- there's the conspiracy.
But, Joie, I saw today a -- somebody faxed to me an editorial that was in the Havana newspaper about the election in
Florida, and the headline was, "Banana Republic." Now when the Cubans start making fun of our election process...
LOWRY: Elian went the wrong place.
PRESS: Elian -- that's right. I think we may be in trouble.
Thanks, Joie. We'll get back to you in just a little bit.
And time to get the -- go to Tallahassee and get the report on the ground.
Our first guest tonight, David Royce, is an AP reporter, a longtime reporter there, in Tallahassee. He's been out there
getting all the numbers, reporting them to all the networks that -- so we've been keeping up to date.
Hey, David, good evening. Welcome to THE SPIN ROOM.
DAVID ROYCE, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS: Thanks. Good evening.
LOWRY: David, thanks. Thanks for joining us. Let us -- first, if we can get from you just what is the state of the
count at the moment.
ROYCE: Well, the last I checked with my desk, we're reporting that -- we've checked with about 6 -- with 66 of the 67
counties, and it looks like Bush is ahead by some 220-some-odd votes. I think it was a 229-vote spread, with all but
one of the counties we checked with. Our numbers are a little different from the states because, frankly, we're getting
them from the counties before they are. The AP is the largest news organization in the...
LOWRY: David, explain...
ROYCE: I was just going to say we're -- you know, we're huge, so -- so we can check with every county, which is what
we're doing.
LOWRY: Explain to us how that works. I mean, it seems extraordinary that the California secretary of state is unin-
formed on the question compared to you guys.
PRESS: Florida.
LOWRY: Sorry. Florida.
ROYCE: The Florida secretary. This -- the supervisors of -- this -- this is not actually taking place in Tallahassee,
even though, you know, the world's media is gathered here. This is happening in 67 counties around Florida where
these votes are being recounted by the county canvassing boards, the supervisors of elections, and some other local offi-
cials.
The AP is -- is a huge news organization, and we've -- we've got a lot of people, and that's how it's -- it's happening.
We've got people checking with every county at every county supervisor of elections to see what they are reporting as
their recount number. Those are the numbers we're going with.
PRESS: David, let me ask you this. When did you first start hearing about any problems in the count in Florida?
Particularly when did you start hearing that there might be problems in Palm -- in Palm Beach County?
ROYCE: We didn't start hearing -- the days are all running together for me a little bit now. I've been working for a
couple of straight days, but I -- we didn't start hearing about the problems in -- in Palm Beach until the middle of the
day yesterday.
Early on, it was clear that -- that the vote was so close in Florida that there was going to have to be a recount just be-
cause of what state law says about when you have to recount, which is when there's less than one-half of 1 percent of a
difference.
LOWRY: David, can you give us any idea -- is it at all possible that there are actually enough Buchanan supporters
there in Palm Beach to -- to have given that -- those number of votes to Pat?
ROYCE: I -- I don't know enough about Palm Beach County's voters to -- to tell you whether there are that many Bu-
chanan supporters. I -- for what it's worth, I know that, in our story today, Mr. Buchanan says he -- he doesn't think so.
I -- I don't know.
Page 738

PRESS: OK. David Royce, thanks so much for joining us from Tallahassee, and thanks for your good work down
there.
We've got a couple of members of Congress from Florida coming up here on -- in THE SPIN ROOM.
But, first, Rich, our first telephone call for the evening comes from -- Where else? -- Palm Beach, Florida. This is
Sade (ph).
Hey, Sade, good evening. Welcome to THE SPIN ROOM.
SADE: How are you tonight?
PRESS: I'm doing great. So what -- what's really happening down there? Did you vote? What was your experi-
ence?
SADE: Yes, I voted. I'm 30 years old. I voted Republican. I didn't really have any problem with the ballot at all.
The ballot itself had a number on it that corresponded to the number on the candidate that the ballot you are following to
vote on. When I pulled -- when I was done voting, I pulled my ballot out and checked my homework before I turned it
in to teacher. At no time in my life have I ever been able to go back and correct my homework or gotten problems cor-
rected on a test that I turned in. It's just simply not right.
PRESS: OK. All right. Sade, thank you. That's one person who certainly didn't...
LOWRY: Well, you know what this suggests to me? Perhaps it's only old Gore voters that were confused, Bill, so I
think you have a lot of explaining to do on that score. So the young -- the young Bush guys who want their Social
Security accounts are on the ball.
PRESS: That may be. That may be the -- that may be the case.
All right. Now to the Florida congressional delegation. One on each side join us right now. First of all, Democrat
Congressman Robert Wexler who represents the Palm Beach area and, of course is a Gore supporter, and joining us
from Tallahassee who -- he actually represents the Pensacola area of Florida. He's in Tallahassee tonight. Republi-
can Congressman Joe Scarborough who, of course, is a big George Bush supporter.
Congressman Scarborough...
REP. ROBERT WEXLER (D), FLORIDA: Bill, can I address -- can I -- Bill, can I address that comment because it's
very interesting what that -- that gentleman said? If you are...
PRESS: Go ahead, Congressman.
WEXLER: If you are, in fact, a Bush voter...
REP. JOE SCARBOROUGH (R), FLORIDA: You know, actually, Wexler -- Wexler is...
LOWRY: Please one at...
(CROSSTALK)
PRESS: Whoa, whoa, whoa. Stop. Stop, guys. Listen, this is not CROSSFIRE. This is THE SPIN ROOM. So
just calm down. I'd just like to have one at a time.
WEXLER: Yes.
PRESS: We'll give you plenty of time to talk.
Robert Wexler, you wanted to go first.
WEXLER: Absolutely.
PRESS: Please go ahead. And then Joe.
WEXLER: Yes. It -- I just wanted to address what the gentleman said because it's a very valid point. If you are a
Bush voter, it is highly unlikely you would have any confusion because George Bush was first on the ballot and his
punch number was first. The confusion with respect to Al Gore was that he was -- in fact, even though he was second
on the ballot, his punch number was third, and Pat Buchanan was second. So, while you were -- you would think if
Page 739

you were an Al Gore supporter that your punch number, which is -- in fact, on the ballot would be second right after
George Bush, but it wasn't. It was third.
LOWRY: OK. Congressman -- Congressman, we're going to throw up the ballot here, and, granted, some people may
have found it confusing. I think it's pretty clear because you know where the arrow -- arrows are going. The num-
bers correspond on the punch holes to the candidate. So let me -- let me ask you this.
WEXLER: No, they don't.
LOWRY: Let me ask you this.
WEXLER: Not -- not necessarily.
LOWRY: Congressman -- Congressman, please, let me -- let me ask you this. You go into the voting booth.
WEXLER: Sure.
LOWRY: You see this ballot. You are confused. Don't you have a responsibility to ask someone and make sure that
you are voting for the right person? This is important business. You're electing the next president of the United
States. What would you do if you were confused by the ballot?
WEXLER: It is very important business, and you must understand that when you put the ballot into the -- the form in
which it fits, if you do not have a perfect fit, if you look at the word "Democratic," for instance, it corresponds exactly
to Pat Buchanan's punch number. You would think in an...
LOWRY: What would you do?
WEXLER: ... important thing like the -- excuse me. You would think you could rely upon the law and that is the law
says in Florida Al Gore should be second on the ballot and the second punch number. He was not.
SCARBOROUGH: All right.
WEXLER: Yes, you can ask questions, but what also is the practice...
PRESS: OK. Congressman...
WEXLER: ... I know, in Palm Beach County is you only have five minutes to vote.
PRESS: Congressman -- Congressman got to go. Got to go.
Congressman Joe Scarborough, I want to make a promise to you. We've heard one side of this Palm Beach question. I
know there's another side, I know you want to talk about it, and you are up first after we come back from a break, and
you get the word as -- until you are finished with it.
But, right now, there is other news happening in the world tonight -- today, and we're going to check in with our Joie
Chen in Atlanta to tell us what's been going on.
Joie, what's the hard news of the day?
(CNN NEWS)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PRESS: The uncertainty continues. Welcome back to THE SPIN ROOM. I'm Bill Press. Rich Lowry is here to-
night filling in for Tucker Carlson.
We want to hear from you. By phone, 1-800-310-4CNN. Our chat room. Join it at cnn.com. And you can e-mail
us. We've had 7,500 e- mails so far in just 15 minutes. Send them in to spin@cnn.com.
Speaking of e-mails -- our congressmen are ready to join us very briefly here -- e-mail from Bill, Rich. He says, "Re-
vote in Palm Beach only. Yeah, that's smart. Let the people that can't figure out a ballot decide who's the next presi-
dent."
LOWRY: I think that's a -- that's an excellent point. You know, some -- one of these confused voters was on TV the
other day saying he thought he voted for the wrong person, but he didn't ask anyone after he left the voting booth be-
cause he was too embarrassed. Well, if you're too embarrassed, you know, my opinion is that's tough luck.
Page 740

But let me -- let me throw -- throw one at you here, Bill. This is Frank from Victoria, British Columbia. "Surely the
recount of Florida, which has been trending back towards Gore, leads one to the reasonable conclusion that systematic
manipulation in favor of Jeb Bush's brother has occurred. As an interested viewer from Canada, I have been marveling
at the U.S. election process for months. That is in question now."
Now, as an American patriot, Bill, this hurts, that Canadians are laughing and mocking our -- our great electoral pro-
cess.
PRESS: I know. Those two Bush brothers. What are they up to?
OK. Now let's go back to our congressmen.
Congressman Joe Scarborough -- Joe...
SCARBOROUGH: Yeah.
PRESS: ... you just heard your colleague, Robert Wexler, talk about the situation in Palm Beach. Nineteen thousand
ballots, he says, are lost. You don't think the -- Congressman, that that's any problem at all? No?
SCARBOROUGH: You know, first -- first of all, let me say -- and I was about to say this before -- this show started out
with you trying to ask me a question. You can tell you who's supporting Al Gore here because, like Al Gore, it was
like an SNL skit, he interrupted you and the question and then held the floor for five minutes.
But let me tell you -- you -- we do need to look at the Palm Beach deal. We need to get the recounts. We need to
have all the -- all the challenges done. That's fine. But everybody needs to stay calm and be grownups about this.
I was on this show a couple of hours ago where a guy that I've known for six years that I've never had any problems
with called me a liar five times in like a 30-second spin. Everybody needs to calm down.
I do want to say, though, you've got to look at sort of the M.O. right now that's going on, and you -- you've got to tip
your hands to the Democrats. They've been very aggressive and played political hardball.
They started out with a story yesterday morning, which was, "Oh -- oh, my gosh, the Republicans have stolen the elec-
tion because African-Americans in Miami weren't able to vote in a certain precinct because the box was stolen and put
here or there." They found crayons in there.
And then after that story was shot down after six hours, the next story was Pat Buchanan could never get 3,000 votes in
Palm -- Palm Beach County. Then we find out that Pat Buchanan got over 8,000 votes four years ago.
So now the new story is 19,000 votes have been stolen. This has never happened before? Certainly, it never hap-
pened in Cook County or Philadelphia, did it? Nineteen thousand votes discounted. Then we find out in Palm Beach
County just four years ago, 15,000 votes -- 15,000 votes were also thrown out. It's the same exact thing, and the turn-
out was lower back then.
So we're -- we're all in the same sort of category, but I'll tell you what. This 19,000-vote controversy will be dis-
missed. It's not going to have an effect on it.
We'll guarantee you tomorrow morning they will come up with a new story. They're great at this. They have a new
story at this...
PRESS: OK. OK. All right. All right.
SCARBOROUGH: ... they have a new story every day.
PRESS: All right. Just a second. Go ahead.
LOWRY: Let's get Congressman Wexler in -- in here again.
Congressman Wexler, I know you're...
WEXLER: Please. LOWRY: ... a great -- a great advocate of no voters having any sort of upset or everything being
made very easy and simple for them. So do you think that there should be a revote in those areas in the Panhandle where
the -- the election had already been called by the networks in Florida so that may have discouraged some voters from
turning out and voting for Bush in that area?
Page 741

WEXLER: For me, this is not about Bush or Gore. Every voter in Florida, every voter in America must have the op-
portunity to cast his or her ballot in a proper way and have it counted appropriately. This is not about Democrat or
Republican.
But let me address Mr. Scarborough's numbers. Joe respectfully is repeating the numbers that the Bush campaign
stated earlier in the day with respect to the number of votes in Palm Beach County that were discarded. Those num-
bers are false. The number of 14,000 votes as being discarded because people voted for two candidates in 1996 in
Palm Beach County is wrong. The actual number is about half that number. So let's not confuse the numbers. The
Bush campaign needs to use the appropriate numbers, and the numbers here speak for themselves.
And, please, let's not start making fun of voters. Nineteen thousand people voted...
PRESS: All right, Congressman.
WEXLER: ... for two people for president. That -- this is not one person or a silly group of people.
SCARBOROUGH: What about people...
PRESS: All right. Time for -- time for a break, Congressman. Stay tuned there. We'll be right back to you.
And when we come back, also, you know, you talk about confusing forms. Nobody could show the confusion better
than Jeannie Moos. She's got a great little story for us when we come back on THE SPIN ROOM.
And more of your e-mails coming up.
Rich Lowry and Bill Press in THE SPIN ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PRESS: OK.
LOWRY: Welcome back to SPIN ROOM. I'm Rich Lowry sitting in for Tucker Carlson here with Bill Press spinning
away.
But we want to hear your spin too. Call us, 1-800-310-4CNN. Chat with us, CNN.com. E-mail us your "Spin of the
Day" nominations. That's spin@cnn.com.
PRESS: Yes, get those "Spin of the Day" nominations in. Here's an e-mail from Michael from Atlanta: "I am a fierce
Democrat. But I only want Gore to be elected if he gets the electoral vote in Florida without going to court. It will
hurt my party in the long run."
Interesting about when to stop.
LOWRY: High principle there, Bill.
PRESS: There it is, and from a Democrat.
LOWRY: I've got one from Pete Lopez: "If George W. wins without a revote in Palm Beach, he's going to know how
O.J. Simpson feels, enjoying a result he never deserved."
Maybe he'll take up golf, too, though.
PRESS: Even I think it's cruel to compare George W. to O.J.
LOWRY: It is. It is cruel.
PRESS: Telephone calls coming in too. Here is Marnel (ph) calling us from Illinois.
Hello, Marnel. Good evening. Welcome to THE SPIN ROOM.
CALLER: Hi, thank you. I just want to know, if we the people vote for a president for their honesty and fairness to
represent the people, if Bush wins under these circumstances being this close, knowing about all the votes thrown out,
how could we respect a person like that to lead us, plus knowing about all the popular votes?
PRESS: OK, Marnel, good question. I think either one of these guys is going to have a tough time, whoever gets
there, with this slim vote.
LOWRY: It's tough. It could be a tainted victory.
Page 742

PRESS: Yeah.
LOWRY: Either way, and that's why...
(CROSSTALK)
LOWRY: Yeah, we have Ken (ph) from North Dakota on the line. Ken, what do you have to tell us?
CALLER: Well, basically I'm sitting up here in the middle of the winter country. And it sounds like whether it's
Democrat or a Republican, whether you're a politician or a private citizen that everybody else there is acting like chil-
dren.
They say they got messed up on the voting. Well, you went to school as a child. You learned how to read and write
and follow the lines. How come you couldn't basically follow the line?
PRESS: All right, Ken, I hear you. We'll have to send Ken down to Palm Beach to ask those 19,000 people that ques-
tion. LOWRY: Education reform, Bill.
PRESS: Education reform.
LOWRY: Where's accountability?
PRESS: That's right. And we're going to get to our legal expert in just a second. But again, we've got to keep our eye
on what's really happening out there in addition to this great uncertainty across the United States.
Let's check in again with Joie Chen in Atlanta for another look at the news of the day.
Hi, Joie.
CHEN: Hi, Bill. You know it's going to be like the movie "Groundhog Day" in the morning paper. The front page is
still going to be about Florida.
But back there on page two or three, you may see that Yasser Arafat was back at the White House today. President
Clinton still thinks he can talk the Mid-East players into peace, or at least into not fighting.
Well, Arafat is looking for a UN force to protect Palestinians. So you can figure that he's going to use today's Israeli
missile strike to make his point when he talks to the Security Council.
Smoke marked the spot where the strike hit. It killed one of Arafat's commanders and two women bystanders.
Israel says the commander was a terrorist mastermind. And it's bracing itself for Palestinians to hit back.
That's a look at some of the news you're going to see in the paper tomorrow morning.
Hey, Bill.
PRESS: OK, thanks, Joie. Thank you very much.
And coming back to you for a special segment in just a minute. I can't wait.
Now, as we told you, for a look at the legal side all these questions about Florida, we're joined now by Carol Laham.
Carol is an election law attorney specialist with the office here in Washington of Wiley (ph), Rhine (ph), and Fielding
(ph).
Good evening, Carol. Thanks for joining us.
CAROL LAHAM, FORMER FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION STAFF ATTORNEY: Hi. How are you?
PRESS: Good to have you here. LOWRY: Carol, Carol, thanks for joining us. Now let me ask you this, Carol.
When does a ballot stop just being confusing and become illegal and grounds for overturning an election?
LAHAM: Well, that's a very fine question. And I'm not sure we know the answer to that question. What has to hap-
pen is that there has to be a substantial irregularity in the voting in that district in Florida for the court to overturn the
election or maybe to possibly call a new election in that district.
PRESS: Carol, let me ask you this. First of all, who has standing to challenge an election in Florida? I mean, can
anybody from any state just go in there and say this was rigged, this wasn't right?
Page 743

LAHAM: No, what Florida law allows for is for a voter in the state of Florida to go in and challenge the election, con-
test the election, saying that there was something about the ballot or about the election that was unfair or confusing.
It's unclear exactly what their challenge is going to be. But they can state a cause of action to the court.
PRESS: Now we saw earlier, Riz showed the ballot, we've seen that over and over again, on the screen a little earlier.
But I want to show you just quickly a couple of sections of Florida election law and coming back and ask you about the
ballot.
The first thing it says, it does say in the Florida election law that the vote for a candidate -- you vote for a candidate
whose name is printed on the ballot. You place a cross mark in the blank space at the right of the name.
And it also says that the names of the candidates, the names of the candidates of the party which received the second
highest vote for governor shall be second under the heading for each office.
Now on this ballot as we've seen, the mark for Pat Buchanan was to the left, not to the right. And Pat Buchanan was
second, not Al Gore. So on the face of it, in your opinion, was that ballot in Palm Beach County even a legal ballot?
LAHAM: Well, I don't think we know the answer to that.
PRESS: That's why I'm asking you.
LAHAM: Yeah, I think though that what the law says is for a written ballot it has to be to the right of the candidate.
And the ballots that we're talking about are not written ballots. So I think that's going to be one of the issues in the
court that they're going to look at.
And for other ballots, for ballots that are on a voting machine or electronic ballots, it says that you need to be as close as
possible to that written ballot. But it does not have to be identical to the written ballot.
LOWRY: Carol, it seems to me that election challenges and recounts, they're a little bit like baseball games being
played under protest. You know, there's a lot of sound and fury.
But ultimately, nothing changes. And the person who won always ends up winning.
Is that true? And can you think of any example of a case you've been involved with where a result has been over-
turned for similar reasons?
LAHAM: It's very rare for a case to be overturned, for especially the reasons that we're talking about in Florida, which
is voter confusion. I'm not aware of any single case that's been overturned for that reason.
There have been cases that have been overturned for fraud reasons. And that's an entirely different allegation than
what's going on here today.
PRESS: OK, Carol, lots more questions for you. But we've got lots more time too coming up. We'll be back in THE
SPIN ROOM.
Don't forget, get those nominations in for "Spin of the Day" coming up at the end of the hour. We'll be back for a lot
more questions.
And also, we're going to have "News of the Weird" tonight for the first time.
LOWRY: Weirder than this, Bill?
PRESS: Weirder than this. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LOWRY: Welcome back to SPIN ROOM. I'm Rich Lowry sitting here with Bill Press spinning away.
PRESS: And, Rich, this story, talk about stories that will not go away, we just heard that the relatives of Elian Gonzalez
from Miami have now officially complained, or at least they're moaning, that the new attorney representing Al Gore in
this case for the recount is the same attorney who represented them. They say they've been betrayed by this guy.
LOWRY: I bet the Gonzalez family got their votes right.
PRESS: I wonder whether they did.
All right, Carol Laham is with us. She is an election law expert joining us here in Washington.
Page 744

Carol, we want to ask you about the Electoral College, but first about what remedies might be possible in Palm Beach
County. Is it possible that the judge in Palm Beach County could order an entire new election for that county? And
in that case, would only those who voted last Tuesday be able to vote in the next one?
LAHAM: I think it is possible for the judge to do that, although it would be highly unlikely, frankly.
PRESS: Wow.
LAHAM: And then, the question becomes who does he allow to vote? Does he only allow those people that voted the
first time to come and vote? Or does he allow anybody in the county that's registered to come and vote?
And then further there's a question about will people change their votes when they come and do that?
LOWRY: Sure. I'm sure no one would.
LAHAM: No, never.
LOWRY: Carol, let me ask you this, a story that's more and more confusing. I suspect if the Gore campaign doesn't
succeed in this legal challenge, they may go to electors and try to sway them and try to get them to change...
PRESS: No...
LOWRY: ... I know this is shocking to you, Bill. But just hypothetically...
(CROSSTALK)
LOWRY: ... imagine this scenario. Carol, what is the law there? What are the rules? Can any elector at the end of
the day vote any way he or her pleases?
LAHAM: Well, this is another question of state law. And apparently there are at least 25 states that allow electors to
change their votes without any ramifications at all. So if I were the Gore campaign, I'd go to those 25 states and those
electors in those states and try to convince them first.
PRESS: But even in those states, my understanding is where elector says -- the law says you have vote the way -- you
have to be a party hat. You have to vote the way your party tells you. You would only pay a fine. They're not go-
ing to shoot you at sunrise, right?
LAHAM: Right. Exactly.
LOWRY: Bush needs the party hacks to come through for him, obviously.
PRESS: Gore may need the party hacks to come through for him. And if -- a quick question, quick answer. If there is
another election in Palm Beach County, there's nothing preventing the candidates from campaigning again, all over
again, in Palm Beach County while they're waiting for that election, correct?
LAHAM: No, nothing preventing that at all.
PRESS: Oh, my God.
LOWRY: We're going to have Al Gore rallies in Palm Beach at 3 a.m. again. Thirty hours straight campaigning just in
Palm Beach.
PRESS: No, those two candidates...
(CROSSTALK)
PRESS: ... George Bush and Al Gore are going to take every one of the voters in Palm Beach County out to dinner for
the next election.
All right, Carol Laham, thanks so much for joining us, Carol.
Rich, we start new things on this show all the time. So the great things about SPIN ROOM, "Spin of the Day" pops
up, we have all this new stuff.
Tonight we have a new future. It's called "News of the Weird." I think we borrowed it from "Mad" magazine or
something like that.
But Joie Chen is the brave one who's going to launch this new feature for us, our partner in Atlanta.
Page 745

CHEN: I'm out on a limb here.
PRESS: All right, Joie...
CHEN: I'm out on a limb, OK.
PRESS: ... Be as weird as you can be. Let's go.
CHEN: ... I've been as weird as I can be for most of this program. But anyway, we've been looking at our sources try-
ing to find news that isn't ready for prime time, but is worth a spin. So here goes.
CNN has learned, as I say that authoritatively enough, that Al Gore voted for George W. Bush. Yeah, really. Of
course, this Al Gore would be the one who's a 72-year-old shoe salesman in Yakima, Washington.
Mr. Gore says the only Democrat he's ever voted for in a presidential election was Harry Truman. That would be in
'48.
We know what Democrats are thinking. But, no, what you're about to see here is not the Florida recount. It is the
smashing pumpkins day at the National Zoo in Washington. OK, make a liar out of me. We don't have the pictures
of it.
All right, well, it's the Elephant Annual Pumpkin Stomp. And it's part of a recycling program used for the Halloween
programs for pumpkins up there.
All right, let's go back to the subject of the election then. Here is an excuse we haven't heard from the folks in Florida.
This is it.
We didn't get out ballots to the county clerk's office because a 300- to 400-pound bear was camped outside our door.
That's the excuse from Redmond Township, Michigan.
At least the officials inside the township hall used their time well. They counted the ballots while they were waiting.
The bear never did leave the door.
They finally called the police, who as you know carry guns. You don't need to ask what happened. You could say
that the bear was disenfranchised, I'm sorry to say.
But this is supposed to be a happy program. So we won't talk about it.
LOWRY: We need to get Congressman Wexler on that case I think clearly.
CHEN: The bear wanted his vote to count.
LOWRY: Yeah.
PRESS: We'll find out who planted the bear at the door. But I will admit something. I've actually been to the pump-
kin stomp at the Washington National Zoo.
(CROSSTALK)
CHEN: ... recycle or what?
PRESS: No, they throw all these pumpkins in the elephant cage there. And the elephants go around and stomp them
down. And they actually sort of eat them as well as they can with their trunks. It's kind of fun to watch.
LOWRY: Do they seem to really enjoy it, having a good time?
PRESS: I think they were having as much fun as the voters were in Palm Beach County.
Joie, thanks very much. OK, we're going to take a break. And when we come back, what you've been waiting for,
the "Spin of the Day." We've already got some of your nominations here. We'll be reading those.
Plus, Rich Lowry's "Spin of the Day" and my "Spin of the Day" coming up in THE SPIN ROOM here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PRESS: OK, welcome back to THE SPIN ROOM. I'm Bill Press here with Rich Lowry tonight. He's sitting in for
Tucker Carlson. Tucker will be back tomorrow night. It's time for the "Spin of the Day."
Page 746

Our first one is a telephone call, Rich.
LOWRY: Thanks, Bill. We have Shawna (ph) from Ohio who has a "Spin of the Day" for us.
Shawna.
PRESS: Hi, Shawna.
CALLER: Hello?
PRESS: Hi, Shawna. You're on. What's your "Spin of the Day."
CALLER: Yes. I think we should have a -- pick a day at random, either by lottery or otherwise, and have a do it all
over again as a nation and because no candidate is going to be able to assume the office with any kind of respect from
the rest of the country under these circumstances.
PRESS: All right...
CALLER: I'm also very disappointed in the media...
PRESS: ... OK, Shawna...
CALLER: ... in all of the wisecracks against the elderly.
PRESS: ... All right, Shawna, thank you so much for the call. That's just what we need, another national election.
Here's Jonathan (ph) from Memphis, Tennessee: "My 'Spin of the Day' nomination is actually what may be the spin of
the race. I think Bush should have reconsidered his plea to Gore supporters at the end of the final debate when he
asked them to vote only once."
(LAUGHTER)
LOWRY: That's a very good spin.
PRESS: Wasn't that good?
(CROSSTALK)
LOWRY: Here's my favorite e-mail "Spin of the Day." Scott from Arkansas: "Here's a "Spin of the Day" I'm sick of.
Since when did the term disenfranchised come to mean my guy didn't win?"
PRESS: Whenever your guy didn't win.
LOWRY: Exactly.
PRESS: Whenever your guy didn't win, that's disenfranchised. All right, your "Spin of the Day." As a guest, I'm going
to let you take the first.
LOWRY: Thanks, Bill. That's very gracious.
My favorite "Spin of the Day" I went to the most reliable source for egregious spin, who is Jesse Jackson. Jesse Jack-
son has Selma on the brain. This is what he said earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JESSE JACKSON, FOUNDER, RAINBOW-PUSH COALITION: In many ways, Tuesday fulfilled the promise of
Selma, Alabama. It also fulfilled the promise of the sacrificed blood of blacks and Jews across the century.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LOWRY: Well, he...
PRESS: I just -- it is over the top.
LOWRY: ... Let's get this straight. You know, Decatur, Illinois, kids are suspended from school, Selma, Alabama.
Houston, Texas, challenge to affirmative action, Selma, Alabama. Someone needs to tell this guy it's not 1965 any-
more.
Page 747

PRESS: I think he was over the top. I've got to ask, I've got time for my spin here, right? Yes indeed. OK. This
is mine.
This is my nominee for the spinner of the race is Karen Hughes, Bush's communications director. And here she is to-
day explaining what this is all about.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAREN HUGHES, BUSH COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: But I do think the people who raised the issue of the
popular vote, it is interesting to look at it in context and realize that Governor Bush earned more popular votes than
President Clinton did during both of his two previous elections.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PRESS: I just want to point out, so George Bush got more votes than Bill Clinton did in '92 or '96. OK. Number
two, or number one, so did Al Gore. Number two, it doesn't mean anything. The question is did he win or not? He
lost the popular vote. Why do people who are so smart get up and say things that are so dumb?
LOWRY: I can't believe you're being so dismissive here. You know, Bush probably got more votes than Lincoln,
more votes than FDR. This has to count for something, doesn't it? What does it take to please you? What does it
take?
PRESS: I repeat my question. Why do people that you and I know, and know are so smart, say things so dumb?
LOWRY: You know why?
PRESS: I guess it -- you know what, does it come with the job?
LOWRY: It's what they're paid for. Exactly.
PRESS: It's what they're paid to do.
LOWRY: Capitalism at work, Bill.
PRESS: You know what they're paid to do? They're paid to spin.
LOWRY: True. That's why they spin. That's the way the free market works.
PRESS: That's what...
LOWRY: You pay someone to spin, they spin.
PRESS: ... That's what makes it work.
Rich Lowry, thanks for joining us tonight.
LOWRY: Thanks for having me, Bill. My pleasure.
PRESS: All right, great to have you here. We're out of THE SPIN ROOM for tonight.
Tucker Carlson will be back tomorrow night. Same time, 11:00 Eastern, 8:00 Pacific. And look for us this weekend.
Also, Saturday and Sunday THE SPIN ROOM is going to be open.
So for Rich Lowry, our guest spinner tonight, for Joie Chen in Atlanta, for me, Bill Press, good night, everybody. Spin
away. Have a good night.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


Page 748

All Rights Reserved
Page 749


CNN


SHOW: CNN INSIDE POLITICS 17:00

Florida Recount Leaves Presidential Race in Limbo

GUESTS: Kenneth Gross, Robert Strauss, Tom Fiedler, Joe Andrew, Jim Nicholson

BYLINE: Bernard Shaw, Judy Woodruff, Mike Boettcher, John King, Candy Crowley, William Schneider, Jeff
Greenfield, Mark Potter, Greta Van Susteren, Pat Neal, Brooks Jackson, Gary Tuchman, Patty Davis, John Zarrella,
Bruce Morton


LENGTH: 14844 words

HIGHLIGHT: Down by a razor-thin margin in Florida's recount, Al Gore's campaign has launched an all-out effort
to claim the Sunshine State and with it, the presidency. Gore's team is calling for a hand count in four counties and
supporting a legal challenge to the vote in Palm Beach. Far from sitting back, the George W. Bush camp is upping the
ante, suggesting that the vote count in some of Gore's states might be worth taking a look at.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAM DALEY, GORE CAMPAIGN CHAIRMAN: They put a demand for finality ahead of the pursuit of fairness.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERNARD SHAW, CNN ANCHOR: ... in limbo, the Gore campaign's strategy, as the vice president's dreams of the
presidency hinge on Florida.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DON EVANS, BUSH CAMPAIGN CHAIRMAN: Vice President Gore's campaign did not like the outcome of Election
Day. And it seems they're worried that they won't like the official recount result either.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: The Texas governor concentrates on the future, as his staff counts on vote-tally
victory.
Plus:
SHAW: Protests and lawsuits: the confusion and controversy in one Florida county.
ANNOUNCER: This is a special edition of INSIDE POLITICS, with Bernard Shaw at election headquarters and Judy
Woodruff in Washington, and analysts Jeff Greenfield and Bill Schneider.
WOODRUFF: Thank you for joining us.
Down by a razor-thin margin in Florida's recount, Al Gore's campaign has launched an all-out effort to claim the Sun-
shine State and with it, the presidency. Gore's team is calling for a hand count in four counties and supporting a legal
challenge to the vote in Palm Beach.
Page 750

Far from sitting back, the George W. Bush camp is upping the ante, suggesting that the vote count in some of Gore's
states might be worth taking a look at. Our coverage of all of these dramatic developments begins in Tallahassee,
where CNN's Mike Boettcher is waiting for the results of that official count -- Mike.
MIKE BOETTCHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Judy, in terms Floridians can understand, it's sort of like
tracking an incoming hurricane. And this result just in to us: 63 of 67 counties, showing Governor Bush up by 341
votes over Vice President Gore. If you will remember, after the election, the figure was closer to 1,800 votes. So the
vice president has gained about 1,500 votes with four counties remaining.
Now, that is the figure from the Associated Press, which has been independently calling the various counties which are
counting the totals. The state total has lagged behind. We suspect that most -- and I have been told by sources in the
capital -- that most of the counties have reported in up there. They have been slower to produce those, mostly due to
the mechanics of counting those, getting those added in.
But they have been pretty slow about that today. They were quicker earlier in the morning and yesterday. But we are
told, in about 55 minutes, that there will be a press conference by the Division of Elections and state officials here.
And at that time, we have been led to believe over the past two days, that we may have a complete figure by that time
that the state sanctions. Now, after that happens, there is a certification process that will get under way.
The election results from Tuesday have to be certified by this coming Tuesday. The overseas ballots have to be certi-
fied by a week from Friday. So there's still a long ways to go if this total of this gap remains very thin between the
vice president and the governor. So it's a very still close, close process, with some time to go -- Judy.
WOODRUFF: So, Mike, just to clarify two things; Number one, we won't know the final, final count in Florida at least
until a week from Friday, when all of those overseas ballots come in and are counted.
BOETTCHER: Correct. That is correct. What we don't know, Judy, is, we don't know how many of those overseas
ballots came in over before the election or on Election Day. Those have been counted in this total we're seeing right
now. And the only thing we have to go by is the 1996 election. And they look at historic perspectives. They say that
2,300 of those ballots were cast after the Tuesday.
And Florida law says if you postmarked your ballot -- if you are overseas and you postmark it on the day of the election
and send it in, it's valid. And it's counted when it's received here, if it is received within 10 days. Some of those have
already been sent in and got here before the elections. Others have not. And those are the ones to be counted.
By the way, in that race, Dole took 55 percent and Clinton took 45 percent. So that was the total back four years ago.
WOODRUFF: Mike, just one other quick question. You talked about this recount or canvass -- whatever it's being
called -- that is under way right now resulting in a change of some 1,500 votes in favor of Al Gore. Do you have any
idea what caused the change? Did somebody just miscount?
BOETTCHER: Yes, no, it was a miscount. The strange thing, is, Judy, if you look at it, both sides have gained vote.
I mean, more votes were cast than originally thought. Governor Bush did not lose votes. He gained votes. It's just
that Vice President Gore gained more votes. And there were ballots that stuck together, various little things like that.
And they added up when you are talking about a six million vote total.
WOODRUFF: All right, remarkable, every bit of it. Mike Boettcher, thanks very much. And we'll come back to you
a little later -- Bernie.
SHAW: Although both campaigns are well represented in Florida today, the two candidates remain in their home states,
watching the fight from a distance. Our John King is in Nashville, Tennessee, with a look at the Gore strategy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
AL GORE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're having a great run here.
JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The vice president took a jog in Nashville, as his strategy turned
more aggressive on two fronts: a stepped-up legal challenge in Florida and angry criticism of Governor Bush for acting
as if he is already the president-elect.
DALEY: I believe that their actions to try to presumptively crown themselves the victors, to try to put in place a transi-
tion, run the risk of dividing the American people and creating a sense of confusion.
Page 751

KING: The Democrats demanded that the votes in four Florida counties be recounted by hand. Nearly 1.8 million
votes were cast in the four counties: Palm Beach, Dade, Broward and Volusia.
DALEY: If the will of the people is to prevail, Al Gore should be awarded a victory in Florida and be our next presi-
dent.
KING: And the Democrats want a new election or some other remedy taken in Palm Beach County, saying this confus-
ing ballot may have cost the vice president perhaps as many as 20,000 votes.
KENDALL COFFEY, DEMOCRATIC PARTY ATTORNEY: That ballot was completely illegal. It confused voters.
It led to an unprecedented number of voters, many of whom were elderly, who waited for hours, who had their votes
disqualified because it was very hard, looking at it, to figure out exactly what to do.
KING: Republicans believe the law is on their side: that any objections to the ballot needed to be raised before the elec-
tion. But a senior Bush legal adviser tells CNN -- quote -- "If they somehow revisit the Palm Beach County vote, then
Gore wins the election." The vice president leads in the popular vote, and at least, for now, in the Electoral College
count. So talk out of Austin about naming Cabinet members has soured already poor relations between the two camps.
The Gore team sees it as a deliberate strategy to steer attention away from the Florida recount, and as an attempt by
Republicans to paint the vice president as a sore loser, and to turn public opinion in favor of a quick resolution.
DALEY: All we are seeking is this: that the candidate who the voters preferred become our president. That is what
our constitutional principles demand. That is what true fidelity to our Constitution suggests.
KING: While this increasingly bitter drama plays out, the vice president is heading back to Washington. And his legal
and political teams will relocate with him.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: Now, the Gore camp's view is that all this could take several weeks or even more to resolve. And their public
line is that, since the new president isn't inaugurated until January 20, there is no reason to rush -- Bernie.
SHAW: John, do the Gore people plan to raise their profile to counter what the Bush people are doing?
KING: Well, that is what they did today, Bernie. Yesterday, when the vice president came out, you'll note that he did
not claim victory. He did not say that he thought he had won the election. What he said then was he thought there
should not be a rush to judgment. What changed in the Gore strategy overnight was when they all this talk out of
Washington about naming a Cabinet, about picking a White House chief of staff.
At that point, the Gore people decided they believe what Bush is up to is a calculated political strategy to convince the
American people this is over and to paint the vice president as a sore loser. They believe that they needed to step up and
be more aggressive today. And we're told that once this recount -- and the Gore campaign does not expect this recount
to swing into the vice president's favor. That's why they want all that hand-counting in those four big counties.
Once that is announced in Florida tonight, we will see Mr. Daley and Mr. Christopher again. They will not cede the
public spotlight to the Bush people at all here.
SHAW: Fascinating, John King in Nashville, thank you.
Judy, back to you.
WOODRUFF: Well, aides to George W. Bush complain that the Gore campaign is, as you've been hearing, trying to
politicize the situation in Florida. CNN's Candy Crowley joins us now from Austin, Texas -- Candy.
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Judy, we just finished a news conference here by
three top advisers to Governor Bush. Their take on this whole thing is that it is Al Gore who is trying to politicize the
situation. They believe that the Gore campaign is handing out partial facts that do not tell the entire story about the
history, among other things, of Palm Beach County.
But primarily, what you are seeing here is that this is not a matter of mathematics: who voted for who in Florida and
what that is. This is now, between these two camps, a matter of politics. And from the Bush campaign point of view, it
is Al Gore who is trying to seed some confusion out there and to perhaps redo an election that took place on Tuesday
evening.
Page 752

Here is Don Evans, the campaign chairman.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EVANS: Vice President Gore's campaign did not like the outcome of Election Day. And it seems they're worried that
they won't like the official recount results either. The Democrats, who are politicizing and distorting these events, risk
doing so at the expense of our democracy. One of the options that they seem to be looking at is new elections. Our
democratic process calls for a vote on Election Day. It does not call for us to continue voting until someone likes the
outcome.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CROWLEY: Now, the Bush campaign, while it is paying most of its attention to Florida, there are other states they are
looking at where there have been very close votes. Political strategist Karl Rove:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KARL ROVE, BUSH CAMPAIGN STRATEGIST: There are at least three other states in which automatic recounts are
likely. The state of Wisconsin, Gore's lead has shrunk to 5,050 votes. I have talked to Governor Thompson's chief of
staff this morning who says that he believes that after the Tuesday canvas, this will fall under a standard that may re-
quire a recount or offer the opportunity of a recount.
In the state of Iowa, the margin is now just several thousand votes between Vice President Gore and Governor Bush and
this -- and several ballot boxes from, we think, Republican counties, have yet to be counted. This may fall under the
automatic trigger that exists in Iowa law.
And there is also a recount going on, as we speak, in Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Albuquerque, the largest county
in the state. Twenty-seven thousand ballots were not counted on election night.
(END VIDEO CLIP) CROWLEY: Now, just one addendum, there is not an automatic recount in Iowa in the case of a
close vote, although a candidate can request one. The same apparently holds true in Wisconsin. In any case, what we
have is a confusing situation in Florida and the Bush campaign now looking at other places. This is more, apparently,
about the popular vote than any change in the electoral vote. Karl Rove said that he believed that that popular-vote
margin that you are seeing might just shrink a bit as those absentee ballots come in into a number of states and final
votes are gotten out in other states that were gotten close -- Judy and Bernie.
WOODRUFF: Candy, this notion, we just heard John King say he expects the Gore people expect they will call for a
hand recount or a hand count in a number of Florida counties. Will the Bush people go along with that?
CROWLEY: Well, I'm not sure that's up to the Bush people. Will they complain about it? I'm not sure. I mean,
their basic theory is that the Gore campaign is trying to drag this out, to find any way that they can to drag this out, sow
the seeds of doubt in Florida. So, whether or not they would specifically be opposed to a hand count, all they're saying
here is, look, we're certain when the final count is in that Governor Bush will get the electoral vote and thus the presi-
dency. And we want it to be done in a fair and thorough manner.
WOODRUFF: All right, Candy Crowley in Austin, thanks -- Bernie.
SHAW: This is a presidential campaign that has gone into overtime, as you know, and it's not clear, yet, how long, or
how far, the two sides will go. Joining us to sort things out are CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider in Atlanta,
and CNN senior analyst Jeff Greenfield in New York.
Bill, you first, what's the big picture right now?
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Bernie, it's still election night. In fact, it's a very slow
election night and the results are still coming in. We don't know the answer yet. It's an election night like we used to
have 125 years ago when it would take weeks to determine the outcome of an election.
Welcome to 1876, and I choose that year carefully, because 1876 was the last time we had a disputed outcome in the
presidential election. That one was settled by a corrupt political deal. Now, nobody is talking about that kind of deal
this year, so far. This is an extraordinary situation, but it's not a crisis, unless the candidates choose to turn it into one.
SHAW: Jeff, potentially, what could happen down the road?
Page 753

JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SENIOR ANALYST: Heed Mr. Schneider's warning, because what's around the road are
pitfalls the size of the Grand Canyon. I'll just give you a couple for openers. Let's say that this contentiousness con-
tinues and ripens into bitterness.
You could have a situation where, once Florida decides who it thinks has won, on January 5, 2001, the new Congress
convenes in joint session to certify the electoral vote. If one senator and one congressman object, the House is then
adjourned to their prospective houses and decides. And you could have a situation, if Maria Cantwell wins in Wash-
ington, where a fifty-fifty Senate with Al Gore, still the vice president on January 5, 2001, would reject the votes.
Now, it takes both houses to reject electoral votes. So, presumably, the Republican House would approve of them.
But think of the legitimacy issue. A new president Bush, coming into office, probably having lost the popular vote,
with one of the two houses of Congress saying we don't think you actually won. We are a long way down that road.
Unfortunately we're a heck of a lot closer to it than we were when the votes started being counted on Tuesday.
SHAW: Given what Jeff just told us, what are the political calculations each candidate has to make?
SCHNEIDER: Well, essentially this, Bernie: How much is winning this election worth? Is it worth creating a consti-
tutional crisis? Is it worth undermining your ability to lead? Because, those things are at stake if each candidate pushes
this thing too far. I think Bush appears presumptuous and arrogant by talking about rallies and transition teams. This
outcome is not beyond dispute.
And I think Gore takes a risk if he sounds like he's willing to win on legal challenges and on technicalities. He risks
sounding like he's a candidate who would do anything to win the election. You know, legal challenges in Florida
could open the floodgates to legal challenges all over the country. There are other instances of ballot confusion and
disputed results and recounts can be made in other states that Gore won narrowly.
We have seen a dangerous escalation in the rhetoric today and a dangerous politicization of the vote counting process.
Whichever side is seen as responsible for politicizing this process is the loser, even if that candidate becomes president
of the United States.
SHAW: And, Jeff, a quick thought from you.
GREENFIELD: Well, it should be noted that we have three times had folks lose a popular vote and get the electoral
vote. And each of those times they were one-termers. So, even that casts a shadow of a doubt on a new president.
But if you have a president come in in the midst of court fights and street demonstrations and the kind of rhetoric we
have seen all over cable television in the last 48 hours where there is no dispassion.
I mean, if you are a Republican, you think that the outcome in Florida is fine. If you are a Democrat, you think it was
outrageous. If this is how we are dividing in the first days of this, what I'm really concerned about is that all of the
mechanisms that we've never had to employ: Electoral College mechanisms, faithless electors who might switch their
votes, Congress dueling over who the real president is.
You think about things like the markets. You think about the international community. You think about how the
United States has always been seen as a bedrock of political stability. I'm not suggesting riots in the streets, but I'm
suggesting some real potential problems.
SHAW: Indeed, indeed, Jeff Greenfield in New York.
Bill Schneider, thank you very much.
Still ahead here on INSIDE POLITICS.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REVEREND JESSE JACKSON, RAINBOW/PUSH COALITION: This ballot is fuzzy. It is deceptive.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SHAW: The controversy over the Palm Beach County ballot, Mark Potter with the latest on the confusion that's sparked
legal action.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
Page 754

PAT BUCHANAN, REFORM PARTY PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It does seem to me that those are probably
not my votes in those precincts in Palm Beach County, the outsized nature of my vote. And I've looked at that ballot,
and it is -- on the left side, it is Bush and then Gore, 1, 2, but if you -- the dots 1, 2, are Bush, Buchanan. And so my
guess is, I probably got some votes down there that really did not belong to me, and I feel -- I do not feel well about
that. I don't want to take any votes that don't belong to me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SHAW: Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan today on the question regarding the ballots in Palm Beach County.
Some voters there say a confusing ballot led them to mistakenly vote for Buchanan instead of Vice President Gore.
Mark Potter has the latest on the complaints, the legal actions and the political protests.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARK POTTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Several hundred protesters gathered outside the Palm Beach
County elections office demanding a new countywide vote in the presidential race.
Their argument is that Vice President Gore was deprived of thousands of votes because of a confusing ballot form.
The protesters were joined by the Reverend Jesse Jackson.
JACKSON: This ballot is fuzzy. It is deceptive. While there is over and over again, a call for a recount in West
Palm, there must be a first count. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Democratic Party, may I help you?
Do you feel that your vote was either incorrect, or you are unsure of who you voted for yesterday?
POTTER: A block from the protest, a law firm working with the Democratic Party set up a phone bank to document
complaints from angry voters. Attorneys say since Wednesday morning they have received more than 5,000 calls, a
partner in the firm argues that according to state law the ballot was configured improperly, thus confusing thousands of
voters.
MARK CLARK, ATTORNEY: These are folks that voted mistakenly for Pat Buchanan that intended to vote for Al
Gore.
POTTER: But Bruce Rogow, an attorney for Theresa LePore, the Palm Beach County supervisor of elections, says she
did her job properly.
BRUCE ROGOW, ATTORNEY: Theresa LePore put the ballot together. The ballot was approved in Tallahassee.
There is nothing wrong with anything that Theresa LePore did.
POTTER: But several lawsuits have been filed in state court asking for a new Palm Beach County presidential election.
Andre Fladell, a chiropractor and political activist, is one of the plaintiffs who says he was disenfranchised.
ANDRE FLADELL, LAWSUIT PLAINTIFF: I went into a place expecting a simple, fair ballot. I got a crossword
puzzle with some configuration no one had ever told me about.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
POTTER: Now, a short while ago, the Palm Beach County canvassing board held a public meeting and announced that
they would not be certifying this latest recount. Instead, they are going to do a manual recount of 1 percent of the vote,
about 4,000 votes in three precincts, that was requested by the Democrats, they're going to do that on Saturday.
They're also going to do a machine count of all the ballots, that was requested by the Republicans. Representatives of
both parties will be present during those recounts, and the results of all of that will be announced on Monday.
Bernie, back to you.
SHAW: Thank you, Mark Potter -- Judy.
WOODRUFF: Well, joining us now to talk more about all the legal issues involved, CNN's Greta Van Susteren, she
joins us from Tallahassee; and election law expert Kenneth Gross, he's here in Washington.
Greta, to you first. This Palm Beach County ballot, I assume you have taken a look at it, Jesse Jackson and others are
saying it's deceptive. What is your take on it? GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, Judy,
ultimately the take -- the take that matters is what a judge will think, should the case get before the judge. But let me
tell you what the Florida law is, the analysis that a judge will have to make in examining the ballot.
Page 755

First, is there an irregularity under Florida election law? And what the judge would do is to actually look to the elec-
tion law in Florida and try to make a decision whether he or she thinks it's an irregularity. If it is an irregularity, the
next step is to determine whether that irregularity is material and does it establish reasonable doubt whether the election
manifests the will of the people. And what the Gore people will be able to do is they will be able to bring in both wit-
nesses and also statistical evidence in an effort to prove their point that it does not manifest, that is the election, the will
of the people.
So at this particular point, no one really knows, you know, what a judge will do. But I tell you one thing, lawyers al-
ways make sure that they go into court with all their evidence and they hope they have the judge that is sympathetic to
their point of view.
WOODRUFF: Kenneth Gross, how high a standard are we talking about here, for a judge to go along with a challenge,
for a group of voters who agree with Jesse Jackson that these ballots are deceptive? What standard?
KENNETH GROSS, ELECTION LAW EXPERT: Well, it's a high standard. There has to be a substantial irregularity
that's thwarting the will of the people, and that's going to be a difficult hurdle to overcome. On the other hand, from
what we've been seeing there is a substantial irregularity here.
We have a tremendous amount of voting for -- from -- for Buchanan in an area where it's clear that Buchanan doesn't
have that level of support, combined and corroborated by the statements of the voters saying that they were confused,
that the ballot didn't actually work properly when it went in there as far as measuring the dots and punching the holes on
it. All this combined together creates a weight of evidence and is going to confront the court with the more difficult
question as to what the remedy can be in a situation like this.
WOODRUFF: Well, and I want to ask you both about that -- Greta, what are the remedies in a situation like that, as-
suming a judge in a courtroom determines that the challenge has merit, what do you do? What can be done?
VAN SUSTEREN: You know, Judy, I think the judge would have an enormous array of possibilities of what he or she
could do, and I actually think that in this particular instance if the judge is convinced that there is substantial evidence of
an irregularity and that it does not -- the vote does not reflect the will of the people as a result, I think the judge could --
I'm not saying the judge will, but I think the judge has the authority to invalidate and order a new election in that area.
Now, the problem with all of this is that to great extents we are in uncharted waters, because this is a presidential elec-
tion and we're having -- and we have state law to look for in terms of trying to decide what to do. So all lawyers are
very sort of careful in terms of telling us what we think will happen, because frankly, no one knows for sure.
WOODRUFF: Kenneth Gross, what about a revote? Is there any precedent for that, number one? And number two,
how likely is a judge to call for something like that?
GROSS: Well, it would be an extraordinary act but within the judges's powers, and one of the difficulties with this situ-
ation, it appears to be the only satisfactory remedy. I don't know how you rehabilitate a vote like that.
If you have mismarked absentee ballots or other mistakes like that, a judge could say, well, we're going to count them
anyhow, because they reflect the will of the voter, we're going to throw them out, but it doesn't require a revoting -- here
I think that may be the only way to actually make sure that there was a proper expression of the will of the people. It
may be the only remedy available if the court is convinced that there is sufficient evidence.
I know of no case in Florida where they have done that, there are examples of cases around the country where revoting
has been the solution even in the absence of fraud -- and we're not talking about fraud here, but irregularities in the elec-
tion process, so there is some support for that result around the country.
WOODRUFF: And, Greta, presumably where -- again, where this is all if, if, if -- we're very much in the realm of spec-
ulation here -- but there could potentially be a revote in a few Florida counties. We're not talking about a statewide re-
vote, are we?
VAN SUSTEREN: I don't think so, Judy. I think what a judge will try to do is take the very cautious approach and I
think the judge would look at the individual area in which an irregularity occurred. I think that's the only place a judge
would be within his or her power to declare that a revote take place. You know, if there is a good vote in another area
of the state, it seems to me that the judge would be hard-pressed to vacate the will of the people in that area. But who
knows?
Page 756

I mean, listen, this is so unusual, the situation so bizarre, but my wild guess is that the judge, if he or she finds an irreg-
ularity and finds that it's so substantial that it does -- that it undermines the will of the electorate, I would suspect he or
she would do the very limited area. For instance, here if it's Palm Beach County, my guess would be that the revote
would only occur there.
GROSS: Yes, I would agree with that entirely. In fact, it could well be limited to just those who actually voted last
time. I think it would be as limited as it could possibly be.
WOODRUFF: All right, Kenneth Gross, Greta Van Susteren, thank you both.
How did Florida become such a tight battleground state? When INSIDE POLITICS continues, we'll meet some of the
voters.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SHAW: Since early Tuesday evening, Florida voters have found themselves the focus of U.S. politics. From the very
start of the vote count through the recount, Florida has kept the nation guessing. What made the state so hard to fore-
cast?
CNN's Pat Neal tried to find out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAT NEAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Democrat Dottie Shay of Davie voted for Al Gore. She says he
is being robbed.
DOTTIE SHAY, FLORIDA VOTER: It upsets me to even think about it. The most powerful man in the world and it's
got to be right.
NEAL: Shay may be upset, but her fellow seniors are a big reason for Gore's current predicament. In years past,
Democrats could count on 60 percent of Florida seniors. But this time Gore got just half. Slightly younger and more
conservative newcomers are gradually replacing the older, reliably Democratic seniors.
Phil Lucia voted for George W. Bush. He didn't buy Gore's position on Social Security.
PHIL LUCIA, FLORIDA VOTER: Social Security is an issue for Americans that deserve good Social Security pro-
grams. I don't know about the lock box. I don't know if that's feasible nor intelligent.
NEAL: Others liked Bush's stance on strengthening the military and his reluctance to commit U.S. forces overseas.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Foreign policy: We have to conduct foreign policy our own American way without influence
of the rest of the world.
NEAL: Beyond demographics -- geography. The post-election map shows a state that's finely balanced with a lot of
independents.
KEVIN HILL, FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY: Over 20 percent of the electorate has no party affilia-
tion. Those people will swing each way every time and it doesn't take 20 percent. I mean, this election, is going to
be decided by less than one-half of 1 percent.
NEAL: Bush won the swing districts around Tampa and racked up lots of votes from Jacksonville, across the conserva-
tive, northern part of the state into the panhandle, where Bush's dad, former President Bush, campaigned for his son.
Gore won big in southeast Florida with help from African- Americans and Jewish voters. Gore also took a victorious
ride in Orange County, home of Disney World and the Florida Christian Coalition, but it's also where the state's large,
Democratic Puerto Rican community lives.
(on camera): Florida has increasingly trended Republican, but neither party can reliably count on it. That's because the
political landscape constantly changes with the continuous flow of newcomers to the state.
Pat Neal, CNN, Miami.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WOODRUFF: Still much more head on this edition of INSIDE POLITICS. Still to come: Waiting for the outcome.
Will the undecided presidential race have an impact on the nation?
Page 757

Plus:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BROOKS JACKSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's Al Gore's biggest talking point.
JACKSON: But it's not true, not yet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WOODRUFF: Brooks Jackson on why the popular vote is also too close to call.
Plus:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Two days after the election, and the extra sleep has been
postponed because America does not yet have a president-elect.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WOODRUFF: Gary Tuchman on the campaign staffs with their immediate futures on hold.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SHAW: Joining us in our Washington studio to talk about this election situation, an election still undecided, Robert
Strauss, former Democratic National Committee chairman and chairman of President Carter's campaigns in '76 and '80.
He enjoys the respect of Democrats and Republicans. He was ambassador to Moscow under former President George
Bush.
Bob Strauss, is this situation putting the nation on the verge of national trauma? ROBERT STRAUSS, FORMER DNC
CHAIRMAN: No, I don't think it is. In fact, what worries me is that some people are acting that way on both sides.
They get, understandably, terribly overwrought. But this country, this republic, is very strong, and we will work our
way through this. We're a nation of laws and this process will work. It's going to be difficult. The biggest problem
we have, I think, Bernie, is that we're spoiled in this country. We expect instantaneous results and results that are to-
tally clean and clear and understandable -- well, that's going to be a luxury, obviously, we're not going to get right now.
There's not going to be an instantaneous result here and people have got to keep that in perspective that we have strong
institutions -- and the world sees that -- and behave that way.
SHAW: What is it you dislike about what Gore's doing and about what Bush is doing?
STRAUSS: To tell you the truth, I'm embarrassed to tell you, I haven't even looked at the television today and I've been
busy, I just came in here to do this show.
I don't dislike anything that either of them are doing. I think this country, since you mentioned it, I think we're very
lucky with this terribly difficult, messy situation on our hands, that we have people like Jim Baker and Warren Christo-
pher, two distinguished former secretaries of state, two distinguished American citizens who won with Bush and the
other one with Gore involved. And we have Bill Daley and Don Evans, one with Bush and one with Gore, represent-
ing their parties.
So, with four people like that involved, it'll be controversial, but they'll be sensible and responsible and the people will
react to that if we give them a chance.
SHAW: But what will the situation do to the next president taking office?
STRAUSS: It's going to make it very difficult. The next president will have a terribly, terribly difficult time and he's
going to need -- I don't know who it will be -- I'm sorry, I'm sort of in a strange situation, as you mentioned, I served in
Jimmy Carter's administration, I was campaign chairman, I was democratic chairman, I've also served in the Bush ad-
ministration, I'm a very close friend of the Bush family -- so I think I'm reasonably objective about this. And I know that
either one of these fellows that get there are going to have a terribly, terribly difficult time and I suspect the country will
rally around them when they have to. But it's not an easy time.
SHAW: Fitting for the vice president to carry this challenge all the way to the end?
Page 758

STRAUSS: Well, that's the vice president's decision, and I don't even know the facts. What either one of these people
do depends on the facts. I hear all kinds of stories and I don't think most of them you need to pay much attention to.
But I know one thing, as I said earlier, that this is a strong -- we have strong institutions in this country and the public
has a right to rely on them and will rely on them if we give them a chance.
SHAW: Are those electors who meet next week -- or next month -- in Washington to be trusted?
STRAUSS: Well, we have a long history -- with one or two or three exceptions, to the best of my recollection in all
these years of an elector who was not faithful to the people who elected him and her. And I suspect that will be true
again this time.
But I really think that we're in for confusing days and I think we need to be sober and cautious and responsible as citi-
zens. I think we owe it to each other and we owe it to both sides of this thing. I can't understand why the terribly
partisan people on each side -- well-motivated, well-meaning, intelligent people -- are terribly upset and distraught and
emotional. This is a time to settle down and let these processes work in the way they should work.
SHAW: Bob Strauss, always a pleasure to hear you and your wisdom.
STRAUSS: Thank you, it's nice to be here.
SHAW: Thank you, good to have you on, believe me.
And up next, going into overtime -- the campaign staffs still waiting for the answer to question numero uno.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WOODRUFF: It is two whole days after the election and the staff members of both campaigns, had expected to be
packing up and moving on by now. But with the presidential race still in doubt, staffers on both sides are still at work
and still in limbo.
Gary Tuchman reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TUCHMAN (voice-over): They've been working for Al Gore for months and, in many cases, years. And with all the
hard work of a presidential campaign, they all had a good reason to look forward to the days after the election.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I probably would have been asleep, when it comes down to it, because I haven't slept since
July.
TUCHMAN (on camera): What were you going to be doing today?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sleeping. My No. 1 goal was just to rest.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was hoping to be asleep for a couple days, so -- it's exciting, though, to be here, so sleep can
wait.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And the ballot law in Florida states that the hole has to be to the right of the name?
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Two days after the election, and the extra sleep has been postponed because America does
not yet have a president-elect.
It's a similar scene at Bush headquarters in Austin, where sleep- deprived staffers and volunteers field phone calls from
supporters.
Back in Nashville, the Gore staff tries to sound optimistic.
TUCHMAN (on camera): Right now, you're not nervous at all?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's hard to be nervous because we know that he won the popular vote and he's going to
win the popular vote in Florida and we're just going to keep going at it.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): A hotel suite right below the vice president's suite has been made into a makeshift campaign
office -- an unmade bed and an extra bed propped up against a wall make the room look more like a college dorm than
the center of Al Gore's braintrust.
Twenty-two-year-old Brian Rich (ph) is the so-called "technological guru" of the campaign.
Page 759

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I carry, you know, two cell phones, three pagers, two laptops, printers and all of those things;
and my job is to, basically, manage, process and pull down all of the information for the vice president, for the cam-
paign staff.
TUCHMAN: Which means Brian Rich is now busier than ever.
(on camera): Are you nervous?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Optimistically nervous. I mean, you know, I would have preferred to win the other day, but
I think things are going well and I think they're where we want them.
TUCHMAN: So plans have been changed, vacations canceled. The campaign may be over, but the jobs of the cam-
paign workers are not.
Gary Tuchman, CNN, Nashville.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SHAW: And when INSIDE POLITICS returns, Al Gore says he won the popular vote. But is that a sure bet?
Brooks Jackson looks at why it might not be.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WOODRUFF: An update now on that recount canvassing, whichever you want to call it, going on in Florida. At this
hour there are -- there is a vote difference of 362 separating Al Gore, the vice president, from Texas Governor George
W. Bush. Governor Bush in the lead by 362 votes. And that is with 64 of 67 Florida counties having been counted.
We're waiting any moment now for a news conference that will be held by the Florida Board of Elections to bring us an
update on all of this.
At this hour, there is at least at least one trump card in Al Gore's hand, his slim lead over George W. Bush in the nation-
al popular vote. But there's guarantee that that will be the case when the dust finally settles in this extraordinary elec-
tion.
CNN's Brooks Jackson explains why.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JACKSON (voice-over): It's Al Gore's biggest talking point.
JACKSON: He claims he's won the popular vote and supporters echo that.
JOE ANDREW, DNC NATIONAL CHAIRMAN: Democrats won the popular vote in the race for the White House.
JACKSON: Saying it gives Gore moral authority to press a legal challenge in Florida.
WILLIAM DALEY, GORE CAMPAIGN CHAIRMAN: And more voted for Al Gore than Governor Bush.
JACKSON: But it's not true -- not yet. There are still millions more votes to be tallied before it's clear who won the
popular vote.
CURTIS GANS, ELECTIONS ANALYST: 1.1 million outstanding ballots in California, absentees that haven't been
counted. 900,000 that haven't been counted in Washington. 400,000 that have been impounded in New York -- you
can only begin a count today. And about 300,000 votes in Oregon under that all-mail system that they're having trou-
ble getting a final count on. And then there are scatterings of votes in other places, including Alaska, whose votes are
highly incomplete. There are more than enough votes to close a 200,000-vote gap.
JACKSON: Gore does lead in the unofficial tally of the popular vote, but by a narrow and changing margin. On elec-
tion night, he was running behind by half a million votes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WOODRUFF: This is the raw vote total at this hour with...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Page 760

JACKSON: The next day he led by a quarter-million. Thursday afternoon his lead over Bush had shrunk to less than
200,000 votes out of more than 100 million counted for all candidates. But those are just unofficial totals gathered by
the news media, subject to change due to recounts or late tallied absentees.
In 1996, the unofficial totals being reported the morning after Election Day showed a total of nearly 93 million votes
cast for president. But weeks later the final, official vote tally showed well over 96 million votes were actually cast.
That's nearly 3.5 million additional votes.
President Clinton's winning margin changed significantly when all the votes were counted. Morning-after totals had
him beating Bob Dole by just over seven million -- 7,760,000 votes. His official winning margin turned out to be
more than 8 million, a change of more than 440,000 votes. But this time, a change could go either way.
GANS: Absentee voters are, in general, tend to be more upscale and therefore likely to be more Republican. On the
other hand, the bulk of the absentee is in the West Coast and particularly in California and that tends to be a little more
liberal. So we don't know.
JACKSON (on camera): And we won't know -- not for a while. This one is still too close to call.
Brooks Jackson, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SHAW: Much more still ahead on this expanded edition of INSIDE POLITICS. The latest on the dramatic events in
the Sunshine State and we're going to talk with David Broder of "The Washington Post" and Tom Fiedler of "The Mi-
ami Herald."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SHAW: ... a look at the recount, the questions, and the potential impact of this unprecedented election.
WOODRUFF: A day of escalating rhetoric and dramatic developments in the presidential election: with the presidency
hinging, apparently, on the Florida vote, a still-to-be-completed recount, or canvas, right now shows George W. Bush
leading by fewer than 400 votes out of 6 million cast. The final result will have to wait at least a week until all the
overseas absentee ballots are counted. With the tallies still not complete, the Gore campaign already is calling for
counts by hand in four Florida counties. Also under question: the vote in Palm Beach County, where Al Gore's cam-
paign chairman says a confusing ballot could cost the vice president thousand of votes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DALEY: Because this disenfranchisement of these Floridians is so much larger than the reported gap between Governor
Bush and Vice President Gore, we believe this requires the full attention of the courts in Florida and concerned citizens
all around our country. More a than 100 million Americans voted on Tuesday and more voted for Al Gore than Gov-
ernor Bush. Here in Florida, it also seems very likely more voters went to the polls believing that they were voting for
Al Gore than for George Bush. If the will the people is to prevail, Gore should be awarded a victory in Florida and be
our next president.
EVANS: The Democrats, who are politicizing and distorting these events, risk doing so at the expense at our democra-
cy. One of the options that they seem to be looking at is new elections. Our democratic process calls for a vote on
Election Day. It does not call for us to continue voting until someone likes the outcome. Throughout this process, it
is important that no party to this election act in a precipitous manner or distort an existing voting pattern in an effort to
misinform the public.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WOODRUFF: Florida may not be the only state in question. Bush strategist Karl Rove suggested this day that re-
counts might be needed in three other states, states that Gore won narrowly.
Let's bring in our reporters who have been covering the candidates. John King is in Nashville. Candy Crowley is in
Austin.
John King, we heard Don Evans say that Al Gore is just really, and his people are really just waiting to see -- waiting
for the results that they want to see. How do the Gore people react to that?
Page 761

KING: Well, the Gore people react, Judy, by saying this election is so close that either side, if the outcome were like
this, would be asking for a recount. And indeed, on election night, when we were going through all the confusion back
and forth about the state of Florida, even Bush campaign officials were saying that night that if the vice president won,
they fully expected that there would be questions about the balloting.
So, what the Gore people are saying that this is standard operating procedure. Obviously the stakes higher than anyone
can remember, a presidency at stake here, but that either side, a margin of three, 400 votes out of six million cast, that
the losing side would always be asking for a recount and, indeed, most state laws would require a recount. What they
want now is a very detailed hand recount in the four counties where they believe the vice president performed the
strongest. They believe that will reverse the Bush lead and, of course, they are also thinking about court action, or
supporting court action in Palm Beach.
This a process the Gore campaign says could go on for several more weeks, and what they say is going on here is that
the Bush campaign is worried that if the process goes on, the results might end up in a Gore victory, so that they are
trying to create this public impression that this is sore losers, lawyers, too many lawyers, and they're trying to get the
public to demand an end to this. They say it could go on for quite some time.
WOODRUFF: All right, John, we're just about a minute away, I'm told, from the Florida secretary of state holding a
news conference, presumably to tell us the result of this county-by-county recount.
But while we're waiting for that to get started, Candy, how do the Bush people respond to the statement by Bill Daley,
the Gore campaign chairman, that we just want, the American people just want the person in the presidency who most
people wanted, the preferred person? CROWLEY: Well, as it relates to Florida, that's what the Bush campaign would
say, that is what they want, an honest recount of what the votes were in Florida. But they also believe that the Gore
campaign is fomenting this kind of -- you know, there's fraud here, there's fraud there. The ballot was confusing.
They came armed at a news conference with their own copy of the controversial ballot in Palm Beach County, saying,
look, the arrows point from the name of the candidate to the hole you're supposed to punch. They point out that Dem-
ocrats signed off on this ballot, that it was in the newspaper, that it was sent to voters, that it was not confusing.
And they believe, watching the protest outside various Florida facilities, one of them led by the Reverend Jesse Jackson,
a strong Democrat, a Gore supporter, that the Gore campaign is just fomenting this sort of turbulence to make things
seem more uncertain than they actually are. They believe they are handing out sort of half facts about what went on in
Palm Beach, that kind of thing. So, you know, what you have is this...
WOODRUFF: Candy, I am going to have to interrupt you because I am told that the secretary of state in Tallahassee is
about to begin this press conference. And let's listen.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
KATHERINE HARRIS, FLORIDA SECRETARY OF STATE: Good afternoon.
As secretary of state, I am chief elections officer, and I would like to introduce to you the Election Canvassing Com-
mission that will be certifying the state recount results: Commissioner Bob Crawford, commissioner of agriculture, and
Clay Roberts, the division director for state of Florida Division of Elections.
We will all remember these times as some of the most critical and defining moments in our nation's history, a time when
we as Americans are working to ensure the meaning and vitality of our democratic system.
To that end, here in Florida our local supervisors of elections, our Division of Elections staff, and countless volunteers
have dedicated themselves to the accurate reporting of election results.
All of us take this responsibility seriously, given the national implications of this election and our statutory responsibil-
ity to ensure the integrity and accuracy of our elections process.
This recount is mandated by Florida law whenever a final ballot puts the margin of victory at less than 0.5 percent.
The Department of State requested all of our locally elected supervisors of elections to forward their recount results by 5
p.m. today.
As of 5, the Divisions of Elections reported receiving recount results from 53 counties in Florida. We are still awaiting
the results from the supervisors of elections in 14 Florida counties, which by law have until Tuesday, November 14, to
submit those returns to the Office of the Secretary of State. Official certification by the Elections Canvassing Commis-
sion, consisting of our commissioner of agriculture, the division director of elections and the secretary of state, will not
Page 762

commence until the original signed forms from all 67 counties, attesting to their certified results, have been received by
our office.
As of 5 p.m. today, the unofficial certified results of the recount are as follows: Governor George W. Bush, 2,909,661;
Vice President Al Gore, 2,907,877; a difference of 1,784.
HARRIS: The following is very important: Under statutory law, legally cast Florida ballots received from overseas
must be counted by the supervisors of elections for 10 days following the general election. That deadline is November
17, 2000.
Hear this: We will continue to perform our responsibilities and this process with all due speed, but with a determination
to assure the full accuracy and independence of this process.
Thank you.
QUESTION: Secretary Harris, is your office prepared to vigorously defend what is certain to be a legal challenge about
the way that ballot was constructed in Palm Beach County?
HARRIS: Can we address that?
CLAY ROBERTS, DIVISION DIRECTOR, FLORIDA DIVISION OF ELECTIONS: Yes, we expect legal challenges.
Our policy is we are not going to comment on litigation. The secretary will exercise her duty as chief elections officer,
and where she is required to legally defend a lawsuit she will do so.
QUESTION: A quick follow-up. On September 7, Clay, you sent a memo to all 67 election supervisors dictating the
order of candidates. That was dictated by Florida statute. Did Palm Beach County follow the order as specified in your
memorandum?
ROBERTS: As far as I know, they did.
I have not reviewed their ballot, though. I have seen on the television their presidential ballot. I haven't seen any of
their other candidate ballots. And that's pending litigation so I am not going to answer you further.
QUESTION: Secretary of State, if you want to certify this, have you gotten word from the Gore campaign that they
intend to file suit in order to keep you from finalizing and certifying the recount?
HARRIS: I have not received any contact from the Gore campaign in that regard.
QUESTION: The wire services -- it's being widely reported, many more counties in and much closer number. Can
you put -- can you explain to the viewers why the discrepancy? Why is it we're hearing 61 counties are actually in and
we're hearing those numbers and a number that's much closer.
HARRIS: Actually, we've been glued to our TVs as well following your results. I hope they're going to be a lot more
accurate than the other night, but -- on the polling.
(LAUGHTER)
Sorry.
But at any rate, the differences for the viewers is specifically that we are reporting all the unofficial certified results.
And they are behind the -- when many of the news stations are contacting the supervisors or some of their staff directly
and posting those results.
We are not putting any results out until they are unofficially certified. By that, it means that we've received word from
them the certified results. But until we have the physical certification in our hands, they are not officially certified.
And we're only reporting those that are unofficially certified at the Department of State presently.
QUESTION: What do you think the policy -- the manual recount in four counties by the Democrats, how long do you
think that may delay these final tallies?
HARRIS: I'm delighted to talk about process, and I don't want to speculate, but actually the request for the local counts
is a decision that is made by the local canvassing boards consisting of the supervisors of election -- the supervisor of
election in that county, the county commission chairman, and a local judge.
QUESTION: If they were to deny that request, does the decision then go to you?
Page 763

ROBERTS: As far as requesting the manual recount, that is a decision solely within the control of the local canvassing
board and there's no appeal to the Secretary of State's Office.
QUESTION: Does the request have any effect on whether or not ballots -- whether or not this count is certified? I
mean, does it stop that process at all (OFF-MIKE)
ROBERTS: Under the statutes, the local canvassing board has to certify to the State Division of Elections and the Of-
fice of the Secretary of State, no later than seven days after the election. Whatever procedure that the canvassing board
is going through, whether it's a hand recount, whether it's a machine recount, whatever other processes they want to go
through, they must certify within seven days so we can begin our work.
STAFF: At this point, we're going to turn it over to Secretary Crawford, to make his comments.
QUESTION: Secretary Crawford, do you, sir, as an open supporter of George W. Bush feel that you should be in the
position you're in in terms of canvassing and affirming the results? BOB CRAWFORD, FLORIDA'S SECRETARY OF
AGRICULTURE: Well, I would say that anybody that's going to serve on this commission had to vote for somebody.
And I'm a Democrat. I happened vote for George W. Bush. When you serve on a commission like this, it's not about
politics, it's about process and the integrity of the electoral system. And that's certainly the most important thing be-
fore us, and that's what we're going to stick to.
And let me just say, too, that Secretary Harris and Clay have done a fantastic job under very difficult circumstances.
And I know a lot of people in this country are watching Florida right now, and I want people to know that while there's
a lot of frustration surrounding this election, nobody ever said that democracy is simple or efficient. But this is de-
mocracy in action. If you want simplicity, just go about 70 miles south of Florida and you've got Cuba, and they're
very simple. They have no elections.
So it's frustrating, it's confusing, it's perplexing, and it's all worth it because it's our democracy. And we're going to get
through it and it's going to all work out.
(CROSSTALK)
STAFF: We have a statement available on this side of the room at this point. Thank you all for coming.
WOODRUFF: I think those must be voters or something. They don't sound like reporters.
SHAW: Well, the positive statement there made at the end by Bob Crawford, Florida's agriculture commissioner indi-
cating that we're going to get through this. This is we're going to get through this and he said if you want simplicity,
go 90 miles south to Cuba, where they have a lot of simplicity.
Very briefly, two important things. Along with latest vote count, which showed Governor Bush in Florida's raw vote
total having 2,909,661 to Vice President Gore's 2,907,877 was the point about those absentee ballots. Perhaps you
heard Katherine Harris say at one point that legally cast Florida ballots, absentee ballots, must be counted for 10 days --
for 10 days following the election and that deadline is November 17th. Another point she made: 53 of Florida's 67
counties have reported. They are awaiting results from 14 and they have until Tuesday, November 14th.
Joining us now, Tom Fiedler of "The Miami Herald." Tom, what was going through your mind as these points of date
and numbers were ticked off?
TOM FIEDLER, "THE MIAMI HERALD": Well, my main reaction to all of that was why did we bother getting to-
gether here? She basically repeated the same numbers that we knew or very close to knew on the close of election
night there. So apparently as she said there, the more recent tally that we're getting where we have 64 of 67 counties
and the gap with slightly more than 350 between the two of them That's based really on the news media's -- the consor-
tium that the news media has that goes directly to the county supervisor. So, I think the session that we just saw ad-
vance the ball not one yard down the field.
SHAW: What about the legal changes or challenges? What are you hearing about them right now?
FIEDLER: Well, you know, there was one interesting point. One of the questions that came up in that conference was
directed to the state Elections Department Director where he was asked if he had seen the Palm Beach County ballot
and whether it complied with a memo that he had written.
What that memo said was that the order of presidential candidates must follow the order of the results in the last gover-
nor's race, which means the first line of the ballot had to be Republicans, the second line the Democrats and the follow-
Page 764

ing lines below that would be the minority parties. In fact, in the disputed ballot in Palm Beach County, the first line
on the ballot and the first punch hole on the ballot is the Republicans. But the second punch hole on the ballot was Pat
Buchanan's. The third punch hole was then Al Gore's.
So the basis of or one of the basis of the legal challenges that are being or are about to be brought to that Palm Beach
County ballot is that it in fact was in violation of Florida law and in violation of the state Supervisor of Elections mem-
orandum, and if that legal -- if in fact the ballot itself was illegal, than any actions -- any invalid action by the voter in
effect doesn't matter because the ballot itself was polluted.
So that was a fundamentally important question and I have a sense that the state Supervisor of Elections realized he was
about to step into a bear trap and kind of pulled back by saying he really hadn't looked at this issue. But I think it's
going to be fundamental issue.
SHAW: That was really very, very noticeable. You could see him, practically hear him thinking, do I really want to
answer that question? I'd better back off.
FIEDLER: That's right.
SHAW: What do we know who might be the sitting judge?
FIEDLER: Actually, we don't know. This should be a blind rotation system where the case will simply come up on
what they call the wheel. And then we'll see whether the judge will entertain this. Florida election law has been fairly
open about entertaining cases where there's suggested fraud primarily, and the state law does give the trial judge here,
the circuit court judge, enormous power to remedy the situation.
Of course there will be appeals from this, but the judge could -- has the authority to order a recount, can order a new
election or the trial judge could in effect say all the ballots here are illegal and therefore we'll throw them all out and
that would mean basically Palm Beach County's votes wouldn't count at all and that would be draconian. But there is
that kind of power invested in the judge. SHAW: You know, politically I was struck by the fact that the Florida Agri-
culture Commissioner Bob Crawford, a Democrat said he voted for Texas Governor George Bush but he was reassuring
in declaring that process is what matters here and he said, quote, "We're going to get through this."
What were you thinking when he said that?
FIEDLER: Well, I was thinking he was in many ways, again, trying to step very carefully there. As a Democrat who
is publicly supporting the Republican, he's already out there on a tightrope. So, probably the safest line that he could
walk was to say exactly what he said. I don't mean to minimize it, I think his words were well chosen, well spoken,
but the safest position for him to take was, I am not voting either my party registration or what happens to be my pref-
erence, I am just going to make sure that I preserve the process here and go by the Constitution. It was -- I think,
again, he was just minding his words quite carefully there.
SHAW: And the governor of the state where you are, what are you hearing about Jeb Bush's mood and predicament?
FIEDLER: Yes, his -- it's an extraordinary difficult predicament. Of course, his heart is involved in this, but he also
has to be very mindful of his executive authority. I think, in my personal view, he's handled this as well as you could
expect him to. He has taken himself off of the state canvassing board, saying he would not play a part in that, and I think
he has to.
At this point, there is clearly -- the integrity of the balloting process is so fundamental, it rises above any individual
race, any individual person. So the governor's action here -- not only, I think, is he following his heart, but I think he
also is following his duty here in trying to assure people that he will not in any way put his finger on the scale.
SHAW: Tom Fiedler, "Miami Herald," good to see you again. Thank you.
FIEDLER: Sure. Thanks, Bernie.
SHAW: You're quite welcome.
And still to come here on INSIDE POLITICS, coming up, Judy talks with the chairman of the Republican and Demo-
cratic National Committees, and more.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
Page 765

WOODRUFF: The fight over Florida's electoral votes involves legal issues and moral issues to some extent, but no one
is pretending it is not political.
Joining us now, RNC Chairman Jim Nicholson and DNC National Chairman Joe Andrew.
Gentlemen, thank you both for being with us.
Joe Andrew, we just heard Florida's secretary of state say now that it's going to be next week before -- apparently before
we have the official count from all of Florida's 67 counties. Where does this stand from the standpoint of the Demo-
cratic National Committee?
ANDREW: Well, Judy, Democrats want what all Americans want, which is a fair and accurate count of every ballot in
every election, but particularly for president of the United States of America. We need to make sure that that count is
credible, that it's clear, that the process is transparent as well, and maybe even more importantly, people have confi-
dence in the result of it. And I think that's why we need to do, as President Carter, who's reviewed dozens of elections
all across the country, said, is to be patient here, be patient with democracy, let this process go forward and make sure
that it's a result that people have confidence in.
WOODRUFF: Jim Nicholson, as the head of the Republican National Committee, do you -- does your party have diffi-
culty with the idea of making sure that the votes were counted correctly, that the final count is one that everyone can
have confidence in?
JIM NICHOLSON, RNC CHAIRMAN: We have no difficulty with that at all. That's the goal. This more than being
political, or moral, or legal, Judy, is constitutional. What's involved in -- here is our way of government, the way we
conduct elections, we have to do this very carefully and I think people are doing the country and potentially our freedom
a disservice when they act irrational about this, when they go down there and hold demonstrations, when they try to
incite people to riot.
WOODRUFF: Who are you saying exactly is irrational?
NICHOLSON: Well, Jesse Jackson is down there right now, you know, ginning up people. That's not what we need.
We need leadership, we need people who respect the Constitution so strongly that they will lead, and that they will ad-
vise constraint on the part of all people involved so that we do get this done and we get it done right consistent with the
Constitution, and I think when that's done, Governor Bush is going to have a majority of the votes in Florida, which will
give him Florida's electoral votes and he'll be elected president of the United States.
WOODRUFF: But you would acknowledge we don't know that for certain until all the votes are counted?
NICHOLSON: That's correct. And there is still...
WOODRUFF: Including the absentee.
NICHOLSON: ... absentee votes that need to be counted.
WOODRUFF: Joe Andrew, what about Jim Nicholson's statement that you have people, including Jesse Jackson, who
seem to be trying to stir things up down in south Florida? ANDREW: I don't think Reverend Jackson is trying to stir
things up. I think he's helping to express the will of a lot of people down there who are concerned and don't have con-
fidence in the result or in the process right now. Again, the most important thing here is to make sure that people have
confidence in the process and that we need to make sure that all Americans recognize that it may take some patience
and may take some time.
WOODRUFF: Let me ask you this, what is it going to take -- well, let me -- I'm sorry. Let me turn it around and ask it
this way.
Today, we heard Karl Rove, who's the chief strategist for Governor Bush, say that, OK, if we're taking a look at Florida,
then let's think about Wisconsin, let's think about Iowa, New Mexico, some other states...
NICHOLSON: Oregon.
WOODRUFF: Oregon, states where the vote was very close, ended up in Gore's favor. Would you support a look at
some of the -- at the balloting in some of these other states if things go forward in Florida so that maybe there is a re-
vote, maybe it goes into court? We don't know yet.
Page 766

NICHOLSON: I don't know. I can't answer that, Judy, but it's -- you know, our elections across our country are huge
and they're scope and scale, and there are always some irregularities, and it's an imperfect process, and what I think Karl
was saying is, if we're going to zero in one county, then we're going to have to zero in on a lot of counties around this
country.
I mean, in Milwaukee, for example, we know that a leader from the Democrat Party was in there taking homeless peo-
ple from a shelter down, giving them an absentee ballot and voting them, and giving them a pack of cigarettes as their
reward. Should we be contesting that? We know in St. Louis they kept the ballot place open in contravention of a fed-
eral judge's order so people could vote. Should we be contesting that? And we could go on and on.
I think what we need here is real sound, mature judgment, people who revere our freedom and our Constitution -- I
fought for that myself in combat. This is not something we ought to take lightly and we shouldn't be acting irrational-
ly, with placards and -- this is not a campaign, this is more important.
WOODRUFF: Joe Andrew, what about this point, that if you're going to go down and open everything up all over again
in one state, or in one county, or four counties, why not do it in other places where there were close races?
ANDREW: Well, we should. There is no question that we should look at everything. For example, in response, par-
ticularly, to what Jim just said; in the situation in Milwaukee, while it wasn't a democratic leader, it was just a volunteer
-- actually, the Republican Party is contesting it there. In each one of these circumstances he issues an example, it is
being contested, it is being looked at right now. There are state, obviously, investigations going on all across this
country as there always are after elections.
WOODRUFF: What is it going to take, gentlemen, for each of you, for the political organizations that you represent to
be satisfied with the results? I mean, some people would look at what's been going on and the rhetoric that we've been
hearing in the last day or so -- wait a minute, this is like two trains headed for a collision; we just had an election.
I mean, what is it going to take for there to be an acceptance of the results?
NICHOLSON: I think it's for the people who have that responsibility, particularly in Florida, to make their decision and
then certify their decision. And people, I think, will accept that.
WOODRUFF: Whatever it is in Florida, because we know that, whichever way those 25 electoral votes from Florida
go, it will either be Governor Bush or Vice President Gore who will be the next president?
NICHOLSON: Well, you make a good point; and as Joe mentions, you know, these other areas, in Wisconsin, in Iowa,
in Oregon, in New Mexico. Those are very close elections, none of which we won. So, you know, if there's litigation
over this, if there's a protracted dispute over this, those are areas that we will have to look at because, you know, the
counts there are so close that maybe they are wrong.
WOODRUFF: Joe Andrew, just quickly, what will it take to...
ANDREW: We have to have a clear, transparent process. We've got to make sure we understand what the will of the
voters was and will of individual voters, as well. That's what Americans want and that's what will breed confidence.
I think in the end, that's exactly what we'll get.
WOODRUFF: All right; Joe Andrew, Jim Nicholson, chairman of their respective parties, the Democrats and the Re-
publicans. Thank you both very much.
And I want to tell our viewers that we are waiting for a second news conference this day by Bill Daley, who's the
chairman of the Gore campaign, and Warren Christopher, former secretary of state, who has been appointed by Al Gore
to serve as his legal emissary to Florida while this recount and some of these questions are outstanding.
We'll be back in just a minute with more of this special edition.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SHAW: For our viewers in search of the "MONEYLINE NEWS HOUR," normally beginning at 6:30 Eastern, CNN
INSIDE POLITICS has an extended program because we're expecting a news conference by the national campaign
chairman for Vice President Al Gore William Daley and the vice president's legal representative Warren Christopher.
We're standing by for that, and as soon as we wrap up then, of course, the "MONEYLINE NEWS HOUR" will come
on.
Page 767

We're going to take you back to Florida now and check in with two of our correspondents for an update on what is hap-
pening.
First to you, Patty Davis, in Tallahassee; what's the latest?
PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you're hoping for some resolution here in Tallahassee, but that is
not to be the case. Florida secretary of state Katherine Harris just holding her press conference saying, in fact, that only
53 out of Florida's 67 counties have reported their recount numbers, 14 are still missing.
They now have until Tuesday, November 14, to come in with their numbers. What the state official numbers now
show is that Bush is still up 1,784 votes in the recount at this point. There's a difference, now, with what The Associ-
ated Press and the voter news service is reporting -- those are unofficial numbers as well. But those reports are in the
counties, actually where the recounts are taking place. They are showing that 64 of 67 counties are reporting their
numbers; 362 is the number that George W. Bush is up according to AP and VNS.
Now, we may not know the final numbers here until Tuesday; as I said, that's when all the counties are required to re-
port their numbers, and then there is the sticky problems of those absentee overseas ballot. They do not have to be
received until the following Tuesday -- actually, on the 17th, which is Thursday, 10 days after the election, Bernie.
SHAW: That's the absentee ballots?
DAVIS: That's right, those are the absentee ballots from overseas. They have to have them postmarked by the Elec-
tion Day, but they have to be received by the 17th, which would be 10 days after the actual election.
SHAW: OK Patty, would you please stand by.
Let's go down the East Coast of Florida and check in with John Zarrella in West Palm Beach.
John, what's the very latest where you are?
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the very latest is that the protesters are still here and they're still
saying, "don't throw my vote away." They've been here since about 7:00 or 8:00 this morning.
A couple of other developments here in Palm Beach County is that the supervisor of elections office, just a little while
ago said that they would go ahead and recount the votes again for a third time. The Republican Party has asked for a
machine recount. That will be conducted beginning at 9:00 a.m. Saturday morning. The Democratic Party asked for
a manual recount, that will also be conducted beginning at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday morning, but will only be of 1 percent
of the vote, and that's about 4,000 votes that they will recount from three precincts here, randomly selected precincts in
Palm Beach County.
And what we also understand is that a federal lawsuit that was about to be filed here has been withdrawn and that there
will no longer be any federal challenge, at least not by one individual here in Palm Beach County who was planning to
file a federal lawsuit, saying that the election -- they were mislead, they were duped, and that the election should be
thrown out and a new election in Palm Beach County should be handled.
But right now you can see all of these protesters behind me, Bernie. They have been here, again, all day. The Rev-
erend Jesse Jackson was here about 1:00 this afternoon. He said that the vote here could not stand, there had to be
some sort of a revote, which is what the people here are asking and demanding. When all of this will shake out in
Palm Beach County; very, very difficult to say; 19,000 votes were thrown out here because people voted for two presi-
dential candidates. Another 3,400 votes are in question because they went to Pat Buchanan, and that's five times more
votes Pat Buchanan got here than he got in Broward County, which has twice the number of voters. So that's appears to
be suspicious.
And that all hinges on the ballot here in Palm Beach County that is suspect in the way it was put together, and which
has been the subject of contention all day by -- and questioning, even a little while ago in that press conference held in
Tallahassee with the elections commission officials as to whether the ballot is wrong, whether it's a bad ballot, whether
it, indeed, should not have been used.
So, many developments still to untold, regardless of the what this final count is in the recount of the 67 counties -- Ber-
nie.
SHAW: John Zarrella with the latest from West Palm Beach, we thank you as we thank Patty Davis in Tallahassee.
Page 768

INSIDE POLITICS will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CRAWFORD: While there's lot of frustration surrounding this election, nobody ever said that democracy was simple or
efficient. But this is democracy in action. If you want simplicity just go about 70 miles south of Florida and you got
Cuba and they're very simple. They have no elections. So, it's frustrating. It's confusing. It's perplexing and it's all
worth it because it's our democracy and we're going to get through it and it's going to all work out.
(END VIDEO CLIP) WOODRUFF: Those were the comments just a short time ago. Bob Crawford, who is the Flori-
da state agriculture commissioner, he was there with the Florida secretary of state talking about the recount, the can-
vassing of votes going on at this hour still in the state of Florida. We are waiting for a news conference by the cam-
paign chairman for Al Gore, Bill Daley and also by Vice President Gore's legal -- the head of his legal team, Warren
Christopher, down in Florida. And we're going to go to that just as soon as it gets underway.
But in the meantime we're going to bring back with us Ken Gross, the election law expert. And Ken, you are here in
Washington. Jeff Greenfield joins us from New York.
I want to ask Ken Gross, first, you listen to the secretary of state and her colleagues, are we any further along in under-
standing where we stand with this recount, Ken Gross?
GROSS: It didn't do anything for me. It sounded like we were back where we were a couple days ago. In fact, the
information we've been getting from CNN is coming directly from the field, as they say out in Florida, and that seems to
be more accurate or at least more developed information than we got from the secretary of state. So I didn't see that
moving the ball at all.
WOODRUFF: What about the question that went to the -- I'm sorry, I didn't write down his name. He was the gen-
tleman who I guess runs the state election board.
GROSS: Right.
WOODRUFF: He was asked about the order of names on the ballot, and he did not answer the question. Now why
would that be significant?
GROSS: Well, it was an interesting question and I think even a more interesting reaction because he kind of pulled
back. The reason it's important is if the ballot in its design is not in compliance with state law, that's just another basis
for a challenge and throwing out the Palm Beach votes that were based on this butterfly ballot.
And I guess the question really comes down to if you read the column, you know, one from column a and one from
column b, it looks like they're not in order of the presidential primary -- the major party candidates first. It looks like
it's major party, minor party, major party. Of course, if you read the first column all the way down and then you go
over to the second column then they are in order. So that's just another problem with this butterfly ballot.
WOODRUFF: Jeff Greenfield, it is increasingly looking as if there may well be a legal assault here on the election at
least in Palm Beach County, perhaps in other counties. What does all this do to the process of picking a president?
What are we really dealing with here?
GREENFIELD: Here's what I'm beginning to sense, and I hope I'm wrong. I'm getting the sense that I'm looking at a
stately, magnificent automobile, a classic automobile parked on a grade, slowly beginning to roll down the hill. And at
the bottom of this hill, actually, there's a cliff. There's plenty of time to stop the car. Everybody loves the car. Eve-
rybody wants to preserve but the car faster this car gains momentum, the harder it will be to stop what could be a very
ugly crash.
And part of the reason, I suggest, is we are once again, just as with impeachment, employing a 200-year-old mechanism
that we never thought we were ever going to get around to employing again.
I mean, just one other point. To look at these 362 votes, if that's the unofficial estimate, I tried to do the arithmetic like
Tuesday night, Judy. It represents something on the order of 3/10,000 of 1 percent of the national popular vote and
that is the number that may or may not determine the next president because of our electoral system.
Page 769

And whatever you want to argue, and the partisans are getting more and more loud, you know, more vociferous, more
contentious, that's a very troublesome thing to be at a time when we should be talking about the transition and the new
president.
WOODRUFF: Well, Jeff Greenfield is saying we may be heading for a crisis, but Ken Gross, I mean, after all, there is
process for dealing with serious challenges to election outcomes, is there not?
GROSS: There is, and I think we're going to see it played out because there is a basis under the court system, the state
court system in Florida to bring challenges. Where they'll end up, we don't know, but the Democrats here are certainly
entitled to due process and I think we're going to watch it unfold.
WOODRUFF: All Right, Ken Gross here in Washington; Jeff Greenfield in New York. We're going to take a break.
More of this special edition of INSIDE POLITICS when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE H. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're very, very proud of him. And I'm
very pleased that he has Jim Baker helping him there. And I'm very proud of Jeb. I'll tell you, as a dad, some of
what's been said about him, questioning him just kills me.
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION: Do you think it'll come out all right?
QUESTION: Do you support the recount?
G. BUSH: The most nervous time in my entire life. I'll leave that to the pros. I'm a father -- a very proud father.
I'm proud of the way my son has conducted himself and is conducting himself. And it's very hard to describe it to
people. That's where it is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SHAW: Former President of the United States George Herbert Walker Bush, he's in the rain under that umbrella just
outside Blair House. He and Mrs. Bush, along with former first families, president Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn, Jerry
Ford, former President Ford, his wife, Betty, and former first lady, Ladybird Johnson, they're all at the White House
tonight for dinner, hosted by President and Mrs. Clinton, part of those celebrations commemorating the 200th birthday
of the White House.
Now, quickly, to our correspondents in the field covering both campaigns in both camps. Candy Crowley in Austin.
John King, you're in Nashville. John, what is it with this news conference by William Daley, the campaign chairman,
and Warren Christopher, the top legal representative?
KING: Well, Bernie, they were preparing to respond to whatever the Florida secretary of state said about recount, the
initial recount. The Gore campaign now saying it doesn't know what there is to respond to because she said so little.
She gave no new information, no firm number on where the initial recanvassing, as the Gore campaign calls it, is.
So, whether we will hear from Mr. Daley and Mr. Christopher, I think, is in doubt. And if they do come out, I was just
told by a senior campaign official, they really have very little new to say. They coming out to react to her new numbers
and then she didn't release any, because she said the process is not complete.
SHAW: And Candy, I presume that until John just reported that latest information, the Bush campaign was ready to
respond to the Gore campaign responding to the Florida officials.
CROWLEY: Well, that seems to be the way we're going. They certainly left open the option that we might hear from
them further this evening. There was nothing planned as of about an hour ago. So, you know, obviously, Bernie,
what we're seeing is that this has become as much about politics as it does about adding numbers up. When the Gore
campaign had a news conference earlier today, the Bush campaign did feel that it needed to get out there with its side of
the story. So, I imagine this is something we are going to see over the next week or so, I guess.
Page 770

SHAW: And Candy, we just heard former President George Bush expressing some very deeply held emotional feelings
about his two sons, Jeb Bush, governor of Florida and, of course, Texas Governor George Bush. Was the president
reflecting pretty much what you're hearing about the Bush family and the emotions that are just percolating?
CROWLEY: Absolutely, I think that what we've seen over the course of this campaign and, indeed, when George Bush,
the father, was in office, is that this is a close family and a family that sticks together. They were, Jeb Bush, George
Bush and George Bush the father, were all there with their wives in the governor's mansion as these returns came in on
Tuesday night. There is obvious affection in the family and obviously, you know, a proud dad. And George Bush is
always saying the only worse thing than being the guy who's running is being a relative or a loved one of the guy who's
running. Probably, father George Bush is in the toughest position of either of his two sons at this point.
SHAW: Candy Crowley in Austin, John King in Nashville, I know you're tired of standing, so we're going to get out of
your lives for a while. Thank you.
When we come back we're going to hear from Bruce Morton.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WOODRUFF: It is an election that will go down in history like few others. While some may find humor in it, or be
shocked by it, our Bruce Morton reports, there have been other controversial elections, and the nation managed to sort
them out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRUCE MORTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's funny, of course. The late-night guys love it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE TONIGHT SHOW")
JAY LENO: Man, and what is it down to, just a couple of votes? Boy, wouldn't it be great if this whole thing wound up
being decided by Elian Gonzalez's crazy relatives? Uncle Lazarus and the crazy fisherman, we got the final vote right
here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MORTON: But it isn't just funny. Oprah's worried.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE OPRAH WINFREY SHOW")
OPRAH WINFREY: But we are live in Chicago on November 9th and we are leaderless. Aren't we still shocked?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MORTON: And some of us are.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's a lot of problems with counting and exactly how many votes are actually valid and
whatnot, and it just makes me think that, whoever they elect, is that really our president? or is it a counting mistake?
MORTON: Nowadays, everything is instant. But elections used to be slow. And even then, the U.S. always mud-
dled through, somehow. Abraham Lincoln was murdered. His vice president, Andrew Johnson, was impeached in a
country bitterly divided at the end of the Civil War. But power passed smoothly. Andrew Jackson won the popular
vote and the electoral vote but not a majority. And the House elected John Quincy Adams president. Power passed
smoothly. And Jackson won the presidency four years later. Same with Grover Cleveland, won the popular vote, but
the Electoral College went for Benjamin Harrison and Cleveland got elected four years later.
When Richard Nixon resigned the presidency -- something that had never happened before, in 1974 -- people said, this
will be bad for the country. But it was only bad for Nixon. The country, under Gerald Ford, was calm. It was the
same Nixon who, when he lost a very close election to John Kennedy in 1960, did not pursue vote fraud charges in Illi-
nois, but accepted the results. This time, well everyone's talking about it.
TERESA CHAPPEL, REPUBLICAN ELECTOR: If I was on the other side, I probably would say, yes, the popular
vote. However, it is the Electoral College in this country that elects our president and I think that should hold.
MORTON: They'll debate changing the system for next time. But the odds are this election will be decided under the
law, fairly calmly, no coups, no national collapse. And if we need a temporary president, somebody to mind the store
Page 771

while the lawsuits get settled, I know just the guy, and so do you. You know he'd love to be asked; it absolutely beats
being the spouse of a famous senator.
Bruce Morton, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SHAW: Always willing to help.
That's all for this edition of INSIDE POLITICS. I'm Bernard Shaw.
WOODRUFF: And I'm Judy Woodruff. We will join the "MONEYLINE NEWS HOUR," already in progress.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


All Rights Reserved
Page 772


CNN


SHOW: CNN LARRY KING LIVE 21:00

Who Won the Presidential Election?

GUESTS: Jack Quinn, George Shultz, Patrick Buchanan, Andre Fladell, Howard Weiss, Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Robert
Wexler, Sander Vanocur, Floyd Abrams

BYLINE: Larry King, Mike Boettcher, William Schneider


LENGTH: 7717 words

HIGHLIGHT: Jack Quinn, a Gore campaign senior adviser, discusses why he believes Al Gore should be declared
the winner of Florida's 25 electoral votes. Former Secretary of State George Shultz discusses the presidential race in
Florida.

LARRY KING, HOST: Tonight, who won it? The nation chews its nails as the presidential cliffhanger rolls on.
Joining us in Washington, the senior adviser to the Gore campaign, Jack Quinn. In Augusta, Georgia, the former Sec-
retary of State George Shultz, a top adviser to George W. Bush. Back in D.C., Pat Buchanan, the Reform Party's
presidential candidate for election 2000.
Also, a top-flight roundtable. In New York, renowned constitutional lawyer Floyd Abrams. In Los Angeles, veteran
political journalist Sander Vanocur. And in Atlanta, CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider. All that and more
next on LARRY KING LIVE.
Let's begin with the latest on the counting going on in Florida, and we'll go to our correspondent on the scene, Mike
Boettcher. What's up, Mike? What's the latest?
MIKE BOETTCHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Larry, so close and yet so far. The count continues. We
thought it would be over today. When we arrived here early yesterday morning, we were told that by end of business
today they had hoped to have a recount. Well, it's not completely done yet.
There are two counts -- and we'll try to be very clear about this -- 53 counties being counted by the state of Florida re-
porting here at the division of elections. They show a gap of 1,784 between Governor Bush and Vice President Gore,
with, of course, Governor Bush in the lead. Now, there is a second count, done by the Associated Press. They are
ahead of the state counts, and we'll try to explain what's going on there. They are reporting 65 of 67 counties, and only
a gap of 225 votes between Governor Bush and Vice President Gore with, of course, Governor Bush in the lead.
Now, why the gap? Well, I talked to someone earlier today about an hour ago on the phone, who's worked up here in
the State Capitol, who still does, who says he believes that the discrepancy is because the counties that are still out
there, not reported to the state, have some mistakes in them, and they want to make sure that those figures are right. So
they're holding back. They're trying to make sure that these big discrepancies that they haven't reported yet are -- are
indeed big discrepancies.
Page 773

So they haven't reported it to the state yet, and I guess that's what's going on, Larry. That's what they believe is going
on here between the two figures. KING: Thanks, Mike. Well-reported. Mike Boettcher -- he's been on top of the
scene all day in Tallahassee.
Now, let's go to Washington and Jack Quinn, well-known name, former White House counsel, Gore campaign senior
adviser. The campaign has made a decision today.
There are definitely going to be lawsuits, Jack?
JACK QUINN, GORE CAMPAIGN SENIOR ADVISER: Larry, I can't say whether there are going to be lawsuits or
whether they're not going to be lawsuits. What I can tell you is that we are absolutely committed to make sure that the
most sacred right of the American people, to be able to cast a vote freely and have it count, will be vindicated in this
election.
KING: If you feel that Palm Beach -- and many, many voters were -- many voters had double votes, they voted for two
presidents because of confusion. Some voted for the wrong person, it's said. Are you going to challenge that partic-
ular county?
QUINN: Let me tell you what I believe, Larry. I believe with all my heart that more people in the state of Florida left
their homes and their workplaces on Tuesday, went to the polls intending to vote for Al Gore, than those who intended
to vote for George Bush. I think Al Gore won the vote in the state of Florida. I think that he, therefore, should have
been elected president on Tuesday.
I think that Governor Bush has an extraordinary opportunity and obligation right now to understand what's going on, to
appreciate that if he were to do anything that would in any way denigrate the right of these people to have their votes
counted, that he would assume the presidency with a cloud that would just be horrible for him and for the country.
KING: What do you want to happen if those people were denied their right to, that we all have, to express it because of
an error or stupidity or a ballot done poorly? What do you want? You want it redone?
QUINN: Well...
KING: What do you want to happen? What's the solution?
QUINN: I want us to go through a dignified, respectful, careful, and expeditious process to make sure that the will of
the people who went to the polls on election day in Florida is reflected in the outcome.
KING: Is the only way to do that have them go again? What's another way to do it?
QUINN: It might be. Well, there are any number of solutions to this. I mean, this is not entirely new territory. You
have had situations where ballots, like the 19,000 we're concerned about -- and I trust that the viewers know what we're
talking about, why we're concerned about this, why we believe they were Gore ballots. But let's assume for the mo-
ment that we've got 19,000 votes that we think were ours that were not counted.
But there are -- there have been any number situations in which this sort of thing has happened. Some courts, some
have decided that those votes ought to be apportioned in the same proportion as the other votes that were in fact count-
ed.
The most important thing to get across today, I think, is that the recount is not the end of this process, because it is a
simply a recount of the votes that were counted on election day. We have, we believe, 19,000 votes that were unlaw-
fully put aside and not counted.
And the other thing, Larry, I want to make one very important point here. This is not about Al Gore. This is not
about George Bush. This is about the right of those 19,000 Americans and the 200,000 million Americans who voted
with them to vote, to engage in, again, the most sacred trust and obligation we have in this country, the right to vote in
our elections.
KING: Do you think you will prevail?
QUINN: Yes, I do, because I believe...
KING: You think that the courts are going to come to your aid? It's going to have to be the courts.
Page 774

QUINN: I -- you know what, Larry, I believe today to the bottom of my heart that more people went out in the state of
Florida to vote for Al Gore than to vote for George Bush. I believe we won the state of Florida. I know we won the
popular vote from east to west, north to south, across this country. I know the American people on election day in the
year 2000 chose Albert Gore to be the next president of the United States.
KING: And do you think he will be?
QUINN: Yes, because we have had 200-plus years of people doing everything they could to preserve and sanctify this
extraordinary democracy that we've got. It is inconceivable to me that either judges or Governor Bush or anyone else
would do anything to thwart the will of the American people. And I do believe that in the coming days, it's going to be
abundantly clear that Al Gore won the state of Florida, and therefore, won the presidency of the United States.
And I believe that on January 20th, he is going to be the man to raise his right hand and take the oath of office.
KING: Thanks, Jack. Jack Quinn, former White House counsel and Gore campaign senior adviser. When we come
back, former secretary of state, the Honorable George Shultz might have different thoughts. Don't go away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
are doing so at the expense of our democracy. One of the options that they seem to be looking at is new elections.
Our democratic process calls for vote on election day. It does not call for us to continue voting until someone likes the
outcome.
Throughout this process, it's important that no party to this election act in a precipitous manner or distort an existing
voting pattern in an effort to misinform the public.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: This will have many more days to go, by the way. We have absentee ballots, ballots coming from across the
sea, people out of country, certification. This could go right through next week. It could go longer with lawsuits.
And we now go to Augusta, Georgia, George Shultz, Secretary of State under Ronald Reagan, held other cabinet posts
as well. Adviser to George W. Bush and the bush campaign.
You heard, Mr. Secretary, what Jack Quinn said. He says he's convinced that more people left their homes in Florida
to vote for Gore. Somebody is disenfranchised. What are your thoughts?
GEORGE SHULTZ, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: Well, my thoughts are that we have a constitutional pro-
cess. And we have in the state of Florida a set of rules that they've established about the conduct of elections. So far
as I can see, they are conscientiously trying to follow their procedures. And we ought to respect them, and to be ready
and prepared to accept the results as they announce them.
KING: One of the procedures in the constitutional government is the right to go to court. Do you respect their right,
the other side's right to challenge this?
SHULTZ: Anyone can go to court and challenge. But I don't quite see what they're going to challenge. And I do
think that people ought to take a look and remember what Richard Nixon did in 1960. You remember, the vote was
very close then. And as distinct from Florida, where there are no allegations of fraud, there were real allegations of
fraud in Illinois. And Nixon was urged to file a suit, and he said no, the election stands, and we don't want to put the
country through that.
Personally, it seems to me that Florida has its procedures, people have been -- ballots have been disqualified before. In
the '96 election, a lot of ballots were disqualified for voting twice for a given office, and that is their rule. So, they
follow that rule and they have a process that is going on. They have a recount because that's what their law calls for.
And so we should respectfully wait and see what that brings. Obviously, since it is so close, you have to wait for the
absentee ballots because there's no reason why people overseas, people serving in the military should be deprived of a
vote.
KING: Are you, therefore, asking Vice President Gore tonight to do what Richard Nixon did and if he loses in that vote,
not challenge in Palm Beach and give it up?
Page 775

SHULTZ: I'm just saying that there is a process for establishing the victor in Florida. And the people of Florida, their
officials, are conducting that process and when they get through doing it. Then, it seems to me, that is the result and
we should accept that result.
KING: What did you think of the ballot itself? Did you have any problems with it?
SHULTZ: Well, I'm not that close to it. Apparently, it was somewhat confusing, although at least people say that.
Although I have seen tests when people are given it and they vote and they don't seem to have any troubles doing that.
I might say that, as I understand it, the Reform Party and Pat Buchanan have quite a few registered voters in Palm
Beach. And so it isn't surprising that some people would vote for him.
KING: You've been around a long time. You've served your country well. In this instance, whoever goes into that
office in January 20th, obviously has no mandate. Will it be a difficult presidency?
SHULTZ: I think that whoever goes into the office does have a mandate. He will have won and it's up to him to be
president of all the people, and I have been encouraged all along during the campaign by the way Governor Bush has
conducted himself, and his constant refrain of having a more civilized Washington, of reaching across party lines and
trying to find consensus, and it seems to me very clear that that's what a new president will have to do.
KING: Do you think that President-elect Bush might put a Democrat or two on the Cabinet?
SHULTZ: Well, that's up to him, of course. There are some good Democrats. And so he will have to decide on his
Cabinet. I don't want to try to prejudge that. But there is going to be a process of reaching across, and Governor
Bush has said that long before it turned out that the election was so close. That comes natural to him. He is a healer.
He is a leader. He'll bring people together.
KING: Mr. Secretary, do you think this is going to be resolved without a crisis?
SHULTZ: Well, I hope that it will be resolved by the officials of the state of Florida as they count these votes, including
the absentee ballots. And that's the way it ought to be resolved.
KING: Thank you so much. Always good seeing you, George.
SHULTZ: Thank you.
KING: The former secretary of state, George Shultz speaking as an adviser as well to Governor Bush. When we come
back, the man in question, Pat Buchanan. Don't go away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAM DALEY, GORE CAMPAIGN CHAIRMAN: I believe that their actions to try to presumptively crown
themselves victors, to try to put in place a transition, run the risk of dividing the American people, and creating a sense
of confusion. Let the legal system run its course. Let the true and accurate rule of the people prevail. And if at the
end of the process, George Bush is the victor, we will honor, and obviously respect those results.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: Pat Buchanan joins us from Washington. You got 3,407 vote ins Palm Beach County. You didn't campaign
there or spend money there. What do you make of it, Pat.
PATRICK BUCHANAN (REF), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, certainly I think we got some votes in Palm
Beach County, but I don't doubt the number of those ballots that those votes cast for me, probably were intended for
Vice President Gore. I do know that by sort of from extrapolation and by comparison with other counties in the state.
But as matter of fact, Larry, those ballots were cast for me. And my name was the one that they registered, and I think
those votes have to go to me, and I don't see how you can take that back even though folks are saying they intended to
vote for someone else. I think it stands.
KING: Does it make you feel funny?
BUCHANAN: No, it does not. I did nothing wrong. And I looked at ballot, and I do believe the ballot is somewhat
confusing. You've got Mr. Bush's name first on the left column, Mr. Gore's name second, but if you vote the second
Page 776

button, it votes for me. So I think someone who went in there very quickly and didn't look at it could fairly easily vote
by mistake for me.
But I don't have any fault here. I do believe this, Larry, that in the last analysis, they've got to take a look at who got
the ballots. They have to count them. They have to recount them, and count the absentees, and when that is done,
Florida ought to certify the winner of the Florida vote, and that's next president of the United States. And I hope and
pray Al Gore, if it is not him, has the sense of honor and dignity that Richard Nixon had when he simply out- and-out
refused to challenge in any way the returns from Illinois and Texas.
KING: So even though he -- what you're saying here is even though he may be right, even though those votes may have
wanted for him, he should back off if he loses Florida with all other votes counted?
BUCHANAN: He didn't get the votes. The votes went for me. And so when all the votes are counted, if he's got a
plurality or a majority, he wins the state we all ought to rally behind him. Conversely, if Governor Bush and Mr. Chen-
ey win, I think Mr. Gore ought to give it up.
I hope he will not drag this through courts all the way up until the inaugural. I think that would be terribly divisive,
and I think would tear the country apart. Let's let the people in Florida certify the winner of that state, and if it's Mr.
Bush, let's get on with the transition.
KING: How about the statement that Jack Quinn made? If they're right, more people in Florida went out on Tuesday
to vote for Gore.
BUCHANAN: Well, you know, look...
KING: If they're right
BUCHANAN: I don't know the truth to that. Well, maybe they did but how does Jack know that for certain? And, I
mean, and there's a probability that some people voted for me, Larry that intended to vote for Gore. I can see that out-
right and openly, but if they voted for -- if they voted for me, how do you decide?
You can't have a revote in all of West Palm Beach County. You know, that is grossly unfair to Mr. Bush because all
the Nader people would immediately vote for Mr. Gore there, and moreover, the electorate has been totally contami-
nated by 48 hours of all this media being poured into it. So, I think the vote has got to...
KING: So, you can't do it over?
BUCHANAN: You cannot do it over in one county. It's grossly unjust to Mr. Bush. This is a heavily Democratic
county, and as I say, all Nader's votes would automatically just about go to Mr. Gore.
KING: What do you think this is going to do? What -- there's no mandate for the next president, is there?
BUCHANAN: I disagree. Jack Kennedy won by 100,000 votes and that was questionable whether it was legal or not.
And he went and set country off in a direction in foreign policy and domestic policy. It was a dramatic time from
Dwight Eisenhower. If Mr. Bush wins this, the best thing for him to do is to run a Republican -- strong, Republican
administration, a conservative administration, a compassionate conservatism and then in two years let the voters decide
if that's what they wanted.
KING: Thanks, Pat. Pat Buchanan.
BUCHANAN: Thank you.
KING: In the news whether he wants to be or not. Pat Buchanan from Washington.
When we come back, we're going to meet an attorney who is filing a lawsuit. The thing Pat didn't want to happen is
going to happen and we'll meet the man he's representing right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: Joining us now in West Palm Beach, Florida is Howard Weiss, one of the attorneys representing Andre Fladell.
Mr. Fladell is one of the voters who is representing that he was disenfranchised and he is suing for a revote.
Andre, what happened to you on Tuesday?
Page 777

ANDRE FLADELL, PALM BEACH COUNTY VOTER: Well, for the 22 years I've lived in Palm Beach County, on
every ballot I've ever seen, on every ballot I've ever voted, on every page I've ever voted, they always have the name on
one side and the punch holes on the other. This has been going on for 22 years. I've never seen a ballot in any other
way. In every ballot I've ever seen for 22 years, the Republican and Democrat were next to each other, first and se-
cond. There was never anything between them.
When I went to vote, I gave them my license, my identification, my voters registration. They said, do you have any
questions? I said no, I've voted many times before. I went in, I flipped page. I saw the first name, which was
Bush-Cheney, the first hole. I saw second name, which was Gore-Lieberman, and the second punch hole and I pro-
ceeded punched the second punch hole.
I then turned to next page, and you know, in this county we only have five minutes to vote. This isn't a freebie where
you stay as long as you want, and we have referendum questions. So I punched the next, as I always did. I finished
my voting and I left.
When I then went to beach later that day, many of friends were there. We were at restaurant, Boston's on the Beach,
and they said that the ballot was difficult and they had great difficulty with president vote. I thought they were pretty
silly because I vote a lot.
I figured they don't know how to vote and they said, well, how did you vote. And I said just go down the list and
match up hole. They said it's not like that on that page. I said sure it is. We went and got a copy of ballot we found
out at that point that you had to look diagonally, zig-zag, across in some fashion I had never anticipated.
(CROSSTALK)
KING: Now Howard Weiss, what are you contending then in the lawsuit representing Mr. Fladell? What are you ask-
ing them to do?
HOWARD WEISS, ATTORNEY: We're asking them to invalidate the election results of Palm Beach County because
there's a reasonable doubt as to whether or not those results reflect a will of the people and the basis of that lawsuit is
the following: that they violated the Florida statutes. The Florida statutes require that the name be on the left side and
the punch hole be on the right side. That was not done here. Rather than doing so, with respect on the Democrats
and Republicans, the Democrats following the Republicans, the punch hole was on right-hand side.
However, the punch hole with respect to the Reform Party Buchanan and the minor political parties were on the left side
in a direct pattern vertical with punch holes for the Republican and Democratic parties. In addition, to that, there was
confusion.
As a result of that, there were not just the 3,000 votes in question as to Mr. Buchanan, but there were 19,000 votes that
were invalidated. Nineteen thousand ballots were invalidated because people reasonably thought that they were voting
-- there were two punch holes next to Gore-Lieberman, and they punched both.
KING: I got you, yes. And what redress of grievance are you asking? How does the state make this up to your cli-
ent?
FLADELL: I would like to vote for who I want to vote for. I would like to vote for Gore, and I would like to vote for
Lieberman. I don't want to vote for Pat Buchanan. He may be nice person, but he's not for my vote.
This country is looking at a ballot on this television that looks like this. That's not what we see when we vote. This
is what we see when we vote. This country looking at which black mark is higher. Why don't they try seeing which
one is further.
The punch hole isn't a black mark looking at a television screen (UNINTELLIGIBLE) about 1/16 of an inch apart look-
ing at direction on this level. When the country thinks we can't identify which dot is higher, I can identify a higher dot.
But you can't identify dots laying across a plain on a right angle. That dot that I punched was right next to the name of
Gore and Lieberman. I punched the right dot. I had no idea that in this country you have to read zig-zag and diago-
nal to know who you're voting for.
(CROSSTALK)
KING: Weren't there arrows, Andre, telling where you to go?
Page 778

FLADELL: No, there were arrows on both sides pointing to the middle that. Look, I read the dictionary. I read en-
cyclopedias. I read textbooks. I've never read in our language anything of any type that was a puzzle. I didn't go in
there to take a test. I went in to vote for president of the United States.
(CROSSTALK)
KING: Howard, do you think you have a chance here?
WEISS: Yes, absolutely. I think that the ballot was definitely violative of the Florida statutes. I think that the second
name should have been, as required, since the Democrats came in second in the group gubernatorial election, their name
should be in the second position. In terms of the punch holes, the Reform Party was placed in second position. That
placed a reasonable doubt as to whether the election represents a will of people. The Florida statutes were indeed vio-
lated. The punch holes were not placed to the right of candidates, and I feel that both as to 3,000 votes which Bu-
chanan obtained, and more importantly, the 19,000 ballots that were invalidated because people thought they were
punching for Gore and Lieberman rather than just one single vote, and they followed the election...
KING: All right...
WEISS: ... in the instructions it said, go to the right and punch the hole to the right. If they did so, they voted for Gore-
Lieberman.
KING: Howard Weiss and Andre Gladel, and they're bringing it to court.
When we come back, two congressmen for a brief couple of moments to discuss this, and then our panel, which will
include Floyd Abrams, Sandra Vanocur and Bill Schneider. We'll meet our two congressmen quickly right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: The voices and noise that you hear in the background are the protesters. They are outside the courthouse in
West Palm Beach, where lots of goings-on are taking place over this hullabaloo over this incredible election.
We go to Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart. He's a Republican of Florida and he is co-chairman of the George W.
Bush campaign. With him is Congressman Robert Wexler, Democrat of Florida. He was with us last night as well.
We'll have a few moments with these gentlemen.
Congressman Diaz-Balart, what do you say to the gentleman we just had on who went to vote for Gore, voted for the
wrong thing because he had been voting for years, he punched it wrong? How do we redress this grievance?
REP. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART (R), FLORIDA: Bill, I'm really sorry that that happened. I looked at that ballot. It
was the same ballot that was used in 1996 and in the primary this year. There was never a challenge before.
A number of people, by the way, contacted our offices after the election, especially some elderly people, because they
were confused here in Miami-Dade County. Unfortunately, some confusion inevitably exists in any election...
KING: So just...
DIAZ-BALART: But we have a -- we have a procedure, which is the Florida law establishes it when the -- any election
is won by less than half of a percent there's an automatic recount.
And the ballot -- you saw Jeanne Moos on CNN. I was watching earlier this evening. And she showed it to a lot of
people, and almost everybody got it right.
The reality of the matter is that the Florida law says if you vote for more than one candidate for one position, that vote,
unfortunately, has to be invalidated.
KING: Congressman Wexler, what Congressman Diaz-Balart is saying it's unfortunate, it's sad, but it's the breaks of the
game. You have no way out.
REP. ROBERT WEXLER (D), FLORIDA: No, that's not the full story. The facts speak for themselves here, Larry:
19,000 people had their votes invalidated because of an illegal ballot that was extremely confusing.
And with all due respect to my friend Lincoln Diaz-Balart, the ballot that was used this past Tuesday in Palm Beach
County was not used four years ago. This was the first time it's been used in at least 10 years, and the supervisor her-
self issued a warning, Larry, on the day of the election, late in the day, to the poll workers, saying that people had com-
Page 779

plained before the ballots had closed, that there was mass confusion, and that poll workers should warn the voters not to
vote for two candidates.
KING: And that was -- that was late in the day?
WEXLER: That was about 4:30, about 4:30.
KING: OK. Hold on. All right, hold it right there. Congressman Diaz-Balart, what do you make of that?
DIAZ-BALART: Larry, four years ago, when the turnout was a lot less, 15,000 votes were invalidated in Palm Beach
County.
KING: So something's wrong in Palm Beach then, right?
DIAZ-BALART: This year -- this year, 19,000 votes were invalidated.
KING: But isn't something wrong then?
DIAZ-BALART: Unfortunately...
WEXLER: Larry...
KING: Hold it, Bob. Don't interrupt.
DIAZ-BALART: Unfortunately, people make mistakes. But is it better to have people be able to vote for both candi-
dates? Is that what the opposition is saying?
Now, I think the key here...
KING: In other words, Congressman Diaz, you're not concerned that in two straight elections 15,000, 19,000 votes were
invalidated with people voting for two people? Why didn't they change the ballot? DIAZ-BALART: Unfortunately,
people make mistakes, but what the law is clear on is that you don't vote for more than one candidate for one position.
KING: I know that.
DIAZ-BALART: And when they do that, unfortunately, we don't know which of the two candidates they meant to vote
for, and so Florida law is clear. The key here is that Florida law has to be followed, and it's being followed.
KING: All right, Congressman -- Congressman Wexler.
WEXLER: Yes. Congressman Diaz-Balart is repeating the numbers that the Republican Party has been spewing.
They are false. In 1996, there was not in Palm Beach County 15,000 votes that were disqualified because people voted
for two candidates for president. In fact, the number was about half of that.
But let's not lose sight of the primary issue. The election of the president of the United States hinges on the couple of
hundred votes in the state of Florida, and in just the Palm Beach County region 23,000 votes were effectively invalidat-
ed.
This is not about Al Gore or George Bush. This is about democracy. This is about protecting Americans' right to
vote and have their vote be counted.
KING: And Congressman Diaz-Balart, how would you respond to that?
DIAZ-BALART: I agree exactly. That's why we have procedures and we have the law. And the law says that a re-
count occurs if the loser asks for it when the winner wins by less than one-half of 1 percent. The state is going through
that procedure. It's going through it with tremendous seriousness and with dignity. And we have to follow this pro-
cedure and not make it now one where, like I heard Mr. Daley said, they're going to court.
That is the judicialization of our democracy. That's extremely dangerous.
And these allegations that -- like Florida statute says, Florida law says that if it's a paper ballot, names have to be on the
left. No, not on computerized ballots. They're even misstating the law. And this judicialization of our democracy...
KING: But shouldn't...
DIAZ-BALART: ... is an extreme threat to our country.
Page 780

KING: I've got a whole bunch of guests. Congressman -- Congressman Diaz-Balart, why not let the judge decide it
then?
DIAZ-BALART: Oh, no. Obviously, anyone can go to court. What I'm saying is that the law is clear, that misstate-
ments were made before with regard to statements such as you have to vote -- all names have to be on one side of the
ballot. That's a misstatement of the law.
We're following the law. The state is following the law.
KING: Congressman Wexler, you think they're not?
WEXLER: Larry, my friend, Lincoln Diaz-Balart, knows this better than anybody. This is the United States of Amer-
ica. This is not Cuba. In America, we go to vote and we expect our votes to be counted, and when that count is ille-
gitimate a court of law must address the issue.
And to elect a president of the United States on anything less than that would shake the foundation of democracy in
America.
DIAZ-BALART: Precisely...
KING: We will do more tomorrow night.
DIAZ-BALART: Precisely, since we're in America...
KING: We thank you both very much. We want to get to our panel.
DIAZ-BALART: ... whoever gets more votes wins. And it's very serious when...
WEXLER: Yes.
DIAZ-BALART: ... instead of following the tradition of American democracy, the opposition, like in this case the Gore
campaign, starts judicializing the elections in the United States. That's extremely dangerous.
KING: Thank you both very much.
WEXLER: Al Gore...
KING: Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Congressman Robert Wexler. When we come back, Floyd Abrams,
Sander Vanocur and Bill Schneider. Don't go away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: Let's welcome our panel. They are the renowned constitutional attorney Floyd Abrams. He joins us from
New York. Here in Los Angeles is Sander Vanocur, who's reported politics for NBC and ABC and early on, on CBS,
"New York Times," "Washington Post," and he hosts "Movies in Time" on the History Channel. And a very familiar
place -- face around these parts, Bill Schneider, senior political analyst, syndicated columnist.
We now, I see up on the board, have 66 counties, right, Bill?
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: We have 66 counties in Florida. Florida has 67
altogether. So there's only one county out. And according to the Associated Press, Bush now leads Al Gore in the
recount by 229 votes.
KING: And that is, of course, unofficial, but it's an AP tab.
SCHNEIDER: It's an AP tab.
KING: OK. Floyd Abrams, we've heard the arguments through the night. We heard the congressmen. Who's right?
FLOYD ABRAMS, CONSTITUTIONAL ATTORNEY: Well, my reaction, Larry, is this is precisely the sort of thing
that may have to be decided by a court. When the argument's made that this is a judicialization of our political pro-
cess, I think that's really inside out. I think the reality is here in an election in which the vice president carried the
popular vote in the country and has at least a very plausible claim that things have been done which prevented, probably
in good faith, but prevented a significant number of people in Florida from voting as they wanted to, I don't think that it
is a bad thing for somebody to go to court and say in substance, look, I wanted to vote this way, I was misled.
Page 781

Maybe he'll lose. You know, these cases are hard to win. They're supposed to be hard to win. It's an uphill battle for
the vice if he or one of these voters go to court. But he may win or they may win. And it seems to me that our coun-
try is not as fragile as a lot of people think. I think we can take it, because we want to know -- we want to know the
truth about who really won this election.
KING: What's your read on it, Sander?
SANDER VANOCUR, JOURNALIST: I agree with Floyd. I think that -- I've been thinking all day about John Find-
ley Dunn (ph) and Mr. Dooley (ph). And Mr. Dooley said, "Politics ain't bean bag."
This is a very tough call, but again to quote somebody, other person, Bismarck, who said of governance, "It's like sau-
sage: You better not watch it being made if you want to eat it."
KING: Would you, if you were a citizen who voted Tuesday and you were like the gentleman we had on, felt that you
had voted incorrectly through the fault of the ballot, would you do as he is doing?
VANOCUR: Of course I would.
KING: You would sue.
All right, that's two, Bill. Bill Schneider, I know you have to analyze these things. Do you think we're going to go to
court? Do you think there will be a court case somehow resolved before January 20th?
SCHNEIDER: Well, I think that someone -- certainly, there will be a case brought to court, and I frankly hope the judge
would throw it out, because once you start going into court, look, you open up the floodgates. You're going to find
confusing ballots all over the country. Believe me, there are a lot of states that Al Gore carried, Iowa, Wisconsin, maybe
Oregon -- it hasn't been declared yet; New Hampshire was carried by Bush -- but states carried by very tiny margins.
I'm sure the Bush campaign can find people who say, look, the ballot here was confusing, I think that I was misled.
And this can go on and on and on.
It is a misfortune, but nobody has charged that it was fraudulent. Or it's been debated whether it was illegal. If you
can show it's illegal, that's something else.
KING: So if it had happened to you, you would not sue?
SCHNEIDER: I would say the ballot was confusing. I voted the wrong way. But that is a misfortune.
KING: Floyd, that's the other aspect of it, isn't it?
ABRAMS: Yes, it is. It is, and I...
KING: Breaks of the game?
ABRAMS: I respected that of you. And look, I don't think that presidential candidates ought lightly to go to court,
because it does have the potential for not only slowing things down, but for delegitimizing the system.
Here I think it's the opposite. I think in this case you almost need a judge to say, look, this was basically fair. Sure,
some people got taken advantage of. That's life.
But I think without that, I mean, if we are left in a situation in this country where the vice president has carried the day
broadly across the country in the court of public opinion by votes, where he has a really strong case, and more im-
portantly, where voters have a really strong case that they were taken advantage of, in good faith, but taken advantage
of, the idea of having a judge say, one way or the other, look, this is either tolerable or intolerable in our country, I think
it's a good idea.
SCHNEIDER: Well, I'd like to add...
KING: Sander, that makes -- Bill, hold it one second, Sander. That makes the governing easier if the judge has said it.
VANOCUR: We have to legitimize this presidential election. I am not optimistic we are going to be able to do it.
But we've got to legitimize it somehow.
KING: Bill, what's wrong with legitimize it? How else could it be legitimized without a court?
Page 782

SCHNEIDER: Well, it would be nice if the court said that, you know, there is no legal redress, but I'm wondering -- I'm
wondering a question if Mr. Abrams knows. If the judge decides that the ballot was somehow unfair, what's he going
to do? Is he going to order the county to revote?
And then the circumstances of that revote trouble me greatly. You're going to have a revote among a small group of
voters who know that they are choosing in Palm Beach County the next president of the United States, something that
voters nowhere knew on November 7th all by themselves. And also, they will know something that nobody else knew
on November 7th: namely, how the rest of the country voted.
Is that a fair process? I'm not sure.
ABRAMS: Well, I think what you have to do is to balance that against the loss to the voters and the loss to all of us as a
country in having a result which may well be inconsistent with what the country and the people of Florida wanted. I
think that's -- that's very heavy-duty. And...
KING: It's a very interesting aspect. It pauses one to think, and we'll have Vanocur do that for us when we come back,
right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: Before we have a question for Bill and Floyd, I think Sander has a thought on the media's role here.
VANOCUR: Well, I think we'd be a lot better off today if the media on Tuesday night had not gone into that classic
case of premature exaggeration, going back and forth.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a good line.
VANOCUR: And I think that the networks have a lot on this show, and they're admitting it today, for having created the
kind of climate we are going to have to deal with.
KING: But we still have this voting machine. We still have the closeness of the vote. Everything would be the same.
VANOCUR: Yes, but what was so exacerbating about the other night is it kept going back and forth, creating...
KING: But that doesn't change this vote total?
VANOCUR: No, no. But it creates the kind atmosphere in which we are going to have to proceed.
KING: It led to this?
VANOCUR: Yes.
KING: OK. Bill Schneider, who could end it if a judge couldn't end it?
SCHNEIDER: If the vote in Florida is announced, even if it's extremely close -- they've done a count, they've done a
recount, they've counted the overseas ballots -- no matter how close it is, there's one guy who I think could put an end to
it, and that's the president of the United States. We haven't heard from him yet.
He's there as the protector of the Constitution. That's what he's for, when he was inaugurated back in 1997. And I
think if he spoke out and said, look, we can quarrel with these results, they can be debated forever, there is a shadow of
legitimacy over this. But you know, we have to respect the electoral college process, and I think this process should
come to an end. President Clinton could do that.
KING: That integrity also could mean some electors could vote differently, right, Bill? That's part of the Constitution,
too? They don't have to.
SCHNEIDER: They don't have to. That's right. And if they choose, they could decide that they want to abide by the
will of the people. After all, the electoral college is sovereign in this process.
The popular vote has moral and political standing. Gore is leading in the popular vote right now. It hasn't been com-
pleted. So some electors could decide to abide by the will of the people and to vote for Al Gore for president.
(CROSSTALK)
Page 783

KING: And that would be constitutional as well. Floyd and Bill and Sander, how do you think the founding fathers
would have dealt with this?
SCHNEIDER: Oh, I know. They would have had a duel. They would have had a duel. They had it. Alexander
Hamilton wrote the Constitution. He was killed in a duel.
KING: Same case.
ABRAMS: Also, the founding fathers, for all their greatness, didn't exactly think awfully well of the masses.
KING: True.
ABRAMS: And, you know, the Founding Fathers would have been very happy to have this decided in the House of
Representatives, and take it away from the people. One of the reasons that I'm, what shall I say, sympathetic or at least
not unsympathetic to the idea of at least having a judge pass upon lawsuits brought in this area is that I think that it is
part of the process to assure that the people who are in fact serving as the electors deserve to be there.
I mean, what could be more inconsistent with the whole theory of our system than to have 25 people from Florida who
really got less votes or for whom the people of Florida wanted not to vote, to go to attend this convening of cardinals as
it were. KING: Hold it right there. Let me get a break and when we come back, we'll ask each of the gentlemen to tell
us what they think will happen. They've been around a while. Don't go away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: Floyd Abrams, what's going to happen?
ABRAMS: Well, let me answer this way. First, what I don't think is going to happen is that we're going to have prob-
lems starting December 18th of legitimacy. that is to say, I think one way or the other, one candidate or another will,
even if this is in court, if this isn't resolved by the time the electors are supposed to meet, I think it's more likely than not
that one or the other will withdraw. One or the other will allow the other person to become president.
That said, though, I think we will have a judicial look at this. I view this as a very close case. You heard the con-
gressmen arguing about what Florida law is, about where the names have to be on the left side or not. I mean, that's a
strict issue of law for a judge to decide. You heard them arguing about whether there's confusion of a sort that should
lead to a new election. I think that's an issue of law.
I think we're going to have a judge in Florida, maybe some appellate judges also on a super-expedited basis make a de-
cision about whether this was sufficiently unfair that a new election is required, and I think the vice president's chances
are pretty decent about getting a new election in Florida.
KING: Sander?
VANOCUR: All I wish for is no rush to judgment. Everybody was saying today we'll know by the end of today. We
won't know squat by the end of today. We may know something when the absentee ballots are in and counted an I'd
like to leave it to the good officials of the state of Florida for them to come a conclusion before we go anywhere else.
KING: In other words, they come to a conclusion. Then a lawsuit, if there's a lawsuit?
VANOCUR: Let them decide. It's their state. And let them decide it in all deliberate speed, but deliberate speed.
KING: Bill, what do you think?
SCHNEIDER: I think there'd better be a rush to judgment because the people of the United States and of the entire
world are waiting to see what the outcome of this is. My guess is in the end, a judge will look at this and decide this is
a political matter and the courts really ought not be involved here.
What's important here is to realize what the people did on Tuesday. I mean, it's amazing. They split the Congress
down the middle. They were divide in the electoral vote. They were closely divided in the popular vote. Does this
mean Americans are deeply polarized? I don't think so. I think this is an electorate that really simply said, we can't
make up our minds. We have things we like about each. Things we don't like about each candidate.
KING: Sander wants to say something in response to that.
SCHNEIDER: Period, you know, I don't think we're deeply polarized.
Page 784

VANOCUR: Bill, we don't have to rush. We do not have a crisis and I do not think that the election was as close as
people say it was. I think I heard you before, you're absolutely right but what we need is some time and I don't think
the people in this country think we have a crisis yet unless we in the media create it, which we often do.
SCHNEIDER: We had an election and we don't know who the winner is. I'm not saying that there should be a hyster-
ical rush. I think the results should be announced exactly on the timetable of the people of Florida. The procedures
should be followed, and then they have to be abided by. You can take it to court, but my guess the courts will be re-
luctant to get involved in what is really a political question.
(CROSSTALK)
ABRAMS: I'm sorry, Bill. I think that may well be true, but it seems to me, one thing is sure, the courts will handle
this on a super-expedited basis. They will attend it with the greatest amount of seriousness that is possible, and I think
one way or the other, that it will add more, not less.
KING: We're running out of time. Sander, quickly.
VANOCUR: If they decide it quickly, what are we going to do for a living?
SCHNEIDER: I'd like to go home.
KING: Floyd Abrams, Sander Vanocur, Bill Schneider, you may go home.
SCHNEIDER: Thank you.
KING: Stay tuned, a special town meeting in Palm Beach. We'll hear from the people themselves right on the spot
itself. We'll be back tomorrow night with more of the same on LARRY KING LIVE. Thanks for joining us and
good night.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


All Rights Reserved
Page 785


CNN



THE SPIN ROOM: Do You Know Who Your Next President is?

GUESTS: David Royce, Rep. Robert Wexler, Rep. Joe Scarborough, Carol Laham

BYLINE: Bill Press, Rich Lowry, Joie Chen


LENGTH: 7314 words

HIGHLIGHT: Do you know who your next president is? A look at why not, and whether you ever will.

ANNOUNCER: From CNN Washington to our Atlanta Newsroom and all over the United States, THE SPIN ROOM is
open.
BILL PRESS, CO-HOST: It's 11:00 on the East Coast, 8:00 on the West Coast. Do you know who your next president
is? Why not? And will you ever?
Good evening, everybody. Welcome to THE SPIN ROOM. I'm Bill Press.
You're not going to believe this, but Tucker Carlson had the audacity to leave town tonight, perhaps thinking it would
all be over. Big mistake. He'll be back tomorrow night, but we're in great shape because tonight, sitting in for Tucker,
we have the equally young, equally conservative, equally irreverent and outrageous Rich Lowry, who's editor for "The
National Review."
Great to have you here tonight, Rich.
RICH LOWRY, GUEST HOST: Thanks for having me, Bill. I'm glad I could join you just in time for the constitu-
tional crisis.
PRESS: I know. I mean, this is like impeachment round two, right?
LOWRY: Exactly. If you ever need spin, it's during a constitutional crisis.
PRESS: That's when you need it. Exactly.
And we need your spin. Don't forget the great thing about this show is you get to sound off. This is our democracy
on the line, folks. So we want to hear from you. Three ways to do it. By phone, OK. You can reach us any time
during the hour. We want to take your calls at 1-800-310-4CNN. You could join our chat room online at cnn.com,
or send us those e-mails. Rich and I will be reading your e- mails throughout the show. The address for e-mails is
spin@cnn.com.
OK. So, Rich Lowry, let's say, a week ago, you and I were sitting in bar, and I said to you, you know, "Forty-eight
hours after this election, there'll be a difference of 229 votes out of 100 million between George Bush and Al Gore, and
we still won't know who the next president of the United States is." You would have said to me? LOWRY: Well, it's --
it's absolutely incredible. I mean this is -- this is the kind of thing that pundits make a living scoffing at, this sort of
scenario. I mean, it's -- it's like a horror movie when -- it's an election that won't die. Every time there's a stake
Page 786

through its heart, it's up again and right at us, and the amazing thing is, you know, Gore, obviously, had a surge the last
couple of days in the election.
PRESS: Yeah.
LOWRY: The surge seems to be going right into the recount. "When does it end?" I think the Republicans are asking
themselves tonight all over the country.
PRESS: I think George W. Bush is probably asking that tonight in the country.
But, you know, what gets me is why are we surprised. I mean, we are talking about Florida, right? This is Florida.
A friend of mine today called me and pointed out to me -- I want to show you something here. First of all, he said that
in -- there's this one section in the Florida ballot, and it says this, "A ballot is a document that must provide maximum
clarity and correctness." Now I'd like to show you and all of our viewers on the screen -- here's what the Florida presi-
dential ballot officially looks like. You see? It's -- the --
No. Seriously, folks, this is an e-mail that's going around, but it's got the straight line for voting for Bush, and you can
follow, if you can, how you vote for any of the others.
LOWRY: And that's -- that's either the Florida ballot or the Hillary health-care plan. One or the other, right?
But, Bill, look, I like -- I like old people. I like old...
PRESS: Eight years ago, it was the Hillary health-care plan. This year, it may be the -- the Florida ballot. I don't
know.
LOWRY: There you go.
I -- I like old and confused people as much as anyone, but isn't there sort of a basic civic responsibility if you go into the
-- the voting booth and the -- and you see something that looks like that to you? Shouldn't you ask someone or display
some curiosity about whether you're actually voting for the right person?
PRESS: You see, that's the difference between liberals and conservatives. You guys see these people, and you say,
"What morons." We see them, and we say, "What victims. We need to help these people."
LOWRY: Exactly. Personal responsibility. Do -- Bush wants to start the responsibility era, Bill, and this is -- this is
a good way to get it off the ground. PRESS: I want to give you another quick hit about Florida. Again, I say why are we
surprised when we're talking about Florida. A couple of years ago, they cleaned up the voter rolls in the State of Flor-
ida. Here's, among other things, what they found, Rich. You'll be -- you'll be interested in this, OK.
Here's Florida now. They found on the voter rolls for -- 50,483 felons who are not allowed to vote, 47,000 people who
were registered in more than one location, and 17,702 dead people. Rich, I want to know -- this is -- you know, like --
you know what happened? Chicago moved South, right? How many dead people do you think voted in this elec-
tion...
LOWRY: It...
PRESS: ... and for whom?
LOWRY: It sounds positively Missouri-like, doesn't it? You know, the...
PRESS: Yeah, the...
(CROSSTALK)
LOWRY: ... dead people in -- in an election. You know, cons -- this is embarrassing for conservatives for a couple of
reasons, Bill. You know, we always talk about local government, and what we're getting now a big dose of here in
Florida is a microscopic examination of local government, and it's not -- it's not very pretty. You know, it's as bum-
bling and -- and as incompetent as the federal government.
PRESS: Well, there is, certainly, it seems to me, a little shadow or a little cloud over the Sunshine State today. It has
been another day from hell, and who would -- who would have imagined, in fact, like a week ago that anybody but a
crazy football fan would have even cared about the State of Florida at this point.
Page 787

But for what's been happening in Florida, for how bad it is, for how big that cloud is over the Sunshine State, let's go to
our great partner in Atlanta, our SPIN ROOM's Joie Chen.
Joie -- so, where are we now? Can you tell us?
JOIE CHEN, CNN ANCHOR: I think we're lost. Maybe we're on a turnpike somewhere in Florida.
PRESS: Yes.
CHEN: Hey, Rich. Welcome to THE SPIN ROOM.
LOWRY: Hi, Joie. How are you doing?
CHEN: Great.
Hey, so, you know, Florida has a lot more going for it than just some cutting-edge ballot designers. It is certainly no
stranger to the spotlight of national politics. You'll remember Key Biscayne and Nixon's Florida White House. So,
of course, everybody wants to vacation in Florida, but, after this week, you political junkies have plenty more reason to
set your sights on the Sunshine State.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHEN (voice-over): Watch your steps, everyone. Florida's boom started in the middle of the last century, turning
what once was the South's least populous state into the sun and fun capital of the world. Now it's the center of the po-
litical universe. Just think of the tourist slogans they'll come up with now.
"Florida, where every ballot is an adventure."
ANDRE FLADELL, PALM BEACH COUNTY VOTER: I went into a place expecting a simple, fair ballot. I got a
crossword puzzle with some configuration no one had ever told me about.
CHEN: Try this one. "Florida, where you may get to vote until you get it right." Or "Florida, where the recount keeps
going and going and going."
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: This is democracy in action. If you want simplicity, just go about 70 miles south of Florida,
and you've got Cuba, and they're very simple. They have no elections.
CHEN: OK. Maybe this one is a stretch. "Orange you glad you voted in Florida? Don't you wish everybody did?"
How about, "Welcome to Little Brother's Big Doghouse"? Here's one. "Florida, when it comes to politics, we don't
Mickey Mouse around."
doing so at the -- at the expense of our democracy.
CHEN: How does this grab you? "Florida, the state where we politicize politics!" "Retire here all your political
dreams."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHEN: A very Magic Kingdom, indeed, guys. You know, I have another idea. Something like, "Florida, bringing
anarchy to the United States." A leaderless society. I mean, this is great.
PRESS: I liked "Orange you glad you voted?"
CHEN: Do you like that one? "Orange you glad?"
What about you, Rich? Think any of those had potential with the Florida Tourism Board?
LOWRY: That's -- that's a -- the best -- the best thing about Florida, as far as I'm concerned, is Rush Limbaugh is based
there.
CHEN: In Palm Beach, isn't he?
LOWRY: Yeah, he is.
PRESS: In Palm Beach? There it is.
LOWRY: See, maybe -- maybe it is Buchanan country.
Page 788

PRESS: There's -- there's the conspiracy.
But, Joie, I saw today a -- somebody faxed to me an editorial that was in the Havana newspaper about the election in
Florida, and the headline was, "Banana Republic." Now when the Cubans start making fun of our election process...
LOWRY: Elian went the wrong place.
PRESS: Elian -- that's right. I think we may be in trouble.
Thanks, Joie. We'll get back to you in just a little bit.
And time to get the -- go to Tallahassee and get the report on the ground.
Our first guest tonight, David Royce, is an AP reporter, a longtime reporter there, in Tallahassee. He's been out there
getting all the numbers, reporting them to all the networks that -- so we've been keeping up to date.
Hey, David, good evening. Welcome to THE SPIN ROOM.
DAVID ROYCE, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS: Thanks. Good evening.
LOWRY: David, thanks. Thanks for joining us. Let us -- first, if we can get from you just what is the state of the
count at the moment.
ROYCE: Well, the last I checked with my desk, we're reporting that -- we've checked with about 6 -- with 66 of the 67
counties, and it looks like Bush is ahead by some 220-some-odd votes. I think it was a 229-vote spread, with all but
one of the counties we checked with. Our numbers are a little different from the states because, frankly, we're getting
them from the counties before they are. The AP is the largest news organization in the...
LOWRY: David, explain...
ROYCE: I was just going to say we're -- you know, we're huge, so -- so we can check with every county, which is what
we're doing.
LOWRY: Explain to us how that works. I mean, it seems extraordinary that the California secretary of state is unin-
formed on the question compared to you guys.
PRESS: Florida.
LOWRY: Sorry. Florida.
ROYCE: The Florida secretary. This -- the supervisors of -- this -- this is not actually taking place in Tallahassee,
even though, you know, the world's media is gathered here. This is happening in 67 counties around Florida where
these votes are being recounted by the county canvassing boards, the supervisors of elections, and some other local offi-
cials.
The AP is -- is a huge news organization, and we've -- we've got a lot of people, and that's how it's -- it's happening.
We've got people checking with every county at every county supervisor of elections to see what they are reporting as
their recount number. Those are the numbers we're going with.
PRESS: David, let me ask you this. When did you first start hearing about any problems in the count in Florida?
Particularly when did you start hearing that there might be problems in Palm -- in Palm Beach County?
ROYCE: We didn't start hearing -- the days are all running together for me a little bit now. I've been working for a
couple of straight days, but I -- we didn't start hearing about the problems in -- in Palm Beach until the middle of the
day yesterday.
Early on, it was clear that -- that the vote was so close in Florida that there was going to have to be a recount just be-
cause of what state law says about when you have to recount, which is when there's less than one-half of 1 percent of a
difference.
LOWRY: David, can you give us any idea -- is it at all possible that there are actually enough Buchanan supporters
there in Palm Beach to -- to have given that -- those number of votes to Pat?
ROYCE: I -- I don't know enough about Palm Beach County's voters to -- to tell you whether there are that many Bu-
chanan supporters. I -- for what it's worth, I know that, in our story today, Mr. Buchanan says he -- he doesn't think so.
I -- I don't know.
Page 789

PRESS: OK. David Royce, thanks so much for joining us from Tallahassee, and thanks for your good work down
there.
We've got a couple of members of Congress from Florida coming up here on -- in THE SPIN ROOM.
But, first, Rich, our first telephone call for the evening comes from -- Where else? -- Palm Beach, Florida. This is
Sade (ph).
Hey, Sade, good evening. Welcome to THE SPIN ROOM.
SADE: How are you tonight?
PRESS: I'm doing great. So what -- what's really happening down there? Did you vote? What was your experi-
ence?
SADE: Yes, I voted. I'm 30 years old. I voted Republican. I didn't really have any problem with the ballot at all.
The ballot itself had a number on it that corresponded to the number on the candidate that the ballot you are following to
vote on. When I pulled -- when I was done voting, I pulled my ballot out and checked my homework before I turned it
in to teacher. At no time in my life have I ever been able to go back and correct my homework or gotten problems cor-
rected on a test that I turned in. It's just simply not right.
PRESS: OK. All right. Sade, thank you. That's one person who certainly didn't...
LOWRY: Well, you know what this suggests to me? Perhaps it's only old Gore voters that were confused, Bill, so I
think you have a lot of explaining to do on that score. So the young -- the young Bush guys who want their Social
Security accounts are on the ball.
PRESS: That may be. That may be the -- that may be the case.
All right. Now to the Florida congressional delegation. One on each side join us right now. First of all, Democrat
Congressman Robert Wexler who represents the Palm Beach area and, of course is a Gore supporter, and joining us
from Tallahassee who -- he actually represents the Pensacola area of Florida. He's in Tallahassee tonight. Republi-
can Congressman Joe Scarborough who, of course, is a big George Bush supporter.
Congressman Scarborough...
REP. ROBERT WEXLER (D), FLORIDA: Bill, can I address -- can I -- Bill, can I address that comment because it's
very interesting what that -- that gentleman said? If you are...
PRESS: Go ahead, Congressman.
WEXLER: If you are, in fact, a Bush voter...
REP. JOE SCARBOROUGH (R), FLORIDA: You know, actually, Wexler -- Wexler is...
LOWRY: Please one at...
(CROSSTALK)
PRESS: Whoa, whoa, whoa. Stop. Stop, guys. Listen, this is not CROSSFIRE. This is THE SPIN ROOM. So
just calm down. I'd just like to have one at a time.
WEXLER: Yes.
PRESS: We'll give you plenty of time to talk.
Robert Wexler, you wanted to go first.
WEXLER: Absolutely.
PRESS: Please go ahead. And then Joe.
WEXLER: Yes. It -- I just wanted to address what the gentleman said because it's a very valid point. If you are a
Bush voter, it is highly unlikely you would have any confusion because George Bush was first on the ballot and his
punch number was first. The confusion with respect to Al Gore was that he was -- in fact, even though he was second
on the ballot, his punch number was third, and Pat Buchanan was second. So, while you were -- you would think if
Page 790

you were an Al Gore supporter that your punch number, which is -- in fact, on the ballot would be second right after
George Bush, but it wasn't. It was third.
LOWRY: OK. Congressman -- Congressman, we're going to throw up the ballot here, and, granted, some people may
have found it confusing. I think it's pretty clear because you know where the arrow -- arrows are going. The num-
bers correspond on the punch holes to the candidate. So let me -- let me ask you this.
WEXLER: No, they don't.
LOWRY: Let me ask you this.
WEXLER: Not -- not necessarily.
LOWRY: Congressman -- Congressman, please, let me -- let me ask you this. You go into the voting booth.
WEXLER: Sure.
LOWRY: You see this ballot. You are confused. Don't you have a responsibility to ask someone and make sure that
you are voting for the right person? This is important business. You're electing the next president of the United
States. What would you do if you were confused by the ballot?
WEXLER: It is very important business, and you must understand that when you put the ballot into the -- the form in
which it fits, if you do not have a perfect fit, if you look at the word "Democratic," for instance, it corresponds exactly
to Pat Buchanan's punch number. You would think in an...
LOWRY: What would you do?
WEXLER: ... important thing like the -- excuse me. You would think you could rely upon the law and that is the law
says in Florida Al Gore should be second on the ballot and the second punch number. He was not.
SCARBOROUGH: All right.
WEXLER: Yes, you can ask questions, but what also is the practice...
PRESS: OK. Congressman...
WEXLER: ... I know, in Palm Beach County is you only have five minutes to vote.
PRESS: Congressman -- Congressman got to go. Got to go.
Congressman Joe Scarborough, I want to make a promise to you. We've heard one side of this Palm Beach question. I
know there's another side, I know you want to talk about it, and you are up first after we come back from a break, and
you get the word as -- until you are finished with it.
But, right now, there is other news happening in the world tonight -- today, and we're going to check in with our Joie
Chen in Atlanta to tell us what's been going on.
Joie, what's the hard news of the day?
(CNN NEWS)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PRESS: The uncertainty continues. Welcome back to THE SPIN ROOM. I'm Bill Press. Rich Lowry is here to-
night filling in for Tucker Carlson.
We want to hear from you. By phone, 1-800-310-4CNN. Our chat room. Join it at cnn.com. And you can e-mail
us. We've had 7,500 e- mails so far in just 15 minutes. Send them in to spin@cnn.com.
Speaking of e-mails -- our congressmen are ready to join us very briefly here -- e-mail from Bill, Rich. He says, "Re-
vote in Palm Beach only. Yeah, that's smart. Let the people that can't figure out a ballot decide who's the next presi-
dent."
LOWRY: I think that's a -- that's an excellent point. You know, some -- one of these confused voters was on TV the
other day saying he thought he voted for the wrong person, but he didn't ask anyone after he left the voting booth be-
cause he was too embarrassed. Well, if you're too embarrassed, you know, my opinion is that's tough luck.
Page 791

But let me -- let me throw -- throw one at you here, Bill. This is Frank from Victoria, British Columbia. "Surely the
recount of Florida, which has been trending back towards Gore, leads one to the reasonable conclusion that systematic
manipulation in favor of Jeb Bush's brother has occurred. As an interested viewer from Canada, I have been marveling
at the U.S. election process for months. That is in question now."
Now, as an American patriot, Bill, this hurts, that Canadians are laughing and mocking our -- our great electoral pro-
cess.
PRESS: I know. Those two Bush brothers. What are they up to?
OK. Now let's go back to our congressmen.
Congressman Joe Scarborough -- Joe...
SCARBOROUGH: Yeah.
PRESS: ... you just heard your colleague, Robert Wexler, talk about the situation in Palm Beach. Nineteen thousand
ballots, he says, are lost. You don't think the -- Congressman, that that's any problem at all? No?
SCARBOROUGH: You know, first -- first of all, let me say -- and I was about to say this before -- this show started out
with you trying to ask me a question. You can tell you who's supporting Al Gore here because, like Al Gore, it was
like an SNL skit, he interrupted you and the question and then held the floor for five minutes.
But let me tell you -- you -- we do need to look at the Palm Beach deal. We need to get the recounts. We need to
have all the -- all the challenges done. That's fine. But everybody needs to stay calm and be grownups about this.
I was on this show a couple of hours ago where a guy that I've known for six years that I've never had any problems
with called me a liar five times in like a 30-second spin. Everybody needs to calm down.
I do want to say, though, you've got to look at sort of the M.O. right now that's going on, and you -- you've got to tip
your hands to the Democrats. They've been very aggressive and played political hardball.
They started out with a story yesterday morning, which was, "Oh -- oh, my gosh, the Republicans have stolen the elec-
tion because African-Americans in Miami weren't able to vote in a certain precinct because the box was stolen and put
here or there." They found crayons in there.
And then after that story was shot down after six hours, the next story was Pat Buchanan could never get 3,000 votes in
Palm -- Palm Beach County. Then we find out that Pat Buchanan got over 8,000 votes four years ago.
So now the new story is 19,000 votes have been stolen. This has never happened before? Certainly, it never hap-
pened in Cook County or Philadelphia, did it? Nineteen thousand votes discounted. Then we find out in Palm Beach
County just four years ago, 15,000 votes -- 15,000 votes were also thrown out. It's the same exact thing, and the turn-
out was lower back then.
So we're -- we're all in the same sort of category, but I'll tell you what. This 19,000-vote controversy will be dis-
missed. It's not going to have an effect on it.
We'll guarantee you tomorrow morning they will come up with a new story. They're great at this. They have a new
story at this...
PRESS: OK. OK. All right. All right.
SCARBOROUGH: ... they have a new story every day.
PRESS: All right. Just a second. Go ahead.
LOWRY: Let's get Congressman Wexler in -- in here again.
Congressman Wexler, I know you're...
WEXLER: Please. LOWRY: ... a great -- a great advocate of no voters having any sort of upset or everything being
made very easy and simple for them. So do you think that there should be a revote in those areas in the Panhandle where
the -- the election had already been called by the networks in Florida so that may have discouraged some voters from
turning out and voting for Bush in that area?
Page 792

WEXLER: For me, this is not about Bush or Gore. Every voter in Florida, every voter in America must have the op-
portunity to cast his or her ballot in a proper way and have it counted appropriately. This is not about Democrat or
Republican.
But let me address Mr. Scarborough's numbers. Joe respectfully is repeating the numbers that the Bush campaign
stated earlier in the day with respect to the number of votes in Palm Beach County that were discarded. Those num-
bers are false. The number of 14,000 votes as being discarded because people voted for two candidates in 1996 in
Palm Beach County is wrong. The actual number is about half that number. So let's not confuse the numbers. The
Bush campaign needs to use the appropriate numbers, and the numbers here speak for themselves.
And, please, let's not start making fun of voters. Nineteen thousand people voted...
PRESS: All right, Congressman.
WEXLER: ... for two people for president. That -- this is not one person or a silly group of people.
SCARBOROUGH: What about people...
PRESS: All right. Time for -- time for a break, Congressman. Stay tuned there. We'll be right back to you.
And when we come back, also, you know, you talk about confusing forms. Nobody could show the confusion better
than Jeannie Moos. She's got a great little story for us when we come back on THE SPIN ROOM.
And more of your e-mails coming up.
Rich Lowry and Bill Press in THE SPIN ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PRESS: OK.
LOWRY: Welcome back to SPIN ROOM. I'm Rich Lowry sitting in for Tucker Carlson here with Bill Press spinning
away.
But we want to hear your spin too. Call us, 1-800-310-4CNN. Chat with us, CNN.com. E-mail us your "Spin of the
Day" nominations. That's spin@cnn.com.
PRESS: Yes, get those "Spin of the Day" nominations in. Here's an e-mail from Michael from Atlanta: "I am a fierce
Democrat. But I only want Gore to be elected if he gets the electoral vote in Florida without going to court. It will
hurt my party in the long run."
Interesting about when to stop.
LOWRY: High principle there, Bill.
PRESS: There it is, and from a Democrat.
LOWRY: I've got one from Pete Lopez: "If George W. wins without a revote in Palm Beach, he's going to know how
O.J. Simpson feels, enjoying a result he never deserved."
Maybe he'll take up golf, too, though.
PRESS: Even I think it's cruel to compare George W. to O.J.
LOWRY: It is. It is cruel.
PRESS: Telephone calls coming in too. Here is Marnel (ph) calling us from Illinois.
Hello, Marnel. Good evening. Welcome to THE SPIN ROOM.
CALLER: Hi, thank you. I just want to know, if we the people vote for a president for their honesty and fairness to
represent the people, if Bush wins under these circumstances being this close, knowing about all the votes thrown out,
how could we respect a person like that to lead us, plus knowing about all the popular votes?
PRESS: OK, Marnel, good question. I think either one of these guys is going to have a tough time, whoever gets
there, with this slim vote.
LOWRY: It's tough. It could be a tainted victory.
Page 793

PRESS: Yeah.
LOWRY: Either way, and that's why...
(CROSSTALK)
LOWRY: Yeah, we have Ken (ph) from North Dakota on the line. Ken, what do you have to tell us?
CALLER: Well, basically I'm sitting up here in the middle of the winter country. And it sounds like whether it's
Democrat or a Republican, whether you're a politician or a private citizen that everybody else there is acting like chil-
dren.
They say they got messed up on the voting. Well, you went to school as a child. You learned how to read and write
and follow the lines. How come you couldn't basically follow the line?
PRESS: All right, Ken, I hear you. We'll have to send Ken down to Palm Beach to ask those 19,000 people that ques-
tion. LOWRY: Education reform, Bill.
PRESS: Education reform.
LOWRY: Where's accountability?
PRESS: That's right. And we're going to get to our legal expert in just a second. But again, we've got to keep our eye
on what's really happening out there in addition to this great uncertainty across the United States.
Let's check in again with Joie Chen in Atlanta for another look at the news of the day.
Hi, Joie.
CHEN: Hi, Bill. You know it's going to be like the movie "Groundhog Day" in the morning paper. The front page is
still going to be about Florida.
But back there on page two or three, you may see that Yasser Arafat was back at the White House today. President
Clinton still thinks he can talk the Mid-East players into peace, or at least into not fighting.
Well, Arafat is looking for a UN force to protect Palestinians. So you can figure that he's going to use today's Israeli
missile strike to make his point when he talks to the Security Council.
Smoke marked the spot where the strike hit. It killed one of Arafat's commanders and two women bystanders.
Israel says the commander was a terrorist mastermind. And it's bracing itself for Palestinians to hit back.
That's a look at some of the news you're going to see in the paper tomorrow morning.
Hey, Bill.
PRESS: OK, thanks, Joie. Thank you very much.
And coming back to you for a special segment in just a minute. I can't wait.
Now, as we told you, for a look at the legal side all these questions about Florida, we're joined now by Carol Laham.
Carol is an election law attorney specialist with the office here in Washington of Wiley (ph), Rhine (ph), and Fielding
(ph).
Good evening, Carol. Thanks for joining us.
CAROL LAHAM, FORMER FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION STAFF ATTORNEY: Hi. How are you?
PRESS: Good to have you here. LOWRY: Carol, Carol, thanks for joining us. Now let me ask you this, Carol.
When does a ballot stop just being confusing and become illegal and grounds for overturning an election?
LAHAM: Well, that's a very fine question. And I'm not sure we know the answer to that question. What has to hap-
pen is that there has to be a substantial irregularity in the voting in that district in Florida for the court to overturn the
election or maybe to possibly call a new election in that district.
PRESS: Carol, let me ask you this. First of all, who has standing to challenge an election in Florida? I mean, can
anybody from any state just go in there and say this was rigged, this wasn't right?
Page 794

LAHAM: No, what Florida law allows for is for a voter in the state of Florida to go in and challenge the election, con-
test the election, saying that there was something about the ballot or about the election that was unfair or confusing.
It's unclear exactly what their challenge is going to be. But they can state a cause of action to the court.
PRESS: Now we saw earlier, Riz showed the ballot, we've seen that over and over again, on the screen a little earlier.
But I want to show you just quickly a couple of sections of Florida election law and coming back and ask you about the
ballot.
The first thing it says, it does say in the Florida election law that the vote for a candidate -- you vote for a candidate
whose name is printed on the ballot. You place a cross mark in the blank space at the right of the name.
And it also says that the names of the candidates, the names of the candidates of the party which received the second
highest vote for governor shall be second under the heading for each office.
Now on this ballot as we've seen, the mark for Pat Buchanan was to the left, not to the right. And Pat Buchanan was
second, not Al Gore. So on the face of it, in your opinion, was that ballot in Palm Beach County even a legal ballot?
LAHAM: Well, I don't think we know the answer to that.
PRESS: That's why I'm asking you.
LAHAM: Yeah, I think though that what the law says is for a written ballot it has to be to the right of the candidate.
And the ballots that we're talking about are not written ballots. So I think that's going to be one of the issues in the
court that they're going to look at.
And for other ballots, for ballots that are on a voting machine or electronic ballots, it says that you need to be as close as
possible to that written ballot. But it does not have to be identical to the written ballot.
LOWRY: Carol, it seems to me that election challenges and recounts, they're a little bit like baseball games being
played under protest. You know, there's a lot of sound and fury.
But ultimately, nothing changes. And the person who won always ends up winning.
Is that true? And can you think of any example of a case you've been involved with where a result has been over-
turned for similar reasons?
LAHAM: It's very rare for a case to be overturned, for especially the reasons that we're talking about in Florida, which
is voter confusion. I'm not aware of any single case that's been overturned for that reason.
There have been cases that have been overturned for fraud reasons. And that's an entirely different allegation than
what's going on here today.
PRESS: OK, Carol, lots more questions for you. But we've got lots more time too coming up. We'll be back in THE
SPIN ROOM.
Don't forget, get those nominations in for "Spin of the Day" coming up at the end of the hour. We'll be back for a lot
more questions.
And also, we're going to have "News of the Weird" tonight for the first time.
LOWRY: Weirder than this, Bill?
PRESS: Weirder than this. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LOWRY: Welcome back to SPIN ROOM. I'm Rich Lowry sitting here with Bill Press spinning away.
PRESS: And, Rich, this story, talk about stories that will not go away, we just heard that the relatives of Elian Gonzalez
from Miami have now officially complained, or at least they're moaning, that the new attorney representing Al Gore in
this case for the recount is the same attorney who represented them. They say they've been betrayed by this guy.
LOWRY: I bet the Gonzalez family got their votes right.
PRESS: I wonder whether they did.
All right, Carol Laham is with us. She is an election law expert joining us here in Washington.
Page 795

Carol, we want to ask you about the Electoral College, but first about what remedies might be possible in Palm Beach
County. Is it possible that the judge in Palm Beach County could order an entire new election for that county? And
in that case, would only those who voted last Tuesday be able to vote in the next one?
LAHAM: I think it is possible for the judge to do that, although it would be highly unlikely, frankly.
PRESS: Wow.
LAHAM: And then, the question becomes who does he allow to vote? Does he only allow those people that voted the
first time to come and vote? Or does he allow anybody in the county that's registered to come and vote?
And then further there's a question about will people change their votes when they come and do that?
LOWRY: Sure. I'm sure no one would.
LAHAM: No, never.
LOWRY: Carol, let me ask you this, a story that's more and more confusing. I suspect if the Gore campaign doesn't
succeed in this legal challenge, they may go to electors and try to sway them and try to get them to change...
PRESS: No...
LOWRY: ... I know this is shocking to you, Bill. But just hypothetically...
(CROSSTALK)
LOWRY: ... imagine this scenario. Carol, what is the law there? What are the rules? Can any elector at the end of
the day vote any way he or her pleases?
LAHAM: Well, this is another question of state law. And apparently there are at least 25 states that allow electors to
change their votes without any ramifications at all. So if I were the Gore campaign, I'd go to those 25 states and those
electors in those states and try to convince them first.
PRESS: But even in those states, my understanding is where elector says -- the law says you have vote the way -- you
have to be a party hat. You have to vote the way your party tells you. You would only pay a fine. They're not go-
ing to shoot you at sunrise, right?
LAHAM: Right. Exactly.
LOWRY: Bush needs the party hacks to come through for him, obviously.
PRESS: Gore may need the party hacks to come through for him. And if -- a quick question, quick answer. If there is
another election in Palm Beach County, there's nothing preventing the candidates from campaigning again, all over
again, in Palm Beach County while they're waiting for that election, correct?
LAHAM: No, nothing preventing that at all.
PRESS: Oh, my God.
LOWRY: We're going to have Al Gore rallies in Palm Beach at 3 a.m. again. Thirty hours straight campaigning just in
Palm Beach.
PRESS: No, those two candidates...
(CROSSTALK)
PRESS: ... George Bush and Al Gore are going to take every one of the voters in Palm Beach County out to dinner for
the next election.
All right, Carol Laham, thanks so much for joining us, Carol.
Rich, we start new things on this show all the time. So the great things about SPIN ROOM, "Spin of the Day" pops
up, we have all this new stuff.
Tonight we have a new future. It's called "News of the Weird." I think we borrowed it from "Mad" magazine or
something like that.
But Joie Chen is the brave one who's going to launch this new feature for us, our partner in Atlanta.
Page 796

CHEN: I'm out on a limb here.
PRESS: All right, Joie...
CHEN: I'm out on a limb, OK.
PRESS: ... Be as weird as you can be. Let's go.
CHEN: ... I've been as weird as I can be for most of this program. But anyway, we've been looking at our sources try-
ing to find news that isn't ready for prime time, but is worth a spin. So here goes.
CNN has learned, as I say that authoritatively enough, that Al Gore voted for George W. Bush. Yeah, really. Of
course, this Al Gore would be the one who's a 72-year-old shoe salesman in Yakima, Washington.
Mr. Gore says the only Democrat he's ever voted for in a presidential election was Harry Truman. That would be in
'48.
We know what Democrats are thinking. But, no, what you're about to see here is not the Florida recount. It is the
smashing pumpkins day at the National Zoo in Washington. OK, make a liar out of me. We don't have the pictures
of it.
All right, well, it's the Elephant Annual Pumpkin Stomp. And it's part of a recycling program used for the Halloween
programs for pumpkins up there.
All right, let's go back to the subject of the election then. Here is an excuse we haven't heard from the folks in Florida.
This is it.
We didn't get out ballots to the county clerk's office because a 300- to 400-pound bear was camped outside our door.
That's the excuse from Redmond Township, Michigan.
At least the officials inside the township hall used their time well. They counted the ballots while they were waiting.
The bear never did leave the door.
They finally called the police, who as you know carry guns. You don't need to ask what happened. You could say
that the bear was disenfranchised, I'm sorry to say.
But this is supposed to be a happy program. So we won't talk about it.
LOWRY: We need to get Congressman Wexler on that case I think clearly.
CHEN: The bear wanted his vote to count.
LOWRY: Yeah.
PRESS: We'll find out who planted the bear at the door. But I will admit something. I've actually been to the pump-
kin stomp at the Washington National Zoo.
(CROSSTALK)
CHEN: ... recycle or what?
PRESS: No, they throw all these pumpkins in the elephant cage there. And the elephants go around and stomp them
down. And they actually sort of eat them as well as they can with their trunks. It's kind of fun to watch.
LOWRY: Do they seem to really enjoy it, having a good time?
PRESS: I think they were having as much fun as the voters were in Palm Beach County.
Joie, thanks very much. OK, we're going to take a break. And when we come back, what you've been waiting for,
the "Spin of the Day." We've already got some of your nominations here. We'll be reading those.
Plus, Rich Lowry's "Spin of the Day" and my "Spin of the Day" coming up in THE SPIN ROOM here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PRESS: OK, welcome back to THE SPIN ROOM. I'm Bill Press here with Rich Lowry tonight. He's sitting in for
Tucker Carlson. Tucker will be back tomorrow night. It's time for the "Spin of the Day."
Page 797

Our first one is a telephone call, Rich.
LOWRY: Thanks, Bill. We have Shawna (ph) from Ohio who has a "Spin of the Day" for us.
Shawna.
PRESS: Hi, Shawna.
CALLER: Hello?
PRESS: Hi, Shawna. You're on. What's your "Spin of the Day."
CALLER: Yes. I think we should have a -- pick a day at random, either by lottery or otherwise, and have a do it all
over again as a nation and because no candidate is going to be able to assume the office with any kind of respect from
the rest of the country under these circumstances.
PRESS: All right...
CALLER: I'm also very disappointed in the media...
PRESS: ... OK, Shawna...
CALLER: ... in all of the wisecracks against the elderly.
PRESS: ... All right, Shawna, thank you so much for the call. That's just what we need, another national election.
Here's Jonathan (ph) from Memphis, Tennessee: "My 'Spin of the Day' nomination is actually what may be the spin of
the race. I think Bush should have reconsidered his plea to Gore supporters at the end of the final debate when he
asked them to vote only once."
(LAUGHTER)
LOWRY: That's a very good spin.
PRESS: Wasn't that good?
(CROSSTALK)
LOWRY: Here's my favorite e-mail "Spin of the Day." Scott from Arkansas: "Here's a "Spin of the Day" I'm sick of.
Since when did the term disenfranchised come to mean my guy didn't win?"
PRESS: Whenever your guy didn't win.
LOWRY: Exactly.
PRESS: Whenever your guy didn't win, that's disenfranchised. All right, your "Spin of the Day." As a guest, I'm going
to let you take the first.
LOWRY: Thanks, Bill. That's very gracious.
My favorite "Spin of the Day" I went to the most reliable source for egregious spin, who is Jesse Jackson. Jesse Jack-
son has Selma on the brain. This is what he said earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JESSE JACKSON, FOUNDER, RAINBOW-PUSH COALITION: In many ways, Tuesday fulfilled the promise of
Selma, Alabama. It also fulfilled the promise of the sacrificed blood of blacks and Jews across the century.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LOWRY: Well, he...
PRESS: I just -- it is over the top.
LOWRY: ... Let's get this straight. You know, Decatur, Illinois, kids are suspended from school, Selma, Alabama.
Houston, Texas, challenge to affirmative action, Selma, Alabama. Someone needs to tell this guy it's not 1965 any-
more.
Page 798

PRESS: I think he was over the top. I've got to ask, I've got time for my spin here, right? Yes indeed. OK. This
is mine.
This is my nominee for the spinner of the race is Karen Hughes, Bush's communications director. And here she is to-
day explaining what this is all about.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAREN HUGHES, BUSH COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: But I do think the people who raised the issue of the
popular vote, it is interesting to look at it in context and realize that Governor Bush earned more popular votes than
President Clinton did during both of his two previous elections.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PRESS: I just want to point out, so George Bush got more votes than Bill Clinton did in '92 or '96. OK. Number
two, or number one, so did Al Gore. Number two, it doesn't mean anything. The question is did he win or not? He
lost the popular vote. Why do people who are so smart get up and say things that are so dumb?
LOWRY: I can't believe you're being so dismissive here. You know, Bush probably got more votes than Lincoln,
more votes than FDR. This has to count for something, doesn't it? What does it take to please you? What does it
take?
PRESS: I repeat my question. Why do people that you and I know, and know are so smart, say things so dumb?
LOWRY: You know why?
PRESS: I guess it -- you know what, does it come with the job?
LOWRY: It's what they're paid for. Exactly.
PRESS: It's what they're paid to do.
LOWRY: Capitalism at work, Bill.
PRESS: You know what they're paid to do? They're paid to spin.
LOWRY: True. That's why they spin. That's the way the free market works.
PRESS: That's what...
LOWRY: You pay someone to spin, they spin.
PRESS: ... That's what makes it work.
Rich Lowry, thanks for joining us tonight.
LOWRY: Thanks for having me, Bill. My pleasure.
PRESS: All right, great to have you here. We're out of THE SPIN ROOM for tonight.
Tucker Carlson will be back tomorrow night. Same time, 11:00 Eastern, 8:00 Pacific. And look for us this weekend.
Also, Saturday and Sunday THE SPIN ROOM is going to be open.
So for Rich Lowry, our guest spinner tonight, for Joie Chen in Atlanta, for me, Bill Press, good night, everybody. Spin
away. Have a good night.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


Page 799

All Rights Reserved
Page 800



NOVEMBER 9, 2000 Thursday SF EDITION

19,000 BALLOTS DISQUALIFIED IN FLORIDA IN PALM BEACH COUN-
TY, A SUIT CLAIMS THE BALLOT WAS SO CONFUSING MANY DON'T
KNOW WHO THEY VOTED FOR.

BYLINE: Richard Lezin Jones, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER


LENGTH: 1043 words


More than 19,000 ballots were disqualified on election night in a Palm Beach County, election officials revealed yes-
terday.
The announcement came after three county voters filed a lawsuit calling for a revote here, alleging that the county
punch-card ballot was so confusing that they mistakenly had voted for Reform Party candidate Patrick J. Buchanan in-
stead of Vice President Gore.
The election officials said that 19,120 ballots from Palm Beach County had showed votes for more than one presidential
candidate. Those votes were nullified and not included in the count.Gore won the county by more than 110,000 votes,
but the 3,407 votes for Buchanan were far more than he garnered anywhere else in Florida, and nearly a fifth of his
statewide total. They also outstrip the fewer than 2,000 votes separating Gore from Republican George W. Bush in the
original Florida vote tally, whose recount will determine the outcome of the presidential election.
"At first, they believed it was their own error," Henry Handler, the plaintiffs' attorney, told the Dow Jones News Ser-
vice. "But they discovered later in the press accounts that they were not alone. They feel the ballot was so deceiving that
they were disenfranchised."
The new ballot layout so many Palm Beach County voters found troubling resembles a double-sided booklet. Some
voters said that it featured so many names (10 presidential candidates and space for a write-in) and that its circles and
arrows were arrayed in such a way that they still aren't sure for whom they voted.
"I looked at it and looked at it and looked at it," Elise Richel, 68, recalled yesterday, "and I went through the entire bal-
lot and I said, 'Did I do it right?' I think I did it right. But it was so easy to do it wrong. I have to tell you, that ballot was
so confusing."
The Palm Beach County lawsuit - filed by Delray Beach City Commissioner Alberta McCarthy, Delray chiropractor
Andre Fladell and West Palm Beach homemaker Lillian Gaines - added to the muddle already created by the recount,
the unknown number of absentee ballots still outstanding, and a shower of other allegations of voting irregularities
around the state.
"That ballot in Palm [Beach] County is really misleading," Democratic National Committee general chairman Edward
G. Rendell said at a news conference in Philadelphia yesterday, indicating that the party is prepared to ask for a revote.
Page 801
19,000 BALLOTS DISQUALIFIED IN FLORIDA IN PALM BEACH COUNTY, A SUIT CLAIMS THE BALLOT
WAS SO CONFUSING MANY DON'T KNOW WHO THEY VOTED FOR. The Philadelphia Inquirer

"You go into court, have witnesses who say, 'I didn't know what I was doing.' You show it to an expert who says Bu-
chanan could not have gotten that many votes, and you ask everybody to vote again. It's obviously a very extreme rem-
edy, we have to make a very strong case.. . . Clearly something went wrong. There's no way he [Buchanan] got 3,600
votes there."
Minnie Heimlich of Delray agreed. "My neighbors are crying because their vote went to Pat Buchanan and they can't
stand it," she said. "I could cry.
"I'm a grandmother . . . but I'm very alert, I'm wide awake," said Heimlich, who declined to give her age. "But some of
my contemporaries have slowed up. They wouldn't have known if that hole was for Buchanan."
Democratic Rep. Robert Wexler, whose district included part of the county, produced a memorandum issued by Elec-
tions Supervisor Theresa LePore, a Democrat, around 5 p.m. on Election Day that hinted at the confusion among voters.
The memo told poll workers to remind all voters "that they are to vote only for one presidential candidate and that they
are to punch the hole next to the arrow next to the number next to the candidate they wish to vote for."
"Hundreds of people spoke to me yesterday before the polls closed about their extraordinary confusion. I myself when I
went to the polls was confused," Wexler said. "I saw the people who came out of the polling places. They were crying.
They were in tears. In hysterics."
Republican officials were skeptical. "In the end there will be 46,000 people claiming they voted for Pat Buchanan by
mistake," said U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, a Palm Beach Republican.
He told the Los Angeles Times that the missed-punchhole argument was "a stretch of the imagination" and asserted that
Buchanan easily could have polled 3,407 votes in a county that gave Foley's own ultraconservative, Reform Party con-
gressional opponent 2,651 votes on Tuesday.
"I saw them going to the polls with Confederate flags flying on their trucks," said Foley, who said Democrats were
grasping at straws.
He and others said the ballot had been reviewed and approved by both major political parties and by state election regu-
lators.
LePore declined to comment. A staffer said her office would finish its recount before considering any other complaints
from the public.
"People are up in arms here," said Richel, a former Bala Cynwyd resident. "Their ballots have effectively been made
null and void."
"Yes, I'm a Gore supporter," she said. "But if my candidate lost in a legitimate election or if it wasn't crucial, I would
say 'OK.' But if he didn't win because of an unfair advantage, that's where the outrage comes in. You know, this could
have made the difference. You cannot elect a president of the United States this way."
She added, "We have a lot of people here who are concentration camp survivors. They earned the right to democracy."
Under the format used by the county - and adopted this year because of the large number of presidential hopefuls - can-
didates were listed with holes to the right or the left of each of their names.
The top hole was for Bush, who was listed at top left; the second hole was for Buchanan, who was at top right. A vote
for Gore required marking the third hole, listed under Bush on the left.
"When ballots are placed in the slide for voting, Al Gore and Joe Lieberman are the second names on the ballot, but the
third hole to punch," Florida Democratic Party Communications Director Bill Buck said in a statement.
Arrows meant to link candidates' names to their respective holes may have only served to further confuse some vot-
ers-particularly the elderly, who make up large percentage of the county's population.
Richard Lezin Jones' e-mail address is rjones@phillynews.com
The Miami Herald also contributed to this story.


Page 802
19,000 BALLOTS DISQUALIFIED IN FLORIDA IN PALM BEACH COUNTY, A SUIT CLAIMS THE BALLOT
WAS SO CONFUSING MANY DON'T KNOW WHO THEY VOTED FOR. The Philadelphia Inquirer

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

GRAPHIC: PHOTO

All Rights Reserved
Page 803



June 28, 1998 Sunday, METRO

WHEN JEB BUSH SPEAKS, BLACKS, JEWS ALSO LISTEN

BYLINE: By Buddy Nevins SUN-SENTINEL, SOUTH FLORIDA

SECTION: A SECTION; Pg. A8

LENGTH: 1265 words

These days voters can find the millionaire preppie son of a former president in unexpected places:
One day Jeb Bush is in a Sunrise synagogue, a yarmulke on his head, swaying from side to side while praying with de-
vout Jews. On another day he is marching in the Florida A&M homecoming parade, where hundreds of blacks along the
sidewalk in Tallahassee are surprised that a white Republican would show up.
He has spent hours courting influential Jews one-by-one in Boca Raton and has followed a comedian onto the stage of a
Plantation nightclub to woo a largely black audience.
Jeb Bush is not the traditional Republican candidate for governor. GOP hopefuls have historically concentrated on the
party's hard-core base - white men. Bush did the same when he ran for governor in 1994. But this time around he doesn't
have a contentious primary and doesn't have to concentrate on Republican voters. This has allowed him the luxury of
campaigning among groups that vote heavily for Democrats.
"I'm campaigning more outside our base than any Republican in this state ever has," Bush said.
Bush is targeting blacks and Jews. He calls it his outreach program. The political goal is to gnaw away at the Demo-
cratic vote and the thin margin that cost Bush the 1994 election. Bush lost Florida by just 63,940 votes out of more than
4 million cast.
If just a few thousand more of the state's black or Jewish voters cast ballots for Bush, he wins this time around.
"The Democrats need every black and Jew they can get. Bush doesn't need to win every one, just whittle a few away
from the Democrats. If he does that, he wins," said Jim Kane, editor of Florida Voter, a nonpartisan political journal.
Bush also has a personal goal for his outreach program. The offspring of white American aristocracy, he grew up iso-
lated from blacks and Jews. Now at 42, he wants to learn more about all Floridians.
"I have a chance to be with people I normally wouldn't be with - to learn from them. It will make me a better governor,"
Bush said.
POLLS: BUSH TACTICS WORK
Polls and voters say Bush's tactics are working. About one out of 20 blacks voted for Bush four years ago. The March
and May surveys by the Florida Voter indicate Bush now is getting 15 percent of black support.
None of the Florida political surveys has offered a breakdown of the Jewish vote. Anecdotal evidence indicates that he
is making inroads in a community that usually votes 9 to 1 for Democrats.
Bush spoke this month at Temple Beth Israel in Sunrise. More than 200 people were at the Sabbath service to hear
Bush, more than double the usual attendance.
Buddy MacKay, the Democratic front-runner, was invited but never returned the phone calls.
Page 804
WHEN JEB BUSH SPEAKS, BLACKS, JEWS ALSO LISTEN Orlando Sentinel (Florida) June 28, 1998 Sunday,
METRO

Synagogue officials and the Bush campaign team think almost every member that was in the congregation on that
steamy Friday night is not only a registered voter but will vote this year. Almost every one had voted against Bush four
years ago.
Bush blames his poor showing four years ago on the Democrats' negative advertising. The relentless attack ads por-
trayed Bush as a dogmatic religious conservative, which the candidate said hurt him among groups such as those at
Temple Beth Israel.
The outreach program, in part, is an attempt to remake his image. "I became a one-dimensional person during that cam-
paign," Bush said. "I want to correct the wrong perceptions people might have about me."
So he respectfully sat on the bema facing the Temple Beth Israel officials through the hour-long religious service and
spent another hour answering questions and mixing with the congregation.
Bush said he is against prayer in school. He said he doesn't believe in enacting legislation dealing with religion.
Members of the congregation, who said they had a negative impression of Bush left over from the last campaign, were
surprised.
"He humanized himself. People who were antipathetic toward him at the beginning were asking to get their picture tak-
en with him later," said Jeffrey Siniaksky, a member of the temple's social action committee.
Andre Fladell, a Jewish activist in Delray Beach with such influence in Democratic circles that he is nicknamed The
Prince, said the outreach program has had an effect on him. He is leaning toward Bush.
"He is not throwing us bones. He is interested in us," Fladell said.
Fladell said Bush had even taken the time to learn how to play with a dreidel, the top-like toy Jewish children play with
at Hanukkah.
"I played dreidel with him at a get-together in Boca Grove, and any Republican who can play dreidel is taking us seri-
ously," Fladell said.
Fladell concedes that the Jewish community is more fertile ground in which to sow the seeds of a Bush candidacy this
year because of the Republican's big lead in polls.
LOGAN OUSTER BACKFIRED
In the black community, the Willie Logan incident has helped Bush's bid. Logan is the black state representative from
Opa-Locka dumped by white House Democrats as their leader last January. After Logan was deposed, angry black po-
litical leaders charged that the Democrats were unwilling to share power with their black allies.
Some blacks, including Logan, said the only way to achieve their goals was to become free agents - putting the state's
black votes up for grabs to see which candidate offers the most.
"Willie Logan has opened the door for Jeb Bush," said Russell Mootry, a professor of social science at heavily black
Bethune-Cookman College in Daytona Beach, where Bush has campaigned.
Bush also has had a heavy schedule of campaign stops in black churches, day-care centers and inner-city schools.
Blacks are paying attention.
"Many of us are saying, 'Why not listen to other voices?' His willingness to show up, his coming on our territory, has
many of the students willing to listen to Jeb," said Keith Simmonds, chairman of the history and political science de-
partment at Florida A&M University.
W. George Allen, 62, a prominent downtown Fort Lauderdale lawyer and longtime civil rights activist, agreed that Bush
is making inroads in the black community. But he warned that blacks shouldn't forget who their real friend is.
Allen attacks Bush as being interested in the black community only to win votes.
MacKay, who has battled for black civil rights for a generation, should be considered the natural inheritor of the black
vote, Allen said.
Page 805
WHEN JEB BUSH SPEAKS, BLACKS, JEWS ALSO LISTEN Orlando Sentinel (Florida) June 28, 1998 Sunday,
METRO

When Allen was the first black to earn a law degree at the University of Florida in 1962, MacKay stuck his neck out on
the then-segregated campus to help. He supported Allen's application to the law student association against opposition
from the all-white membership.
He fought the fight in 1960 when it wasn't popular and it was tough to do. Jeb Bush was still eating off his silver
spoon," Allen said. Jeb Bush is a Johnny-Come-Lately to this issue."
Allen lobbied in the 1970s for Florida A&M University. He knew he could rely on MacKay - then a state senator - to
keep money flowing to the traditionally black school.
"There were no blacks in the Legislature then. MacKay was our legislator," said Allen, who held a fund-raiser for
MacKay three months ago in Fort Lauderdale attended by about 100 blacks.
MacKay gently criticized the outreach program, warning Democratic ethnic voters that Bush is not what he seems.
"We've had stress in our party, which has allowed an opening," MacKay said. "Bush is moving to the center and acting
like a moderate now. But he's got an exclamation point in his bumper sticker, which indicates surprise.
"People will be surprised when they see the real Jeb Bush."


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

GRAPHIC: PHOTO: In Democratic territory. Last week in DeLand,
Jeb Bush made it a point to seek out minority students at Stark
Elementary.
ASSOCIATED PRESS

COLUMN: Elections 1998

Page 806



FINAL EDITION

OFFICERS GET TO KNOW EACH OTHER AT DELRAY GET-TOGETHER

BYLINE: By SIOBHAN MORRISSEY Palm Beach Post Staff Writer


LENGTH: 450 words


More than 100 police officers spent much of Labor Day laboring under the hot sun.
They sweated and strained, puffed and grunted as each tried to outdo the other in the seventh annual Delray Beach La-
bor Day Police Challenge.
Andre Fladell, a chiropractor and director of Delray Citizens for Delray Police, hosted the event with sponsorship from
NationsBank, Palm Beach Gym, Delray Chiropractic Center, Boston's on the Beach and Borrow Bros. Rent-All.
Fladell explained the premise of the competition, which was held on the beach across from Boston's.
``Crime knows no boundary, so often police officers from different departments have to work together,'' Fladell said.
``This is another way for the officers to get to know one another aside from on the other end of a walkie-talkie.''
Members of the Boca Raton, Boynton Beach and Delray Beach police departments and the Palm Beach County Sheriff's
Office participated.
Boca Raton took the pull-up contest hands down. The two-man, one-woman team muscled up 49 pull-ups. Sgt. Jim
O'Hara, 34, did 18. Detective Debbie Landoskey, 26, was the only woman to complete a pull-up. In fact, she completed
three.
But Boca's secret weapon was officer Ron Wong, 33, who completed 28 pull-ups. That was more than the entire sher-
iff's office and Delray Beach teams, which did 27 and 25 respectively.
Boynton Beach cornered the push-up contest, with an overall score of 177 among two men and one woman.
Officer Donald Bateson, 28, did 66; Officer Darren Delgado, 24, who was filling in for another officer, tied the record
of 76. But Bill D'Addio of Palm Beach Gym, who kept score, credits officer Debra Thornhill, 30, with the victory.
``She's the reason they won,'' D'Addio said, explaining that at 35 push-ups, Thornhill bested the other women by more
than 10 push-ups.
While the push-up contest was going on, Delray Beach racked up a victory in the tug-of-war competition with the team
that included officers Amy Sinnott, 24; Sherry Settelen, 36; Edward Robinson, 32; and Lennis Gillard, 41. Aside from
being the oldest competitor in the tug-of-war contest, Gillard may have been the biggest as well. The 280-pound officer
anchored his team and wore out the other team by digging in his heels and leaning back.
After all that work, some of the police officers and employees loaded up on carbohydrates in the grand finale piz-
za-eating contest.
Boca did not field a team because nobody on the force is good at that, confided Sgt. O'Hara.
Page 807
OFFICERS GET TO KNOW EACH OTHER AT DELRAY GET-TOGETHER Palm Beach Post (Florida) September
7, 1993 Tuesday

``That's typical of Boca, with the one pinkie up,'' laughed one Delray Beach officer.
Deputy Tim Moran, 29, and sheriff's office employee Jerri Owen, 23, proved to have the biggest appetites. They won by
wolfing down six slices in four minutes.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH



All Rights Reserved
Page 808



SOUTH COUNTY EDITION

VOICE OF WEST DELRAY DEMOCRATS TO STEP DOWN

BYLINE: By CHUCK McGINNESS, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer


LENGTH: 1509 words


To some, he's a dedicated community leader who has taken on big developers
and bureaucrats to bring improvements to the condominium dwellers in suburban Delray Beach.
Others see him as a stubborn and brash power broker who will do anything to get his way.
That's Jack Babich, you either love him or hate him.
As the founder and only president of the powerful West Delray Democratic Club, Babich has earned praise for his
community service and, at the same
time, found more than his share of controversy because of his abrupt style.
He engaged in a bitter, name-calling battle with neighboring commandos
over the site of a civic center, and he had a falling out with a longtime ally about naming the building in his honor.
Babich fought county Democratic executives over the right to endorse
candidates in primary elections, and he was on the losing side of changing the Palm Beach County Commission to sin-
gle-member districts.
The 82-year-old retired maitre d' from Long Island was feted at a
testimonial dinner Saturday by about 250 friends and politicians as he leaves his post Wednesday.
Babich started the club with 35 members in 1974 to look out for the
interests of his fellow retirees. The group's ranks swelled to 4,300, making
it one of the largest Democratic clubs in the state.
He attributes his success to his no-nonsense, get-to-the-point style of
lobbying. He has such a large following because he is the general on the front line, supporters said.
"I find him to be a very passionate spokesman for his constituency,"
County Commissioner Mary McCarty said. "Jack is very committed to getting
things for west Delray."
Babich sees himself as a community protector, the shepherd of his flock, said Andre Fladell, a south county activist
and longtime family friend. He
Page 809
VOICE OF WEST DELRAY DEMOCRATS TO STEP DOWN Palm Beach Post (Florida) October 4, 1992 Sunday

demands loyalty and is loyal to those under him.
"He is determined. He is persistent. He has a vision and nothing stops
him from getting to it," Fladell said. "Babich reflects west Delray."
Babich said the end of his reign as head of the west Delray club does not mean he won't be involved. He will serve as
president emeritus and continue to voice his opinion on important issues and elections.
The third of four children of Russian immigrant parents, Babich grew up
in the Wiliamsburg and Bushwood sections of Brooklyn. His desire to be a
leader goes back to his years as class president at Public School 147.
His father, Abraham, was a Democratic party captain in the 6th Assembly
District. He recalled how political hopefuls came to his house to ask his
father for advice.
"He used to tell me, `Son, remember this,' and he would read excerpts
from the Talmud about how one should be good to his brother. He always taught me to help people."
Babich wanted to be a lawyer, but his dream ended at the age of 19 when
his father died. He had to quit school and help his mother run the family
delicatessens.
A few years later, Babich along with his brother Jerry and a friend
opened a luncheonette in the garment district. He went into the catering
business and spent 10 years as maitre d' of the Turf and Field Club at Long
Island's Belmont Park before retiring in 1974.
"I fell into it," he said of his career. "I wasn't looking forward to
it, but I made the most of it. I went at it with a full heart and accomplished good things."
When he retired, Babich and his wife, Sandra, moved to a condo west of
Delray Beach. They had visited the area many times and liked it.
Babich said he soon realized that county commissioners paid little
attention to the community and its problems. He joined the Atlantic Democratic Club, but its leaders were more con-
cerned with happenings in Washington, he
said.
Recalling what his father taught him, he used grass-roots politicking to start his own club, assembling a powerful group
of condo captains and phone
squads. Today, his group has a 33-member board of directors, a network of 66
captains in about 20 neighborhoods and a monthly newsletter.
`CARRIES A LOT OF INFLUENCE'
Babich boasted that he can promise a candidate up to 15,000 votes.
However, he has lost some power with the County Commission since the start of single-member districts.
McCarty, a Republican, said condo leaders like Babich still have
influence, but must use a different strategy. Instead of bringing out masses
Page 810

of people to rally for an issue, they strike quiet deals to gain support.
"I think he still carries a lot of influence," said former County
Commissioner Dorothy Wilken, a candidate for Clerk of the Courts in the Nov. 3 election. "He's still able to reason with
people and make them change their
minds."
This year, Babich considered running for office because he felt County
Commissioner Carole Phillips ignored his people. Instead, he supported Burt
Aaronson and believes he had a big part in Aaronson's upset of Phillips in the Sept. 1 primary.
Aaronson, a member of the West Delray Democratic Club's board, said
Babich's support was instrumental, but others deserve just as much credit.
"Jack is a dedicated person and a dynamic leader. He's accomplished a
lot and, along the way, made a lot of friends and a lot of enemies," Aaronson said.
Signs of Babich's accomplishments can be seen around suburban Delray.
He badgered the state for five years before a sidewalk was built along
West Atlantic Avenue so it would be safer for residents to walk to synagogues and shopping centers along the road. He
raised $200,000 to beautify the
highway medians.
In some cases, it's what cannot be seen that's important. His group kept a flea market and a huge gas station off Military
Trail and Atlantic Avenue.
His detractors questioned Babich's wheeling and dealing methods. They
accused him of accepting donations from developers for the Atlantic Avenue
beautification in return for dropping his opposition to certain projects.
WANTS TO MAKE DIFFERENCE
He also is disliked because he plays hard-ball politics. "His motivation is clear, and that is to make a difference," Fladell
said.
Babich conceded he occasionally strikes a compromise.
"Whatever they want to call it, that's fine. I'm here to do what I feel
should be done," he said.
His most celebrated battle was over the site of the $2 million south
county civic center, but Babich said it was not his toughest. That came a
couple of years ago when he locked horns with a developer who refused to fix a friend's condo.
The fight over the location of the civic center brought Babich a lot of
notoriety, some not so flattering.
For 18 months, Babich and his supporters cursed and jabbed with residents who didn't want the center next to their
homes. At one meeting, a sheriff's
deputy had to break up a scuffle between Babich and a center opponent.
The county finally decided to put the meeting hall on a parcel near the
Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens-- the site Babich was adamantly against. But Babich said he did not consider
the outcome a loss. The county agreed to build a band shell, picnic grounds and a softball field at the Morikami
Page 811

site, facilities that would have been deleted if the center went on Hagen
Ranch Road.
"In his own way, he gets things done," said Fran Reich, a leader of the
West Boca Community Council. "He's concerned about the welfare of the people
in Delray."
A plan to name the civic center after Babich caused a nasty split with
his longtime vice president, Murray Kalish, in December. Angry that Babich
wanted to take all of the credit for the center, Kalish quit and started his
own club.
The walls of the office at his Villages of Oriole condo are filled with
plaques, letters of appreciation and photographs of Babich mingling with
prominent Democrats, including Gov. Lawton Chiles, U.S. Sen. Bob Graham and
U.S. Rep. Harry Johnston.
Babich proudly says he has never supported a Republican. In this month's edition of his club's newsletter, Babich wrote
about the importance of voting for "the right candidates."
"At election time, being a Republican means, `Put up your fists.' After the election, it's, `Let's have a cup of coffee,' " he
said.
In his spare time, Babich draws cartoons, plays penny-ante poker on
Monday nights and reads "anything I can get ahold of." He used to play golf,
but had to give it up after a car accident a few years ago.
Babich said a sign in his office tells his life story. It reads, "Wonder why somebody didn't do something? Then I real-
ized I am somebody."
"Like my wife said, this keeps me out of trouble, keeps me alive and
gives me a long life."
JACK BABICH
PERSONAL: 82, wife, Sandra, two daughters and six grandchildren.
HIS STORY: Born and raised in Brooklyn, Babich worked nearly 45 years in the restaurant and catering business. He
moved to Palm Beach County when he
retired in 1974 and formed the West Delray Democratic Club to look out for the interests of retirees in the suburban
condominiums. With 4,300 members, it
grew to be one of the largest political clubs in the state. He will step down Wednesday as the club's only president.
QUOTE: Ìf you promise someone you will help them, you just don't say it in
words, you do it in actions. You can't win them all, but you certainly must
try. If you're trying, you're always a winner.'


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

NOTES: Did not run MSL. Info box at end of story.

Page 812

GRAPHIC: PHOTO (MUG / BABICH, JACK)


All Rights Reserved
Page 813


The Miami Herald

FINAL EDITION

BUSH PROPOSALS FOR MEDICARE CAP DON'T RECKON ON 'SENIOR
POWER"

BYLINE: GREGORY SPEARS Herald Washington Bureau

SECTION: FRONT; A; Pg. 8

LENGTH: 349 words

President Bush ignored senior power when he proposed to cap Medicare spending in his 1993 budget proposal.
Older voters, labor unions and House Democrats have time and time again defeated Republican proposals to trim the
spiraling cost of providing health care to the elderly.
"Like it or not, our seniors are organized. And nobody is going to stop the seniors from getting cared for medically,"
said Andre Fladell, a political organizer in Palm Beach County. "There's no way anybody is going to deny health care
to seniors and survive, not politically."
President Bush proposed no Social Security changes during his State of the Union address Tuesday. But he made no
pledge to safeguard Medicare, which pays medical bills for 35.8 million old and disabled people, or Medicaid, the in-
surance for 31 million poor people.
In its budget, the Bush administration proposes to cap Medicare and Medicaid growth, limiting it to the inflation rate
plus 2.5 percent next year. That could mean an increase in Medicare spending of 5 or 6 percent in 1993, or roughly half
the double-digit increases in Medicare spending in recent years.
"This is going to mean that while health-care costs are soaring through the roof, Medicare would be cut back," said Ron
Pollack, executive director of Families USA, a senior lobby with 135,000 members. "Health-care costs are going to rise
much faster than they would allow Medicare to grow, and they'll start cutting back services for the elderly and disa-
bled."
The spending cap won't fly on Capitol Hill, Pollack predicted -- not "when we don't have anything comprehensive to put
in its place."
Bush's health package includes a number of proposals that have been shot down in previous years.
For example, he suggests raising Medicare insurance premiums for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans by $60 a
month.
Congress was stung badly in 1988 when it expanded Medicare benefits by raising costs for the wealthier beneficiaries.
After getting an earful all year from angry elderly people, the House did an abrupt about-face in 1989, repealing the
measure by a lopsided 352-63 vote.


Page 814
BUSH PROPOSALS FOR MEDICARE CAP DON'T RECKON ON 'SENIOR POWER" The Miami Herald January
30, 1992 Thursday

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


All Rights Reserved
Page 815


The Miami Herald

PLM BCH EDITION

COUNTY, SENATE RACES SHOULD BE HIGH ON VOTERS' HIT PARADE

BYLINE: JEFFREY KLEINMAN Herald Staff Writer

SECTION: PLM BCH; B; Pg. 1

LENGTH: 576 words

Now that primary day is over, voters can start to zero in on two Democrat-Republican matchups that have the marquee
appeal of a hit summer movie.
For those who live in Boca Raton and Delray Beach, the county commission race of the season is Republican Mary
McCarty vs. Democrat Dorothy Wilken.
For those in South County and West Palm Beach, all eyes will turn to the senatorial race of Eleanor Weinstock vs. Bill
Smith.
The Nov. 6 general election box-office attractions are sure to improve the rather puny 22 percent turnout seen at the
polls last Tuesday.
McCarty, presently a Delray Beach city commissioner, has the money and the advantage of a 54 percent Republican
district. Wilken, a former county commissioner, has the name recognition and county government experience.
"It will be a big race," said South County Democratic activist Andre Fladell, who is breaking with party ranks to sup-
port McCarty in the District 4 commission race. The seat is open because Ron Howard had left it to run for state agri-
culture commissioner.
"It should be very aggressive," said Fladell, who viewed Wilken as divisive and isolated from her peers when she was a
member of the commission. "All Dorothy's races have a history of hitting new levels of mud."
Wilken, who was first elected to the Palm Beach County Commission in 1982, re-elected in 1986 and resigned in 1988
to run for U.S. Congress, said she doesn't want to turn the two- month campaign into a dirtfest. But don't think for a
moment she won't hit back if struck.
"When Mary turns ugly, I don't intend to take it lying down," she said. "I'm no fool."
To capture the seat she first won in the early 1980s, Wilken will have to overcome a thinner bank account than her op-
ponent and an increasingly Republican district. Through Aug. 30, McCarty has raised $69,000 to Wilken's $26,000.
"It's going to be a tough race," Wilken said. "I don't think Mary is going to be a piece of cake."
Boca Raton Deputy Mayor Bill Smith doesn't plan to become a slice of angel food cake either for incumbent state Sen.
Eleanor Weinstock, D-West Palm Beach. Weinstock, a 12-year veteran of the Florida Legislature, trampled over pri-
mary opponent Ken Spillias.
Page 816
COUNTY, SENATE RACES SHOULD BE HIGH ON VOTERS' HIT PARADE The Miami Herald September 9, 1990
Sunday

Smith has a chest full of money, all unused because he faced no GOP primary opposition. But outside the Boca border,
he's a virtual unknown. To introduce himself, he's embarked on a series of work days, which did for U.S. Sen. Bob
Graham what walking across the state did for Lawton Chiles.
Two weeks ago, Smith donned a green apron and took the role of Publix bag boy. For a while, he played it squeaky
clean, obeying store policy and refusing to accept tips. One woman was so insistent, though, that he broke down and
took her $1 for carting her groceries -- and promptly deposited the buck in his campaign bank account. His next work
stop is a nursing home.
What he's hoping to avoid is an all-out war with Weinstock, the kind of nasty campaigning that characterized the pri-
mary fight with Spillias. "I intend to outwork my opponent," Smith said.
District 26, which covers South County, West Palm Beach, and a condo-rich section of Broward, is 47 percent Demo-
cratic and 43 percent Republican, the rest independents and minor parties.
Said Weinstock, still reveling in her primary victory, but wary of the next step: "He's got a lot of money and a lot of
Republicans, but I think the tide is turning. Lawton will be a very, very strong leader on the ticket for a Democratic
sweep."


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


All Rights Reserved
Page 817


The Miami Herald

May 13, 1990 Sunday
PLM BCH EDITION

OFFICIALS WORK BEHIND LOCKED DOORS



LENGTH: 849 words

Safely locked behind two bolted doors, high above the city in their 12th floor offices, public servants are at work.
To get to other floors, they use a key-operated elevator off limits to the public. After their public meetings, they leave
through an out-of-sight exit. Back in their offices, equipped with panic buttons under desks, they and their aides are
concealed, tucked behind the locked doors. A receptionist calls when guests arrive to see if they are to be admitted. Vis-
itors are viewed through a one-way window.
FBI? DEA? FDIC? Nope. Palm Beach County commissioners.
Why all the security? Commissioners and their aides say they deserve peace of mind.
"It does give us a stronger sense of security," said Commissioner Karen Marcus, who says she was one of several gov-
ernment officials threatened and harassed by a man who had been in and out of mental institutions.
"Commissioners are on the firing line every day making tough decisions," said Joe D'Ettore, chief aide to Commissioner
Ron Howard. "They need to feel secure in their own environment."
There has been talk of strengthening security even more by installing an airport-style metal detector. But that plan has
yet to develop. Metal detectors have been installed at the County Courthouse next door.
Besides a dose of security, a locked door wards off any unnecessary intrusions, D'Ettore said. "If people just walked in
and out, how much work could we get done?"
Outspoken South County political activist Andre Fladell agrees.
"People have cut off their own access," Fladell said of citizens who have bothered commissioners with trivial com-
plaints. "A county commissioner doesn't have time for repetitious, emotional junk."
Despite the barriers to commission offices, Fladell says the five commissioners are indeed accessible and in touch with
the people. "We get them at a club meeting, a chamber of commerce breakfast."
Back at Governmental Center, the five commissioners -- Howard, Marcus, Carole Phillips, Carol Roberts and Chairman
Carol Elmquist -- treasure their privacy. And sometimes go out of their way to protect it.
When a trio of reporters ducked into Phillips' office unannounced to seek a comment last week, a horrified aide jumped
out from behind her desk to block their entry. She then ran into the commissioner's office and shut the door.
Page 818
OFFICIALS WORK BEHIND LOCKED DOORS The Miami Herald May 13, 1990 Sunday

After a quick conference with her aide, Phillips met with the reporters, who were originally admitted to the common
office area to see another commissioner. "She's very protective of me," Phillips said of the aide, an intern who is about
to leave the office.
Earlier this year, Marcus tiptoed out of her office toward the back door, index finger to her mouth in a hush sign. She
was trying to avoid a group of blue-suited men waiting for her in the reception area on the other side of the locked, front
door.
Marcus cringed when another visitor greeted her. She was trying to get out the back door for a meeting before the men
outside realized she was in the office.
Marcus considers the lockout a way to get work done without continual disturbances. But locked doors haven't cut
commissioners off from their constituency, she said, adding she often chats in the halls when heading out to a meeting.
"I don't think we're inaccessible," she said. "We see people."
Nonetheless, the cloistered working environment of Palm Beach County commissioners contrasts with that of state leg-
islators, most of whom have open-door policies at their Capitol offices. In the bustling hallways of the Senate and
House office buildings in Tallahassee, constituents, lobbyists and reporters frequently duck into a legislator's office to
chat or seek information.
"If you sit behind a door, how are you going to know what's going on?" said Lisa Yurkin, aide to state Rep. Carol Han-
son, R- Boca Raton. "People come in just to say hello. It's positive. You get a feel for what it is people want."
Said Nancie Morrison, aide to state Rep. Steve Press, D- Delray Beach: "We're supposed to be accessible. That's what
it's all about."
The arrangement in local government buildings is far and away more protective. As in Palm Beach County, the offices
of Metro-Dade commissioners are located behind locked doors. The offices of Broward County commissioners are be-
hind a reception area, though not blockaded by lock and key.
Palm Beach County Commission office manager Sharon Adams says the locked doors on the 12th floor of Governmen-
tal Center are necessary in part because there isn't a whole lot of room for visitors. The reception area outside, she said,
is meant to be a waiting room, much like one in a doctor's office.
"The door isn't to keep people out," she said. "No one is refused entry."
Unless, of course, a visitor cannot get approval by phone from a commissioner or aide back behind the doors.
Chairman Elmquist said the security measures are precautionary, but also serve to deter pesky condo commandos, who
once roamed the halls.
Palm Beach County security manager Mark Swanson makes no excuses for the locks.
"Nowadays, the security concern is real," he said. "There's lots of nuts running around out there."


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


All Rights Reserved
Page 819


The Miami Herald

PLM BCH EDITION

ALL QUIET ON NEW SALES-TAX FRONT


SECTION: PLM BCH; C; Pg. 1

LENGTH: 604 words

In bagel shops and condo clubhouses -- two typical bastions for hot political discourse in Palm Beach County -- all is
quiet when it comes to a one-penny increase in the state sales tax.
County commissioners last week placed the tax question on the November 1990 ballot. So far, no citizen revolt.
Though no one has expressed joy at the prospect of a steeper sales tax -- an increase from 6 to 7 percent -- no one seems
too riled up about it, either. That's because everyone's confused.
Citizen activists who shape political opinions in the county say they are more than willing to pay for the county's needs,
which include a new courthouse and major jail additions. The big question they have is: Will the sales tax be the best
way to pay?
The discussions, if not vocal, are split.
"Nobody wants to tax themselves," said South County political activist Andre Fladell. "The unfortunate truth is we
need a new court and jail and we're forced into paying for it."
One side thinks the sales tax is the best way to go. That's because tourists will get socked along with residents.
The other side thinks a higher sales tax will hurt the poor, preferring instead an increase in property tax. That's because
affluent people with more expensive homes would pay more, they say.
Despite the differing opinions, neither group has aggressively taken up its cause.
"It hasn't become a hot issue," Jack Babich, a South County civic activist, said of the sales tax referendum. "I don't be-
lieve it will ever be hot."
People say they realize the money is vital to pay for major jail additions and a new courthouse must come from some-
where. If it's not one tax, it will be another.
They also realize that if the sales tax is defeated in November, taxpayers will end up footing the bill anyway. The coun-
ty is under a state mandate to reduce the inmate population at its current jails.
Mae Yates, president of the Atlantic Democratic Club in West Delray, leans in favor of an increase in property taxes to
pay the $260 million bill. A week ago, her 35-member board unanimously voted against the sales tax.
But Yates concedes it might not be wise to vote against the sales tax come November.
"People will resign themselves to accepting it," she predicted. "If they don't vote for it, it will be built anyway, and we're
going to pay."
Page 820
ALL QUIET ON NEW SALES-TAX FRONT The Miami Herald December 17, 1989 Sunday

County commissioners last Tuesday voted to place the sales tax on the ballot. In addition to the criminal justice facili-
ties, the money also will be used to build roads and purchase environmentally sensitive land.
Construction on the courthouse and jail additions will begin during the summer. The commission agreed to borrow the
$260 million through bonds that are not tax-supported.
If the sales tax passes, the county will pay its debt with that money. If not, commissioners will have to slash the county
budget to come up with the bucks.
A political activist in the Keys, who campaigned for a one- cent increase in Monroe County last August, doesn't think
there will be a problem in getting people to vote for the hike in Palm Beach County.
"It was a hard sell here," said Marsha Gordon, citing already high taxes and the highest cost of living in the state.
Voters in the Keys approved the one-penny increase overwhelmingly. Out of Florida's 67 counties, 20 have imposed the
local-option tax. Broward County voters will decide the issue in March.
"Like most people throughout the country, no one wants any new taxes," said Harold Ostrow, president of the Hunting-
ton Lakes Civic Council in West Delray. "But when they realize if they don't approve it and they're going to pay one
way or another, they will opt for the sales tax."


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The Miami Herald

December 8, 1989 Friday
PN EDITION

DELRAY MAYORAL CANDIDATE DISQUALIFIED

BYLINE: DONNA LEINWAND Herald Staff Writer


LENGTH: 244 words

Just one week after car dealer Dan Burns entered the mayoral race, city officials have told him he can't qualify to run.
A 1980 ordinance requires a candidate for office to be a resident of Delray Beach and a registered voter as of Sept. 1
before the election, City Attorney Herb Thiele said Thursday.
Burns, a longtime city resident who has not voted in the past 13 years, was purged from the voting rolls long ago and
didn't reregister until November, said Vice Mayor Mary McCarty.
Burns found out he wasn't registered when he tried to vote for the $21 million general obligation bond Nov. 21, Interim
City Manager Malcolm Bird said. He told Burns of his disqualification Thursday.
Burns refused to comment.
"He didn't know he had been purged until November when he registered again," McCarty said. "I think it's unfortunate."
The ordinance was enacted after Andre Fladell, a Delray Beach chiropractor, ran for city commission immediately af-
ter moving from Margate to Delray Beach, she said.
"It was to prevent people who had not participated in the community, who hadn't lived here, from running," she said.
"Now, it's a technicality. Dan Burns has participated in the community."
Burns, who said if elected he would run the city like a business and be receptive to citizen input, cannot appeal the dis-
qualification.
Burns could only re-enter the race if commissioners amended the ordinance, Thiele said. An amendment to the ordi-
nance is not on next week's commission agenda.


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The Miami Herald

PLM BCH EDITION

DELRAY CAPTAIN FATALLY SHOOTS SELF, POLICE SAY

BYLINE: LORI ROZSA Herald Staff Writer


LENGTH: 496 words

Police Capt. Gerald Paller, an officer for 12 years who was recently promoted to captain in the beleaguered Delray
Beach Police Department, died Friday after shooting himself in the head, according to police.
Paller, 40, died at Bethesda Memorial Hospital at 9:04 a.m., three hours after he used his service revolver to kill him-
self.
Paller's wife and two children, a boy and a girl age 10 and 8, were apparently sleeping at the time.
The violent death of a man described as being quiet and calm shocked his friends and colleagues.
"You could go to the department and out of all of the officers, he would be the last person you would ever expect to do
this," Delray Beach Fire-Rescue spokesman Doug Trawick said. "He was a quiet, meticulous man who never raised his
voice, never seemed to get riled."
Trawick, who knew Paller since Paller joined the police force in 1977, said Paller may have been overcome by stress.
Paller was promoted in August to captain of the professional standards division of the department, which enforces state
and national training standards.
Over the past several months, the Delray Beach Police Department has been the target of criticism by residents, lawsuits
by former officers and investigations by outside agencies.
In September, Palm Beach County State Attorney David Bludworth exonerated police Chief Charles Kilgore and the
department of any criminal wrongdoing in allegations of traffic ticket fixing.
But complaints continued. Earlier this month, Gov. Bob Martinez asked Dade County State Attorney Janet Reno to
conduct another investigation.
Reno said Friday her investigation centers on the theft of materials from the office of private investigator Virginia
Snyder. Reno said her office is investigating the theft, not the police department.
Delray Beach interim city manager Malcolm Bird said Paller's only involvement in Reno's investigation would have
been to help Reno obtain police documents.
He said Paller, who received "outstanding" and "excellent" evaluations over the past three years, was very popular with
other officers and the public.
"He was the guy that you looked to to buck up the other guys, the one who said, 'This isn't the end of the world, take a
deep breath and let's get the job done,' " Bird said. "He never seemed to be down, he always had a kind word for others."
Page 823
DELRAY CAPTAIN FATALLY SHOOTS SELF, POLICE SAY The Miami Herald November 18, 1989 Saturday

Andre Fladell, a board member of the police-support group Delray Citizens for Delray Police, said he spoke with Paller
Tuesday about the negative publicity the department has been getting.
"He was really annoyed with it all," Fladell said. "He said that no matter what the police did, somebody would find
something wrong with it."
He said Paller did not appear to be depressed, but that he did take the criticisms of the department personally.
"He was a captain, a supervisor, and no matter what his people did, they were criticized," Fladell said. "How much criti-
cism can you take before it gets to you?"
Funeral arrangements for Paller have not been announced.


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The Miami Herald

PLM BCH EDITION

CIVIC CENTER SITE ASSAILED AT CONDO



LENGTH: 732 words

The thought of waking up each morning to a civic center smack next to his new condo doesn't make Larry Glaser a
happy man.
All that traffic, all that noise, all so close to home, Glaser laments.
"There is absolutely no demand for this place," he said of the center. "If they build this, it will lower the price of my
property."
To Glaser's dismay, Palm Beach County is forging ahead with plans to build a 22,000-square-foot South County Civic
Center on a 15-acre site on Hagen Ranch Road in West Delray.
Construction on the gathering hall is scheduled to begin in March and will take a year to complete. Park planners are
scaling down the project slightly because it has developed into a more expensive proposition than first envisioned.
There is no rejoicing, though, in Building 35 at Huntington Lakes, the development where Glaser lives. The building
sits a few hundred feet from where the center will be built, and residents, primarily senior citizens, fear a civic center
will disrupt their tranquil life styles.
In battling what they term a monstrosity, the Huntington residents living closest to the site insist West Delray doesn't
need a large gathering hall, certainly not with all the condo clubhouses offering meeting space, recreation and concerts.
The center is not without its share of support. A cadre of civic activists has been working for years to get the facility
built, and some in the group are bitter that new people to the neighborhood are trying to destroy their plans.
The idea for the center was conceived a few years before Building 35 opened and its residents moved in. Residents say
they were never told the vacant land next door was primed for a civic center and say they have every right to block its
construction.
Marvin Feller, who lives in Building 35, envisions a threat to his safety if the 750- to 1,000-seat center is built. He sees
hundreds of outsiders swarming the neighborhood for an event at the center, possibly breaking into apartments and
mugging Huntington residents along the way.
"We live in a strange world today," he said. "With bus loads of people coming in, we're going to lose all our security."
The man planning the fan-shaped center said the facility is meant for area residents who now lack a central gathering
place. Condo clubhouses are generally for the restricted use of residents and their personal guests.
Bill Wilsher, superintendent of park planning and design, says the civic center will generate no chaos in the neighbor-
hood, heavily populated with retired people.
Page 825
CIVIC CENTER SITE ASSAILED AT CONDO The Miami Herald November 11, 1989 Saturday

"I hear the same fears about every park," Wilsher said. "But they're the ones who are going to be going there," he said of
the people complaining. "The only drugs taken in the parking lot will be Geritol."
To make the center more palatable to those opposed, the parks department plans to build a berm, and shift a proposed
access road slightly to the north, away from the patios and terraces of Building 35, Wilsher said.
The civic center project was originally conceived in the early 1980s as a senior citizens center. By 1985, the idea
evolved into an entertainment complex featuring the hall, an outdoor band shell and picnic shelters. Last year, the shel-
ters and band shells were eliminated from the plans.
During the past two years of planning and design, the cost of the civic center jumped from $1.5 million to $2.9 million.
County commissioners have asked the parks department to trim the extras from the complex to whittle the price down to
$2.3 million.
Wilsher, the parks planning superintendent, said his staff is looking at cutting "odds and ends," specifically office space,
a portico and a veranda, and replacing the lobby tile with carpeting.
Andre Fladell, a proponent of the center, is smoking-mad that the Huntington residents are trying to kill the civic cen-
ter.
"All they're talking about is what's not good for them," said Fladell, a Delray chiropractor and chairman of the South
County Cooperative. "It's selfish and self-serving."
Fladell said the hall is a must. Well-known political figures who drop in on the politically active Delray area now speak
in synagogues and churches, arrangements Fladell is not entirely comfortable with.
"They're not the places for public speakers," he said. "And there is no other place in South County."
Jack Babich, another proponent of the center, said of those battling the center:"It's the old story: not in my back yard."


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The Miami Herald

August 20, 1989 Sunday
PLM BCH EDITION

FOR SENIOR CITIZENS, CATASTROPHIC-CARE ACT MISSES THE
MARK

BYLINE: DEXTER FILKINS Herald Staff


LENGTH: 627 words

In politics, sometimes even the best intentions go awry.
Take, for example, the case of the Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act, which was passed in the House and Senate by
huge margins in 1988. President Reagan held a showy ceremony when he signed the bill.
The sweeping legislation wasdesigned to pay for senior citizens' annual health care costs above $2,000.
After 1991, Medicare would pay 80 percent of the cost of prescription drugs after a $600 deductible and up to 150 days
of free skilled nursing-home care and 38 days a year of free home health care. You can see its appeal.
The catch, however, was the financing. The program was to be paid for by adding about $5 a month to the $18 monthly
charge Medicare participants already pay. There was, in addition, a 15 percent surtax on anyone who pays at least $150
in federal income taxes. The surtax would be limited to $800. The idea of the drafters was that senior citizens would
jump at the deal. By requiring all senior citizens to buy into the plan, the insurance pool would be large and the individ-
ual insurance costs low. Less than one percent of elderly people actually require more than 60 days of continuous care.
The once-hailed act has become a political liability and a vastly unpopular piece of legislation because seniors don't
think they really need it.
Brian Geiger, press secretary for U.S. Rep. Harry Johnston, D-West Palm Beach, says the mail on the catastrophic-care
act is pouring in. "To say that (the response) is 99 percent against would be an understatement," Geiger said. "We get
more mail on that issue than on any other."
U.S. Sen. Connie Mack, a Republican who has also received thousands of letters on the legislation, got a sample of the
opposition's vehemence this week. Mack was in Delray Beach on Tuesday for a meeting of the Huntington Lakes' Civic
Council, which is 600 members strong.
The crowd spoke out almost unanimously against the legislation.
"Almost everyone was against it," said Harold Ostrow, the civic association president. "Basically, we feel that it does
not address our needs."
The need he is talking about is long-term health care. Most seniors, Ostrow said, already have "Medigap" insurance to
pick up where Medicare leaves off. What they do not have, he said, is a means to pay for nursing home or at-home cus-
todial care -- a vastly more expensive proposition.
Page 827
FOR SENIOR CITIZENS, CATASTROPHIC-CARE ACT MISSES THE MARK The Miami Herald August 20, 1989
Sunday

Ostrow and others view the current financing mechanism as inequitable. Other entitlements -- Social Security, Medi-
care, welfare -- are financed by taxes taken from everyone, not just the group that benefits.
"It is a regressive tax," said Sid Gilbert, president of the King's Point Democratic Club. "It is like the poor being asked
to pay for welfare.'
Seniors put the analogy this way: They pay taxes that put children in schools even though they have no children in
school. They alone should not have to pay for catastrophic care just because they are the ones who need it, they say.
Changes may be in the wind. Both Mack and Johnston believe the system should be reformed and the financing base
broadened. In other words, tax younger wage-earners as well.
That may prove difficult politically, given the taxes now levied to support government programs for older people. In
Congress, there are more than a dozen different bills that would tinker with the existing catastrophic-care program. In
the meantime, many seniors would no doubt agree with the conclusion of Andre Fladell, Palm Beach County Coopera-
tive leader:
"This is another example of a great idea being beaten by the political process."
Dexter Filkins writes about politics in Palm Beach County each week. Mail questions or comments to him at The Miami
Herald, P.O. Box 3623, West Palm Beach, Fla. 33402. Call 689-3033. In South County, 278-3033.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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The Miami Herald

PLM BCH EDITION

LEADERS PLAN CAMPAIGN FOR AT-LARGE ELECTIONS

BYLINE: MICHAEL CROOK Herald Staff Writer


LENGTH: 500 words

A heavily Democratic group of Palm Beach County political leaders will meet Friday to kick off a campaign to reverse
changes to the structure and function of county government mandated by the voters last November.
The group's goal is to ask voters to change the Palm Beach County Commission back to an at-large body during the
same election -- November 1990 -- that voters will be choosing county commissioners under the new single-member
district system.
The organization is dubbed Ad Hoc Task Force for Countywide Commission Elections, and its organizing committee
includes such familiar names as Karen Marcus, Carol Roberts and Carole Phillips -- all county commissioners, all
Democrats.
"Our concern is that government is better served by at- large on a local basis," said Harold Ostrow, president of the
Voters Coalition of Palm Beach County and the Huntington Lakes Civic Council. "It leads to better government."
Last year, a politically unlikely team primarily composed of Republicans, blacks and Hispanics gathered enough peti-
tion signatures to place a new system of county government on the ballot.
The County Commission now has five members, each elected countywide under the present at-large system. The Coali-
tion for the Right to Vote advocated a seven-member County Commission system in which each commissioner would
be elected by voters within a specific district: the single-member district system.
The new measure passed by a 2-1 margin. In November 1990, four of those seven commission districts will hold elec-
tions, and the system will be born.
Tony Brown, who co-chaired the Coalition for the Right to Vote, criticized the Ad Hoc Task Force. "I'm actually just
disappointed and totally surprised."
The debate over single-member versus at-large often takes on partisan overtones in Palm Beach County, where Repub-
licans outnumber Democrats in certain regions and stand to gain strength on the County Commission with a sin-
gle-member system.
A Democratic majority on the County Commission, in fact, refused to put the single-member system on last year's bal-
lots, forcing the Coalition for the Right to Vote to do it by petition drive.
One Ad Hoc Task Force member, Andre Fladell, said the ballot question broke state law by asking voters to increase
the number of county commissioners to seven and also presenting a single-member system.
Page 829
LEADERS PLAN CAMPAIGN FOR AT-LARGE ELECTIONS The Miami Herald May 11, 1989 Thursday

Said Ostrow: "We would also question whether the average person on the street knows what the word single-member
districts means."
Brown responded: "It's almost as if the group is questioning our integrity -- like we tried to hoodwink the voting pub-
lic."
The group will need a four-fifths vote of the County Commission to get the issue on the 1990 ballot -- a vote which is
unlikely, considering Commissioner Ron Howard and commission Chairman Carol Elmquist's party registration: Re-
publican.
Phillips said the group will have to gather signatures on petitions. "It'll have to," she said.
Howard said he won't support the movement because "the people have spoken."


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PLM BCH EDITION

REDISTRICTING WON'T GET DONE WITHOUT ATTENDANT JOSTLING

BYLINE: DEXTER FILKINS Herald Columnist


LENGTH: 910 words

Democracy is like a big apple pie in a large family: The bigger your slice, the better. But to get a big piece, you've got to
fight for it.
Palm Beach County is a big family, in a way, and you can expect a scuffle over the public pie when the County Com-
mission carves seven new voting districts this year. A lot of power is up for grabs. And expect something of a
free-for-all, because no father figure will be around to mediate the feud.
The catalyst for this fight was you, the voter. In November, most of you decided to dump the commission's current
composition. Now, there are five commissioners, and although each must live in a specific district, every voter gets to
vote for every commissioner. Pretty soon, there will be seven commissioners, each elected from his or her own fiefdom.
The jockeying and lobbying has already begun. The new map must be ready by the end of next year, in time for the
1990 elections. Commissioners are counting on a yet-to-be named consultant to submit model voting maps from which
they can choose, and presumably to produce the "technically" perfect reapportionment map. That way, everyone will be
satisfied, little blood spilled.
But don't hold your breath. Reapportionment fights are always bitter because they are inherently, and almost entirely,
political. Nearly any set of district boundaries will help some economic, social, ethnic, religious or racial voting blocs
and hurt others. All boundaries will disperse some voting blocs into a number of districts and concentrate others in such
strength that they can elect whomever they please.
The lesson is: There is simply no way to make everyone happy, no technically perfect way out. Some groups will win;
some will lose.
The losers can expect little help from the courts, always wary of embroiling themselves in political disputes. The judici-
ary has said only that voting districts should be roughly equal in population, that they be connected to each other, and
that districts be as compact as possible. And judges often make exceptions to these rules.
Beyond that, the courts, or in some cases, the Justice Department, have stepped in when a racial minority has been ger-
rymandered into political irrelevance. And only in the most extraordinary cases ---- so extraordinary that they have not
yet arisen ---- has the Supreme Court said that it would intercede in a political, i.e., Democrat vs. Republican, dispute.
But they have never interpreted the Constitution as requiring proportional representation.
Given all this, three factors will dominate Palm Beach County's reapportionment debate: the control of the present
commission by Democrats, the county's big economic interests, and the agricultural kingpins in the west. Or, in South
County Cooperative Director Andre Fladell's wonderful summation: Condos, cowboys and cash.
Page 831
REDISTRICTING WON'T GET DONE WITHOUT ATTENDANT JOSTLING The Miami Herald December 25, 1988
Sunday

Condos: Since the five-member County Commission is controlled by three Democrats, and the commission is drawing
the new lines, expect those commissioners to try to draw as many predictably Democratic districts as they can: three,
possibly four. But with the proportion of Democrats to Republicans falling every day, that may be tough to pull off.
Cowboys: The county will no doubt end up with a huge, sparsely populated western district. Out there, agriculture in-
terests dominate. The farmers will probably be led by someone like dairy farmer/developer/speculator Billy Bowman.
Cash: One of the big forces behind the single-member district drive were the county's fat cats, led by E. Llwyd Eccel-
stone and the Economic Council of Palm Beach County. They'll be influential because they're rich and because they
own everything. They will probably try to concentrate their power in the county's conservative north end.
The wild card in all this could be the county's minorities. Many in the black community pushed for single-member dis-
tricts because they saw the scheme as a way to concentrate their power in one or a few key districts, just as blacks have
done throughout the South.
Single-member districts could give blacks a greater voice in county government in two ways: by concentrating the black
population in one district, in hopes of controlling one commissioner; or by drawing the districts so that blacks make up,
say, 20 or 30 percent of a few districts. Tony Brown, co- director of the group that put the issue on the ballot, will take
either one.
The sad fact, though, is that because there aren't enough blacks to constitute a majority in any one district, the black
community, once again, might be left out of the process altogether. Unless it makes a lot of noise.
Fladell, himself a factor in all this, believes the county's voting map will end up like this: Eccelstone and the developers
controlling two northern districts, Bowman et al holding sway in a large western zone, Fladell himself (he says he'll run
for one of the new seats) calling the shots in two Democratic South County districts, with the other two central county
districts up for grabs.
Maybe so, but this much is certain: In the coming months, we'll witness a great political squabble, with all the attendant
posturing and gasbaggery. And it won't end there. Just three years from now the new census figures will be in, and we'll
get to do it all over again.
Dexter Filkins writes about politics in Palm Beach County each week. Mail questions or comments to him at The Miami
Herald, P.O. Box 3623, West Palm Beach, Fla., 33402. Call 686-3221. In South County, 278-6955.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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The Miami Herald

PLM BCH EDITION

NEW COMMISSION HITS SNAG OVER CHAIRMAN'S TERM



LENGTH: 560 words

The new Palm Beach County Commission, all unity, peace and prosperity just two weeks ago, began wrangling Tues-
day over who gets to be chairman of the board and when.
Even though the chairman's duties are largely ceremonial, the title does lend a certain air of power and also thrusts its
holder into the public eye -- usually at groundbreakings and visits by dignitaries -- more often than the other four com-
missioners.
Newly elected Commissioner Ron Howard took on the commission's new policy of giving two-year terms to its chair-
man and vice chairman -- a policy, by the way, agreed upon as a way to avoid divisive squabbling among the five com-
missioners.
"I would like to have the positions of chairman and vice chairman limited to one year, effective immediately," Howard
said at the tag end of Tuesday's commission meeting.
Fellow commission rookie Carole Phillips quickly seconded Howard's motion.
That began an argument that left commission Chairman Carol Elmquist, whose term in the ceremonial post would have
been lopped in half by the action, feeling "paranoid," and "territorial."
The bickering board sharply contrasted with that feel-good, unified panel that met for the first time Nov. 22 and elected
Elmquist chairman and Commissioner Karen Marcus as vice chairman in two quick, unanimous votes.
History indeed repeats itself, when it comes to this County Commission. Former commissioner Dorothy Wilken fought
hard year after year to get herself selected chairman, but never rallied the votes among her colleagues.
Believing that a longer term for the chairman could help stabilize the board, the commission increased the term to two
years -- but that was before Howard and Phillips came aboard.
Howard, Wilken's successor as the commissioner from District 4 in South County, now worries that he'll never have a
real shot at the chairmanship -- Elmquist is chairman for two years, he believes Marcus is in line to follow, and his term
is but four years.
Howard said his constituents dearly want a commission chairman to hail from District 4. But he declined to say who
those constituents are.
Fran Reich, chairman of the West Boca Community Council, a coalition of homeowner groups, said the issue is simply
not on her group's agenda. Andre Fladell, chairman of the Palm Beach County Cooperative, an umbrella group of
South County political clubs, said his organization simply doesn't care who is chairman.
Page 833
NEW COMMISSION HITS SNAG OVER CHAIRMAN'S TERM The Miami Herald December 7, 1988 Wednesday

"There hasn't been a chairman from District 4 since 1982," Howard said. "South County has felt very slighted in the
past. In the name of fairness, we should be somewhere in the near future next in line to be the chairman or the vice
chairman."
"It's only fair," Phillips said.
Said Elmquist, "It's untimely and premature."
"I feel a little bit territorial," Elmquist said. "It does make me feel a bit paranoid."
Elmquist apparently knew where the votes were. "I'm not going to support the motion, so if you'd like to withdraw it,
fine, otherwise it's going to go down in failure," she said.
"I'm not withdrawing it," Howard retorted.
Marcus vainly tried to postpone the debate until Commissioner Carol Roberts, absent from Tuesday's meeting, could
participate.
When the issue came to a vote, Howard's idea died on a 2-2 stalemate. Phillips voted with Howard, while Marcus and
Elmquist dissented.
"It's not a dead issue," Howard said. "I intend to raise it again."


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The Miami Herald

November 17, 1988 Thursday
PLM BCH EDITION

DRAWING THE LINE: COMMISSION APPORTIONMENT BOUND TO BE
FUN

BYLINE: JEFF TRUESDELL Herald Staff Writer


LENGTH: 630 words

Pull out your map of Palm Beach County and grab the crayons. It's time to doodle.
With last week's vote you got what you wanted: single- member County Commission districts. No more countywide
campaigning. No more need to accept jillions from special interests.
So now the fun starts. Five districts that today don't mean much to anyone will be redrawn into seven districts whose
voters will elect their own representative.
Each of the five incumbent commissioners will try to draw lines around their power base; each political party and inter-
est group will lobby to create districts where their candidates can win.
Certain to be rambunctious, the whole business must be done before the next commission election in 1990, after which
-- because of the 1990 U.S. Census -- the commission will have to do it again.
Where to draw, and who should do it?
That's where the fun comes in. Nothing is more political than apportionment. And while the final boundaries are up to
the commission, they can either draw them themselves or leave it to someone else -- a committee, a consultant, the
county staff. They haven't decided.
Results can be predicted, though. Expect the borders to reflect the makeup of the current commission: three safe Demo-
cratic districts, two safe Republican districts and two districts up for grabs.
Boundaries are easily drawn. A secure Democratic seat, for example, might combine precincts that encompass the
sprawling King's Point and Century Village retirement centers in South County; a Republican haven might extend along
the island from Palm Beach south to Boca Raton, a GOP stronghold.
Dispersed black voters makes carving a minority district more tricky. One might link Riviera Beach with Delray Beach
along the FEC Railroad tracks, but the area would have to reach out to Belle Glade to encompass enough voters to qual-
ify as a district.
Republicans helped to lead the petition drive that put the issue on the ballot. And although Democrats in the county
outnumber them, Republicans are catching up and party leaders look to the post-1990 drawing to boost their influence.
Minorities, too, are angling for position. The mostly black Suncoast Chamber of Commerce will hire a consultant to
suggest the best way to capture a black voting bloc.
Page 835
DRAWING THE LINE: COMMISSION APPORTIONMENT BOUND TO BE FUN The Miami Herald November 17,
1988 Thursday

Yet here are seven districts we'd really like to see:
* Greenacres City. That way ex-Mayor Jim Quigley, who just lost his second commission bid -- the first as a Democrat,
this last as a Republican -- can form his own party and run again.
* Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard, the West Palm Beach business base of developer E. Llwyd Ecclestone Jr. Elect him and
meetings of the Economic Council, which he heads up, would have to be open. Plus, imagine those financial disclosure
forms.
* Undeveloped North County, so that a seat goes to John D. MacArthur. So the insurance billionaire is dead. He de-
serves unending credit, if not a commission salary, for protecting that land. Put a cardboard likeness in his chair. Per-
haps each commission meeting could start with a seance.
* South County condos. Let residents finally crown political strategist and sometime chiropractor Andre Fladell, who
long ago crowned himself.
* Belle Glade, Pahokee and South Bay, which desperately need a voice but don't stand a chance if thrown in a district
with more prosperous Wellington and Royal Palm Beach.
* Donald Trump's Back Yard, to encompass everything else from Mar-a-Lago to Lake Okeechobee. The presidency
didn't entice him; this might.
* Palm Beach International Airport, in a district all by itself. Just so Trump can't have it.
Jeff Truesdell writes about growth and zoning issues in Palm Beach County each week. Mail questions or comments to
him at The Miami Herald, P.O. Box 3623, West Palm Beach, Fla., 33402. Call 686-3221. In South County, 278-6955.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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Page 836


The Miami Herald

PLM BCH EDITION

GAS TAX INCREASE

BYLINE: Herald Staff


LENGTH: 222 words

What it does: Increases the local tax on gasoline and motor fuels to seven cents per gallon, the maximum allowed by
state law. The intent is to raise money for road construction.
History: During budget workshops this year, county commissioners cringed at a proposed increase in the property tax
that was partly due to growing road-building costs. To pay for roads, they instead turned to the special benefit districts
set up to collect fees that developers must pay toward road improvements. Right now, that money can be spent in only
the district where it was collected. But because the districts are so small and so numerous, money has accumulated fast-
er than it can be spent. So the commission agreed to merge some districts, and grasped the gas tax increase as an added
step to make the road program more dependent on users. Local gas tax receipts already contribute to the county's $60
million annual road program. The additional penny would raise about $3.75 million a year more for that effort.
Pro: "We need money for roads. We're going to have to find it somewhere." -- Andre Fladell, chairman, Palm Beach
County Cooperative, a consortium of South County political groups.
Con: "I don't see the gas tax as a necessity. The County Commission has made no commitment on where to spend it." --
Dorothy Wilken, county commissioner.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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The Miami Herald

PLM BCH EDITION

VOTE TO CHART COURSE OF COUNTY'S GROWTH



LENGTH: 1527 words

Hotter than any local political race, more divisive than any other ballot issues, and at the heart of Palm Beach County's
struggle with its future are the historic growth measures on Tuesday's ballot.
Palm Beach County voters will have the opportunity to make fundamental shifts in the balance of political power as it
affects their neighborhoods, their roads and their property taxes.
"It's very much a watershed election for the county," said Lance deHaven-Smith, a planning expert and a member of the
Palm Beach Countywide Planning Council.
Each voter will be asked a slew of questions:
* Should the County Commission be allowed to limit traffic both inside and outside cities, a fundamental change in the
three-year-old county government charter?
* Should the commission have power to charge developers for the public services that their customers -- homebuyers
and new businesses -- will need from the county?
* Should motorists pay another penny per gallon of gas taxes to pay for better roads?
* Has the county grown too large for its current system of electing five county commissioners at-large?
* Whether to merge and expand the county's health-care taxing districts, a reflection of a burgeoning county's need to
care for its poor.
* Whether the County Commission should take over its own financial and accounting duties, now performed by the
clerk of the Circuit Court.
Two of the most crucial and controversial measures -- countywide traffic standards and impact fees -- make up a
two-pronged growth-control "package" brought to the electorate by the County Commission in response to a grass-roots
movement.
"Palm Beach County, if all these things pass, would have the most progressive growth controls in the state and some of
the most progressive in the country," deHaven-Smith said.
If the voters don't buy the package, its proponents think it may be shelved for years, derailing the growth-management
train at least temporarily.
A group of South County residents gave birth to the slow- growth movement two years ago out of fear this county's
enviable quality of life will be swamped by South Florida's growth surge.
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VOTE TO CHART COURSE OF COUNTY'S GROWTH The Miami Herald November 6, 1988 Sunday

There is ample evidence to support their fears: Palm Beach County is growing faster than anyone expected, too fast for
the County Commission to serve a mushrooming population.
Half the county's ultimate possible population already is here; the other half could arrive in just 17 years. Local gov-
ernments will need an estimated $3 billion in infrastructure -- public facilities from drainage to streets to water lines --
in the next five years to stay abreast of its growth.
It wasn't supposed to happen that way. But the County Commission has given so many zoning approvals that the only
thing keeping all those people from moving here today is the speed at which developers build.
Enough building permits could be issued today to reach a countywide population of 1.3 million -- just 100,000 people
shy of the cap county commissioners originally figured they'd reach somewhere near the year 2050.
The county and its 37 cities have failed to cooperate on growth control measures. Now the County Commission is
looking for a sweeping electoral mandate to enforce that cooperation by stepping into the cities with traffic limits and
impact fees.
Speaking to the cities, outgoing Commissioner Dorothy Wilken said, "We're in the same boat. They cannot expect us to
bail at one end while they refuse to bail at the other end. We sink together or we stay afloat together."
The elected stewards of Palm Beach County's municipalities are not talking back with a unified voice. The loudest
voices, notably Boca Raton and West Palm Beach, are strongly opposed to shifting growth-management power to the
County Commission.
They have found predictable allies in pro-development groups such as the Associated General Contractors of America
and the county Home Builders & Contractors Association, whichbelieves traffic limits and developer fees will stymie
new construction and drive up the cost of land and new homes.
Some city officials fear the county will stifle their efforts to develop and redevelop their downtown areas.
"We are opposed to these traffic standards because they are taking away our home rule," said Boca Raton Mayor Emil
Danciu, whose City Council went to court against the traffic standards. That lawsuit still is pending.
Danciu and other city officials fear both the County Commission's history and its uncertain future, given the fact that at
least two new people will join the commission this month.
"What have they done west of Boca?" he asked. "It's one big mess."
Who can tell, he wondered, what the new County Commission will do with the power to limit traffic and tax developers
inside cities.
"That's it! That's it!" said West Palm Beach City Commissioner Nancy Graham, who believes the county is asking the
cities to take too much on faith.
"We are not opposed to having something that would regulate traffic and we are not opposed to impact fees," Graham
said. "It's basically the way it's being done."
The disunity among cities on the traffic standards made it impossible for the County Commission to draw a specific
map of road limitations before the voters decide the issue, said County Administrator Jan Winters.
West Palm Beach, of course, will want relaxed restrictions in its downtown area. Jupiter, notably, wants to be able to set
tougher limits on traffic, Winters said.
So the county has promised to set one average limit countywide, then let the Countywide Planning Council rule on ex-
ceptions to the average, Winters said.
But the County Commission still "has the final say-so," Graham points out, through a veto power over the planning
council.
Winters wishes the debate on controlling Palm Beach County's growth would stay focused on growth instead of being
sidetracked by arguments about municipal sovereignty and housing costs.
A cooperative approach to growth is mandated by Florida's Growth Management Act, Winters said. A key rule in the
law gives the county the authority to set traffic standards by 1991 on the roads it builds and maintains -- even inside
cities.
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VOTE TO CHART COURSE OF COUNTY'S GROWTH The Miami Herald November 6, 1988 Sunday

"There is an inevitability to it," Winters said.
Paul Bradshaw, a planner with the state Department of Community Affairs, agreed.
"I would think if the county did it now, it would allow people to get used to it," Bradshaw said.
The Economic Council of Palm Beach County, which supports the impact fees as a necessary tool to collect the costs of
growth, opposes the traffic standards precisely because of that "inevitability."
"Doing it now is kind of a pre-emptive strike and not really in the best interests of cooperative government," said Dale
Smith, the council's executive director.
Four more ballot questions are tied to growth as well, one by design, the other at least partly by coincidence.
The county wants to tack an extra penny onto the six-cent gas tax now in effect here. The penny would raise $3.7 mil-
lion next year to keep building and expanding the roads that bear the most visible burden of a growing population --
traffic.
And, despite what the County Commission wants -- the at- large status quo in the way commissioners are elected -- an
unusual coalition of minorities, developers and Republicans gathered enough signatures to put a single-member district
election system on Tuesday's ballot.
Supporters of the single-member system see better representation in it, especially in a county so large, populous and
diverse.
"We feel that the county is geographically too large and demographically too diverse for five commissioners elected at
large to represent the constituency well," Smith said.
Opponents fear that candidates bankrolled and beholden to developers will take over the County Commission and return
it to the fast-growth stance of the past.
"We're concerned about the ability of the developers to buy candidates," said Andre Fladell, chairman of the Palm
Beach County Cooperative. "People who vote for single-member districts are voting for developers, for greater growth
and higher densities," he said.
A reflection of Palm Beach County's increasing need to provide health care to the poor is the county's attempt to con-
solidate and expand its health-care taxing districts. If the voters approve it, the three existing districts would be col-
lapsed into one, and portions of North County would be taxed for the first time.
The issue has been challenged by labor leader George Hudspeth, who argued that unclear wording on the ballot would
mislead voters. A ruling on his suit is pending in the Fourth District Court of Appeal, but that legal limbo won't stop a
vote on the issue Tuesday.
DeHaven-Smith called the issue "a reasonable solution to a situation where we have a great number of needs."
Finally, voters will be asked to ratify a change of duties in county government that was suggested by local business,
government and civic leaders at the Directions '88 conference, a meeting of the minds on planning the county's future.
If approved, the measure would simply allow the County Commission's staff to maintain the ledgers and write the
checks for county government, taking that responsibility away from the clerk of the Circuit Court.


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PLM BCH EDITION

CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGN RIFE WITH SNIPING

BYLINE: DEXTER FILKINS Herald Staff Writer


LENGTH: 950 words

Seen on the television screen: A man in a moon suit wading through a sea of slime, suggesting, not very obliquely, that
14th District congressional candidate Ken Adams dumped a toxic waste site on voters to bail out his fat-cat pals.
Heard on the radio: "We don't need another liberal lawyer in Congress," buzzes the ad, excoriating Harry Johnston, the
other 14th District candidate.
Received in the mail: "Soft on drugs. . .soft on crime. . .soft on morality and family. . .soft on the elderly. . .," reads the
Adams letter, reducing Johnston to a squishy- soft political naif.
In their race for Congress, Republican Adams and Democrat Johnston have borrowed a page straight from the presiden-
tial race: Bashing, accusing and slurring, they've buried each other in political sludge.
Lost in it all has been real debate, sustained arguments by each on where they stand and why. For two candidates not
philosophically far apart, both Adams and Johnston admit the mudslinging may have more sullied rather than clarified
the choice between them. But that hasn't led them to stop it.
"I feel like we've generated more heat than light," said Adams, a former Palm Beach County commissioner.
"I think we've turned a lot of people off," said Johnston, former president of the Florida Senate.
Voters, disgusted or confused, will make the final choice on Tuesday.
As well as sacrificing rationality, their intensely antagonistic campaign has come at enormous cost: Johnston has raised
close to $1 million, Adams about $400,000, all to finance the fusillades that fly back and forth.
For all the recriminations, on the issues the candidates aren't that far apart. Adams and Johnston actually agree on a lot
of things, and both earned their political stripes by practicing pragmatism, not pushing ideology.
As Senate president, Johnston shepherded the passage of the 1985 Growth Management Act, which aims to ensure that
growth is adequately planned and paid for. As a congressional candidate, Johnston preaches fiscal conservatism: He
advocates the line- item veto for the president and would support new taxes only as a last resort to reduce the deficit.
"I consider myself a progressive on most issues, but fiscally conservative," Johnston has said.
Adams, similarly, made his name as the County Commission's conciliator and consensus builder: A conservative, Ad-
ams was instrumental in setting up a county-funded AIDS hospice and low- income housing to Belle Glade. Candidate
Adams says the defense budget will have to be cut and military commitments in Europe and Japan scaled back.
"I'm a pragmatist," said Adams, 58, a retired military officer and businessman. "Fiscally, I'm conservative."
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CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGN RIFE WITH SNIPING The Miami Herald November 6, 1988 Sunday

For both Adams and Johnston, such middle-of-the-road realism may be coincidental, but their philosophies are closely
attuned to those of the voters they court.
District 14, which stretches from Okeechobee Road in West Palm Beach to Oakland Park Boulevard in Broward, is tra-
ditionally one of the most Democratic in the nation. But it is not a liberal district: It went for Ronald Reagan in 1984
and consistently backed congressional moderates like Dan Mica and Paul Rogers.
And though Democrats still outnumber Republicans 51 percent to 39 percent in the district, the ratio is shrinking. The
district grows more conservative with latitude, with Johnston strongest in northern Broward, where Democrats outnum-
ber Republicans by a 2-1 margin.
At least a third of the district's voters are Jewish -- voters for whom Adams and Johnston have competed by promising
ever-stronger support for Israel.
"Neither candidate poses any sort of danger to Jewish voters," said Andre Fladell, coordinator of the Boca Raton-based
Palm Beach County Cooperative, an umbrella group for about 30,000 Democratic voters. "As a result, it has become a
non- issue."
Both candidates, moreover, have reflected the concerns of the district's large elderly population: Social Security is the
most sacrosanct of issues, with long-term and nursing home care high on both candidates' to-do lists.
Johnston and Adams differ most -- and reflect their party affiliation best -- on matters of foreign policy.
Both men agree that the defense budget will have to be cut, that Pentagon contractors ought to be disciplined by the free
market, and that the United States should force its allies to pay more for their own defense. Both want a strategic arms
control agreement with the Soviet Union.
Johnston sees the B-1 bomber as fat ripe for the knife; Adams would keep it. Adams would push ahead with the Strate-
gic Defense Initiative, surrendering it only in exchange for deep cuts in Soviet offensive forces. Johnston would kill the
program after a year if it did not show more promise. Adams would use the military to interdict drug smugglers; John-
ston would not.
"The military is taught to kill, not give Miranda rights," said Johnston.
The peace plan offered by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias "should be allowed to play itself out" in Central America
before the United States considers funding the Nicaraguan resistance, Johnston said.
"If I can be convinced that the contras are still a viable fighting force," Adams said, "I would be in favor of giving them
military aid."
Just how much of the candidates' messages have reached the voters -- and how the messages play with the voters --
won't, of course, be determined until Tuesday night. The race is close; who's ahead depends on who you talk to.
Adams, taking a breather from the battle, likened himself and Johnston to the whales trapped in the Alaskan ice.
"I feel like we have been swimming from one air hole to another and not really going anywhere," Adams said. "We're
headed for open air soon, and I can hardly wait."


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FINAL EDITION

ELECTION VIEWS



LENGTH: 88 words

"Horrible! It will be now a lot of blood and blood. . . . More young people dying. I didn't expect it -- those fanatics.'
Roma Seid,
Miami Beach
'Israel is too much at the core of the American Jew's consciousness. I really feel the bottom line isn't who is a Jew or
who isn't, but the security of Israel.'
State Rep. Irma Rochlin,
Hallandale
'We are not quite sure how radical the religious right is, but they won't be able to force their veiws on everyone else.
Religion is not the only thing that defines a Jew.'
Andre Fladell,
Boca Raton


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FINAL EDITION

FLORIDA JEWS FIRM IN ISRAEL SUPPORT

BYLINE: RICHARD WALLACE and DAN FROOMKIN Herald Staff Writers


LENGTH: 1132 words

Support for Israel holds steadfast in South Florida amid the after-tremors of that nation's electoral shift to the politi-
cal/religious right, members of local Jewish communities, said Wednesday.
Some were troubled, though, by the possibility that the new, emerging coalition government between the Likud and
religious-party politicians might change Israel's official answer to a basic question: Who is a Jew?
Religious parties want Israel to recognize as Jewish only those born to a Jewish mother or converted by an Orthodox
rabbi.
Even if a fundamentalist definition of who is a Jew becomes law in Israel, support for the country would remain strong,
said State Rep. Irma Rochlin of Hallandale.
"Israel is too much at the core of the American Jew's consciousness. I really feel the bottom line isn't who is a Jew or
who isn't, but the security of Israel," said Rochlin, whose daughter lives in Israel.
Similarly, Donald E. Lefton, president of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation, said that changes brought about by the
democratic process in Israel would not significantly alter the country's financial support in South Florida.
"Fund-raising efforts are directed to the people of Israel, not the government of Israel," Lefton said.
"I don't see an air of crisis in Israel as a consequence of this election," said Arthur Teitelbaum, southern area director for
the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith in Miami.
"Israel's relationship to America is based on geopolitical fundamentals that have not changed as the result of Tuesday's
elections," he said.
The political change in setting up a parliamentary coalition in the Knesset is being played against a historical backdrop
of Israel's four turbulent decades of existence.
Throughout those years, Israel has weathered a series of wars with neighboring Arab nations and has coped with unre-
lenting tensions during continuing, fitful attempts to achieve a lasting Mideast peace and a current rebellion among Ar-
abs in Israeli-occupied territory. Right-wing politicians have taken the most hard-line, hawkish positions in dealing with
Arab nations.
Rabbi Aron Lieberman of the Orthodox Synagogue of Inverrary Chabad in Lauderhill said Wednesday that he believes
the election reflected powerful dissatisfaction with the previous centrist coalition of Deputy Prime Minister Shimon
Peres' Labor party and the Likud, led by Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir.
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FLORIDA JEWS FIRM IN ISRAEL SUPPORT The Miami Herald November 3, 1988 Thursday

"I think the result will be that American Jews will be relieved because we will see a unified strong government,"
Lieberman said. "Shamir won't say one thing today and then Peres something different tomorrow."
In Dade County, Rabbi Abraham Korf, Florida director of Lubavitch, an evangelical ultra-Orthodox sect of Judaism,
was pleased with the election results.
"We feel there wasn't a leader that stood fast for what is right, and they felt always by appeasing what is not right, they
would gain peace. But it was always the opposite," Korf said.
For him, there is no flexibility on the question of who is a Jew, Korf said.
"We feel that in many areas, you can bargain, you can make negotiations, but you can't change facts. It's a fact what is
called a Jew. The only one who decided that is God Himself."
Korf is delighted by the impending greater role of the religious parties. "They will set the decisions straight."
A visit to the Miami Beach Jewish Senior Center, 610 Espanola Way, on Wednesday showed the passionate divisions of
opinion among Jewish laypersons.
"Horrible!" said Roma Seid, 70. "It will be now a lot of blood and blood. . . . More young people dying.
"I didn't expect it -- those fanatics."
Would she continue to support Israel?
"I'm going to, but my heart is bleeding," she said.
"I'm quite unhappy about it," said Claire Balaban, 87.
Balaban said she thinks the next president of the United States will try to bring peace to the Middle East. "With Mr.
Shamir, boy, I am really worried," she said, adding that whoever the American president is, "he'll have a harder time."
But Stella Steinberg, 83, was happy. "I think the Likud would be better, because the Palestinians want to take over," she
said.
Gary Glickstein, rabbi at Temple Beth Sholom, a Reform temple at 4141 Chase Ave., in mid-Miami Beach, was dis-
mayed by what the election might bring.
"If it does indeed come to fruition that a Likud-led rightist government ascends, I think it is another obstacle in attempt-
ing to solve the complicated problems of the Middle East," he said.
Right-wing foreign policies would "create a situation that will add to the hostilities between Israel and the Arab coun-
tries and between Israel and the Palestinian people," Glickstein said.
Current Israeli politics presented potential problems for Andre Fladell, director of the Boca Raton-based South County
Cooperative, an umbrella organization of mostly Democratic groups that contain about 30,000 voters -- about two-thirds
of whom are Jewish.
Fladell said conservative Jewish groups probably will not force major changes in internal policies of the state, but might
push for a more aggressive foreign policy.
"The radical right in Israel is no more attractive there than in the United States," Fladell said. "We are not quite sure
how radical the religious right is, but they won't be able to force their views on everyone else. Religion is not the only
thing that defines a Jew. Judaism is an ethnic background, it is a culture, it is a way of life."
One Palm Beach resident, Sidney Soloway of Delray Beach, said that although he was concerned about the political
clout of the fundamentalist religious minority, he would judge Israel's policies.
"These splinter groups will ask for everything they can get," he said, "and they will probably be able to exert some in-
flucene on the state."
"But what I think as an American Jew is totally different than what I might think if I were an Israeli Jew," said Soloway,
president of the Delray Beach Democratic Club and a Conservative Jew. "It is a totally different ball game over there,
with completly different circumstances."
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FLORIDA JEWS FIRM IN ISRAEL SUPPORT The Miami Herald November 3, 1988 Thursday

In Washington on Wednesday, a longtime observer of Israel's relationship with the United States and with American
Jews said that if Israel redefines who is a Jew, it might risk losing long-term support in America.
"If in order to get a coalition majority, the Likud does yield to religious pressures on that issue, then there is going to be
a serious problem with the American Jewish community -- which could have a bearing on the extent to which they are
actively and enthusiastically and emotionally involved in supporting Israel," said Hyman Bookbinder, a former member
of the American Jewish Committee.
"If Jewish enthusiasm for Israel should wane, it will have an impact on general American commitment to Israel," he
said.
Herald staff writer Dexter Filkins contributed to this report.


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PLM BCH EDITION

ADMINISTRATOR'S LOW-KEY WAYS FACE ELECTION-DAY TEST



LENGTH: 1598 words

County Administrator Jan Winters is uncomfortable, as he always is on the stump.
It is a Friday morning, five weeks before a Nov. 8 referendum on traffic standards and impact fees, two tools for man-
aging growth that bear Winters' imprint. In Salons I and II of the Royce Hotel, anxious members of the private Eco-
nomic Council are eating breakfast.
"This is an opportunity for you to be on the right side of an issue," Winters pleads to the lawyers, businessmen, educa-
tors and developers, many of whom are uneasy with the county's expanding limits on development.
When he finishes, council chairman E. Llwyd Ecclestone catches him. Winters is moving fast, too fast, leaving the
Economic Council behind with his agenda, Ecclestone says.
It might be a compliment. It is actually a complaint: We feel left out. Don't forget us.
"You know me, Llwyd," Winters says, suggesting he's merely the front man for an aggressive County Commission. "I'm
just a slow-walking, slow-talking bureaucrat."
Ecclestone, who knows the politicians, knows better. "You're no bureaucrat," he replies.
The proof is Winters' performance after two years, a milestone that passed last month when commissioners raised his
pay to about $100,000 a year. When the reward came, Winters was building popular support for the two ballot items
that represent much of what he was brought here to do.
His arrival from a slow-growth background sent shudders through business and development ranks. Whether on his own
or at the direction of commissioners who hired him -- each praises the other -- he continues to push growth controls
here.
The November vote will test their presumed grass-roots popularity. But equally important is the voters' choice of a new
commission. Four of the five seats are open, with two incumbents departing. The new makeup will decide whether the
momentum builds.
"Without the board's support, it's a total washout," Winters, 44, said in his 11th floor Governmental Center office.
"Maybe if Jan Winters had come on the scene six years ago and come up with these very same ideas, they wouldn't have
worked. Timing is everything."
Asked whether the slowdown tops the agenda he brought with him, or whether the task would have befallen anyone
who took over at the time, he replied, "Both true."
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ADMINISTRATOR'S LOW-KEY WAYS FACE ELECTION-DAY TEST The Miami Herald October 30, 1988
Sunday

Winters is private, uneasy in the limelight, more in the style of an academic than a politician. He counts no political
allies because he doesn't court them.
Though articulate, he is not an inspired speaker; his active listening saves him. "He can win people over," said Robert
Johnston, an executive of the Home Builders and Contractors Association. "I don't think he's done it in a devious way.
He's done it because he's Jan Winters."
Hired for his credentials as a professional manager, the former city manager of Loveland, Colo., has used that ability to
advantage as an adroit promoter of commission policies.
But that consuming role has been at the expense of in-house reforms, Winters and observers agree.
Commissioner Karen Marcus hears from employees disgruntled with new personnel policies. Developers point to the
Planning, Zoning and Building Department that has been without a permanent director since March, and a planning
division riddled by departures and a troubled director. Weaknesses there led the county to pay consultants to update a
massive growth management plan required by the state.
"You have to ask the question, who's minding the store?," said Alan Ciklin, a prominent land-use attorney.
"There are some problems that just needs to be dealt with," said Marcus, who maintained, "I shouldn't have to worry
about making my employees happy. He should be doing that.
"If the back end isn't coming along," she said, "we're not going to go anywhere."
The movement so far has been to shore up flanks. Palm Beach County is the nation's second fastest growing county. As
the population, now more than 830,000, grew toward and then exceeded 100 new residents a day, road construction fell
behind and zoning approvals went untabulated.
Commissioners hoping to sidestep mistakes made in Dade and Broward counties awoke to discover their goal of a pop-
ulation cap was already unrealistically low. They told Winters to rein it in.
His staff's jaw-dropping ideas proposed a boundary line at about Florida's Turnpike to ban heavy development to the
west, and rescinding some concentrated but unused zoning approvals -- in effect, undoing what previous commissions
had already done. The suggestions are evolving.
Former commissioner Ken Adams compares Winters to his predecessor, John Sansbury, the glad-handling, socializing
local boy named at age 26 to the job he kept for 11 years.
"John tried to drive the decisions more, where Jan tries to point out the alternatives," Adams said. "When he's involved
in a decision, it's as it should be -- at arm's length. People may not always agree with him, but at least they know they've
had a level playing field. Decisions aren't influenced by personal relationships."
Winters sees the distance as "the professor side of me. I try to stay a little bit detached, so I don't get hit.
"I never view it as a personal rejection," he said of commission votes. "I don't think I lobby on any issues. I would rather
they be decided on their own merits."
He influences by steering debate. Educated in economics, he often and quietly pores over numbers while the weekly
commission sessions go on around him. When he speaks, he seeks to massage or deflect -- as with the cry behind the
one hot potato that is unmistakably his.
The traffic standards, which block development on county roads if traffic exceeds county limits, sprang from South
County condominium dwellers who wanted a moratorium on new construction because their traffic was jammed.
Winters said moratoriums don't work and fretted about the negative image. Road standards were different. Commis-
sioners, leaning anyway toward limits, climbed aboard.
The contentious round of hearings on the draft plan in the summer of 1987 gave Winters the perhaps unfair edge of be-
ing both advocate and referee. "He's stubborn, but yet he'll listen," said Johnston of the homebuilders association. "If
you go to Jan with a problem and make him understand it, he'll change."
The problem was that Winters felt his solution was right, Johnston said. "We were not able to make inroads."
The standards were adopted for unincorporated areas in October 1987. The Nov. 8 vote would push the limits along
county roads into the cities, and is opposed by cities that object to what they see an another government's intrusion.
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ADMINISTRATOR'S LOW-KEY WAYS FACE ELECTION-DAY TEST The Miami Herald October 30, 1988
Sunday

"It seemed as if no one could get to him and compromise him," said Andre Fladell, the flamboyant and savvy organizer
of South County political groups. "My people had a new faith. They clearly were not happy prior to Winters."
"The way the business community sees it, the fact that Jan did such a good job in spearheading it is not such a good
thing," said Ciklin, who sat on the review committee with the side that failed to win major changes.
"It's becoming more and more evident that the traffic performance standard as it's written is a real no-growth tool," he
said. When Winters shunned a moratorium, "the business community said gee, this is a reasonable guy here. But what
took the moratorium's place was as bad, if not worse. Sort of a slow death."
Winters answered, "It's to the development industry's benefit to support growth management efforts to ensure high qual-
ity of life in Palm Beach County.
"I don't think there's any contradiction in that whatsoever," he said. "The only trade-off is short term versus long term. If
you are interested in short-term, immediate gains, then you're going to move on to Martin County and Indian River
County."
Still, "there's a lot of resentment out there," said Ciklin.
One place it surfaces is the Economic Council.
The private council's once mighty clout is eroding. But its members are still the power elite, the ones who get things
done. For that reason the group gets Winters' attention, though he is more relaxed over economic forecasts than cock-
tails.
The group has not taken a stand on the road standards and impact fees that fuel their unease. The proposal to impose
impact fees in addition to those already in place for road construction will increase development costs -- and thus prices
for tenants and home buyers -- to pay the price of extending public services.
But rather than get involved there, the Economic Council is instead are bankrolling a campaign to change how commis-
sioners are elected. That effort and the fears about growth controls are related.
The change, also on the Nov. 8 ballot, would expand the commission from five to seven with members elected from
districts rather than at large. A certain effect of the change will be a louder voice for special interests. It is the Economic
Council's baby, and pushed them into an odd alliance with minority groups seeking the same advantage.
The commission is Winters' boss. But he sees its makeup as a side issue. Politics is not his game. His talent is not
counting votes but engaging public opinion, as evidenced by his one addition in two years to his inner circle.
Bill Hoffman, Winters' planning director in Loveland, came on to help marshal support for a new courthouse and jail
expansion. He now directs the county public affairs office, which is becoming an aggressive public relations arm.
Of Hoffman, Winters said, "I wanted to have an advocate here who would push us to include people -- everyone -- in
our decision-making process.
"I believe in that," he said, "but I like to have someone else constantly remind me."


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PLM BCH EDITION

REAGAN ARRIVING IN BOCA TONIGHT

BYLINE: DEXTER FILKINS Herald Staff Writer


LENGTH: 793 words

President Reagan touches down in Palm Beach County tonight for a 13-hour sojourn to boost the political careers and
coffers of Republican hopefuls.
Air Force One is to bring Reagan to the AUTEC hangar at Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach at
10:45 p.m. He will depart immediately for the Boca Raton Hotel and Club, the site of Friday morning's
$1,000-per-person brunch.
Reagan is expected to raise as much as $800,000 for local Republicans before departing for Washington at 11 a.m. --
and before the first eggs Benedict greases a plate.
Wealth or stealth will be necessary to glimpse the president for longer than a few seconds. Reagan is expected to pause
only briefly, if at all, between Air Force One and the waiting presidential limousine. That part is free.
Those who want to hear Reagan deliver a 20-minute speech will have to pay $1,000. Those who want to chat with him
privately will have to pay $5,000 or sell 30 brunch tickets.
Still, Reagan's visit has Republican Party activists chirping with satisfaction. It is Reagan's first visit to the county as
president. He'll raise money for the Republicans but, just as important, he'll try to raise their political prospects.
"I'm very exhausted, but very elated," said Jean Spence, a brunch co-chairwoman. "His leadership is very important to
the candidates; his presence is a morale booster."
Spence has been working long hours since Reagan accepted the invitation two weeks ago. She has had rooms to book,
tickets to sell, letters to write, boxes to check.
Some details: Gov. Bob Martinez will greet Reagan. Two local high school marching bands will provide music. Reagan
then will be whisked to the the five-star hotel, where the help is still scrambling to prepare the four-bedroom,
$1,425-a-night presidential suite.
Along the way, in the air and on land, a phalanx of Secret Service agents and police will guard the president. He'll ride
in the custom presidential limousine, capable of traveling at 60 miles per hour even with all four tires shot out.
Next morning, when Reagan rises to speak, he will be flanked by Republican heavies, including Martinez; Connie
Mack, the party's nominee for the Senate; and Jeanne Austin, the state GOP chairwoman.
"He is going to talk about the past eight years, and the future for the Republicans," said Michele Woodward, a White
House spokeswoman.
Page 850
REAGAN ARRIVING IN BOCA TONIGHT The Miami Herald September 22, 1988 Thursday

As many as 500 people have paid $1,000 to attend the brunch, according to longtime Republican fund-raiser and event
co-chairman Alec Courtelis. He expects 50 couples at the private, $5,000-per-person reception and photo session.
"We brought the price down to $1,000 a plate so everyone could afford it," Courtelis said, without a trace of irony.
"And the Republicans have a very strong presence in Palm Beach County."
"I'd love to meet him," said Elizabeth Gleason of Highland Beach, a Democrat until 1968. "I'd like to tell him what a
wonderful job he has done over the last eight years. And I want the Republicans to win."
Even a few Democrats have plunked down the fee, just to break bread with the commander in chief. Courtelis wouldn't
identify them.
Courtelis also expects a couple of Team One Hundred contributors -- those who have donated $100,000 or more to the
Republican Party -- to show up.
"If you are a man with a nice net worth and you look at your balance sheet, you begin to wonder what will happen to
your balance sheet if (Michael) Dukakis becomes president," Courtelis said. "You start thinking that you better give the
$100,000. It's a small insurance against the Democrats."
Despite their best efforts, Reagan's advance staff will be unable to completely sanitize the president's visit. At least two
groups, including the National Organization for Women and Cure AIDS Now, will demonstrate their disgust for Reagan
outside the hotel.
The visit of the retiring president has naturally sparked a debate over his eight-year performance.
"He is a great president," said Loyd Williams, the Palm Beacher who headed up Al Haig's short-lived presidential drive.
"When I look back to all our trouble in Cuba, Vietnam, Iran, inflation, interest rates, I see who got us there -- the Dem-
ocrats."
But even to his staunchest supporters, Reagan's patina of greatness seems slightly smudged.
"He brought this country from a position of weakness to a position of strength," Williams said. "Whether he was awake
or asleep when he did it doesn't matter."
Andre Fladell, coordinator of the Palm Beach County Cooperative, an umbrella group of Democratic political organi-
zations, will cut Reagan no such slack.
"I personally don't give a rat's rear," he said. "Unless he comes down here with something substantial -- $1 million for
beach renourishment -- it's no big deal," Fladell said. "I'd rather play volleyball."


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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The Miami Herald

PLM BCH EDITION

ELECTION AFTERMATH: SURPRISES ABOUND



LENGTH: 834 words

Surprises big and small came out of Tuesday's primaries.
A popular grass-roots politician in her first bid for national office didn't even win her home town. The upheaval in the
local Republican Party carried into the voting booths. The alphabet meant more than endorsements in some races, and
two judicial races won't be decided until November. Consider:
* Surprise #1: Palm Beach County Commissioner Dorothy Wilken lost her own county in her Democratic primary bat-
tle against former state Senate president Harry Johnston for U.S. House District 14, which includes the southern half of
this county and northwest Broward County.
Johnston trounced Wilken, a Boca Raton resident and former mayor, by 10 percentage points in Palm Beach County.
Wilken won less than half the Boca precincts Tuesday -- 20 of 44. In the Boca Raton Century Village condominium
precincts, voters went for Johnston by a 4-3 margin.
That was no accident, said South County condo organizer Andre Fladell.
"What was most important to my network in South County was the Harry Johnston-Dorothy Wilken race," Fladell said.
Fladell believes Wilken's downfall was her allegiance to organized labor.
"You can no longer get involved with one power group in this county and survive," he said. "She isolated herself to one
special interest group and the other interest groups saw it as a sell-out."
The big question coming out of the sometimes brutal Wilken- Johnston clash is: Will she and her supporters join the
Johnston campaign against Republican Ken Adams?
"I don't think they have anywhere else to go," Fladell said.
"I'll certainly support the Democratic ticket," Wilken told reporters late Tuesday. She wouldn't say whether she'll hit the
campaign trail for Johnston.
* Surprise #2: The Palm Beach County Republican Party definitely will have new leaders come December. Arlene Hol-
len, now chairman of the GOP Executive Committee here, lost her race for re-election as county executive committee-
woman to newcomer Marilen Hartnett, a Boca Raton paralegal.
Again, that was no accident. Forces allied to Committeewoman Marion Hallman pulled out all the stops in their bid to
unseat Hollen or at least stack the executive committee with "new blood" to remove Hollen from the chairmanship.
"We worked and made telephone calls and all that," Hallman said. "It was a very well laid-out plan."
Page 852
ELECTION AFTERMATH: SURPRISES ABOUND The Miami Herald September 8, 1988 Thursday

It was the most hotly contested GOP executive committee ballot in years, with dozens lining up to take seats away from
incumbent committee members. Hollen lost her committee seat by a vote of 220-174 in her district.
Wednesday, Hollen was feeling a bit down about her loss.
"In another sense, it's a relief," Hollen said. "It is a lot of responsibility."
So who will become the new local party chairman when the executive committee meets in December?
"That's going to be very interesting," Hallman said. She wouldn't rule out running for the post herself. And what will
new leadership mean to rank-and-file Republicans who aren't tapped in to the inner workings of their party?
"I think you're going to see a well-run organization, so these candidates don't have to go out and knock their brains out,"
Hallman said. "We need to help with financing. I think you'll see some giant fund-raisers. There's a chance that our
president will come to Boca Raton," Hallman said.
* Surprise #3: Endorsements, whether they come from newspapers, unions or other special interest groups, don't neces-
sarily do anything for candidates. Consider the case of Republican Ivor Thomas, who ran an aggressive campaign
against C.L. "Cliff" Clarke in the state House District 84 primary.
Thomas had lots of formal endorsements. Clarke was first on the ballot, though, and as Thomas put it, possesses that
invaluable political asset: "a catchy name."
Ballot position also helped 66-year-old retiree Jesse Ferguson, who came first on the ballot in the Democratic primary
for the Port of Palm Beach Commission Group 3 seat. Ferguson's extremely low-budget campaign edged heavily en-
dorsed candidate Chuck Mueller by 45 votes to get into a winner-take-all runoff with incumbent commissioner Sandy
Klein. A recount Wednesday in that race didn't change the outcome.
"I think when ballot position makes a difference is in an obscure race where people don't know much about it," Win-
chester said.
* Surprise #4: For the first time in recent memory, there are two judicial runoffs. Races for the bench rarely involve
more than two candidates. On this year's November ballot will be runoffs for the Circuit Court Group 20 and the County
Court Group 4 judgeships. Both races had three candidates, and none got more than half the votes cast.
* Surprise #5: The voter turnout was three percentage points less than the already low estimate Palm Beach County Su-
pervisor of Elections Jackie Winchester had given last week. She predicted 30 percent would vote, because the ballot
was so crowded with candidates and issues. Only 27 percent voted.
"The turnout was bad," Winchester said. "I think that's disappointing."


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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The Miami Herald

PLM BCH EDITION

MICA SUPPORTS MACKAY IN RUNOFF

BYLINE: MIKE WILSON Herald Staff Writer


LENGTH: 510 words

Some speculate he will line up a high-paying lobbying job, but unsuccessful U.S. Senate candidate Dan Mica said
Wednesday his only plans are to work for Buddy MacKay's campaign -- and to get some rest.
The Lake Worth congressman, who finished behind MacKay and Insurance Commissioner Bill Gunter in Tuesday's
Democratic primary, said he doesn't know what he'll do when his fifth House term expires in January.
"I don't know if I want to do anything close to lobbying," he said. "But if I did lobby, it would have to be for something
I agree with. I don't want to tear down anything I've been supporting for 10 years in Congress."
Mica, 44, spent much of the afternoon raining praise upon MacKay, whom he had spent several months -- and $1.2 mil-
lion -- trying to defeat in the Senate race.
"I believe with all my heart and soul that, if I can't be the next U.S. senator, it ought to be Buddy MacKay," he said at
his district office. MacKay, an Ocala congressman who will face Gunter in a runoff Oct. 4, was at his side.
Mica, his family and his staff also spent the day adjusting to the idea that, for the first time in 20 years, he will be out of
public life. Mica entered politics in 1968 as an aide to U.S. Rep. Paul Rogers, D-West Palm Beach.
"My daughters took the loss kind of hard," said Mica, who has two daughters and two sons. The youngest child, Paul,
10, was named after Paul Rogers.
Mica's constituents expressed sadness over his defeat, but spoke gratefully of his service during his 10 years in Con-
gress. They said he and his aides were always quick to write letters or make phone calls on their behalf.
"When we called with a problem, he was there to serve us," said Ronnie Loeb, president of the Century Village West
Democratic Club. She said club members appreciated Mica's interest in social issues and in national security matters.
"I'm just sorry that the rest of the state didn't see the same qualities," she said.
Andre Fladell, the head of an umbrella group for Democratic clubs in South County, said Mica always ran clean,
thoughtful campaigns and always voted as he said he would.
"I see him cutting a deal so he can be a wealthy lobbyist," said Fladell, leader of the Palm Beach County Cooperative.
"He'll make five times the money he made in public service."
Mica gave up a secure job in the House to run for Senate. The only serious election challenge he ever faced was in
1984, when College of Boca Raton President Donald Ross won 45 percent of the vote on Ronald Reagan's coattails.
Tuesday night, more than 70 percent of the voters in congressional District 14 backed Mica for Senate.
Page 854
MICA SUPPORTS MACKAY IN RUNOFF The Miami Herald September 8, 1988 Thursday

Mica said Wednesday he is bitter about the way Gunter handled himself on election night. He criticized the first-place
finisher for calling and asking for an endorsement before all the ballots were counted.
Gunter called at 11:22. Mica didn't concede defeat until 11:50.
Mica -- who was never expected to endorse Gunter -- said he told the Insurance Commissioner he'd make up his mind
on Wednesday about whom to endorse. He said he hasn't spoken to Gunter since.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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The Miami Herald

FINAL EDITION

MICA'S PLANS: HELP OUT MACKAY, THEN TURN HIS EYES TO THE
FUTURE



LENGTH: 510 words

Some speculate he will line up a high-paying lobbying job, but unsuccessful U.S. Senate candidate Dan Mica said
Wednesday his only plans are to work for Buddy MacKay's campaign -- and to get some rest.
The Lake Worth congressman, who finished behind MacKay and Insurance Commissioner Bill Gunter in Tuesday's
Democratic primary, said he doesn't know what he'll do when his fifth House term expires in January.
"I don't know if I want to do anything close to lobbying," he said. "But if I did lobby, it would have to be for something
I agree with. I don't want to tear down anything I've been supporting for 10 years in Congress."
Mica, 44, spent much of the afternoon raining praise upon MacKay, whom he had spent several months -- and $1.2 mil-
lion -- trying to defeat in the Senate race.
"I believe with all my heart and soul that, if I can't be the next U.S. senator, it ought to be Buddy MacKay," he said at
his district office. MacKay, an Ocala congressman who will face Gunter in a runoff Oct. 4, was at his side.
Mica, his family and his staff also spent the day adjusting to the idea that, for the first time in 20 years, he will be out of
public life. Mica entered politics in 1968 as an aide to U.S. Rep. Paul Rogers, D-West Palm Beach.
"My daughters took the loss kind of hard," said Mica, who has two daughters and two sons. The youngest child, Paul,
10, was named after Paul Rogers.
Mica's constituents expressed sadness over his defeat, but spoke gratefully of his service during his 10 years in Con-
gress. They said he and his aides were always quick to write letters or make phone calls on their behalf.
"When we called with a problem, he was there to serve us," said Ronnie Loeb, president of the Century Village West
Democratic Club. She said club members appreciated Mica's interest in social issues and in national security matters.
"I'm just sorry that the rest of the state didn't see the same qualities," she said.
Andre Fladell, the head of an umbrella group for Democratic clubs in south Palm Beach County, said Mica always ran
clean, thoughtful campaigns and always voted as he said he would.
"I see him cutting a deal so he can be a wealthy lobbyist," said Fladell, leader of the Palm Beach County Cooperative.
"He'll make five times the money he made in public service."
Mica gave up a secure job in the House to run for Senate. The only serious election challenge he ever faced was in
1984, when College of Boca Raton President Donald Ross won 45 percent of the vote on Ronald Reagan's coattails.
Page 856
MICA'S PLANS: HELP OUT MACKAY, THEN TURN HIS EYES TO THE FUTURE The Miami Herald September
8, 1988 Thursday

Tuesday night, more than 70 percent of the voters in congressional District 14 backed Mica.
Mica said Wednesday he is bitter about the way Gunter handled himself on election night. He criticized the first-place
finisher for calling and asking for an endorsement before all the ballots were counted.
Gunter called at 11:22. Mica didn't concede defeat until 11:50.
Mica -- who was never expected to endorse Gunter -- said he told the insurance commissioner he'd make up his mind on
Wednesday about whom to endorse. He said he hasn't spoken to Gunter since.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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The Miami Herald

August 19, 1988 Friday
PLM BCH EDITION

SINGLE-MEMBER DISTRICTS APPEAR HEADED FOR BALLOT



LENGTH: 507 words

An unlikely coalition of Republicans and minority groups Thursday lugged box after box of signed petitions to the Palm
Beach County Elections Office in their bid to radically change to county government in November.
The Coalition for the Right to Vote and the Committee for Fair Representation turned over more than 50,000 signed
petitions calling for a countywide referendum to make the County Commission a board of seven, with each member
elected by voters within one of seven districts.
The commission now has five members. Each represents a district but all are elected by voters countywide.
Elections Supervisor Jackie Winchester now must check the signatures against voter registration rolls. If there are
28,881 verified signatures, the measure gets on the Nov. 8 ballot.
Tony Brown, chairman of the Coalition for the Right to Vote, exuded confidence that the measure will be placed on the
ballot and be approved by a majority of voters Nov. 8.
"Quite frankly, we were surprised," Brown said. "Maybe surprised isn't the word -- overwhelmed."
His coalition mailed out 170,000 petitions to registered voters. More than 43,000 were mailed back bearing signatures.
The GOP-backed Committee for Fair Representation, chipped in about 7,000 more signatures, chairman Dirk Smith
said.
Even if the voters reject the new form of county government, the success of the petition drive will have been historic.
Never before have citizens here put a referendum on the ballot by petition, Winchester said.
If the measure wins, it will stand as a repudiation for the current County Commission, which refused by a 3-2 vote on
Aug. 2 to put the issue on the November ballot.
A bitter political fight over the issue is brewing. The philosophical lines are being drawn already.
Disparate groups such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Economic Council
of Palm Beach County are pushing to change county government to single- member districts, saying it could lead to a
minority county commissioner and better accountability to voters.
"Take the black community in West Palm Beach, for example," Smith said. "They might not be able to win a seat but
they certainly would have more influence with their commissioner."
Republicans also hope that more of their own will be elected to the County Commission.
Page 858
SINGLE-MEMBER DISTRICTS APPEAR HEADED FOR BALLOT The Miami Herald August 19, 1988 Friday

Labor leader George Hudspeth, of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, said his organization will fight
tooth and nail against the measure.
"It reeks of parochialism," Hudspeth said. "It's a bad system. The developers are losing control of the county that
they've had so long, so they're trying to change it."
Andre Fladell, leader of the Palm Beach County Cooperative, an umbrella group of South County political club,
agreed.
"The condos and the homeowners have taken back control of the county from the developers, so they had to re-do
county government," Fladell said.
If the measure is passed, seven county commissioners would be elected in November 1990. Fladell promised to run for
the commission if that happens.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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The Miami Herald

BRWRD EDITION

THREE LAWYERS ON ZONING COURSE FOR A GROWTH ERA

BYLINE: MARGIE SLOAN Special to The Herald

SECTION: HOME & DESIGN; H; Pg. 29

LENGTH: 1412 words

Laws governing land use and property zoning are less than 20 years old in Palm Beach County.
Yet, three lawyers who helped shape the process -- Bill Boose, Marty Perry and Ken Spillias -- say zoning already is
entering a new era. Obtaining development approvals won't be easy, the lawyers said, with the county's newly imposed
traffic performance ordinance, which prohibits development if it will cause traffic congestion.
Perry said litigation can be expected as a result. "The ordinance will bring case-by-case incidents where people are de-
nied use of their property for periods of time. I don't see a successful challenge to the ordinance as a whole, however."
The ordinance, adopted last September, links project approvals to a five-year road building program. Generally, devel-
opers will be allowed to proceed only when the road has been improved, whether by government agencies or out of the
developers' own pocket.
Commissioners pledged to limit revisions to the road building plan. It now takes four of the five commissioners to agree
when deleting a road project.
It wasn't always so cut and dried. Boose and Perry defined the lawyer's role in land use and planning in the early '70s --
Boose as the executive director of the Palm Beach County Planning, Zoning and Building Department and Perry as one
of the first in the county to practice zoning law. Spillias was a Palm Beach County commissioner from 1982 to 1986.
While serving as planning and zoning director, Boose oversaw the writing of the county's first comprehensive land-use
plan. Legislation was required in the '70s to plan for growth as the county faced developers seeking government ap-
proval on thousands of acres.
"A lawyer's role in land use and planning and regulation in Palm Beach County didn't get substantive until 1969," Boose
said. "Everything the county uses for growth management today got its genesis in that three-year period of 1971-74."
Urban planning
Boose brought to the process a background in urban planning. Over the years, he's added real estate development to a
law career and is, with partner Harry Hamilton, the owner of several major real estate projects, including Northbridge
Centre in West Palm Beach.
Boose and his partners in the Orange Blossom Special Partnership quadrupled their $600,000 investment in January
when they sold the Seaboard Coastline railroad station to the city of West Palm Beach.
The station, which sold for $2.5 million, will be the northern terminus of the Tricounty Rail System and is designated a
state historical landmark.
Page 860
THREE LAWYERS ON ZONING COURSE FOR A GROWTH ERA The Miami Herald March 13, 1988 Sunday

"The money for the purchase of the train station came from the sale of surplus city lands and the $1 million restoration
of the building is a joint public-private venture," he said. "The historic restoration grants will be matched by Palm
Beach County government funds, Tricounty Rail Authority and private donations."
County Commissioner Ken Adams knows Boose and his zoning presentations well. "He's the guy who shakes the mov-
ers," he said.
But Boose has reverses, too.
"I have some of the same frustrations and disappointments on the private side of land-use advocacy that I did as a regu-
lator," Boose said. "I didn't get my way all the time then and I don't now."
One of those often at odds with Boose and Perry is Palm Beach County Commissioner Dorothy Wilkin. She said their
legal theatrics are startling and show a mean streak. "Those boys are vicious behind the closed doors of the chambers . .
. you really couldn't believe it."
Political activist Andre Fladell, chairman of the Palm Beach County Cooperative and champion of retirees, says he and
Boose are friendly foes. Fladell calls Boose the Maurice Chevalier of the county. "He is the master of the charming
personality and a southern gentleman," he said.
Fladell and the no-growth advocates he represents are among Boose's chief adversaries. They locked horns on the Mis-
sion Bay development in Boca Raton and on a 30-acre mixed-use hotel complex off Atlantic Avenue at Florida's Turn-
pike in Delray Beach.
Boose was successful in obtaining approval for the 1,500- unit Mission Bay project, but lost out to Fladell's group in
round one of the 150-room hotel zoning. But, the next year, Boose received support from the cooperative and won ap-
proval.
Fladell said he likes Boose and respects him. "Bill is bright and he's a very nice guy. He sells himself. And his oral ar-
gument in chambers is an art form."
Veteran player
Perry preceded Boose in the zoning wars by six years. Specializing in land planning and zoning law came by accident.
While obtaining zoning for a mobile home park in the late 1967, Perry approached the unknown.
"There was a lady named Morgan who ran the building and zoning department and I asked her for help," he said. "She
was helpful all the way through. The entire zoning code in 1967 was 30 pages of mimeographed paper."
Perry said he was geared for litigation and liked the form of advocacy that zoning offered. "I liked the flavor of it," he
said. "There were no roles to play. It was free wheeling and nothing was written on it. It depended on how good you
were on your feet and how well you know what you were talking about."
The county's building spurt of the early '70s helped Perry attract clients for zoning work.
When Perry thinks he's right, he's been known to file a lawsuit to prove his point.
Peter Cheney, city manager of Boynton Beach, said Perry is suing the city and three elected officials for $15 million
because the Woolbright Place mixed-use project hasn't broken ground yet. City attorney Raymond Rey said Perry is a
bulldog who bites into a case and won't let go.
"He's the most tenacious zoning attorney around," he said. "He has an amiable manner, but he won't take no for an an-
swer. He'll work a project until it's blood dry."
Representing the big developers is a large part of Perry's practice. But, he says his best reward came three years ago
when he obtained zoning approval for a day-care center on Military Trail in West Palm Beach.
"The site was on the fringe of a major residential development and the homeowners were vehemently opposed to it," he
said. "I didn't see one vote in our favor. I gave an extemporaneous speech and we got a unanimous approval."
Perry said he defused opposition arguments by appealing to common sense. "I told them day-care centers are like con-
venience stores and churches," he said. "Everyone uses them but no one wants them in their back yard. After that, I sep-
arated their emotion from fact."
Page 861
THREE LAWYERS ON ZONING COURSE FOR A GROWTH ERA The Miami Herald March 13, 1988 Sunday

Commissioner Wilkin said Perry is meticulous in his preparation for zoning presentations and often uses the iron- fist
approach. "Marty gives 100 percent to his clients," she said. "And I don't like all his clients. He's brilliant and I'm ex-
tremely fond of him."
Fladell likens Perry to cartoon character Popeye.
"Marty gets his energy from his ego instead of spinach," he said. "He doesn't make his adversaries defensive. You don't
feel he's coming at you. He gets right into the thick of it with my condo commanders and he loves it."
Knows the players
Spillias is the only one of the zoning lawyers to serve as a county commissioner. His four-year stint gives him an ad-
vantage in knowing the players and the presentations necessary to win approval.
Spillias went back to practicing law in 1986 after deciding not to run for re-election. He successfully led developer
Leonard Briscoe through the political maze in obtaining a $1.9 million loan from the county last September for cost
overruns at a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development project, Wedgewood Plaza in Riviera Beach.
Wilkin said Spillias is a lobbyist who uses the velvet- glove approach. "He's definitely not a hired gun," she said. "He
would screen his cases very carefully."
Spillias said knowledge of the political process is indispensable. "Developers coming to Florida sometimes have a rude
awakening," he said. "Finding the land, obtaining the financing and getting zoning approval isn't easy."
Spillias sees the lawyer's role in real estate as that of a deal maker. "People who deal in real estate are often afraid that
lawyers will look for problems that don't exist to justify their fees," he side. "In truth, we offer solutions that save the
deals."
Fladell says of Spillias, "He's got the network and he's a visionary." But he's bothered by Spillias' connection to county
government and says that former county commissioners should be prohibited from any dealings with the commission
for at least two years after they leave office.


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The Miami Herald

PLM BCH EDITION

HERE'S WHAT YOU'LL GET THIS HOLIDAY

BYLINE: GLENN SINGER Herald Columnist

SECTION: PLM BCH; PB; Pg. 2

LENGTH: 533 words

Have all your Christmas shopping done? OK, don't growl. Just about everybody we know waited for the last minute,
too.
But we've devoted a lot of thought to the presents we'd like to give to upstanding members of the community and some
of the companies that operate in the county. So here goes:
* To Chrysler chairman Lee Iacocca: A new set of furniture so he finally can move into his penthouse at Trump Plaza in
downtown West Palm Beach.
* To Donald Trump: A 140-foot-high wall on the west side of Trump Plaza so his tenants don't have to look out at the
slums of West Palm Beach.
* Also to Donald Trump, who seems bored with his possessions: A new type of business to which he can affix his
golden name and bring in the throngs. Say, how about Trump Flashdance?
* To outgoing South Florida Science Museum director Ed Sobey: A round-trip plane ticket to Jacksonville, with an
open return.
* To drivers in the relocated Grand Prix of Palm Beach: A road map. Or perhaps the proposed East-West Expressway.
They'll be the only ones on it.
* To The Breakers, which recently lost status in the Mobil Travel Guide: A video of the latest Star Search.
* To John West, former resident manager at The Breakers: A copy of Alfred E. Neumann's autobiography, What? Me
Worry?
* To State Attorney David Bludworth: Maid service to clean his cluttered desk.
* To county Consumer Affairs director Alice Skaggs: Her own savings and loan, so she can expose all those phony
bank examiners.
* To financially troubled Ballet Florida: A huge endowment.
* To Riviera Beach Police Chief Frank M. Walker III: An autographed picture of radio talk host Jack Cole.
* To radio talk host Jack Cole: An autographed picture of Riviera Beach Police Chief Frank M. Walker III.
* To some members of the West Palm Beach City Commission, who seem to have conflicts of interest on a whole lot of
issues: A wall plaque with a section of the Hippocratic Oath: "I will abstain from all intentional wrongdoing and harm."
Page 863
HERE'S WHAT YOU'LL GET THIS HOLIDAY The Miami Herald December 24, 1987 Thursday

* To Sheriff Richard Wille: An autographed picture of Rin Tin Tin.
* To Discover Palm Beach County: The rights to the state slogan, "The Rules Are Different Here."
* To Roxanne Pulitzer: Perhaps not a Pulitzer Prize for literature, but a best-seller at the very least.
* To Schools Superintendent Tom Mills, who has been groping all year with racial imbalance in many of the county's
schools: A secret plan.
* To former County Commissioner Jerry Owens: More bicycle paths.
* To WFLX-TV (Channel 29) general manager Murray Green: A great new gimmick to replace those Bedtime Girls.
* To Mary Sanford: A long and healthy reign as the queen of Palm Beach society.
* To South County political activist Andre Fladell: A less conservative wardrobe.
* To the West Palm Beach Stingrays: Existence.
* To producer Zev Bufman: A successful theater season and a top National Basketball Association franchise.
* To Port of Palm Beach Commissioner Sandy Klein, a Democrat, and his fiancee, lawyer Randee Schatz, a Republi-
can: A bipartisan honeymoon.
* To Eastern Airlines, which has eliminated meals on most flights shorter than three hours: A new book, 100 Things
You Can Do With Peanuts.
* And to everyone else: Best wishes for a joyous holiday and a happy 1988.


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The Miami Herald

PLM BCH EDITION

POLITICIANS LINE UP FOR MICA'S SEAT

BYLINE: JEFFREY WEISS Herald Staff Writer


LENGTH: 660 words

Last week, we were waiting for U.S. Rep. Dan Mica to drop the other shoe into turbid political waters by deciding to
run for the Senate. This week it's raining shoes, with candidates from both major political parties angling for Mica's
seat.
Friday afternoon, County Commissioner Ken Adams, a Republican, becomes the first person to say flat out that he's
after Mica's seat. Adams, 57, is in the third year of a four- year commission term. The commission seat is the only elec-
tive position Adams has held.
Mica's district includes most of the southern half of Palm Beach County and part of Broward County. Mica is finishing
his fifth term.
Adams is running on the same platform of fiscal conservatism he used to get on the commission.
"I'm running on a policy of not spending more than you take in," he said.
That includes support for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution mandating a balanced federal budget. And support for
a tax increase Adams says is needed to achieve that balance.
Other hot issues: getting more money for AIDS research and increasing attention to environmental concerns.
Adams acknowledges that he isn't a foreign policy expert. Or an expert on running for Congress.
He plans an intense period of study to solve the first problem. And he's enrolled in a candidates' school sponsored by the
National Republican Congressional Committee to handle the second.
He's also touched base with Republican Gov. Bob Martinez and the Bush for President campaign. But they won't get
involved until after any Republican primary, Adams said.
The campaign should cost between $750,000 and $1 million, Adams said. He doesn't expect to have trouble raising the
money.
Don Ross, president of the College of Boca Raton, is considered Adams' most likely Republican opponent. He lost to
Mica four years ago.
Republican shoes still firmly affixed to their owners' feet include those of state reps. Carol Hanson of Boca Raton,
Frank Messersmith of Lake Worth, and County Commissioner Carol Elmquist.
Former Senate President Harry Johnston has all but resolved his lingering doubts about a campaign.
Page 865
POLITICIANS LINE UP FOR MICA'S SEAT The Miami Herald December 19, 1987 Saturday

Johnston has two problems: He's still smarting over last year's unsuccessful run for the governor's seat. And he's still not
convinced that Mica is really going to run for the Senate.
Johnston says he needs to talk to Mica once more. And he wants to study the district and the potential campaign a little
longer. Check back in about a week.
"I don't want to make the same mistake I made when I got into the governor's race. You get caught up in the euphoria of
it," he said.
If he does come in, figure on Commissioner Carol Roberts, state reps. Steve Press, D-Delray Beach, Ray Liberti,
D-West Palm Beach, and School Board member Hugh MacMillan Jr. staying on the sidelines.
"I understand he is likely to go," MacMillan said of Johnston. "If he does, he'll be the best candidate and congressman
we've had from this area."
But figure on County Commissioner Dorothy Wilken to cannonball into the middle of the political swamp, Johnston
campaign or no.
Wilken, who is recovering from minor surgery, has been marshalling support from her bed. She's been calling those
South County political workers who helped elect and re-elect her.
It so happens that many of these same people helped elect and re-elect Johnston. A primary between these two popular,
well-known candidates promises to be expensive and potentially bloody.
It will tear apart, for instance, the crazy quilt of mostly condo-bound political junkies who make up the Palm Beach
County Political Cooperative.
They love Dorothy. But they're just wild about Harry. In fact, only last week, cooperative head Andre Fladell pledged
support to Johnston. But that was before Wilken seemed so certain to run.
The same potential divisiveness drives labor union chief George Hudspeth crazy. The unions have worked for both
Wilken and Johnston.
"It's going to put us in a very ticklish situation," he said. "It's going to be a very hard decision."


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The Miami Herald

PLM BCH EDITION

REP. MICA FILES AS A CANDIDATE FOR CHILES' SEAT



LENGTH: 705 words

Officially, U.S. Rep. Dan Mica is still mulling over a bid for the Senate seat to be vacated by Lawton Chiles. But in the
real world, where decisions count more than announcements, Palm Beach County's five-term Democratic congressman
is in full campaign overdrive.
Earlier this week, he filed the papers that allow him to set up a campaign organization. And additional papers that say
he's a candidate.
And while Mica can change his mind, his action means we might have another political bid by former Senate President
Harry Johnston in our future.
The sound you've almost heard is the sploosh of Mica's other shoe dropping all the way from Washington, D.C., into the
morass of Palm Beach County politics. But the delay in Mica's formal announcement has his supporters whipsawing
over whether they want him to run for the Senate.
The downside: Mica would leave a House seat held comfortably by Democrats for an uncertain statewide race. He'd
lose seniority in the House and the power of his friendship with House Speaker Jim Wright. And his decision would
trigger a cascade of other Democratic seats opening up, as those officials covet Mica's old seat.
Mica's House district covers much of the southern half of Palm Beach County and part of Broward County.
Mica's campaign may set off a local political war, but maybe not.
First, Mica must irrevocably decide to run. Other strong candidates are stirring, most notably former governor Reuben
Askew and at least two other U.S. House members, Buddy MacKay of Tampa and Larry Smith of Hollywood. Not that
Mica sounds worried about any of them -- not even Askew with his instant statewide name recognition.
"It's going to take total commitment around the clock," Mica said. "My intention would be to take the campaign directly
to (Askew's) doorstep.
Fund raising has already started, he said, with one man bringing in $20,000 Thursday morning. Mica figures a race
would cost between $5 million and $8 million.
"The pledges are phenomenal," he said.
Neither is Mica bothered by the immediate loss of status he would certainly suffer as a freshman senator.
"In 10 years, I was fortunate to rise to power in the way other members took 20 or 30 years to accomplish," he said. "I
have proven I can rise quickly."
Page 867
REP. MICA FILES AS A CANDIDATE FOR CHILES' SEAT The Miami Herald December 12, 1987 Saturday

Local support for Mica is mixed. Raymond Rea, chairman of the county's Democratic Executive Committee, is as loyal
as they come:
"If he runs, chances are he will be the Democratic nominee."
But Mica's backers aren't all in love with the idea of a Senate race. Andre Fladell, head of the Palm Beach County Co-
operative, argues that Mica can do more for the county in his current seat.
"Dan Mica is a very special congressman," Fladell said.
Not to mention that Mica whipped token opposition in two of his last three elections. In his toughest race, he beat both
Republican Don Ross and Ronald Reagan's 1984 coattails. The political fortunes of a Mica-less seat would be less cer-
tain.
On the other hand, the safety of Mica's seat could change in 1990, after the next census and reapportionment. And how
often can an ambitious congressman count on an open Senate seat?
The same question can be asked of local politicians interested in an open House seat. The scramble has already started,
but unbridled chaos could be avoided if a particularly strong candidate jumps in early.
For instance, former Florida Senate President -- and unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate -- Johnston is interested. His
old state Senate district covered much of the same ground as Mica's congressional district. He's already got support.
Fladell polled the leadership of his political cooperative this week and called Johnston with the results: If Mica runs, the
cooperative will back Johnston for the House seat.
Johnston's entry might discourage some potential candidates, including County Commission Chairman Carol Roberts
and state reps. Ray Liberti, D-West Palm Beach, and Steve Press, D-Lake Worth.
But others -- say Palm Beach County Commissioner Dorothy Wilken and Broward County Commissioner Nikki
Grossman -- have sufficient confidence to run against anyone.
Not that any of those decisions have been made yet. Nobody is making any commitments while all ears are cocked for
the sound of that other shoe falling.
Sploosh.


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The Miami Herald

PLM BCH EDITION

VOTER THREATS DON'T FRET BOARD MEMBERS

BYLINE: FAWN GERMER Herald Staff Writer


LENGTH: 758 words

Just remember, there are seven of you and 45,000 of us, Royal Palm Beach residents warned the Palm Beach County
School Board before board members cast their school boundary vote last week.
That's 45,000 votes, they said. Don't send Royal Palm Beach students to Palm Beach Lakes High School. Send them to
the new school that is being built in Wellington.
Remember, 45,000 votes.
Then the board voted 5-2 against their wishes.
The School Board also angered Riviera Beach citizens and civil rights leaders who said the decision not to bus whites to
Suncoast High School, instead implementing a magnet program in the 88 percent black school, will forever segregate
the school.
And the board upset some Jupiter parents who realize their high school will likely open next fall 600 students over ca-
pacity.
The threats were sounded at every boundary hearing this month. How real those threats were will be seen next Novem-
ber when board members Gail Bjork, Lynda Johnston and Joseph Belluccio seek re-election.
"Everyone always has those threats," board member Lynda Johnston said. "That's their privilege to say. It's sort of a
crazy thing to say, but they say it and they also write it to you. But that is our system, and everyone has the privilege to
vote for you or not vote for you. I just would hope everyone is careful scrutinizing the candidates, making sure they get
the best person for the job."
Threats of political retaliation mean very little, board member Joseph Belluccio said.
"I really don't worry about that. My concern has always been what is best for the kids. I study the situation, ask a hell of
a lot of questions, and when I make my decision, I can sleep. Threats don't bother me."
Still, Belluccio, who represents the western suburbs, and Bjork were the only two board members to vote as those citi-
zens had demanded.
That vote won them the favor of leaders in those communities who are livid with the other board members for voting to
bus the Royal Palm Beach students east instead of to the new Wellington high school.
"We are very unhappy," Royal Palm Beach Mayor Sam Lamstein said. "Unless we can get them to change their minds,
we will do everything we can to elect people who can give us the boundary lines we want. But Dr. Belluccio and Mrs.
Bjork are two people we will back in every way we can."
Page 869
VOTER THREATS DON'T FRET BOARD MEMBERS The Miami Herald November 22, 1987 Sunday

Bjork said she has already been confronted by angry constituents in the Riviera Beach area who believe she sold them
out in favor of Jupiter, where she lives. Bjork's district encompasses both communities.
"The day after the boundary hearings, I received a call from a black woman who told me my vote did not serve the
black community well and she told me not to forget I'm up for re- election. Well, the threat of votes doesn't affect how I
vote. I cast my votes based on my conscience, on listening to the public and on my philosophical educational beliefs. If
the people don't like what I do, so be it. If the people don't want me, so be it."
How weighty is the wrath of those unhappy voters?
"For as many people who are angry at current board members, I'm sure there are as many who are pleased with what
they did," said Clifford Hertz, spokesman for Palm Beach County Citizens for Quality Education. "How that will bal-
ance off, it's hard to tell."
Hertz pegged Bjork as the most vulnerable of the three board members up for re-election. Political activist Charles
McCain has announced his candidacy for her seat on the board.
Bjork already has substantial voter opposition, said Andre Fladell, director of the South County Cooperative, a coali-
tion of homeowner and political clubs.
"She's a dinosaur," he said. "She needs to be removed. She represents anything but the constitution, and we will actively
campaign against her."
But Fladell earmarked Johnston, not Bjork, as the most likely to be kicked off the board by the voters.
"She is the weakest candidate for re-election on the School Board," he said. "My guess is there will be a lot of people in
that race."
Two candidates have already lined up against Johnston: former Lake Worth City Commissioner Edward Sheppard and
Scott Katz, a lawyer who was disbarred by the Florida Supreme Court.
Fladell said the voters who are steaming about the boundary changes are unlikely to sway the election.
"The same people who are screaming and yelling won't account for a thousand votes," he said. "The condominium peo-
ple show up. Seniors show up. The rest just don't. They may have some very strong feelings about these people, but by
September 1988, they won't. They won't be able to raise their army."


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The Miami Herald

PLM BCH EDITION

'GUESTS' NOW A STRONG PART OF THE COMMUNITY

BYLINE: TRISH ROBB Herald Staff Writer


LENGTH: 2292 words

Brian Eichler was 13 in 1973, the year of his Bar Mitzvah, the ritual passage into adulthood for every Jewish boy.
There were no temples in Boca Raton, so the new Hebrew Congregation held its services in the Moravian Church at the
edge of town.
Late that December, his parents beaming with pride, Brian Eichler stood before the congregation with the rabbi and the
Torah -- and the church's Christmas tree, Nativity scene and wreaths with red bows -- and he became a man.
"It wasn't exactly what I would have wanted," said his mother, Helene, the assistant director of the Jewish Federation of
South County. "We were guests in another house."
Jewish people are no longer guests in Palm Beach County, but an integral and important part of its society. As the
county has boomed, so has the Jewish population.
Most are older, well-educated and middle class. The impact of the influx has been felt in virtually every area of county
life.
The county's thriving arts community is due in large part to Jewish support. No politician can afford to ignore their
opinions. On major Jewish holidays, schools close. Two nursing homes for the elderly serve kosher meals, and a third is
planned for Delray Beach. Even in local convenience stores, bagels are displayed alongside the beef jerky.
Ira Feder was 19 in 1956, working in Miami Beach at the kosher supermarket his grandfather had opened there in 1942.
Many of their customers came from West Palm Beach, Feder said, driving down U.S. 1 to buy a month's worth of ko-
sher meat.
"There was a need here, I was a nice young guy, and they asked me to come up," Feder said.
At first, the 600 families of Temple Beth-El in West Palm Beach subsidized the store Feder opened in Palm Beach
County. Thirty years later, Feder's Palm Beach Kosher market on Okeechobee Boulevard does a booming business,
shipping meat all over the state.
"It was a very small, close-knit community in those days," Feder said.
It grew quickly.
By 1970, about 4,500 Jewish residents called this county home. The latest demographic studies count 150,000 -- an in-
crease of more than 3,200 percent. The county's overall population has increased only 115 percent in the same period.
Page 871
'GUESTS' NOW A STRONG PART OF THE COMMUNITY The Miami Herald November 8, 1987 Sunday

In fact, South Florida now has the third-largest Jewish population in the country, behind New York and Los Angeles.
And South Palm Beach County is believed to be one of the fastest- growing Jewish communities in the world, Jewish
leaders say.
"It's more than I ever expected," said Rabbi Merle Singer of Temple Beth-El, the first temple in Boca Raton, built in
1977. "It's been a geometric increase."
The Jewish Federation of South County, which serves the county south of Boynton Beach, estimates 70,000 Jewish
people live in that area, with 8,000 more arriving each year.
And a study just released by the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County, which serves the area from Boynton Beach
to Jupiter, found that 80,000 Jewish people live in that area.
In all, that means a fifth, or 20 percent, of the county's 751,000 residents are Jewish, five times the percentage nation-
wide.
"It's what I call the L.A. syndrome." Bruce Warshal, director of the federation, said. "Twenty-five years ago . . . Los
Angeles had an image as being a new beginning for a new life. Now, people are coming here instead."
The modern-day exodus began in the 1970s.
As the population centers in northern urban areas shifted farther from the city's center, people decided a suburb is a
suburb, and opted for those without ice and snow, said Helen Hoffman, community relations director for the North
County federation.
Most didn't come to Florida until they retired.
Esther Canell had never considered West Palm Beach as a place to retire. But then someone else's brochure for Century
Village was accidentally delivered to her New York home in 1970.
Intrigued, she flew down to see the place, and immediately bought a condominium, which she and her husband moved
to in 1972.
"I was so impressed with the planned activities, the supervised activities," she said.
"I have a friend who lives up north, in a beautiful house, but there's nobody there. It can be very lonely," said Canell,
whose husband died seven years ago.
Canell now lives alone, her condo filled with pictures of her sons and grandchildren. But at bridge or tennis games in
the development, Canell found it easy to meet people who share her interests.
Like many of the Village residents, she volunteers, takes classes, and is part of her association's board. With a staff of
volunteers she sells ads for the Century Village newspaper, The Reporter.
The villagers gather by the pools and on the dance floors. They have bought the security of knowing that though mates
may die and families may scatter, they do not have to be alone.
"Everything is here," said Canell. "Some people never leave the village."
Irwin Levy had retirees in mind when he built the first Century Village in West Palm Beach in 1968. He sold more than
7,000 of the apartment units in five years, marketing them in middle-class Jewish areas in New York City. Later, he
built another in Boca Raton, and two more in Broward County.
By the time Betty Torop and her husband retired from New York in 1975, many of her friends were already in Century
Village.
"Even 12 years ago, we knew this was the up and coming place," Torop said.
"We thought it would be less crowded here, there would be less crime," she said. "The trend was northward. Miami was
a thing of the past."
Other retirees followed in droves.
Now, in South County, 63 percent of the 70,000 Jewish residents are over age 65, according to a study by University of
Miami demographer Ira Sheskin. In North County, Sheskin found that 67 percent of all Jewish residents were retired.
By comparison, only 25 percent of all residents countywide are at retirement age.
Page 872

Sheskin also found that less than a 10th of the Jewish population in the county is under 19. Of 200 households the de-
mographers surveyed in Delray Beach, only one had a child at home.
But as Jewish residents continue to pour into the county, the image of an aged Jewish community may be changing. All
those retirees need doctors, lawyers and other professionals, who in turn need businesses, retail stores and schools.
"We have just enough younger people here to make the facilities for them inadequate," said Dr. Jack Zeltzer, who
moved here from Montreal five years ago, "but not quite enough yet to counterbalance the perception of all Jews as old
retirees."
The younger Jewish residents are a less distinct group than their parents were. Just 20 years ago, growing up in Miami,
Joe Rubin and his friends perceived Palm Beach County as a terrible place to be Jewish.
"We thought of it as very anti-Semitic, that's true," Rubin said. They joked about anti-Semitic signs being posted on
Palm Beach.
Then, in the 1970s, one of Rubin's friends moved here to work.
"I saw him a few years later, and he told me he'd never move to Dade again," said Rubin, 36, who now runs his own
Jewish funeral home, Beth Israel-Rubin Memorial Chapel, in Delray Beach.
"I think there was, and still is, some amount of anti- Semitism here," Rubin said. But his family found less fear of crime,
less tension in their lives here.
"We'd never go back to Miami, either," he said. "The quality of life is much higher here."
Whatever their age, the impact of Jewish emigres on the life and growth of the county is felt in many ways, both subtle
and significant.
Boca Raton businessman Jim Baer, who founded the South County Jewish Federation, said Jewish people are tradition-
ally involved in the communities in which they live.
"Jewish people demand better schools, not that other people don't," said Baer, who moved from Indiana in 1976. "We're
interested in better government. We want to make the world a better place."
People who lived for years with the cultural riches of northern cities such as New York City, Boston or Montreal are
very supportive of arts programs here, Hoffman said.
"The older people are an audience that can be counted on for things like new concert series," she said.
Clyde Fyfe, executive director of the Regional Arts Foundation, agreed.
"They have actually made the cultural growth in this community," he said.
At Century Village, sitting by the pool, Ada Columbus beams with pride when talk turns to the opera. Columbus has
long been active in fund raising for the Palm Beach Opera, and each year her building in the village collects money for a
scholarship for a promising singer.
"One of our girls," she said, "is singing now with the Met," the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.
"They attend. They're terrific," Fyfe said. "It was a cultural desert, and with the advent of Century Village and the
growth in the Jewish community, it's become an oasis."
Jewish residents also help mold area politics. The retired Jewish population is active and organized, and tends to be lib-
eral and Democratic, said Andre Fladell, a Delray Beach chiropractor who is director of the South County Cooperative,
a coalition of homeowner and political clubs.
"They are the best read people, in terms of being knowledgeable," he said. "Jewish people participate in government.
"They tend to respond similarly to issues, and form a voting bloc," Fladell said. "Our local government is held more
accountable than any I've ever seen, because no other government has so many people who have the time to sit and
watch."
The county school system has learned to provide for both Christian and Jewish holidays. And last spring, the Jewish
Federation of Palm Beach County held the first-ever Jewish Workshop for teachers.
Page 873

"We wanted the teachers to understand Jewish culture and life so we could avoid the situation where a kid works six
months on a science fair project and then he can't go because they hold it on Yom Kippur," said Ann Lipton, former
director of education for the federation.
About 60 teachers learned the basics of Jewish history, culture and holidays, said Dr. Joseph Orr, associate superinten-
dent for instruction for the school board.
"Most of us are abominably ignorant of any culture but our own," Orr said. "I thought it was wonderful of them to pro-
vide the service."
Rabbi Alan Sherman also has been working with the school system, Lipton said, to ensure that high school graduations
are not held on Friday nights or Saturdays, the Jewish Sabbath.
But as the influx of Jewish people increases, some problems are inevitable. Brooklyn and Boca Raton, Westchester and
West Palm Beach move at different speeds. Some people view the transplanted New Yorkers as too aggressive, and
mistake the brashness for a Jewish, rather than an urban, trait.
Many of the older Jewish people came from Europe at the time of World War II, Baer said, when aggressiveness was a
necessity.
"If you didn't push your way onto the boat, you stayed there," he said. "If you didn't push your way through life in New
York, you didn't survive."
Here, for the young families in particular, struggles remain. They must strive to retain and pass on traditions in a com-
munity growing faster than its institutions.
"There is no real community center, nor will there be," said Rabbi Howard Shapiro of Temple Israel in West Palm
Beach.
The Jewish community is split, geographically, by the sheer size of the county. And only 13 percent of Jewish residents
in the county are affiliated with a temple, Warshal said.
Of those who belong to temples, most are reform or conservative. The majority of the county's 24 temples serve these,
the two most liberal branches of Judaism.
But two new Orthodox temples have been built in the last two years. For some families, that is not enough.
Irene Dardashti and her husband want to raise their four children in an extremely Orthodox environment. She keeps
very strict, or glatt, kosher dietary laws. She has often driven from West Palm Beach to Deerfield Beach, a 30-minute
drive, to buy kosher pizzas.
The Dardashtis plan to move to Miami Beach to be near an orthodox school, at a time when many of Dade County's
Jewish residents are moving north. David Dardashti, a developer, said he will commute on Interstate 95 each day to
West Palm Beach.
"Sometimes you just have to make sacrifices for your kids," said Irene Dardashti.
Facilities for Jewish education do exist here. More than 500 children attend the two Jewish day schools in the county,
and hundreds more learn about Judaism in after-school programs at temples.
Most Jewish children, though, are in public schools, where they grow up with mostly non-Jewish friends. Each genera-
tion becomes more assimilated, and customs are inevitably lost.
The blending of cultures in Palm Beach County has been relatively smooth, although some incidents of anti-Semitism
have occurred over the years.
In 1984, a group of parents charged that Palm Beach's Junior Assembly was excluding Jewish children from its Friday
dance classes. The assembly denied any discrimination, and then moved its classes from the Flagler Museum to a pri-
vate club.
In March, Murray Hymowitz, a 72-year-old Delray Beach man spearheading a move to erect a monument to Jewish war
veterans, was knocked down and cursed by three thugs.
Warshal, the South County federation director, stressed that those incidents are exceptions.
Page 874

"Everybody focuses on the isolated incident," he said. "But nobody talks about the huge acceptance the Jewish commu-
nity has found."
"This community went in a very short time from having no Jews at all to having a synagogue on every main thorough-
fare," Warshal said.
Shapiro lauds those accomplishments, but still is concerned about the next Jewish generation.
"America has traditionally been a melting pot, but not everyone has to give up his cultural heritage," he said. "If we all
melt, then we're all the same, and we'll have nothing left in this country but McDonald's."


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The Miami Herald

PLM BCH EDITION

SLIGHT OPPOSITION MAY HURT LOW-KEY BOND ISSUE

BYLINE: CRAIG GEMOULES Herald Staff Writer


LENGTH: 672 words

Timing is everything -- except for Palm Beach County, where it could turn to nothing.
The County Commission, on the stump for its biggest bond issue ever, is beginning to face its first visible opposition
with the election only 23 days away. While that gives opponents only a short time to campaign, it may be enough: The
county's sales pitch for the $300 million courts and jails building program has been so low-key that its organizers worry
their efforts could be wiped out with only a few opposing television commercials.
And, while there are supporters outside government itself, they are virtually silent.
"I'm not going to phone bank. I'm not going to do palm cards. I'm not going to do intersections," said Andre Fladell,
director of the powerful South County Cooperative and a supporter of the tax-supported bonds.
Why? Because crime is no longer the issue. It is taxes. People are sick of them.
"They're basically saying, 'Enough of this,' " Fladell said.
Just last week, voters defeated a a $92-million bond issue for Palm Beach Junior College by a 3-1 margin. Labor unions
staged a late campaign against the tax and were quick to claim victory. Poll results indicate, though, that voters were
already against the tax and labor merely made the defeat more solid.
Yet, fresh from at least a perceived victory, organized labor is now lining up opposition to the county's bond issue as
well.
"We're not going to buy a pig in a poke," said George Hudspeth, president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical
Workers. He wants assurances that, if the bond is approved, certified laborers will be hired extensively to build the
courthouse and jails.
County Administrator Jan Winters predicts at least 80 percent of the construction would be done by union workers. But
unions don't know that because the county has almost completely shut organized labor out of its campaign -- no
speeches, no slide shows, no brochures.
The county, instead, has concentrated on wooing condo groups, civic clubs, developers and businessmen. Commissioner
Ken Adams formed a blue ribbon committee of 10 men and one woman -- all corporate or management executives -- to
review the bond issue.
They endorsed it. They also offended the unions.
"Ask Ken Adams how many grass-roots people he has on his blue ribbon committee," Hudspeth said.
Page 876
SLIGHT OPPOSITION MAY HURT LOW-KEY BOND ISSUE The Miami Herald October 18, 1987 Sunday

So the bond issue is no longer just a question about crime. Now it's about jobs and the influence of big business -- and,
of course, taxes.
"Realistically, you don't get something for nothing. Realistically, you can't separate the two," Circuit Court Chief Judge
William Rutter said.
While it's debatable how powerful organized labor is in Palm Beach County politics, there is little question that union
opposition will be visible and will crystalize the fervent anti- tax mood among voters -- and there is also little question
the county hadn't expected that.
"We don't see ourselves being in an adversarial position with the union," Winters said. "Maybe that's naive."
Between now and the Nov. 10 referendum, supporters will have to convince voters that labor is merely a side issue.
They will continue to pose the question: Is it worth paying higher taxes to keep crooks in jail longer and bring the ac-
cused to trial faster?
That has been the campaign all along -- use logic, and the taxpayers will agree. But with the defeat of the junior college
referendum, and the growing opposition from labor, hopes are dwindling that logic alone will prevail.
Supporters, to be successful, will have to steer their campaign away from taxes and toward crime. Further, they'll have
to persuade voters that a new courthouse, a new jail and an addition to the county stockade actually will help reduce
crime. Lastly, they'll have to distance themselves from the junior college defeat by showing their criminal justice needs
are distinctly different -- and neglected at the voters' own peril.
"It's not like some of the kids will have to choose some other school to go to," County Commissioner Karen Marcus
said. "There is no other jail."


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The Miami Herald

PLM BCH EDITION

WILLE: I'LL RUN FOR 4TH TERM IN '88



LENGTH: 433 words

Palm Beach County Sheriff Richard Wille announced Saturday that he would seek a fourth term as sheriff, confirming
the worst-suppressed political rumor in the county.
Wille made the announcement during an "appreciation barbecue" on the suburban Delray Beach ranch of politically
active farmer Billy Bowman. Wille acknowledged that reelection was an unwelcome thought as recently as a year ago.
"For a while there, there was no question in my mind that I wanted to get out of politics for many reasons, but mostly
because of the kinds of press you get nowadays when you are a politician," he said.
But the urging of friends and members of the department slowly softened his stance, he said. "It kinda makes you think
that, by golly, it's not quite time to hang it up yet."
He offered one other reason: "I can't afford to retire," he said. "I'd have to go to work someplace."
Wille's announcement was made in a setting that makes his re-election look likely: He was congratulated by the liberal
Democrats of the South County condominiums and by staunch Republicans like County Commissioner Ken Adams.
Some Democrats said Wille would get their votes largely because of his loyal Undersheriff Charles McCutcheon, a
Democrat. Wille said he wasn't surprised at his apparently wide base of support.
"I've always felt the office of sheriff should be nonpartisan," he said.
Labor union leader George Hudspeth offered an endorsement even before Wille made the campaign official. Developer
Tom Waldron helicoptered in for the event. Broward County Sheriff Nick Navarro and Miami Vice actor Michael Tal-
bot wandered through the crowd of several hundred people.
Even before Wille spoke, strong hints of what he would say were in evidence: Like dozens of green and white "Reelect
Sheriff Wille" hats recycled from the last campaign. Like the way Wille worked the crowd, all but asking for votes.
Like the giant green and white frosted cakes, one in the shape of a sheriff's star, the other in the shape of "88," the elec-
tion year.
In his announcement, Wille alluded to the controversy that swirled around him two years ago concerning the way police
dogs were purchased for the department and for a kennel he and his wife were running. A year-long investigation ended
with a grand jury not indicting Wille.
The lingering effects of that investigation won't hurt Wille, said Andre Fladell, head of the Palm Beach County Coop-
erative. "He's investigation clean," he said.
Page 878
WILLE: I'LL RUN FOR 4TH TERM IN '88 The Miami Herald October 18, 1987 Sunday

Wille agreed, even though he expected his opponents to resurrect the old charges. "Maybe I should have a whole lot of
copies of the Grand Jury report," he said.


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The Miami Herald

October 17, 1987 Saturday
PLM BCH EDITION

STATE ISSUES STILL TAXING; PBJC VOTE SENDS A MESSAGE



LENGTH: 706 words

First, an answer to the question I posed a month ago: Will the NFL players and management get together before the
Florida governor and Legislature?
I'd say it's a draw, with just as many issues resolved in both disputes. The biggest difference is that the voters aren't able
to field a replacement government team with the ease of the NFL. And can you say bye-bye incumbent?
Now, a new question: Considering the inability of the governor and Legislature to handle an issue that seemed settled in
April, how many people think the same low comedy troupe will be able to resolve the medical malpractice morass in a
single special session?
So much for uncertainties. How nice that one political question was completely resolved this week: Palm Beach Junior
College isn't going to get any of our property taxes next year.
Left to be snarled over is just why the question was so thoroughly, absolutely and astonishingly defeated.
One school of thought says that the vote was doomed from the get-go, that voters were just fed up with all taxes. The
other school of thought is that the proposal was torpedoed by a late campaign.
Proponents of the second school, not surprisingly, include the local labor union officials who mounted that blazing late
campaign.
Or, as labor's political analyst Douglas Mitchell put it, "I think we just killed a giant. I don't like hearing people say the
giant slipped and fell and we cut off his head."
The giant did stumble, although the push from the unions contributed to the size of the thud. PBJC's supporters believed
almost to the last that they had what they wanted: a tame election, bolstered by the support of the county business and
political establishment. And their campaign was accordingly complacent.
As it turned out, the election was as safe as a chain smoker in a fireworks factory. The absentee ballots offer the key
statistic: 774 people voted for the tax; 1,116 people voted against the tax. That's 59 percent against and 41 percent for --
an 18 percent difference.
Even granting that those votes could be skewed by people who live elsewhere most of the year and who would never
vote for a local tax, the trend is more than clear. And three quarters of those ballots were already at the elections office
when the union campaign against the tax kicked off.
But those same numbers bolster Mitchell's claim that his campaign significantly affected the final totals, since the final
opposition vote was more than 73 percent.
Page 880
STATE ISSUES STILL TAXING; PBJC VOTE SENDS A MESSAGE The Miami Herald October 17, 1987 Saturday

Mitchell would like to claim his efforts produced a 20 percent swing -- amazing if true. While even that kind of success
would not have overturned the result, precinct analysis shows that the union's high-pressure campaign easily whupped
the desultory efforts by the proponents to win the hearts and minds of key voting blocks, particularly in the condomin-
iums.
That translates into a poke in the eye with a sharp stick for the Palm Beach County Cooperative headed by Andre
Fladell. The cooperative mines the same political ore and came out in favor of the tax.
But using this election to measure future clout is dicey, because the two sides weren't evenly matched in the effort
brought to the election. While the union treated the vote as a do-or-die battle, tax supporters acted like the fix was in.
For example: During the baseball playoffs, the Palm Beach Junior College Foundation ran a set of warm fuzzy ads,
saying nice things about the school and never mentioning the election.
Contrast that with the union commercials, that seemed to start and end with VOTE NO, repeated endlessly.
Another example: Fladell acknowledged his group didn't even print up "palm cards" telling his supporters how to vote.
The unions, on the other hand, plastered key precincts with massive blowups of Miami Herald stories questioning the
way PBJC spent money from a previous voter-approved tax.
What is beyond question is that voters in general rejected the overly gentle suggestions of their purported leaders who
expected their troops to head for the polls in lockstep. And that is a lesson that will not be lost on county officials who
want voters to approve a bond next month.
Have a political item or tip? Write to: In the Public Eye, The Miami Herald, P.O. Box 3623, West Palm Beach, Fla.
33402.


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POLITICOS FIGHT BACK FROM STAGE

BYLINE: GLENN SINGER Herald Staff Writer


LENGTH: 537 words

If they had been Broadway bound, Palm Beach County's five commissioners would have bombed in New Haven.
But no matter. They took center stage at the Florida Repertory Theatre in West Palm Beach Wednesday night, impress-
ing the audience with snips of talent and some slapstick comedy. Proceeds from the $100-a-ticket affair went to the the-
ater and to the proposed Aquatarium.
If you weren't there, here are some of the highlights:
* A simulated bachelor auction, emceed by Commissioner Carol Elmquist, with actors portraying WPTV (Channel 5)
meteorologist Art Horn, PGA National president Colin Wright, real estate lawyer Martin Perry, lawyer-developer Bill
Boose and South County political activist Andre Fladell.
Horn's date package included a visit to an actual TV studio and his dressing room, where he would "let you vacuum his
head." If you won the date with Boose, you'd "be as impressed with (him) as he is with himself." And a date with
Fladell would give you "a chance to wear those hip-hugger jeans you put away in '68."
* A solo by Commissioner Carol Roberts -- twirling a baton.
* A soliloquy by Commissioner Ken Adams-turned-fisherman, who wrapped a dead fish and said, "This is what I like to
do with newspapers."
* A Queen for a Day segment in which Commissioner Dorothy Wilken, as one of the contestants, begged for a chance
to become commission chairman. "I've been a county commissioner for five years," Wilken moaned, "and I've never
been chairman. Those drips won't elect me."
* A Meet the Press feature in which political columnist Carolyn Susman -- portrayed by Mary "Missy" McArdle -- was
caught hiding in a crate, spying on the commissioners. One by one, the politicos stuck a sword in the crate, evoking
cries of pain from Susman. After Marcus stabbed the actress -- with great resolve -- McArdle screamed, "She's a mean
one." Retorted Marcus: "There's a reason."
When the skit ended, the five commissioners presented bouquets to Susman, who was sitting in the front row. When
Marcus handed the flowers to Susman, the writer said: "Now you have to kiss me." Marcus stared icily and walked
away.
CALM DURING A STORM
Page 882
POLITICOS FIGHT BACK FROM STAGE The Miami Herald October 16, 1987 Friday

So how did ex-hurricane honcho Neil Frank feel, watching from Houston's KHOU-TV station while new Hurricane
Center director Bob Sheets stole his, uh, thunder during Hurricane Floyd? "I didn't have a chance to watch him," Frank
says. "I was so busy I couldn't even watch my own competition here."
ABC's Peter Jennings, for one, seemed disappointed by Sheets' calm. After hearing Sheets say homeowners
over-reacted by boarding up windows, Jennings pleaded: "I thought you guys were supposed to err on the side of cau-
tion."
Frank agreed with Jennings: "If I'd been in town, I would have put up my shutters and taken my boat out of the lake
regardless of what Bob Sheets said."
THE IDEA SURVIVES
Memo to entrepreneurs: It's not too late to manufacture "I Survived Hurricane Floyd" T-shirts.
Back in 1979, when Hurricane David threatened Palm Beach County but suddenly turned away, some witty writers at
Lantana's National Enquirer -- led by Marsha May -- put out scores of "I survived Hurricane David" T-shirts as a joke.
They sold like . . . er, maybe that Hurricane Floyd T-shirt isn't such a great idea.


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VOTERS SENT A MESSAGE COUNTY'S MOOD WAS AGAINST TAX IN-
CREASE



LENGTH: 719 words

Palm Beach Junior College President Ed Eissey, deservedly acknowledged as a master of public relations, probably
outmaneuvered himself this week when the PBJC tax referendum was blasted to flinders by voters.
Although labor union officials are willing to claim some credit for the defeat of the tax, the continuing sales tax confu-
sion in Tallahassee and a low-profile campaign by supporters contributed to the result as much as any late organized
opposition.
The message from voters was simple and frightening for county officials hoping to get a bond approved in an election
next month: no more taxes.
If approved, property taxes would have gone up 50 cents for every $1,000 of taxable property value. At least $91 mil-
lion would have been raised over five years, to be spent on construction and renovation. That work won't get done now,
Eissey said.
"You and I will be buried and rotted before we get the classrooms we need," he said.
The campaign strategy seemed sound: Stage a small, isolated election with a guaranteed low, seemingly controllable
turnout. Schedule it during a slack political season, when opponents are likely to be few and ill-organized. Concentrate
the campaign on friends, since their votes probably will swing the ballot.
The failure was spectacular: almost 3-1 countywide. Only 10 of 283 precincts supported the tax. More than
three-quarters of the precincts opposed the tax by more than a 2-1 margin. The tidal wave was only slightly less inexo-
rable in Boca Raton.
It was this bad: The precinct including PBJC's central campus went against the tax 3-1. The precincts including the
South County and Glades campuses also voted against the tax.
The absentee ballots offer persuasive evidence that union opposition merely rode the wave of public sentiment. Almost
60 percent of out-of-town voters opposed the tax. And more than two-thirds of those ballots were already at the elec-
tions office when the unions' campaign started Thursday.
The absentee ballots were the first ones counted Tuesday night. "That was the first flash and we knew it was over," said
Andre Fladell, head of the South County Cooperative. His group had supported the tax.
Eissey was relentlessly philosophical in defeat. "Obviously, we felt we fought the good fight," he said. "We have abso-
lutely no animosity toward anyone."
Page 884
VOTERS SENT A MESSAGE COUNTY'S MOOD WAS AGAINST TAX INCREASE The Miami Herald October 15,
1987 Thursday

The tax he supported ran into a buzz saw with several teeth:
* Any tax referendum is an uphill battle.
* Eissey scheduled his election to be held not long after county property tax notices hit the mailboxes. New taxes, in-
cluding those for libraries and children's services, and municipal tax increases raised public ire.
* The special session on the sales tax on services dragged on interminably in Tallahassee. That kept taxes stuck in the
public craw. And it kept legislators -- some of whom would have campaigned for the tax -- unable to offer more than
token support.
"I would believe this mess up here contributed to the demise of the vote down there," said Rep. Frank Messersmith, R-
Lake Worth, who labored to get the tax referendum approved by the Legislature this spring.
* Hurricane Floyd probably kept some potential supporters from the polls. Eissey scheduled the vote for this week be-
cause he was told that many older Jewish voters -- expected to support the tax -- would return to Palm Beach County
shortly after the Jewish holidays. The weekend storm probably delayed some of those returns.
* The purported justification for the tax and questions about the use of money from a previous tax probably had mini-
mal effect on the outcome. "Nobody was talking about any issues," Fladell said.
Eissey said he had no strategies for mounting another campaign. "I have never said never. I will not discount another
try, but I'm not planning on it."
But he said he had no regrets. "I would rather attempt to do something great and fail than to do nothing and have people
think I'm a success."
PBJC VOTE
VOTERS IN ONLY 10 precincts supported the proposed tax. More than two-thirds of the precincts opposed the tax by
more than a 2-1 margin.
THE LABOR UNION campaign against the proposed tax that started Thursday probably did not determine the out-
come. More than 60 percent of absentee ballots opposed the tax. More than two-thirds of those ballots were at election
headquarters before the union campaign started.


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The Miami Herald

October 6, 1987 Tuesday
PLM BCH EDITION

DEVELOPER GAINS I-95 INTERCHANGE



LENGTH: 698 words

No stranger himself to power, John Sansbury described the "political muscle" flexed by developer Bill Knight.
"To be able to pull off an interchange within a mile of another is quite a feat," the former county administrator said. "It
definitely showed his ability to get things done."
And quite a boon. With the blessing last week of the Federal Highway Administration, Knight will trade eight acres for
a new Interstate 95 interchange that will dump traffic right at the doorstep of his planned $200 million, 62-acre hotel
and office park.
The highway exit will go in one mile north of Yamato Road and south of Linton Boulevard, and its $38.3 million cost
will be financed by state and federal dollars through the park-and- ride program. It will be built in conjunction with a
1,100- car garage designed to promote commuting on the congested artery. The interchange is to be completed by 1992.
Knight got the interchange by donating prime commercial land -- valued at about $4 million -- as right of way to the
Florida Department of Transportation.
The link will connect I-95 to Congress Avenue, and is part of a highway improvements package that will eventually
extend express commuter lanes from Miami to the new exit.
Knight's trade had multiple benefits, and not all of them for the developer.
Florida got the land for free. Homeowners farther south near Spanish River Boulevard, where the commuter lot once
was considered, saw the unwanted intrusion go elsewhere. Other developers, whose projects add to the millions of
square feet in approved office space slated for the immediate area, won ready access to their developments without fur-
ther clogging the Linton and Yamato exchanges.
"The Congress Avenue area is a likely area for commercial development, and the new interchange will be able to serve
that traffic," said Jim Wolfe, district director of production for the transportation department.
But it all comes back to Knight, the aggressive Boca Raton businessman who envisioned the interchange all along.
"It would be correct to say that Knight had the idea first and went to DOT," Wolfe said. "The work that he had done was
centered on trying to get an interchange.
"Having the right of way dedicated and not having to pay for it is certainly attractive to us. But if he did not have some-
thing to gain, he would not be donating the property.
"That's good business."
Page 886
DEVELOPER GAINS I-95 INTERCHANGE The Miami Herald October 6, 1987 Tuesday

The commuter lot is the first to be selected in Palm Beach County. The DOT has identified three locations for similar
use in Broward County. One -- at Cypress Creek Road -- also is owned by Knight.
He hired consultant Arnold Ramos, a former transportation department official, to lobby on his behalf for both projects.
Neither Knight nor Ramos could be reached for comment Monday.
The hiring of Ramos, however, fits a pattern of securing access that associates say is Knight's key to success.
"If you have an audience, that's half the battle; he knows who to contact to get in and at least state his case," Sansbury
said.
For those who invite him in, he does the same, frequently entertaining clients and guests in his Boca Raton home or on
his fishing boat, Knightlines.
Yet he knows enough about politics to head off the opposition, which has impressed the Andre Fladell, an influential
South County activist.
"He deals with you up front," Fladell said of Knight. "He'll ask you to tell him exactly what problems you have. Most of
the time he'll say 'That's fine.' And then he'll say 'It's gone, you have what you want, now leave me alone.'
"I'd rather deal with Knight," he said. "With Knight, you know he's building well."
And he's building a lot. Last week, the County Commission approved -- after once rejecting -- plans for a 22-acre office
park, Palm Beach Centre, which Knight is building with rancher Billy Bowman on land next to a planned government
center in the shadow of Palm Beach International Airport. They are the only offices proposed near the center.
That site, too, is bounded by new roadwork: a flyover ramp connecting Australian Avenue to Congress Avenue will cut
across the property, guaranteeing a steady flow into the area.
But not, perhaps, as steady as the interstate access for Knight Commerce Center.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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The Miami Herald

October 3, 1987 Saturday
PLM BCH EDITION

MARTINEZ OBSERVERS WOULDN'T CHANGE PLACES WITH GOV-
ERNOR



LENGTH: 615 words

Now I know everyone is tired of bashing on poor Gov. Bob Martinez. I know I am.
Well, maybe just one more. One of my colleagues, who declines credit, said this week that Gov. NewBob "puts the
goober back in gubernatorial. He's come out with his opinion du jour."
Sure it's cheap, but you laughed, didn't you.
And how about Good Republican County Commissioner Ken Adams?
"One good attribute of an elected official is flexibility," he said -- without even chuckling.
No, seriously commissioner. "Seriously," Adams said, "I'd rather not talk about it."
But he did. Weeks ago. To the governor's staff. He advised them to hang tough, not that Adams was totally pleased with
the tax on services that was passed by the Legislature. But he figured the governor needed to stand tall, not buckle under
to attacks.
You can see how much attention Adams' advice got paid. "It's very easy to play the governor when you're not the gov-
ernor," Adams acknowledged.
And let's give Andre Fladell, leader of the South County Cooperative, a chance to flail away.
"Whether it's real or not, the people perceive the governor as being a chicken without a head," Fladell said.
C'mon, Andre, don't hold back your feelings. "It doesn't matter what he says. He's got no leadership . . . I think it em-
barrassed the whole state government. "
Neither Adams nor Fladell -- certainly poles apart politically -- had any idea how the governor and the state government
were going to extricate themselves from the political mess.
Neither does Harry Johnston, former state senator and former candidate for Martinez's job. "Happiness is not being
governor of the state of Florida," he said.
Johnston, because he supported and still supports the sales tax on most services, including advertising, figures he would
have been in the same hot seat Martinez has squirmed in.
He would not, however, have bounced through as many positions as Martinez, he said. For instance, he never would
have suggested putting the tax up to a referendum.
Page 888
MARTINEZ OBSERVERS WOULDN'T CHANGE PLACES WITH GOVERNOR The Miami Herald October 3, 1987
Saturday

"If we'd have put every tax up to a referendum, we'd have lost World War II," he said.
OK. Enough with laughing at the governor. Let's laugh at presidential candidates.
Al Haig, noted Palm Beach County resident and distantly trailing Republican presidential candidate, pulled off that trick
rather neatly this week in West Palm Beach.
To a packed luncheon meeting of the Forum Club, he gave an interesting account of the day Reagan was shot:
When he was told Reagan had been hit, Haig said, he immediately called Jim Baker, then the president's chief of staff.
Baker was on his way to the hospital. He and Haig agreed that somebody had to make sure the "chores of this govern-
ment" were being taken care of. And they agreed, Haig said, that Haig ought to come to the White House and handle
that little thing.
"I went over there. There wasn't a soul to be found. No one (short pause) had thought to call George Bush (longer pause
as the room fills with chuckles). I called George Bush."
Take my word for it. Everybody laughed. And George Bush has some big troubles down the line.
Closer to home, it looks like Sheriff Richard Wille has actually decided he wants the job another four years. He's got a
chance at an interesting campaign slogan. What other candidate can claim that he was actually cleared by a grand jury?
On the other hand, I remember how far former senator and vice presidential candidate Thomas Eagleton got with his
claim that he was the only candidate declared sane by a psychiatrist after word got out that he had undergone shock
therapy.
We're behind you, sheriff. One thousand percent.
33402.


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The Miami Herald

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SHERIFF EXPECTED TO RUN

BYLINE: MARK KRIEGEL Herald Staff Writer


LENGTH: 411 words

Palm Beach County Sheriff Richard Wille, a three-term incumbent who vowed never to run again, will seek a fourth
term, an informed source told The Herald Thursday.
"He's going to run," said a prominent Republican elected official who had no doubt of Wille's intentions.
When asked if he was running for re-election in 1988, Wille said, "Yes. I mean, yes, I'm reconsidering my decision not
to run for re-election. People in my department and the community have been urging me to run again.
"I'm going to be thinking about it for the next couple of weeks. I'll make an announcement then."
A barbecue to drum up support for Wille's candidacy is scheduled for Oct. 17.
"We've invited about 1,800 of his closest friends," said Billy Bowman, a dairy farmer and rancher, who will host the
event at his farm in suburban Delray Beach. "If you're going to sell somebody, you've got to do it in force. Numbers
matter."
Bowman said that a group of farmers and lawyer Al Coogler, who handles legal matters for the Sheriff's Office, "have
been talking to (Wille) for quite a while."
The sheriff, according to Bowman, "said he's ready to party."
But he did not say whether he'll run. "He won't give us a definite answer," Bowman said, "but I think he's leaning our
way . . . We're going to try to push him over the edge."
"Billy Bowman does not host a barbecue for someone who is not running," said Andre Fladell, head of the South
Wille has not filed for his candidacy with the county's supervisor of elections. Bowman emphasized that the event was-
n't a fund-raiser -- just a declaration of support.
"(Wille) has done an outstanding job for the county," he said. "His record speaks for itself."
A Republican, Wille has been sheriff since 1976. His last term, which he won by a 2-1 vote margin, was his toughest.
In 1986, after a year-long investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Wille was cleared of any crim-
inal wrongdoing in connection with a deal to purchase dogs for his kennel business.
But, he drew sharp criticism when one of his sergeants was indicted because of the dog-buying trips to West Germany.
During the investigation, it was revealed that an architect who worked full-time on plans for a new county jail, designed
a new home for Wille in his spare time.
Page 890
SHERIFF EXPECTED TO RUN The Miami Herald October 2, 1987 Friday

Bowman said the news media blew it all out of proportion. "You all were very hard on him," he said.
Herald staff writers Jeffrey Weiss and Vicki Gowler contributed to this report.


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The Miami Herald

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'FEATHERS' TICKLED THE CROWD



LENGTH: 524 words

If you weren't among the 500 Palm Beach County movers and shakers and political observers at Sunday night's Third
Annual Yellow Feather Awards, you missed one heck of a good show.
This year's Yellow Feathers, staged by members of the media, took pokes at folks such as Dennis Marcus (County
Commissioner Karen Marcus' husband); former Discover Palm Beach County bigwig Mike Danella; County Commis-
sioner Dorothy Wilken; and South County activist Andre Fladell. And almost everybody in Riviera Beach government.
Among the highlights: the Police Chief's Rap, documenting the fate of West Palm Beach's George Siegrist; Greenacres
City's Ebenezer Paikai III; and Riviera Beach's Lorenzo Brooks and Frank M. Walker III.
And then there were the two "commercials" for State Attorney David Bludworth. The first began: "Hey, Marty, it's 5
o'clock. Is that a light out in David Bludworth's office?" The second had reporter Nick Madigan portraying a crazed
criminal, writing a thank-you to Bludworth for getting him a light sentence, and noting that he would recommend
Bludworth's office to other criminals who need a legal defense team.
One of the biggest moaners: When Carnac the Magnificent gave his psychically generated answer "a fruit bowl and a
pair of scissors," and then had the question read to him. It was "What tools are used to cut Dorothy Wilken's hair?"
AN ENQUIRING MIND
They have an elaborate security system down at the National Enquirer in Lantana.
After all, that exclusive photo of Elvis in the casket still may be around, along with one of Donna Rice on Gary Hart's
lap. And then there are those lists of top docs -- psychiatrists who explain things like why the color of your door stop
reveals your personality, and MDs who know the secrets of Dolly Parton's diet.
This is priceless stuff. Owner Generoso Pope knows that, and the Lantana police know that, too. So when the security
system detected an intruder Sunday night, the cops came running.
The intruder, police say, wasn't rummaging around in the newsroom, but rather in the administrative building. Officer
Jake Jacobs, his gun drawn, quickly persuaded Timothy Earl Cosman, 21, to depart -- with handcuffs on. Cosman's
take: $2.80.
Police say he just had been released by the Department of Corrections after serving time for burglary and grand theft.
He told officers he couldn't remember how he got to the Enquirer.
That probably will remain an untold story.
HOLY WATERBED
Page 892
'FEATHERS' TICKLED THE CROWD The Miami Herald September 29, 1987 Tuesday

The Miami visit of Pope John Paul II was "a mixed blessing" to the waterbed industry, according to the authoritative
David Perry, who writes the "Bedding Today" column in the trade journal Furniture / Today.
We told you last month that the pope's advance men asked Miami Archbishop Edward McCarthy to replace his water-
bed with the old mattress type for the pope to sleep on.
"The bad news was that the pope didn't want to sleep on a waterbed, so the flotation industry lost the potential endorse-
ment of one of the world's leading figures," Perry writes.
"The good news was that the archbishop of Miami does sleep on water. This is another example that all kinds of people
-- not just hippie-types -- sleep on waterbeds."


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The Miami Herald

September 18, 1987 Friday
PLM BCH EDITION

REHABILITATED COP RETURNS TO DELRAY

BYLINE: TRACIE CONE Herald Staff Writer


LENGTH: 350 words

A decorated police lieutenant who resigned in May after admitting to a cocaine problem has been rehired by the city.
Thomas Meeteer is learning how to inspect houses for violations of city codes, the Delray Beach personnel director said
Thursday. He works in the building department.
"This shows we share the responsibility," Director Marty Buben said.
Meeteer worked undercover for 10 years, playing the roles of both drug buyer and seller to get close to dealers. He set
records for drug arrests in Delray Beach that probably never will be broken.
Between 1978 and 1981 alone, Meeteer helped seize 40 tons of marijuana, several yachts and made 41 arrests. Friends
said privately Meeteer may have gotten too caught up in his undercover role.
Fellow officers feared the city would abandon Meeteer and forget the 14 years he spent working for the Police Depart-
ment. Meeteer, officer of the year in 1978, lost his seniority and his police certification when he resigned May 1, the day
after his arrest, Buben said.
"The city really had no choice then," Buben said. "But I'm absolutely delighted that it all worked out for him in the
end."
Meeteer's job as a code enforcer is entry level, Buben said. The starting salary level for that position is $20,363. Delray
Beach police lieutenants earn an average of $40,000.
"I'm sure he's very happy that things worked out, he just doesn't feel like talking about it," Delray Beach police Maj.
Richard Lincoln said.
Meeteer was known as one of the top drug officers in the state when Boynton Beach police found him with 5.7 grams of
cocaine in his car the night of April 30.
Since then Meeteer was placed on probation and completed a drug rehabilitation program at JFK Medical Center.
Sources say it was the work of political activist and police supporter Andre Fladell, with help from Mayor Doak
Campbell and Vice Mayor Marie Horenburger, that finally got Meeteer employment with the city again.
"This is a guy who went into the gutter for the city and came out scratched," Fladell said. "If the city can't provide
Band-Aids, they shouldn't send officers into the streets."


Page 894
REHABILITATED COP RETURNS TO DELRAY The Miami Herald September 18, 1987 Friday

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The Miami Herald

PLM BCH EDITION

EX-ANCHOR WILL RETURN TO THE TUBE



LENGTH: 544 words

Deborah Caldwell Martyn, the popular TV anchor-turned- producer who left WPTV (Channel 5) a year ago, will be
back on the air later this month.
Caldwell Martyn will become interim producer and host for WXEL-TV's (Channel 42) weekly public affairs program,
Newsmakers. And viewers should get to see more of her than they expect.
"I'm six months preg-
nant," she confides. "The baby is due Dec. 28." She also has a 2 1/2-year-old, Chase.
Caldwell Martyn didn't exactly seek out the job, but says she's excited about getting back into broadcasting.
"When I left Channel 5, I let the other stations know I would be available for part-time or interim work," she says.
"Who would think that after a year, someone would think of me?" She plans to explain to viewers of her first show
Sept. 24 that she is expecting -- "so they don't think I've gained so much weight since they last saw me."
Actually, Caldwell Martyn says, she worked on the air at Channel 5 until right before she gave birth to her first child. "I
anchored the noon news and went into labor about midnight."
"Actually, (general manager) Bill Brooks had hoped I would go into labor while I was on the air. We were in a ratings
period, and he thought that would help."
A GENTLE RUB
Memo to politicians, bureaucrats and political gadflies: Get ready to be roasted during a night of satire and silliness.
The Palm Beach County press corps, whose members steadfastly deny causing the washrooms to flood last year at the
Watson B. Duncan III Theatre, are at it again.
The third annual Yellow Feather Awards are set for Sept. 27 on the Palm Beach Junior College campus in suburban
Lake Worth.
Very few personalities will escape unscathed.
Among those who figure prominently in this year's show: South County political organizer Andre Fladell; defense
lawyer David Roth; the whole Montgomery, Searcy & Denney law firm; State Attorney David Bludworth; and Sheriff
Richard Wille.
Then there are former and current Riviera Beach Police Chief Frank M. Walker III; the entire County Commission (with
Kerry Deems repeating as Karen Marcus).
Page 896
EX-ANCHOR WILL RETURN TO THE TUBE The Miami Herald September 15, 1987 Tuesday

Tickets are $8, with proceeds going to the PBJC journalism scholarship fund. Stop the next reporter you see and ask for
some tickets -- or call me at 686-3221. I'll deliver.
SUPER FAN
So there sat Dade County Judge Federico Moreno last week, reading the allegations against the errant driver: driving
with suspended license and failing to appear for the subsequent hearing. That's a criminal misdemeanor, so Moreno is-
sued the usual ruling: A bench warrant for the defendant's arrest, with bail to be set at $1,000.
Then Moreno read the defendant's name: "Mark Super Duper."
"There was a big crowd in my court," Moreno said, "and they all said, 'Ooooooh!' "
"I said, 'I don't care who he is; it's the law,' " Moreno said. Then his Dolphins spirit got the better of him.
"I wrote on the warrant, 'Do not arrest on Sundays.' I don't want him arrested on a football day."
Duper, who had the "Super" legally added in 1985, apparently wasn't thinking much Sunday about that arrest warrant.
Even though his team lost to New England, 28-21, Super Duper made nine receptions for 123 yards and two touch-
downs.
Asked before the game about that traffic court matter, he replied that it was "being taken care of."


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OFFICERS COP CASH IN CHARITY GAMES

BYLINE: PAT BORZI Herald Sports Writer


LENGTH: 463 words

They spilled into the street beside Boston's Lounge in Delray Beach Monday afternoon, dozens of them, yelling and
cheering and prodding six of their fellow police officers to empty the bins of steamy franks before them.
And when the Tri-City Police Challenge hot dog eating contest was over -- no, it didn't end in a dead eat -- victorious
patrolmen Bob Schooley and Julius Mitchell of Delray Beach earned ice-water pitcher dousings from their jubilant col-
leagues.
"I just ruined a diet," moaned the 228-pound Mitchell, holding his stomach but smiling after he and Schooley devoured
34 franks in 12 minutes. "But it's worth it. Anything for Delray. Delray or bust."
That's the attitude put forth by the Delray Citizens for Delray Police, the fledgling police-support group that sponsored
the event and put up $5,200 in prize money. The Challenge, which organizers hope to hold annually, involved the
Delray Beach, Boca Raton and Boynton Beach departments.
The Challenge, the brainchild of Delray Citizens president Perry DonFrancisco and committee member Andre Fladell,
consisted of five events -- volleyball, tug of war (women only), running and swimming relays and the hot dog contest,
all held on or near Delray Beach. Several hundred bikini- and jam-clad beach-goers milled around watching the detec-
tives, patrolmen -- even chiefs -- sweat and tussle in the holiday sun.
The host department out-tugged, out-volleyed and out-dogged its competitors to win three events and $1,800, a figure
matched by Boynton Beach, which won the running relay. Boca Raton took the swim and $1,600. Spokesmen for the
departments said the winnings would likely go to charity.
"A lot of times there is a tendency not to socialize with the other agencies, and you only work with a select few (offic-
ers)," said Boca patrolman/instructor Kathleen Petracco, wife of Chief Peter Petracco. "Here you get to meet more peo-
ple."
And, in some cases, beat more. Talk about competitive. In the swimming relay four officers did 400 yards each in the
ocean, two on rafts, two freestyle. It taxed at least three participants. One threw up, another required oxygen, and a third
lay on the beach for several minutes sipping water.
"I hope I don't have to run," said a near-breathless Chief Petracco after out-swimming two men on the leadoff leg to
give Boca Raton a lead it never lost.
"It's for a good cause, but you still want to go out there and win. It's human nature to beat the other guy."
Page 898
OFFICERS COP CASH IN CHARITY GAMES The Miami Herald September 8, 1987 Tuesday

For Schooley and Mitchell, the biggest obstacle was keeping the dogs down. Throwing up meant instant disqualifica-
tion, explaining the Boynton-inspired chant of "Puke! Puke! Puke!" halfway through the contest. But in the end, Delray
held a four-frank edge over Boynton, and Schooley spoke for everyone.
"We dogged 'em," he said.


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LOCAL DEMOCRATS DON'T WANT A RERUN OF HART CAMPAIGN



LENGTH: 583 words

Somewhere on the British Isles, advisers are trotting out scenarios:
We change his name back to Hartpence. And we add two, no, four years to his age on the resume. And he promises to
get his shirt collars chemically tested for lipstick residue every night. Yeah, that's the ticket.
So Gary Hart might be thinking about a comeback in the 1988 presidential campaign, his former campaign manager
says. Hart is busy issuing non-denial denials from across the Atlantic while Democrats in America pull their hair.
Maybe he wants to run again and maybe he doesn't. But Hart's ambition and willingness to re-enter the fray wouldn't be
enough. Name recognition alone doesn't translate into votes. A leader has to have followers and a campaigner needs
campaign workers.
If Palm Beach County is any measure, Hart had best stay on his extended vacation.
Hart had no more devoted follower than state Rep. Ray Liberti. The West Palm Beach Democrat had hitched himself --
through House Speaker Jon Mills -- to the Hart effort and envisioned himself becoming an increasingly important part
of a national campaign.
Liberti sat in Mills' office with a handful of other stunned Hart supporters to watch their man bow out on TV. He's been
casting about for a new candidate ever since.
"We have yet to get as excited about a candidate," he said. "It would make it an opportune time for a Gary Hart person
to jump in."
But Gary Hart is no longer a "Gary Hart person."
"No one has caught fire, but he doused his," Liberti said.
Rekindling that fire risks getting it doused again, he said. Part of the reason Hart quit to begin with was because of ru-
mors of more salacious stories in the making to make the initial reported liaison with Donna Rice merely one in a series.
Those stories would all be revived if he resurrected his candidacy.
Another former Hart spear-carrier, Andre Fladell, agrees with Liberti. The head of the Palm Beach County Political
Cooperative was an organizer for Hart in 1984 and was "strongly considering" a repeat this time.
"That is over," he said. "Credibility is all we got and he ain't got none."
Fladell sounds personally hurt when talking about what Hart did. He's as offended by Hart's massive debts as by the
social contretemps that killed the campaign.
Page 900
LOCAL DEMOCRATS DON'T WANT A RERUN OF HART CAMPAIGN The Miami Herald August 22, 1987
Saturday

"He owes a lot of hard-working people in this country money and they ought to be paid back," he said.
Hart's lack of personal credibility has dried up any potential new money while killing the confidence of his supporters,
Fladell said.
"I don't mind playing poker with him. Or chess. But I don't need him running the National Security Council," he said.
And yet. And yet.
Raymond Rea never was a Hart supporter. The head of the county's Democratic executive committee offers a more dis-
passionate perspective.
"There would be a campaign there," he said. "Hart has outrageous name recognition compared to the rest of the pack . . .
I would think he'd be able to form an organization fairly quickly."
But that organization would need some amazingly concrete assurances that their man has made a clean breast of any and
all potential public embarrassments. And that may not be possible.
"Particularly if Donna Rice is going to do a TV movie in April," Liberti said. "You know it's going to be a summer re-
run, even if the Republicans need to buy the time to put it on." Have a political item or tip? Write to: In the Public Eye,
The Miami Herald, P.O. Box 3623, West Palm Beach, Fla. 33402.
Glenn Singer is on vacation. His column will resume when he returns.


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TO RUN OR NOT TO RUN? DON'T HURRY TO DECIDE



LENGTH: 629 words

Once upon a time, there was a regular election season. Whether you were running for president or dogcatcher, you
geared up for a few months and won or lost. But running for president seems to have become a four-year job. And this
nasty trend seems to have trickled down to the local level:
Some people believe that the 1989 campaign for state attorney needs to start yesterday.
As evidence of this revolting development, consider the case of Barry Krischer. He bought a quarter-page newspaper ad
to announce that he is not going to run.
Is this high-profile publicity really necessary? I mean, we're not talking Mario Cuomo here.
At this point, a few people may in fact be interested in who might be thinking about who will run for state attorney in
two years. But while all these people might not fit in a phone booth, you could probably get them into a small confer-
ence room. With the right four phone calls, they'd all know by the end of the day.
Krischer acknowledges this with as much humility as is possible from a man who bought a large ad to tell the world
what he isn't going to do.
"I think we give people too much credit for reading the paper," he said. "I'm sure there are a lot of people out there say-
ing 'Who the hell is Barry Krischer and who cares if he isn't running?' " he said.
Fair question. Krischer is a reasonably well-known West Palm Beach lawyer who doesn't think current State Attorney
David Bludworth is doing a very good job. And to part of the small community that actually cares who the state attor-
ney is between elections, Krischer would have made an attractive candidate.
Krischer thinks so, too. He says that his friends already had lined up $30,000 in commitments for campaign contribu-
tions -- about half what he would have needed for a countywide campaign.
He had prepared an 18-month battle plan. Had figured out what meetings he needed to attend, what TV time he needed
to buy. "We already had a billboard picked out."
And Krischer did want to run. Then he didn't want to run. And then he did. But in the past few weeks, he took a long
look at the potential campaign. And for various personal and professional reasons, he decided he didn't have the fire in
the belly needed to unseat a firmly entrenched incumbent.
Krischer figured his very public announcement of noncandidacy would make his position clear and open the field for
others to run.
"To beat Bludworth, you have to run seven days a week for 18 months," he said.
Page 902
TO RUN OR NOT TO RUN? DON'T HURRY TO DECIDE The Miami Herald August 1, 1987 Saturday

Maybe yes, maybe no. For another opinion, turn to Andre Fladell, head of the Palm Beach County Political Coopera-
tive, for whom every season is political season.
"That's the statement of a lawyer who isn't familiar with politics," he said of Krischer's comment.
As far as Fladell is concerned, Bludworth is vulnerable because most people don't really care about what the state attor-
ney does. At least not the way they care, say, about a county commissioner. That institutional apathy reduces the power
of the incumbency, the name recognition that makes one candidate stronger than another.
"The best recognition Bludworth has is that people think he's Butterworth," Fladell said. Bob Butterworth, of Broward
County, is Florida's attorney general.
Fladell says that someone willing to shake the right hands for about five months -- and able to get the right sort of en-
dorsements -- could take any of Palm Beach County's lower profile elective positions.
The rumor mill indicates that there will be other candidates running against Butter..., er, Bludworth. There are supposed
to be a couple of assistant state attorneys thinking about a run against their boss.
Not that they've taken ads out yet, one way or the other.
33402.


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The Miami Herald

June 27, 1987 Saturday
PLM BCH EDITION

SUBTLETY NECESSARY IN POLITICS



LENGTH: 548 words

Lessons for the real world, continued: Public relations is a major part of politics.
I'm not sure why that should be a surprise, but it bit the county construction industry this week in the debate over a pro-
posed county traffic performance standard.
Consider the following scenario:
You walk into the office on payday. The boss hands you your paycheck.
"And oh, by the way," he says. "You might want to think about taking this paper I happen to have and pick one of these
slogans from a list I happen to have and put it in these envelopes I happen to have and address it with the names of
county commissioners that I happen to have.
"But that's just a suggestion."
The official line the county Home Builders and Contractors Association is taking is that there is nothing coercive or
intimidating in that scene.
Right.
Boiled down to one sentence, the idea behind the proposed traffic performance standard being considered by the County
Commission is this: If the roads can't handle the cars, new developments can't be built along the roads.
The key words are "can't handle." Reasonable people can disagree about just how many cars can go on any road. The
construction industry is concerned that too restrictive a standard will delay or kill new buildings and cause a recession.
On the other hand, too loose a standard is the same as no standard at all. The battle for a middle ground continues as we
speak.
The head of the county Home Builders and Contractors Association was worried that his troops weren't as organized as,
say, the Palm Beach County Political Cooperative that is pushing a tight standard.
"It's very difficult to communicate with our members," Gary Kendall said.
So he tossed off a letter, suggesting that employers talk to their employees on payday. And that they have materials set
up so that those employees could, on the spot, send a handwritten message to the county commissioner of his or her
choice.
Page 904
SUBTLETY NECESSARY IN POLITICS The Miami Herald June 27, 1987 Saturday

Those messages include: "I'll be in the unemployment line while you're in the grocery line if you pass the traffic per-
formance standards ordinance in the present form." Or "My vote counts and so does my job. Keep me employed. Work
with the building industry for a better traffic performance standard."
Pretty catchy stuff.
This letter fell into the hands of Andre Fladell, head of the cooperative, who was only too happy to get it to reporters
and offer a typical Andre quote: "This is not exactly in the spirit of American democracy."
Now grant Kendall the purest of motives. "There was no coercion or intimidation intended," he said.
But even Kendall acknowledged his letter could be interpreted differently and that it created a public relations problem
his side didn't need. Even if construction workers did want to lobby their commissioners on this issue -- and no doubt
many do -- having the boss "offer" a set of unsubtle slogans might be enough to create a backlash.
At the very least, it left Fladell and his group with the moral high ground and the opportunity to get public ink by sol-
emnly decrying unseemly arm-twisting.
Kendall acknowledged his error Friday. "I'd send out the letter again, but I would have left out some of the instructions,"
he said.
Have a political item or tip? Write to In the Public Eye, The Miami Herald P.O. Box 3623, West Palm Beach, Fla.
33402.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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The Miami Herald

June 7, 1987 Sunday
PLM BCH EDITION

DOCTORS ARE HOLIER THAN THE REST OF US

BYLINE: FRANK CERABINO Herald Staff Writer


LENGTH: 569 words

I was drinking a beer at the Comedy Corner recently when a solution to the medical malpractice crisis hit me.
At least, the part of the crisis that bothers me the most -- doctors walking out on patients.
North Miami Beach comedian Alan Prophet was doing his routine on doctors. Prophet pointed out that doctors are ob-
sessed with holes.
They spend years studying a particular hole in the human body, devoting a lifetime of work to the mouth, or the nose, or
. . .
You get the idea.
And, as Prophet notes, when a hole specialist can't figure out what's wrong with you, he sends you to a surgeon. The
surgeon, of course, just gives you a new hole.
A doctor's fixation with holes doesn't stop on the job, either. This is why doctors love to play golf on their days off.
The comedian's routine made me realize how to get the doctors' attention during this alleged crisis.
I can sympathize with the doctors' reluctance to make insurance companies more profitable than they already are. But
when doctors decide to walk out on patients, it's time for the patients to strike back.
And the way to do that with doctors is simple.
We need to take away their holes.
That's right. If a citizens' action group could effectively keep doctors off golf courses, possibly doctors will think twice
before they go on strike.
So, I've decided to form a new political action committee. I'm calling it TEED OFF -- Take Each and Every Doctor Off
Florida's Fairways.
What we're talking about here is a little grass-roots clout.
Clout is something I know when I see. But I don't have the slightest idea how an organization gets it -- other than having
a catchy acronym.
To get TEED OFF going would require the services of a master clouter. That's when I thought of Andre Fladell, Palm
Beach County's King of Clout.
Page 906
DOCTORS ARE HOLIER THAN THE REST OF US The Miami Herald June 7, 1987 Sunday

Ostensibly, Fladell is a Delray Beach chiropractor. But what he really does is mobilize thousands of South County re-
tirees into a potent political force.
It took Fladell about 20 seconds to formulate a battle plan for TEED OFF.
"On Wednesdays and Sundays I can get all the retirees in South County to go to golf courses at 8 a.m. and sign up for
all the tee-off times," Fladell said. "They'll tie up the courses all day."
Fladell knew his retirees would be spread too thin to cover every golf course in the county.
So he suggested forming a coalition with organized labor, which would send tradesmen and construction workers to all
the North County golf courses.
"I don't know if organized labor could behave on a golf course," I told Fladell. "They'd probably run plumbing between
the holes and litter the greens with Bob's Barricades."
Fladell agreed.
TEED OFF would need a different plan of attack north of Hypoluxo Road, outside of Fladell's condo range.
Once again, Fladell came through.
"I can confer honorary Doctorates of Condominium on all the condo commandos," Fladell said. "This way they can
legitimately call themselves Dr. Goldberg, or Dr. Schwartz."
While I was wondering what good that would do, Fladell explained.
Retirees would flood calls to local restaurants and sign up on waiting lists by referring to themselves as doctors.
"There won't be a Chinese restaurant in town that a real doctor could walk into and get a table," Fladell said.
By this time, Fladell's clout-conscious mind was in overdrive.
"When it gets to that point," he said, "any doctor would rather pay higher insurance premiums than lose out on his res-
taurant privileges."


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May 22, 1987 Friday
PLM BCH EDITION

COMMISSION OKS ANTI-GROWTH RULE



LENGTH: 396 words

Palm Beach County commissioners Thursday tentatively approved a controversial anti-growth law -- despite the warn-
ings of developers who said parts of the law would not stand up in court.
County residents from Boca Raton to Jupiter praised the proposed law, which would reduce growth by preventing de-
velopers from building on already crowded roads.
"I'm not saying this ordinance is comparable to the Magna Carta or the Bill of Rights," said Richard Collen, president of
the West Boca Community Council. "But it has been needed for a long, long time."
Commissioners told the county staff to draft the law and present it to them in four weeks. They also invited residents
and developers to work on the draft.
Under current county law, a proposed development is said to have a major impact on roads if it generates 575 car trips a
day on a two-lane road and 1,104 trips a day on a four-lane road.
The proposed law would set a much stricter standard. Under it, a proposed development would have a major impact if it
generated just 200 trips a day on any road.
Under the law, developers would be allowed to apply for zoning permits only if they could show that their plans would
not generate an excessive amount of traffic.
"What we've heard from members of the community is, 'Why didn't you do this five years ago?' " County Administrator
Jan Winters said.
Many county residents support the proposed law because, they say, it would reduce traffic on such crowded county
roads as Glades Road in Boca Raton, Forest Hill Boulevard in West Palm Beach and Indiantown Road in Jupiter.
Developers dislike the law. They say it is so strict that it would amount to a moratorium on zoning requests.
"This," zoning lawyer Martin Perry said, "is probably the most significant piece of legislation ever developed in Palm
Beach County."
Richard Hasner, of the Home Builders and Contractors Association, said the law has "serious flaws." He said he be-
lieves the courts would invalidate the law unless it is changed.
Perry asked the commissioners to put off the issue for four to six weeks so the developers can try to work out their dif-
ferences with the county staff.
"I don't think it's an inordinate request," he said. "What we want is a fair exchange of ideas."
Page 908
COMMISSION OKS ANTI-GROWTH RULE The Miami Herald May 22, 1987 Friday

Andre Fladell, founder of the South County Political Cooperative, urged commissioners to move ahead, saying the
ordinance is "founded in reason."


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May 20, 1987 Wednesday
PLM BCH EDITION

TEEN PARALYZED IN ACCIDENT GETS $4 MILLION SETTLEMENT



LENGTH: 947 words

A West Palm Beach teen-ager who was paralyzed in an auto accident last year will receive a $4 million settlement, his
attorney announced Tuesday.
Dean Morton, 18, spent a week in a coma after his car was struck April 11 near the Interstate 95 entrance ramp on Bel-
vedere Boulevard.
Morton's car was hit by a car driven by Isaac Benaim, 27, who cut in front of the teen-ager's car while attempting to turn
from Belvedere Road onto I-95.
Benaim, who said he drank two glasses of wine at the Royce Hotel before the accident, registered a blood-alcohol read-
ing of 0.07, Morton's attorney George Mastics said. Drivers in Florida are considered legally drunk when they register a
0.10.
The settlement will be paid by the three insurance companies that insured Benaim and his leased Mercedes-Benz auto-
mobile, Mastics said.
Morton, who is now a quadriplegic, is in a physical therapy program in Colorado, Mastics said.
CARPENTER DEFEATS FULTON IN LANTANA'S RUNOFF ELECTION
LANTANA -- Jack Carpenter won a narrow victory in Tuesday's Town Council runoff, upsetting William Fulton, the
front runner in the May 5 general election.
Carpenter garnered 436 votes to Fulton's 350.
"The results are in and the people have made their choice. They have to live with it," Fulton said.
Fulton, a real estate broker who served on the council from 1983-1986, recieved nearly 44 percent of the votes in the
general election, but that wasn't the majority plus one vote needed to win.
Carpenter, a former Pratt & Whitney executive, came in second with 32 percent of the votes. A third contender, Jesse
Bingham, a retired postal worker, was eliminated in that election.
Carpenter, who will receive $200 a month and serve until March, will fill the seat of council member Dorothy Rissler
who died earlier this year.
JUDGE AGREES TO OPEN SEALED FILE FROM POLITICAL ACTIVIST'S DIVORCE
A judge agreed Tuesday to open the sealed divorce file of political activist Andre Fladell and his ex-wife, Darlene
Javits -- but first he allowed Fladell's attorney to remove the couple's property settlement from the file.
Page 910
TEEN PARALYZED IN ACCIDENT GETS $4 MILLION SETTLEMENT The Miami Herald May 20, 1987
Wednesday

The Palm Beach Post had sued to get the file opened after the couple's divorce was final in March. The newspaper ar-
gued before Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Richard Wennet Tuesday morning that Fladell is a public figure, and that
the divorce file is a public record.
Martin Reeder, attorney for the Post, then asked Circuit Judge Walter Colbath to reconsider Wennet's decision to re-
move the document at an emergency hearing Tuesday afternoon. But Colbath refused, saying he thought it was improp-
er to overturn another circuit judge's decision.
Reeder said he needed the complete file to appeal to the Fourth District Court of Appeal on Wednesday.
"I think this is a personal vendetta by the Post, not against me, but against my husband," Javits said.
Fladell agreed.
"Isn't marriage something special?," he said. "I just don't think it should be equated with drainage and sewage as a pub-
lic record."
POLICE KEEP SEEKING MURDER SUSPECT IN SHOOTING OF MAN IN CURRIE PARK
WEST PALM BEACH -- Police were still looking Tuesday for the killer of a 44-year-old West Palm Beach man who
was shot at Currie Park, 2400 N. Flagler Dr.
The victim, whose name detectives refused to release until relatives were notified, was shot in the right side of his chest
at 6:07 p.m. Monday.
"It looks like some type of standing feud," Lt. J.W. Davis said.
The man, shot with a handgun, died at Good Samaritan Hospital shortly after 9 p.m., police said.
Capt. James Diggs said police have "several viable leads."
OFFICIALS STILL HUNTING FOR CAUSE OF DEAD FISH IN LAKE OKEECHOBEE
Scientists were scooping up dead fish from Lake Okeechobee Tuesday, hoping tests would show what killed them.
No firm answers were found yet, but several officials said it didn't appear that a recent bloom of algae on the lake was to
blame. Theories on the deaths of the fish ranged from the actions of some illegal commercial fishermen dumping fish
from their nets to the natural deaths of older fish after spawning.
"They don't believe it was connected with that algae bloom," said Lt. Jim Huffstodt of the Florida Game and Fresh Wa-
ter Fish Commission. "It isn't a major fish kill."
Game commission fisheries biologist Donald Fox could not be reached Tuesday, but a South Florida Water Manage-
ment District biologist said Fox had told him the cause of death was unknown.
Fox reported finding about 400 dead fish, water district biologist Walt Dineen said.
However, some sportsmen who frequent the lake said thousands of fish were dead. "It's definitely a major fish kill," said
Wayne Nelson of West Palm Beach.
A large growth of algae was reported on the lake late last week. Rapid algae growth is a byproduct of the lake's exces-
sive loads of nutrients, mostly phosphorus from dairy runoff.
Dineen said Fox told him he had dismissed the theory that commercial fishermen dumped the fish from their nets. An-
other theory, Dineen said, was that older fish were dying after spawning.
WEST PALM MAN SERIOUSLY HURT AS HE IS SHOT BEHIND HIS HOME
WEST PALM BEACH -- A West Palm Beach man was in serious condition Tuesday in Good Samaritan Hospital after
being shot in an alley behind his home, police said.
Philbert Douglas, 26, 1307 Spruce St., was shot at 11:40 a.m. He staggered to his car, a beige late-model foreign model,
got in, and tried to drive to Good Samaritan Hospital.
He didn't make it. The car smashed head-on into a street lamp in the 400 block of Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard, Capt.
James Diggs said.
Page 911
TEEN PARALYZED IN ACCIDENT GETS $4 MILLION SETTLEMENT The Miami Herald May 20, 1987
Wednesday

Police arrived moments later and took him to the hospital.
Douglas was undergoing emergency surgery Tuesday afternoon.
Police would release no other information about the shooting.


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HOLLEN PRESS CONFERENCE HAS SOME IN GOP MIFFED

BYLINE: RAY HUARD Herald Staff Writer


LENGTH: 949 words

The way in which Gov. Bob Martinez named Carol Elmquist a commissioner continues to rankle county Republicans,
but a press conference called by county Republican Chairman Arlene Hollen has some Republicans mad at her, too.
Hollen, Republican state Committeeman Norman Wymbs and Executive Committee Treasurer Dennis Dorsey were
miffed that they weren't consulted and called a press conference to say so and to demand the resignation of Martinez
aide Mac Stipanovich, who orchestrated Elmquist's appointment.
But other Republicans are just as miffed at Hollen for going public with her complaints against Martinez.
"Why does Gov. Martinez have to consult with anyone? He's the governor," said Republican state committeewoman
Marion Hallman, who said Hollen should be replaced as chairman of the county executive committee. "Arlene is a nice
person, but I think she was wrong in calling the press conference."
Hollen said that Hallman is right, that Martinez didn't have to consult county party leaders. Hollen said what irked her
was that Martinez said he would consult with the leadership, then didn't.
Instead, Stipanovich met with County Commissioner Ken Adams, Republican members of the county legislative dele-
gation and some of Martinez's key supporters from the 1986 election campaign.
Boca Raton Mayor William Konrad, who also has criticized Hollen in the past, said Martinez "went to the right people."
But Jupiter Republican Rep. Jim Hill, who chairs the county legislative delegation and was consulted, said he was "to-
tally disgusted with the whole process."
"There was too much miscommunication," Hill said. "A lot of good people's names were thrown around in the press."
Still, Hill said Martinez's failure to consult Hollen was not a deliberate snub.
"No one critically mentioned Arlene Hollen at all," Hill said. "The administration is still new in making appointments
like that."
In defense of Owens
Former County Commissioner Jerry Owens got some delayed support last week from the Veterans Coalition of Palm
Beach County.
Owens resigned two weeks ago after his third drunk driving arrest and checked himself into an alcohol treatment center.
Coalition chairman Pete Stumberger said Owens shouldn't have quit.
"I don't think if someone gets sick, their job should be taken away from them," Stumberger said.
Page 913
HOLLEN PRESS CONFERENCE HAS SOME IN GOP MIFFED The Miami Herald March 9, 1987 Monday

"I think everybody was looking at it like he was a bad boy type of thing, not like he had a disease," Stumberger said. "If
he had diabetes and passed out at the wheel, it would have been treated like a disease."
Stumberger said Owens needed treatment but should have gotten a chance to prove himself once the treatment was fin-
ished.
The candidate has star quality
Remember the line in the song that went "you ought to be in pictures?"
Boca Raton City Council candidate Bill T. Smith Jr. believed it. He spent $450 to have campaign pictures of himself
flashed on the silver screen in six Boca Raton movie theaters and now he's a star.
Smith said people keep running up to him saying they saw him in the movies.
"We thought it was novel and we had a captive audience," Smith said of his movie debut.
Smith is running against Al Edmunds and Wanda Thayer in Tuesday's city elections.
Divorce is private, Fladell says
South County political activist Andre Fladell is in a court fight with The Palm Beach Post to keep his divorce settle-
ment private.
"Mr. Fladell is a public figure in the community. Accordingly, this is a matter of public interest," newspaper lawyer
Theresa Parrish said.
Fladell said the settlement agreement is a private matter between him and his ex-wife, Darlene Javits.
"How far should the public be entitled to go into the living rooms and bedrooms of unelected officials?" Fladell asked.
Parrish said the issue became public when Fladell's wife filed for divorce. Parrish said divorce is a court proceeding just
like any other court proceeding, so the records should be public.
Fladell said he will take his case to the state Supreme Court if need be.
Book drive to help kids
The Young Democrats of Palm Beach County are starting to collect books for a tutoring center proposed by the West
Jupiter Community Group.
"We have a lot of kids that don't have encyclopedias and dictionaries and other things they need for writing reports,"
said Verline Smith, the Young Democrats' vice president for community affairs and vice president of the community
group.
The community group also is trying to raise $5,000 to buy a vacant fire station on Indiantown Road as a site for the tu-
toring center.
People with books to donate may call Smith at 747-7650 or Young Democrats President Bobbie Fink at 582-7821.
Noteworthy
Lake Worth Firefighters Local 2817 endorsed Andy Andrews for Lake Worth mayor and George Harrs and Jim Jones
for City Commission. . . . Florida House Speaker Jon Mills, D- Gainesville, will address the Loggerhead Club at noon
March 20 at the Sheraton Boca Raton. . . . Henry Handler, former chairman of the Palm Beach County Democratic Ex-
ecutive Committee, will address the Veterans Coalition of Palm Beach County at 8 p.m. Thursday at the West Boca
Community Center, 9400 Pondwood Rd. in suburban Boca Raton. . . . State Rep. Steve Press, D-Delray Beach, will
address the Delray Citizens for Social Responsibility at 7:30 p.m. March 18 at Temple Emeth, 5780 W. Atlantic Ave. . .
. State Rep. Lois Frankel, D-West Palm Beach, will meet the public at 7:30 p.m. March 23 at the Urban League of Palm
Beach County, 1700 Australian Ave. N., West Palm Beach.
Verbatim
"The whole thing was very shoddy."
-- Arlene Hollen, chairman of the county Republican Executive Committee, commenting on the procedure used to select
Carol Elmquist to replace Jerry Owens on the Palm Beach County Commission.
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ELMQUIST MAY REALIGN THE COUNTY COMMISSION



LENGTH: 1011 words

Look for an interesting realignment on the Palm Beach County Commission with last week's appointment of Atlantis
Vice Mayor Carol Elmquist.
Elmquist's appointment could put Dorothy Wilken in the unaccustomed position of being a key swing vote. It could also
put Wilken in a rather uncomfortable position.
Until Jerry Owens resigned last week, the commission had four Democrats and one Republican -- Ken Adams. With
Elmquist, it has two Republicans and three Democrats -- Chairman Carol Roberts, Karen Marcus and Wilken.
Wilken and Marcus have been sniping at each other for two years and there's no reason to expect them to stop. And
Wilken wasn't too thrilled when her fellow commissioners snubbed her to choose the newly elected Roberts as their
chairman.
Will Wilken overlook the bad feelings to side with her fellow Democrats Marcus and Roberts or will she go with the
Republicans? And if she goes with the Republicans, will that get her in trouble with county Democrats? The Democratic
Executive Committee censured Marcus and Owens when they teamed up two years ago to bypass Wilken and appoint
Adams the chairman.
Roberts said there shouldn't be a problem because roads and zoning aren't labeled Republican and Democrat.
"I don't consider anything we vote on in the county a partisan issue," Roberts said.
Maybe not, but don't tell that to the county labor organizations, which have influence on the Democratic Executive
Committee and provide a ready source of campaign workers for Democratic commission candidates come election time.
Vogt backs bid for local tax
Florida Senate President John Vogt, D-Cocoa Beach, told the Loggerhead Club in Boca Raton last week that he will
back a push for a one-cent local option sales tax to build jails.
For three years, Palm Beach County's push for such a tax has been thwarted by a hostile House leadership.
Vogt said the opposition to the local option tax has softened and hepredicted that, with Gov. Bob Martinez backing it,
the tax will pass this year.
Less likely is a one-cent gasoline tax the county wants for public transit, Vogt said.
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ELMQUIST MAY REALIGN THE COUNTY COMMISSION The Miami Herald March 2, 1987 Monday

The governor did not include it among his proposals. And with Congress talking about imposing an oil import tax that
would add five cents per gallon to gasoline prices, Vogt said Florida legislators will probably balk at boosting the state
tax.
"You'll probably run into a politically untenable situation for the Legislature to say 'Boy, I'm all for all those taxes,' "
Vogt said.
Vogt said a half-cent cut in the five-cent sales tax suggested by Martinez also may be in jeopardy.
Martinez's suggested sales tax cut was based on the assumption that the Legislature would remove most sales tax ex-
emptions. Vogt said the Legislature is almost certain to reinstate more sales tax exemptions than Martinez wants, and
that will be the end of talk of an overall sales tax reduction.
Who's hot and who's not
The fuss last week over who would replace County Commissioner Jerry Owens did two things: It gave a pretty good
indication of which Republicans will be running for the commission in 1988 and showed who has got the juice in Palm
Beach County with the Martinez administration in Tallahassee.
"I found out who all the real power people are in the Republican Party," said Andre Fladell, an ardent Democrat and
coordinator of the South County Political Cooperative. "It became clear now who we have to deal with and who we
don't have to deal with."
The big names are Rep. Frank Messersmith, R-Lake Worth, County Commissioner Ken Adams and Martinez
fund-raisers Armer and Beverly White of Palm Beach. The governor appointed Armer White on Friday to the Florida
Pari-Mutuel Commission. The four were the central figures in picking Carol Elmquist for the commission.
As for 1988, don't be surprised to see Ed Gonzalez of the state attorney's office, Greenacres Mayor James Quigley, for-
mer County Commissioner Peggy Evatt, former Lake Worth City Commissioner Mark Foley, West Palm Beach publi-
cist Anita Mitchell and even Southern Bell executive Bill Burson running in Republican primaries.
Friday, Gonzalez was already contemplating running.
Some South County Republicans, miffed that Burson didn't get the appointment, said they will be boosting his candi-
dacy for 1988. Burson was first choice for Adams and even he suggested that the public attention Burson got last week
puts him in a good position for 1988.
Noteworthy
The North Palm Beach Gardens Jaycees have scheduled a candidates forum at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the North Palm
Beach Community Center, 1200 Prosperity Farms Rd. . . . U.S. Rep. Dan Mica, D-Fla., will meet the public from 7 to
8:30 p.m. March 12 at Wellington Elementary School, 1300 Paddock Dr., West Palm Beach; from 9 to 10:30 a.m.
March 13 at Boynton Beach City Hall; and from 2:30 to 4 p.m. March 13 at Palm Beach Junior College in suburban
Lake Worth. . . . The League of Women Voters of South Palm Beach County is sponsoring a Boca Raton candidates
forum at 7:30 tonight at the Boca Teeca Guest Lodge, 5800 NW Second Ave. . . . U.S. Rep. Tom Lewis, R-Fla., has
moved his Washington office. His new address is 1216 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515. . .
. The Women's Coalition of Palm Beach County has endorsed incumbent Marie Horenburger and Elaine Roberts for the
Delray Beach City Commission. . . . Carol Carter, Florida chairman of the National Federation of Republican Women,
will address the Royal Palm Republican Women's Club at 11:30 a.m. March 17 at Strebs III, 2320 S. Federal Highway,
Boynton Beach. . . . The Boca Area Commerce Political Action Committee has endorsed M. Richard Robinson for
mayor and Bill Smith and Wanda Thayer for City Council.
Verbatim
"It's fun. There's no other word for it. It's great to go to parties and have all the oysters and shrimp you ever wanted in
your entire life."
-- Former County Commissioner Ken Spillias explaining the attraction of the political post.
Herald Staff Writer Jeffrey Weiss contributed to this column.
Ray Huard may be reached from South County at 272-2626 and from North and Central County at 737-1009.

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WELL, HOW DO YOU DEFINE EXCELLENCE?


SECTION: LIVING TODAY; C; Pg. 1

LENGTH: 675 words

When Polo magazine promoted its Excellence Awards banquet last year, editors bragged that Sylvester Stallone would
attend and present the trophies. He never showed. His agent said afterward that Sly never planned to come.
This year, Stallone -- along with Donna Mills and Pamela Sue Martin -- were listed as celebrity guests. But they had no
place to go. The banquet, scheduled for last Friday, was canceled at the last minute.
"We never got any notice and only found out a few days before, when the decorator told our catering director he heard
the banquet was off," says PGA Sheraton Resort publicist Marilyn Watkins. "We called the magazine and found out it
was canceled."
Adds Watkins: "This really left us in a bind. We had a major part of the food ordered and the main ballroom reserved.
Here we are at the height of the social season with an empty ballroom that other groups wanted. We lost $30,000."
Polo magazine planned to have 700 guests, but insiders say only 300 confirmed.
"It would have been a mistake financially to go ahead," says editorial director Stephanie Burns. "We didn't want to get
ourselves in any deeper."
HALL OF INFAMY
Did you ever notice how a politician regains his aura years after a scandal forces him from office?
Take Richard Nixon, for example. Lots of folks will tell you he was a dynamic leader and a top foreign policy strategist.
Watergate, they say, was merely a petty burglary.
Well, now that Jerry Owens has resigned from the Palm Beach County Commission after smashing into a van and being
charged again with driving under the influence, the county removed his photo at the entrance to the commission cham-
bers. In its place is a new, $300 retouched color photo of . . . Jerry Owens.
"It was taken several weeks ago," says county public information officer Sheila Bertino. "Perhaps the timing in hanging
it was terrible."
Even though Owens has been replaced by Carol Elmquist, his picture will stay up -- to be moved a few feet to a pro-
posed hall of former county commissioners.
VAIN ATTEMPTS
Page 919
WELL, HOW DO YOU DEFINE EXCELLENCE? The Miami Herald March 2, 1987 Monday

Actually, Jerry Owens' photo isn't the only one that shouldn't be in the row of county officials. Former County Admin-
istrator John Sansbury, who left in September, is still there. A photo of the new administrator, Jan Winters, just arrived
and will go up soon.
And former commissioner Ken Spillias needs to be moved, too, but not until his replacement, Carol Roberts, approves
her $300 portrait. So far, she has nixed proofs from several sittings.
THE LOOK GETS YOU
Did you see that upbeat cover story on My Sister Sam star Pam Dawber in the March 2 People magazine? Boy, Mark
Harmon is certainly a lucky guy to be engaged to her.
"Just about every single guy who met her wanted to know right away if she was dating anyone," says WJNO talk host
Don Silverman, who helped produce Dawber's and Robin Williams' Mork and Mindy during its second season in 1979.
"I had a crush on her; everyone had a crush on her. It might have had something to do with that very sexy, intimate look
she'd give you during a chat. You were absolutely sure she was falling in love with you, but actually she has poor vision
and has to look that intently to see you."
Silverman, who was a staff producer at Paramount, was brought onto the Mork and Mindy set to handle technical prob-
lems, such as production delays.
"I never had a problem with Pam," he says. "She was always first on the set and the first to learn her lines -- a delight to
work with."
POLITICAL SPLIT
Andre Fladell, coordinator of the South County Political Cooperative, and his wife, Darlene, have officially untied the
knot.
After a brief hearing, Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Richard Wennet granted the couple a divorce after a 7 1/2-year
marriage. Wennet sealed the file to prevent financial details from coming under public scrutiny.
In his order accepting terms of the separation agreement the couple thrashed out, Wennet gave 27-year-old Darlene
Fladell -- Miss New York of 1978 and a niece of the late U.S. Sen. Jacob K. Javits -- the right once again to call herself
Darlene C. Javits.


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February 27, 1987 Friday
PLM BCH EDITION

ELMQUIST EMERGES FROM GOP PACK



LENGTH: 803 words

Carol Elmquist, a behind-the-scenes Republican organizer, will be sworn in as the newest Palm Beach County commis-
sioner at noon today -- two days after a governor's aide convened a marathon nominating session, consulted with busi-
nessmen and a former county administrator and pulled the governor away from dinner three times before agreement was
reached.
Elmquist, a registered nurse and mother of three teenagers, cuts government waste for a living and does needlepoint in
her spare time. "The best man for the job is sometimes a woman," reads one of her knit creations.
For the past two years, Elmquist has been vice mayor of Atlantis and edited the tiny golfing community's newsletter.
She is a county employee, too, paid $26,000 a year to coordinate the Mini-Grace Committee, formed to make county
government more efficient.
"The past 24 hours, understandably, have been almost overwhelming for me and I'll admit that it has taken some time
for me to digest the reality -- and the implications -- of this appointment, this honor," Elmquist, 47, told reporters
Thursday at the same time Gov. Bob Martinez announced in Tallahassee that he had chosen her for the job.
She answered questions during a press conference, but offered no answers about how she would vote on key issues. She
cooled speculation that she would side with Commissioner Ken Adams, who hired her as campaign manager in 1984
and as Mini- Grace coordinator in 1985.
"I will go along with Ken when he's right," she said.
The fact that Elmquist was chosen to succeed Jerry Owens, a Democrat who resigned Monday after wrecking his county
car and being charged with his third drunk driving offense, is attributable to a host of bruised Republican egos, trial
balloons that went awry and the failure of Adams to get his way.
"I had a long talk with Ken, one-to-one," recalled state Rep. Carol Hanson, who attended Wednesday's closed-door se-
lection meeting. "I told him I respect your judgment on this one, but it ain't going to be Ken Adams making the call."
Adams, who was the only Republican on the five-member County Commission, promoted his pick -- Southern Bell
executive Bill Burson -- at every turn. Before Wednesday's five-hour meeting at the Airport Hilton in West Palm Beach,
word had reached the governor's office that Adams would resign if his friend, the governor, didn't pick Burson.
"I may have said something that someone construed that way. I might have said if we can't have the people that deal
with the problems, it isn't even worth doing this," Adams said, quickly adding, "I'm not even sure I said that."
But Adams did beat a hasty retreat from his gung-ho backing of Burson. "I think there was a comedy of errors and I
contributed more than my share," the commissioner said. "I was too enthusiastic."
Page 921
ELMQUIST EMERGES FROM GOP PACK The Miami Herald February 27, 1987 Friday

Adams said that when it became clear Burson would not get the group's blessing, he nominated Elmquist, a close asso-
ciate.
Others at the meeting refused to say how Elmquist's name came up, but Mac Stipanovich, the governor's top aide who
ran the meeting, disputed Adams' version.
"I do not remember specifically where Carol's name came up," he said. "I do know that it was not Ken."
Republicans tried to make clear Thursday that Adams did not hand-pick his new colleague. The governor's office be-
came increasingly sensitive about that as important supporters here sought influence.
"There are a few bruised egos around and I think yesterday we put enough salve on them that they're not bruised any-
more," Hanson said.
On Monday, the day Owens resigned, former County Administrator John Sansbury contacted state Sen. Jim Scott in
Washington, D.C., where he and Stipanovich were attending a conference. After a conference call, Stipanovich agreed
to discuss the selection with Sansbury and businessman Bill Knight, head of Knight Enterprises.
They met at the Airport Hilton, where Stipanovich was banished to sit in a meeting hall while maids cleaned his room.
"We just wanted to make sure if the governor wanted input about what was going on here, we were there to provide
what he wanted," Sansbury said.
Knight said it was "obvious from the result" what the pair had told Stipanovich.
But Sansbury said the three did not discuss Elmquist's name Wednesday night. Her name did not specifically come up
until they had breakfast at the Hilton Thursday morning -- hours after Stipanovich called Elmquist at home to tell her of
her selection.
Stipanovich also had consulted earlier with Sheriff Richard Wille and Llwyd Ecclestone, whose firm developed the
PGA National community.
The final selection, reached after Stipanovich interrupted Gov. Martinez's dinner to discuss the choice with him over the
phone, brought praise, even from the Democrats.
"Carol's a good choice," said Andre Fladell, head of the powerful South County Cooperative. "She's not the enemy."


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WHAT HIS COLLEAGUES SAY



LENGTH: 123 words

Here is what some of Jerry Owens' colleagues had to say:
George Hudspeth, business manager for International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local #323:
"He forgot where he came from. He wouldn't return phone calls from people who knew him for years . . . He just flat
out told us he didn't have a problem." Commissioner Ken Adams:
"I felt for some time that the combination of pressures and stresses of this job . . . could be more than he could cope
with."
Andre Fladell, coordinator of South County Political Cooperative:
"He assumes that when people shake his hand and say they're his friend that they're his friend."
John Sansbury, former county administrator:
"We talked on Saturday . . . I told him, 'Don't take a turn for the worse.' "


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REA GETS INTO A BATTLE OVER STOPPING PAY RAISE



LENGTH: 1076 words

Democratic Executive Committee Chairman Raymond Rea is picking a fight that has some in the party fuming.
Rea said he will ask the DEC next month to challenge legislation that would raise the salaries of Port of Palm Beach
Authority members from $4,800 a year to $12,000.
"It's ludicrous," Rea said. "That amounts to almost a 150 percent increase in pay for a board that puts in at the most 40
hours annually."
The pay-raise bill has the near-unanimous support of the county's legislative delegation, with Sen. Eleanor Weinstock,
D- Palm Beach, the lone dissenter.
"I think if the Democratic Party of Palm Beach County comes out opposed to that and can put out logical reasons, our
legislators will listen to reason," Rea said.
Port Authority Chairman Sandy Klein, a DEC member, said Rea's out to kill the pay-raise bill because he holds a
grudge against Klein.
Klein said Rea tried unsuccessfully last year to dump him from the DEC in an effort to consolidate his control over the
county party.
"This is just a continuation of the bad blood," Klein said. "I don't know why he's being so devious."
Rea called Klein's grudge theory "hogwash."
As proof, Rea said: "I still go to his restaurant to eat."
But authority member Stanley Weiss, a Democrat, said he's mystified by Rea's action.
"I don't know what his motivation is," Weiss said. "I've been there 10 years and I don't think he's ever been to the port or
to a board meeting. I really don't think he has any knowledge of what goes into the port."
Rea said he has "a good ground network of information" and doesn't need to go to port meetings personally to know
authority members are overpaid.
Weiss, by the way, is definitely running in 1988 for the County Commission seat currently occupied by Karen Marcus.
"I've been actively campaigning for her seat with all the Democratic clubs," Weiss said.
Subcommittee visiting county
Page 924
REA GETS INTO A BATTLE OVER STOPPING PAY RAISE The Miami Herald February 23, 1987 Monday

Freshman state Rep. Lois Frankel, D-West Palm Beach, is bringing her House subcommittee on farm workers' housing
to Palm Beach County this week for hearings and tours of farming areas.
Her aim is to produce legislation to upgrade living conditions among farm workers.
"I'm not sure whether we'll be able to do any legislation this year or we'll be ready for next session," Frankel said.
Frankel said the move was prompted by a visit to Belle Glade last year by House Speaker Jon Mills, D-Gainesville.
She said the subcommittee already has toured farming areas near Orlando.
Hearings are scheduled for 9:15 a.m. Wednesday at the Queen of Peace Church in Delray Beach and 7 p.m. Wednesday
in Belle Glade City Hall. Legislators will tour farming areas in Belle Glade, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach and South
Bay.
Scheduled to accompany Frankel are Rep. Tom Gustafson, D- Fort Lauderdale, Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, R-Miami,
Rep. Luis Morse, R-Miami, and Rep. Douglas T. Jamerson, D-St. Petersburg. Jamerson is chairman of the newly
formed House Housing Committee.
Hometown blues
Alarmed by word that Delray Beach has one of the highest crime rates in Palm Beach County, City Commissioner Ma-
rie Horenburger said she did some checking.
Truth is, Delray police don't arrest an alarmingly high number of culprits, Horenburger said.
But she said an unusually high number of desperadoes arrested throughout the county claim Delray Beach as their
home, so Delray gets the rap as a big crime city.
"So we can take small comfort in that, that we don't necessarily have the highest crime rate. We just produce the most
criminals," Horenburger said.
Activist group forms
Boca Raton has a new citizens activist group -- Beach Condominium Association of Boca Raton.
Nine oceanfront condominium associations -- Ocean Reef Towers, the Brighton, Chalfonte, Beresford, Yacht and Rac-
quet Club of Boca Raton, La Fontana, Boca Towers and Marbella -- formed the group last week to lobby in Tallahassee
and before the City Council, said Ellen Wallner, the group's secretary and resident of the Yacht Club.
"We'll be a very vocal group," Wallner said.
Other officers are President Sylvan Jubelirer of the Yacht Club and Vice President Edward Schneider of Boca Towers.
Police get support
Delray Beach police have a new base of support -- Citizens for Delray Beach Police.
Organizers include Mayor Doak Campbell, Helen Cooper Smith of Progressive Residents of Delray, Betty Mathews of
the Beach Property Owners Association, Ray Gerner of the Delray Beach Democratic Club and Andre Fladell, coordi-
nator of the South County Political Cooperative.
The group plans a $40-per-person cocktail reception March 5 to raise money for a police scholarship fund. The money
will go to the college-bound children of Delray Beach police officers.
Noteworthy
Florida Secretary of Commerce Jeb Bush will address the Boca Raton Men's Republican Club at noon Thursday at Boca
Del Mar Country Club in Boca Raton. . . . U.S. Rep. Dan Mica, D- Fla., will meet the public from 2:30 to 4 p.m. Friday
at Boca Raton City Hall. . . . Florida Senate President John Vogt will address the Loggerhead Club at noon Friday at the
Sheraton Boca Raton. . . . Bobbie Fink, acting president of the Young Democrats of Palm Beach County, has been ap-
pointed public relations director of the Home Builders & Contractors Association of Palm Beach County. . . . Peyton
McArthur, publisher of the Florida Monitor, will address the Young Democrats at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Blue Front
Bar-B-Que, 1225 Palm Beach Lakes Blvd., West Palm Beach. . . . Palm Beach County Commissioner Dorothy Wilken
and Fran Reich, head of the West Boca Community Council, will address the Century Village West Democratic Club at
7:30 p.m. Thursday in the administration building of Century Village in suburban Boca Raton. . . . Former New York
Page 925
REA GETS INTO A BATTLE OVER STOPPING PAY RAISE The Miami Herald February 23, 1987 Monday

Supreme Court Justice Arthur Blyn, Rabbi Donal Crain of Temple Beth Shalom and Stephen Meyerson of Physicians
for Social Responsibility will address Boca Citizens for a Nuclear Freeze at 7:30 tonight at Century Village West in
suburban Boca Raton.
Verbatim
"Disposing of the city manager at this time is not in the best interest of the city. In about six weeks, you'll be asking why
things are not getting done. I'm going to remind you gentlemen of what you did tonight."
-- Lake Worth City Commissioner Roy Strohacker, commenting on a commission vote last week to fire City Manager
Ken Nipper.
Herald Staff Writer Trish Robb contributed to this column.
Ray Huard may be reached from South County at 272-2626 and from Central and North County at 737-1009 or
686-3221.


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VIEWS

SECTION: PLM BCH; PBS; Pg. 4

LENGTH: 356 words

LLOYD HASNER
PRESIDENT, HASCO COMPANIES; MEMBER, COUNTYWIDE PLANNING COUNCIL
* PROBLEM: "The quality of life in Palm Beach County is deteriorating because we are not coming up with solutions
to our growth. The builder does not create growth; the builder is just responding to the people coming down here."
* SOLUTION: "The only legal way the county has of raising funds is this road impact fee. . . . New housing has to pay
its fair share, but they're not getting old houses. Hasner, who has been living here 20 years, decides to step up and move
into a new house. I've got to pay an impact fee. You come down here from New York and move into an existing house.
You pay nothing." ANDRE FLADELL
DIRECTOR, SOUTH COUNTY POLITICAL COOPERATIVE
* PROBLEM: "The problem is life-threatening. The situation is dangerous."
* SOLUTION: "The county should be taking the political game and ending it . . . The developer says, 'On merits alone I
can't get my approval. Therefore, I will leave the merit issue and play plain political hardball.' We're saying the County
Commission should never get those projects on their agenda. . . . We gave the solution: Stop approving new projects."
FRAN REICH
PRESIDENT, WEST BOCA
COMMUNITY COUNCIL
* PROBLEM: "They are bad. They are truly bad. A lot of approvals were given without regard for the roads being in
place. The only improvements I have seen here in 13 years is the widening of Glades Road to four lanes west of the
turnpike, and a consortium of developers did that."
* SOLUTION: " If you put, say, 500 cars on a road, that is not a significant impact. But if you add one 500 and another
500 and a third 500, you've got a lot of traffic . . . We need to slow it down some way."
WILLIAM KONRAD
MAYOR, BOCA RATON;
EX-CHAIRMAN, METROPOLITAN PLANNING ORGANIZATION
* PROBLEM: "The problem is the county doesn't have enough manpower. It isn't staffed to spend the money it's got."
Page 927
VIEWS The Miami Herald February 15, 1987 Sunday

* SOLUTION: "The county has always said, 'Hmmm, we've got room so let's lay down some blacktop.' People can see
blacktop. . . . But you never go out and buy right of way when you can put blacktop down. I think right of way has been
underdone.


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JUDGE ORDERS FLADELL, WIFE TO STAY AWAY FROM EACH OTHER



LENGTH: 442 words

South County political activist Andre Fladell and his wife, Darlene Javits-Fladell, were ordered Thursday by Circuit
Court Judge Richard Wennet to stay away from each other after Javits- Fladell filed for divorce saying she was "in ex-
treme fear for her safety."
Wennet ordered the two to keep from "interfering with, harassing and molesting and doing bodily harm to each other."
Javits-Fladell, 27, declined to discuss the matter Thursday.
"Anything I could say would be damaging to Andre and I don't want to do that unless I have to," Javits-Fladell said.
The two have been married since July 1979 and have no children.
Javits-Fladell, in the divorce petition filed Monday, said Fladell has threatened and assaulted her over the last six
months.
Fladell, 39, denied the allegations in the suit.
"I don't ever hit women for any reason whatever," Fladell said. "I don't even hit my dog. That was not the way I was
brought up. I was brought up to protect women."
The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office has no record of being called to Fladell's suburban Boca Raton condominium
on a domestic complaint, Lt. Pat McCutcheon said Thursday.
In the divorce petition, Javits-Fladell asks Fladell to give her the couple's condominium at 9220 SW Third St. in the
Sandalfoot Squire Nine development in suburban Boca Raton. She also wants Fladell to repay a $15,000 loan, to pay an
undisclosed amount of alimony and to pay the fees her lawyer charges for the divorce. She also wants to resume using
her maiden name of Javits.
Fladell, the coordinator or the South County Political Cooperative, an umbrella organization for political and condo-
minium groups, blamed his political activities for the divorce.
"I spend too much time taking care of covering things and too much time paying attention to people other than her,"
Fladell said. "I have a very definite agenda for what I think my place in the world is."
Fladell said he and his wife tried to reconcile their differences about a year ago.
"I think once something negative starts it's hard to stop," Fladell said.
He said he's been living apart from his wife since December and expected her to file for divorce.
Page 929
JUDGE ORDERS FLADELL, WIFE TO STAY AWAY FROM EACH OTHER The Miami Herald February 13, 1987
Friday

"I'm a little disappointed about some of the things I've been reading," Fladell said of the accusations his wife made
against him, but said he does not hold it against her.
"I have nothing negative to say about her. I think she's really basically a very nice person," Fladell said.
Javits- Fladell, the niece of the late U.S. Sen. Jacob Javits, was Miss New York in the 1978 Miss USA pageant. Fladell
said his wife recently received a law degree from Nova University although she has yet to pass the Florida Bar exam.


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GREER INSISTS CAMPAIGN ISN'T A GRUDGE MATCH



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James Greer, the man who wants Palm Beach County Sheriff Richard Wille's job, insists there's no grudge.
Greer, police chief in Gulf Stream, was a sheriff's deputy until 1980, when Wille fired him.
Greer, 45, sued Wille in 1985, accusing the sheriff of violating his civil rights. Wille fired him for supporting Frank
Flannery in the 1980 sheriff's election, Greer said.
A U.S. District Court judge disagreed. Greer has appealed.
Greer said he's been planning for five years to run for sheriff, and 1988 is the year he'll do it. He has registered a cam-
paign committee with the elections office to run as a Republican. But odds are he won't get a one-on-one fight with
Wille.
Some political activists say Wille's been quietly spreading the word that he won't run for re-election next year. Wille
won't say either way publicly.
The theory is that Wille doesn't want to go public so soon in hopes of giving Undersheriff Charles McCutcheon an edge
in the 1988 elections.
McCutcheon, a former Boca Raton police chief, hasn't formally declared his intention to run, but he's been making the
appearances at political clubs that are often the precursor to a formal campaign.
McCutcheon, a Democrat, said he wouldn't run if Wille does. Wille is a Republican.
Greer, a Democrat until last November, said he doesn't care whether he runs against Willie in the Republican primary or
McCutcheon in the general election. Either way, he said, the issue is how the Sheriff's Office is being run under Wille
and McCutcheon.
He's starting his campaign so early in hopes of drawing support from both seasonal and year-round county residents,
Greer said.
"You have working-class people and you have people over here who are seasonal. I want to touch everybody's hands."
No free lunch
Conservative School Board activist Sally Beach wants to debate Andre Fladell in front of his South County Political
Cooperative.
Fine, Fladell said, but Beach must buy lunch for 60 to 100 cooperative members to do it.
Page 931
GREER INSISTS CAMPAIGN ISN'T A GRUDGE MATCH The Miami Herald February 2, 1987 Monday

"When someone wants to have the cooperative meet for something they want to do, then they have to absorb the costs,"
Fladell said. "Why should I do the work? She wants to debate."
But maybe not that badly.
"I might consider buying his lunch, but on a nurse's salary. . . . I'm not that anxious to speak in front of his group," said
Beach, a nurse at John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital. "I'm not a sucker, especially when I know they wouldn't be lis-
tening anyway."
Beach and Fladell are on opposite sides of the debate over what should be taught in public schools.
Beach says the current curriculum "trashes" traditional Christian beliefs. Fladell says people like Beach are trying to
impose their own beliefs on the county's public school system in violation of the constitutional separation of church and
state.
"I don't see what the big deal is," Fladell said. "If you have a strong philosophy (to promote), lunch isn't that big a deal."
Boynton Bob plans a lawsuit
Boynton Bob Ferrell said he'll go to court this week in his quest to become mayor of Boynton Beach.
City Attorney Raymond Rea said neither Ferrell nor outgoing Mayor Nick Cassandra can run -- the city charter states
that no one can serve more than two consecutive terms on the City Council. Both Ferrell and Cassandra have had their
two terms.
Based on Rea's opinion, City Clerk Betty Boroni refused last week to accept Ferrell's nomination papers.
Ferrell said he should be allowed to run because he resigned before his first term was up in March 1985. When the city
was redistricted, he then ran for a newly created seat.
"It's an honest difference of opinion here. I guess it will have to be settled in court," Ferrell said. "I think it (the court
challenge) will work. If it doesn't, I'll just be a watcher for a while."
Plenty of candidates
Even if Ferrell loses his court challenge, Boynton Beach voters will have plenty of choices come election day.
With the deadline for filing nominating papers still a week away, former Mayor Marty Trauger and Robert T. Walshak
have already filed to run for mayor. Martin L. Jackier, incumbent Raffael A. Marchese, Allen William Martincavage
and Ben Uleck have filed to run for the council in District 1. Former County Commissioner Norman Gregory, Leonard
R. Mann and Allan H. Nyquist have filed for District 3.
Slow race in Boca
Boca Raton's mayoral race is fast becoming a nonelection. City Council member M. Richard Robinson so far is the only
candidate to file, and those who have been suggested as challengers are stepping aside.
Robinson is getting nervous: "Either somebody file or not, so we can get on with it."
Filing for the two open council seats were incumbent Al Edmunds, Wanda Thayer and Bill Smith.
Noteworthy
State Rep. Steve Press, D-Delray Beach, was named legislator of the year last week by the Association for Retarded
Citizens of Palm Beach County. . . . Incumbent West Palm Beach Mayor Sam Thomas has filed for re-election. . . .
Marty Trauger, a candidate for mayor in Boynton Beach, has scheduled a $10-a- person fund-raising party from 5 to 7
p.m. Friday at Shooters, 2280 N. Federal Highway, Boynton Beach. . . . Genny Hazelip is the new president of the
Poinciana Women's Republican Club. Other officers are First Vice President Florence Butterfield, Second Vice Presi-
dent Marion Arenovski, Recording Secretary Jacquetta Knight, Corresponding Secretary Martha Feigenbaum and
Treasurer Janet Brooke. . . . The Boca Area Commerce Political Action Committee has scheduled an auction Feb. 25 at
the Atrium Financial Plaza, 1515 N. Federal Highway, starting with a preview and silent auction at 6:30 p.m. and an
open auction at 7:30 p.m.
Verbatim I
"I don't use the beaches myself. My wife says I get sand in my wrinkles."
Page 932
GREER INSISTS CAMPAIGN ISN'T A GRUDGE MATCH The Miami Herald February 2, 1987 Monday

-- Palm Beach County Commissioner Ken Adams, discussing proposals to increase the county bed tax by one cent for
beach restoration.
Verbatim II
"If I can't get to it and my monies are going to it, that's a crock."
-- Commissioner Jerry Owens, explaining how he won't vote for a tax to restore beaches if any of the beaches to be re-
stored aren't open to the public.
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PANEL'S TRAFFIC PLAN WILL SLOW DEVELOPMENT



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The Palm Beach County Commission on Thursday effectively imposed what could be a zoning moratorium until roads
are upgraded in the county's most congested areas.
The commission did not approve a moratorium, but instead agreed to impose stricter traffic standards on zoning deci-
sions.
How many projects will be affected won't be known until the commission sets the new standard, expected to happen in
two weeks.
The commission also agreed to let County Administrator Jan Winters and his staff conduct a five-month re-evaluation
of the way the county plans to accommodate growth. The county planning staff will be pulled off other projects to do
this work.
"We needed to be here about two years ago, but better late than never," Commissioner Jerry Owens said.
Thursday's action followed a request by some South County leaders to halt residential zoning changes in that area for
six months.
"It was the catalyst," Winters said.
"We missed taking the initiative," Commissioner Karen Marcus said.
Marcus, Owens and Chairman Carol Roberts approved the proposals. Commissioners Ken Adams and Dorothy Wilken
were absent.
The last time the commission discussed a moratorium, in 1984, it created the Infrastructure Task Force. Successful pro-
posals from that committee included tripling the road impact fee and increases in the gas and property taxes to help pay
for roads.
Winters suggested the immediate change in traffic standards as a way to quickly affect zoning approvals. "Development
would be delayed in some areas. There's no question of it," Assistant County Engineer George Webb said.
The commission is now loosely guided in zoning decisions by a sliding scale based on road congestion. If a project
would create too much traffic for the roads, the commission tends to reject it. But the standards are flexible. And devel-
opers willing to pay for some road improvements have often been able to reach a compromise.
Winters proposes a less flexible standard, with less room for compromise.
Page 934
PANEL'S TRAFFIC PLAN WILL SLOW DEVELOPMENT The Miami Herald January 30, 1987 Friday

When the county was more dependent on developers to pay for roads, it needed to bargain, Webb said. But now that
taxes and fees have filled the county's road construction coffers, it has more freedom to delay or deny a project until it
gets the roads finished.
The effect will be to block zoning changes on the county's most traffic-choked roads -- mostly in South County. The
length of the de facto moratorium would be relatively short, Webb said, because the most congested roads are the ones
the county is working fastest to relieve.
"That will put tremendous pressure on our engineering staff (to get the roads built)," Winters said. As part of his plan,
he wants to streamline the process of road construction.
If approved in two weeks, that change in traffic standards would last for about five months. By that time, Winters wants
to have new, stringent standards ready for traffic, schools, water service, fire-rescue service and parks. He also wants to
have new impact fees ready to help pay for more of these services.
Winters said his plan would be better for the county than a moratorium. Even a limited moratorium could discourage
businesses from settling in the county and make it harder for the county to sell bonds, he said.
"The signal that would send is a negative one," he said. "And we don't think a moratorium by itself will solve the prob-
lem of infrastructure lagging behind growth."
A moratorium would also alienate developers and businessmen, making it much more difficult to work with them,
Winters said.
Developers and business leaders supported Winters' plan as an alternative to a moratorium.
Andre Fladell, coordinator for the South County Political Cooperative, was far from crushed that his call for a morato-
rium was turned down. Winters' plan will force developers to work harder to justify their projects, he said.
"We asked for a six-month moratorium and we seem to have a five-month planning freeze," he said. "When we walked
in there today we had nothing."


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ROBERTSON'S TALK KEEPS POLITICS, RELIGION APART



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Television evangelist and would-be president Pat Robertson surprised several Loggerhead Club members last week
when he talked straight politics at a Boca Raton luncheon.
"I'm not impressed with television preachers but he did all right," Alexander Simon of Delray Beach said.
Before hearing Robertson, Boynton Beach City Council candidate Marty Trauger said he considered Robertson "a shoot
'em from the hip type."
But after listening to him, Trauger said, "I think he has a lot of good ideas for the social services in the United States."
Robertson said he's not surprised that he caught his listeners off guard.
"They know how I stand on moral issues so they want to hear how I stand on defense," Robertson said. "Everybody
goes away saying, 'Well, I didn't know he knew all that.' "
Politically, Robertson sounds much like Ronald Reagan.
He called an escalating federal budget and deficit immoral. He called for educational reforms. And he said the country
needs less federal spending and not more taxes.
Robertson also said too much has been made of the Iran- Nicaraguan arms deal.
"The scandal is not with the Reagan administration. The scandal is with the Congress or the press that refused to recog-
nize that we must do something to overthrow tyranny in this hemisphere."
Boca candidates scramble
Boca Raton Mayor William Konrad's announcement Friday that he's not running for re-election has started a scramble
for the position.
Former council member Cormac Conahan, who said he'd run if Konrad doesn't, said he'll have something to announce
today or tomorrow.
Other possible candidates are Ryna Mehr, who ran against incumbent Carol Hanson for the Florida House last Novem-
ber, and Tim Whalen, who ran against Hanson in the September Republican primary.
Konrad said he has no intention of running for anything else but one of his biggest critics, Republican State Commit-
teeman Norman Wymbs, predicts Konrad will be back.
Wymbs said Konrad liked the attention he got as mayor too much to remain politically idle.
Page 936
ROBERTSON'S TALK KEEPS POLITICS, RELIGION APART The Miami Herald January 26, 1987 Monday

"He's going to need to try to get back in the fishbowl," Wymbs said.
Wymbs' guess is that Konrad, a Republican, will run for Congress against incumbent Democrat Dan Mica in District 14.
Ex-candidate catches on with port
Toby Widett, a two-time loser in West Palm Beach City Council campaigns, was a winner with the Port of Palm Beach
last week.
Widett talked Port Authority members into hiring a marketing director, then talked them into hiring her for the job.
" . . . she knows how to market," authority member Sandy Klein said.
McCutcheon looks ready to run
Charles McCutcheon is getting ever closer to declaring his intention to run for sheriff in 1988.
"I'm rumored to be one of the one's thinking about it," McCutcheon said with a grin last week, and he's not doing any-
thing to quiet rumors.
"I've got two years to go yet," said McCutcheon, the undersheriff for Sheriff Richard Wille and a former Boca Raton
police chief.
Fladell's modest proposal
Andre Fladell, coordinator for the South County Political Cooperative, came up with an unusual proposal last week for
the state lottery voters approved last fall -- allow only handicapped people to sell lottery tickets.
"Anyone who wants to sell lottery tickets would have to hire the handicapped," Fladell said.
Fladell said he modeled his plan after an edict of the late Spanish dictator Francisco Franco. Franco allowed only war
orphans to sell tobacco products in Spain as a way of preventing them from becoming wards of the government.
Lottery ticket sales could give the handicapped of this state a chance to earn a living without taking jobs from anyone
else, Fladell said.
Fladell said Rep. Frank Messersmith, R-Lake Worth, has agreed to raise the issue in the Legislature. Delray Democrats
start recruiting
The Delray Beach Democratic Club, which got in a fight with county Democratic Chairman Raymond Rea last year
over whether it could keep its charter, is starting a recruiting campaign and plans to become a vocal presence in city
government, newly elected President Ray Gerner said.
Of particular concern to the club is the city's rapid growth over the few years, Gerner said.
"You can only develop so far and draw a line somewhere," Gerner said.
Besides Gerner, other new club officers are vice presidents Irwin Ives, Leo Kierstein and Sid Soloway and Treasurer
Helen Ives.
Noteworthy
Advertising executive David T. Robinson said last week he'll run for the Highland Beach City Commission . . . Incum-
bent Lake Worth City Commissioner Ed Shepherd said he'll run for re- election . . . Promotions consultant Mary
McCarty, who chaired the Delray Beach Diamond Jubilee last year, is running for the Delray Beach City Council . . .
Stan Crow, a former aide to former Govs. Bob Graham and Reubin Askew, will address the Young Democrats of Palm
Beach County at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Bennigan's, 2070 Palm Beach Lakes Blvd., West Palm Beach . . . County
Commissioner Dorothy Wilken has been appointed to the Environmental and Land Use Steering Committee of the Na-
tional Association of Counties . . . Nova University political scientist Leo Isacson will address Boca Citizens for a Nu-
clear Freeze at 7:30 tonight in the administration building of Century Village West in suburban Boca Raton . . . State
Rep. Carol Hanson, R-Boca Raton, will head a drug awareness breakfast at 8 a.m. Tuesday at the Sheraton Boca Raton.
Verbatim
"I'm not some firebrand that is trying to castigate people."
-- Pat Robertson.
Page 937
ROBERTSON'S TALK KEEPS POLITICS, RELIGION APART The Miami Herald January 26, 1987 Monday

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CHILDERS WINS THE VOTES TO DEFEAT RULE CHANGES



LENGTH: 1111 words

State Sen. Don Childers' alliances in Tallahassee apparently are paying off at home.
The West Palm Beach Democrat last fall sided with Senate Republicans and conservative Democrats to take the Senate
presidency away from Hollywood Democrat Ken Jenne and give it to the more conservative John Vogt, D-Cocoa
Beach.
And last week, Republicans on the Palm Beach County legislative delegation gave Childers the votes he needed to kill
delegation rule changes proposed by Sen. Eleanor Weinstock, D- West Palm Beach.
In two key votes on the changes, Republicans Carol Hanson of Boca Raton, Jim Hill of Jupiter, Marian Lewis of North
Palm Beach and Frank Messersmith of Lake Worth voted with Childers. The delegation's only Republican senator, Wil-
liam "Doc" Myers, was absent.
Every delegation Democrat but Childers -- Lois Frankel of West Palm Beach, Ed Healey of West Palm Beach, Ray
Liberti of West Palm Beach and Steve Press of Delray Beach -- voted with Weinstock.
The 5-5 tie killed Weinstock's proposals.
The primary issue was whether the delegation should continue to divide the county's representatives into subdelega-
tions, allowing each subdelegation to decide legislation on issues that affect only its part of the county. Each subdelega-
tion is made up of one senator and the House members whose districts are within the senator's.
Weinstock wanted the full delegation to vote on all local bills going to Tallahassee. She said she's been embarrassed
when legislators from elsewhere in the state ask her to explain a local bill she knows nothing about because it didn't
come from her subdelegation.
Weinstock also wanted to change delegation rules to require two of the county's three senators for a delegation quorum.
Current rules require only one senator.
"Hopefully, this is not the end of the discussion," Weinstock said.
Two's company, 100's a crowd
Palm Beach Junior College President Ed Eissey got a surprise when he met South County Political Cooperative coordi-
nator Andre Fladell for lunch last week.
Eissey thought it was a private lunch.
Page 939
CHILDERS WINS THE VOTES TO DEFEAT RULE CHANGES The Miami Herald January 19, 1987 Monday

Fladell met Eissey at the doorway of the Holiday Inn Camino Real and led him to the hotel ballroom. Inside were more
than 100 cooperative members.
Eissey took one look and turned to Fladell.
"Are you serious?"
Recovering quickly, Eissey proceeded to give a speech urging the cooperative's support for a referendum to hike prop-
erty taxes to raise money for PBJC.
"We'll get some support here," Eissey said.
Rights on the job
Women still face discrimination on the job and in the courts, and they often are too afraid of losing their jobs to talk
about it. So says Diana Dawson of the South County Chapter of the National Organization for Women.
"I think they feel it's part of what they have to take," Dawson said.
Dawson said the issue was raised in South County when a woman approached NOW members for advice on taking her
employer to court.
From discussions among NOW members, Dawson said, it became apparent that many women were unsure of their
rights.
To correct that, NOW is sponsoring a "Speak Out on Sex Discrimination" forum at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Unitarian
Universalist Fellowship, 2601 St. Andrews Blvd., Boca Raton.
"We thought we'd just let people talk and have some people there to tell us what our legal rights are and how things
have changed," Dawson said.
Panelists will include Charlene Carres and Arlyne Gordon Warshall, both lawyers; Dorothy Stetson, the acting dean of
the Florida Atlantic University School of Social Science; and Adele Kaserman, coordinator of the County Commission
on the Status of Women.
Silver-Haired Legislature
Sam Schwimer of suburban Delray Beach has been chosen Area 9 chairman of the Florida Silver-Haired Legislature.
Area 9 covers Palm Beach, Martin, Okeechobee, St. Lucie and Indian River counties. Schwimer was also elected as a
Silver-Haired House member.
The silver-haired legislators -- all of them at least 60 -- meet once a year in Tallahassee to recommend legislation to the
Florida Legislature.
Jeanne Sklar of Delray Beach was chosen vice chairman and secretary and Lillian Schwimer of suburban Delray Beach
was chosen treasurer.
Sklar, Carl Cummis of Boca Raton and Sidney Wasserman of suburban Delray Beach were elected senators and Francis
Flynn of North Palm Beach was elected as an alternate senator.
Elected to the Silver-Haired House from Area 9 were Hortense Cummis of Boca Raton, Lake Lytal of West Palm
Beach, Adele Messinger of Delray Beach, Lillian Schwimer of suburban Delray Beach, Victor Scileppi of suburban
Delray Beach, Ethel Shapiro of suburban Delray Beach, Jeannette Slavin of Delray Beach, Beatrice Wasserman of sub-
urban Delray Beach and Mae Yates of suburban Delray Beach. Dorothy Flynn of North Palm Beach was chosen as an
alternate House member.
Noteworthy
Television evangelist and presidential candidate Pat Robertson will address the Loggerhead Club at noon Friday at the
Sheraton Boca Raton. . . . The Palm Beach County legislative delegation will meet at 10 a.m. Wednesday at Belle Glade
City Hall. . . . State Sen. Ken Jenne, D-Hollywood, will address the Women's Coalition of Palm Beach County at noon
Friday at Indian Springs Country Club in suburban Boynton Beach. . . . State Rep. Carol Hanson, R-Boca Raton, will
conduct a drug awareness breakfast 8 a.m. Jan. 27 at the Sheraton Boca Raton, 2000 NW 19th St., Boca Raton. . . . State
Rep. Frank Messersmith, R-Lake Worth, will address the Boca Raton Men's Republican Club at its installation lunch-
eon at 11:30 a.m. Jan. 22 at the Boca Del Mar Country Club in Boca Raton. New officers are President Gregory J. Mal-
Page 940
CHILDERS WINS THE VOTES TO DEFEAT RULE CHANGES The Miami Herald January 19, 1987 Monday

fitano, First Vice President Kevin McCarty, Second Vice President Charles Laser, Secretary Steve Abrams, Treasurer
John Staudt and Assistant Treasurer Louis Arning. . . . Author Hy Ruchlis will address the Delray Citizens for Social
Responsibility at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Temple Emeth in suburban Delray Beach. . . . Bob Ferrell, a candidate for
Boynton Beach mayor, has scheduled a $10-per-person fund-raiser from 4 to 6 p.m. Jan. 31 at the Boynton Beach boat
ramp pavilion. . . . David Earle, an aide to U.S. Rep. Tom Lewis, R- Fla., will tour four Glades communities Tuesday.
Earle will be in Belle Glade City Hall from 9 to 10 a.m., Clewiston City Hall from 11 a.m. to noon, Moore Haven City
Hall from 1 to 2 p.m. and La Belle City Hall from 3 to 4 p.m.
Verbatim
"The president's budget is dead and that's good news. There aren't even Republican votes for the president's budget this
year. They are now searching for a Republican to introduce it." U.S. Rep. Dan Mica, D-Fla.
686-3221.


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POLITICIANS PLAN AHEAD FOR 1987



LENGTH: 444 words

Palm Beach County's political leaders aren't terribly resolute this New Year's weekend when it comes to setting first-
of-the-year resolutions.
"I don't drink much. I don't smoke. I don't fool around much at all, except with my husband," said state Sen. Eleanor
Weinstock, D-Palm Beach. "I don't have anything big to say."
"To clean my closet," was County Commission Chairman Karen Marcus' resolution. "If you saw my closet, you'd know
why."
Rep. Carol Hanson, R-Boca Raton, said she generally doesn't believe in New Year's resolutions.
"When you break them, you feel depressed," Hanson said.
But she said she's made one resolution she fully expects to keep -- to skip a Jan. 23 luncheon South County Political
Cooperative coordinator Andre Fladell is giving county legislators.
"I don't deal with banana republic dictators," Hanson said. "Not only did he find me a primary (election opponent), he
found me a general (election opponent)." Fladell encouraged Democrat Ryna Mehr to run against Hanson last Novem-
ber.
Fladell resolved this year to "stop believing everything I do is right when only most of it is."
Beyond that, Fladell resolved "to be as successful in politics in 1987 as I was in 1986."
Rep. Ray Liberti, D-West Palm Beach, resolved "to be nice to Carol Hanson" in 1987.
"We tease each other constantly, constantly," Liberti explained.
Liberti said his serious resolution of the new year is "that the DOT (Department of Transportation) will not take State
Road 80 away again."
DOT at one point last year said it would delay plans to widen State Road 80 but Liberti said he was assured this week
that "every step will be under construction" within the next 18 months.
State Rep. Jim Hill, R-Jupiter, said his resolution is "to survive 1987."
"1986 was not a great year. I've had better years," said Hill, who chairs the county's legislative delegation.
"I had a car hit a house I own," Hill said. "We had a guy who rented the same house prior to that who just cleaned out
(stole) the appliances."
Page 942
POLITICIANS PLAN AHEAD FOR 1987 The Miami Herald January 3, 1987 Saturday

Hill's resolution for the 1987 Legislature is to reorganize the state Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services,
although he said that may be delayed a year because of expected wrangling over a drive to eliminate most sales tax ex-
emptions and Gov.-elect Bob Martinez's wish to improve the DOT.
"I had a New Year's resolution but I forgot it already," said Raymond Rea, chairman of the Palm Beach County Demo-
cratic Executive Committee.
Rep. Lois Frankel, D-West Palm Beach, had a similar problem.
"I did have one," Frankel said. "What is my New Year's resolution? I think it's to be more patient. The people who know
me will understand it."
Frankel declined to elaborate.


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DELRAY'S COUNCIL RACE ALREADY DRAWING CROWD

BYLINE: RAY HUARD Herald Columnist


LENGTH: 1094 words

City elections are still more than two months away, but the race for two Delray Beach City Council seats already is get-
ting crowded.
Although former Highland Beach Town Manager Elaine Roberts is the only person to formally start a campaign com-
mittee, several others are talking about it.
Incumbent council member Marie Horenburger said she's "not 100 percent absolute for certain" but expects to run for
re- election.
Eugene Slattery, who became a vocal voice in Delray Beach after his daughter Karen was murdered, said: "It's pretty
well decided that I probably will run." He said he'll know for sure by next week.
And Sol Soloway, who ran unsuccessfully last year, said he will run again if he recovers from a recurring bout of bron-
chitis soon enough to form a campaign organization.
"I want to run," Soloway said. "It will depend on whether I can get a group together to support me."
Sitting on the sidelines, former council member Arthur Jackel said he will back Slattery against Horenburger and is
hoping someone other than Roberts will emerge to run for Malcolm Bird's seat. It's still unclear whether Bird will seek
re- election.
"I think it's time for a change," said Jackel, who didn't seek re-election this year because he was sick. "If a person wants
to step forward and do something for the community, now's the time."
Bradley's humor
Explaining the real reason behind income tax reform, Bill Bradley, former star of the New York Knicks and current
U.S. senator from New Jersey, had this to say last week in West Palm Beach:
"It's April 12 and you're seated around the kitchen table or, if you have a particularly complicated return, you're around
the dining room table. You say to your spouse, 'Dear, do you have that piece of paper that shows we have a capital loss
carry-forward for last year?' Your spouse looks at you and says, 'No, dear. I thought you had the piece of paper that
shows we have a capital loss carry-forward.' And so, the real cultural rationale for tax reform is to save American mar-
riages."
You must remember, he was talking to the Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
Shakings at Century Village
Page 944
DELRAY'S COUNCIL RACE ALREADY DRAWING CROWD The Miami Herald December 29, 1986 Monday

Elections next month in the Century Village West Democratic Club could be a little less staid than in past years.
Incumbent President Fred Kass wants to run for a third term, but the club's bylaws prevent it. Kass' supporters have in-
troduced an amendment to let him run.
"I don't think there's support for that," said Renee Loeb, who stands to become the next president under the current by-
laws.
Loeb is betting that Kass will withdraw from the race.
"I think he has other things that are occupying his interest now," Loeb said.
Kass said his only interest is being re-elected.
"Renee Loeb is a nice woman. I get along with her," Kass said. "The idea is this -- she likes to take over."
Kass said the issue may not even get to a vote because the club has been unable to draw a quorum to its last two meet-
ings.
If there's no quorum Jan. 8, Kass said, there can be no election and he will win by default and serve another year. But he
would prefer to win by election.
"I'd rather do it the nice way and the legal way," Kass said. "I don't want any finger-pointing."
Santa Claus I
Boynton Bob Ferrell, the man who jet-skied in his unsuccessful campaign for county commissioner, may adopt another
vehicle in his campaign for mayor of Boynton Beach -- a sleigh.
The portly Ferrell-- sans padding -- made the round of Christmas parties dressed as Santa. He appeared at one with a
bumper sticker on his back that read "Santa Claus is a personal friend of Bob Ferrell."
"It can't hurt them to think he's on my side," said Ferrell, who's been playing Santa in Boynton Beach City Hall for the
past several years. "One of these days I'm going to go on a diet and fool them all."
And what did Santa Bob give as gifts this year? Autographed photographs of himself, which read "Merry Christmas . . .
elect Bob Ferrell now."
Apart from his Santa routine, Ferrell is recycling much of the campaign material he used in his commission race against
Dorothy Wilken.
"A lot of the buttons and stickers don't specify which office. I guess you could call them generic campaign buttons,"
Ferrell said.
Santa Claus II
Be glad you weren't on South County Political Cooperative Coordinator Andre Fladell's Christmas list.
Here's what he gave some county politicos for the holiday:
To diminutive Delray Beach Mayor Doak Campbell, a book on body building by Arnold Schwarzenegger.
To state Republican Rep. Frank Messersmith, a member of the House Agriculture Committee, a cowboy hat.
To West Palm Beach political activist Charles McCain, a native of South Carolina, a history of the Civil War.
"He thinks he's a confederate general," Fladell said.
McCain retaliated by giving Fladell a Conquerors of the Universe coloring book.
Conahan considers race for mayor
Former Boca Raton City Council member Cormac Conahan is pondering a run for mayor.
So far, council member Richard Robinson is the only declared candidate.
"I'll run if Robinson doesn't draw any opposition," Conahan said.
Page 945
DELRAY'S COUNCIL RACE ALREADY DRAWING CROWD The Miami Herald December 29, 1986 Monday

Conahan said the real key is whether incumbent Mayor William Konrad seeks re-election. Konrad isn't saying, but
Cormac said he doesn't want to run against Konrad.
Legislative delegation meets
Tuesday is the deadline for getting on the agenda for the Palm Beach County legislative delegation's first meeting of the
1987 legislative session. The meeting is scheduled for Jan. 14 at a location yet to be determined.
Jan. 7 is the deadline for getting on the delegation's Jan. 21 meeting; Jan. 15 for the Jan. 29 meeting; Jan. 28 for the Feb.
11 meeting; and Feb. 13 for the Feb. 27 meeting.
Noteworthy
Palm Beach County Commissioner Dorothy Wilken has been appointed to the County Administrative Policy Committee
of the State Association of County Commissioners. . . . Former County Commissioner Ken Spillias will address the
Crackerbarrel Forum sponsored by the Palm Beach Junior College Institute of Government from 7:30 to 9 a.m. Jan. 8 at
the Royce Hotel, West Palm Beach.
Verbatim
"I think that the real payoff in political terms has not been felt yet. I think that it would be felt in year two, three and
four, when most taxpayers who are now still skeptical really understand that what this means is that they are going to be
able to keep more of the money they earn."
U.S. Sen. Bill Bradley, D-N.J., discussing the new tax law.
Miami Herald Business Writer Avie Schneider contributed to this column.
686-3221.


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Page 946


The Miami Herald

PLM BCH EDITION

BATTLE OVER DUMP SITE HAS COMMISSION FEUDING



LENGTH: 984 words

The nasty little war over where to put a South County dump has county commissioners trashing each other.
Commissioner Carol Roberts nominated Commissioner Dorothy Wilken on Tuesday for a spot on the Solid Waste Au-
thority, a group that suggested sticking the dump in Wilken's district.
Wilken was miffed, and said she won't show up for meetings.
Thursday, with none of the other commissioners present, Wilken said that maybe Roberts should get the authority post.
"She, in fact, has no committee appointments and, I presume, will eventually assume the position on Solid Waste,"
Wilken said.
Not likely, Roberts said.
"It would have been nice if (Wilken) had discussed it before volunteering me," Roberts said.
But what about the memo Wilken sent Tuesday to all the commissioners -- including Roberts -- before Roberts nomi-
nated Wilken?
Wilken, in the memo, said she wouldn't take the job "under any circumstances."
"It might have come across my desk," Roberts said of Wilken's memo, "but it may have passed in one eye and out the
other."
What's in a name?
Andre Fladell's South County Political Cooperative has adopted an additional moniker, which may portend Fladell's
plans for the cooperative's future.
Fladell recently registered the cooperative with an additional name -- the Palm Beach Political Cooperative -- at the
state elections office.
The new alias should make it clear to state officials which county the cooperative comes from when its members go to
Tallahassee to lobby, Fladell said.
But there may be more in a name -- last week, Fladell was urging homeowner and political clubs from Lake Worth
northward to sign up with the cooperative, if not as official members, then as allies on issues that interest them.
"The power of an organization is based on the diversity of its tentacles," he said. "It's just a natural evolutionary pro-
cess."
Page 947
BATTLE OVER DUMP SITE HAS COMMISSION FEUDING The Miami Herald December 15, 1986 Monday

Mayoral ambitions
Boca Raton City Council member M. Richard Robinson has yearned for a long time to be mayor. For just as long, he
has said he didn't want to challenge incumbent William Konrad.
That concern apparently had disappeared last week. Robinson said he will run for mayor in 1987, but he declined to say
what prompted the change of heart.
As for Konrad, he wouldn't say outright whether he will run for re-election. But he sure was talking like a candidate.
"Any developer who understands that the city is where it is because of its tough stance (on zoning and density) will
support me," Konrad said. "The ones who want to make money faster and who may believe a different (council) com-
bination will work for them won't," Konrad said.
Robinson, 55, was appointed to the council in 1982 to fill a vacancy left when Carol Hanson was elected to the state
House. He was re-elected in 1983.
Lawmakers on tour
Speaking of state representatives, Hanson, of Boca Raton, Frank Messersmith of Lake Worth and Marian Lewis of
North Palm Beach are touring the state as part of a Republican strike force on prisons and drugs.
Hanson said the 14-member committee, appointed by House minority leader R. Dale Patchett of Vero Beach, is ex-
pected to produce a package of legislative proposals for the 1987 session.
"We want to be sure we're speaking the same language, whether it's with rehabilitation or jails," Hanson said. "We felt it
was time to get out and do our own fact-finding."
An early suggestion likely to make the group's final slate of recommendations is a local option sales tax to pay for jail
construction.
Palm Beach County commissioners listed the local option tax as one of their top priorities last year but the legislation
never got out of the House Finance and Taxation Committee.
Hanson said the prospects are better this year.
"Let's just say I'm encouraged," she said.
Liberti aims at expressway authority
West Palm Beach Rep. Ray Liberti says he will try again to kill the Palm Beach County Expressway Authority.
"I would love to see it eradicated and start from ground one," said Liberti, a Democrat.
The authority, created by the Legislature to build toll roads in Palm Beach County, has come under fire because many
think there should be more local control on the authority. Most of the current members were appointed by the governor.
Liberti and Sen. Don Childers, D-West Palm Beach, filed legislation to abolish the expressway authority last year but
were blocked by then-Senate President Harry Johnston.
Johnston is out now, and Liberti is part of the new House leadership. But getting the bill through this year may be no
easier than last.
Much of the legislation filed this year could get caught in a showdown between a Democrat-dominated House and a
Senate controlled by a coalition of Republicans and conservative Democrats, Liberti said.
"There's a willingness to cooperate. I don't know if the structure's there," Liberti said. "I'm not overly excited. I think
what I am is cautious. I think the House leadership is cautious."
Noteworthy
U.S. Sen. Bill Bradley, D-N.J., will address the Florida Institute of CPA's East Coast Chapter at 1:45 p.m. Dec. 26 at the
Airport Hilton in West Palm Beach. . . . Lance DeHaven Smith of Florida Atlantic University will address the Progres-
sive Forum at noon Thursday at the Hyatt Palm Beaches in West Palm Beach. . . . Henry Behrman of Common Cause
will address Boca Citizens for a Nuclear Freeze at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 22 in the administration building of Century Village
Page 948
BATTLE OVER DUMP SITE HAS COMMISSION FEUDING The Miami Herald December 15, 1986 Monday

West in suburban Boca Raton. . . . The South County Political Cooperative and Atlantic Palm Beach Ambulance Co.
will have a joint Christmas/Hanukkah party from 6 to 9 p.m. Dec. 22 at the Holiday Inn Boca Raton.
Verbatim
"Our goal is to put asphalt down to have you drive on."
-- George Webb, assistant county engineer, explaining the county's proposed five-year road plan.
Staff writers Ellyn Ferguson and Craig Gemoules contributed to this column.
686-3221.


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The Miami Herald

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MORATORIUM ON BUILDING UNDER STUDY



LENGTH: 700 words

Palm Beach County commissioners said Tuesday they would stop approving construction of new homes, shopping cen-
ters and businesses for up to six months if the county attorney says it's legal and if planners say it's necessary.
A group of South County residents, saying their neighborhoods are being inundated with housing developments and
shopping centers, asked for the moratorium immediately -- but Assistant County Attorney Chip Carlson said it would
take two months to pass such an ordinance and anything done faster could be tossed out by the courts.
The commission's zoning agenda has grown immense: Just two years ago, it was a big day if there were 20 items on it.
Now the agendas are double that and include roughly 500 pages of memos and plans.
"I feel like I'm on a treadmill and I can't get off," Chairman Karen Marcus said.
Once-a-month zoning meeting, during which commissioners rezone land and allow hundreds of homes and businesses
to be built, stretch for two days -- or more.
"Last month was a record-breaker -- 5,700 in one afternoon," said Mel Werfel, a member of the South County Political
Cooperative. "Some record."
While the county has a policy of making sure roads are widened before new homes can be occupied, the deals get de-
layed and sometimes fall through. The School Board hasn't been able to build schools fast enough. In South County,
where growth has been most vigorous, the landfill is almost overflowing.
Andre Fladell, a Delray Beach chiropractor who leads the cooperative, said commissioners' support of a moratorium is
a major change of philosophy.
But between now and Jan. 29, when County Administrator Jan Winters is scheduled to say whether a moratorium is
needed, Fladell is concerned developers will try to convince Winters and his staff that such a move would be foolhardy.
"Today was judgment day for the whole bunch of them," Fladell said. "Now we're going to see what kind of courage
our county commissioners have."
While Fladell gloated over having made his point with the commission, Martin Perry, an attorney who often represents
developers, said Tuesday's discussion was of little consequence.
"He didn't win anything," Perry said. "He got staff to look into it."
Palm Beach County had one rezoning moratorium, but repealed it in 1973. During the 1984 elections, voters and candi-
dates put on pressure for another one, but it didn't happen.
Page 950
MORATORIUM ON BUILDING UNDER STUDY The Miami Herald December 10, 1986 Wednesday

Winters, saying he isn't sure a moratorium is warranted yet, asked that the commission give his staff permission to delay
some other projects so they can concentrate on the growth problem. With that leeway, Winters said, planners can deter-
mine whether developers can be charged more for road improvements, required to donate more land to the county or
even pay impact fees for trash or sewage treatment.
Commissioner Dorothy Wilken, fearing that developers would swamp the county with zoning petitions before Winters
makes his report, asked that an emergency moratorium be passed.
"All the horses are going to be out of the barn instead of just most of them," she said.
Winters, concerned about the same thing but advised that such a resolution might be illegal, said he would warn the
commission if zoning petitions pick up.
If it gets too bad, he said, the zoning hearings scheduled for the second week of January could be postponed until Feb-
ruary, he said.
Perry said that isn't likely to happen.
WHAT THE COMMISSION DID
The Palm Beach County Commission on Tuesday:
ASKED the county staff to say by Jan. 29 what can be done to slow development and speed the county's ability to build
roads, schools, fire departments and police stations. One option: A six-month moratorium on zoning.
APPOINTED Commissioner Dorothy Wilken to the Solid Waste Authority, a panel that has suggested putting a landfill
in her district. Wilken, who says she doesn't like the plan, voted against the appointment and said she won't attend
meetings.
APPROVED documents that finalize a decision to allow two developers -- Ryan Homes and AmeriFirst Development --
to build more than 5,000 homes in the south-central area of the county in the next 10 years. AmeriFirst's project could
still be appealed in court by the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council.


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MICA EXPECTS ALLEGIANCE TO PAY OFF WITH TOP POST



LENGTH: 910 words

Dan Mica, fresh from his re-election to a fifth term in U.S. House District 14, is emerging as an influential member of
the upcoming 100th Congress.
Mica, a Lake Worth Democrat, will be one of four representatives to second the nomination today of Texas Democrat
Jim Wright to replace Massachusetts' Tip O'Neill as speaker of the House.
Almost two years ago, Mica said, he agreed to help Wright win the speaker's post -- and that alliance is paying off. "It's
no secret that I was not a part of the O'Neill leadership," Mica said.
Mica said Wright responded by promising him a position of authority.
Mica, already a ranking member on both the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Veterans Affairs Committee,
said he expects to be appointed to a key policy position in the House later this week.
"I fully expect to be a daily operating member of the leadership team," Mica said. "I have been given some phenomenal
opportunities here."
Timely concern
Late to bed and early to rise makes county commissioners so tired that they can hardly open their eyes.
Trying to keep commission meetings from dragging on well past dark, Assistant County Administrator Vince Bonvento
suggested Thursday that commissioners start their Tuesday meetings at 9 a.m. instead of 9:30.
That was fine with Chairman Karen Marcus and Commissioner Carol Roberts, who live close to the county Govern-
mental Center in West Palm Beach. But the suggestion fell flat with Commissioner Dorothy Wilken, who lives in Boca
Raton.
Traffic, bad and getting worse, keeps her on the road for nearly an hour -- time she tends to spend conducting business
over her car phone, Wilken said.
"I know," Wilken said when her colleagues sighed. "It gives me more time for phone calls."
Bonvento shelved his plan.
Looking like a candidate
West Palm Beach activist Charles McCain is talking seriously of running for the County Commission in 1988.
Page 952
MICA EXPECTS ALLEGIANCE TO PAY OFF WITH TOP POST The Miami Herald December 8, 1986 Monday

McCain, a stockbroker, worked behind the scenes in several election campaigns this year and said he's now ready to
step forward himself.
"I want to run," said McCain, a Democrat. "If the circumstances are right, I will run."
Andre Fladell, coordinator of the South County Political Cooperative, said McCain is already acting like a candidate,
showing his face anywhere people will put up with him.
"If he's not running for office, he's got an obsession to meet everyone who's living in Palm Beach County," Fladell said.
"If five people sit down to play poker, Charles McCain is there to talk about the game."
Commissioners Karen Marcus, Jerry Owens and Ken Adams are up for re-election in two years. Ideally, McCain said,
one of the three will not seek re-election so that he can run for an open seat.
"I'm not going to run against Karen Marcus. She's my friend," said McCain, 31.
He declined to say whether he would run against Owens or Adams.
Behind closed doors
The job of the county's public information office is to give information to the public.
But the public information office isn't so public anymore.
It has moved behind locked doors on the 11th floor of the county Governmental Center in West Palm Beach.
"We had nothing to do with that," assistant public information officer Gloria Collins said. "They've got these locks on
all the floors. That's one of the new security measures. . . . It's no intention on our part to keep people out."
Collins said she's trying to have the locks moved. Until they are, people will have to check in with a receptionist to gain
entry.
Collins said she's thrilled with the new digs, locks or not.
The old office was in a dungeonlike room in the bowels of the old courthouse.
"For the first time," Collins said, "we have windows."
Lashing out
Palm Beach County Schools Superintendent Tom Mills was not amused when he was summoned to testify last week in
a court challenge to the proposed school bond sale. His displeasure showed when he took the witness stand.
At one point, lawyer Anthony Barone asked a confusing question, then stopped and tried to rephrase it.
"We can solve that . . ." he began.
Mills interrupted.
"We just solved it," Mills said. "What you're saying is wrong."
Noteworthy
County Commission Chairman Karen Marcus has been appointed to the Intragovernmental Affairs Steering Committee
of the National Association of Counties. . . . County Commissioner Dorothy Wilken will chair a community update ses-
sion with South County residents at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Loggers Run Middle School, 11584 W. Palmetto Park Rd. in
suburban Boca Raton. . . . Wilken was appointed last week to the board of trustees of the Morikami Museum in Delray
Beach. . . . Edward J. Rollins, a former political and intergovernmental affairs assistant to President Reagan, will ad-
dress the Palm Beach Republican Club at 12:30 p.m. Thursday at The Breakers hotel. . . . Benjamin Crosby, chairman
of Citizens for Responsible Legislation Committee, will address the League of Women Voters of South Palm Beach
County at 9 a.m. today at the Boca Lyons Shopping Center at Glades and Lyons roads in suburban Boca Raton.
Verbatim
"Getting involved in a presidential election is a waste of time. Congress is what's important. If we had the right Con-
gress, Khrushchev could be president."
-- Jack Starr, chairman of the Lantana-Lake Worth-Boynton Beach chapter of the John Birch Society.
Page 953
MICA EXPECTS ALLEGIANCE TO PAY OFF WITH TOP POST The Miami Herald December 8, 1986 Monday

Herald staff writers Craig Gemoules and Jeffrey Weiss contributed to this column.
686-3221.


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The Miami Herald

PLM BCH EDITION

EX-COMMISSIONER EVATT JOINS HOUSE CONTENDERS

BYLINE: RAY HUARD AND NICK RAVO Herald Columnists


LENGTH: 1038 words

Peggy Evatt, a Palm Beach County commissioner for eight years until 1984, when she chose not to seek a third term,
said Sunday she will add her name to a growing list of candidates for House District 81. Evatt, who is regarded as a
conservative Democrat, said she will announce her candidancy Jan. 13.
House District 81 -- the only district that runs from the beach to Lake Okeechobee -- is represented by state Rep. James
L. Watt, R-Lake Park, who is running for state attorney general.
Other possible contenders include: Republican Gene Badger of Palm Beach Gardens, who owns an insurance agency in
Belle Glade, and Democrats George Hudspeth, a business manager for the International Brotherhood of Electrical
Workers, Local 323; and David Wood of Juno Beach, the head of a personnel agency and the 1984 loser in the District
27 state Senate race against William G. "Doc" Myers.
Evatt says the competition doesn't bother her.
"That was usually the case when I ran," she said. "I think with my experience of eight years in office, I have something
that I can contribute on a statewide level. It will be a challenge in Tallahassee."
Challenging choice
Boca Raton lawyer Ryna Mehr says she may challenge two-term state Rep. Carol Hanson, R-Boca Raton, come No-
vember.
"No commitment has been made yet," said Mehr, 35, a member of the Boca Raton Community Relations Board and the
South County chapter of the National Organization for Women.
Pressing Mehr to run against Hanson is Andre Fladell, coordinator of the South County Political Cooperative.
"She's exactly the kind of candidate the party would like to have," Fladell said. "She's a perfect person for government.
The question is convincing her."
"They're working on it," said Mehr, who added she will decide within the next two months.
Hanson, who ran unopposed in 1984, said she would welcome opposition.
"I like the thrill of a campaign. I like to press the flesh," Hanson said. "A lot of my constituents felt really cheated that
they didn't get a race to get involved in in 1984."
Page 955
EX-COMMISSIONER EVATT JOINS HOUSE CONTENDERS The Miami Herald December 6, 1986 Saturday

Mehr, a seven-year resident of Boca Raton, got her law degree from Nova University in 1983. She is vice president of
Aid to Victims of Domestic Assault and serves on the boards of directors of the Florence Fuller Child Development
Center and the Florida Disability Law Center.
Insurance ire
Business insurance rates that in some cases have more than doubled in a year have drawn the ire of state Sen. Don
Childers, D-West Palm Beach.
Childers, a former insurance agent who last summer toyed with the idea of running for state insurance commissioner,
said he plans to file legislation that would put some sort of cap on insurance rates.
Childers said his concern was triggered by a Palm Beach County trucking firm owner, who complained that his insur-
ance costs for hauling sugar from the Everglades to the Port of Palm Beach jumped from $234,000 in 1985 to $1.8 mil-
lion in 1986.
"It's unreal, this is happening all the time," said Childers, vice-chairman of the Palm Beach County legislative delega-
tion. "We're going to have to do something in this area."
The fight begins
Childers' opponent in the 1986 Democratic primary, Adele Messinger, last week officially started her fight to oust
Childers by appointing a campaign staff and opening a fund- raising account at Republic Savings & Loans Association
in Delray Beach.
Messinger, who founded the Women's Coalition of Palm Beach County, said she hopes to limit her campaign spending
to $50,000.
"I think the costly thing is getting into TV (advertising) and I just don't think that will reach my audience," Messinger
said.
Messinger said condominium residents along Military Trail from the Broward County line to West Palm Beach form
the base of her support.
Coordinating Messinger's campaign will be Maria Sachs of Boca Raton, Sara Halbert of Lake Worth and Jeannette
Levine of West Palm Beach. Victor Scileppi, a former supervisor with the Internal Revenue Service, will be Messinger's
treasurer; Bunny Silverstein, deputy treasurer; Clara Berkowitz, staff manager; Stan Doyka, public relations director;
and Jay Slavin, escort coordinator.
Like a Madonna
Ask state Rep. Frank Messersmith about China and he'll tell you about the Chinese version of rock star Madonna. He
ran across the woman in a small beauty shop in a rural farming region.
"She looked like she just stepped off the streets of New York and she was stuck in this little beauty shop," said Mes-
sersmith, who recently returned from a trip to South Africa and the Far East with the American Legislative Exchange.
Aside from the pixie haircut, the beauty shop woman had the Madonna-look down pat, with lacy gloves minus the fin-
gertips and a pair of leg-warmers, Messersmith said.
Otherwise, Messersmith said, he found the residents of mainland China to be rather dour. The residents of Taiwan and
Hong Kong were much more sociable.
In South Africa, Messersmith said, he was most impressed by what he called an almost universal dislike for apartheid.
"Everyone we talked with wished the government would get off its back and make some of the changes," Messersmith
said.
Noteworthy
U.S. Rep. Dan Mica, D-Lake Worth, will address the Loggerhead Club at noon Jan. 17 at the Sheraton Hotel of Boca
Raton, intersection of Glades Road and Interstate 95. Tickets are $10 for members and their spouses; $12 for nonmem-
bers . . . Berndt Cohen, a senior analyst at the Florida Atlantic University-Florida International University Joint Center
for Environment and Urban Problems will address the League of Women Voters of South Palm Beach County at 5:30
p.m. Jan. 14. Cohen will speak at Lakeside Holiday Inn at the intersection of Glades Road and Florida's Turnpike in
Page 956
EX-COMMISSIONER EVATT JOINS HOUSE CONTENDERS The Miami Herald December 6, 1986 Saturday

Boca Raton. League members will meet at 9:30 a.m. Jan. 15 at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 188 S. Swinton Blvd.,
Delray Beach to discuss growth management.
Verbatim
"They pay a great deal of attention to any group that can gather five people in a room together."
-- Henry Handler, chairman of the Palm Beach County Democratic Executive Committee, commenting on how state
politicians are attracted to local political clubs.
Ray Huard may be reached in Delray Beach at 272-2626 or 737-1009. Nick Ravo may be reached in West Palm Beach
at 686-3221 or 278-6955.


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PLM BCH EDITION

POLITICAL ACTIVIST SET FOR NEW ROLE



LENGTH: 721 words

To some, Robin Bernstein is a political gadfly. To others, she's a campaign dynamo.
Either way, she's putting politics aside -- for a while.
She's going into training to be a mother -- chauffeuring a niece and nephew from lunches to bowling parties.
The woman who got her introduction to politics as a little girl handing out campaign leaflets from her bicycle in
Bridgeton, N.J. -- a small town about 60 miles west of Atlantic City -- has had a tumultuous year.
Political hopscotch
She quit her job as chief aide to then-County Commissioner Ken Spillias last December to run for the West Palm Beach
City Commission.
She withdrew from the commission race in January when she learned she was pregnant.
She had a miscarriage in February.
She was hired in April to be Bob Graham's Senate campaign coordinator in Palm Beach County.
She was fired in May under pressure from labor unions that wanted to get back at Spillias for voting to limit union con-
trol over construction at Palm Beach International Airport.
She was dumped from the county's Democratic Executive Committee in April by newly elected chairman Raymond
Rea.
She was hired in September as county coordinator for Jim Smith's gubernatorial campaign.
She withdrew and took a lesser role when she learned she was pregnant again.
When Smith lost the Democratic nomination to Steve Pajcic, she jumped parties in October and went to work on Re-
publican Bob Martinez's gubernatorial campaign.
'Eccentric' career
All this for a woman who 10 years ago thought she would make a staid living as an interpreter. She is fluent in French,
Russian and German.
Bernstein, 33, calls her career "eccentric."
"When I do have a career plan, I find something else that interests me," Bernstein said.
Page 958
POLITICAL ACTIVIST SET FOR NEW ROLE The Miami Herald December 1, 1986 Monday

Her former boss, Spillias, calls her "dynamic."
"When she gets committed to a person or a cause, there are very few people who are her equal," Spillias said. "I would
get exhausted watching her sometimes."
Andre Fladell, coordinator of the South County Political Cooperative, calls Bernstein "a problem solver."
"If General Sherman had Robin with him, he would have taken Atlanta quicker," Fladell said.
Labeled a traitor
Rea calls Bernstein a traitor because she worked for Republicans.
"We don't need that sort of person in the Democratic Party," Rea said. "I think she's worked hard but she hasn't really
worked hard for the party."
Charles McCain, a Democratic political activist who worked on Bernstein's brief commission campaign, called Bern-
stein's support of Republicans "disappointing."
"I don't dislike her for doing it, I'm just disappointed," McCain said. "If she worked for Martinez, she might want to
consider her situation. She ought to consider what party she belongs in."
Bernstein sees things differently.
"I feel it is incumbent on political activists to support the best person for the job," Bernstein said.
Bernstein said she thought of switching parties after being dumped by Graham and Rea but decided against it.
"I'm a pregnant woman who's allowed to change her mind and think about irrational thoughts," Bernstein said.
A solid student
Bernstein is the oldest of three children. In high school, she played basketball and hockey, but paid most of her attention
to academics.
It paid off. In her junior year, she was chosen to study in Paris as an exchange student.
Bernstein decided to become a linguist, and got a bachelor of arts degree in international studies and Russian from
American University in Washington, D.C.
She wound up working for an economist in the Carter administration, and went back to school to get a master's degree
in economics and public policy from Georgetown University.
She came to Florida in 1981 to work for a development firm, but the firm folded and Bernstein was out of work.
She tried to sign up for the congressional campaign of former County Commissioner Dennis Koehler but wound up
working instead on Spillias' 1982 election campaign.
"I talked to her for five minutes and I thought this is the kind of person I need on my campaign," Spillias said.
In 1983, Bernstein, whose maiden name is Stein, met Richard Bernstein. They were married a year later.
Politics consumes less of her time these days.
"Your priorities change when you're thinking of a family," Bernstein said.
Her baby is due April 5.
"I'd like a girl," Bernstein said, "because I'd like her to be governor."


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


Page 959
POLITICAL ACTIVIST SET FOR NEW ROLE The Miami Herald December 1, 1986 Monday

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The Miami Herald

FINAL EDITION

CIVIC LEADERS ASSEMBLE REVITALIZATION PLANS


SECTION: HOME & DESIGN; H; Pg. 20

LENGTH: 1779 words

It took 100 West Palm Beach civic leaders three days earlier this month to produce an ambitious list of plans for the
city's revitalization.
It may take years, those leaders say, to determine which of those recommendations should -- and can -- become reality.
"I was surprised that everything appeared to me to be as do-able as it did," said Lance Clarke, executive director of the
Downtown Development Authority.
But others were more cautious.
"I think at another time we need to impose some reality on some of the items that were discussed," said developer John
P. Linstroth, president of Perini Land & Development. "A priority list needs to be developed."
Faye Carter, acting chairman of the Northwood Neighborhood Association, agreed.
"I don't think there's money to do it all," Carter said, "but I think we should start."
The forum, Nov. 13 to 15 at the Key Biscayne Hotel and Villas, was organized by the Florida Atlantic University and
Florida International University Joint Center for Environmental and Urban Problems.
The center has held such assemblies before, most notably the county's Directions '85 and Directions '86, which pro-
duced the countywide planning council voters approved Nov. 4.
The 29-page report is broad in scope and touches on virtually every aspect of city life.
It recommends a strong-mayor form of city government and four-year terms for the mayor and commissioners, even
though voters earlier this year rejected a proposal to change those terms from two to four years.
The report also recommends closing down Palm Beach Public School and strengthening programs and facilities at other
coastal schools, where the student populations are increasingly black.
It calls for new parks, new housing, a new forum on black community issues and a multimillion-dollar "Decade of Ex-
cellence" bond issue to pay for the changes.
Another of the group's proposals already has been put into action. Last week, the West Palm Beach City Commission
appointed a task force to develop a convention center and festival marketplace downtown.
One forum recommendation sure to meet resistance is a proposal to turn Twin Lakes High School into an elementary
and middle school. The group also recommended that a school for the performing arts, now planned for Twin Lakes, go
to the high school now under construction on 45th Street.
Page 961
CIVIC LEADERS ASSEMBLE REVITALIZATION PLANS The Miami Herald November 30, 1986 Sunday

That goes against a School Board decision, reached last year after much debate, to rebuild Twin Lakes at its downtown
location with a curriculum that includes a school for the performing arts.
Arthur W. Anderson, who was elected to the School Board Nov. 4, said the board would have to review the forum's
recommendation.
"Although that particular wish was expressed at the conference, we do not know how representative that was of the
wishes of the community at large," Anderson said.
He also expressed doubt that parents in predominantly white Palm Beach would go along with the forum's proposal to
close Palm Beach Public School.
At times, participants did not seem to be aware of programs or practices already in place in the city, Commissioner
James Poole said. As a result, some recommendations are duplications or extensions of existing programs.
A proposal to use code enforcement to pressure slumlords into improving their buildings had already been put into ac-
tion in the neighborhoods. And a recommendation that the city find a way to create a gateway to the downtown area
already is being looked at by the city beautification committee, Poole said.
-- EVELYN HERNANDEZ
CITY COUNCIL TRIES
TO SHUT DOWN TAVERN
Delray Beach has filed suit to close the Georgia Town Tavern, a controversial bar that city officials want declared a
public nuisance.
City officials asked for a temporary injunction Nov. 21 to close the bar immediately, saying it is a center for activities
"injurious to the morals and manners of the people."
The suit against Gulfbrook Inc., which owns the bar, at 433 W. Atlantic Ave., alleges that the owners have allowed
prostitution and gambling on the premises. It also claims that the corporation knew -- and consented to -- drug sales
made on the premises.
William Thomas, the registered agent for the company, appeared before the City Council Nov. 18, asking for the city's
help in stopping the drug problem. He said it occurred on the street near the bar, not in the bar.
The city has discussed closing the tavern as a nuisance since September. Mayor Doak Campbell originally set a deadline
of Nov. 1 for shutting it down if the problems did not end.
A report from Police Chief Charles Kilgore showed police were called to the Georgia Town Tavern 373 times between
January and October this year. Most of those calls involved narcotics, the report said.
OUR GARDENIA'S GONE,
COUPLE SAYS IN LAWSUIT
Isadore and Sylvia Director have gone from the greenhouse to the courthouse: They have sued their neighborhood asso-
ciation over placement of a plant.
The Directors, of Greenacres City, say the association harassed them after they planted a gardenia in their yard. A
neighbor later stole it, they said in Palm Beach County Circuit Court. They want more than $5,000 in punitive damages.
"One of the neighbors, Leonard Barnett, kept the plant under surveillance," said Kalman Gitomer, the Directors' lawyer.
"Then he came and ripped it out."
Barnett, vice president of the Buttonwood Homeowners' Association, said the flower got in the way of mowers and
sprinklers. He said he doesn't think it is worth $5,000.
"You should see the plant. It is about two feet high," he said. "If they paid $10, they paid too much."
The Directors planted the gardenia in May, the suit, filed Nov. 21, says. A month later, the association told them to
move it -- or else. They refused.
Two weeks ago, the suit says, Barnett plantnapped the gardenia.
Page 962

"The Directors seem to have been singled out for harassment," Gitomer said. "The plant itself now has become a side
issue."
-- MIKE WILSON
BUILDERS SUPPORT
GROWTH MORATORIUM
A South County builders association sealed a deal with South County condominium and homeowner groups and has
called for a six-month zoning moratorium on residential development -- despite the builders' contention that a morato-
rium is illegal.
Because Palm Beach County is growing so fast, roads, police protection and water and sewer service have not kept pace
with demand, Stan Bomstein, president of the Florida Atlantic Builders Association, said Nov. 20 following a meeting
with the South County Political Cooperative.
But by law, Bomstein said, the county cannot impose a moratorium until it has exhausted all other means of dealing
with growth-related problems.
"Legally, it should not be granted. The conditions are not that bad. We're not at that stage," Bomstein said. "But why
should we wait until conditions get that bad?"
Bomstein said the builders were going along with the call for a moratorium partly because it is to their advantage for the
county to have a clear grip on where it's headed and partly to improve their public image.
The proposed zoning moratorium would stop for six months zoning changes that would open agricultural land to de-
velopment or increase the number of apartments or homes that could be built on land already zoned for residential de-
velopment.
It would not stop construction of residential projects already approved, nor would it affect rezoning for commercial
construction.
The condominium and homeowner groups originally called for an 18-month moratorium. But political cooperative co-
ordinator Andre Fladell said they agreed to a shorter moratorium in exchange for the builders' support.
-- RAY HUARD
MOTHERS BATTLE CITY
OVER GRAVEYARD RULES
Every day, as the light drifts out of the sky over Boynton Beach, the two women meet to tend the graves of their chil-
dren. Dodie DiNizio and Carolyn Slattery come to water the plants, trim the grass, to visit their daughters.
Since the women met at the cemetery, they have shared grief and tears and lately, a bitter anger against the city.
Karen Slattery was 14 when she was murdered while baby- sitting in 1984. DiNizio's daughter, Cindy Grzybowski, died
in a 1982 car accident when she was 25. They are buried close to each other in Boynton Beach Memorial Park.
In the decorations on their daughters' graves, the mothers say, they find an outlet for their sorrow.
"This is all I have left that I can do for my child," DiNizio said. "I think of this as her home now, and it's important to
me to keep it nice."
In the same decorations, city officials say, they find a maintenance problem.
In April 1985, the city's cemetery board changed the rules, saying each grave could be decorated with only two items.
More than that, the board said, would be an unsightly problem.
DiNizio and Slattery, and Slattery's husband, Eugene, were outraged.
His daughter's friends leave flowers and gifts on Karen's grave, Eugene Slattery told the cemetery board.
"Karen was a teen-ager. A child she baby-sat for made a special Easter egg for her grave," he said, tears on his face. "Do
we run up and count and snatch that egg away?"
Page 963

The families say they keep their plots maintained themselves. They have been protesting the rule for more than a year,
sending letters to the city manager, and getting letters back saying they were in violation.
Now, they say, they are being singled out because of those protests. On Nov. 5, the city sent letters saying extra items
would be removed from the daughters' graves.
Cemetery workers took away potted plants, flowers and two small plastic saints DiNizio's grandchildren left for their
mother.
DiNizio brought the board 24 pictures of other graves she said were not touched for being in violation on the same day.
City Manager Peter Cheney admitted that items had not been removed from other graves. He said he had sent the
DiNizio and Slattery families letters first because they were corresponding anyway, and that letters were being sent out
to other violators later.
Cemetery board member Teresa Padgett said the board thought Cheney had sent letters to all violators.
"They're definitely not being singled out," she said. "It's unfortunate, but every place must have rules. And those rules
have to be enforced equally."
Padgett said there were many other things the families could do to honor their children besides putting a different thing
on the grave every day.
"They could build a memorial or something," she said. "We're not sure what exactly they want."
"We want her to leave us alone," Carolyn Slattery said. "I feel they're denying me my right to an outlet," she said.
"Unless you've lost a child, you cannot, you cannot understand the feeling. There are no words to describe it."
-- TRISH ROBB
Reprinted from earlier Palm Beach editions of The Miami Herald.


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The Miami Herald

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WEINSTOCK STAYS UPBEAT ABOUT COMMITTEE POST



LENGTH: 1046 words

Newly elected state Sen. Eleanor Weinstock, D-Palm Beach, was trying to find a bright side last week to her appoint-
ment to the Senate Agriculture Committee.
Weinstock was marooned to Agriculture by Senate President John Vogt after she refused to switch allegiance from
Hollywood Democrat Ken Jenne for Senate president.
Friends are calling her Farmer El.
"I got lucky," joked Weinstock, whose district runs along the coast of Palm Beach County and dips into Broward
County. It is one of the more urban districts in the Senate.
"I don't know, maybe they just felt they needed a good person like me on the Agriculture Committee," Weinstock said.
Weinstock said she will try to make the best of the appointment by pushing for better health care and housing for mi-
grant workers, none of whom live or work in her district.
"I've always been very concerned about farm labor," she said.
Weinstock also was appointed to the predominantly Republican Executive Business Committee, which must approve
many gubernatorial appointments. As a member of the minority party on the committee, Weinstock's influence will be
limited.
"One of the Republicans might be sick one day," she said. "You've got to look at all these things as opportunities."
Battle royal
Buy your popcorn and settle down for a political slugfest for the heavyweight crown of South County -- or is it the
featherweight title?
The defending champion is Andre Fladell, coordinator of the South County Political Cooperative. In the challenger's
corner is Adele Messinger, founder and former president of the Women's Coalition of Palm Beach County.
Here's a recap of their previous bouts:
Round One: Fladell woos Messinger and the coalition into joining the cooperative in what he said was a move to
broaden its base.
Round Two: Messinger lands a blow to Fladell's political maneuvering by announcing that she will run for the state
Senate against incumbent Don Childers in the Democratic primary. Fladell was looking for someone else to challenge
Childers.
Page 965
WEINSTOCK STAYS UPBEAT ABOUT COMMITTEE POST The Miami Herald November 24, 1986 Monday

Round Three: Messinger is sent to the ropes when Fladell's cooperative, at the instigation of founder Jack Babich, re-
fuses to endorse Messinger. Babich works for Childers against Messinger.
Round Four: Messinger's women's coalition endorses Bernard Kimmel in the Republican primary for Senate District 26
and Carol Hanson in the Republican primary for House District 87. This is a blow to Fladell because some people mis-
takenly assume that the coalition and the predominantly Democratic cooperative will endorse Kimmel in the general
election over Democrat Eleanor Weinstock and Hanson over Democrat Ryna Mehr.
Round Five: Babich quits the cooperative because of the coalition's endorsement of Kimmel, demanding that the coop-
erative, an umbrella organization for various political and homeowner associations, expel the coalition as a member.
Round Six: Messinger loses the primary to Childers, saying the cooperative's failure to endorse her was partly to blame.
She calls Babich "certifiable."
Round Seven: Fladell kicks the coalition out of the cooperative. That was last week.
Round Eight: Too late, we quit, the women's coalition tells Fladell. Coalition president Sylvia Jarvis calls Fladell and
Babich unethical and urges other groups to dissociate themselves from both men. That, too, was last week.
Coming up today, Round Nine: The Women's Coalition meets to choose a new president and Messinger is poised to
take control by becoming co-president with Jay Slavin.
Johnston watches from sidelines
Former Senate President Harry Johnston of West Palm Beach was making no predictions on the outcome of the 1987
Legislature after Panama City Democrat Dempsey Barron engineered a coup to dump Ken Jenne -- the man Johnston
chose to succeed him.
"I don't know who's in charge. I don't know if it's Barron, if it's Vogt, if it's (Toni) Jennings," said Johnston, a Democrat.
"I don't know who's going to be the strongest among those three."
Jennings, the Senate minority leader from Orlando, heads the Senate Republicans who joined with Barron's conserva-
tive Democrats to dump Jenne.
Whatever happens, Johnston said, he's staying out of it.
"I'm enjoying my life and am very content," he said. "I gave my 12 years."
Happy to see him go
Republican William "Doc" Myers is happy to be out of Johnston's shadow in the Senate.
Myers, chairman of the Palm Beach County legislative delegation two years ago, is still irked at Johnston for not ap-
pointing him and West Palm Beach Democrat Don Childers to the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee.
"He kept us off Appropriations, both Don and I," Myers said. "I think he wanted to do it himself -- 'I'll take care of Palm
Beach County.' "
Under Vogt, Myers will be chairman of the Health and Rehabilitative Services Committee while Childers will be
chairman of the Education Committee and sit on Appropriations.
Myers said those committee assignments should give Palm Beach County every bit as much clout as it had for the last
two years with Johnston as Senate president.
A par-four dump?
The day after the County Commission was confronted with hundreds of angry South County residents protesting a pro-
posed trash dump in their neighborhood, commissioners were facing the weighty decision of where to put three county
golf courses.
"At least it will be easier to site than a dump," Vice Chairman Jerry Owens said with a chuckle.
Whereupon Commissioner Dorothy Wilken said maybe the county should build a golf course around the dump to make
the dump more palatable.
"It's not a bad idea, really," newly elected Commissioner Carol Roberts said.
Page 966
WEINSTOCK STAYS UPBEAT ABOUT COMMITTEE POST The Miami Herald November 24, 1986 Monday

"The city of West Palm Beach was thinking of putting a course around its sewage waste treatment plant," said Roberts,
a former West Palm Beach mayor.
"Would you vote for it?" Commissioner Ken Adams asked Wilken of her dump-golf course suggestion.
"I'd vote for anything that the public supports," Wilken said.
Noteworthy
Newspaper columnist and broadcaster Cal Thomas will address the Loggerhead Club at noon Dec. 19 at the Boca Raton
Sheraton.
Verbatim
"Worth Avenue had better get some produce."
-- State Rep. Ray Liberti, commenting on the appointment of Palm Beach's Eleanor Weinstock to the Senate Agriculture
Committee.
Ray Huard may be reached from South County at 272-2626 and from Central and North County at 737-1009.


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The Miami Herald

November 21, 1986 Friday
PLM BCH EDITION

6-MONTH BAN PUSHED ON NEW DEVELOPMENT



LENGTH: 394 words

A South County builders association sealed a deal with South County condominium and homeowner groups Thursday
and called for a six-month zoning moratorium on residential development -- despite the builders' contention that a mor-
atorium is illegal.
Because Palm Beach County is growing so fast, roads, police protection and water and sewer service have not kept pace
with demand, Stan Bomstein, president of the Florida Atlantic Builders Association, said Thursday following a meeting
with the South County Political Cooperative.
But by law, Bomstein said, the county cannot impose a moratorium until it has exhausted all other means of dealing
with growth-related problems.
"Legally, it should not be granted. The conditions are not that bad. We're not at that stage," Bomstein said. "But why
should we wait until conditions get that bad?"
Bomstein said the builders were going along with the call for a moratorium partly because it is to their advantage for the
county to have a clear grip on where it's headed and partly to improve their public image.
"We're a great target for people to take pot shots at," Bomstein said. "We don't wear black hats. We're not just bottom-
line people. We know the problems."
The proposed zoning moratorium would stop for six months zoning changes that would open agricultural land to de-
velopment or increase the number of apartments or homes that could be built on land already zoned for residential de-
velopment.
It would not stop construction of residential projects already approved nor would it affect rezoning for commercial con-
struction.
The condominium and homeowner groups originally called for an 18-month moratorium. But political cooperative co-
ordinator Andre Fladell said they agreed to a shorter moratorium in exchange for the builders' support.
"It has been the history of the developers not to acknowledge the needs to stop and breathe," Fladell said. "We've been
anti-growth in every way. There's got to be a middle ground for both of us."
Bomstein said an 18-month moratorium would be "irresponsible and would be a destructive move that would severely
affect the economic stability of this county."
Fladell said the deal made Thursday would allow homeowner groups "to achieve something politically that has been
politically unachievable."
Page 968
6-MONTH BAN PUSHED ON NEW DEVELOPMENT The Miami Herald November 21, 1986 Friday

The two groups will present their request to the County Commission at its next meeting.


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BIG VOTE FOR JAILED MAN HAS BOTH PARTIES SCARED



LENGTH: 890 words

The specter of jailed Republican County Commission candidate H. Scott McCary continues to spook Republicans and
Democrats alike.
Although McCary spent most of the two months leading up to the election behind bars, he still wound up with 30.1
percent of the vote. He was running against former West Palm Beach Mayor Carol Roberts.
That embarrasses Republicans and worries Democrats.
Republican Rep. Jim Hill of Jupiter was still fuming over McCary last week, calling him "a disaster for the party."
Hill said it was "a disgrace" that Republicans couldn't field someone other than McCary for the race. McCary illustrates
a continuing problem within the party despite its growth.
"It shows that we were somewhat derelict in our ability to recruit a credible candidate," Hill said.
Democrats are worried that they will be next to be embarrassed because McCary's talking about switching parties to run
for the County Commission in 1988 against Jerry Owens or Karen Marcus.
Democratic Executive Committee Chairman Raymond Rea said enough people vote a straight party ticket that McCary
running as a Democrat could get 30 percent of the vote the next time out as well.
Squashing speculation
Palm Beach lawyer Reid Moore and Republican fund- raiser Beverly White say there's been too much speculation over
which Palm Beach County residents Gov.-elect Bob Martinez will appoint to state boards.
Moore and White are among those most often mentioned as possible Martinez appointments.
"I think what he's really doing is busy putting together his team that will be in the governor's office," White said.
White said neither she nor her husband, Armer, has sought state appointments and they have no interest in moving to
Tallahassee to become part of the Martinez administration.
White, though, said they would be willing to serve "in an advisory capacity" in Palm Beach County.
Moore said he, too, has not sought appointment by Martinez and said the governor-elect is far too busy during the tran-
sition to worry about appointments to state advisory boards.
When the time comes, though, "I think we'll have our fair share," Moore said. "He's spent a lot of time here. He has a lot
of friends here."
Page 970
BIG VOTE FOR JAILED MAN HAS BOTH PARTIES SCARED The Miami Herald November 18, 1986 Tuesday

Doctors cause Press pain
South County doctors are a pain to state Rep. Steve Press, D-Delray Beach.
The doctors are giving their patients fliers warning that prescription drugs, hospital charges and all dental and medical
fees will become subject to the state's 5 percent sales tax in July.
"It's crazy," said Suzanne Jacobs, an aide to Press.
Jacobs said that more than 300 people have called about the fliers.
"So many people are so alarmed and so panic stricken and it's so unnecessary," Jacobs said.
The Legislature did not change the sales tax exemption on prescription medicine.
It did pass a law that would sunset most other sales tax exemptions next July if the 1987 Legislature does not re-enact
them. That would include the exemptions on medical services.
But Jacobs said no legislator who has any intention of being re-elected would eliminate the exemption on medical ex-
penses.
"Nobody even expects there to be a debate about medical expenses," Jacobs said. "Even if it got to the House floor.
Who would stand up and vote for it?"
Messinger on the move
Defeated state Senate candidate Adele Messinger is moving quickly to re-establish her power base.
Messinger, who ran against Don Childers in the September Democratic primary, is in line to be co-president of the
Women's Coalition of Palm Beach County with Jay Slavin.
Messinger is a founder of the coaltion, which she calls "the only trustworthy promoter of grass-roots candidates" in a
dig at Andre Fladell's South County Political Cooperative. Messinger is angry with Fladell because the cooperative
failed to endorse her against Childers.
"We don't try to be a power bloc," Messinger said.
Coalition members will decide next Monday whether to accept Messinger as a co-president as recommended by its
nominating committee. They also will decide whether to accept men as equal members.
Noteworthy
Alfonso Lovo, president of Nicaragua in 1972, will address the Boca Raton Men's Republican Club at noon Friday at
the Boca Raton Executive Golf and Country Club, Hidden Valley Road, Boca Raton. . . . Patrick O'Neill of the Florida
Coalition for Peace and Justice will address Boca Citizens for a Nuclear Freeze at 7:30 p.m. next Monday in the admin-
istration building of Century Village West, Boca Raton. . . . Linda K. Johnson of the accounting firm of Workman and
Rhine will discuss new tax laws ith the West Boca Weekly Open Discussion Group at 10 a.m. Friday at the West Boca
Community Center, 9400 Pondwood Rd., Boca Raton. . . . Republican State Committeewoman Marion C. Hallman will
address the Royal Palm Republican Women's Club at noon Tuesday at Strebs III, 2320 S. Federal Highway, Boynton
Beach. . . . Dorothy Stetson of Florida Atlantic University 's political science department will address the League of
Women Voters of South Palm Beach County at 9:15 a.m. Thursday at St. Paul's Episcopal Parish Hall, 188 S. Swinton
Ave., Delray Beach.
Verbatim
"We are a new party in Florida but a well-organized party in Palm Beach County." Palm Beach County Republican Ex-
ecutive Committee Chairman Arlene Hollen.
686-3221.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

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The Miami Herald

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COALITION FIGHTS TRASH DUMP



LENGTH: 480 words

South County condominium and homeowner groups joined South County farmers Thursday and pledged united opposi-
tion to a trash dump proposed for suburban Delray Beach farmland.
The homeowner and condominium groups also called for an 18- month moratorium on rezoning petitions in South
County that open agricultural land to residential development.
The farmers were noncommittal on the zoning moratorium.
"I need some time to think about that," rancher Billy Bowman said.
But the farmers were adamant on stopping the dump.
"I don't believe you people want to put a dump back there on some of the finest farmland in the country," said George
McMurrain, owner of a suburban Delray Beach farm that the Solid Waste Authority of Palm Beach County is consider-
ing as a dump site.
Homeowner groups were even stronger in their denunciation of the dump.
"This is an intrusion on our life quality," said Mel Werfel, a member of the South County Political Cooperative and
chairman of the anti-dump coalition.
Palm Beach County Commission Chairman Karen Marcus said she will fight any suggestion of putting a trash dump in
the agricultural reserve area, near U.S. 441 and West Atlantic Avenue, but said the dump and an incinerator must go
somewhere in the suburban Boca Raton-Delray Beach-Lake Worth area.
Marcus also said a zoning moratorium would be unreasonable.
"A good portion of the population and the development is happening in the (cities)," she said. "A zoning moratorium
would do nothing about that."
But the condominium and homeowner groups said a moratorium is essential if the county is to have time to plan ahead.
"It's no longer a question of zoning, it's a question of protection," said Andre Fladell, coordinator of the South County
Political Cooperative. The cooperative is an umbrella organization of condominium groups, homeowner associations
and political clubs.
New zoning petitions are being approved, Fladell said, but the county doesn't have enough roads, police and water and
sewer services for people already living here.
"We want to use the 18 months to get a picture of where we're going," Fladell said.
Page 973
COALITION FIGHTS TRASH DUMP The Miami Herald November 7, 1986 Friday

Builders warned that a moratorium could put people out of work.
"Our South Florida economy is based quite a bit on construction," said Gary Kendall, incoming president of the Home
Builders & Contractors Association of Palm Beach County.
George Hudspeth, business manager of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 323, said enough projects
already have been approved to keep construction workers employed for quite some time.
"There's a lot of work going on out there right now to keep people busy even if there is a moratorium," Hudspeth said.
The problem, Kendall said, would come once the approved projects are finished and there's a lag before new ones could
be approved because of the moratorium.
"At some point in time," he said, "there would be a big drop in jobs."


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ENDORSEMENT WENT SOUR IN SOUTH COUNTY



LENGTH: 571 words

A School Board election that may have been decided by voters blindly obeying "screwed-up" political marching orders
was confirmed Thursday in a recount by the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections.
William "Bill" Graham still beat Luciano "Lou" Martinez in the School Board District 4 race. But the campaign was
muddled by a printing blunder that confirmed the peculiar power of the South County Political Cooperative to swing
votes -- even for the wrong man.
"It was a screw-up," sighed Andre Fladell, head of the cooperative.
Martinez was one of many candidates and positions endorsed by the political confederation that represents and advises
many condominium residents and homeowners in South County.
The cooperative printed 50,000 "palm cards," listing who and what it supported with the appropriate ballot numbers so
its members could refer to the cards while voting.
The cooperative made one small mistake. On at least 15,000 cards, they told voters to choose Martinez -- but gave them
the ballot number of Robert Hutzler, a candidate for the comparatively obscure Palm Beach County Soil and Water
Conservation District.
Conservation district board members advise citizens on questions of agriculture, questions largely irrelevant to the
manicured lawns of the South County condominiums.
But those condominiums helped Hutzler win in a landslide. He received about 9,000 more votes than any other candi-
date for the district board. And in the Kings Point and the Villages of Oriole condos -- blanketed by tens of thousands of
palm cards -- Hutzler won by more than a 3-1 margin.
Graham won by less than 1 percent -- after Martinez outpolled him 44 percent to 19 percent two months ago in a five-
person primary. Martinez said his opponent owes the victory, by fewer than 500 votes, to the crossed-up endorsements.
"The main mistake was that the cooperative didn't pull those cards," Martinez said.
The cards were printed too late to be reprinted, Fladell said, and many were corrected by hand.
But other factors also contributed to the upset, both Graham and Martinez said.
* Democrat Bob Graham, elected to the U.S. Senate, may have been more popular in Palm Beach County than Repub-
lican Bob Martinez, who was elected governor. Many Democratic voters in this largely Democratic county, perhaps
confused by the name similarities in the races, may have voted for Bill Graham out of political instinct even though the
School Board race was nonpartisan.
Page 975
ENDORSEMENT WENT SOUR IN SOUTH COUNTY The Miami Herald November 7, 1986 Friday

* Bill Graham's name came first on the ballot -- historically worth a few percentage points.
* Many more voters turned out for the general election than the primary.
Many new voters weren't as familiar with the candidates "and that increased reliance on the palm cards," Fladell said.
* Graham's political strategy changed after the primary. He sent out mailings for the first time. And after seeing that
Martinez had sewn up virtually all the endorsements from Democratic groups, Graham wooed Republican voters.
"I figured it wasn't going to do me much good to follow him (Martinez) around," he said.
"I am one hell of a competitive person," a happy Graham said Thursday night after the recount reconfirmed his victory.
His next challenge, he said, is in helping decide how to use the millions of dollars in school bond money approved by
the voters in October.
"I am eager to get involved with spending that bond money," he said.
Herald Staff Writer Ray Huard contributed to this report.


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CHARTER CHANGES WOULD ADD MORE GOVERNMENT



LENGTH: 700 words

Voters will consider five amendments to the county charter Tuesday that, if approved, would create a new layer of gov-
ernment to cope with growth and change the way the old layer of government conducts some of its business.
A proposal to impose order on the county's building boom by forming a regional planning council is the most contro-
versial of the amendments.
Opponents say it would sap cities of their zoning powers and let outsiders step on what has always been local turf.
The 17-member board, if approved, would be the arbiter of land-use disputes in the county.
"With 37 cities and the county making plans for future growth in Palm Beach County, there is no authority to coordinate
those plans and remove or resolve any inconsistencies," says the county-produced advertisement, urging voters to ap-
prove the council.
"It is like 38 different musicians: they can all play their instruments well, but they cannot make a symphony without a
conductor."
Cities such as Jupiter and Palm Beach Gardens don't like the sound of that tune and have passed resolutions opposing
the planning council. The council couldn't force municipalities to increase densities, but could it keep a local govern-
ment from going ahead with a development if the council agrees it's a bad project.
The council would have 17 members, including six named by the County Commission. No more than two of the mem-
bers can be county commissioners. Nine members would be appointed by the county Municipal League. The South
Florida Water Management District and the School Board would appoint one member each to the board.
"I think everybody knows that planning is a very important element," said Anita Yount, executive director of the Mu-
nicipal League. "But it's the implementation of that planning that has some cities concerned."
The league hasn't taken a stand on the issue.
Besides deciding on the planning council, voters will decide other issues that won't overtly affect their pocketbooks, but
will determine the way their government functions.
Voters will decide whether to approve an amendment that authorizes the County Commission to adopt a countywide
ordinance that would assess school impact fees on development. The ordinance, if passed, would supersede city ordi-
nances.
Developers wouldn't be able to shop around for cities that would disregard the school impact fee.
Page 977
CHARTER CHANGES WOULD ADD MORE GOVERNMENT The Miami Herald November 2, 1986 Sunday

In another ballot question, voters will decide whether county commissioners should be barred from interfering with the
duties of county employees under the supervision of the county administration.
"It's good management practice," Assistant County Administrator Sam Shannon said. "County workers can't have three,
four or five bosses telling them what to do."
The law would preclude county commissioners who receive requests from their constituents from dealing directly with
county employees, rather than chaneling requests to the county administrator.
County Commissioner Dorothy Wilken, who prides herself in her ability to respond to her constituents, has opposed the
measure.
The South County Political Cooperative also has lobbied against it.
"We don't mind this as a general policy issue, but as a law we think it's stupid," said Andre Fladell, the group's chair-
man.
A far less controversial amendment is a wellfield protection ordinance that would allow for countywide controls over
groundwater sources.
The ordinance would prohibit the handling, production and storage of hazardous materials that might contaminate the
potable water supplies.
The ordinance would supersede weaker or conflicting local ordinances.
The County Commission would be able to apply the ordinance to wellfields of any size. However, initially the ordi-
nance would be used to examine the groundwater flow around 28 wellfields that produce about 100,000 gallons of water
a day.
Voters also will decide whether fewer signatures should be required for petitions to get charter changes on the ballot.
Now, 10 percent of the qualified voters must sign a petition to get a proposed charter change on the ballot. The amend-
ment asks that signatures of only 7 percent be required. The amendment also would allow charter amendments to appear
on the ballot every November, instead of every other year.


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The Miami Herald

PLM BCH EDITION

BALLOT OFFERS 3 KEY ISSUES FOR THE FUTURE



LENGTH: 1009 words

Three questions facing Palm Beach County voters Tuesday will be among the more lasting decisions made this Election
Day.
Wholesale improvement and expansion of county parks and libraries is at stake. Also, a fledgling children's services
council hopes to get the money it wants to start programs for thousands of
neglected and handicapped children in the county.
If approved, the cost of the libraries, parks and children's services will be paid with your tax dollars.
"You can't live in paradise without paying for it," said Andre Fladell, chairman of the South County Political Coopera-
tive.
The owner of a $75,000 home with the standard homestead exemption would pay an average of $4.80 a year over the
next 20 years to pay for the bond issue that would finance the park improvements.
The library expansion would cost that same homeowner an extra $25 a year for the next two years. The children's ser-
vices council, which also would be paid for by a two-year levy on property taxes, would be, at most, an extra $25 a
year.
Proponents of those improvements say the projects are worth every penny of your money.
The parks improvement bonds would raise $30 million.
"We need the facilities now," said Parks Director Dennis Eshleman, "and by going with the bond issue we let future
citizens help pay for facilities we will be using."
The majority of the bonds would be used to develop four county parks: South County Regional Park in suburban Boca
Raton, Okeeheelee Park in suburban West Palm Beach, John Prince Park in suburban Lake Worth and Glades Pioneer
Park in Belle Glade.
Today, South County Regional Park is an undeveloped 880- acre site off the Kimberly Road extension. If the bonds are
approved, $14 million will be spent developing this park.
For the past 11 years, the county has been slow in developing Okeeheelee Park.
"Only 30 percent of the park is available to the public today," Eshleman said. "It's hard to make rapid improvements
through the budget process."
Page 979
BALLOT OFFERS 3 KEY ISSUES FOR THE FUTURE The Miami Herald November 2, 1986 Sunday

About $4.5 million would go to completing unused sections of Okeeheelee Park, adding a nature center, tennis and rac-
quetball courts, bike paths and picnic areas.
John Prince Park, the county's oldest park, would get $2.5 million. The renovations would include enhancing its picnic
areas and adding parking.
"On weekends, we have been getting 6,000 to 10,000 people there," Eshleman said, "and the way it's designed now,
people can't use it properly."
About $2.5 million would go to building a South County Civic Center in suburban Delray Beach and a swimming com-
plex on the county property at Santaluces High School.
The county also would spend $3 million of the bond money to develop a South Bay recreational vehicle campground
and improve the Pahokee Marina.
With the exception of the marina, all the park improvements will be on county-owned property.
Library hopes to expand
Voter approval Tuesday would mean $19 million for the county's library network. The money would be used for build-
ing new libraries or expanding the existing ones in 12 locations.
"This doesn't solve all the library needs of the future," libraries Director Jerry Brownlee said, "but this is a comprehen-
sive approach that we can take now."
Now, 20,000 books are in storage and inaccessible to the public. The county leases most of its library branches in
buildings that are too small, Brownlee said.
The county proposes to pay for this expansion by dedicating a property tax levy of 50 cents per every $1,000 of as-
sessed value over the next two years.
Only taxpayers in the Library Taxing District, which includes unincorporated Palm Beach County and 22 of the 37 cit-
ies in the county, will decide this issue. Cities with their own libraries aren't in the taxing district.
If the expansion is approved, the county plans to build new branch libraries in West Boynton and Wellington.
The county would stop leasing buildings that now house library branches in suburban Boca Raton, Palm Beach Gar-
dens, Greenacres City, West Palm Beach, and Jupiter. The county would buy its own buildings in these locations. The
new buildings would increase the square footage for these branches by three to four times, according to county plans.
The plan also calls for large expansions in the two libraries already owned by the county. The central library, at 3650
Summit Blvd., in suburban West Palm Beach, would expand from 10,000 square feet to 36,480 square feet and the West
Atlantic Branch, at 7777 W. Atlantic Ave., in suburban Delray Beach, would increase from 8,000 square feet to 11,500
square feet.
Western Palm Beach County residents will get more money dedicated to renovation of the Belle Glade branch and the
addition of a Glades bookmobile.
Children's Services Council
Voters also will be asked Tuesday whether they are willing to spend as much as $16 million a year to pay for the coun-
ty's Children's Services Council.
Earlier this year, the Legislature passed legislation that allows counties to create independent taxing districts for chil-
dren's services.
Last month, county commissioners created the Children's Service Council of Palm Beach County. The council will have
nine members. The governor will appoint five of them; the other four will be the superintendent of schools, a School
Board member, a state Health and Rehabilitative Services administrator, and a county commissioner.
Council funding would come from the property taxes sought in this referendum. The taxing district could levy a tax rate
no higher than 50 cents for every $1,000 of assessed property value.
Page 980
BALLOT OFFERS 3 KEY ISSUES FOR THE FUTURE The Miami Herald November 2, 1986 Sunday

Advocates say that the money would go for a variety of services, including treatment for emotionally handicapped chil-
dren and neglected or abused children. The money also would be used for day care and health care for poor families and
services for juvenile delinquents.
"We'd like to do more character development programs for young people," said Elaine Alvarez, president of the Child
Advocacy Board of Palm Beach County. "The greatest unmet needs in the county, though, are mental health programs
for children and services for neglected or abused children."


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BRWRD EDITION

PINES DOCTOR TO APPEAR IN COURT ON CHARGES HE CHEATED
MEDICARE

BYLINE: MIKE WILSON And RAY HUARD Herald Staff Writers

SECTION: BRWD N; BR; Pg. 5

LENGTH: 348 words

A Pembroke Pines doctor is to appear today in federal court in West Palm Beach to face charges that he cheated Medi-
care by charging the government for services he never performed.
Dr. Leslie G. Shawn was indicted Tuesday on 11 counts of conspiracy, Medicare fraud and mail fraud. He is scheduled
to appear before U.S. Magistrate Ann E. Vitunac to enter a plea and ask that bail be set.
Neither Shawn nor his attorney, James J. Hogan of Miami, returned calls Wednesday.
The indictment came out of the undercover "Operation Mr. Hyde" investigation into Medicare fraud by the FBI and the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The name refers to the dark side of the fictional Dr. Jekyll and Mr.
Hyde.
The investigation had retired FBI agents pose as patients. It targeted osteopathic physicians and chiropractors in
Broward and Palm Beach counties.
Also named in the indictment but not charged were Andre Fladell, a Delray Beach chiropractor and a Democratic Party
leader in South Palm Beach County, and his partner, Dr. Edward Altman.
Political candidates including former Senate President Harry Johnston and gubernatorial candidate Steve Pajcic have
sought Fladell's counsel.
Shawn worked with Fladell and Altman at Delray Chiropractic Clinic one morning a week from January 1984 to De-
cember 1985.
During that time, Shawn billed Medicare at least 98 times for X-rays and other services he did not perform for patients
seen by Fladell and Altman, according to the indictment.
Federal law allows doctors to bill Medicare for X-rays and physical therapy, but not chiropractors.
Shawn is charged with splitting fraudulently obtained Medicare payments with Fladell and Altman. The indictment did
not say how much money Shawn is supposed to have received.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Fitzgerald, one of the prosecutors on the case, would not say why Fladell and Altman
were not indicted, or whether they were given immunity from prosecution in exchange for their cooperation.
Nor would Fladell say whether he made a deal with the government.
Herald staff writer Paul Saltzman contributed to this story.
Page 982
PINES DOCTOR TO APPEAR IN COURT ON CHARGES HE CHEATED MEDICARE The Miami Herald October
30, 1986 Thursday


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The Miami Herald

PLM BCH EDITION

INDICTMENT TIES FLADELL TO PROBE

BYLINE: MIKE WILSON And RAY HUARD Herald Staff Writers


LENGTH: 483 words

A Pembroke Pines osteopath who once worked with Delray Beach political leader Andre Fladell is scheduled to appear
in federal court in West Palm Beach today on charges he cheated Medicare by collecting payments for services he never
performed.
Dr. Leslie G. Shawn was indicted Tuesday on 11 counts of conspiracy, Medicare fraud and mail fraud. Neither he nor
his lawyer, James J. Hogan of Miami, returned calls Wednesday.
The indictment is part of Operation Mr. Hyde, an undercover investigation into Medicare fraud conducted by the FBI
and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The name refers to the character in the fictional tale Dr. Jekyll
and Mr. Hyde.
Fladell, a chiropractor and the coordinator of the South County Political Cooperative, is named in the indictment but not
charged. His partner, Dr. Edward Altman, is also named but not charged.
Shawn worked with Fladell and Altman at Delray Chiropractic Clinic on Thursday mornings between January 1984 and
December 1985, according to the indictment. Shawn also had an office in Pembroke Pines.
During that time, Shawn billed Medicare at least 98 times for X-rays and other services he claimed to have performed
for patients at the clinic, the indictment states. In fact, Fladell and Altman had examined the patients, but Shawn had
not.
Under federal law, physicians can bill Medicare for X-rays and physical therapy they perform on patients, but chiro-
practors cannot.
Shawn shared the money he received from Medicare with Fladell and Altman, according to the indictment.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Fitzgerald, one of the prosecutors on the case, would not say why Fladell and Altman
were not indicted. Asked whether they received immunity from prosecution in exchange for their cooperation, he said,
"I couldn't comment on that, either."
Fladell -- who once ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Delray Beach -- would not say whether he made a deal with the
government. He said he had no agreement with the government when agents came to his office and confiscated his rec-
ords last year.
"Everything that I know I told them the first time they were in my office. That satisfied them and it satisfied me," he
said.
Page 984
INDICTMENT TIES FLADELL TO PROBE The Miami Herald October 30, 1986 Thursday

The conspiracy count charges that Shawn conspired with "persons known to the grand jury" to defraud Medicare, ac-
cording to the indictment. The indictment does not name the co-conspirators. Fitzgerald would not name them, either.
The mail-fraud counts in the indictment charge that Shawn mailed nine fraudulent bills to Blue Shield of Florida in
Jacksonville. Blue Shield is the government's Medicare carrier in the state.
Medicare is funded in part by workers' payments to Social Security. It pays some of the medical expenses of people
over 65.
Fladell founded the South County Political Cooperative, an umbrella group for several Democratic clubs in South
County. He says he is able to deliver the condominium vote in South County.


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The Miami Herald

PLM BCH EDITION

COMMISSION RINGS UP BIG CAR PHONE BILLS



LENGTH: 902 words

Palm Beach County commissioners are dialing up big bills from behind the wheel, calling friends, aides, campaign
workers and each other from car telephones bought by taxpayers.
In the last 15 months, the four commissioners with car phones have spent nearly three weeks of solid talk time on them,
ringing up a bill of $13,564.04.
Dorothy Wilken, the biggest talker on the board, accounts for $5,460.91, or 40 percent, of the total. Her latest bill, due
Monday, comes to $626.13. Only one call, three minutes to New York, was long-distance.
"Mine is $600? Jeez," Wilken said. "I don't know what to say."
The car telephone bills are paid by the county with no questions asked, covered by a $2.4 million communications fund
that doesn't reflect how much is spent on them every year. There is no limit to the number of calls commissioners can
make, no ceiling on how big their bills can be, no rules on whom they can and cannot call.
Ken Spillias is the only commissioner without a county car phone. He said he doesn't need one.
Records of the calls show that while three commissioners kept their bills to a few hundred dollars a month, Wilken's
charges soared shortly after she filed for re-election last fall.
In September 1985, a month before she filed, her car phone bill was $215.45. This September, it is $626.13 -- a 190
percent jump.
Wilken blamed that increase not on her campaign, but on the big batch of issues this fall: five charter amendments, a
library taxing district and a proposed expressway, among others.
The latest phone bill shows she did spend hours talking with Ben Crosby, head of a citizens panel examining the pro-
posed east-west expressway.
But she also chatted extensively with Dick Gruenwald, a local publicist who is working on her election campaign.
She called him at home Aug. 20 and talked 20 minutes. Then she called him back a few minutes later and talked another
two minutes. She called him Sept. 3 -- the day after the Democratic primary election -- and talked 20 minutes. She
called again Sept. 11 and talked another 20 minutes.
"There's no question but what campaign stuff comes up," Wilken said. "I never thought that might not be a proper ex-
penditure."
Page 986
COMMISSION RINGS UP BIG CAR PHONE BILLS The Miami Herald October 12, 1986 Sunday

Wilken said she would tell her staff to get copies of all her bills, add up the calls to Gruenwald and then pay the county
back for the air time.
"Those expenses ought not be borne by the public," Wilken said. Gruenwald acknowledges that he's talked election
business with Wilken over the county car phone. But he said they talk about other issues, too, including, for instance, a
countywide planning council.
"I was like everyone else -- why the hell do they need a car phone?" Gruenwald said. "Well, the commissioner lives in
Boca Raton. You go from Boca Raton to West Palm Beach, it takes a little over an hour. She makes good use of that
time."
Wilken also talked frequently with Andre Fladell, a Delray Beach chiropractor who manages the South County Politi-
cal Cooperative, an umbrella organization of political clubs that has endorsed Wilken and boasts of being able to deliver
26,000 votes.
Wilken said she doesn't discuss re-election with him. "Andre Fladell? Public policy, absolutely," Wilken said.
Fladell agreed. He said the car phone bills are minuscule compared with the nearly $1 billion county budget.
For more than three years, commissioners have had the option of having the county install phones in their cars. It's one
of several benefits they get, including a $400-a-month auto allowance -- no matter how far they drive -- and free parking
at the Governmental Center in West Palm Beach.
Four county staff members -- the attorney, airport director, engineer and assistant administrator -- have car phones also.
All told, their bill over the last 15 months comes to $13,032.22.
Commissioners who have the car phones say they make them more accessible to their staffs, their constituents and the
press.
Commissioners Wilken and Jerry Owens, for instance, each used their car phones to return calls and be interviewed for
this article.
"Time is money," said Owens, whose 15-month bill of $3,585.32 was second highest. "I'm from Jupiter to Boca to the
Glades every day, just about. It's very useful."
Owens' latest bill shows that on Sept. 2, he used his car phone to dial up the car phone in Commission Chairman Karen
Marcus' car. The call, at 5:22 p.m., lasted nine minutes.
"I don't break the Sunshine Law. I can talk to anybody I want to," Owens said when asked about that call. He said he
calls Marcus "if I'm going to be late to a meeting. She's the chairman. I'm the vice chairman."
Marcus didn't return several calls to her office and a Fort Lauderdale hotel where she was staying during a convention
last week.
Spillias, who doesn't have the long drive to work that Wilken has, said he tried a car phone for two months and gave up.
"If it truly does make you more efficient doing your job, then fine," Spillias said. "I just didn't find that it made me more
efficient."
Marcus, Owens and Wilken all exceed BellSouth Mobility's average talk time. Customers of BellSouth, which provides
the county service, log an average monthly on-air time of 325 minutes, said Randy Harber, general manager of public
relations for the firm.
Wilken is over that by 162 percent, Owens by 69 percent and Marcus by 41 percent.
Only Commissioner Ken Adams falls under that average, by more than half.
"I keep telling you about us Republicans," Adams said.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

Page 987
COMMISSION RINGS UP BIG CAR PHONE BILLS The Miami Herald October 12, 1986 Sunday

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The Miami Herald

PLM BCH EDITION

CONTROVERSIAL BABICH PUSHES WAY INTO COUNTY'S POLITICAL
LIMELIGHT



LENGTH: 967 words

Jack Babich. Mention the name and the reaction is rarely tepid.
"He's practically like an adopted dad," said state Rep. Steve Press, D-Delray Beach.
"He's a nonentity," said Adele Messinger, former state Senate candidate.
"He's not just a talker. He produces for the party and we're grateful," Democratic State Committeewoman Katherine
Kelly said.
"He's one of the most opinionated people I know," said Raymond Rea, chairman of the Palm Beach County Democratic
Executive Committee.
"If Patton had Babich in his army, Patton would have been chasing Babich all over Europe," said Andre Fladell, coor-
dinator of the South County Political Cooperative.
Jack Babich is president of the West Delray Democratic Club. He says it's the largest Democratic Club in Florida. Oth-
ers aren't so sure.
But Babich is the guy who stands out when county Democratic clubs get together to meet a candidate, mostly because
he's the pushiest.
While everyone else waits for a handshake and a pat on the back, Babich will march in with a big bear hug -- and that
goes for everyone from the governor to county commissioner.
Babich was supposed to be the lawyer in the family, his brother the accountant. They both wound up in the restaurant
business.
His father ran a Brooklyn factory that made cloth-covered buttons and later a delicatessen called the Three 9's.
Babich was a boxer once -- not anyone you would remember -- and he hid it from his family, fighting under the name
Jack Stone. But tucked inside his wallet is a wrinkled picture of a 19-year-old Babich posed in 1929 outside of the
house where he trained. Scrawled on the back is the phrase "the skinniest lightweight."
"In those days, I never weighed more than 129 pounds," Babich said. "I used to put pellets in my belt to get the weight
up."
Babich enrolled in Pace University in Brooklyn but never got past the first year after taking a summer job as a waiter in
hotel in the Catskill Mountains.
Page 989
CONTROVERSIAL BABICH PUSHES WAY INTO COUNTY'S POLITICAL LIMELIGHT The Miami Herald

"The hotels were the downfall of my education," Babich said. "I was a big boy. I had to earn a little money, get a little
independent."
Babich later bought a truck and went into business for himself, selling beer pretzels to the bars in Brooklyn and on
Broadway. He quit after being robbed of about $240.
In 1949, Babich and his brother, Jerry, opened a luncheonette on 38th Street in the Garment District of New York City.
Jack Bab's, it was called, and the specialty of the house, aside from some sage advice from Babich, were cheese blintz-
es.
"I made them myself," Babich said.
But Babich and his brother tired of the luncheonette, sold it, and Babich went to work as a maitre d' in restaurants at
Belmont, Aqueduct and Saratoga race tracks.
He still plays the horses, although he insists it's a once- or twice-a-month thing.
It was through his father's deli, though, that Babich got into politics.
A Democratic club down the street called for deli sandwiches one night. Babich was the delivery boy. He was intrigued
by what he saw and started hanging around with neighborhood pols.
"After I got married, I dismissed it from my mind," Babich said. "I was too busy making a living."
He got back into politics in 1975 when he retired to what he thought was a quiet suburban area of Delray Beach.
"We figured there wouldn't be much of a hustle and bustle," he said. "Was I wrong. Boy, was I wrong."
Atlantic Avenue was a mess -- plagued with crime, trash and apathy -- and Babich made it his personal crusade to clean
it up. He's still at it.
He cajoled developers into contributing money to plant shrubs in the median strips. He did it by telling them that nearby
residents didn't like what the developers were doing but that maybe people would say "it's not all too bad what you're
doing" if the developers would improve the appearance of the area.
Babich parlayed his beautification project into a $5,000 a year, three-day-a-week job with the county as a compliance
inspector, keeping tabs on roadside vendors.
Babich brags of having the largest Democratic Club in the state, with a membership "well over the 2,000 mark, striving
for 3,000."
"Boy, does he owe the party a lot of money if that's true," Kelly said.
The clubs pay party dues based on membership. Kelly said Babich lists 307 members with the Democratic Party, which
means he pays $100 in dues. If he has as many members as he says, Kelly said, Babich should be paying $500 a year
dues.
Of late, Babich has gotten into a couple of rather strident battles with other Democrats.
The most bitter is with Messinger, over Babich's endorsement of incumbent Don Childers in the September Democratic
primary in Senate District 28.
Messinger has filed a formal complaint with the state party saying Babich, as a club president, violated party rules by
endorsing Childers.
"He's a complete opportunist. He doesn't have a philosophy," Messinger said. "He just goes with whoever he thinks will
win."
Babich isn't too keen on Messinger, either.
"She became too ambitious," Babich said.
Babich also got into a squabble with Rea over endorsing candidates. His opinion of Rea is not something you would
print in a family newspaper.
Rea is more diplomatic when speaking of Babich.
Page 990
CONTROVERSIAL BABICH PUSHES WAY INTO COUNTY'S POLITICAL LIMELIGHT The Miami Herald

"He and I are good friends but our political beliefs and perspective on many issues do not agree," Rea said.
Babich's latest feud is with Fladell. He quit the cooperative, which he helped form, because Fladell shouldn't have ad-
mitted the Women's Coalition of Palm Beach County into the cooperative, Babich said. What angers Babich about the
coalition is that it endorsed some Republicans in the September primaries.
Fladell, who has known Babich since the 1960s, when Babich worked with Fladell's father's catering business, said that
Babich was right, that cooperative members shouldn't endorse Republicans.
That's not good enough, Babich said. He wants a formal apology from Fladell.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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The Miami Herald

PLM BCH EDITION

POLICEMAN GETTING POLITICAL EXPOSURE



LENGTH: 347 words

Glenn Goss usually patrols the streets of Delray Beach on the 4 p.m. to midnight shift.
But for two weeks last month, on his own time, the Delray Beach policeman helped run a phone bank for the South
And for the next month or so, he'll learn how a hard- driving political organization makes deals, raises money and exerts
its clout with voters.
Goss, 23, is doing it as part of a political science course he's taking for a bachelor of arts degree at Florida Atlantic
University in Boca Raton. Working with the cooperative was his idea.
"I wanted to learn more about the political process than what I could through reading a book," Goss said. "If there ever
was a grass-roots organization, this is it. I'm working with people that have everyday interests, like what kind of schools
do you have, how to control growth, how's your police and fire service."
The cooperative is an umbrella organization of South Palm Beach County Democratic clubs, political groups and a
homeowners association.
FAU students normally intern for such groups as the state attorney's office or a local legislator's office, said Anita
Pritchard, an FAU assistant professor of political science and supervisor of its intern program.
Pritchard said she has been skeptical about allowing students to intern with political or campaign organizations because
they often are poorly organized and students learn little.
She said FAU students have worked with Gov. Bob Graham and Senate President Harry Johnston, though.
"Those are both campaigns with good organization where the students can learn a lot about targeting voters, polling and
financing," Pritchard said.
Cooperative coordinator Andre Fladell convinced Pritchard to let Goss intern with the group.
Pritchard said interning with the cooperative may be particularly useful for students who want to run for office.
"A lot of our students do have ambitions to go into politics."
Not Goss.
But he figures what he learns about politics will help his police work.
"Politics means giving and taking, learning how to get along with people," Goss said.
Page 992
POLICEMAN GETTING POLITICAL EXPOSURE The Miami Herald October 3, 1986 Friday


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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The Miami Herald

PLM BCH EDITION

CONDOS TAKE CREDIT FOR PAJCIC SHOWING

BYLINE: RAY HUARD And RANDY LOFTIS Herald Staff Writers


LENGTH: 563 words

South Palm Beach County condominium residents voted for Steve Pajcic in far greater numbers Tuesday than anyone
projected, and the vote for a $317 million school bond issue in predominantly black precincts was far higher than
countywide.
"We delivered," said Andre Fladell, coordinator of the South County Political Cooperative, an umbrella political or-
ganization that draws much of its support from condominium organizations in suburban Delray Beach and Boca Raton.
"Politically, this stands as an example of what organized condominiums are capable of," Fladell said.
Fladell had projected that Pajcic, in the Democratic runoff for governor, would win 68 percent of the vote in 29 pre-
cincts Fladell identifies as being heavily influenced by the cooperative.
Pajcic got an average of 73.3 percent of the vote in those precincts and exceeded Fladell's projections in 18 of the 29
precincts.
Countywide, Pajcic, a former Jacksonville state representative, got 67.5 percent of the vote in the Democratic runoff
against Attorney General Jim Smith.
Those same precincts went for the school bond by 66.2 percent compared with a countywide pro-bond vote of 63.3 per-
cent.
"Pajcic was where we really put everything," Fladell said. "We pushed it (the bond), not tremendously, but we pushed
it. Jewish people and seniors both tend to be high supporters of education."
Among black voters, Pajcic drew 65.3 percent of the vote -- slightly below his countywide average.
But the school bond did far better in 20 predominantly black precincts -- in West Palm Beach, Riviera Beach, Delray
Beach, Boynton Beach, South Bay and Belle Glade -- than it did countywide or in the South County condominiums. In
the black precincts, 75.7 percent of the voters said yes to the bond.
"There's a lot of black kids in the school system and parents see the shape the schools are in now and realize to improve
the situation we have to expend these funds," Delray Beach City Council member Jimmy Weatherspoon said. "I was
surprised it (bond support) wasn't higher countywide."
Weatherspoon, who backed Smith in the runoff, said Pajcic's support for education could have helped him in the black
community.
Page 994
CONDOS TAKE CREDIT FOR PAJCIC SHOWING The Miami Herald October 2, 1986 Thursday

But he said many blacks voted against Smith because they thought he betrayed Senate President Harry Johnston of West
Palm Beach. Smith initially was Johnston's running mate as lieutenant governor, then broke away to run for governor on
his own, knocking Johnston out of the race in the Sept. 2 primary.
"There were a lot of people that did not necessarily like the idea of what went down with Johnston," Weatherspoon said.
"A lot of the vote that went against Smith was personal."
Schools Superintendent Tom Mills credited organized support such as Fladell's group for the bond's success.
"The schools themselves did very little," Mills said.
Bond opponent Sally Beach said low voter turnout -- 25.6 percent of those registered voted in Tuesday's runoff -- ham-
pered the campaign to kill the proposal.
"I think it would have been a better horse race if it had been on the November ballot," Beach said.
HOW THEY VOTED
Here's how South County Cooperative precincts and predominantly black precincts voted Tuesday compared with the
countywide figures in the Democratic governor's runoff and the Palm Beach County school bond issue.
% for Pajcic % for Bond Cooperative precincts 73.3 66.2
Black precincts 65.3 75.7
Countywide 67.5 63.3


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POLL: VOTERS UNAWARE OF COMMISSION



LENGTH: 423 words

Many voters in South Palm Beach County wouldn't know their county commissioners if they saw them and don't care
what they do anyway, according to a poll of 300 voters released Friday by the South County Political Cooperative.
"One third had no idea what the commission was, who the commissioners were, didn't know their names and had no
idea what we were talking about," Cooperative Coordinator Andre Fladell said Friday.
"I can see people not knowing the names necessarily or not voting but I'm political and I just lose sight of the fact that
some people don't care, completely don't care," Fladell said.
"And they're not dummies," said Norman Shapiro, a retired service station owner and co-chairman of the cooperative's
polling committee. "You'd think you'd be talking to illiterates."
The poll was done by the cooperative, which called 100 registered voters in suburban Delray Beach, 100 in suburban
Boca Raton and 100 in suburban Boynton Beach, said polling committee co-chairman Hank Chandler, a retired dry
cleaner. The names of those called were chosen from a list of people with published telephone numbers.
The results, because the methods used don't ensure a true random poll, may not accurately reflect voters' sentiments.
"It doesn't surprise me," Commission Chairman Karen Marcus said of the results Friday. "Unless we come into their
neighborhood and really do something to them, they pretty much go about their business."
Marcus said childhood friends of hers don't even follow what she does.
"I'll say something about an issue," Marcus said, "and they'll say, 'What?' "
Cooperative pollster Jack Cogas, a retired restaurateur, said the poll's message to commissioners is "come out and see
the people. People don't even know who you are."
Fladell said the poll, conducted from Sept. 10 to Sept. 24, was aimed at determining what's important to South County
residents who don't ordinarily voice their opinions at public hearings and who are not members of traditional political
organizations.
"Five percent of the people make 90 percent of the noise," Fladell said. "Our responsibility is to the rest of the people
who are too busy making a living."
The display of voter ignorance about the County Commission came on a question that asked if the commission should
be expanded from five to seven members and if commissioners should be elected by district.
Of those responding, 59 said yes, 137 said no and 104 had no opinion.
Page 996
POLL: VOTERS UNAWARE OF COMMISSION The Miami Herald September 27, 1986 Saturday

"Some of them said they didn't even know there was one (a commission) so what difference did it make?" Shapiro said.


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WHALEN'S ENDORSEMENT LESS THAN ENTHUSIASTIC



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If there is such a thing as a left-handed endorsement, Carol Hanson got it last week from Tim Whalen.
Two weeks ago, Whalen was calling Hanson an arrogant "shoot-from-the-hip" legislator who's gotten too big for her
britches.
That was before he lost the Sept. 2 House District 87 Republican primary to Hanson, a two-term incumbent.
Last week, Whalen was urging district voters to choose Hanson over Democrat Ryna Mehr in the Nov. 4 general elec-
tion.
"I don't think Carol Hanson is ever going to be the most effective legislator in the House," Whalen said.
But he promised before the primary to back Hanson if she won, Whalen said, and "I don't go back on my promises."
"I happen to think quite a lot of Ryna Mehr. She's bright, she's articulate," Whalen said. "But it's a Republican seat. As
Republicans, we need to stand together."
Martin urges scare tactics
Rick Martin, a Republican running for the U.S. House against incumbent District 14 Democrat Dan Mica, last week
advocated using television scare tactics to stop children from using drugs.
Martin said television networks should be required to run graphic advertisements showing what happens to people who
abuse drugs.
"Just like FBI and police training films, put the blood on the walls," Martin told the South Palm Beach County Bar As-
sociation. "They (would) get a subliminal message pounding it into their heads that drugs kill."
Roberts: I've never been jailed
Remember Richard Nixon's famous "I am not a crook" comment?
Well, former West Palm Beach Mayor Carol Roberts is using a version of it in her campaign for the District 2 County
Commission seat against Republican M. Scott McCary.
"I can guarantee you that I haven't spent a night in jail," Roberts, a Democrat, said last week. "That's the main difference
between me and my opponent, and I don't intend to. I don't believe you have to spend time in an institution to investi-
gate it."
McCary spent a night in the Palm Beach County jail in August for failing to pay a hotel bill. His case is still pending.
Page 998
WHALEN'S ENDORSEMENT LESS THAN ENTHUSIASTIC The Miami Herald September 15, 1986 Monday

Co-op makes healthy proposal
The South County Political Cooperative briefly put politics aside last week to make proposals for improving health care
for the elderly and employment for the handicapped.
Cooperative coordinator Andre Fladell suggested that the government pay for one of every 16 units in new condomin-
ium developments and set them aside for health care.
The units then could be staffed by a registered nurse offering physical therapy, diet advice and emergency medical care
when needed.
Fladell said he figures that's cheaper than putting people, who could stay in their own apartments if they had someone
nearby to help when needed, in nursing homes.
"We cannot wait until you're 80 or 90 and figure out what we're going to do for your health care," Fladell told coopera-
tive members, most of whom are retirees. "What we're trying to do is meet the crisis of the 1990's."
To help the handicapped, the cooperative proposed that the state require merchants selling state lottery tickets to hire
handicapped workers to handle lottery transactions. That assumes that voters pass the lottery question on the Nov. 4
ballot.
Pajcic picks up support
Steve Pajcic came to Palm Beach County last week looking for support from those who backed Harry Johnston for
governor. He left with the endorsements of many of the county's Democratic clubs and county commissioners Ken Spil-
lias and Dorothy Wilken.
"We believe your ads where we see you looking good on the beach, and you do look good," Wilken told Pajcic. "(John-
ston) told us all along that if he were not running he would be supporting you."
Johnston, who finished out of the running in third place behind Pajcic and Jim Smith in the Democratic gubernatorial
primary, is staying out of the Sept. 30 runoff race between Smith and Pajcic, declining to endorse either. But his wife,
Mary Johnston, two weeks ago endorsed Pajcic.
Johnston supporters signing on with Pajcic last week included: Henry Handler, former chairman of the Palm Beach
County Democratic Executive Committee; Jeanne Sklar, president of the Atlantic Democratic Club; Leonard Syrop,
president of the Delray Beach Democratic Club; Sid Gilburd, president of Kings Point Democratic Club; Leon Gendler,
president of the Democratic Club of West Boca Raton; Frank Merer, president of Cresthaven Democratic Club; Fred
Kaas, president of the Century Village West Democratic Club; Sol Silverman of the National Council of Senior Citi-
zens; and Charles McCain, president of the Progressive Forum.
"I already voted for him by absentee ballot," said Sid Krutick, of the Kings Point Democratic Club.
Noteworthy
Geraldine Field, a Republican running in House District 86, will open her campaign headquarters at 4760 W. Atlantic
Ave., Delray Beach, from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. Sept. 22 . . . Field will face incumbent Democrat Steve Press before the
West Boca Community Council at 8 p.m. Thursday at Affirmation Lutheran Church, 9465 W. Glades Rd., Boca Raton .
. . State Rep. Eleanor Weinstock, D-Palm Beach, has been named honorary chairman of the 1987 March of Dimes Palm
Beach/Martin Mothers March Jan. 11 through Jan 23 . . . Rick Martin, a Republican running for the U.S. House in Dis-
trict 14, will address the Boca Raton Men's Republican Club at noon Sept. 25 at Boca Raton Executive Golf and Coun-
try Club, Hidden Valley Road, Boca Raton. The club is sponsoring a meet-the-candidates fund raiser from 2 to 5 p.m.
Oct. 4 at 1160 Coconut Rd., Boca Raton. Tickets are $25 per person . . . Absentee ballots are available for the Sept. 30
election primary at the county Governmental Center, 301 N. Olive Ave., West Palm Beach; the South County Court-
house, 345 S. Congress Ave., Delray Beach; the North County Courthouse, 3188 PGA Blvd., Palm Beach Gardens; and
the Glades Office Building, 2976 State Rd. 15, Belle Glade.
Verbatim
"I am not running for governor." Those are the first words Palm Beach County School Board candidate Lou Martinez
says to people he meets these days, lest they think he's Bob Martinez, the Republican gubernatorial candidate.
Ray Huard may be reached in South County at 272-2626 and from Central and North County at 737-1009.
Page 999
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FOUNDER OF POLITICAL CO-OP QUITS



LENGTH: 454 words

A founder of the South County Political Cooperative quit the organization Monday, saying it has strayed from its origi-
nal purpose and that its coordinator too often acts without consulting the board of directors.
"I simply can't take it anymore," said Jack Babich, president of the West Delray Democratic Club.
The cooperative's coordinator, Andre Fladell, said Babich is still steaming over an attempt by some cooperative mem-
bers to promote Adele Messinger over incumbent Don Childers in last week's Democratic primary in Senate District 28.
Babich backed Childers, who won the primary.
"We were supporting Messinger," Fladell said. "He didn't want that to happen."
Fladell said Babich's departure will not hurt the cooperative because members of his club still serve on cooperative
committees and the cooperative will be restructured after the November elections to allow more people to participate.
Babich said it is not his intent to destroy the cooperative but simply to distance himself from its actions.
"I haven't asked anyone to leave with me," Babich said.
Nevertheless, from now on, his club will function independent of the cooperative, although Babich said it will cooperate
on certain projects.
Babich, who blocked an attempt by the cooperative to endorse Messinger, conceded that he's still angry over the matter.
But Babich said his decision to quit goes to the heart of the cooperative's mission.
Four years ago, Babich helped form the cooperative, intending it to be "the Democratic council of South County," with
the presidents of South County Democratic clubs as its members.
And that's what the cooperative was in its first two years. But it has since admitted members of non-Democratic Clubs,
among them the Women's Coalition of Palm Beach County.
Babich said the coalition should never have been admitted.
The Women's Coalition endorsed Republicans in last week's primary as well as Messinger, a Democrat and one of the
group's founders, Babich said. He said he's afraid that someone will misinterpret the coalition's actions to think that he's
endorsing Republicans.
"I don't want to take a chance of hurting my name or reputation as a Democrat," Babich said.
Page 1001
FOUNDER OF POLITICAL CO-OP QUITS The Miami Herald September 9, 1986 Tuesday

The Women's Coalition also endorsed Republicans Carol Hanson in House District 87 and Bernard Kimmel in Senate
District 26, both races in which there were no Democratic primaries. Democrats are running in the Nov. 4 general elec-
tion.
"We're going to take another look at the entire slate," Women's Coalition President Sylvia Jarvis said.
But Jarvis said the coalition feels no compulsion to limit its recommendations to Democrats and it joined the coopera-
tive with that understanding.
"We are bipartisan," Jarvis said. "I don't understand Jack Babich's position."


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SMITH TRIES TO ASSURE COUNTY HE REALLY CARES



LENGTH: 1054 words

Jim Smith said he deliberately ignored Palm Beach County and the rest of South Florida in his primary race against
Steve Pajcic and Harry Johnston for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.
"What you have to do in the first primary is identify your base and protect it and get your vote out," Smith told some
skeptical South County Democrats, who wanted to know why he waited until after Johnston lost in Tuesday's primary to
make an appearance.
"I spent most of my time in my natural base. We did get the vote out," Smith said.
And he said his base is the Florida Panhandle and north- central Florida.
Statewide, Smith finished second in the primary ahead of Johnston and behind Pajcic. But he finished fourth in Palm
Beach County with only 8 percent of the vote.
"If I cannot improve my vote significantly in this part of the state, I will not be the Democratic nominee," Smith said. "I
hope by the time of the Sept. 30 runoff, you people will be sick of me and vote for me to send me back to Tallahassee."
But the Johnston loyalists wanted to know more.
Why had Smith flirted with becoming a Republican, they asked.
Smith said he hadn't, that it was the Republicans that did the flirting.
"I never decided to become a Republican," Smith said. "The Republicans took a hard run at me. They wanted me to
change parties because I am electable."
The Johnston workers also wanted proof that Smith wouldn't forget about South Florida after the election.
"I think I showed how important South Florida is to me personally when I came to South Florida, Dade County in par-
ticularly, to choose Marshall Harris as my running mate," Smith said. Harris is a former Miami state representative.
New coordinator
Smith did win over one staunch Johnston supporter -- Robin Bernstein, a former aide to Palm Beach County Commis-
sioner Ken Spillias.
Bernstein has taken over as Smith's Palm Beach County coordinator.
"Robin is someone I will look to as my eyes and ears on the job, especially in Palm Beach County," Smith said.
Weinstock wins support
Page 1003
SMITH TRIES TO ASSURE COUNTY HE REALLY CARES The Miami Herald September 8, 1986 Monday

While Smith and Pajcic were frantically crisscrossing Palm Beach County last week in a desperate grab for Johnston's
supporters, Eleanor Weinstock quietly walked away with a promise of support from both Johnston and his wife, Mary
Johnston.
Pajcic made headlines last week when Mary Johnston endorsed him over Smith. Weinstock, however, didn't say a word
about getting the Johnstons' endorsement until she was asked about it later. Weinstock is running against Bernie Kim-
mel for the Senate seat Johnston left to run for governor.
"We're good friends," Weinstock said of the Johnston's offer to help her. "That's what good friends do for each other."
Candidates face fines
Kermit Dell, the retired Boynton Beach farmer who set a fund-raising record in Palm Beach County election campaigns
last week, may have to pay a $200 fine because of a smudged postmark.
The deadline for filing campaign fund-raising reports with the county elections office was 5 p.m. Aug. 30 in person. If
mailed, they had to be postmarked by midnight Aug. 30.
Those who filed late face a fine of up to $50 a day.
Dell's report arrived four days late, said Assistant Supervisor of Elections Theresa LePore-Hudspeth.
"I can't read the postmark and if he can't provide a certificate of mailing, then he has to be fined," LePore- Hudspeth
said.
Dell isn't alone.
The elections office so far has levied $2,240 in fines.
McArthur Jackson, a School Board candidate who withdrew from the race, tops the list with $820. He has yet to pay.
District 2 County Commission candidate H. Scott McCary has paid $460 in fines. But newly elected School Board
member Arthur Anderson is protesting his $250 fine to the state Elections Commission.
Others who have been fined include District 2 commission candidate Carol Roberts, $50; Port of Palm Beach candidate
Ron Gradsky, $80; and Lake Worth Inlet District candidate Susan Fitzgerald, $80.
The candidates must pay the fines from personal funds, not from their campaign accounts.
Costly campaigns
Dell's unsuccessful Democratic primary campaign against incumbent Dorothy Wilken wasn't cheap. He raised
$127,386. He was beaten so badly that each vote ended up costing him $7.35.
But Bernie Kimmel, who won his Senate District 26 Republican primary contest, made even Dell's race look like a bar-
gain. He raised less than Dell -- $99,713 -- but he also got fewer votes. Kimmel wound up raising $11.29 per vote.
Kimmel's opponent, Dirk Smith, raised a mere $3.16 per vote by comparison.
Wilken, who got 74 percent of the vote in the District 4 commission race, raised $46,060, or 99 cents per vote.
Among the Republican District 4 commission candidates, Boynton Bob Ferrell raised $1.59 per vote and former Com-
missioner Norm Gregory raised 49 cents per vote.
But if it's cheap you want, look to incumbent School Board member Susan Pell.
Pell raised $2,275 but she didn't spend a penny of it and she said she's giving it all back.
"I didn't feel comfortable using the money," Pell said.
No name calling
Democrat Ryna Mehr said her general election race against incumbent House District 87 Republican Carol Hanson will
be far different from the primary battle waged by Hanson's fellow Republican, Tim Whalen.
"I think what happened with Tim and Carol is they got into a name-calling contest," Mehr said. "We're not going to do
that. We're going to run a professional campaign."
Page 1004
SMITH TRIES TO ASSURE COUNTY HE REALLY CARES The Miami Herald September 8, 1986 Monday

Whalen accused Hanson of being a "shoot from the hip" legislator and Hanson responded by saying Whalen was put up
to run against her by trial lawyers and Boca Raton Mayor William Konrad.
"That's not going to be my approach," Mehr said. "We're going to examine Carol's record. We're going to hold her ac-
countable for what she did and didn't do."
Mehr will begin her campaign in earnest with the opening of campaign headquarters at 6 p.m. today at 144 S. Federal
Highway in Boca Raton.
Noteworthy
Incoming Senate President Ken Jenne will address The Loggerhead Club at noon Friday at the Sheraton of Boca Raton.
Verbatim
"God may have spoken to the Moral Majority but He didn't vote." Andre Fladell, coordinator of the South County Po-
litical Cooperative, commenting on the election loss of School Board candidates backed by Christian activist groups.
Ray Huard may be reached from South County at 272-2626, from Central County at 737-1009 and from North County
at 686-3221.


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BLACK CANDIDATE'S SOLID WIN STUNS AREA POLITICAL ACTIV-
ISTS



LENGTH: 855 words

Arthur Anderson's overwhelming election to the Palm Beach County School Board over three white candidates last
week has stunned political activists who until now have said it's virtually impossible for a black to win a countywide
race.
"It says on Sept. 2, 1986, a black School Board candidate didn't beat a white candidate, he beat three at the same time,"
said Andre Fladell, coordinator of the South County Political Cooperative, an umbrella organization of South County
political clubs and homeowner groups.
With 52 percent of the vote, Anderson avoided what most said was an almost certain runoff in the four-way District 6
school board race.
The second-place finisher in that race -- Lois Gracey -- got 24 percent. The other two got under 15 percent each.
And Anderson got more votes than any other candidate in any other countywide race.
Yet his election has not dimmed cries among county blacks that they will not have a fair shot at electing other blacks
until the county is restructured to elect county commissioners and even School Board members by district instead of
at-large.
"That's nothing to make me shout about," Louise Buie, head of the West Palm Beach chapter of the National Associa-
tion for the Advancement of Colored People and a longtime civil rights activist, said of Anderson's election.
"We're glad Arthur won. I worked hard for him but that's tokenism," Buie said.
"We need more than one black on the School Board. We need it on the County Commission, we need it in the Legisla-
ture and we need it in the Senate," Buie said. "Look how long the port's been here and we haven't been able to get a port
commissioner."
Anderson is only the second black to be elected to a countywide office in Palm Beach County. The first was Daniel W.
Hendrix, elected to the School Board in 1970.
But Hendrix lost his 1978 bid for a County Commission seat. No black has ever served on the commission or in the
state Legislature from Palm Beach County.
"If you look at it from a percentage basis, we as blacks aren't doing too well," said Delray Beach council member Jim-
my Weatherspoon. "We have failed more times than we succeeded. I guess the law of probabilities is we're bound to get
one."
Page 1006
BLACK CANDIDATE'S SOLID WIN STUNS AREA POLITICAL ACTIVISTS The Miami Herald September 7,
1986 Sunday

West Palm Beach lawyer Malcolm Cunningham said that although Anderson's success proves that blacks can win a
countywide race, the odds are that they won't.
"I'm still concerned that blacks and other minorities have a reasonable expectation of being elected to the County Com-
mission," Cunningham said. "As it stands today, that reasonable expectation is just not there."
Blacks make up 7.6 percent of the county's registered voters.
And beyond the issue of registered voters, Cunningham said minority candidates have trouble raising the money it takes
to run countywide.
South Bay Mayor Clarence Anthony said electing commissioners by district would help if district lines were drawn so
that at least one district would have a sizable bloc of black voters.
"I don't think it's the gift that opens the box for all minorities to get elected when they run," Anthony said. "I'm not say-
ing that it's the answer. I'm saying it provides more opportunity."
Fladell, an ardent opponent of districting, disagrees.
"When they make that argument, they have to pretend Sept. 2 didn't happen. After this, it's almost an offensive argu-
ment," Fladell said. "In the (Palm Beach County) single member districts for the legislators, what minority ever got
elected?"
What made Anderson's campaign a success was that he didn't run as a black candidate, West Palm Beach activist
Charles McCain said.
"A traditional black candidacy is a candidacy based on pivotal black voting precincts. That's a traditional ethnic ap-
proach that all the ethnic groups make whether they're black, Jewish, Irish or whatever," McCain said. "Arthur didn't
pivot his candidacy on black precincts."
Some of Anderson's strongest support came from white retirement condominiums.
For example, Anderson got 81 percent of the vote in precinct 221 in suburban Boca Raton's Century Village West, 77
percent in Century Village's precinct 223, 78 percent in precinct 187 at Kings Point in suburban Delray Beach and 74
percent in Kings Point's precinct 186.
"What they need to argue is not black and white, what they need to argue is who do we have that's really done the
work," Fladell said.
Fladell said condominium residents knew Anderson because he's worked with them on several projects before he ran for
the School Board.
"He's not just somebody who stood up and said 'I'm a minority and I want to be elected.' He stood up and said 'I'm Ar-
thur Anderson and it's my turn' and it was his turn."
Cunningham and others said the true test will come when a black again runs for County Commission.
"I think progress has definitely been made," Cunningham said. "It shows that the people of this county are aware that
blacks and other minorities can represent them.'
McCain said he's convinced that Anderson's election is but the beginning.
"There are qualified black candidates who will run for County Commission as time goes on," McCain said. "Will there
be a black sheriff in 1988? I don't know, but there could be."


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FINAL EDITION

DULL ADS HURT JOHNSTON, SOME CLAIM



LENGTH: 447 words

Bland television ads killed Harry Johnston's bid to be governor, some of his staunchest Palm Beach County supporters
said Wednesday.
Johnston's television ads were flat, they said, while those of former Jacksonville state representative Steve Pajcic and
Attorney General Jim Smith were dynamic.
"If he could have borrowed Steve Pajcic's guy for two (video) tapes, Harry would be the next governor," said former
state Rep. Ed Healey, an avid Johnston backer.
Pajcic and Smith finished first and second in Tuesday's Democratic primary for governor and will face each other in a
Sept. 30 runoff.
"Even the Johnston people were going, 'Pajcic, what great ads,' " said West Palm Beach political activist Chuck
McCain. "Pajcic realized a year ago that Florida is a megastate, just like California is a megastate," McCain said. "He
ran a California megastate campaign. He made 4.5 million bucks and he went to people who knew TV like the back of
their hands."
Johnston's ads left little lasting impression, South County political activist Andre Fladell said.
"When you saw Steve Pajcic's ads, you saw Pajcic, Pajcic, Pajcic. When you saw Harry Johnston, you said, 'Oh, that's
nice.' "
County Commissioner Ken Spillias said Johnston's television advertising "did not give people a reason to vote for Harry
Johnston if they didn't already know him."
"Pajcic had a tremendous media campaign," Spillias said. "It was one of the best I've ever seen and he was able in that
way to blunt some of the criticism that he was too liberal."
Henry Handler, former chairman of the Palm Beach County Democratic Executive Committee, disagreed.
"I don't think they (Pajcic and Smith) had better TV. I think they had more of it," said Handler, who campaigned heavily
for Johnston in southern Palm Beach County and northern Broward County. "I don't think the quality of his ads was
worse than his opponents'.
"Harry relied more on personal appearances," Handler said. "I don't believe physically one can do that in a statewide
race."
Beyond television, former Senate President Phil Lewis said, Johnston may have concentrated too heavily on South
Florida and not enough on Pajcic's and Smith's home base in North Florida.
Page 1008
DULL ADS HURT JOHNSTON, SOME CLAIM The Miami Herald September 4, 1986 Thursday

"You cannot ignore North Florida and people in South Florida have to wake up to that," said Lewis. "They're (North
Florida) still there and they're growing."
As a purely political maneuver, Handler said, it may have been wiser for Johnston to resign as Senate president instead
of serving through the 1986 session. That would have given him more time to raise money and campaign.
"He took a political gamble, which may have cost him the election," Handler said. "I think that was a courageous thing
to do."


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DULL TV ADS DOOMED JOHNSTON, BACKERS SAY



LENGTH: 449 words

Bland television ads killed Harry Johnston's bid to be governor, some of his staunchest Palm Beach County supporters
said Wednesday.
Johnston's television ads were flat, they said, while those of former Jacksonville state representative Steve Pajcic and
Attorney General Jim Smith were dynamic.
"If he could have borrowed Steve Pajcic's guy for two (video) tapes, Harry would be the next governor," said former
state Rep. Ed Healey, an avid Johnston backer.
Pajcic and Smith finished first and second in Tuesday's Democratic primary for governor and will face each other in a
Sept. 30 runoff.
"Even the Johnston people were going, 'Pajcic, what great ads,' " said Chuck McCain, a West Palm Beach political ac-
tivist.
"Pajcic realized a year ago that Florida is a megastate, just like California is a megastate," McCain said. "He ran a Cali-
fornia megastate campaign. He made 4.5 million bucks and he went to people who knew TV like the back of their
hands."
Johnston's ads left little lasting impression, South County political activist Andre Fladell said.
"When you saw Steve Pajcic's ads, you saw Pajcic, Pajcic, Pajcic. When you saw Harry Johnston, you said, 'Oh, that's
nice.' "
County Commissioner Ken Spillias said Johnston's television advertising "did not give people a reason to vote for Harry
Johnston if they didn't already know him."
"Pajcic had a tremendous media campaign," Spillias said. "It was one of the best I've ever seen and he was able in that
way to blunt some of the criticism that he was too liberal."
Henry Handler, former chairman of the Palm Beach County Democratic Executive Committee, disagreed.
"I don't think they (Pajcic and Smith) had better TV. I think they had more of it," said Handler, who campaigned heavily
for Johnston in southern Palm Beach County and northern Broward County. "I don't think the quality of his ads was
worse than his opponents'.
"Harry relied more on personal appearances," Handler said. "I don't believe physically one can do that in a statewide
race."
Page 1010
DULL TV ADS DOOMED JOHNSTON, BACKERS SAY The Miami Herald September 4, 1986 Thursday

Beyond television, former Senate President Phil Lewis said, Johnston may have concentrated too heavily on South
Florida and not enough on Pajcic's and Smith's home base in North Florida.
"You cannot ignore North Florida and people in South Florida have to wake up to that," Lewis said. "They're (North
Florida voters) still there and they're growing."
As a purely political maneuver, Handler said, it may have been wiser for Johnston to resign as Senate president instead
of serving through the 1986 session. That would have given him more time to raise money and campaign.
"He took a political gamble, which may have cost him the election," Handler said. "I think that was a courageous thing
to do."


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JOHNSTON BEATS POLLS, BUT NOT ALL FOES

BYLINE: YOLANDA WOODLEE And FRANK CERABINO Herald Staff Writers


LENGTH: 398 words

Harry Johnston's party at the Hyatt-Palm Beaches Hotel Tuesday night was a nervous one.
As election results came in, it was obvious that Palm Beach County voters had supported Johnston's bid for governor by
an overwhelming majority. But statewide, Johnston was in danger of being eliminated by Steve Pajcic and Jim Smith,
who were running a few percentage points ahead of him.
"This is my last hurrah," Johnston said late Tuesday. "If I don't win, I'm retiring from politics."
Early election returns showed Johnston doing better than expected in this hotly contested Democratic primary.
Johnston, addressing a group of about 500 of his supporters at the hotel late Tuesday, told them to take heart.
"At least we're beating the pollsters -- all of them," he said. "It's really going to boil down to the percentages of the votes
in North Florida that will determine whether we'll be in the runoff."
Election polls had Johnston getting as little as 6 percent of the statewide vote. Yet, his vote tallies were close to 30 per-
cent throughout the night.
In Palm Beach County, there was no contest. Johnston was getting about 65 percent of the county's vote, while Pajcic
and Smith combined for only about 25 percent.
Johnston, 54, is a West Palm Beach lawyer who has made a name for himself as a state senator for the past 12 years,
including the past two years as Senate President.
"We delivered Palm Beach County," said a satisfied Andre Fladell, coordinator of the South County Political Coopera-
tive, an umbrella group of nine Palm Beach County political and homeowner groups.
Johnston's competitors -- Pajcic, a 40-year-old Ivy League- educated liberal from Jacksonville, and Smith, 46, a
two-term attorney general who at one time was Johnston's running mate in this race -- have been portrayed by Johnston
as North Florida candidates.
Johnston's mentor, Phil Lewis, a former state Senate President, said Johnston's impressive numbers in South Florida
were higher than expected.
Marie Horenburger, a Delray Beach council member and a Johnston backer, said she wasn't surprised at how well John-
ston was doing locally.
"He's shown strong leadership ability even when political pressure was on him," she said.
Page 1012
JOHNSTON BEATS POLLS, BUT NOT ALL FOES The Miami Herald September 3, 1986 Wednesday

State Rep. Fred Lippman, a coordinator of his campaign, said late Tuesday that he still had hopes that Johnston would
make the runoff.
"We're going to wait for the last vote to be counted," he said.


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CAMPBELL CAMPAIGNS LIKE MAN WITH A MISSION



LENGTH: 1058 words

Does Delray Beach Mayor Doak Campbell have higher aspirations?
It seemed that way Wednesday, when Campbell led a group of about 30 commandos on a blitz of Broward's major in-
tersections during morning rush-hour traffic to hand out campaign literature for gubernatorial candidate Harry Johnston.
Everyone else wore their comfies -- T-shirts, shorts, whatever. Even Johnston wore a short-sleeved polo shirt.
Not Doak. He wore his standard dark suit and tie.
And while Johnston and the other volunteers dashed from car to car, Campbell stood next to a Johnston sign and waved
to passing motorists.
"Everybody thought Doak was the candidate," Johnston volunteer Andre Fladell said. "You know, it's usually the can-
didate who stands there and waves and everybody else hands stuff out. Doak was out there waving to everybody."
Fladell said it worked so well that he tried to talk Campbell into filling in for Johnston when the real candidate had to
leave the intersections to make a swing through some Broward condominiums.
Campbell refused.
Raising a stink
Who says garbage is smelly?
Certainly not Palm Beach County Commissioner Ken Spillias.
Spillias told the Solid Waste Authority last week that he couldn't understand why county residents would object to hav-
ing a waste transfer station near their homes.
After all, he said, the town of Palm Beach has one near The Breakers, and it smells just fine.
Maybe so, said Jupiter Mayor Mary Hinton, who opposes the board's plan to build a station near the Indian Creek sub-
division. But then one wouldn't expect Palm Beach's garbage to smell like everyone else's.
"We all know that the garbage in Palm Beach smells like Gucci and Giorgio," Hinton said.
"Actually," Spillias replied with a smile, "we've been told that the higher the affluence of an area, the more garbage it
produces. And (Boca Raton Mayor) Bill Konrad has confirmed that."
Celebrating voting rights
Page 1014
CAMPBELL CAMPAIGNS LIKE MAN WITH A MISSION The Miami Herald August 25, 1986 Monday

Sixty-six years ago Tuesday women got the vote.
And a handful of Palm Beach County women's organizations, led by the South County Chapter of the National Organi-
zation for Women, will celebrate at 7 tonight at Boca Raton's Old Town Hall, 71 N. Federal Highway.
With 223,341 of their number registered for the Sept. 2 primary, women account for 55.2 percent of the county's voters.
County Court Judge Kathleen Kroll will lead the anniversary celebration.
Organizations participating include the Women's Coalition of Palm Beach County, the Business and Professional
Women's Club, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority of Delray Beach, the Palm Beach County Commission on the Status of
Women, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, Florida Atlantic University's Women's Studies Pro-
gram, Aid to Victims of Domestic Assault and the Junior League of Boca Raton.
"We thought it was a wonderful thing to get these groups together," NOW President Diana Dawson said. "They're all
working toward the development of women, one way or another."
Selective endorsements
The Committee for Responsible Citizenship, a citizens group "dedicated to finding and electing candidates for govern-
ment leadership positions who support the Judeo-Christian ethic," is advising voters to dump all three state Supreme
Court justices up for merit retention.
And the North Palm Beach-based organization couldn't find anyone to its liking in Sept. 2 primary races for County
Commission District 4, state House Districts 82 and 84, School Board District 5 and County Judge Group 2.
In county races, the committee is backing Dirk Smith in Senate District 26; incumbent Don Childers in Senate District
28; Jim Genovese, a former committee member, in House District 81; Tim Whalen in House District 87; Robert
Schwartz in County Judge Group 4; Richard L. Lodwick in School Board District 2; John Klaiber in School Board Dis-
trict 4; and Lee Richwagen in School Board District 6.
In state races, the committee endorsed incumbent Paula Hawkins for the U.S. Senate; Bob Martinez for governor; Jim
Smith for secretary of state; Jim Watt for attorney general; Craig Kiser for comptroller; Van Poole for insurance com-
missioners; Brian Pappas for commissioner of education; and Charles Bronson for commissioner of agriculture.
Young Democrats back Vorpagel
The Young Democrats of Palm Beach County -- to no surprise -- named their former president, Jeff Vorpagel, as their
choice in House District 80.
Other endorsements were for incumbent Ray Liberti in House District 82, former Rep. Ed Healey in House District 84,
incumbent Dorothy Wilken in County Commission District 4, incumbent Hugh MacMillan Jr. in School Board District
2, Lou Martinez in School Board District 4, incumbent Susan Pell in School Board District 5, Arthur Anderson in
School Board District 6, Cinthia Becton in Port of Palm Beach Group 4, Charles Mueller in Port of Palm Beach Group
5, Jerome Davis in County Judge Group 4 and Thelma Moore in South Lake Worth Inlet District 1.
Noteworthy
Palm Beach County School Board candidates will appear in a televised phone-in forum sponsored by the Leagues of
Women Voters of Palm Beach County at 8 p.m. Tuesday on WXEL-TV (Channel 42). . . . WXEL is sponsoring a de-
bate among Democratic gubernatorial candidates at 8 p.m. Wednesday and among Republican gubernatorial candidates
at 8 p.m. Thursday. . . . Bob Martinez, a Republican candidate for governor, is sponsoring a free brunch from 9:30 to 11
a.m. Saturday at the Helen Wilkes Hotel, 201 N. Flagler Dr., West Palm Beach. . . . Dirk Smith, a candidate for the state
Senate in District 26, will address the Boca Raton Men's Republican Club at 11:30 a.m. Thursday at the Boca Raton
Executive Golf Club on Hidden Valley Road in Boca Raton. . . . State Sen. Don Childers, D- West Palm Beach, will
address the Democratic Club of West Boca at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Affirmation Lutheran Church, 9465 W. Glades
Road.
Verbatim
"I used to watch (former County Commissioner) Dennis Koehler standing out on street corners waving to people and
think I could never do that. Now I'm thinking about doing just that . . . a big battle for me is name recognition."
-- Larry Langer, a candidate for the Port of Palm Beach in Group 5, explaining his introduction to the world of politics.
Page 1015
CAMPBELL CAMPAIGNS LIKE MAN WITH A MISSION The Miami Herald August 25, 1986 Monday

Herald staff writers Mike Wilson and Amy Dunn contributed to this column.
Ray Huard may be reached from North and Central County at 737-1009 or 686-3221 and from South County at
272-2626.


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BATTLE OF STARS PITS POLITICIANS IN COMPETITION CANDI-
DATES, OFFICIALS HELP SHERIFF'S FUND

BYLINE: YOLANDA W. WOODLEE Herald Staff Writer


LENGTH: 334 words

In his red and white chaps and hat, Delray Beach rancher Billy Bowman looked like a real cowboy. But he couldn't live
up to the image.
He came in last in a four-way horse race Sunday at the Royal Palm Polo Club in Boca Raton. County Commissioners
Ken Adams and Jerry Owens and political activist Andre Fladell all finished ahead of the costumed Bowman and his
mount.
"Bowman hasn't rode anything you can't milk," Adams, the winner, said jokingly about the dairy farmer. "All the horses
were Republicans except Bowman's and his was last."
Adams, a Republican, supplied the two horses for his other two Democratic opponents.
But Democrat Bowman had a good excuse for losing the race.
"You always let the politicians win," he said, "because you ask them for favors. If you beat them, they won't listen an-
ymore."
This was the flavor of the fun-filled picnic and benefit billed as the "Battle of the County Stars." The three-hour event
raised money for the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Broken Star Fund, which assists the families of deputies injured or
killed in the line of duty.
"It's reassuring to know that the finances are there (if something happens)," said sheriff's Sgt. Bret Sheets, who partici-
pated in a mounted patrol demonstration.
But during this election year, the benefit turned into a big political bash. Signs and brochures bearing the names of can-
didates were posted everywhere. There were balloons, buttons, beer and many slow-talking politicians competing for
attention.
Fladell said that more than 1,000 people attended the benefit, paying $5 for admission. It was successful, he said, be-
cause any money raised would go to a good cause.
"This kind of event raising money for a worthwhile charity is politics at its best because you have cross-party participa-
tion to help our community," said Rick Martin, a Republican challenging U.S. Rep. Dan Mica, a Democrat from Lake
Worth.
"This way, the public gets exposure to all the candidates, the candidates get exposure and the charity benefits," he said.

Page 1017
BATTLE OF STARS PITS POLITICIANS IN COMPETITION CANDIDATES, OFFICIALS HELP SHERIFF'S
FUND The Miami Herald August 25, 1986 Monday


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MISTAKE IN AD PROMPTS TWO CANDIDATES TO FEUD



LENGTH: 1078 words

Don Childers, Adele Messinger and Jack Babich are feuding over an ad for Messinger that ran in the July issue of the
West Delray Democratic Club's newspaper.
Childers, the incumbent in state Senate District 28, accused Messinger of trying to mislead people into thinking she is
the incumbent.
Messinger, who is challenging Childers in the Sept. 2 Democratic primary, is threatening to sue Babich if the fuss costs
her the election.
Babich, the West Delray Democratic Club president who is backing Childers, said he messed up Messinger's ad by
mistake but the stink she has raised over it is "stupid."
"I could have been nasty," he said. "I could have eliminated the ad or dropped some ink on it."
"As a gentleman," Babich said, he reproduced one of Messinger's campaign cards as an ad in his club's newspaper.
Messinger is a club member. The card read, "Elect Adele Hudis Messinger state senator."
But because he is supporting Childers, Babich said, he erased the word "elect" from the ad. It wound up reading, "Adele
Hudis Messinger state senator."
Childers saw the ad and was furious.
"If you look at the ad, you would assume she was a senator," said Childers, who publicly accused Messinger of using
dirty tactics.
"I didn't tell him to say that," said Babich, who has since told Childers to stop blaming Messinger.
Messinger is still miffed.
"I really feel this is defamation of character," she said.
Babich said he will run a new ad for Messinger in the August issue of his newspaper -- this time without leaving any-
thing out.
Pajcic draws a crowd
When Steve Pajcic gave a campaign breakfast last week at Shooter's Restaurant in Boynton Beach, he thought he was
going to see about 100 people. Instead, more than 200 showed up for Danish and coffee.
Page 1019
MISTAKE IN AD PROMPTS TWO CANDIDATES TO FEUD The Miami Herald August 18, 1986 Monday

The crowd included many of the county Democratic club leaders who just a month ago delivered rousing endorsements
for Harry Johnston at a Boca Raton breakfast. Both Johnston and Pajcic are running for the Democratic gubernatorial
nomination.
"Looks like they're swinging to me," Pajcic said. "They all had Pajcic stickers on. They said they were voting for me."
Babich said Pajcic may have misread the crowd.
"Everybody goes there," Babich said. "We just go to say hello."
Pajcic left the breakfast predicting that he will get between 25 percent and 45 percent of the vote in Palm Beach County.
"We have a shot at running as strong as he (Johnston) does," Pajcic said.
Wilkinson miffed
Republican George Cook's on-off-on-again campaign in House District 82 prompted Republican primary rival Bette
Wilkinson to accuse him of faking it in a deliberate effort to disrupt her campaign.
Cook said Aug. 8 that he was pulling out of the race when his wife suddenly fell ill. Three days later, he said he was
back in the race because doctors had diagnosed his wife's illness as hypoglycemia, an abnormally low blood-sugar level
that can be treated with rest and proper diet.
When her campaign workers read of Cook's withdrawal, Wilkinson said, they thought the race was over. She said she
had to persuade them to keep working until the withdrawal was official.
Cook said his actions were no ploy.
"I don't do things like that," he said.
Nevertheless, Cook's actions have become a campaign issue.
"There is nothing indecisive about Bette Wilkinson," Wilkinson said at a Palm Beach candidates forum last week. "I
made a decision to run for this House seat a year ago."
Messersmith, four others fined
State Rep. Frank Messersmith, R-Lake Worth, was among five Palm Beach County legislative candidates to be fined by
the state elections office for failing to submit their Aug. 1 campaign financial reports on time.
Messersmith has to pay $300 out of his own pocket. The money cannot come from his campaign fund under a law that
took effect Jan. 1. Candidates are fined up to $50 a day for every day they are late.
Messersmith's Democratic challenger in House District 85, Jack Byrne, was fined $150.
Gerald Adams, a Republican candidate in House District 83, was fined $500. Former County Commissioner Peggy
Evatt, a Republican candidate in House District 81, was fined $300. Dick McKinnon, a Democrat in House District 81,
was fined $200.
Stars are ready to shine
See County Commissioner Jerry Owens, state Rep. Ray Liberti and Delray Beach Mayor Doak Campbell race each oth-
er on tricycles.
Watch South Bay Mayor Clarence Anthony throw eggs at Port of Palm Beach Commissioner Sandy Klein.
And cheer County Commissioner Ken Adams as he tries to beat suburban Delray Beach rancher Billy Bowman and
political activist Andre Fladell in a horse race.
It's all part of the Battle of the County Stars, from 3 to 6 p.m. Sunday at Royal Palm Polo Club, 6300 Clint Moore Rd.,
Boca Raton. Tickets are $5. The money goes to the Palm Beach Sheriff's Broken Star Fund, which helps injured depu-
ties and their families. Coordinator is Robin Bernstein, a former aide to County Commissioner Ken Spillias.
Noteworthy
U.S. Rep. Tom Lewis, R-North Palm Beach, has drawn three write-in challengers in the Nov. 4 election. They are Phil
Jackson of Palm Beach Gardens, Daniel S. Ray of Tequesta and George R. Spanton of Riviera Beach. . . . The Young
Page 1020
MISTAKE IN AD PROMPTS TWO CANDIDATES TO FEUD The Miami Herald August 18, 1986 Monday

Republicans of South Palm Beach County are sponsoring a singles picnic from 1 to 6 p.m. Sept. 6 at Quiet Waters Park,
6601 N. Powerline Rd., Pompano Beach. Tickets are $5. . . . The Palm Beach County Democratic Executive Committee
is sponsoring a picnic from 3 to 7 p.m. Sunday at Dreher Park in West Palm Beach. . . . Republican gubernatorial can-
didate Tom Gallagher has scheduled a campaign rally for 6 p.m. Tuesday at Chauncy's Restaurant in West Palm Beach.
. . . House District 81 candidate Eugene Badger is sponsoring a campaign barbecue at 7 p.m. Friday at the Belle Glade
Marina. . . . WXEL-TV (Channel 42) will broadcast a forum for School Board candidates at 8 p.m. Aug. 26. . . . Absen-
tee ballots for the Sept. 2 primary are available at the supervisor of elections office, 301 N. Olive Ave., West Palm
Beach; the South County Courthouse, 345 S. Congress Ave., Delray Beach; the North County Courthouse, 3188 PGA
Blvd., Palm Beach Gardens; and the Glades Office Building, 2976 State Road 15, Belle Glade.
Verbatim
"Bob Graham's next job is going to be down in Dade County with a pitchfork shoveling the same stuff he's been throw-
ing at us for the past eight years."
-- Republican U.S. Senate candidate Jon Larsen Shudlick.
Ray Huard may be reached from South and Central County at 272-2626 or 737-1009 and from North County at
686-3221.


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August 6, 1986 Wednesday
PLM BCH EDITION

SCHOOL BOARD MAY GET RELIGION, GROUP FEARS

BYLINE: ANN MACARI HEALEY Herald Staff Writer


LENGTH: 813 words

Two years ago, the issues were textbook censorship and a controversial teaching method called values clarification. The
Coalition for Quality Education formed to fight those who would ban books and limit teaching options.
Today, the issues are textbook censorship and a controversial teaching method called values clarification. And prayer in
schools. Again, the group has formed, this time as the Palm Beach County Citizens for Quality Education, to fight what
they call the "fundamentalist threats."
But this year, the organization has gone political.
It has endorsed four candidates in the Sept. 2 School Board elections. It plans to buy newspaper ads and man phone
banks to promote its candidates.
"We knew this election would be critical," said Rabbi Alan Sherman of the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County.
"That's why I formed this group."
Sherman co-founded Citizens for Quality Education about 10 months ago with the Rev. Pam Cahoon, director of the
Cross Urban Ministry in West Palm Beach.
An unusually heated campaign between the left and the right has been brewing over the School Board elections. Four of
the seven School Board seats are up for grabs. Fundamentalist Christians have candidates in three of those races.
The fear that fundamentalists could form a majority on the board with member Gail Bjork, who is not up for re-election,
spurred the establishment of Citizens for Quality Education, Sherman said.
Its 30 members include clergy, attorneys, retirees, grandparents and parents with children in school.
"I think if we get the wrong people on the School Board, some of the issues that are very important will get lost," said
Bill Bader, a telephone systems technician who has a teen-age son in high school. Bader said he's concerned the
"so-called Christian candidates" will be so intent on banning books they won't pay attention to less ideological issues
such as the need to build schools and fix old ones.
Many of today's members of Citizens for Quality Education were part of a loose, nonpolitical group of church and civic
organizations that formed in 1984 during the fight over the health textbook Let's Talk About Health.
Bjork, a Jupiter parent elected to the School Board that year, objected strenuously to the book because it discussed top-
ics such as masturbation and sexual intercourse in ways that conflicted with her values.
One of her opponents was attorney Clifford Hertz, chairman of Citizens for Quality Education.
Page 1022
SCHOOL BOARD MAY GET RELIGION, GROUP FEARS The Miami Herald August 6, 1986 Wednesday

"I think it's a little bit of sour grapes," said Sally Beach, an unsuccessful School Board candidate who was Bjork's cam-
paign manager in 1984.
That same year, the Committee for Responsible Citizenship was founded by Bob Plimpton, who tried to recruit Chris-
tian candidates for the School Board. The CRC, dedicated to promoting prayer in school and stopping abortions, is ac-
tive this year. John Drinkwater, who heads the CRC, couldn't be reached for comment Tuesday. And Plimpton said he
couldn't comment because he didn't know enough about Citizens for Quality Education.
But Beach, who does not belong to CRC, said Citizens for Quality Education is a mirror image of the group formed two
years ago.
"Obviously, they're a political force," she said. "I don't view them as a threat. I don't underestimate them either."
The debate over what teachers should say in the classroom, what teaching methods should be used and what textbooks
students should study has the left and right preparing for battle.
Beach said conservative groups -- some religious -- have formed a loose coalition to support candidates who would stop
what she calls "a permissive, liberal approach" to public education.
The progressive groups have drawn together.
"It's just protection," said Andre Fladell, coordinator of the South County Political Cooperative.
Citizens for Quality Education promises to have a significant impact on the School Board races, other progressive lead-
ers say.
Its platform seeks racial balance in the schools -- even if that means busing -- and encourages critical thinking among
students, what many call values clarification. It is a teaching method that encourages discussion of topics such as abor-
tion and homosexuality.
The four candidates Hertz's group has endorsed -- incumbent Hugh MacMillan Jr. in District 2, Lou Martinez in District
4, incumbent Susan Pell in District 5 and Arthur Anderson in District 6 -- have been endorsed by the powerful South
County Political Cooperative and the Progressive Forum, a splinter group from the county's Executive Democratic
Committee.
"We all knew what they were doing and supported them in it," said Charles McCain, head of the Progressive Forum.
Hertz predicts Citizens for Quality Education will play a vital role in school issues in the years to come.
"I'd expect this group to stay around."
Close-Up offers Herald readers an in-depth look at issues, people and places throughout Palm Beach County.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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COOPERATIVE HAS PLANS TO TAKE TO THE STREETS



LENGTH: 972 words

Members of the South County Political Cooperative will blanket South County streets for three days before the Sept. 2
primary to promote their candidates.
"It's absolutely a clear statement of our ability to deliver votes," cooperative coordinator Andre Fladell said. "When
this county sees we're in the streets in numbers, they're going to realize we're not a game, we're real."
On Aug. 28, 29 and Sept. 2, members of the South County Democratic clubs that belong to the cooperative will stand
on street corners and walk though shopping centers, handing out campaign literature of candidates backed by the coop-
erative.
Fladell said eight to 10 people have been assigned to each major intersection in South County.
"The whole of South County is mapped out so nobody can get through South County without getting some literature,"
Fladell said. "The people who have not made up their minds can be sold on the first name they see."
Johnston's commandos
Palm Beach County backers of Sen. Harry Johnston, D- West Palm Beach, are planning a commando raid into Broward
County on Aug. 20.
It's all part of a drive to steal votes from former state Rep. Steve Pajcic of Jacksonville in the race for the Democratic
gubernatorial nomination.
"Harry's my hero, that's why we're going down there," said Delray Beach City Council member Marie Horenburger,
who is organizing the "raid" with Delray Beach Mayor Doak Campbell.
"Harry's got good support in his home county. We want people to know that everybody in Palm Beach County supports
him," Horenburger said.
Between 25 and 30 Johnston commandos will assemble in Delray Beach at 7 a.m. Aug. 20 and head for major intersec-
tions in Fort Lauderdale to hand out Johnston campaign literature to motorists during the morning rush hour, Horen-
burger said.
They will do the same during evening rush hour and spend the time in between campaigning for Johnston in shopping
centers and condominium developments.
Phone follies
Page 1024
COOPERATIVE HAS PLANS TO TAKE TO THE STREETS The Miami Herald August 4, 1986 Monday

Blame Southern Bell for a week's delay in efforts by Supervisor of Elections Jackie Winchester to print sample ballots
for the Sept. 2 primary.
"We've got everyone screaming for sample ballots," said Theresa LePore-Hudspeth, assistant elections supervisor.
The sample ballots were due out last week, but Winchester said they won't be out until the middle of this week because
of a mix-up with Ma Bell.
It seems the phone company decided to change the telephone numbers of all county offices because the 837 exchange,
which includes the elections office, is overloaded.
LePore-Hudspeth said the plan was to change the phone numbers Sept. 15, to coincide with the release of new phone
books.
But nobody consulted Winchester about the plan.
Changing phone numbers midway between the Sept. 2 primary and the Sept. 30 runoff would cause chaos in the elec-
tions office, she said.
Winchester told Southern Bell the changes would have to be made well before the primary.
The phone company at first said it couldn't be done, LePore-Hudspeth said, but later relented.
Because the elections office phone number appears on the sample ballots, the ballots couldn't be printed until the issue
was settled, she said.
As of today, the elections office number is 820-2650.
Politicians battle for a cause
Will people pay $5 to watch a real horse race between County Commissioner Ken Adams and Andre Fladell, coordi-
nator of the South County Political Cooperative?
Will they pay good money to watch county Republicans challenge the Democrats in an egg toss and sack race?
Find out Aug. 24, during the fund-raising "Battle of the Stars" from 3 to 6 p.m. at the Royal Palm Polo Club in Boca
Raton.
The money will go to Broken Star, the organization that gives financial aid to sheriff's deputies who have been wounded
in the line of duty.
Some of the "stars" who have agreed to do battle are Sheriff Richard Wille, Boynton Beach City Council member Bob
Ferrell, county Commissioners Ken Spillias, Dorothy Wilken, Karen Marcus and Jerry Owens, Delray Beach Mayor
Doak Campbell and City Council member Marie Horenburger, state Sen. Don Childers, Port of Palm Beach Commis-
sioners Sandy Klein and Blair Ciklin, Hugo Unruh of the Economic Council of Palm Beach County, Delray Beach
rancher Billy Bowman, County Administrator John Sansbury, and lawyers Martin Perry and Anita Mitchell.
Robin Bernstein, a former aide to Spillias, is organizing the battle. Sponsors include the Pepsi-Cola Bottling Co., Mis-
sion Bay, Shalloway Engineers, Knight Enterprises and the South County Political Cooperative.
Noteworthy
Incumbent House District 87 Rep. Carol Hanson will face her Republican primary opponent, Tim Whalen, before the
Young Republicans of South Palm Beach County at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Holiday Inn Camino Real, Delray Beach. . .
. The Progressive Forum, a group of Democrats dissatisfied with the county party organization, last week endorsed
School Board candidates Hugh MacMillan Jr. in District 2, Lou Martinez in District 4, Susan Pell in District 5 and Ar-
thur Anderson in District 6. . . . Adele Messinger, in her race to unseat incumbent Sen. Don Childers in Senate District
28, picked up endorsements from the United Auto Workers, Southeast Florida Retired Workers Council, the South Palm
Beach chapter of the National Organization for Women and the Business and Professional Women's Club of Delray
Beach. . . . Democrats of Boca Raton are sponsoring a unity brunch for Democratic candidates at 11:30 a.m. Sunday at
the Boca Del Mar Country Club in Boca Raton. Tickets are $15.
Verbatim
"Let's tell the truth, she's a Neanderthal right-wing fanatic and we want to get rid of her."
Page 1025
COOPERATIVE HAS PLANS TO TAKE TO THE STREETS The Miami Herald August 4, 1986 Monday

Progressive Forum Chairman Charles McCain, describing the group's support for Gov. Bob Graham over incumbent
Paul Hawkins in the U.S. Senate race.
Ray Huard may be reached from South County and Central County at 272-2626 and from North County at 686-3221.


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FLADELL'S LITTLE RECEPTION TURNS INTO A BIG BASH



LENGTH: 1013 words

Joe Gerstein looked lost.
The Dade County state senator and would-be attorney general had been invited to a nice little political reception in
Delray Beach by political gadfly Andre Fladell.
Gerstein wound up, along with more than a dozen other candidates, jamming his way through a crowd of several hun-
dred people.
"Just a gathering of few of his close friends?" asked Gerstein.
That's what Fladell had said when he invited Gerstein to the reception, put on by Fladell's South County Political Coop-
erative, Security Vault and Knight Enterprises.
Some friends.
Harry Johnston was there. So was his potential Republican rival for the governor's seat, Tom Gallagher. So was Gal-
lagher's running mate, state Rep. Betty Easley. And so was just about everyone else, Republicans and Democrats, who's
running for anything in Palm Beach County.
Rival County Commission candidates Dorothy Wilken and Bob Ferrell were there. So were Senate candidates Adele
Messinger and Bernie Kimmel.
Other candidates included Democrats Jim Stuber, Ryna Mehr, Carol Roberts and Steve Press along with Republican
Frank Messersmith.
Fladell said the point of it all was to get Republicans and Democrats together to have a little fun before the election gets
serious.
"I saw people on opposite sides of the aisle having fun," Fladell said. "There was no tension in the entire place. Nobody
felt uncomfortable, nobody was made to feel uncomfortable."
And now, Fladell said, he figures that no matter who wins the elections, South County will have an instant in with the
powers that be.
"You know when you're going to see the results of this party? When we go to get roads, when we go to get lights, when
we go to get money for beach erosion."
Marcus wants second chance
Page 1027
FLADELL'S LITTLE RECEPTION TURNS INTO A BIG BASH The Miami Herald July 21, 1986 Monday

The contract for county administrator-to-be Jan Winters was approved unanimously and without comment by county
commissioners Thursday.
A mistake, it turns out.
Commission Chairman Karen Marcus didn't realize Thursday's vote was final. Marcus, who wanted local candidate
Vince Bonvento for the job, discovered her mistake after the meeting.
She said she plans to revive the issue Tuesday so that she can go on record as voting no on the Winters contract.
"He wasn't my first choice," Marcus said. "I think in six months' time, if he does all the things he says he can do, maybe
he'll get my vote to raise his salary."
Saying what he means
Rick Martin said he made a mistake.
The Fort Lauderdale patent lawyer said a week ago that he didn't need the votes of retired people to stop Dan Mica's bid
for a fifth term in U.S. House District 14.
What he meant to say, Martin said, was that he doesn't need the votes of any of the district's registered Democrats, many
of whom are retired. Martin, a Republican, said he will win if he can persuade independents and Republicans -- old and
young -- to vote his way.
"I certainly need a portion of the over-65 voters since they comprise about 42 percent of the registered voters," Martin
said.
Martin's central campaign theme is insurance reform. Once older people realize that their medical bills are high because
millon-dollar jury awards for malpractice cases have skyrocketed insurance rates, Martin said, then they will naturally
vote for him instead of Mica.
"My message on insurance reform should wake up a lot of people in Century Village," said Martin, who said he once
worked as a security guard at Century Village in Deerfield Beach.
Messinger hits the streets
Adele Messinger has taken to the streets in her bid to beat incumbent state Sen. Don Childers, D-West Palm Beach, in
District 28.
Borrowing a campaign gimmick from U.S. Sen. Lawton Chiles, who walked the state in his first election campaign,
Messinger said she will walk the eastern side of the district, from West Palm Beach to Boca Raton.
In the less populated western side of the district, Messinger said, she will just drop in at supermarket parking lots.
"I have a lot of energy but the temperature is against me," Messinger said.
The district stretches to Palm Beach County's western edges and includes Hendry County.
Aside from the built-in advantage Childers has as an incumbent, Messinger will have to overcome a nearly 2-to-1 finan-
cial advantage Childers has built up in campaign contributions.
"I'm not worried because I'm going to have twice as many voters," Messinger said.
Through June, Childers had collected $30,921 and spent $8,045. Messinger had collected $16,843 and spent $14,078.
Mehr builds campaign fund
Democrat Ryna Mehr, on the other hand, has collected nearly twice the campaign money as incumbent Republican Car-
ol Hanson in the House District 87 race, although Mehr already has spent much of hers.
Mehr reported collecting $17,905 through June, compared with Hanson's $6,223.
"I expected to do very well," Mehr said.
Mehr said she's thrilled that Hanson has drawn an opponent in the Republican primary -- tax lawyer Tim Whalen.
"I think it's very positive to me," said Mehr, who's hoping Hanson will have to spend much of her money in the primary
race.
Page 1028
FLADELL'S LITTLE RECEPTION TURNS INTO A BIG BASH The Miami Herald July 21, 1986 Monday

"I'm happy she's happy," Hanson said.
Noteworthy
House District 84 candidate Jim Stuber has scheduled a fund-raising auction at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Hyatt Palm
Beaches in West Palm Beach. Stuber picked up the endorsement last week of his former boss, retired U.S. Rep. Paul
Rogers. Stuber worked as an aide to Rogers from 1972 to 1978 . . . House District 81 candidate Gene Badger has sched-
uled a campaign barbecue at 5 p.m. Saturday at the Moose Lodge at 3600 RCA Blvd., Palm Beach Gardens . . . Ann
Decker, an aide to U.S. Rep. Tom Lewis, R-North Palm Beach, will hold office hours in the Okeechobee County
Courthouse from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Thursday.
Verbatim
"I used to work at Lion Country Safari; maybe the lions and tigers will help me."
Accountant H. Scott McCary, discussing his campaign strategy in his race for County Commission against former West
Palm Beach Mayor Carol Roberts.
Herald Staff Writer Craig Gilbert and the Associated Press contributed to this column.
686-3221.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


All Rights Reserved
Page 1029


The Miami Herald

July 7, 1986 Monday
PLM BCH EDITION

JOHNSTON SAYS HIS ADS WILL PUSH HIM TO TOP

BYLINE: RAY HUARD AND NICK RAVO Herald Columnist


LENGTH: 1107 words

Senate President Harry Johnston says an upcoming blitz of television ads will take him out of what he said is now a
three- way tie for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.
While rivals Steve Pajcic and Jim Smith have stayed on the air, Johnston said he kept his ads off while the Legislature
was in session.
"I have not been on television for 90 days. They have," Johnston told supporters last weekend. "Now we're going back
on."
Johnston said his own polling shows the race to be a dead heat, and he figures that's to his advantage because he hasn't
been advertising.
Maybe so, but then again, as Senate president, Johnston automatically got ample media coverage during the session, so
the television ads weren't quite as crucial to keep his name before the public as they were for Pajcic, who quit the Leg-
islature to run for governor, and Smith.
At the same time that he's renewing his television advertising statewide, Johnston said he will be spending much of his
time campaigning in South Florida, where he expects to have an advantage as the only South Florida candidate.
Former Miami Beach state Rep. Barry Kutun pulled out of the race last week and tossed his support to Pajcic, but John-
ston said Kutun's endorsement doesn't count for much.
"I just don't think you can transfer votes," Johnston said.
A voice is stilled
South County lost one of its more vocal political activists with the June 22 heart-attack death of Renee Rosenberg,
president of the Women's Coalition of Palm Beach County and a member of the board of directors of the Atlantic
Democratic Club.
"She's one of the few people who could fight with you, and you'd walk away laughing and liking her," Andre Fladell,
coordinator of the South County Political Cooperative, said in a memorial ceremony for Rosenberg last week.
"We not only lost a very active person in the political field but also a dear friend," said May Yates of the Atlantic Dem-
ocratic Club.
"She was a shining light in the political community," said Adele Messinger, a past president and founder of the Wom-
en's Coalition.
Page 1030
JOHNSTON SAYS HIS ADS WILL PUSH HIM TO TOP The Miami Herald July 7, 1986 Monday

Messinger said Sylvia Jarvis has been chosen acting president of the Women's Coalition until a more permanent presi-
dent can be elected.
Owen's wit
The wit of Palm Beach County Commissioner Jerry Owens never stops.
During a County Commission meeting last week someone proposed that the county acquire a lobbyist in Washington,
D.C.
But Owens proposed getting different lobbyists with different specialities as they are needed.
"You don't have a divorce lawyer represent you criminally," he said.
Then, Owens looked at reporters, some of whom have had to write stories about Owens' recent drunk-driving arrest and
his divorce, and said: "Right? I got two."
Bartenders bash
Boynton Bob Ferrell, the zany, would-be county commissioner who jet-skiied in a tuxedo and handed out palm cards
listing telephone numbers for Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, is at it again.
Ferrell's latest campaign gimmick is a fund-raising celebrity bartenders bash Aug. 11 at Shooters Restaurant in Boynton
Beach.
The celebrities in this case are Ferrell and five other Republican candidates -- state Reps. Carol Hansen of Boca Raton,
Bernard Kimmel of West Palm Beach, Frank Messersmith of Lake Worth, former Lake Worth City Commissioner
Mark Foley and Geraldine Field.
"I don't know if anybody is a proficient bartender or not. It's just a fun thing," Ferrell said. "If they ask for anything ex-
otic, they've got a problem. I'll stick with the basics -- beer and rum and Coke."
Ferrell is running for County Commission in District 4. Hansen is running for re-election in House District 87; Mes-
sersmith is running for re-election in House District 85; Kimmel for the state Senate in District 26; Foley for state rep-
resentative in District 84, and Field for state representative in District 86.
"What it is actually is is six fund-raisers at the same time all at the same spot," Ferrell said.
The celebrity bartenders bash seemed "like a good way to see if you could get a large group of Republicans together at
one time," Ferrell said.
Funny thing, though, Ferrell didn't invite his Republican primary opponent, Norman Gregory, to be one of the celebrity
bartenders.
"I was sure he would be busy," Ferrell said.
Also absent from the celbrity bartenders list is Hansen's primary opponent, Timothy Whalen, and Kimmel's primary
opponent, Dirk Smith.
Ferrell said he invited only those people he knew to be bartenders -- and he doesn't know Whalen or Smith.
Strange bedfellows
This must be the year for odd gatherings in politics, because the South County Political Cooperative and Security Vault
International are co-sponsoring a July 16 reception for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Harry Johnston and Repub-
lican gubernatorial candidate Tom Gallagher.
Cooperative coordinator Andre Fladell said his group backs Johnston but some members think Gallagher is a fine fel-
low, too. Security Vault officials back Gallagher but don't dump on Johnston, either.
"It's all strictly social," Fladell said.
The reception also will honor Democratic state Rep. Steve Press of Delray Beach and Republican state Rep. Frank
Messersmith of Lake Worth.
The cooperative is endorsing Press, but because cooperative members are predominately Democrats, will not give the
nod to Messersmith, even though he so far is running unopposed.
Page 1031
JOHNSTON SAYS HIS ADS WILL PUSH HIM TO TOP The Miami Herald July 7, 1986 Monday

"I personally think Frank Messersmith is an excellent state representative, and I don't care what party he's in," Fladell
said. "I think Messersmith is one of the most improved representatives."
Noteworthy
Rep. Bernie Kimmel, R-West Palm Beach, has officially opened his campaign office at 6020 S. Dixie Highway in West
Palm Beach. Kimmel, who is running for the Senate in District 26, has named Russ Berge as his campaign manager. . . .
Supervisor of Elections Jackie Winchester on July 4 began dispatching a mobile registration unit throughout the county.
Aug. 2 is the deadline to register to vote in the Sept. 2 primary. Here's the schedule for this week: Tuesday, 10 a.m. to
2:30 p.m., Town Center mall, Boca Raton, and 3:30 to 8 p.m., Tom Berg's Chicken and Ribs, 9819 S. Military Trail,
suburban Boynton Beach; Thursday, 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Kings Point Shopping Center, suburban Delray Beach, and
3:30 to 8 p.m. Delray Mall, Delray Beach; Friday, 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Lighthouse Plaza, Tequesta, and 3:30 to 8 p.m.,
Jupiter Mall, Jupiter; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Century Corners in suburban West Palm Beach, and 3:30 to 8 p.m.,
Cross County Mall, suburban West Palm Beach.
at 686-3221 or 278-6955.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


All Rights Reserved
Page 1032


The Miami Herald

June 9, 1986 Monday
PLM BCH EDITION

DELRAY DEMOCRATIC CLUB TRYING TO REGAIN CHARTER

BYLINE: RAY HUARD AND NICK RAVO Herald Staff Writers


LENGTH: 990 words

The Delray Beach Democratic Club is back in business.
The state party last month yanked the club's charter for failing to pay its dues or submit loyalty oaths from club mem-
bers.
Club President Leonard Syrop said he's mailed the party a $50 check and is working with Democratic State Commit-
teewoman Katherine Kelly to regain the club's charter.
"Whatever there is to do will be done," said Elaine Roberts, a director of the club.
Syrop, who had a mild stroke last month and underwent open heart surgery six years ago, said losing the club charter
caused him so much stress that he turned in his resignation last week.
But Syrop said the club's board of directors refused to accept it and instead said they would assume more of the work of
running the organization.
"I feel very proud about it," Syrop said. "It's a good ego builder."
Syrop earlier this year asked state party officials to waive the dues because his club was having money troubles while it
reorganized. But state party officials said they had no record of Syrop's request and that the party has never before
granted a waiver.
Syrop still is fuming over party requirements that all club members sign loyalty oaths and that the club change its
by-laws to require that 25 percent of its members be present to have a quorum.
"That's something I'll have to take up inside the Democratic Party and fight it out with the state officers," he said.
Persuasive commissioner
One of the biggest behind-the-scenes presences in Tallahassee over the past few weeks has been Palm Beach County
Commissioner Ken Spillias.
Almost single-handedly, in a 10-minute meeting, he persuaded House Speaker James Harold Thompson, D-Quincy, last
week to release the Palm Beach County Solid Waste Authority bill.
That bill, which passed in the final days of the session, makes garbage collection fees part of property tax bills and
would require the tax collector to collect the fees.
"He (Thompson) said, 'I have a problem with the bill,' " Spillias said.
Page 1033
DELRAY DEMOCRATIC CLUB TRYING TO REGAIN CHARTER The Miami Herald June 9, 1986 Monday

"And I said, 'I have an amendment.' "
The amendment ensures that a homeowner cannot lose his home if he fails to pay the garbage fee. It does provide,
however, that the county can place a lien on the property if the bill isn't paid.
"In three days, Ken Spillias saved the taxpayers of Palm Beach County $100 million," said county lobbyist William
Broughton III.
Debate is off
Former School Board candidate Sally Beach has pulled out of a radio debate of school teaching methods with state Sen-
ate candidate Adele Messinger.
Beach said she doesn't want to give Messinger a forum in her campaign against incumbent state Sen. Don Childers,
D-West Palm Beach.
Andre Fladell, coordinator of the South County Political Cooperative, had suggested to WJNO radio producer Frank
Valente that Messinger, a former school reading specialist, would be a good choice to debate Beach. The two were
scheduled to debate values clarification, a teaching method designed to present students with a variety of views about
controversial issues such as abortion, drug use and sex.
"I don't want to be manipulated by Andre Fladell to push his candidate or give his candidate a forum," Beach said.
Messinger said Beach withdrew because she's afraid she would lose the debate.
"She's just, I feel, a very uninformed person," Messinger said. "It's just so sad that somebody has such a narrow view of
life that they're petrified about (defending) their own values."
Said Beach: "I'm not afraid to debate her, heavens no. Tell her I'll go on TV or anything else -- after the election."
Raw talent in Tallahassee
When it comes to hams, the Palm Beach County legislative delegation is tops.
At last week's fifth annual Legislative Staff talent show, three of the four masters of ceremony were from Palm Beach
County: state Sen. William G. "Doc" Myers, R-Hobe Sound, and state Reps. Ray Liberti, D-West Palm Beach, and
Carol Hanson, R- Boca Raton.
It was the second consecutive year for Liberti and Hanson. For Myers, it was his debut, and he even sang a duet with
aide Joan Holder.
"He has a beautiful voice," said Clover Ulrich, an aide to Liberti. "They sang a beautiful duet."
Ulrich played Ginger Rogers in another skit. Other local performers included Rep. Steve Press, D-Delray Beach, as Bob
Dylan; Gina DiZinno, an aide to Rep. James C. Hill, R-Jupiter, as Grace Slick; and Michele Grabasch, an aide to state
Rep. Bernard Kimmel, R-West Palm Beach, and Nancy Morrison, an aide to Press, as Cyndy Lauper and Girls.
Noteworthy
The Rev. Lywin Kathryn Smith, associate pastor at Union Congregational Church of Christ in West Palm Beach, has
been named Florida coordinator of the Religious Coalition for Abortion Rights. . . . David Earle, an aide to U.S. Rep.
Tom Lewis, R-North Palm Beach, will tour the Glades area Tuesday to meet with constituents. Earle will be at Belle
Glade City Hall from 9 to 10 a.m., Clewiston City Hall from 11 a.m. to noon, Moore Haven City Hall from 1 to 2 p.m.
and La Belle City Hall from 3 to 4 p.m. . . . Wilma Greenfield, president of the American Association of Social Work-
ers, and Diane Alperin, chairman of Florida Atlantic University's Department of Social Work, will address the South
County Chapter of the National Organization for Women at 7:30 p.m. June 18 at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship,
2601 St. Andrews Blvd., Boca Raton. . . . the Boca Raton Men's Republican Club and the Poinciana Women's Republi-
can Club will dedicate their joint campaign headquarters at 4:30 p.m. June 20 at 855 S. Federal Highway, Boca Raton.
Verbatim
"You've got incident after incident after incident of misuse of public funds." . . . Solon Wisham, assistant city manager
of Sacramento, Calif., and a candidate for Palm Beach county administrator, commenting on the impression he got of
local and county governments after reading area newspapers.
Page 1034
DELRAY DEMOCRATIC CLUB TRYING TO REGAIN CHARTER The Miami Herald June 9, 1986 Monday

Ray Huard is on vacation. Nick Ravo may be reached in West Palm Beach at 686-3221 from North and Central County
or 278-6955 from South County.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


All Rights Reserved
Page 1035


The Miami Herald

June 6, 1986 Friday
PLM BCH EDITION

PROPOSAL TO INCREASE BED TAX UNDER STUDY

BYLINE: CRAIG GILBERT Herald Staff Writer


LENGTH: 347 words

Hoteliers and tourism officials Thursday told Palm Beach County commissioners that raising the county's bed tax would
hurt tourism -- not help it.
"You're killing the industry," complained Errol Mueller, owner of Sunset Villas Motel in Lake Worth.
The commissioners, who weren't ready to vote on the tax, did what governments do -- appoint a committee.
The committee will spend no longer than six months studying whether the increase would hurt tourism and whether the
revenue from an increase should be used for beach renourishment, for a convention center, or something else.
The county's current bed tax, charged on hotel and motel rooms and also known as the tourist development tax, is 2
percent. But this year the state Legislature passed a law allowing counties to raise it to 3 percent. Four of the county's
five commissioners would have to agree to an increase.
The county now allows the money to be used only for tourism promotions and special events designed to attract tourists.
But the state allows that money to be used for beach restoration, convention centers, sports complexes and other pro-
jects.
The county's Tourist Development Council, made up of tourism officials, hoteliers and others in the industry, lobbied
the county Thursday to reject an increase. Members also oppose using the money for anything other than promotion and
special events.
Phil Hughes, vice president of the county Hotel and Hotel Association, said the increase would dull the county's com-
petitive edge over other areas with steeper bed taxes.
"Two cents is enough. Let's try to keep it that way," said Wanda Wulf. The owner of the Sun Ray Motel in Lake Worth
complained occupancy rates in Lake Worth were slipping.
Speaking for the tax was Andre Fladell, head of the South County Political Cooperative, who urged commissioners to
use the money for beach renourishment.
Commissioners want to appoint the study committee later this month. It will include representatives of the Tourist De-
velopment Council, Hotel and Motel Association, South County Political Cooperative, beach advocates and other
groups.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
Page 1036
PROPOSAL TO INCREASE BED TAX UNDER STUDY The Miami Herald June 6, 1986 Friday


All Rights Reserved
Page 1037


The Miami Herald

PLM BCH EDITION

DEMOCRATIC SPLINTER GROUP FORMS ALTERNATIVE TO PARTY
ORGANIZATION



LENGTH: 387 words

Renegade Democrats are forming an alternative to the Palm Beach County Democratic Executive Committee, saying
the established party structure is impotent and embarrassing.
"The DEC doesn't do anything," said Charles McCain, an organizer of a group calling itself The Progressive Forum.
"The DEC really has no power in itself. It has no members except for the screamers that show up at the meetings."
At the heart of the Progressive Forum are people -- including McCain -- who were booted off the Democratic Executive
Committee two months ago by DEC Chairman Raymond Rea.
They include Boca Raton lawyer Cynthia Allen, Palm Beach Port Authority member Sandy Klein, West Palm Beach
lawyer Cliff Hertz, former County Commission aide Robin Bernstein and Andre Fladell, coordinator of the South
"We're going to do what the party's supposed to do, which is putting out a positive image," Fladell said.
"Any type of organization that works toward the election of Democrats, I'm all in favor of, no doubt about it," Rea said.
But Rea said he questioned the motives of the new group.
"A lot of these people, their egos have been bruised," Rea said. "You cannot allow egos to interfere with the workings
of the party."
McCain said one of the Progressive Forum's big gripes with the DEC is that it refuses to endorse candidates in Demo-
cratic primary elections.
"It's absurd," McCain said. "If you don't get involved in the primary, you're not involved in politics. What are you in the
DEC for?"
McCain also said the existing party structure is dominated by holdovers from the 1950s who spend their time debating
political ideology, alienating younger voters the party should try to attract.
"The majority of people are not concerned about the fine points of ideology, only people deeply involved in politics
are," McCain said.
He said the new group was trying to attract people who were political activists on campuses in previous decades.
"We want to reach out to these people who are our peers," said McCain, 30.
Page 1038
DEMOCRATIC SPLINTER GROUP FORMS ALTERNATIVE TO PARTY ORGANIZATION The Miami Herald

Rea, 37, said DEC members actively work in primary campaigns.
"They probably work in a quiet fashion and you don't see any breast beating saying this is what I'm doing," Rea said.
He said the DEC, under party rules, does not endorse Democrats against Democrats in the primary because it would
split the party.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


All Rights Reserved
Page 1039


The Miami Herald

June 2, 1986 Monday
PLM BCH EDITION

YOUNG DEMOCRATS WON'T ENDORSE JOHNSTON



LENGTH: 1080 words

Senate President Harry Johnston has lost the endorsement of his hometown Young Democrats.
"The bottom line is people are not happy with Harry Johnston for governor," said Dan Liftman, the newly elected
chairman of Young Democrats of Palm Beach County. "People were just not ready to stand with Harry Johnston, local
boy or not."
Instead, Liftman said the county's Young Democrats will advise the Young Democrats state convention in Melbourne
later this month to endorse no one in the governor's race.
"He (Johnston) does not have this sewn up," Liftman said.
Liftman said county Young Democrats came close to endorsing Johnston's rival, former state Rep. Steve Pajcic of
Jacksonville.
Johnston's press aide, Randy Lewis, said the Young Democrats' failure to endorse Johnston "was fully expected."
"Clearly the Young Democrats here in Palm Beach County, as they are statewide, tend to be younger, more liberal ac-
tivists," Lewis said.
Liftman said Johnston's refusal to back legislation that would abolish the Palm Beach County Expressway Authority
was a key factor in the local Young Democrats' decision to withhold their endorsement.
"I represent a district on the Democratic Executive Committee that would be paved over," Liftman said.
The Young Democrats did endorse Dade County consumer activist Walter Dartland for attorney general.
Liftman, a stores clerk for the county, replaces Jeffrey Vorpagel as president of the Young Democrats. Bobbie Fink, a
reporter for Globe-Sun Newspapers in Boca Raton, replaces Liftman as executive vice president.
Game turns tragic
Early last Monday, state Rep. Ray Liberti, D-West Palm Beach, had his mind on other things besides lawmaking.
The day before, Liberti was one of eight people playing catch with Ray Stewart when the Zephyrhills state representa-
tive suffered a fatal heart attack on a Tallahassee softball field.
"He just bent over and said, 'I'm dizzy,' and that's it," Liberti said. "Ambulances came like crazy. We went to the hospi-
tal and waited and then the doctor told me that he didn't make it."
Liberti also helped draft a letter to the emergency medical units that tried in vain to save Stewart's life.
Page 1040
YOUNG DEMOCRATS WON'T ENDORSE JOHNSTON The Miami Herald June 2, 1986 Monday

"I think sometimes we involve ourselves in this (Legislature) so much," Liberti said. "We probably all need to slow
down a bit."
Because of Stewart's death, the legislative staff's annual talent show, featuring Liberti and state Rep. Carol Hanson, R-
Boca Raton, as masters of ceremony, was postponed until this Wednesday.
Curriculum debate
State Senate candidate Adele Messinger will debate former School Board candidate Sally Beach on WJNO radio over
the use in public schools of a teaching method called values clarification. The method is designed to present students
with a variety of views about controversial issues such as abortion, drug use and sex.
The debate is tentatively set for 4 p.m. June 17 on the Jack Cole show, WJNO producer Frank Valente said.
Valente said the debate was prompted by an aborted drive by activist Bob Plimpton to recruit Christian candidates to
run for the School Board in November.
The recruitment effort drew harsh criticism, with conservatives and liberals alike saying it was inappropriate to recruit
candidates based on their religion.
Beach, who was campaign manager for School Board member Gail Bjork, said the real issue is what is taught in the
schools.
Messinger, who is running in the Democratic primary against incumbent Don Childers, said she agreed to debate Beach
because "part of the reason I'm running is the interference of the current state senator a couple of years ago" in school
textbook selection. As a former school reading specialist, Messinger was involved in textbook selection for the
Hewlett-Woodmere School System on Long Island, N.Y.
When he was a member of the Senate Education Committee, Childers said he objected to the use of a values clarifica-
tion textbook called Let's Talk Health because it encouraged children to disobey their parents.
Since leaving the Education Committee, Childers said he has not been involved in the issue of textbook selection.
Campaign opening
Messinger will officially launch her campaign with a $10-per-person fund-raising cocktail party and dance from 5 to 7
p.m. June 22 at Shooters Restaurant in Boynton Beach.
"This is the really big one that we're really pushing for," Messinger said. "The door-to-door campaign will start in July."
Messinger also is planning a newspaper advertising blitz, but said she does not intend to do much television advertising.
It's too expensive and covers too much of the county that is not in Childers' Senate district, she said.
Messinger will open her campaign headquarters between 5 to 7 p.m. June 16 in Suite D 3 of the Promenade, 5130 Lin-
ton Blvd., Delray Beach.
Childers will start his campaign in earnest the week after the Legislature adjourns. But he said he has not decided
whether to go heavily for media advertising.
"We haven't had time to sit down and analyze what we're going to do other than to say we'll do whatever's necessary to
win."
Strange maneuvers
The legislative maneuvers that left Childers' open- container bill hanging in the Senate last week were so baffling that
Childers wasn't really sure if he had won or lost.
Just an hour after the final vote not to vote on the bill (CS/S32) Thursday, Childers said: "I think it is a victory. It auto-
matically goes to third reading tomorrow."
But third reading doesn't mean it is going to be placed on the special order calendar for a vote.
The bill -- which prohibits anyone in a moving vehicle from possessing an open container of an alcoholic beverage -- is
expected to come up for a vote sometime this week.
Page 1041
YOUNG DEMOCRATS WON'T ENDORSE JOHNSTON The Miami Herald June 2, 1986 Monday

Senate opponents, led by Dempsey Barron of Panama City and Jim Scott of Fort Lauderdale, are expected to fight to
change the bill so that it exempts passengers.
Noteworthy
Indianapolis Mayor William Hudnut will address the Loggerhead Club at noon June 20 at the Park Place Hotel in Boca
Raton . . . North Palm Beach Village Manager Raymond Howland has been elected to the board of directors of the
Florida City and County Managers Association.
Verbatim
"If he wants to raise hell, fine, let him do that. If people play into his hands to divide the party, fine, that's their choice."
-- Democratic Executive Committee Chairman Raymond Rea commenting on political activist Andre Fladell's criti-
cism of Rea.
Ray Huard may be reached in Delray Beach at 272-2626 or 737-1009. Nick Ravo is on assignment in Tallahassee and
may be reached at 904-222-3095.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


All Rights Reserved
Page 1042


The Miami Herald

June 1, 1986 Sunday
FINAL EDITION

LEFT, RIGHT BATTLE TO CONTROL SCHOOL BOARD


SECTION: LOCAL; B; Pg. 6

LENGTH: 571 words

An aborted drive to recruit "Christians" to run for the Palm Beach County School Board has ignited a fierce fight be-
tween liberal and conservative activists to win control of the School Board.
At issue is what textbooks children should use and what teachers should be able to say in the classroom.
The effort to recruit "Christian candidates" has been abandoned -- criticized by conservatives and liberals alike as inap-
propriate because it implied that someone's qualification to run should be based on religious beliefs.
But it has prompted people on both sides to organize politically to a degree rarely seen before in county School Board
races and promises unusually heated campaigns in the fall.
"It was so raw, it was so blatant, that it really was a trigger," said Hy Kirp, who led a Boca Raton rally in reaction to the
Christian recruitment drive and is organizing a coalition to back liberal candidates for the School Board.
"People who are not religious people, who aren't political, who haven't been involved in any way have come out of the
woodwork," said Andre Fladell, coordinator of the South County Political Cooperative. "They feel there's a significant
threat coming."
Those on the other side of the issue are every bit as active, angered by what they see as overreaction from people who
would purge the schools of what they see as "traditional Judeo- Christian values."
"As long as conservative Christian values can be trashed, then anyone's values can be trashed," said Sally Beach, a for-
mer School Board candidate.
Beach said conservative groups -- some associated with churches and some not -- have formed a loose coalition to pro-
mote candidates who would stop what she said is "a permissive, liberal approach" to public education.
"Hopefully, we can influence the (Sept. 2) primary," said Beach, who was the campaign manager for School Board
member Gail Bjork.
"This is certainly no attempt to Christianize the schools," Beach said. "I'm not a fundamentalist Christian. I'm a con-
servative. It's conservative verses liberal. It's right verses left."
Bjork, who campaigned on a platform to kill a teaching method called values clarification, said school programs have
"an outright prejudice against the Christian religion."
"Textbook issues and values clarification are examples of the government's almost anti-religious stance," Bjork said.
Page 1043
LEFT, RIGHT BATTLE TO CONTROL SCHOOL BOARD The Miami Herald June 1, 1986 Sunday

"One of the biggest problems of the fundamentalists is they're trying to have an education where they (children) accept,
they don't think," said Ray Wittstein, who helped organize the Boca Raton rally.
Bob Plimpton, the man who caused the initial furor by circulating fliers that read "wanted: qualified Christian candi-
dates," has been silent on the matter.
Plimpton didn't return repeated messages left by The Herald over three days last week on a telephone answering ma-
chine. Beach said Plimpton has stopped talking to reporters.
Plimpton is a Palm Beach County activist for the Freedom Council, a political offshoot of television evangelist Pat
Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network.
Florida Freedom Council spokesman Richard Pinsky disavowed any council connection to Plimpton's campaign.
"It's a mistake," Pinsky said. "There's no such thing as a Christian candidate, no more than someone would be looking
for a Jewish candidate."
Nevertheless, Pinsky said the council is encouraging people with "moral and traditional values" to run for School Board
seats throughout Florida.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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Page 1044


The Miami Herald

PLM BCH EDITION

DEMOCRATS FEUDING OVER CLUB'S LOSS OF CHARTER



LENGTH: 592 words

The Palm Beach County Democratic Party is feuding. And the fight's between Executive Committee Chairman Ray-
mond Rea and South County activist Andre Fladell and his allies.
"The best thing Raymond Rea could do at this time if he wants to help the Democratic Party is become a Republican,"
said Fladell, coordinator of the South County Political Cooperative, an umbrella organization of eight political clubs and
a homeowners association.
Rea, who last month booted Fladell off the DEC, said Fladell's just trying to make trouble.
"Every opportunity he has to raise some hell, he's trying to raise some hell," Rea said. "If anyone wants to pick a fight,
it's Andre."
An early casualty is the Democratic Club of Delray Beach, which had its charter yanked last week by the state Demo-
cratic Party after Rea reported that the club failed to meet party requirements for charter renewal.
The action means that the 100-member, 2-year-old club can no longer call itself Democratic. Club President Leonard
Syrop is a member of Fladell's cooperative.
"Who the hell are they to take away a charter from someone who's just starting and wants to grow," asked Jack Babich,
president of the West Delray Democratic Club.
Babich, who also is a member of Fladell's cooperative, was reprimanded last week by Democratic State Chairman
Charles Whitehead after Rea reported that Babich had endorsed candidates in the November Democratic primary -- a
violation of party rules.
Babich protested that the endorsements didn't come from him but came from the cooperative, which Babich said is not a
Democratic club and therefore is not subject to party rules.
"If Raymond Rea was smart, he would step down from his chair," Babich said. "He hasn't made any move for peace.
He's antagonizing the members."
Rea said Babich endorsed several state candidates in his club's newsletter and that was wrong.
"Endorsement lends itself to too much back room politics," Rea said. "If people don't want to play by the rules of the
game, that's their choice."
Rea said he repeatedly tried to help Syrop's club retain its charter but the club refused the help. He said the party's action
against the club was not related to the club's connections with Fladell.
Page 1045
DEMOCRATS FEUDING OVER CLUB'S LOSS OF CHARTER The Miami Herald May 31, 1986 Saturday

"Actually, I don't see what concern it is of Andre's," Rea said. "They lost their charter, that's true, because they failed for
a month to meet the requirements of the state party."
Syrop said his club is having money trouble and was unable to pay its dues to the state party and that's why its charter
was revoked.
"I'm not blaming any one person," Syrop said. "I think it's just bad policy on the part of the officers of the Democratic
Party."
Syrop said the club sent party officials in Tallahasse a letter asking that the dues be waived until the club reorganizes.
Michael Hamby, executive director of the state Democratic party, said he has no record of Syrop's request.
Hamby said it's unusual for a club to lose its charter but he said the Delray Beach club could be rechartered as soon as it
meets party requirements. He said the club could appeal for the dues waiver through the party's Clubs Committee, alt-
hough Hamby said didn't know of an instance in which the committee has ever granted such a waiver.
Babich said the intraparty squabbling could hurt party prospects in November.
"This is the time of year when we should have peace and quiet and work together getting the vote out, otherwise we're
doomed," Babich said.
Rea said Babich was being melodramatic, that the fuss would "not in the slightest" affect the chances of Democratic
candidates.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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Page 1046


The Miami Herald

PLM BCH EDITION

IMC BACKER SEEKS CANDIDATE TO CHALLENGE MICA

BYLINE: GREGORY SPEARS Knight-Ridder Newspapers


LENGTH: 840 words

A staunch supporter of International Medical Centers is trying to recruit a candidate to run this fall against Rep. Dan
Mica, a Boynton Beach Democrat, saying that Mica has hurt senior citizens by launching a "campaign of fear" against
the health maintenance organization.
Dr. Richard Carrington, a longtime political activist in Palm Beach County, said he is searching for a Republican can-
didate to oppose Mica, but added, "I'd even settle for a Democrat."
Carrington refused to say if he has found a candidate, saying only that he was interviewing prospects and had no an-
nouncement to make yet.
IMC officials say Carrington was instrumental in persuading the Miami health care company to expand into Palm Beach
County three years ago, and since then he has served as vice chairman of IMC's citizens advisory committee in Palm
Beach County. IMC officials said, however, they are playing no part in Carrington's efforts to recruit a candidate to op-
pose Mica.
Carrington said he is working with the backing of the Coalition of Boynton Beach West Residential Association, an
association of civic groups in 17 residential developments that he said represents about 27,000 residents.
Carrington, a retired management psychologist, said he has turned against Mica because he believes the congressman is
exploiting IMC's problems for political gain. "If he thinks he's going to gain a lot of political support by frightening
elderly members of the Gold Plus Plan, then he was mistaken," Carrington said.
IMC is paid $30 million a month by the federal government to care for about 145,000 Medicare patients in six Florida
counties. IMC has 30,435 members in Palm Beach County.
Carrington conceded that with barely six months until November's general election it's probably too late for anyone to
launch a successful campaign against Mica. He said that even if he fails this year, he will work to beat Mica in 1988.
Andre Fladell, coordinator of a large coalition of Palm Beach County Democratic clubs and homeowners' associations,
said no one will beat Mica this year. "Everybody likes to stir the voters, but reality is Dan Mica will be re-elected," he
said Friday.
"Richard Carrington is a wonderfully dedicated, hard- working individual but when you want to unseat an incumbent
you need to have numbers and money and a qualified candidate," Fladell said. "None of that exists in this district."
Mica, unopposed for re-election to his fifth term from Florida's 14th Congressional District, has been IMC's harshest
public critic. In a series of Washington press conferences, Mica has repeatedly alleged that IMC, the state's largest
health maintenance organization, is having serious financial problems that could cause its collapse.
Page 1047
IMC BACKER SEEKS CANDIDATE TO CHALLENGE MICA The Miami Herald May 24, 1986 Saturday

Last week he asked the Health and Human Services Department to impose a moratorium on any further Medicare cus-
tomers joining IMC until the company proves its financial soundness. "I wouldn't recommend my own mother to join at
this stage," Mica said Wednesday.
IMC officials heatedly deny that the company is in financial difficulty. Earlier this year, they agreed to comply with a
state request to infuse the company with $9.1 million in new capital.
At least four federal investigations of the company -- some requested by Mica -- still are under way.
Asked to respond to Carrington's charges, Mica relayed a response by way of an aide Friday. "Of course, Dr. Carrington
is an employee of IMC and he has the right to do whatever he sees fit," Mica said. "But before he does, I would be hap-
py to arrange for Dr. Carrington to meet for five minutes with each of four federal agency representatives so he might
have a clearer picture of what's going on here."
Carrington, 78, denied he is an employee or shareholder of IMC. He is paid a fee for attending monthly meetings of the
IMC citizens' advisory committee, but said he would not disclose how much without the company's permission.
IMC spokesman Fran Paris said board members are paid $200 a month.
Carrington said his disagreement with Mica began in April when he was refused permission to speak at a House Select
Committee on Aging hearing on HMOs that Mica held in Boynton Beach. Carrington said he was prepared to testify
that only 5 percent of IMC members have complaints about the company.
In an interview last week, Carrington derisively referred to the meeting as a "kangaroo court" that accepted only critical
testimony about IMC. He said he believes Mica has employed the hearings as a "political ploy" to help his re-election
campaign.
Mica has said several times that the hearings he held in the district last spring were crucial to his decision to press for
federal investigations of the company. The hearings indicated that IMC had not paid many of its bills, and an IMC ex-
ecutive conceded that the company had lost the records of 5,000 bills it owed because of a computer foul-up.
But Carrington said the hearings -- and Mica's subsequent critical public statements about the company -- have ignored
what good the company's health plan provides to senior citizens.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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Page 1048


The Miami Herald

May 19, 1986 Monday
PLM BCH EDITION

URBAN LEAGUE LEADER: BLACKS MUST PAY DUES

BYLINE: RAY HUARD ND NICK RAVO Herald Columnists


LENGTH: 1063 words

Urban League Director Percy Lee had some harsh words last week for the handful of people who showed up for the first
day of the Florida Democratic Black Caucus convention in West Palm Beach.
"We have a problem in the black community. Number one, a lot of us aren't paying our dues. When I say pay our dues,
you've got to be concerned with everything that's going on in the community," Lee said. "You've either got to do some-
thing or move to another community and keep quiet."
To Lee, paying dues means monitoring the action of every county agency and board to make sure they consider the in-
terests of the county's blacks.
"I say those who aren't out there working for a black cause are working with white folks against the black community,"
Lee said.
Urging expansion of the County Commission from five to nine with commissioners elected by district, Lee said the
current system of at-large commissioners makes it impossible for blacks as a minority of the population to elect their
own candidates.
Lee said at-large countywide races require expensive media- oriented campaigns instead of person-to-person cam-
paigning, which is what most black candidates are limited to because of money problems.
"You could run a dead white person and by the time people find out he's dead, the election's over and he will have
beaten the most sophisticated black candidate," Lee said.
Watt surveys the field
State Rep. James L. Watt, R-Lake Park, never knew his District 81 legislative seat, which he will vacate in November,
was so popular.
Here's his assessment of the four Republicans who are vying to replace him:
Jim Genovese of Riviera Beach: "He speaks well and presents a good image."
Eugene Badger of Belle Glade and Palm Beach Gardens: "I believe he is the only candidate that works in one part of the
district and lives in the other and that has got to help him."
Former Palm Beach County Commissioner Peggy Evatt: "Obviously she has large name recognition, and I don't think
she's ever lost an election."
Page 1049
URBAN LEAGUE LEADER: BLACKS MUST PAY DUES The Miami Herald May 19, 1986 Monday

Marian Lewis, the wife of Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Lewis of North Palm Beach: "Certainly, she knows the issues and
the players in Tallahassee. Marian is not just the wife of a congressman. She has a lot of accomplishments of her own.
Her real estate business. She was president of the West Palm Beach Chamber of Commerce, too."
And here's Watt's assessment of the three leading Republican candidates for governor:
Tampa Mayor Bob Martinez: "A solid person of accomplishment because of his record as mayor."
Former U.S. Rep. Lou Frey of Orlando: "A better speaker . . . has a strong following and high name recognition."
State Rep. Tom Gallagher, R-Coconut Grove, (who is Watt's office mate in the state Capitol): "He's really coming on
strong. I don't think anyone can deny that he is a very attractive candidate in a media campaign."
Smooth sailing
Unlike last year, there was no fiasco at the Palm Beach County Commission's annual visit to Tallahassee this year.
Even Watt, who was particularly incensed by some broken protocol that occurred when the commission visited the cap-
ital last year, conceded that everything went smoothly this year.
"I think they did a good job," he said.
Perhaps the best example of the commission's new sense of style this year was exhibited by County Commissioner Ken
Adams.
On Wednesday, the commissioner called state Rep. Carol Hanson, R-Boca Raton, out of the House chambers "just to
tell her what a good job she was doing."
Then, of course, Adams paused and said, "Now, about that tricounty rail. . . ."
Rail lobbying
Adams is convinced the county's lobbying effort paid off with the tricounty commuter railroad that would link West
Palm Beach with Metrorail in Miami.
Adams said he found many skeptics when he went to Tallahassee to push for railroad money, including House Appro-
priations Committee member C. Fred Jones, D-Auburndale.
"He was very lukewarm about it," Adams said.
But after a chat with Adams, Jones became a firm commuter rail backer when the measure came up for a committee
vote.
"It has been a major turnaround," Adams said.
Adams said that proves Palm Beach, Broward and Dade counties can work together on matters of common interest.
"If we stick together, we can get something accomplished," Adams said. "A good deal of the credit goes to Rep. Tom
Gustafson (D-Fort Lauderdale). He's been very, very supportive of Palm Beach County interests all the way through."
Endorsements
The South County Political Cooperative has endorsed Agriculture Commissioner Doyle Conner, Insurance Commis-
sioner Bill Gunter, and Secretary of State George Firestone for re- election.
But cooperative members -- most of whom are Democrats -- declined to endorse Gov. Bob Graham in his race to unseat
Republican U.S. Sen. Paula Hawkins.
"My people feel Graham has neglected our constituency on the local level," cooperative coordinator Andre Fladell
said. "We don't think Paula's any better, by the way."
Noteworthy
Palm Beach County Public Defender Richard Jorandby has been named honorary chairman of U.S. Sen. Paula Hawkins'
re- election campaign in Palm Beach County. Named as co-chairmen were Jean Pipes of Boynton Beach, Anne Roberts
of West Palm Beach, West Palm Beach lawyer Vladimir Martinez, Ed Gonzales of the Cuban American Republican
Club, and Jorandby's wife, Cheryl Jorandby, who is president of the Republican Club of the Palm Beaches. . . . County
Page 1050
URBAN LEAGUE LEADER: BLACKS MUST PAY DUES The Miami Herald May 19, 1986 Monday

Republicans have formed a political action committee to raise money for Republican candidates in the 1986 elections. '.
. . Florida Supreme Court Justice Rosemary Barkett will address the Loggerhead Club at noon Friday at the Park Place
Hotel in Boca Raton. . . . County Commissioner Dorothy Wilken has been re-elected chairman of the Crime Prevention
Council of Palm Beach County.
Verbatim
"This is the most progressive commission we've ever had. This survey either means the urologists don't know what's
going on or what has been done. As far as I'm concerned, they've done a very good job."
-- Palm Beach County Administrator John Sansbury on an unscientific survey done by two urologists showing that
twice as many people think the commission is doing a less than average job as think they are doing a better than average
job.
Ray Huard may be reached in Delray Beach at 272-2626 from South County or 737-1009 from Central and North
County. Nick Ravo is on assignment in Tallahassee and may be reached at 904-222-3095.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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Page 1051


The Miami Herald

May 18, 1986 Sunday
PLM BCH EDITION

COALITION OF DEMOCRATIC CLUBS ENDORSES JOHNSTON FOR
GOVERNOR



LENGTH: 426 words

A coalition of Democratic clubs from Palm Beach and Broward counties issued resounding endorsements of Senate
President Harry Johnston for governor Saturday in a drive to stop Johnston's chief rival from making inroads among
South Florida condominium residents.
"I will not forget who put me in office," Johnston, D-West Palm Beach, told 325 club leaders and officials at a Boca
Raton breakfast rally.
Johnston said the condominium vote is essential if he is to beat Steve Pajcic, a former state representative from Jack-
sonville, in the Sept. 2 Democratic primary.
With voter turnout predicted to be as low as 25 percent, "I'm very much concerned about that first primary," Johnston
said. "The election can be won right here in Palm Beach and North Broward County. You right in this room can control
35,000 to 45,000 votes."
Johnston faces four main challengers in the primary -- Attorney General Jim Smith, Sen. Frank Mann of Fort Myers,
former Miami Rep. Barry Kutun and Pajcic. But it is Pajcic who has raised the most money.
"Pajcic is concentrating very heavily, especially in Broward, in getting the condominium vote," said Henry Handler,
former chairman of the Palm Beach County Democratic Executive Committee and a host of the Boca Raton rally. "This
breakfast was designed to put to rest where club leaders and condominium leaders stand."
"In here, we have the movers, the people who get out the vote," said Trenchi Trinchitella, president of the Deerfield
Beach Democratic Club.
"With Ken Jenne as Senate president, Tom Gustafson as speaker of the House and Harry Johnston as governor, Broward
and Palm Beach are going to gain, gain, gain after many years of getting the short stick," Broward County Commis-
sioner Howard Foreman said.
Jenne, a Fort Lauderdale Democrat, is in line to follow Johnston as Senate president, and Gustafson, also a Fort
Lauderdale Democrat, is in line to be the House speaker in 1990.
"The North Florida people are afraid of the Jenne- Gustafson-Johnston connection because the Jenne-Gustafson- John-
ston connection will bring the (tax) money that comes from South Florida to South Florida," said Andre Fladell, coor-
dinator of the South County Political Cooperative, an umbrella group of nine Palm Beach County political and home-
owner groups.
Page 1052
COALITION OF DEMOCRATIC CLUBS ENDORSES JOHNSTON FOR GOVERNOR The Miami Herald May 18,
1986 Sunday

Fladell said creation of the Palm Beach-Broward counties alliance combined with Johnston's campaign for governor
"becomes the first real challenge to North Florida domination."
"We need to stand up as a section of our state and say South Florida isn't going to take it anymore," Fladell said.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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Page 1053


The Miami Herald

May 5, 1986 Monday
PLM BCH EDITION

DELRAY DOUBLES ITS EFFORT TO PASS ANNEXATION BILL

BYLINE: RAY HUARD & NICK RAVO Herald Columnists


LENGTH: 1005 words

Delray Beach City Council member Marie Horenburger was back in Tallahassee last week lobbying for the city's an-
nexation bill.
The so-called enclave act would allow Delray Beach to annex its unincorporated pockets of land without the approval of
residents within the pockets.
"I just wanted to touch base with everybody again to find out where everybody stands," Horenburger said. "It's so hard
to do back home by telephone because things are popping every day."
City lobbyist Kathy Daley has been working the bill full time for the past two weeks.
But Horenburger said city officials think this is the best shot the city has had in years for passing an annexation proposal
so they are doubling their lobbying efforts.
The annexation plan ran into trouble two weeks ago when Palm Beach County Sheriff Richard Wille said some parcels
the city wants to annex might be better served if they stayed in the county, reversing his previous position.
But Horenburger said last week that she was convinced Wille's comments have not fatally injured the annexation legis-
lation.
"It's still alive, maybe more alive than I thought it was," Horenburger said. "It's kind of a day-to-day thing."
Horenburger said either she or fellow council member Malcolm Bird will be in Tallahassee this week to keep tabs on
the annexation bill.
Steve Press, the Delray Beach representative who sponsored the annexation bill, said he's far from giving up on the
measure.
"At this point, we're just continuing with it," Press said. "I'm just assuming that everything's OK."
Still, Horenburger said, she's not putting any money down on the outcome.
"I'm not a gambler," she said. "I wouldn't bet on it either way at this time."
Johnston opposes cable bill
Senate President Harry Johnston, D-West Palm Beach, said he will fight proposed legislation that would censor cable
television programming.
"I think it violates the First Amendment to the Constitution," Johnston said.
Page 1054
DELRAY DOUBLES ITS EFFORT TO PASS ANNEXATION BILL The Miami Herald May 5, 1986 Monday

Sponsored by Rules Committee Chairman Herb Morgan in the House, the cable censorship bill passed the House Crim-
inal Justice Committee last week and won the support of House Speaker James Harold Thompson.
Don Reed, a Boca Raton lawyer and lobbyist for the cable industry, warned that the measure would mean a virtual end
to cable television programming.
"We will not be able to continue to carry any of the premium channels, HBO, Showtime or whatever," Reed said after
the House committee vote.
Morgan's bill and similar legislation in the Senate would outlaw programming that contained violence or simulated or
actual sexual activity.
Morgan said the legislation would make a statement about decency in Florida.
As a lawyer, Johnston said, he could not make a statement by "voting for unconstitutional bills."
He would not exert his power as Senate president to kill the cable bill outright, Johnston said, but he would vote against
it if it reaches the Senate floor.
Portrait ready for hanging
The portrait of Johnston as Senate president will be unveiled Tuesday in the state Capitol.
"It's not bad," Johnston said. "Robert Redford stood in for me."
Trouble was, there was no room left for the portrait along the Senate wall where the portraits of Florida's past Senate
presidents hang.
"I was very worried about that," Johnston said. "I was afraid it would end up in the men's room."
Fear not, portraits of eight of Florida's earlier Senate presidents were moved late last week to the old Capitol to make
room for Johnston's.
"They had historical significance," Johnston said in explaining the move.
South County lobbying
The South County Political Cooperative is sending a cadre of lobbyists to Tallahassee this week to take over where the
county left off with its aborted Palm Beach Day in the Legislature.
"If we wait until the county decides to have something, it may or may not be in the next two years," cooperative coor-
dinator Andre Fladell said. "Nothing against the county, but I wouldn't make book on what they're doing."
Fladell said South County operatives will meet with Insurance Commissioner Bill Gunter, Agriculture Commissioner
Doyle Conner and Johnston on Wednesday and have breakfast Thursday with Rep. Tom Gallagher, R-Coconut Grove.
Gallagher is running for governor.
The South County group will also host a cocktail reception for legislators.
Making the trip are Lenny Syrop, Jeanne Sklar, Sid Gilburd, Jack Babich, Rene Rosenberg, Sid Krutick, Merrill Stum-
berger and Fladell.
Fladell said they will be lobbying for money to extend a proposed tricounty commuter railroad from West Palm Beach
to Miami, a one-cent increase in the hotel bed tax and Delray Beach's annexation bill.
Florida Atlantic Builders' Association is underwriting much of the cost of the trip.
Hot bod wins trip
Although it wasn't all that political, Fladell's wife, Boca Raton lawyer Darlene Javits-Fladell, won a race of a different
sort two Sundays ago: Shooter's Restaurant's Hot Bod Contest.
Javits-Fladell, a former Miss New York, collected a four- day, expense-paid vacation to the Bahamas as the first prize.
Fladell said suburban Delray Beach rancher Billy Bowman and County Administrator John Sansbury put Javits-Fladell
up to entering the contest.
"The last thing I saw was Billy Bowman pushing her toward the stage," Fladell said.
Page 1055
DELRAY DOUBLES ITS EFFORT TO PASS ANNEXATION BILL The Miami Herald May 5, 1986 Monday

And Fladell, whose usual idea of a vacation is a Thursday night at the Democratic Executive Committee, said this is one
trip he can't turn down.
"I better go if I know what's good for me," Fladell said. "I'm the second-most powerful political figure in South Palm
Beach County. She's the first. Any man who says he rules his own home will lie to you about other things as well."
Verbatim
"For those people who want to buy cable for religious and one or two other types of programs, it will still be available."
-- Boca Raton lawyer Don Reed, a lobbyist for the cable television industry, warning of the effects of proposed legisla-
tion passed by a House committee last week to censor cable television.
Ray Huard is on assignment in Tallahassee; Nick Ravo can be reached in West Palm Beach at 686-3221.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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Page 1056


The Miami Herald

April 27, 1986 Sunday
PLM BCH EDITION

COUNTY LEADERS MAKE SPLASH FOR A CAUSE

BYLINE: MATT MURRAY Herald Writer


LENGTH: 358 words

Wearing a tuxedo, a bathing suit, and a cap with wings, the vice mayor of Boynton Beach swore Saturday he would
humiliate County Commissioner Ken Adams in their upcoming race.
Adams disagreed, promising that he would defeat Bob Ferrell handily.
They weren't talking about a political battle, but a Jetski contest, one of six races featuring county leaders, at Shooters, a
restaurant at 2280 N. Federal Highway. The races were held to raise money for two organizations, the Special Olympics
and Aid to Victims of Assault.
"I spent eight years in the submarine service -- mostly under water," Ferrell boasted before the race. "It was my prepara-
tion. I wouldn't be here if I wasn't going to win."
After Ferrell took an early lead, he stood up in his Jetski, ready to take command. He fell off as soon as he got to his
feet.
Adams calmly skied to the finish line, turned back before crossing, and went back to fetch Ferrell. Ferrell grabbed the
end of Adams' Jetski, and Adams towed him in.
"Thing was going too fast," Ferrell said. "I couldn't handle it. But if you notice, I'm the only guy who stood up."
"Everyone knew I was going to win," Adams said. "I knew he couldn't swim, but he thought he could walk on water. He
couldn't even do that."
In other races, County Schools Superintendent Tom Mills defeated Palm Beach Junior College President Ed Eissey;
County Commissioner Jerry Owens beat County Administrator John Sansbury, and Delray Beach Vice Mayor Marie
Horenburger beat former West Palm Beach Mayor Carol Roberts. AFL-CIO head Rick Wurster beat Young Republi-
cans President Damon Keeley, and Robin Bernstein, former adviser to County Commissioner Ken Spillias, said it was
"wonderful" to beat her former boss.
"Fund-raisers where people eat dinner and give speeches are boring," said Andre Fladell, coordinator for the South
County Political Cooperative, sponsor of the races.
Fladell predicted that the cooperative would pass its goal of raising $1,000 for each cause.
Despite all the good will, the race wasn't free of partisan politics.
"There's a vicious Republican rumor going around that I missed a buoy," Horenburger said after defeating Roberts.

Page 1057
COUNTY LEADERS MAKE SPLASH FOR A CAUSE The Miami Herald April 27, 1986 Sunday

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


All Rights Reserved
Page 1058


The Miami Herald

April 25, 1986 Friday
PLM BCH EDITION

SHORTER HAIR MIGHT BE KEY TO BIG RATINGS


SECTION: LIVING TODAY; B; Pg. 1

LENGTH: 643 words

Look for big changes over the next few months in the news operation at WTVX-Channel 34, thanks to one of the na-
tion's top consultants.
"When I got here almost five years ago, we were in a bad way," said news director Bob Morford. "The news staff wore
horrible orange jackets and reporters wouldn't know a story if it slapped them in the face."
Morford, formerly a producer and reporter at WTVC in Chattanooga, Tenn., made several alterations, including elimi-
nating the jackets. But things still did not jibe at the Fort Pierce-based station.
Earlier this year, he called in Karl Zedell of Audience Research and Development for suggestions.
So far, the only change has been in news anchor Anita Boyd's hairstyle, revised by experts during a trip to Dallas. "It's 1
1/2 inches shorter and two shades darker from the sandy blonde she was before," Morford said.
YOU'LL HAVE A BALL
The season is over. You can put those tuxedos and evening gowns into mothballs, right?
Well, not quite yet. Still to come is the Palm Beach Habilitation Center's Phantom Ball -- a non-get-together set for, er,
April 31.
On that nondate you can pretend to: Dance all evening to the music of your choice. Enjoy your favorite cocktails and
hors d'oeuvres. Put on that tux or wear jeans.
Just stay at home -- and send a contribution to the organization for the handicapped.
Actually, anyone who donates $100 or more could win a dinner with Olympic skating silver medalists Kitty and Peter
Carruthers. They are chums of the group's community development director, Thomas Cook.
But if you don't win the dinner, for $25 ($10 for children), you can meet the champions at a May 4 reception. It's after
the Bronze Cup Tournament at the Palm Beach Polo and Country Club at Wellington, says the Habilitation Center's
Marilyn Swedberg.
SKIING FOOLS
Just like ducks, politicians seem to take to water.
Earlier this month, several of the county's power brokers put on their version of a water ballet at a Cities in Schools
party. Now, the biggies will compete -- and most likely make fools of themselves again -- in a Jet Ski Challenge at
Shooters in Boynton Beach on Saturday.
Page 1059
SHORTER HAIR MIGHT BE KEY TO BIG RATINGS The Miami Herald April 25, 1986 Friday

"Tell everyone to come out -- it's free, and bound to be lots of fun," said Andre Fladell, coordinator of the South
Barring last-minute scratches, here are the pairings: County Commissioner Ken Adams vs. Boynton Beach Vice Mayor
Bob Ferrell; Young Republicans President Damon Keely vs. AFL-CIO President Rick Wurster; and former West Palm
Beach Mayor Carol Roberts vs. Delray Beach Mayor Marie Horenburger.
Also, Schools Superintendent Tom Mills vs. Palm Beach Junior College President Ed Eissey; County Commissioner
Ken Spillias vs. Delray Beach City Council member Malcolm Bird; and County Commissioner Jerry Owens vs. out-
going County Administrator John Sansbury.
To kick off this unusual contest, the participants will host a free public party from 6 to 9 p.m. today at Shooters. Two
charities -- the Palm Beach Special Olympics and Aid to Victims of Domestic Assault -- will get $1,000 each from party
sponsors.
WHAT A MAN!
Why is a society of professional women honoring men from throughout South Florida?
"A lot of people -- women and men -- work really hard and don't get the recognition they deserve," said Kay Olson,
executive director of the Network Connection. "Our Leading Lady awards brought the community together, so we ex-
panded to the opposite sex."
The winners of Leading Men awards will get their trophies at a May 20 banquet at the Royce Hotel in West Palm
Beach. Among the presenters will be television anchors Laurel Sauer and Denise Jakos and County Commissioner Dor-
othy Wilken, all leading ladies in their own right.
SHOW AND TELL
Seen on a car's bumper sticker along Belvedere Road in West Palm Beach: "I * my dog."
Seen at several roadside flower stands around town: "We are not Moonies."


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BOCA RATON'S CHAMBER PLANS TO LOBBY LEGISLATORS



LENGTH: 924 words

Frustrated by the on-again, off-again status of Palm Beach County Day in the Florida Legislature, the Greater Boca Ra-
ton Chamber of Commerce says it will send its own lobbyists to Tallahassee to press for legislation important to the
city.
"I think Palm Beach should have a presence up there," said John Makris, vice president for the chamber's legislative
affairs.
But Makris said the Boca chamber will not follow the example set by the North Dade Chamber of Commerce earlier
this month when dozens of its members scurried through Capitol hallways dressed in bright red blazers.
"I think we might take a more subtle approach," he said.
"I'd like to just go up there and talk with the leadership of the House and Senate," he said.
Among other things, he said, chamber members will be lobbying for the city's beach restoration project, increased fi-
nancing for Palm Beach Junior College and Florida Atlantic University and construction of a tricounty commuter rail-
road connecting West Palm Beach to Miami.
He said the chamber also would like to work with the county in planning a full-scale Palm Beach County Day in the
Legislature for next year.
"We should at least be working and planning for something like what we all hoped for," he said.
A county-backed private committee had planned an elaborate barbecue bash in Tallahassee but canceled at the last mi-
nute when committee members learned the feast would conflict with too many officials' activities on the day it was
scheduled.
In its place, Palm Beach County Commission Chairman Karen Marcus said the county will sponsor a cocktail reception
May 14 in Tallahassee for state legislators.
Johnston: Too nice?
State Sen. Harry Johnston, D-West Palm Beach, said last week that he has been criticized too many times as being too
easy and not using his considerable authority as Senate president to quash bills he disagrees with.
At the opening of the 1986 Legislature, Johnston urged his committee chairman to kill a bill if it seemed too politically
inspired.
Page 1061
BOCA RATON'S CHAMBER PLANS TO LOBBY LEGISLATORS The Miami Herald April 21, 1986 Monday

But at a news conference Friday he said he didn't think it was his duty to kill legislation on the Senate floor after it had
gone through committee.
He said that last year even the Senate minority leader, Dick Langley, had said Johnson was too nice.
Johnston, however, said the only thing that matters is what the Legislature produces at the end of the session.
He said the last session was effective because the Legislature passed wide-ranging growth management legislation and
raised the drinking age to 21.
Johnston said he expects the 1986 session to be just as productive.
Lewises stand together
For the past month, there have been whispers about Marian Lewis, the wife of Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Lewis of
North Palm Beach, who announced last week that she is running for the Florida Legislature.
Perhaps the most widespread rumor that could be confirmed by several local sources was that Lewis and her husband
were considering divorce or had discussed the possibility.
On Friday, however, the congressman was standing behind his wife when she announced her candidacy. Lewis said her
husband has offered to campaign for her.
As for a possible break-up, Marian Lewis had only this to say: "We have had some problems but we have not consid-
ered divorce."
Meanwhile, Lewis' chief competitor for the GOP nomination for House District 81, former Palm Beach County Com-
missioner Peggy Evatt, has reported $19,471 in contributions as of April 10.
Both women are running for the seat being vacated by state Rep. James L. Watt, R-Lake Park.
Gene Badger of Belle Glade and Jim Genovese of Riviera Beach are also running for the GOP nomination.
No Democrats have filed to run for the seat in the heavily Republican district, which covers most of the northern half of
the county.
Flier prompts backlash
A flier distributed by a conservative coalition urging Christian candidates to run for the Palm Beach County School
Board has incensed Boca Raton resident Hy Kirp.
Kirp, a Boca Lago resident, has called a meeting for 8 p.m. May 21 at the Boca Lago Country Club to counter the coali-
tion of conservatives, evangelical Christians and members of the Populist Party, an obscure far-right anti-tax group.
At the meeting, there will be a representative of the American Civil Liberties Union and a film, Life and Liberty for All
Who Believe, which deals with censorship in schools.
Kirp also said that Andre Fladell, the coordinator of the South County Political Cooperative, has been invited.
"What we hope to accomplish is . . . to let people know about this so they can let other people know so that they will go
out and vote intelligently," Kirp said.
"We're not trying to make this a religious confrontation," he added.
"We don't plan to be asleep at the switch. We don't want our children or other people's children traumatized by opinions
that have no place in the school system.
"I think they really overplayed their hand," Kirp said of the flier. "They did something truly awful and have raised a lot
of interest on the other side."
Noteworthy
The Port of Palm Beach Commission will hold its monthly board meeting at 4 p.m. Tuesday at the board headquarters
in Riviera Beach. . . . The Membership Drive of the Young Republican of the Palm Beaches will begin with a party at 6
p.m. Tuesday at Chauncy's bar in West Palm Beach.
Verbatim
Page 1062
BOCA RATON'S CHAMBER PLANS TO LOBBY LEGISLATORS The Miami Herald April 21, 1986 Monday

"We are in a crisis in the community colleges. Somebody has to start paying attention to us."
-- Palm Beach Junior College President Ed Eissey.
Ray Huard is on assignment in Tallahassee; Nick Ravo can be reached in West Palm Beach at 686-3221.


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DEMOCRATIC CHAIRMAN CUTS AT-LARGE MEMBERS



LENGTH: 1029 words

Boynton Beach lawyer Raymond Rea was chosen as the new chairman of the Palm Beach County Democratic Execu-
tive Committee last week.
As soon as Rea was elected, he dumped 12 of the committee's 16 at-large members who serve at the discretion of the
chairman.
Ejected committee members include Andre Fladell, coordinator of the South County Political Cooperative; West Palm
Beach lawyer Jim Stuber, who is running for state representative; Boca Raton lawyer Cynthia Allen, who is coordinat-
ing the Palm Beach County campaign of gubernatorial candidate Steve Pajcic; Port of Palm Beach Commissioner Sandy
Klein; Clifford Hertz, co-chairman of Barry Kutun's gubernatorial campaign in the county; former West Palm Beach
Mayor Carol Roberts, who's running for the County Commission; and Robin Bernstein, a former aide to County Com-
missioner Ken Spillias.
Rea said he did it because "many of the at-large members have been there at least for two years or more and it may be
time for a change."
Fladell, who was chairman of the DEC's campaign and nominating committee, said Rea did it because he doesn't want
DEC members endorsing candidates in Democratic primaries.
"I wanted to endorse and I wanted to be involved in the primary," said Fladell, who's backing Roberts and incumbent
Dorothy Wilken for the commission.
Rea said Fladell's interpretation of his motives is wrong, although he doesn't think the DEC should endorse one Demo-
crat over another in primaries.
Bernstein said she was stunned by Rea's decision not to reappoint her.
"I've been a loyal member for three years," Bernstein said. "I've done nothing but support Democrats."
Hertz said he figured Rea didn't reappoint the 12 at-large members because most of them are too busy on political cam-
paigns to be active in the DEC.
"I think the party bureaucrats expelled the progressive young people from the party," said Charles McCain, a DEC
member for four months and one of the 12 who were not reappointed. "Winning elections and stuff is not what they're
organized to do. Debating the fine points of our involvement in Nicaragua is more attuned to what they want to do."
New slate of at-large members
Page 1064
DEMOCRATIC CHAIRMAN CUTS AT-LARGE MEMBERS The Miami Herald April 7, 1986 Monday

Rea said his new slate of at-large DEC members is more geographically representative of the county and has more mi-
nority members than the old slate.
His new appointments are: newly elected Boynton Beach City Council member Dee Zibelli, Claude D'Angio of Lake
Worth, Dorothy McKinnon of Riviera Beach, Woodrow Hay of Boynton Beach, Bill Schmidt of suburban West Palm
Beach, South Bay Mayor Clarence Anthony, Sam Battosto of West Palm Beach, Charlotte Vogler of Delray Beach,
South County National Organization for Women President Diana Dawson of Boca Raton, former midcounty NOW
President Karen Grundon of West Palm Beach, Violetta Wright of Boynton Beach and Tom Lynch, a public administra-
tion teacher at Florida Atlantic University.
At-large members reappointed by Rea were Arthur Anderson of Boca Raton, Debbye Raing of West Palm Beach, Jackie
Malone of Boca Raton and Louis Martinez of West Palm Beach.
Graham picks campaign coordinator
Just as she was being dumped from the DEC by Rea, Robin Bernstein was being named last week as the Palm
Beach/Martin County coordinator of Gov. Bob Graham's campaign for the U.S. Senate against Paula Hawkins.
Bernstein worked on the Carter-Mondale campaign in 1980 and in 1984, worked for former Gov. Reubin Askew's
campaign for president.
Commissioners split according to types
After taking psychological tests at last week's county government retreat about 22 miles west of Yeehaw Junction, offi-
cials were grouped by their personality types and asked to come up with a five-minute presentation on Palm Beach
County.
Most people stayed true to form. Engineers threw around lots of numbers. Planners talked about big looming conflicts.
Karen Marcus gave a short speech about blue skies, soft sand, lazy days and bike rides.
Jerry Owens talked about baseball and car racing, and told a good news-bad news joke about the Palm Beach County of
the future:
"The bad news is we're all going to be drinking recycled sewage water. The good news is there won't be enough to go
around."
One big reason for the retreat was to get commissioners to iron out their personality conflicts.
After it was over and everyone had unburdened themselves, some people weren't sure where it had gotten them.
"It certainly has opened up some questions, I suppose. I think this commission has wasted an awful lot of energy at-
tacking itself," Dorothy Wilken said minutes after the retreat had ended.
Then, referring to Karen Marcus, she added, "It has been a pleasure the last few months knowing Karen's wrath has
been directed at Ken Adams instead of Dorothy Wilken."
Marcus, meanwhile, said the commission's problems were inevitable in a group of five very different politicians.
Owens: We need Palm Beach County Day
Jerry Owens, on the need for a Palm Beach County Day, in the Florida Legislature:
He said it is real important that the county make its presence known in Tallahassee, not only for the rest of the state, but
also for its own legislative delegation.
"It'll let 'em know we're looking at 'em a little more closely," he said.
Clear-thinking state Sen. Don Childers, D-West Palm Beach, on the same on-again, off-again fete:
"They should reassess whether they want to put one together and make a hard decision, at least go ahead and say we're
going to have one and plan for it or just forget about it."
Noteworthy
Nathanial Pryor Reed, a member of the South Florida Water Management District, will address the Loggerhead Club at
noon April 21 at the Sheraton Hotel in Boca Raton . . . Helen Schwartzenberg and Richard Carrington are sponsoring a
Page 1065
DEMOCRATIC CHAIRMAN CUTS AT-LARGE MEMBERS The Miami Herald April 7, 1986 Monday

$15 per person reception for County Commissioner Dorothy Wilken from 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday at Shooters Restaurant in
Boynton Beach.
Verbatim
"It was never in our . . . code of ethics that we had to get along. I'm not convinced I've got to love Dorothy Wilken in
order to work with her."
-- Palm Beach County Commissioner Jerry Owens.
Herald Staff Writer Craig Gilbert contributed to this column. Ray Huard is on assignment in Tallahassee; Nick Ravo
can be reached in West Palm beach at 686-3221.


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April 4, 1986 Friday
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COUNTY'S BARBECUE BASH BUSTS



LENGTH: 360 words

State Rep. Carol Hanson groaned.
State Sen. Don Childers laughed.
And political activist Andre Fladell said it figured.
After two unsuccessful attempts to get it going, Palm Beach County Day in the Legislature -- the Tallahassee barbecue
bash that was to show the world this county is great -- is dead, organizers said Thursday.
"The time is just not long enough to permit us to put together that Palm Beach Day," said Bill Bursom, chairman of the
privately funded committee organizing the Capitol fest.
Hah, said County Commission Chairman Karen Marcus.
Marcus said if no one else will do it, the county at the very least will have a Tallahassee cocktail reception "to just make
a presence."
Palm Beach County Day was originally scheduled for April 16. The organizing committee chartered two planes to fly
190 businessmen and five school bands to Tallahassee. The idea was the bash would so impress legislators that they
would be more inclined to give the county what it wants.
Organizers canceled Palm Beach County Day in early March when they learned there were several competing activities
in Tallahassee April 16. They rescheduled it for early May at the request of Marcus and Rep. Ray Liberti, the West
Palm Beach Democrat who chairs the county's legislative delegation.
But now Bursom said it can't be done. He said the committee decided to wait until next year after all.
"It doesn't look good, not only for the people of this county, but for the people of other counties who knew about it,"
said Childers, the West Palm Beach Democrat and vice chairman of the delegation.
"I've been nagging them for three years to do something for us and God love them, when they try something, it falls
through," Hanson, R-Boca Raton, said.
Billy Bowman, the suburban Delray Beach rancher who was sponsoring the barbecue part of the bash, said the county
should have stuck with the April 16 plan.
But he said he couldn't make a May date because it conflicted with two charity barbecues he's scheduled.
"I'm barbecued out," Bowman said.
Page 1067
COUNTY'S BARBECUE BASH BUSTS The Miami Herald April 4, 1986 Friday

"Look at the good side, next year they get to screw it up three times in a row," said Fladell, coordinator of the South


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MARK RUSSELL DELIVERS POLITICAL BARBS AT FAU



LENGTH: 1043 words

Political humorist Mark Russell walked onstage at Florida Atlantic University last week and announced how thrilled he
was to have arrived in Florida just in time for one of Gov. Bob Graham's famous workdays.
"He carried my bags at the airport," Russell said.
But seriously, Russell, who's probably best-known for his one-man appearances on public television, said this is truly a
wonderful state.
"Imagine what it was like centuries ago," he said. "There was nothing here but the land, the dreams (pause) and Claude
Pepper."
For just more than an hour, Russell, with his trademark grand piano beside him, kept up his barrage of one-liners.
Other samples:
With the addition of two Lyndon LaRouche candidates to its ranks, Russell said, the Illinois Democratic Party could
change its name to "flakes 'R us."
Russell poked fun of the appearance of President Reagan's son on Saturday Night Live in his underwear, saying: "Ad-
mittedly, neither party has a monopoly on good taste but at least Billy Carter kept his pants on."
How do you help farmers from going bankrupt? "Make wheat an illegal substance and before you know it, they would
be needling English muffins on the streets of Harlem."
And what about this Gramm-Rudman budget cutting? "Congress is trying to make the best of it," Russell said, "which is
like shopping for a baby rattle after you've had a vasectomy."
On Jerry Falwell's decision to change the name of the Moral Majority: "It's like changing the name of the Crusades to
Club Med."
And Russell had this to say about lobbyists: "Lobbying is like elephants fornicating. Everybody knows what it is but
nobody's seen it done."
Throwing dollars for education
Republicans are usually the last ones to talk of throwing money around to solve a problem, but that's precisely what Lou
Frey said he would do to improve the prestige of Florida's universities.
"We have no Nobel Prize winners in our system. I'm going to go out and buy a couple," Frey, a Republican candidate
for governor, told the Boca Raton Men's Republican Club last week.
Page 1069
MARK RUSSELL DELIVERS POLITICAL BARBS AT FAU The Miami Herald March 31, 1986 Monday

Frey, a former U.S. representative, said that while he's at it, he would also buy a couple of hotel and restaurant man-
agement teachers so that Florida students wouldn't have to go out of state to learn the restaurant and hotel business.
Predicting a bitter primary fight between Democrats Harry Johnston and Steve Pacjic in the governor's race, Frey said
1986 could very well be the year Florida gets its first Republican governor.
"This is the first time I think a Republican will go into the race as a slight leader," Frey said. "Obviously, one of the
keys is going to be to get the president in in October for a giant rally and fund-raiser."
Castor goes back to school
Twin Lakes High School social studies students got a crash course in state government last week when state Sen. Betty
Castor, D-Tampa, dropped by as part of a campaign swing through Palm Beach County.
Castor, a former teacher who is running for education commissioner, has vowed to teach a class in every county as "a
little different twist" on Gov. Bob Graham's workday campaign gimmick.
"Palm Beach is a very important county as far as the race for commissioner of education because it has one of the larg-
est school districts and it has one of the biggest community colleges," Castor said.
Besides teaching class, Castor had a fund-raising reception in West Palm Beach hosted by Paul Prosperi and met with
Delray Beach chiropractor Andre Fladell in an effort to garner support from Fladell's South County Political Coopera-
tive.
"I'm going to be spending a lot of time here," Castor said.
Wilken tightens financial belt
Dorothy Wilken started her re-election bid for a second term on the County Commission last week with an eye on her
bank account.
Wilken said she figures she collected about $2,500 from a $25-per-person cocktail reception in Boca Del Mar, where
she announced her re-election campaign. She has scheduled a more modest $5-per-person wine and cheese party April 5
at SIRS Inc. in Delray Beach and a $15-per-person reception April 13 at Shooters Restaurant in Boynton Beach.
Delray Beach Mayor Doak Campbell and Rosetta Rolle are sponsoring the April 5 fund-raiser. Murray Kalish and Mae
Yates are coordinating it.
Wilken said her goal is to raise $50,000.
"If the contributions come in beyond that, we're not going to turn it down," Wilken said. "I have to rely on the same
thing I relied on before, which is personal contact."
Although the money they bring is important, "I don't really expect to raise a whole heck of a lot of money from these
fund- raisers."
The real value of the fund-raisers, Wilken said, is as a recruiting method for campaign volunteers.
Boynton Beach Vice Mayor Bob Ferrell and Robert L. Wheeler of Boynton Beach, both Republicans, have indicated
that they will challenge Wilken, a Democrat.
Financing new roads
State Rep. Ray Liberti, D-West Palm Beach, said he and Rep. Jon Mills, D-Gainesville, are talking of writing the state
Department of Transportation's five-year road plan into law so that the state would have no way of backing out of its
commitments.
"I don't trust them (DOT officials)," Liberti said.
Part of Liberti's plan is to add five to 10 cents to the gas tax for five years and "do every state road that needs to be
done."
With gas prices dropping so rapidly, Liberti said, he figures people won't mind the extra tax if they know it will buy the
new roads they have been demanding.
Noteworthy
Page 1070
MARK RUSSELL DELIVERS POLITICAL BARBS AT FAU The Miami Herald March 31, 1986 Monday

State Rep. Steve Press, D-Delray Beach, and Adele Messinger, a candidate for the state Senate in District 28, will ad-
dress the Democratic Club of West Boca Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at Affirmation Lutheran Church, 9465 W. Glades Rd., in
suburban Boca Raton . . . Joseph P. Kennedy II, Democratic candidate for the U.S. Congress, will make a fund-raising
appearance in Boca Raton on April 10.
Verbatim
"Unfortunately, like many friends of Israel, Dan has been targeted for defeat by extremist political groups. In the last
campaign, one advertisement actually urged 'praying Christians' to oppose Dan."
-- A Dan Mica fund-raising letter signed by U.S. Reps. Dante Fascell, D-Fla., and Mel Levine, D-Calif.
Ray Huard can be reached in Delray Beach at 272-2626 or 737-1009. Nick Ravo may be reached in West Palm Beach at
686-3221 or 278-6955.


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PRACTICE RACE MAKES A BIG SPASH



LENGTH: 350 words

Boynton Beach Vice Mayor Bob Ferrell went waterskiing Wednesday in the Intracoastal Waterway -- wearing a char-
coal- gray suit, a Florida tie and a blue Boynton Beach cap.
"I didn't think I was going to get wet," Ferrell said as he stood dripping on the dock of Shooters Restaurant in Boynton
Beach. "I figured any idiot could do this."
Next time, Ferrell said, he'll wear a tuxedo.
Ferrell's stunt came as some of Palm Beach County's leading politicians met Wednesday to practice for an April 26
jet-ski race to raise funds for Palm Beach County Special Olympics and Aid to Victims of Domestic Assault.
"Why can't it be mud-wrestling? This is bizarre," yelled Delray Beach Vice Mayor Marie Horenburger, who will chal-
lenge West Palm Beach Mayor Carol Roberts in the race next month.
"You have to be a masochist to be an elected official in the first place. This is just another step," Horenburger said. "If it
weren't for charity I wouldn't do it. I wouldn't come out here in a bathing suit in front of all these people."
County Commissioner Ken Adams agreed there were sacrifices to be made. "I think when you get involved in politics,
you lose a little of your sanity," he said.
Adams wore Bermuda shorts, knee-high, navy-blue socks and a T-shirt reading "Sun" on the front and "Fun" on the
back. He was dumped from his jet-ski three times before he managed to hang on and zoom out of sight, with Delray
Beach City Council Member Malcolm Bird in pursuit.
Bird wound up marooned in the middle of the Intracoastal for almost half an hour when his jet-ski broke down. He will
race against County Commissioner Ken Spillias April 26; Adams will face Ferrell.
The other matchups are Schools Superintendent Tom Mills against Palm Beach Junior College President Ed Eissey;
County Commissioner Jerry Owens vs. County Administrator John Sansbury; and Damon Keeley, president-elect of the
Young Republicans, against AFL-CIO President Rick Wurster.
"It's fun politics," said Andre Fladell, coordinator of the South County Political Cooperative. The cooperative is co-
sponsoring the jet-ski race with Shooters Watersports.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

Page 1072
PRACTICE RACE MAKES A BIG SPASH The Miami Herald March 20, 1986 Thursday


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March 19, 1986 Wednesday
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CIVIC GROUPS AT ODDS OVER ROLE IN WEST BOCA



LENGTH: 474 words

Two South County citizen groups appeared headed for a fight Tuesday over who will protect Boca Raton's western
suburbs from excessive growth.
The South County Political Cooperative, based in Delray Beach, is expanding its activities to keep a watch on county
zoning activity in west Boca Raton, the cooperative's coordinator, Andre Fladell, announced Tuesday.
The announcement outraged Fran Reich, president of the West Boca Community Council, which has battled developers
in west Boca Raton since 1980.
"We don't need Mr. Fladell coming into west Boca and telling us what to do," Reich said.
The cooperative is expanding its zoning-monitoring role into west Boca Raton at the request of some cooperative
members, Fladell said. The community council, he said, has failed to curb rampant development.
"We've respected the West Boca Community Council to the extent of letting them fight for their own area," said Fladell,
who lives in suburban Boca Raton and has a chiropractic practice in Delray Beach.
"We really didn't want to in any way conflict with the West Boca Community Council. They're just losing," Fladell said.
"You can't sit by and idly let things go to ruin."
Said Reich: "I don't think they (the cooperative) have done a better job in Delray than we've done in Boca."
The cooperative is an umbrella organization of eight political clubs and a homeowners' association. Most of its members
come from suburban Delray Beach, although it also includes the West Boca Democratic Club, the Boca West Home-
owners Association and the Boca Raton-based Women's Coalition of Palm Beach County.
The community council is a coalition of 45 homeowner associations in suburban Boca Raton.
The two groups operate very differently. Fladell's cooperative is politically active. Reich's council is ardently nonpoliti-
cal.
Fladell said the council is ineffective because it isn't willing to make political deals. Reich said the council's positions
are respected for that very reason.
Fladell, in a cooperative meeting in a suburban Boca Raton restaurant Tuesday, said the cooperative has expanded its
planning and zoning committee from three to 10 members to better monitor zoning activities in suburban Delray Beach
and Boca Raton. Three of the new committee members live in Boca Raton.
Page 1074
CIVIC GROUPS AT ODDS OVER ROLE IN WEST BOCA The Miami Herald March 19, 1986 Wednesday

Murray Kalish, chairman of the cooperative's zoning committee, said it was not his intent to compete with Reich's
council.
"We respect Fran and what she's doing and how she's handling it," Kalish said. "But there's some things Fran doesn't get
involved in."
Kalish said his committee would not get involved in issues where Reich's group is already active "unless we are defi-
nitely asked" by people living in the area.
"What we're really going to do," Fladell said, "is make life miserable for anybody who wants to go in there (west Boca
Raton) with any amount of high density (housing)."


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WILL BARBECUE BECOME INTO NIGHTTIME BASH?



LENGTH: 949 words

Palm Beach County Day in the Legislature may come to life yet.
State Rep. Ray Liberti, D-West Palm Beach, and County Commission Chairman Karen Marcus say they want to go
ahead with the April 16 bash in Tallahassee despite a decision last week by the sponsoring committee to cancel it be-
cause of too much competition with other parties.
Senate President Harry Johnston, D-West Palm Beach, said he will back Liberti and Marcus.
County Day sponsors said one reason they canceled the barbecue luncheon in the Capitol courtyard was because they
were told Johnston couldn't make it.
But Johnston said there's no way he would miss the hometown party.
"I'll be there," Johnston said. "That was my first priority, to make sure I'm there."
Johnston said Dade, Broward and Duval counties have their days in the Legislature, so Palm Beach County should darn
well have one, too.
"I'm trying to put Palm Beach County on the political map," said Liberti, chairman of the county legislative delegation.
In addition to the luncheon, the privately financed Palm Beach County Day Committee had plans to charter two planes
and send 190 county businessmen and 115 student band leaders to Tallahassee on April 16.
But Committee Chairman Bill Burson said so many activities were planned for the same day at the Capitol that com-
mittee members feared no one would show for the barbecue.
If that's so, maybe the committee should throw a nighttime dinner, said Rep. Carol Hanson, R-Boca Raton.
If legislators are too busy to make a barbecue lunch, Marcus said, "we'll feed them hors d'oeuvres and snacks."
Fladell heads north
Andre Fladell, the irrepressible leader of the South County Political Cooperative, invaded the North County hinterlands
last week, speaking to the Jupiter-Tequesta Democratic Club.
Club President Marlys Breckle said there were tons of questions. She was impressed with Fladell.
"I am always interested in someone controversial. If there's controversy, there's action going on. If someone doesn't do
anything, there's no controversy," Breckle said.
Page 1076
WILL BARBECUE BECOME INTO NIGHTTIME BASH? The Miami Herald March 17, 1986 Monday

"From hearing what he had to say -- of course, you have to realize he was talking about himself -- it sounds like they
have been able to get a lot accomplished in the South County," she said.
He's hoping his appearance before the North County Democratic group will lead to more extensive ties between clubs in
both ends of the county, Fladell said.
"When you get right down to it, our issues and their issues are the same issues," Fladell said. "I think we're going to be
working very well together."
It may be premature to start talking of North-South County alliances, Breckle said, but North County clubs could learn
from their South County counterparts.
"It looks like the problems they're having, we'll be having," Breckle said. "The growth is moving north."
Truckers insurance
State Rep. Frank Messersmith, R-Lake Worth, is sponsoring a bill (HB 411) to reduce the amount of liability insurance
small truckers are required to carry.
Current law requires all commercial truckers to carry the same amount of insurance, Messersmith said. The proposed
legislation would establish a scale of insurance requirements, with lighter trucks carrying less insurance than heavier
ones.
For the children's sake
U.S. Rep. Tom Lewis, a Republican from North Palm Beach, introduced legislation last week that seeks to designate
May as National Child Safety Month.
Lewis filed identical legislation last year. It received overwhelming support in the House and Senate and was signed
into law in a Rose Garden ceremony, during which President Reagan established the National Partnership for Child
Safety.
Forty-one House members are original co-sponsors of Lewis' 1986 resolution, which again was introduced in the U.S.
Senate by Florida Sen. Paula Hawkins.
Offering an explanation
State Rep. Ray Liberti, D-West Palm Beach, the chairman of the county legislative delegation, will be at the Herb Watt
Recreation Building, 305 Anchorage Dr., North Palm Beach, at 8 p.m. Tuesday.
He will explain what actions are planned for the upcoming state legislative session. If you have questions about state
legislation or the condition of state roads or parks, Liberti says he will be prepared to answer them.
The visit is sponsored by the Northside Democratic Club. Call 845-0800.
Noteworthy
Florida Elections Commissioner Robert J. Huckshorn, dean of the College of Social Science at Florida Atlantic Univer-
sity, will address the Leagues of Women Voters of Palm Beach County at 12:30 p.m. Saturday at the Hyatt Palm
Beaches in West Palm Beach. The topic will be campaign finance . . . Former U.S. Rep. Lou Frey, a Republican candi-
date for governor, will address the Boca Raton Men's Republican Club at 11:30 a.m. March 27 at the Boca Raton Exec-
utive Country Club on Hidden Valley Road in Boca Raton . . . The Port of Palm Beach will hold its monthly commis-
sion meeting March 20 at the Port Commission chambers in Riviera Beach . . . An aide to Republican U.S. Rep. Tom
Lewis of North Palm Beach will hold 12th Congressional District office hours March 27 in Okeechobee. Anyone need-
ing the services of the congressman should call or visit Ann Decker from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. in Room 106 of the
Okeechobee County Courthouse. The phone number is 763-6441 . . . A subdelegation meeting of the Palm Beach
County legislation delegation will be held March 24 to deal with the West Palm Beach police and fire fund.
Verbatim
"My name is Dr. Andre Fladell. Are there any questions?"
-- Andre Fladell, coordinator of the South County Political Cooperative, opening and closing a speech to the Jupiter-
Tequesta Democratic Club.
Page 1077
WILL BARBECUE BECOME INTO NIGHTTIME BASH? The Miami Herald March 17, 1986 Monday

Ray Huard can be reached in Delray Beach at 272-2626. Nick Ravo can be reached at 686-3221.


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SAME PROBLEMS RESURFACING FOR WEST BOCA COUNCIL



LENGTH: 915 words

Fran Reich was sitting in a traffic jam on Glades Road in suburban Boca Raton. It took her 45 minutes to go less than
two miles. She had ice cream in the car.
It melted.
Fran Reich was an angry woman. This was not, she said, what she expected when she and her husband retired to Florida
from New York.
That traffic jam in 1980 prompted Reich to form what is today one of the largest citizen lobbying organizations in Palm
Beach County -- the West Boca Community Council.
"My husband and I both began to attend meetings of our own condo board association," Reich said. "They were talking
about a shopping center complex on this corner and that corner."
She persuaded leaders of eight other homeowner associations to join forces to stop what they considered out-of-control
development in Boca Raton's western suburbs.
"Everybody was very pessimistic that this would ever happen," Reich said. "I think they had trouble getting along with
people in their own community."
The council today represents 46 member communities with about 39,000 residents, Reich said.
"They are a model," said County Commissioner Dorothy Wilken, whose district covers the council communities. "It's
one of our better citizen involvement groups."
In the early days, many people thought the only thing west of Boca Raton was a lot of scrub brush and farmland, Reich
said.
"We called the Red Cross in November of 1980 -- maybe it was September -- and we said, 'We have a lot of people out
here in mobile homes just west of (U.S.) 441. What do they do in the event of a hurricane for shelter?' " Reich said.
"They said, 'You mean there are people living out there?' "
Since then, the council has claimed many successes, among them a higher visibility for the area.
It persuaded the County Commission to require private developers to pave and widen Glades Road west of Boca Raton
before allowing developers to build homes and apartments that would further clog the streets with traffic, Reich said.
It stopped construction of an airport west of U.S. 441, she said, and its members help shape county policy by sitting on
several boards, including the Infrastructure Task Force and the Land Use Advisory Board.
Page 1079
SAME PROBLEMS RESURFACING FOR WEST BOCA COUNCIL The Miami Herald March 17, 1986 Monday

"I would not propose to do a development in that area without speaking to them about the plans and allowing them to
get as much understanding (as possible) about it in advance," said Bill Boose, a West Palm Beach lawyer who has often
battled the council over clients' building projects.
But Glades Road today is as clogged as it was in 1980 when Reich sat fuming in the traffic jam.
"It is happening again," she said.
Some say this is proof that, try as it may, the council was not as effective as it had hoped.
"I think they've won a number of battles but they lost the war because the war was not winnable," Wilken said. "The
system is set up in such a way that the commissioners listen more to the people who contribute to their campaigns in-
stead of the people."
"I think that their intent was 100 percent. I think their dedication and work was 100 percent. But I think they failed,"
said Andre Fladell, coordinator of the South County Political Cooperative.
Despite the council's best efforts, Fladell said, development is rampant west of Boca Raton.
He admires Reich and modeled parts of the cooperative after the community council, Fladell said, but the council's
weakness is its adamant insistence to remain nonpolitical.
"The people making decisions are political people. They're politically elected or politically appointed," Fladell said.
Citizen groups such as the cooperative and the council have to be willing to make political deals and threats if they are
to get what they want, Fladell said.
"In our mentality, it's the winning that's important and how you play the game is secondary," Fladell said.
Reich disagreed.
"If we got involved in politics, I think it would be counterproductive," Reich said.
Reich said the council's strength comes from the support it gets from members who range from conservative Republi-
cans to liberal Democrats, support it would risk losing if it became a political organization.
"Although the council does not endorse candidates, obviously our membership is apprised of how the commissioners
vote," Reich said.
Mel Werfel, a former vice president of Reich's council and member of Fladell's cooperative, said the council's nonpolit-
ical stance helped its credibility and may have actually made it more effective than it would be otherwise.
"It held back the progress of the developers," Werfel said. "But you're not going to stop them."
Werfel said not even Fladell's highly political cooperative can do it.
"I've never yet seen a big development here in Florida delayed in perpetuity," Werfel said. "We're going to slow it
down. We're not going to stop South Palm Beach County from becoming another Fort Lauderdale."
Fladell said the test of the cooperative's political methods versus the nonpolitical methods of the community council
will come in suburban Delray Beach, where the cooperative is strongest.
"If the area west of the turnpike in Delray Beach becomes like the area west of the turnpike in Boca Raton, than the
cooperative has failed," Fladell said.
Yet even as Fladell talks of trying to refight the community council's battles, Reich said, the council is expanding its
focus to matters other than zoning.
Specifically, she said, the council is paying more attention to school issues.
"We are still as concerned with zoning as ever but let's face it, there's not much more to zone," Reich said.


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COALITION TO PETITION FOR LOTTERY



LENGTH: 399 words

A coalition of Palm Beach and Broward County Democratic clubs Thursday started what organizers said will be an
all-out two-county petition drive to gain a state lottery.
And the coordinator of the South County Political Cooperative, Andre Fladell, said his group would reverse its previ-
ous stand and join Broward County Democrats in lobbying for state funding of a tricounty commuter railroad from
West Palm Beach to Miami.
Education Commissioner Ralph Turlington, leader of a statewide lottery petition drive, said the two counties' participa-
tion is crucial to meeting an Aug. 3 deadline to get 343,000 signatures to get the question on the November ballot.
"It's important that we have a good number of signatures here," Turlington said in a Boca Raton meeting.
Broward County Commissioner Howard Forman said 43,000 signatures have already been collected in his county.
"Palm Beach County, of course, has a long way to go and we're here to work with you shoulder to shoulder on this,"
Forman said.
Turlington said a statewide lottery would raise "more than $300 million a year." He said that's enough money to finance
the operating costs of every community college in the state.
Although the lottery petitions don't specifically earmark lottery money to education, "I am confident that the Legislature
will give education priority in the usage of these funds," Turlington said.
George Platt, chairman of the Broward County Democratic Executive Committee, said the 3-month-old two-county
coalition can best prove itself by pushing for the lottery and the commuter rail.
"We want to work on an issue that quite possibly needs our help," said Platt, who organized the coalition with Fladell.
Fladell said the South County Political Cooperative had opposed the commuter rail because it originally would go no
farther north than Boca Raton.
Ted Kravitz, coordinator of the Tri-County Commuter Rail Organization, said that under the latest proposal the train
would run from Palm Beach International Airport to Miami International Airport.
Kravitz said $10 million to $12 million is needed in state money this year to pay for the commuter rail.
Platt said the commuter railroad is essential because Interstate 95 will become impassible within the next few years as it
is rebuilt from Glades Road in Boca Raton to the Golden Glades Interchange in Miami.
"It will really make life a lot more tolerable," Platt said.
Page 1082
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COMMISSIONER DID IT, BUT DOES HE BELIEVE IT?



LENGTH: 909 words

Here's the latest Owensism from Palm Beach County Commissioner Jerry Owens. It came last week during a meeting as
the commissioners discussed finding a replacement for outgoing County Administrator John Sansbury.
"When I was running for office I blasted John," Owens said. "It was politically wise. I thought it was a good thing to do.
It made headlines."
Later during the meeting, Owens said: "You know how I feel about newspapers. You can only believe about 20 percent
of what you read."
Just the headlines, it seems.
Eassa mum about House race
Rumor is that School Board Chairman Lou Eassa will run for the House District 84 seat that Bernie Kimmel is leaving
to run for the Senate.
"I can't make any kind of an announcement," said Eassa, a field insurance supervisor for the state Department of Insur-
ance.
Eassa said state law requires that he quit his state job if he announces for the Senate. "I really need the work," he says.
But Eassa said, "I wouldn't rule anything out. I will probably be a candidate for something."
Eassa, a Democrat, has been School Board chairman for two years and a board member for eight years.
If he does run, he would face Palm Beach lawyer Jim Stuber in the Democratic primary to replace Republican Kimmel.
A name is worth 20 cents
Excellence Campaign & Education Lottery -- the group leading a petition drive to create a state lottery -- is offering
South County Democratic Clubs 20 cents for every signature on lottery petitions.
"I'm not quite sure this is what I envisioned when I think about the purity of referenda," said Andre Fladell, South
County Political Cooperative coordinator.
EXCEL Director Frank Marabella said petitioners face an Aug. 6 deadline to collect 343,000 signatures to get the lot-
tery question on the November ballot. He said offering money to groups that will work to beat the deadline makes
sense.
Page 1084
COMMISSIONER DID IT, BUT DOES HE BELIEVE IT? The Miami Herald March 3, 1986 Monday

"You really can't expect people to expend their time and effort without any renumeration," Marabella said. "It's a bar-
gain for them and a bargain for us."
Fladell said his group planned to petition for the lottery anyway, but it will gladly accept the 20 cents a name as found
money. He said he will share the money with any North County clubs that join in the petitioning.
"You have to be a fool not to take the money," Fladell said. "If they're really interested, maybe we could hold out for a
quarter a name."
Two's company, three's a crowd
State Rep. Steve Press, D-Delray Beach, drives a two- seater sports car.
Press invited House Speaker James Harold Thompson, D- Quincy, to a Highland Beach fund-raiser last week for Press'
re- election campaign.
Press drove his sports car to the Fort Lauderdale hotel where Thompson was staying to pick him up and bring him to
Highland Beach.
There was a problem.
Thompson had brought his wife.
Guess who got left behind at the hotel? And guess why Thompson didn't stay long at Press' fund-raiser?
"It was an embarrassing moment," Press said.
It's no secret; Press raises $1,300
Press may have set a new trend in campaign fund-raising receptions: Don't tell anyone about them until they are over.
Press, who's running for re-election to a third term, didn't bother to tell any of the county's newspapers about his $100
per person fund-raiser until two days afterward.
"I didn't think of it as a news event," Press said. "It wasn't a secret by any means. All the people there knew about it."
He said he raised about $1,300 for his campaign; he said he expects to spend about $30,000.
Republican Geraldine Field said she expects to announce later this month her intentions to challenge Press in Novem-
ber. Field first ran against Press in 1984.
From the comedy club
Palm Beach County commissioners seemed more like refugees from a late-night comedy than staid public officials last
week.
First there was the question of whether the county should create a University Awareness Board so that college students
could keep abreast of what county government is doing.
"A lot of them don't know who we are," Commissioner Jerry Owens said.
"A lot of them don't want to know who we are," Commission Chairman Karen Marcus said.
"Do they have to know who we are?" Commissioner Dorothy Wilken asked.
The commissioners postponed making a decision until Owens refines the awareness board proposal.
And then it came time to appoint people to the county Private Industry Council.
Owens went first and named three people.
"Wait a minute Jerry," Commissioner Ken Spillias said. "Two of those are my appointees and I was going to reappoint
them."
Noteworthy
Richard Turnwald, founder of the Southeast Florida Chapter of the Steamship Historical Society, will address the
Delray Beach Council of the Navy League of the United States at 6:30 p.m. March 16 at the Delray Beach Club . . .
Palm Beach County Commission Chairman Karen Marcus will speak before the Palm Beach Civic Association Friday
Page 1085
COMMISSIONER DID IT, BUT DOES HE BELIEVE IT? The Miami Herald March 3, 1986 Monday

at 10 a.m. at the Beach Club, 755 North County Rd., Palm Beach . . . Republican Vince Goodman of Riviera Beach, a
candidate for state Secretary of Education, recently returned from the Central American country of Belize, where he
discussed education problems with Prime Minister Manuel Esquivel.
Verbatim
"If there ever was a three-bloc vote on the commission, there probably isn't any more."
-- County Commissioner Ken Spillias.
Herald Staff Writer Craig Gilbert contributed to this column.
at 686-3221 or 278-6955.


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ELECTING EXECUTIVE CONSIDERED



LENGTH: 1038 words

Should Palm Beach County's next chief administrator be elected by the people?
A special county task force is examining that question and several others of far-reaching impact on local government
and politics.
With little controversy and almost no publicity, the county's 15-member Charter Advisory Council has been exploring
the possibility of fundamental changes in the way Palm Beach County runs itself.
Among the proposals it is considering are:
* Creating a county executive who, unlike the current county administrator, would run for office, be independent of the
County Commission, and function in the county much as the governor does in the state.
* Increasing the number of county commissioners from five to seven, nine, 11 or more.
* Making commissioners run in separate, smaller districts rather than countywide -- a move that could not only alter the
dynamics of county campaigns but change the way commissioners behave in office.
* Creating a countywide planning authority, a proposal that will be addressed by the council but is being drafted by a
separate task force.
"I think it's one of the most important things you can do for the next generation," council chairman Robert Kaufman
said of the panel's work. "How do you organize your government? Are you going to act, or react, and always have
things like growth management overwhelm you?"
The Charter Advisory Council was created last year primarily because of the massive growth facing the county -- and
the fear that county government isn't equipped to deal with it.
The council members hope to bring their recommendations to the public and the Commission this spring and summer,
and to place them on the ballot in November.
"The structure of government here, some people would argue, is from the horse and buggy age," said Kaufman, a Boca
Raton resident and retired foreign service officer.
"We're trying to get out of the old town meeting where everybody got together and voted on whether or not to buy a fire
engine."
The council, made up of 15 county residents, has divided itself into committees, each one addressing a different set of
issues.
Page 1087
ELECTING EXECUTIVE CONSIDERED The Miami Herald February 23, 1986 Sunday

One of the biggest questions involves the future of the county administrator's office. The current administrator, John
Sansbury, runs the county's day-to-day affairs but serves at the pleasure of the commission, which hired him -- and can
fire him.
The council's government structure committee has already endorsed the concept of a county executive, first used by
Westchester County in New York. The county executive would run for office, and have much the same relationship to
commissioners that the president has to Congress -- powerful and independent, but checked by a balancing power.
He or she would run the bureaucracy, initiate policy, execute laws passed by the commission, act as county spokesman,
have veto power (which could be overridden by a two-thirds vote of of the commission), and create, abolish, or reor-
ganize county departments. The executive would also appoint a professional county administrative officer to perform
some of the duties of the old county administrator.
"This form of government is what larger, metropolitan governments gravitate toward," said Carla Coleman, senior re-
search associate at the Joint Center for Environmental and Urban Problems and consultant to the council.
The reason, she said, is strong political leadership, accountability, and the ability -- with a four-year term -- to plan.
"It lends itself to planning much more so than a one-year chairman of the commission," Coleman said. "You need to
come up with a form of government that allows you to address your high growth potential."
Critics of the current system complain that it mixes up the executive and legislative function. The county administrator
-- while he may hold great sway over commissioners -- has no independence from them.
Critics of the county executive system say it gives too much power to one man.
To get on the fall ballot, the proposal will need the support of the County Commission. That can be a "little tricky," said
Kaufman, because commissioners must agree to give up some of their own power. Broward County commissioners re-
fused to take that step in 1984, and now the League of Women Voters is hoping to gather enough signatures to get a
county executive question on the ballot there in November.
Another major issue is how the county elects its commissioners. Should commissioners continue to run at-large, each
one elected by all the county's voters, or should they run in separate, smaller districts, each elected from a different geo-
graphical area?
The political implications are enormous. One group, the Urban League, wants single-member districts because it be-
lieves blacks as a minority have little voice in countywide races.
"There is no equal opportunity for blacks in at-large elections. It's just a more sophisticated way of saying, 'Not yet, not
now,' " said Percy Lee, head of Palm Beach County's Urban League, addressing the advisory council recently. He said
countywide races are now dominated by large voting blocs, such as Century Village residents.
Andre Fladell, coordinator of the powerful South County Political Cooperative, wants to retain at-large voting. He said
single-member districts make commissioners responsive to parochial interests -- not the good of the whole community.
Blacks are entitled to better representation, Fladell said, "but not at the cost of accountability to the entire county."
The disagreement goes further:
Lee said single-member districts, by making campaigns cheaper, make it easier for less wealthy people to run for office.
Fladell said they make it cheaper for big money interests to buy an election.
"This little subcommittee has the potential of being a powder keg," said attorney Robert Shalhoub, chairman of council's
elections committee.
But the council also has the option to compromise and recommend a combination of at-large and single district com-
missioners, boosting the size of the Commission.
As momentous as its work is, the council has so far attracted little publicity. That's partly by design, said Kaufman, be-
cause controversy is sure to greet its final recommendations.
"Why create a lot of hubbub," he said, "before you have something to say?"

Page 1088
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JOE KENNEDY STUMPING FOR PALM BEACH BUCKS



LENGTH: 1013 words

Maybe it's political turnabout to the Northern snowbirds who spend lots of money in Palm Beach County this time of
year.
Massachusetts congressional candidate Joe Kennedy II is coming to Boca Raton on April 10 to collect some Southern
bucks to back his budding political career back in Cambridge.
Kennedy is the son of the late Robert Kennedy and nephew of the late President John F. Kennedy, so it should come as
no surprise that he has some strong supporters in South Florida, said Ryna Mehr, the Boca Raton lawyer who is hosting
a $100- per-person cocktail reception for him at the Boca Raton Sheraton.
Mehr, who is running for the Florida House in November, said her attraction to the younger Kennedy had nothing to do
with the Camelot mystique that surrounds his elders.
"Joe has been referred to by many as part of a new breed of responsible and fiscal conservative Democrats," Mehr said.
"I share with Joe Kennedy the belief that we must begin to speak of efficiency and competence in government rather
than of taxes and spending."
Mehr, by the way, said her own campaign fund is a bit anemic -- "a couple of hundred dollars."
Frey gives meaty speech
They came. They spoke. And that was about it. They were three of the five Republican gubernatorial candidates who
attended a Lincoln Day forum Saturday at the Royce Hotel in West Palm Beach.
State Sen. William G. "Doc" Myers, R-Hobe Sound, gave an impassioned plea for tax reform and lean, efficient gov-
ernment. At times, however, he spoke with a strained, almost-desperate delivery. "I feel I can do a better job," he told
about 400 people.
Former state Rep. Chester Clem of Vero Beach gave a routine stump speech on how "government is best when it gov-
erns least." He did add, though, that he was against casino gambling and a state lottery.
But former U.S. Rep. Lou Frey of Orlando gave what appeared to be the most entertaining and well-received address.
His riposte to Don Reed's friendly crack about his wealth was a gem. "That was a rare introduction," Frey said to Reed,
a former state representative from Boca Raton who is now a prominent lobbyist. "And if you look in your dictionaries,
you'll see that rare means 'not well done.' "
In search of excellence
Page 1090
JOE KENNEDY STUMPING FOR PALM BEACH BUCKS The Miami Herald February 17, 1986 Monday

Expect the best, is what West Palm Beach's new city manager, Paul Steinbrenner, is telling city residents who go to City
Hall looking for help.
Steinbrenner, in a breakfast meeting last week, said the last two books he read were In Search of Excellence and Man-
aging Excellence. And excellence is what Steinbrenner said he expects of city workers.
Among other things, Steinbrenner said he has told city workers to think of city residents as their customers who have a
right to demand top service.
"What we're going to be doing in City Hall is start thinking about raising our standards and think about excellence," he
said. "We need to look to see if changes need to be made."
Steinbrenner said those changes don't mean he will be replacing city department heads.
Rather, Steinbrenner said, the challenge is to get people to look for new and more efficient ways of doing their jobs.
The tab for Steinbrenner's introductory breakfast, attended by about 100 people, was picked up by the West Palm Beach
law firm of Jones & Foster. Officer Manager Delano Moore declined to say how much the breakfast cost, but he said the
firm did it just to be nice.
Garbage having impact
County Commissioner Dorothy Wilken said the South County Political Cooperative didn't go far enough last week in its
call for the county to impose impact fees on new homes and condominiums to pay for schools and parks.
Wilken said the county should consider imposing impact fees to pay for garbage disposal as well, instead of requiring
current residents to pay for it through the higher disposal fees that will back bonds to build a new incinerator.
"Why should we have to pay to treat the garbage of people who aren't here?" Wilken asked.
Opponents of additional impact fees argue that they increase the cost of new homes and condominiums that most people
can't afford to buy.
"If it causes an increase in the cost of housing," Wilken said, "let us admit that it isn't cheap to live in Florida anymore."
Fladell's brotherhood
South County Political Cooperative coordinator Andre Fladell was named man of the year last week by the Delray
Beach Chapter of B'nai B'rith, and Delray Beach Mayor Doak Campbell designated last Tuesday as "Andre Fladell,
B'nai B'rith Brotherhood Day in Delray."
"You probably have heard the expression 'the power of brotherhood.' I think Andre has caused in Palm Beach County a
sense of reversal of those words, instead of a power of brotherhood he is creating a brotherhood of power," Campbell
said.
Noteworthy
U.S. Rep. Guy Vander Jagt, R-Mich., will speak at a March 8 luncheon at the Hyatt Palm Beaches honoring U.S. Rep.
Tom Lewis, R-Fla. Vander Jagt is chairman of the National Republican Congressional Campaign Committee. Tickets
are $35 and are available through the Boca Raton Men's Republican Club, from Lewis' office, or at the door . . . State
Rep. Frank Messersmith, R-Lake Worth, and the Business Services Committee of the Greater Boynton Beach Chamber
of Commerce are sponsoring a luncheon review of liability insurance problems in Florida. The luncheon is scheduled
for 11:30 a.m. Friday at Shooter's Restaurant in Boynton Beach . . . State Rep. Jim Watt, R-Lake Worth, will be the
moderator. Scheduled speakers include Dan Sumner of the Florida Department of Insurance, Steve Masterson of the
Florida Academy of Trial Lawyers and Harry Landrum, representing the insurance industry.
Verbatim
"We're not trying to gouge them (newcomers) where they pay everything, we just want them to pay their fair share.
Somehow it works out that they never do."
Robert Kaufman of the South County Political Cooperative in calling for school impact fees that would require home
buyers to pay more for their homes to help raise money for school construction.
Page 1091
JOE KENNEDY STUMPING FOR PALM BEACH BUCKS The Miami Herald February 17, 1986 Monday

at 686-3221 or 278-6955.


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February 13, 1986 Thursday
PLM BCH EDITION

IMPACT FEE FOR SCHOOLS DRAWS FIRE DISTRICT WOULD LOSE
MONEY, EASSA SAYS



LENGTH: 529 words

County schools could lose money under a mandatory school impact fee demanded this week by the South County Polit-
ical Cooperative, School Board Chairman Lou Eassa said Wednesday.
The school district now gets more from developers through voluntary contributions of money and school sites than it
ever would from mandatory impact fees, Eassa said.
"The value of those school sites far exceeds the amount of any impact fee," Eassa said. "If I have to choose between an
impact fee and a school site, it's an easy choice."
But Deputy School Superintendent Jim Daniels said Wednesday that he would welcome mandatory fees, and County
Commission Chairman Karen Marcus said she would make them "one of my priorities."
"I've always felt like we needed a school impact fee," Marcus said.
Unless the county adopts a school impact fee, the cooperative -- an umbrella organization of nine South County political
clubs and a homeowners association -- threatens to fight a bond issue worth more than $300 million that the school dis-
trict is expected to request on the November election ballot to build new schools.
The cooperative has suggested that the county charge developers $250 per bedroom for every new house or condomin-
ium they build that has more than one bedroom. The money would be used to build new schools.
"There's no reason that the people here should pay a school bond of one-third of a billion dollars so developers can
make money," Cooperative Coordinator Andre Fladell said. "Let the new people pay for it, not us."
Commissioner Dorothy Wilken agreed.
"I think the School Board is going to have an awful time selling that bond issue if they do not have a way of assessing
the newcomers," Wilken said.
Daniels said the county, as a prerequisite to approving new developments, already insists that builders either donate land
for a new school or pay $250 per home or apartment to the school district. But he said the requirement is an informal
one and an ordinance making it mandatory "would be helpful."
Fladell said county collection of the voluntary fees has been "haphazard."
Page 1093
IMPACT FEE FOR SCHOOLS DRAWS FIRE DISTRICT WOULD LOSE MONEY, EASSA SAYS The Miami
Herald February 13, 1986 Thursday

School Board member Susan Pell said she fears that impact fees would "drive the price of a home out of the range of
most of us." Pell said it also may be illegal to impose school impact fees on retirement communities whose residents do
not have school-age children.
The cooperative's demands surprised county developers.
"We don't think that the builders are the only people responsible," said Lew Lawder, director of governmental affairs for
the Home Builders & Contractors Association. "We're willing to pay our fair share, but we don't want to be the only
ones."
In addition to school impact fee, the cooperative wants the county to impose a separate $250 impact fee on new homes
and apartments to pay for new parks.
The cooperative also wants the county to reduce by as much as 50 percent the number of homes or apartments that can
be built per acre on property where development has not already begun.
The county should review its housing density limits, Marcus said, but the park impact fee could be more than new home
buyers can afford.
"I don't know that we're going to be able to do everything," Marcus said.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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Page 1094


The Miami Herald

PLM BCH EDITION

PORT OFFICIAL EYES HOUSE, BUT NOT A PARTY SWITCH



LENGTH: 1019 words

It's true. Dr. Stanley Weiss of West Palm Beach is going to give up his seat on the Port of Palm Beach Commission to
run for the Florida House.
But contrary to persistent rumors, Weiss will not become a Republican.
Weiss said he is going to remain a Democrat and challenge Lois Frankel in a primary for the District 83 seat that is be-
ing vacated by state Rep. Eleanor Weinstock. Weinstock is running against state Rep. Bernard Kimmel for Harry John-
ston's Senate seat.
"I'm going to make an announcement at the end of February," Weiss said. "I can do more for the people in the Legisla-
ture, and I don't think I would be beholden to one group like Lois Frankel. I have a more broad-based support."
"I know she's raised something like $50,000 and that is quite impressive," he added. "But money doesn't win elections;
votes do."
Weiss' ex-wife, Linda Weiss, as you might recall, announced two weeks ago that she was going to run for a seat on the
port commission.
Stanley Weiss said that announcement has nothing to do with his decision to run for the Legislature.
New territory
In a dramatic break with tradition, the Palm Beach County Democratic Executive Committee is talking about endorsing
Democrat against Democrat in party primaries.
Andre Fladell, chairman of the DEC's Nominating Committee, wants the DEC to endorse incumbent Commissioner
Dorothy Wilken in District 4 and Carol Roberts in commission District 2. Fladell said the early endorsements could
prevent a bitter and expensive fight with vanity candidates who run only to get their name in print.
"We have two people with proven track records, two people who are well-supported," Fladell said.
DEC Chairman Henry Handler is against primary endorsements, saying it would "fractionalize" the party and leave it
subject "to the influence and whims of the candidates."
It also violates party rules and would mean that the county DEC would lose several thousand dollars in qualifying fees it
gets from the state party, Handler said.
The Leon County Democratic Executive Committee has been endorsing candidates in primaries since 1982. Chairman
John Ausman said the endorsements have revitalized the party in his county.
Page 1095
PORT OFFICIAL EYES HOUSE, BUT NOT A PARTY SWITCH The Miami Herald February 10, 1986 Monday

Ausman said voter turnout has improved, politicians who formerly ignored the committee pay attention to it and local
fund raising has easily made up for the loss of state party money.
Wilken and Roberts said they would welcome the endorsements, but Roberts said she has some reservations.
"As a candidate, sure I'd like to be endorsed, but as a member of the DEC, I'd like to know more facts," Roberts said.
Portly promotion
Who says Boca Raton City Council members are a bunch of stuffed shirts?
Apparently, the Boca Raton Historical Society.
The society last week gave council members Save Our Depot T-shirts to model in support of a society fund-raising
drive to restore the city's old railroad station.
The shirts were extra large.
"That means portly," one council member said.
Portly, heck, council member Albert J. Travasos complained. "It says Refrigerator Perry on it," referring to the Chicago
Bears' massive defensive lineman.
The society then made matters worse by asking the council members to give back their shirts.
Forget it, council member Alan Alford said.
"We're great takers but we don't give much," Alford said.
The great debate
The Great Republican Debate is coming to West Palm Beach Saturday night. Six GOP gubernatorial candidates will
gather at the Royce Hotel at 8 p.m. for the county party's annual Lincoln Day dinner.
Among the speakers at the fete are former state Rep. Chester Clem of Vero Beach, former U.S. Rep. Lou Frey Jr. of
Orlando, state Rep. Tom Gallagher of Miami, Tampa Mayor Bob Martinez and state Sen. William G. "Doc" Myers of
Hobe Sound.
Johnston watch
Meanwhile, on the Democratic front, black business and community leaders from Palm Beach County held a "political
education reception" featuring gubernatorial candidate Harry Johnston Sunday at the Palm Beach County Urban League
offices in West Palm Beach.
The event was sponsored by the Voter's League, the Palm Beach County Urban League, the Panhellenic Council and
other organizations.
Earlier in the day, Johnston held a brunch for black Palm Beach County professionals at the home of Malcom and
Sheree Cunningham. Guests were expected to pay $50 to $100 to attend the fund-raiser.
"Hopes are to develop a strong core of minority supporters in the candidate's hometown, to increase the efforts to gen-
erate support from black voters throughout the state," Johnston backer Debi Stewart said.
GOP action
Republican gubernatorial candidate state Rep. Tom Gallagher, R-Miami, will address the Boca Raton Men's Republican
Club Feb. 27 at the Boca Raton Executive Country Club. Social hour is 11:30 a.m., and lunch will be served at noon.
Cost is $6. Call 272-7243.
The Boca Raton Men's Republican Club will also hold its famous BYOB party Feb. 28 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Boca
Raton Old Town Hall. Gray Kinne will be host. Women are asked to bring hors d'oeuvres and men their favorite liba-
tion.
Noteworthy
David Earle, a constituent services representative with U.S Rep. Tom Lewis, R-Fla., will hold office hours at four
Glades locations Tuesday: Belle Glade City Hall from 9 to 10 a.m.; Clewiston City Hall from 11 a.m. to noon; Moore
Page 1096
PORT OFFICIAL EYES HOUSE, BUT NOT A PARTY SWITCH The Miami Herald February 10, 1986 Monday

Haven City Hall from 1 to 2 p.m. and La Belle from 3 to 4 p.m. . . . The Boca Area Commerce Political Action Com-
mittee will run its annual auction beginning at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Atrium Financial Center, 1515 N. Federal
Highway, Boca Raton . . . U.S. Rep. Dan Mica, D-Fla., will address the Greater Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce at
7:45 a.m. Thursday at the Sheraton of Boca Raton on Glades Road. The chamber recently endorsed city proposals to
sell $5.8 million in bonds to restore city beaches and expand Spanish River Park.
Verbatim
"We can't even get the other (council) candidates in."
-- Boca Raton City council member Albert Travasos commenting on the sparse public attendance at a council meeting.
at 686-3221 or 278-6955.


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The Miami Herald

BRWRD EDITION

TWO-COUNTY COALITION TO BACK FLORIDA LOTTERY


SECTION: BRWD N; BR; Pg. 14

LENGTH: 426 words

Organizers of a newly formed coalition of Democratic clubs from South Palm Beach and North Broward counties said
Wednesday they will test their clout by leading a two-county petition drive to get a state lottery.
At the same time, organizers George Platt and Andre Fladell are backing off from an initial proposal for the coalition to
screen and endorse candidates in the November elections as a way of extending the coalition's influence.
"There are some mixed feelings about screening and endorsing candidates," said Platt, chairman of the Broward County
Democratic Executive Committee. "I think we need to prove ourselves on a few issues, that's our first task."
"We've already conceded we might not be set up for the '86 elections the way we want," said Fladell, coordinator of the
South County Political Cooperative in Palm Beach County.
Meanwhile, Fladell said, he is trying to expand the coalition to include Democratic groups from Lake Worth and West
Palm Beach.
His efforts have met so far with limited success.
"I don't think we're ready yet to form a full coalition," said Emanuel Kessler, president of the Sunshine Democratic Club
in suburban West Palm Beach.
Kessler said his club would monitor the coalition's activities but "that's as far right now as I think we should go."
Others were more supportive.
"It's something we would look at and I don't think we'd have a problem with because we have been working with the
South County Political Cooperative without actually being a member," said George Hudspeth, a spokesman with the
Palm Beach County AFL-CIO.
"That's a start," Fladell said. "If they want to participate, we'd love to have them. If they don't, we'll go without them."
Platt said the two-county coalition has chosen the lottery as its test issue because "it's an issue most of our people sup-
port -- like 90 percent of the people we polled."
"We have had a lot of tangible support for the lottery down here but it has not generated the signatures," Platt said.
Statewide, 342,939 signatures are required on lottery petitions to place the issue on the November ballot. Those signa-
tures must come from 8 percent of the registered voters in a majority of Florida's 19 Congressional districts.
Page 1098
TWO-COUNTY COALITION TO BACK FLORIDA LOTTERY The Miami Herald February 6, 1986 Thursday

Platt said the coalition would also back proposals for a bridge on Military Trail to link the two counties, a tricounty
commuter railroad linking West Palm Beach with Miami and an increase in the state real estate transfer tax to pay for
new roads and sewer and water systems.
"We don't want to spread ourselves too thin at the beginning of this," Platt said.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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The Miami Herald

PLM BCH EDITION

POLITICAL COALITION TO PUSH LOTTERY



LENGTH: 367 words

Organizers of a newly formed coalition of Democratic clubs from South Palm Beach and North Broward counties said
Wednesday that they will test their clout by leading a two-county petition drive to get a state lottery.
At the same time, organizers George Platt and Andre Fladell are backing off from an initial proposal for the coalition to
screen and endorse candidates in the November elections as a way of extending the coalition's influence.
"There's some mixed feelings about screening and endorsing candidates," said Platt, chairman of the Broward County
Democratic Executive Committee. "I think we need to prove ourselves on a few issues, that's our first task."
"We've already conceded we might not be set up for the '86 elections the way we want," said Fladell, coordinator of the
South County Political Cooperative in Palm Beach County.
Meanwhile, Fladell said, he is trying to expand the coalition to include Democratic groups from Lake Worth and West
Palm Beach.
His efforts have met so far with limited success.
"I don't think we're ready yet to form a full coalition," said Emanuel Kessler, president of the Sunshine Democratic Club
in suburban West Palm Beach.
Kessler said his club would monitor the coalition's activities but "that's as far right now as I think we should go."
Others were more supportive.
"It's something we would look at and I don't think we'd have a problem with because we have been working with the
South County Political Cooperative without actually being a member," said George Hudspeth, a spokesman with the
Palm Beach County AFL-CIO.
"That's a start," Fladell said. "If they want to participate, we'd love to have them. If they don't, we'll go without them."
Platt said the two-county coalition has chosen the lottery as its test issue because "it's an issue most of our people sup-
port -- like 90 percent of the people we polled."
"We have had a lot of tangible support for the lottery down here but it's not generated the signatures," Platt said.
Statewide, 342,939 signatures are required on lottery petitions to place the issue on the November ballot. Those signa-
tures must come from 8 percent of the registered voters in a majority of Florida's 19 congressional districts.

Page 1100
POLITICAL COALITION TO PUSH LOTTERY The Miami Herald February 6, 1986 Thursday

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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The Miami Herald

PLM BCH EDITION

LONGTIME AIDE TO MYERS REPLACED AMID CASH WOES



LENGTH: 981 words

These are dark days for the gubernatorial campaign of state Sen. William G. "Doc" Myers.
Six months ago, the Hobe Sound Republican said his campaign would be viable only if he could raise $750,000 by early
1986.
Three months ago, he scaled that number down to $200,000.
Well, according to Jan. 1 financial statements, and after six months of fund raising, Doc has raised only $30,484.13.
"If by March or April we don't have $1.5 million, then I'll get a little worried," campaign aide Mac McCartney said
three months ago.
Apparently Doc got a little worried.
McCartney, a longtime legislative and campaign aide, no longer works with Myers.
The parting seems to be less than amicable.
"He just wasn't doing the job," Myers said.
Replacing McCartney is a Stuart homemaker, Teenie Small.
"She has a lot of political savvy," Myers said.
Doc still doesn't have a full-time campaign manager. But that might change after an airplane tour of the state Feb. 10.
"We're going to hit the road and activate the campaign," he said.
Myers said he will re-evaluate his campaign the last week in March.
If things don't improve, he will make a decision "one way or the other" before the 1986 session of the Florida Legisla-
ture starts in April.
Another sad note: Doc has been suffering from a vicious flu bug for the past three weeks.
The bets are on
The betting in South County is that Andre Fladell's recent moves to cozy up to Broward County Democrats is a prel-
ude to a 1988 campaign by Fladell to unseat U.S. Rep. Dan Mica, D- Fla.
No way, said Fladell, coordinator of the South County Political Cooperative.
Page 1102
LONGTIME AIDE TO MYERS REPLACED AMID CASH WOES The Miami Herald February 3, 1986 Monday

"There are too many has-beens who talk and do nothing that you have to listen to when you're elected to Congress,"
Fladell said.
But Delray Beach City Council member Malcolm Bird said Fladell's move to link his cooperative with North Broward
Democratic clubs in Mica's district belies his words.
"You start looking at the clues; it doesn't matter what he's saying," Bird said. "There's no question in my mind (that) at
least through 1987, he will deny it."
Mica's press aide, John Gersuk, said Mica has heard nothing from Fladell.
"I know that Andre and the congressman get along very well personally and professionally."
Bird said Fladell would be foolish to tell Mica of his plans.
"Why would he want Dan Mica to dismantle the power structure he (Fladell) has spent so much time putting together --
and Dan would do it. If I were Dan, I would do it," Bird said.
Should voter registration in Palm Beach County tilt toward the Republicans, Bird said, he wouldn't even be surprised if
Fladell switched parties to run against Mica.
"You'll see him in a Brooks Brothers suit wearing penny loafers and carrying a briefcase," Bird said.
Said Fladell: "What's Brooks Brothers?"
A Rea reign?
Boynton Beach lawyer Raymond Rea is expected to become the next chairman of the Palm Beach County Executive
Committee.
Word is that incumbent Chairman Henry Handler will not seek re-election in April.
Rea, who ran unsuccessfully for the state House against Republican Rep. Frank Messersmith of Lake Worth, nearly beat
Handler in balloting for the chairmanship last year.
"Unless someone else decides they want to run, I guess I'll take over the reins," Rea said.
Rea said he has but one agenda item for the executive committee this year -- "to channel all energies on the 1986 elec-
tions, starting immediately."
"I want to get DEC committee members actively involved in every candidate's campaign," Rea said. "Fundamental po-
litical organizing is what's going to be needed in 1986."
Plot for power
Political activists Cynthia Allen, Lois Frankel, Robin Bernstein and Susan Smith have invited about 50 women from
throughout the county to get together this week to plot strategy that would increase the political power base of women.
"Women need to educate themselves on why it's necessary to get actively involved in the inner workings of races and
not just as envelope stuffers," said Allen, who is coordinating the Palm Beach County gubernatorial campaign of former
state Rep. Steve Pajcic, D-Jacksonville. "It's not the envelope stuffers and phone answerers who will have access to the
candidates once they are elected.
Presidential meeting
State Rep. Frank Messersmith, D-Lake Worth, met with President Reagan two weeks ago to discuss key aspects of the
administration's federal and state 1986 initiatives.
Participating in the American Legislative Exchange Council's 1986 Presidential and Cabinet Briefing, Messersmith was
involved in closed briefing sessions with Secretary of Treasury James A. Baker and Secretary of Health and Human
Services Otis Bowen.
Noteworthy
Leonard Sheinfeld will become president of the Ronald Reagan Republican Club in Boca Raton at a 1 p.m. installation
luncheon Feb. 20 at the Boca Point Golf and Country Club, 7144 Boca Point Rd. Other officers are vice president Fred
Ceccarelli, treasurer Louis LaMarca, corresponding secretary Helen Waterman and recording secretary Evelyn Noch-
Page 1103
LONGTIME AIDE TO MYERS REPLACED AMID CASH WOES The Miami Herald February 3, 1986 Monday

man . . . State Rep. Betty Easley, R-Largo, will address The Loggerhead Club at noon Feb. 14 at the Sheraton of Boca
Raton. Easley is running for state commissioner of education . . . The regular monthly meeting of the Palm Beach
County Democratic Executive Committee will be Sunday at the Winona Jordan boardroom, 509 Fifth St. in West Palm
Beach. Mark Foley, a candidate for the state House, will address the Palm Beach County Young Republicans Feb. 13 at
Margarita's restaurant on Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard in West Palm Beach.
Verbatim
"Is Palm Beach ready for Adrian Winterfield? I wonder."
-- Palm Beach Town Council candidate Adrian Winterfield.
at 686-3221 or 278-6955.
CORRECTION:
State Rep. Frank Messersmith is a Republican from Lake Worth. The Herald incorrectly identified him as a Democrat in
Monday's political column.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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The Miami Herald

PLM BCH EDITION

PORT OFFICIAL'S EX-WIFE WANTS SEAT ON BOARD



LENGTH: 1065 words

Linda Weiss, former wife of Port of Palm Beach Commissioner Stanley Weiss, has filed to run for C. Ben Holleman's
seat on the commission. She will make a formal announcement sometime next month.
Weiss, 40, is a West Palm Beach travel agent who is finishing her master's degree in travel and tourism at George
Washington University. Her thesis will be on whether the Port of Palm Beach should have seven-day cruise ships.
Also running for the District 5 seat is Charles Mueller. The only other commissioner up for re-election this year is Blair
Ciklin in District 4.
"I was involved with the port for the past 11 years because of my ex-husband," Weiss said. "I already know all the peo-
ple over there."
The Weisses separated 18 months ago. "We have a cordial relationship," Linda Weiss said. "I don't think there's a prob-
lem with us both being on the commission. Besides, he may be running for a House seat."
Rumor is that Stanley Weiss will switch parties to become a Republican and run against Democrat Lois Frankel for the
House District 83 seat, currently held by state Rep. Eleanor Weinstock.
Making a mark in the party
Mark Foley will formally announce his plans today to run as a Republican for the House District 84 seat Rep. Bernard
Kimmel, R-West Palm Beach, is leaving to run for the state Senate.
Foley, a former Lake Worth city commissioner, lost a September 1984 Democratic primary race for county commis-
sioner to Jerry Owens. Foley switched parties in March 1985.
"I was trying to find a niche in the Democratic Party as a conservative, and I was being rejected in the primaries as too
conservative for the liberal, special interests in the Democratic Party," Foley said.
Foley said he has been promised money and campaign planning assistance from the state Republican Party.
Back room politics
Carol Hanson is steamed.
The source of her anger is Andre Fladell, coordinator of the South County Political Cooperative, and George Platt,
chairman of the Broward County Democratic Executive Committee.
"If they don't think their Democratic legislators are doing right by them, let them come out of the back room and run for
a legislative seat," Hanson, R-Boca Raton, said in a letter to Palm Beach and Broward county newspapers.
Page 1105
PORT OFFICIAL'S EX-WIFE WANTS SEAT ON BOARD The Miami Herald January 27, 1986 Monday

Hanson is miffed because Platt and Fladell are forming a coalition of North Broward and South Palm Beach county
Democratic clubs. Platt said the union would create a South Florida voting bloc that could deliver up to 200,000 votes in
an election and prove a potent lobbying force in Tallahassee.
She is particularly at odds with Fladell because he identified Hanson as one of the Republicans he would most like to
see lose in November's elections.
"What's that you say? Broward and Palm are not getting their fair share? It's all going to North Florida?" Hanson asked.
"Well, boys, you've got two choices, as I see it. Take your so-called 200,000 voters and move to North Florida or better
yet, do what 64 percent of the voters did statewide in the '84 presidential election -- vote Republican."
So there.
Some pretty hot races
The lineup would make an explosive election contest.
Delray Beach Vice Mayor Marie Horenburger challenges County Commissioner Dorothy Wilken. Delray Beach Coun-
cil member Malcolm Bird faces Commission Chairman Karen Marcus. Boynton Beach Vice Mayor Bob Ferrel goes
against Commissioner Ken Adams. West Palm Beach Mayor Carol Roberts takes on Supervisor of Elections Jackie
Winchester and County Administrator John Sansbury challenges Commissioner Jerry Owens.
Coordinator Andre Fladell said it all happens in April, during a series of jet-ski races on the Intracoastal Waterway in
Boynton Beach. It's for a good cause -- the South County Political Cooperative's fund-raiser for Aid to Victims of Do-
mestic Assault and the Special Olympics.
News they want to know
There's a new political newsletter being published monthly on Singer Island. It's Peyton McArthur's The Florida Moni-
tor. It is also believed to be the only newsletter in the state devoted to Florida politics and legislative matters.
McArthur is a Lake Worth native who worked for eight years as an analyst with the Federal Elections Commission. His
publication costs $85 a year. It has about 85 subscribers.
"I have one of the most conservative members of the legislature, (state Rep.) Jim Hill (R-Jupiter) as a subscriber,"
McArthur said. "And (state Rep.) Steve Press, (D-Highland Beach) one of the more liberal."
Not a small matter
Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Lewis of North Palm Beach has appointed two Palm Beach County women to represent
Florida's 12th Congressional District at the National White House Small Business Conference August 17-21 in Wash-
ington, D.C.
Lewis' choice for delegate to the national conference is Barbara Joyce Perry, president, owner and manager of BAWI
Enterprises Inc., a West Palm Beach firm that does business as Fine Line Graphics.
His choice as alternate delegate is Janet Harris-Lange, owner and president of J&J Manufacturing Corp. of West Palm
Beach.
Noteworthy
State Rep. Steve Press, D-Highland Beach, was given an award last week by the Florida Alcohol & Drug Awareness
Association for sponsoring a law that requires alcohol treatment and prevention centers to be licensed by the state . . .
The Boca Raton Men's Republican Club will hold its second annual auction and fund-raising drive Jan. 31 at the Boca
Raton Golf and Country Club at 7 p.m. . . . Tom O'Rourke has been elected president of the Boca Democrats. Amelia
Pohl was chosen vice president, Elaine Neefus secretary, John Ratchford treasurer, Sheila Lesnick membership chair-
man and Jackie Malone parliamentarian . . . County Commissioner Dorothy Wilken will address the Democratic Club
of West Boca at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Affirmation Lutheran Church, 9465 W. Glades Road in Boca Raton. Democratic
opponent is West Palm Beach lawyer James Stuber . . . Jim Slitor of Florida Atlantic University will address Boca Citi-
zens for a Nuclear Freeze at 8 p.m. tonight in the administration room at Century Village West in Boca Raton.
Verbatim
"We held our meeting in Belle Glade in the day because no one should be forced to drive State Road 80 at night."
Page 1106
PORT OFFICIAL'S EX-WIFE WANTS SEAT ON BOARD The Miami Herald January 27, 1986 Monday

-- State Rep. Ray Liberti, D-West Palm Beach, speaking about the scheduling of last week's Palm Beach County legis-
lative delegation meetings.
Ray Huard can be reached in Delray Beach at 272-2626; Nick Ravo can be reached in West Palm Beach at 686-3221.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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Page 1107


The Miami Herald

BRWRD EDITION

ANNEXATION DEBATE MIXES FACT, FICTION

BYLINE: MIKE SANTE and STEVE BOUSQUET Herald Columnists

SECTION: BRWD; BP; Pg. 1

LENGTH: 694 words

The fires of annexation burned even hotter this week, and it was hard to separate fact from fiction from fear from plain
ol' foolishness.
Highlights and lowlights:
* Fort Lauderdale Commissioners John Rodstrom and Jim Naugle win the sky-is-falling award for predicting the de-
mise of everything from Riverwalk to beach redevelopment to western civilization if the city is forced to annex and
service an unincorporated area. The large block of Central Broward just west of Fort Lauderdale is home to about
25,000 residents, many black, many poor, most of them Democrats.
* Amid Sheriff Nick Navarro's dire predictions of 600 layoffs if this unincorporated area shifts from county to city ju-
risdiction, a remark by County Commission Chairman Gerald Thompson is worth noting: "Over the past 20 years, in all
the annexations, not a county employee or sheriff's deputy has been laid off."
* Sen. Tom McPherson, D-Fort Lauderdale, is not impressed by Navarro's claims. At Tuesday's meeting with Fort
Lauderdale officials, he said, he called a deputy to his house in the unincorporated area near Cooper City about a year
ago. "He took 40 minutes to get there and said, 'I can only stay 10 minutes,' " McPherson said.
* Fort Lauderdale commissioners gave their attorney, Don Hall, the OK to hire Tallahassee lawyer-lobbyist Wade Hop-
ping to protect the city's case in the Capitol, if the annexation proposal makes it that far. Added Commissioner Dick
Mills: "I hope he's a Democrat . . . I hate to say it, but it's true." Hopping, a former state Supreme Court justice, is a Re-
publican.
* A couple of legislators rolled their eyes when Rep. Tom Armstrong, D-Plantation, began firing questions on annexa-
tion. If it costs so much for Fort Lauderdale to service the area, he asked, "Why are we doing it? Obviously it's not
money . . . Where's the socially redeeming value?"
Armstrong missed the earlier pitch by McPherson and Rep. Tom Gustafson, D-Fort Lauderdale, on the "social con-
science" issue.
More than dollars and cents are at stake, McPherson said, standing before a multi-colored map of the county.
"These people will have the best tool anybody has given man, and that's the vote," McPherson said. "There will be a
substantial vote out of northwest Fort Lauderdale."
The Mackenzie letter
Page 1108
ANNEXATION DEBATE MIXES FACT, FICTION The Miami Herald January 26, 1986 Sunday

As the annexation battle heated up, sheriff's deputies and other annexation foes began circulating copies of a letter. The
four-paragraph, undated letter, bearing Mackenzie's name, is addressed to "concerned homeowners," and in it, she
promises she will not support forced annexations.
"As a legislator, I would vote against the annexation proposals that were opposed by you," she said.
Mackenzie said the letter went out in the 1982 campaign, and she's singing a much different tune now. "That was in the
heat of a campaign," she said.
The Hanson letter
State Rep. Carol Hanson, R-Boca Raton, is steamed at Andre Fladell, coordinator of the South (Palm Beach) County
Political Cooperative, and George Platt, chairman of Broward's Democratic Executive Committee.
Hanson's district straddles the county line and includes eastern Deerfield Beach, Hillsboro Beach and Lighthouse Point.
Platt and Fladell formed a coalition of North Broward and South Palm Beach County Democratic clubs into a voting
bloc which Platt said could deliver up to 200,000 votes this fall.
Hanson is an obvious target for such a coalition, and Fladell has identified the second-term lawmaker as one of the Re-
publicans he'd most like to beat in November. The rap against Hanson: She is an ineffective legislator who doesn't bring
home the bacon for South Florida.
Hey, Hanson replied in a letter to newspapers this week, don't Democrats control the governorship? Don't they control
the Cabinet, the Florida House and Senate?
"Come on now, power seekers, you already have the power," Hanson wrote. "What's that you say? Broward and Palm
Beach is not getting their fair share? It's all going to North Florida?
"Well, boys, you've got two choices, as I see it. Take your so-called 200,000 voters and move to North Florida or better
yet, do what 64 percent of the voters did statewide in the '84 presidential election -- vote Republican."


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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The Miami Herald

PLM BCH EDITION

ONE-TIME ROGERS AIDE SETS SIGHTS ON HOUSE SEAT



LENGTH: 1088 words

Palm Beach lawyer Jim Stuber has started raising money for an all-out campaign for the House District 84 seat Bernie
Kimmel is leaving to run for the Senate.
"I'm not ready to announce I'm running, but I am ready to open a treasury and I do want to gain a consensus in my own
party," said Stuber, a Democrat.
Stuber, 37, was an aide to former U.S. Rep. Paul Rogers from 1972 to 1978.
Stuber ruled out a run for the Legislature last summer.
"It was before Bernie Kimmel announced that he was running for Harry Johnston's seat," Stuber said. Johnston is run-
ning for governor.
Since Kimmel's announcement, "I started looking at it real hard," Stuber said. "If you run a hard campaign and you have
a lot of grass roots contact with the people, you can win."
The West Palm Beach House seat has seesawed between Republican Kimmel and Democrat Ed Healey, who lost to
Kimmel in 1984 after beating Kimmel in 1982.
Stuber said the district's willingness to elect both Republicans and Democrats "shows that the voters are pretty inde-
pendent-minded."
Lawyer sees tough race against Hanson
Boca Raton lawyer Ryna Mehr is expected to announce this week that she'll run as a Democrat against state Rep. Carol
Hanson, R-Boca Raton.
Mehr, a member of the Boca Raton Community Relations Council and the South County Chapter of the National Or-
ganization for Women, said she anticipates a tough fight against the two-term Hanson in the heavily Republican House
District 87.
"If it was easy, it wouldn't be as exciting," said Mehr, 35. "It's a challenge I'm ready to face."
Hanson called Mehr "a sacrificial lamb served up by the coordinator (Andre Fladell) of the South County Political
Cooperative."
"I know the voting public is smart enough to see through any sham or lamb he will throw our way," Hanson said.
Mehr said two weeks ago that she was considering a run against Hanson but wanted a month or so to assess her chances.
Since then, she said, "I've been receiving a lot of encouragement from people in both parties."
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ONE-TIME ROGERS AIDE SETS SIGHTS ON HOUSE SEAT The Miami Herald January 20, 1986 Monday

"I truly do think that there is a sense of dissatisfaction with her (Hanson's) effectiveness in the Legislature," Mehr said.
"I don't think she has the full support of all the Republicans."
Boca's best kept secret
Genny Hazelip decided to tell the world this month that she would run for the Boca Raton City Council.
Except the world, in the form of Palm Beach County's daily newspapers, didn't want to hear it.
Hazelip said she called four daily newspapers and not a soul called her back for details on her fledgling campaign.
But that didn't stop her from picking up her nomination papers last Monday at Boca Raton City Hall.
"We're ready to roll. We've opened our campaign treasury," said Hazelip, 47.
Hazelip ran unsuccessfully for mayor last year. She figures her chances of winning a council seat are better because
people remember her as the leader of a referendum campaign that killed developer George Barbar's proposed downtown
financial center.
Two incumbent council members -- Alan Alford and Albert J. Travasos -- are up for re-election in a race where the two
candidates who get the most votes will be elected.
Hazelip said she considers Travasos the most vulnerable because of his ties to Barbar and because Travasos is just com-
pleting his first term. Travasos sold insurance to one of Barbar's companies and voted to back Barbar's downtown pro-
ject. But he said that's a dead issue.
Her husband the writer
West Palm Beach Mayor Carol Roberts will soon become a national celebrity if her physician-husband has anything to
say about it.
Hyman Roberts said he's written a book about his wife's political career. It's tentatively titled My Wife the Politician.
Author Roberts won't say much about his work, except that "it's in its second typing." He said he's still looking for a
publisher.
Roberts, who announced last week that she would run as a Democrat for the County Commission, will get some unoffi-
cial campaign help from Republican Anita Mitchell, who showed up at Roberts' wine and cheese reception at the Flori-
da Repertory Theatre.
"There aren't any Republicans running yet," explained Mitchell, who had toyed with the idea of running for the Legis-
lature herself.
Roberts accompanied Mitchell on a trip to famine-stricken areas of Africa and Mitchell said the two are close friends
despite their difference in party affiliation.
Democrats turning up for Roberts' announcement reception included former County Commissioner Dennis Koehler,
Supervisor of Elections Jackie Winchester, Tax Collector Allen Clark and former State Rep. Ed Healey.
Noteworthy
The League of Women Voters of South Palm Beach County will sponsor a voter registration drive from 10 a.m. to 2
p.m. Saturday at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton and Jan. 30 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the NCNB Bank, 150
E. Palmetto Park Rd., Boca Raton. The deadline for registering to vote in many municipal elections is Feb. 8 . . . Jeanne
Sklar will become the new president of the Atlantic Democratic Club at an installation banquet 6:30 p.m., March 2, at
the Challenger Country Club of the Poinciana Golf & Country Club, 3556 Poinciana Dr., Lake Worth. Other officers
are First Vice President May Yates, Second Vice President Jerry Marshall, Third Vice President Milton Mardenfeld,
Fourth Vice President Al Ostrick, Recording Secretary Rene Rosenberg, Financial Secretary Ethel Shapiro, Corre-
sponding Secretary Ann Siegel, Treasurer Morris Snetiker and Sergeant-at-Arms Sam Degenstein . . . County Commis-
sioner Dorothy Wilken will address the Democratic Club of West Boca at 7:30 p.m., Jan. 28, at the Affirmation Lu-
theran Church, 9465 W. Glades Rd., Boca Raton . . . Aid to Victims of Domestic Assault will sponsor a $25 per person
fund-raising luncheon and fashion show Feb. 3 at the Delray Beach Club. Tickets are available from Alice Coane at
482-2145 or Jean Schlaff at 499-5332 . . . George Blank became the new president of the Delray Beach Council of the
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ONE-TIME ROGERS AIDE SETS SIGHTS ON HOUSE SEAT The Miami Herald January 20, 1986 Monday

Navy League at an installation dinner last weekend. Other officers are First Vice President Noel R. Bacon, Secretary
Gladys Meisner, Treasurer Eugene Davila and Judge Advocate Austin P. Sullivan.
Verbatim
"When you play politics you play hardball because you play to win."
Andre Fladell, coordinator of the South County Political Cooperative, at a meeting of South Palm Beach County and
North Broward County Democrats aimed at creating a two- county Democratic lobbying coalition.
at 686-3221 or 278-6955.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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Page 1112


The Miami Herald

January 15, 1986 Wednesday
PLM BCH EDITION

DEMOCRATS IN TWO COUNTIES PLEDGE TO SUPPORT COALITION



LENGTH: 386 words

South Palm Beach County Democrats reached into Broward County Tuesday and pulled out a pledge to form a
two-county political coalition that organizers say will be strong enough to make its demands felt in the Legislature and
the governor's office.
"This group here potentially could deliver the largest voting bloc in the state of Florida," said Andre Fladell, coordina-
tor of the South County Political Cooperative in Palm Beach County.
"We're talking about sharing power for productive political purposes," said George Platt, chairman of the Broward
County Democratic Executive Committee.
Meeting in Deerfield Beach, about 75 activists from both counties were enthusiastic over the call by Fladell and Platt to
form the coalition.
"This is not an effort by a Palm Beach County group to come down and take over Broward County or vice versa," Platt
said.
Platt said a coalition of Democratic clubs from North Broward and South Palm Beach counties could influence "toward
200,000 voters."
"In a de facto sense, the voting bloc is already there," Platt said. "What we're trying to do is make it respond to certain
issues."
Fladell said the new coalition will test its clout in the 1986 legislative session by sending a team of lobbyists to Talla-
hassee from both counties to push for common interests.
"We're targeting Tallahassee," Fladell said. "The object is one thing and one thing only, (to get) goods and services."
Among other things, Platt said, Palm Beach and Broward have common interests in getting better schools in South
Florida, in pushing for a tricounty commuter railroad with Dade County and in getting better roads. He said they also
share a common concern for the environment.
The coalition also will screen candidates in the 1986 state elections, Fladell said, and endorse those agreeable to leaders
in both counties. "It's about time we got together like this," Plantation Democratic Club President Bob McMenemy said.
"This area's growing to such a degree we need better communication with our neighbors to the north."
"The coalition is the best thing that's happened," Sunrise Democratic Club President Abe Solomon said. "We had to get
together and separate our differences."
Page 1113
DEMOCRATS IN TWO COUNTIES PLEDGE TO SUPPORT COALITION The Miami Herald January 15, 1986
Wednesday

"It's the most fantastic idea I've heard of," said Sid Gilburd, president of the Kings Point Democratic Club in suburban
Delray Beach.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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The Miami Herald

January 15, 1986 Wednesday
BRWRD EDITION

BROWARD REGIONAL PB, BROWARD DEMOCRATS TO JOIN FORCES


SECTION: LOCAL; B; Pg. 1

LENGTH: 385 words

South Palm Beach County Democrats reached into Broward County Tuesday and pulled out a pledge to form a
two-county political coalition that organizers say will be strong enough to make its demands felt in the Legislature and
the governor's office.
"This group here potentially could deliver the largest voting bloc in the state of Florida," said Andre Fladell, coordina-
tor of the South County Political Cooperative in Palm Beach County.
"We're talking about sharing power for productive political purposes," said George Platt, chairman of the Broward
County Democratic Executive Committee.
Meeting in Deerfield Beach, about 75 activists from both counties were enthusiastic over the call by Fladell and Platt to
form the coalition.
"This is not an effort by a Palm Beach County group to come down and take over Broward County or vice versa," Platt
said.
Platt said a coalition of Democratic Clubs from North Broward and South Palm Beach counties could influence "toward
200,000 voters."
"In a de facto sense, the voting bloc is already there," Platt said. "What we're trying to do is make it respond to certain
issues."
Fladell said the new coalition will test its clout in the 1986 legislative session by sending a team of lobbyists to Talla-
hassee from both counties to push for common interests.
"We're targeting Tallahassee," Fladell said. "The object is one thing and one thing only, (to get) goods and services."
Among other things, Platt said, Palm Beach and Broward counties have common interests in getting better schools in
South Florida, in pushing for a tricounty commuter rail service and in getting better roads. He said they also share a
common concern for the environment.
The coalition also will screen candidates in the 1986 state elections, Fladell said, and endorse those agreeable to leaders
in both counties.
"It's about time we got together like this," Plantation Democratic Club President Bob McMenemy said. "This area's
growing to such a degree we need better communication with our neighbors to the north."
"The coalition is the best thing that's happened," Sunrise Democratic Club President Abe Solomon said. "We had to get
together and separate our differences."
Page 1115
BROWARD REGIONAL PB, BROWARD DEMOCRATS TO JOIN FORCES The Miami Herald January 15, 1986
Wednesday

"It's the most fantastic idea I've heard of," said Sid Gilburd, president of the Kings Point Democratic Club in suburban
Delray Beach.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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PLM BCH EDITION

VIEWS ON SOUTH COUNTY CO-OP

BYLINE: Herald Staff Andre Fladell,


LENGTH: 51 words

co-op coordinator
'Our job is to deliver goods and services . . . I think anybody in government who doesn't do a good job doesn't like us.'
Rep. Carol Hanson,
R-Boca Raton
'There's just too many behind the scenes moves and I don't like it . . .there isn't any room for Tammany Hall politics in
Palm Beach County.'


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PLM BCH EDITION

DEMOCRATIC CO-OP WANTS TO EXPAND



LENGTH: 981 words

Steve Press said he never could have won re-election to the Florida Legislature without them.
Karen Marcus said she wouldn't be sitting in a Palm Beach County Commission seat today if it weren't for their help.
U.S. Rep. Dan Mica, D-Fla., called them "politically a very potent and powerful group."
And environmentalists Leah Schad and Rosa Durando said they're introducing a Northern big-city ward style of politics
to Palm Beach County that could be dangerous.
The people that Press and the others spoke of are the South County Political Cooperative's leaders, who this week will
try to expand their influence into Broward County in a meeting with leaders of Broward Democratic clubs.
"By their organization and their numbers, they're incredibly well organized, at least in terms of affecting county elec-
tions," said Palm Beach County Commission Chairman Ken Adams. "If they aggressively worked against a candidate,
he'd have his hands full."
"We can deliver votes easier and more surely than any other organization in Palm Beach County," said Jack Babich, a
retired New York restaurateur and president of the West Delray Democratic Club who helped organize the cooperative
in 1983.
"We get the commissioners to listen to us," said Murray Kalish, a retired clothing manufacturer and cooperative mem-
ber.
But Doug Mitchell, a member of the Palm Beach Democratic Executive Committee, said the cooperative is mostly
bluster, that its influence comes from the self-promotion of the cooperative's coordinator, Andre Fladell.
"The numbers aren't there to say that the political cooperative is anything other than posture," Mitchell said. "If you
know someone who delivers the votes in the county, I'd like to know it because I've never seen it happen."
Fladell, a Delray Beach chiropractor, said the cooperative can deliver 26,000 votes in a Palm Beach County election. He
said the proof came in Marcus' 1984 election, in which she took some South County precincts by a far greater margin
than she did elsewhere against a candidate who was endorsed by another commissioner popular in South County.
With the planned expansion into Broward County, Fladell said the cooperative will become a statewide force.
Fladell said the cooperative is an umbrella organization of seven Democratic clubs and a homeowners association. They
are the Atlantic Democratic Club, the West Delray Democratic Club, the Kings Point Democratic Club, Democrats of
Boca Raton, the Delray Beach Democratic Club, the Century Village West Democratic Club, the Independent Demo-
Page 1118
DEMOCRATIC CO-OP WANTS TO EXPAND The Miami Herald January 13, 1986 Monday

cratic Club and the Boca West Homeowners Association. The Women's Coalition of Palm Beach County is scheduled
to join the cooperative this month.
Fladell said cooperative clubs have a combined membership of 7,000. But Democratic Executive Committee records
indicate a membership as of last January that is less than half of that, said state Committeewoman Katherine Kelly.
Fladell said the reason for the discrepancy is that clubs often under-report their membership to the executive committee
to cut their mandatory contribution to the Democratic Party. And he said club membership is always at its lowest at the
beginning of the year.
The cooperative was created in late 1983 when leaders of three feuding South County Democratic clubs made up and
went to Fladell for help in forming a South County organization to counter what they saw as an unfair distribution of
county services.
"Andre happened to mention to us that by getting together in South County, we could get a lot more for South County,"
said Sidney Krutick, a retired Brooklyn pharmacist who broke away from the Atlantic Democratic Club to form the
Kings Point Democratic Club.
Ironically, some people in north and central Palm Beach County now complain that the cooperative has gained so much
influence that they are being slighted.
Cooperative members serve on the county's Charter Advisory Committee, its Water Utilities Committee, its Land Use
Advisory Committee, its Health Facilities Authority and its Commission on the Status of Women.
The cooperative counts among its members the vice mayor of Delray Beach, Marie Horenburger.
Cooperative representatives monitor commission and zoning meetings and demand concessions from developers seek-
ing county approval of their projects.
And the cooperative late last year lobbied for and won a commission commitment to build a South County civic center.
"Practically every candidate who's running for governor or insurance commissioner has been down to see the members
of the cooperative unsolicited," Press said. "I think that speaks for itself."
Durando, a member of the Democratic Executive Committee, said the cooperative uses "veiled threats" to get its way.
"It prevents county commissioners from independently arriving at decisions when they're being threated with votes,"
Durando said.
"Those kind of politics are being brought to bear by the intense influx of the retirees," said Schad, who ran against the
cooperative-backed Marcus in the 1984 Democratic primary for county commission. "That's the way they're used to
getting what they want. That's the way they're used to getting attention."
But Adams, Marcus and Commissioner Dorothy Wilken said the cooperative's influence comes not from the threat of
election votes but from its well researched presentations.
Wilken called the cooperative "the shining example of organization in terms of community action."
"They always have their facts together," Marcus said.
"By and large, they're interested in what's best with their part of Palm Beach County and for that reason, they have
earned respect," Adams said.
"We are not now nor have we ever been looking for power," said Nate Dunn, one of the cooperative's original organiz-
ers. "We're looking for fair representation, and if this is a crime, I will be the first to plead guilty."
Said Kalish: "I think most of the antagonism stems from a little jealousy."


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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DEMOCRATIC CO-OP WANTS TO EXPAND The Miami Herald January 13, 1986 Monday

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The Miami Herald

BRWRD EDITION

COOPERATIVE SETS SIGHTS ON BROWARD


SECTION: BRWD; BR; Pg. 6

LENGTH: 654 words

Steve Press said he never could have won re-election to the Florida Legislature without them.
U.S. Rep. Dan Mica, D-Fla., called them "politically a very potent and powerful group."
The people they're speaking about are the South County Political Cooperative's leaders, who this week will try to ex-
pand their influence into Broward County in a meeting with leaders of Broward Democratic clubs.
"By their organization and their numbers, they're incredibly well organized, at least in terms of affecting county elec-
tions," said Palm Beach County Commission Chairman Ken Adams. "If they aggressively worked against a candidate,
he'd have his hands full."
"We can deliver votes easier and more surely than any other organization in Palm Beach County," said Jack Babich, a
retired New York restaurateur and president of the West Delray Democratic Club who helped organize the cooperative
in 1983.
Mostly bluster
But Doug Mitchell, a member of the Palm Beach Democratic Executive Committee, said the cooperative is mostly
bluster.
"The numbers aren't there to say that the political cooperative is anything other than posture," Mitchell said.
The cooperative's coordinator, Andre Fladell, a Delray Beach chiropractor, said the cooperative can deliver 26,000
votes in a Palm Beach County election. With the planned expansion into Broward County, Fladell said the cooperative
will become a statewide force.
Fladell said the cooperative is an umbrella organization of seven Democratic clubs and a homeowners association. They
are the Atlantic Democratic Club, the West Delray Democratic Club, the Kings Point Democratic Club, Democrats of
Boca Raton, the Delray Beach Democratic Club, the Century Village West Democratic Club, the Independent Demo-
cratic Club and the Boca West Homeowners Association. The Women's Coalition of Palm Beach County is scheduled
to join the cooperative this month.
Cooperative clubs have a combined membership of 7,000, he said. But Democratic Executive Committee records indi-
cate a membership as of last January that is less than half of that, said state Committeewoman Katherine Kelly.
Fladell said the reason for the discrepancy is that clubs often underreport their membership to the executive committee
to cut their mandatory contribution to the Democratic Party.
Page 1121
COOPERATIVE SETS SIGHTS ON BROWARD The Miami Herald January 13, 1986 Monday

The cooperative was created in late 1983 when leaders of three feuding South County Democratic clubs made up and
went to Fladell for help in forming a South County organization to counter what they saw as an unfair distribution of
county services.
"Andre happened to mention to us that by getting together in South County, we could get a lot more for South County,"
said Sidney Krutick, a retired Brooklyn pharmacist who broke away from the Atlantic Democratic Club to form the
Kings Point Democratic Club.
Too much influence
Ironically, some people in north and central Palm Beach County now complain that the cooperative has gained so much
influence that they are being slighted.
Cooperative members serve on the county's Charter Advisory Committee, its Water Utilities Committee, its Land Use
Advisory Committee, its Health Facilities Authority and its Commission on the Status of Women.
Cooperative representatives monitor commission and zoning meetings and demand concessions from developers seek-
ing county approval of their projects.
"Practically every candidate who's running for governor or insurance commissioner has been down to see the members
of the cooperative unsolicited," Press said. "I think that speaks for itself."
Durando, a member of the Democratic Executive Committee, said the cooperative uses "veiled threats" to get its way.
"Those kind of politics are being brought to bear by the intense influx of the retirees," said Schad, who ran against the
cooperative-backed Marcus in the 1984 Democratic primary for County Commission. "That's the way they're used to
getting what they want. That's the way they're used to getting attention."


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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Page 1122


The Miami Herald

PLM BCH EDITION

CHAIRMAN ADAMS: YEAR OF PAIN, PRIVILEGE



LENGTH: 878 words

For a retired millionaire and avid horseman named Ken Adams, 1985 was a memorable year.
"I've had breakfast with the vice president at the White House," Adams said. "I've been to Ethiopia. I've met the future
king and queen of England."
And as chairman of the County Commission, he has helped lead Palm Beach County government through one of the
most momentous years in its history.
Adams' term as chairman has coincided with a flurry of activity -- in transportation, in reforming the county bureaucra-
cy, in the county's efforts to manage its runaway growth.
The impetus has come not only from Adams but from the whole board as well. Three rookie commissioners -- Adams,
Karen Marcus and Jerry Owens -- plus a pair of two-year commissioners -- Dorothy Wilken and Ken Spillias -- have
proved to be a formula for change.
But as chairman, many observers agree, Adams has provided critical leadership.
"I think he's brought a tremendous amount of tenacity," Wilken said.
"I think he set a high-paced, fast-energy tone for the County Commission," former Commissioner Dennis Koehler said.
"I think he's had a greater influence in one year than any other county commissioner since I've been in Palm Beach
County," said Bob Satter, developer, 15-year county resident and member of an Adams-inspired task force on efficiency
in government.
Last year, when Adams was made chairman, the selection broke two patterns. For the past seven years, the job had gone
to the previous vice chairman, in this case Wilken. And it hadn't gone to a first-year commissioner since 1933.
This time Marcus and Owens decided to bypass Wilken, a fellow Democrat. Marcus said she didn't think Wilken repre-
sented the majority.
Instead the post went to Adams, a Republican from upstate New York, the former hardware-store owner and a man
whose only experience in elective office was as chairman of the Acme Improvement District in Wellington.
"He looks like a chairman," Marcus said. "He looks like somebody who's going to be in charge. I think people have a lot
of respect for him. Could be even some Democrats have a lot of respect for him."
Some do. Henry Handler, chairman of the county's Democratic Executive Committee, has praise for the methodical
chairman.
Page 1123
CHAIRMAN ADAMS: YEAR OF PAIN, PRIVILEGE The Miami Herald January 12, 1986 Sunday

"He's had a calming influence both on the commission and the people who come before it," Handler said.
Andre Fladell, head of the South County Political Cooperative, gives Adams credit for rising above party politics and
making it through an entire year on the board without losing his temper.
"He did what we expected," Fladell said. "He ran it like a corporation. Now if he only became a Democrat, everything
would be all right."
The biggest reservations about Adams come from people who wonder about his commitment to controlling growth.
Fran Reich, head of the West Boca Community Council, likes Adams' "businesslike manner," but doesn't like some of
the zoning decisions he and his colleagues have made.
"I think a lot more commercial (development) has been approved than what is required at this point," she said.
"It still seems we have a development-oriented board," Wilken said.
Rosa Durando, of the Audubon Society of the Everglades, has objected to several zoning decisions, from shopping cen-
ters to the controversial White Fences townhouse development deep in the western part of the county.
She said some environmentalists have been surprised by Adams on such issues. It might be because at times he also has
spoken for their position. Durando and Wilken both give him credit for getting the county started on drafting a wellfield
protection law.
"I find him a very interesting study, in many ways most unexpected," Wilken said.
"He's a very complex person," Durando said. "More than once he has said the right words and voted the other way."
Durando doesn't think anybody has been deceived.
"I certainly can never accuse him of going back on his campaign promises," she said. "He made his position clear, that
economics should dictate land use."
Adams is given credit by his colleagues for pushing a number of projects along. The wellfield protection law is one.
Another is the county's task force on efficiency in government, which has led to the creation of a Department of Finan-
cial Management and Budget.
He has supported new housing in Belle Glade and helped get Dade and Broward counties to agree on a tricounty rail
system.
Tuesday, when commissioners select new officers, Adams probably will lose his title.
"I think it was more pain than I expected, and more privilege than I expected," he said of his tenure. "It was the busiest
year of my life."
This year, Adams said, government will have to follow through on what it started last year: the drafting of the wellfield
law, financing for the housing and the rail system, a new countywide planning agency, more money for roads, and a
"major reorganization of Palm Beach County government."
He said he had no idea when he was elected that county government was so ill-equipped to handle today's explosive
growth.
"We spent one hour the other day on one curb cut," Adams said. "We're spending so much time on detail, but we're not
doing the long-range planning.
"The challenge from here on out is to manage growth in Palm Beach County, to manage change, really. It's not being
done. It's managing us."


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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CHAIRMAN ADAMS: YEAR OF PAIN, PRIVILEGE The Miami Herald January 12, 1986 Sunday

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Page 1125


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BRWRD EDITION

BASKETBALL IS GIVING JOGGING A RUN FOR ITS MONEY WITH THE
YUPPIE CROWD

BYLINE: IRA MARC KATZ Herald Writer

SECTION: BNW; Pg. 10

LENGTH: 571 words

During the day, Danny Gallagher plays stockbroker for Dean Witter in Fort Lauderdale.
At night, Gallagher sheds his corporate suits for a gold basketball uniform and heads for the Fort Lauderdale YMCA
where he's more concerned about driving to the hoop than driving home business deals.
Gallagher, 32, is one of a growing number of white-collar workers who play basketball two or more nights a week. Af-
ter several years of enlisting little interest among young professionals, basketball is becoming popular again with the
BMW crowd.
"In the 1970s, and probably all the way up until two years ago, jogging was the big sport for this group," said Jack
Dougherty, coordinator for the YMCA's 36-team league. "Now, white-collar and more recreational groups are getting
away from just doing one thing."
Gallagher runs two nights a week and plays basketball at the YMCA and another men's league two nights a week. The
Fort Lauderdale stockbroker has been working up a sweat around North Broward parks and gyms for seven years.
But it hasn't been until the past two years, since many of his business associates have started playing hoops again, that
he has had so much fun.
The businessman's competitive nature has carried onto the courts, Gallagher said.
"We are all very competitive individuals and (this) becomes more than just recreation," said the six-foot, 160-pound
Gallagher. "If a referee blows a call, which happens every now and then, that competitive spirit really comes out."
The young professionals' interest in the game has amazed even Dougherty, who used to be the coach at St. Thomas
Aquinas and Coconut Creek high schools.
Last year, the YMCA league had only a dozen teams and one division. This year, the league has attracted 36 teams and
has three divisions: 6-2 and under, unlimited and three on three.
Dougherty said he is hoping to start a lawyers league that plays Saturdays next season.
It costs $360 per team to play in the league, although many of the teams are sponsored by local merchants.
Mike Acampora, 27, a former player at Coconut Creek High and North Florida University, said he chose to play in the
league because of convenience.
Page 1126
BASKETBALL IS GIVING JOGGING A RUN FOR ITS MONEY WITH THE YUPPIE CROWD The Miami Herald

"I wanted to play basketball and not travel that far," said Acampora, a Fort Lauderdale executive. "The competition in
the league is better than parks and it is very physical inside. I like that type of game. It's well organized, but we do play
some run and shoot ball."
Fort Lauderdale chiropractor Andre Fladell said that the YMCA league is more than just a social get-together. He likes
the pushing, shoving and high-intensity games the league offers.
"If I want to socialize, I go to a bar," said the 37-year- old Fladell, who plays for the first place Sweet & Low team in
the 6-2 and over league. "This league is different than other leagues because the guys leave the socializing off the court.
They come here to play in a good caliber league and get their bodies in shape."
Gary Stein, 28, one of Fladell's teammates, said he was skeptical at first that the league played serious ball.
"I had played and seen several leagues before playing in this one that weren't that organized," said Stein, a former
Cooper City High player. "The referees wouldn't take control and it would get out of hand. But this one is good. We
have ex- college and ex-high school players who still want to prove something. And the refs let you play the game, but
they don't lose control of the game either."


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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The Miami Herald

PLM BCH EDITION

PORT PANEL IS PUT ON HOT SEAT AGAIN

BYLINE: RAY HUARD AND NICK RAVO Herald Staff Writers


LENGTH: 1010 words

After an agonizing decision to start passenger cruise service last month, the Port of Palm Beach Commission took an-
other turn on the political hot seat last week.
First, the city of Riviera Beach denied the port a permit to start construction of a passenger terminal.
Then, a legislative delegation committee recommended that the port district be expanded to include the entire county
and members be appointed by the governor from five districts.
The recommendations, which still would need approval by the delegation next year, stunned some commissioners.
Port Commission Chairman Sandy Klein was particularly incensed. "I feel that the citizens of Palm Beach County are
going to be stripped morally and constitutionally of their rights," he said. "This is morally, if not legally, wrong."
Klein said Senate President and gubernatorial candidate Harry Johnston was behind the move to have the governor ap-
point the commissioners.
Klein said he wants the port district expanded with single- member districts, but with the commissioners elected on an
at- large basis, like the Palm Beach County Commission.
Klein also warned that if the commissioners are appointed rather than elected the district will lose its authority to issue
bonds -- and will have to implement taxes for the first time in 12 years.
"They are attempting to fix something that isn't broken," Klein said. "And they are going to fix it like the phone com-
pany was fixed."
As for the squabble with Riviera Beach over the passenger terminal, Klein said there's time for an agreement to be
worked out before Dec. 10, when the first cruise is scheduled.
A push for blacks, Hispanics
Look for a slate of black and Hispanic candidates to run for county legislative seats in 1986, says B. Carleton Bryant,
chairman of the Black Coalition of Palm Beach County.
"We're going to start pushing ethnics now," Bryant said. "We need representation."
Bryant said the coalition's top priority is the District 83 House seat Eleanor Weinstock is leaving to run for the state
Senate.
"If we can coalesce with the groups in Boynton and Delray, we'll put someone up against Frank Messersmith," Bryant
said. "He should be beaten." Messersmith is a Republican state representative from Lake Worth.
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Bryant said it is unlikely that the coalition will field candidates against state representatives Ray Liberti and Bernard
Kimmel of West Palm Beach, Steve Press of Highland Beach or Carol Hanson of Boca Raton. Bryant said Kimmel and
particularly Liberti appear "too deeply entrenched." So far, he said, there hasn't been much interest among South County
blacks to challenge Press. And, he said, a black would have no chance against Hanson, because her district includes the
predominantly Republican and white Boca Raton.
In North County, Bryant said, the coalition will probably support Riviera Beach City Council member Gerald Adams to
replace Republican Jim Watt in House District 81. Watt plans to run for attorney general.
Departing from the plan
Arthur Jackel said he had planned to run for mayor next year but the Delray Beach city council member's plans have
been derailed on the advice of his doctor.
"I thought it was time to move ahead but it's time to move out," said Jackel, who said he will not seek re-election to the
council, either.
"The doctor gave me my marching orders," said Jackel, whose second two-year term on the council ends in March. "He
said 'Bow out buddy, or you won't be a patient of mine much more.' "
Jackel said he has had heart trouble for a couple of years but it has worsened in recent months.
He'll finish his term, Jackel said, but is giving advance warning of his intention not to run again so "anyone interested in
running for council can prepare for it."
"You don't just throw your hat in the ring. It takes some preparation."
No word yet on any likely candidates to replace Jackel.
Tough talk
U.S. Rep. Dan Mica had some tough talk last week for the United Nations as the international body celebrates its 40th
anniversary.
The Lake Worth Democrat, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told the U.N. budget committee that if
the United States doesn't get more say over how the U.N. spends its money the U.N. will be getting less U.S. money.
"There is a widespread perception that the U.N. has lost sight of its goals and that many activities are undertaken more
for the benefit of the bureaucracy than any noble end," Mica said.
Legislation enacted earlier this year would cut from 25 percent to 20 percent the United State's share of the U.N.'s oper-
ating budget by 1987 unless budget reforms are enacted.
Mica said he doesn't want the United States to pull out of the U.N. "but in the short term, we have to face the growing
dissatisfaction of Congress and the American people and take stern action."
"We have to get the United Nations' attention and this is going to do it," Mica said.
He'll pass on that one
Palm Beach County Sheriff Richard Wille found himself faced with an interesting hypothetical situation last week.
During a deposition concerning a suicide at the Palm Beach County Jail, Wille was asked if he had a preference for sin-
gle cells or dormitory-style jail cells.
"Do I personally have a preference?" Wille said. "I wouldn't want to be in either one."
Noteworthy
State Sen. Harry Johnston, D-West Palm Beach, will address the Independent Democratic Club of West Boca at 7:30
p.m. Thursday at the Lutheran Church, 9465 Glades Rd., Boca Raton . . . Citizens Against Political Annexation are
sponsoring a public forum to discuss annexation questions that will appear on the Nov. 5 election ballot in Delray
Beach. The forum is scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday at Atlantic High School in Delray Beach.
Verbatim
"The question isn't voter turnout; the question is condo turnout."
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-- Andre Fladell, coordinator of the South County Political Cooperative, on the projected voter turnout for the Nov. 5
beach bond referendum.
Nick Ravo can be reached in West Palm Beach at 686-3221. Ray Huard can be reached in Delray Beach at 272-2626.
Herald writer Kevin Bjerregaard also contributed to this column.


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BEACH BOND BATTLE CREATES UNLIKELY ALLIES



LENGTH: 1073 words

The battle over the beach bonds has spawned unusual political alliances, linking inner-city blacks with affluent subur-
banites and businessmen with environmentalists.
On Nov. 5, Palm Beach County's voters will decide whether to allow the county to sell $75 million in bonds to buy
more public beaches.
Blacks have joined South County coastal condominium owners and residents of the county's western suburbs to try to
scuttle the sale. They say the county could spend taxpayers' money more wisely.
And businessmen and environmentalists -- frequent adversaries -- have allied with county government and an assort-
ment of political clubs to promote the bonds. They think buying beaches is a good investment.
"I think this is a good example of everybody working for one goal for a change, environmentalists, developers and
chambers of commerce," said Leah Schad of the Audubon Society of the Everglades and chairman of Public Beaches
'85, a pro-bond group.
Schad's goal isn't shared by Boca Raton advertising executive David Robinson, who has formed the PALMS (People's
Action to Lower Monetary Spending) Committee.
"We're sick and tired of having our taxes go up, and we don't think we're getting any benefit back from it," Robinson
said. "We dispute the need for more beaches at this time."
PALMS is running a sophisticated and aggressive campaign, handing out "ban the bond" bumper stickers and match-
book covers and publishing lengthy position papers and brochures. PALMS even has an answering service.
"We're going up against a group of people who are pretty sophisticated," Robinson said. "They have the support of the
media, so we have to buy our way in to be heard."
At issue is whether the county should buy up to two miles of beachfront property from among 17 parcels scattered from
Jupiter Beach to Highland Beach. The proposal also would allow the county to buy property along Lake Okeechobee,
although specific parcels haven't been identified.
The choice is simple, said County Commission Vice Chairman Karen Marcus: "If you don't vote for the beaches this
time, they won't be there the next time to vote for."
The beaches the county is eyeing are ripe for development, Marcus said, and if the county doesn't buy them now, resi-
dents can expect developers to erect condo canyons along the beach.
Page 1131
BEACH BOND BATTLE CREATES UNLIKELY ALLIES The Miami Herald October 28, 1985 Monday

"I have not met one person in Palm Beach County who has chosen the wall-to-wall condominiums," Marcus said. "It's
just simply a quality-of-life issue. It defines the character of this county."
Robinson said the last-chance argument is phony. There is no proof the county won't be able to buy the property later,
possibly at a better price, he said, adding that residents simply can't afford to pay the higher taxes to support the bonds.
With the 20-year bonds, a homeowner with a $75,000 house and the standard $25,000 homestead exemption would pay
$14.65 more in taxes next year, declining to $4.66 annually in 20 years.
"This is a pocketbook issue -- it's not a save-America issue," Robinson said.
Louise Buie, president of the Democratic Black Caucus, and B. Carleton Bryant, chairman of the Black Coalition of
Palm Beach County, agree.
"Who needs a beach? For whites, they can suffer skin cancer. For blacks, we get sunburn and our skin peels and people
think we've got AIDS," Bryant said.
Bryant said he would prefer that developers build condos. At least they would create jobs, he said.
"There are more important things for the people," Buie said. "Why don't they do something about the road situation?
Why don't they do something about the housing situation?"
Some suburbanites share that view.
"The people aren't even going to be able to get to the beaches because the roads are so damn crowded," said Pam Walsh
of Royal Palm Beach Acreage Homeowners Association, a group of about 300 families in suburban West Palm Beach.
"Wait awhile on the beaches, let's get down to the problems we have now," Walsh said.
Marcus said people like Walsh miss the point.
"You can always budget and plan for those (roads)," Marcus said. In fact, the county is doing just that, she said.
"You just can' replace beaches or pick them up anymore," Marcus said.
"The bottom line question is do you want the beaches for the public or not, and the answer is yes," said Andre Fladell,
coordinator of the South County Political Cooperative.
The cooperative is an umbrella organization of predominantly senior citizens from eight South County political clubs
and a homeowners' association. The members initially were skeptical about the bonds.
Some of them complained that the county does little for its older residents, yet is appealing for their support to buy
beaches they rarely use. Their opposition wilted when the County Commission agreed to build a South County senior
citizens center.
Fladell said county government did a poor job in presenting the bond proposal, but "you still don't want to lose the
beaches."
One obstacle for the bond boosters is that much of the property the county is looking at is in North County.
"We can't see any reason why Boca Raton should be paying for beach land that is going to be as far away as Jupiter and
Juno," said Charles Marshall, president of Citizens for Reasonable Growth in Boca Raton and a member of the board of
directors of the Federation of Boca Raton Homeowner Associations.
"We have our own beaches and we bought and paid for them," Marshall said. "We're not opposed to public beaches. We
believe Jupiter and Juno, as the beneficiaries, should buy it themselves."
Fladell called Marshall's argument "provincial."
North County bond supporters echo that assessment.
"We have an awful lot of people from the South end of the county and the rest of the country use our beaches, it's not
for us exclusively," said Fran Sagrans, president of the Jupiter- Tequesta Chamber of Commerce.
The property the county is considering includes five beaches clustered between Jupiter Island and Juno Beach, two sites
in Manalapan, four in Highland Beach and one in Boynton Beach.
Page 1132
BEACH BOND BATTLE CREATES UNLIKELY ALLIES The Miami Herald October 28, 1985 Monday

"We don't have enough money to buy all 17," Marcus said. "We do have the option to negotiate. The sellers will be
more competitive because they're not the only game in town."
Depending on the deal it can negotiate, the county may be able to buy more property that it initially thought, Schad said.
"It should all be public," Schad said. "There shouldn't be anything private along the beachfront."
To which Robinson replied: "What good is utopia if you can't afford to live here?"


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DEVELOPER GIFTS SPUR POLITICAL FIGHT



LENGTH: 356 words

A fight broke out Wednesday between two South County political organizations over the propriety of extracting contri-
butions from developers in exchange for supporting new construction projects.
The South County Democratic Club is asking the Palm Beach County Commission to investigate the South County Po-
litical Cooperative for withdrawing its opposition earlier this month to Hamilton Place, a development of homes and
businesses proposed for suburban Delray Beach.
The opposition was withdrawn, critics charged, only after the developer agreed to donate $50,000 to the county to help
build a senior citizens center and $30,000 for a traffic light.
"I don't think it's right," said Sol Hirshorn, a member of the Democratic Club's board of directors. "Requesting money
from developers for anything is highly irregular, to say the least."
But County Commission Vice Chairman Karen Marcus said she sees nothing wrong with the cooperative's activities and
will not investigate the club's complaints.
"If they (developers) are feeling pressured, they'll let us know," Marcus said Wednesday.
Cooperative Coordinator Andre Fladell called the Democratic Club's objections "absurd."
"We've never taken money, not a dime, ever," Fladell said.
What the cooperative has done, Fladell said, is ask developers to improve the neighborhoods in which they're building.
The cooperative is an umbrella organization of eight South County political clubs and one homeowners association.
Hirshorn said the South County Democratic Club, which does not belong to the cooperative, has 125 dues-paying
members.
Fladell said the cooperative has backed projects where the developer has agreed to make road improvements, but only in
cases where the projects conform to cooperative guidelines.
The cooperative will fight any developer who proposes building more than five housing units per acre, Fladell said.
Fladell said the Democratic Club's objections are moot because the issue will be settled in a Nov. 6 meeting the cooper-
ative has arranged with the County Commission.
"It (the Democratic Club) is just a group of people making noise," Fladell said. "They can't do anything."

Page 1134
DEVELOPER GIFTS SPUR POLITICAL FIGHT The Miami Herald October 24, 1985 Thursday

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WHAT'S THE BEST WAY TO MAKE A DONATION?



LENGTH: 934 words

South County Political Cooperative members still are miffed over criticism from county commissioners Ken Adams and
Ken Spillias that the cooperative's efforts to solicit donations from developers for road and other improvements may be
improper.
"It seems that the statements that were made were highly political and made for the developer interests," said Coopera-
tive Coordinator Andre Fladell.
Fladell has scheduled a meeting of commissioners, the cooperative and representatives of the Florida Atlantic Builders
Association and the Home Builders and Contractors Association for 8:30 a.m. Nov. 6 at the Holiday Inn Camino Real in
Delray Beach.
The purpose of the meeting, Fladell said, is to discuss "what is and is not the proper method of allowing developers to
contribute to the community."
Adams and Spillias said it appeared that the cooperative's support was bought when its members withdrew their objec-
tion to a suburban Delray Beach development -- after the developer agreed to donate $50,000 toward a senior citizens
center and $30,000 for a traffic light.
Fladell said he was not overly concerned about the appearance of the cooperative's actions.
"I would rather have appearance problems and a decent neighborhood," he said.
Raising money bit by bit
The gubernatorial campaign of state Sen. William G. "Doc" Myers, R-Hobe Sound, putters on. Myers, one of six Re-
publicans running for the GOP nomination, has raised about $115,000 and hopes to reach the $200,000 mark by the end
of the year.
"We'll keep raising money slowly," he said. "By filing time, we hope to have $1.2 million to $1.3 million."
"We haven't even started tapping the medical profession yet," he said. "We also haven't done any fund-raising outside of
the district."
Myers predicted he and former U.S. Rep. Lou Frey of Orlando will land in a GOP run-off election next year after the
primary.
"There's definitely going to be a run-off," Myers said. "I think Frey can raise an awful lot of money and take away a lot
of (Tampa Mayor Bob) Martinez' strength."
Page 1136
WHAT'S THE BEST WAY TO MAKE A DONATION? The Miami Herald October 21, 1985 Monday

Annexation fighters unite
A group of South County businesses has formed its own political action committee -- Citizens Against Political Annex-
ation -- to fight a Delray Beach proposal to annex their property.
"Most of the commercial property owners don't feel we're going to get enough services to justify the taxes," said Mari-
lynn Carr, owner of Second Chance Emporium and vice president of the PAC.
Antique dealer Curt Kolstead is president of the group, surveyor Danny O'Brien is treasurer and antique dealer Audrey
Kelch is secretary.
Carr said the group is sponsoring a public forum on the annexation proposals 7 p.m. Oct. 30 at Atlantic High School in
Delray Beach.
Renewing an old holiday
It's time for Americans to express pride in their country, say James B. Frederick and Don Placco of American Legion
Post 164 in Boynton Beach. Toward that end, last week the two convinced the Palm Beach County Commission to pro-
claim next Oct. 28 as "I Am an American Day."
"I think we're becoming more and more aware of the blessings we have in this country," Frederick said.
I Am an American Day was a national holiday from 1940 through 1951, when President Harry Truman combined it
with Constitution Day to create a new holiday called Citizenship Day, Frederick said.
Frederick said he hopes within the next three years to resurrect the holiday nationwide. "This is our initial shot," Fred-
erick said of the local effort.
The highlight of the county's I Am an American Day will be the swearing in of 400 new citizens at 10 a.m. at Santa-
luces High School in suburban Lantana.
Voters with advice to give
U.S. Rep. Tom Lewis, R-Fla., held town meetings in West Palm Beach and Jupiter last week.
Some of the advice the North Palm Beach Republican heard during his Jupiter stop included the recommendation that
all convicted drug traffickers receive the death penalty.
Lewis replied that much had been done to halt the spread of drugs into the country, but he agreed that more needed to be
done. He stopped short, however, of advocating capital punishment.
GOP costume party
Four North County Republican clubs will hold a come- dressed-as-a-politician Halloween party Saturday at the Jupiter
Civic Center on State Road A1A. Tickets cost $10. Costumes are optional -- but there will be a contest for the best fac-
simile politico.
The sponsoring clubs are the Republican Club of Southern Martin County, the Jupiter/Tequesta Republican Club, the
Republican Club of Northern Palm Beach County and the Lithuanian Republican Club.
Tickets can be purchased at the door or from Pat Magrogan, Dody Christian or Tommy Thompson. Call 746-7353 or
746-3822.
Noteworthy
State Sen. Harry Johnston, D-West Palm Beach, will address the Independent Democratic Club of West Boca at 7:30
p.m. Oct. 31 at the Lutheran Church, 9465 W. Glades Rd., Boca Raton . . . The Palm Beach County Commission is
seeking volunteers to work in the South County Courthouse in Delray Beach as information clerks, typists, file clerks
and telephone receptionists. Contact Florence Siegal at 276-1385 . . . The Century Democratic Club is honoring its
longtime president, civic activist Harry Bilawsky, with a testimonial luncheon at 12:30 p.m. Nov. 10 at the Royce Hotel
in West Palm Beach . . . The Port of Palm Beach Commission will hold its regularly scheduled monthly meeting at 4:30
p.m. Tuesday.
Verbatim
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WHAT'S THE BEST WAY TO MAKE A DONATION? The Miami Herald October 21, 1985 Monday

"There can be no war without warmongers and there can be no peace without peace lovers.". . . Ada Vladimer, a mem-
ber of the Democratic Executive Committee, in accepting a county proclamation declaring Oct. 24 World Peace Day in
Palm Beach County.


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SPILLIAS QUITS SENATE RACE COMMISSIONER WANTS TIME WITH
FAMILY

BYLINE: NICK RAVO And RAY HUARD Herald Staff Writers


LENGTH: 626 words

Ken Spillias stunned the area's political power structure Tuesday by abruptly ending his brief campaign for the Florida
Senate and announcing he would not seek re-election to the Palm Beach County Commission in 1986.
A Democrat from West Palm Beach serving his first term on the commission, Spillias said he was ending his 28-day
campaign for the West Palm Beach Senate seat that now belongs to gubernatorial candidate Harry Johnston because the
job "would have an adverse impact on every aspect of my private life."
Spillias, 35, said he wants to spend more time with his family and the campaign took more work than he realized. He
reconsidered his candidacy for several weeks but he said his decision to drop out was made after a talk with his
6-year-old son.
"I asked Geoff how he would feel if I decided not to run for the Senate, so we wouldn't have to go to Tallahassee," Spil-
lias said. "Without hesitation, his eyes lit up, he smiled and excitedly said, 'Yeah.' "
The decision to withdraw from the state Senate race mystified many county Democrats and Republicans. Few knew of
his decision until it was announced at the Tuesday afternoon County Commission meeting.
Spillias, a serious but likable presence on a commission beset by bickering and personality clashes, had been regarded
as an unusually strong candidate and was almost universally praised by county Democrats.
One factor for the withdrawal, local Democrats said, may have been his upcoming primary against four-term state Rep.
Eleanor Weinstock of West Palm Beach, a race that had received billing as one of the biggest political battles in the
county next year.
Weinstock, 56, has never carved out a prominent niche for herself as a legislator in the Florida House, but she is re-
garded as a powerful vote-getter, particularly among senior citizens, Jews and condominium residents -- all politically
powerful groups in the 26th state Senate district.
"I'm surprised by this, very surprised," Weinstock said. "It's kind of nice that there is this kind of support out there that
would have such an effect on a credible candidate."
Andre Fladell, a Spillias supporter and coordinator of the powerful South Florida Political Cooperative, also said that
the tough fight for the district's elderly and Jewish vote may have been a factor in Spillias' decision.
"The leadership that supported Spillias felt it would be difficult to get their own people to disregard ethnic considera-
tions when that person (Weinstock) had name recognition and government experience," Fladell said.
Page 1139
SPILLIAS QUITS SENATE RACE COMMISSIONER WANTS TIME WITH FAMILY The Miami Herald October
16, 1985 Wednesday

Spillias, however, said his reasons for quitting the race were entirely personal.
"Nothing has changed regarding my absolute belief that I would win the election and provide Palm Beach County with
the same high standard of representation provided by the present incumbent, Sen. Harry Johnston," Spillias said.
Johnston, a gubernatorial candidate who has been playing a neutral role in the Spillias-Weinstock race, was shocked by
the commissioner's announcement -- but not entirely disappointed.
"I'm glad to see one of them drop out so there won't be a bloodbath in the primary," Johnston said. "It would have been
a very tough race for both of them."
Another factor in the decision, local Democrats said, was money. Spillias, a lawyer, has lost the potential to earn hun-
dreds of thousands of dollars over the past three years. He also could use the next few years to build a law practice to
fall back on should he lose a bid for higher office in the future.
"I don't think there is anything Byzantine about this," said Henry Handler, the Palm Beach County Democratic Party
chairman. "It's a touchy dilemma for young professionals. I think he made the right decision, too. He's got plenty of
time ahead of him for public service."


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MITCHELL JOINS THE LIST OF GOP SENATE HOPEFULS



LENGTH: 1006 words

Add Anita Mitchell to the list of potential Republican contenders for the Senate seat Democrat Harry Johnston is leav-
ing to run for governor.
Mitchell, who runs a public relations firm in West Palm Beach, said she has been encouraged to run for either John-
ston's Senate seat or Carol Roberts' West Palm Beach City Council seat. Mitchell said her initial preference is to run for
the Senate.
"That seat is the one that would be really exciting," Mitchell said.
Roberts is expected to run for Ken Spillias' County Commission seat. Spillias is challenging State Rep. Eleanor Wein-
stock for the Democratic nomination to replace Johnston.
With the number of registered Republican voters edging close to the number of Democrats in Johnston's coastal district,
Mitchell said, the Senate race is more appealing.
"I think philosophically, I could get a little more energized in that one," Mitchell said.
Mitchell made an unsuccessful bid for a Florida House seat in 1978.
"If I do run again, I want to pick it right. I want to go at least where I have a chance of winning," Mitchell said. "I don't
need to run just to run. I want to make a contribution."
Former Lake Worth city commissioner Mark Foley and former congressional candidate Al Coogler have also indicated
interest in running for the Republican Senate nomination.
To avoid a squabble within the party, Mitchell said, all the would-be Republican candidates should take an opinion poll
to find out who's best known among them. The others should back whoever comes out on top, she said.
Top smoocher
It's nice to be loved, but County Commission Chairman Ken Adams may be a bit skeptical after what happened at a
commission meeting last week.
The commissioners proclaimed Oct. 13 as Gen. Kazimirez Pulaski Day and Joe Konwinski of the Lake Worth American
Polish Club decided to thank them for the honor.
He smooched Commissioner Dorothy Wilken, planted one on the cheek of Commissioner Karen Marcus and walked
over to stand behind Adams.
"Being a good politician, I'll kiss the chairman's bald head," Konwinski said.
Page 1141
MITCHELL JOINS THE LIST OF GOP SENATE HOPEFULS The Miami Herald October 14, 1985 Monday

And he did.
"Oh, geez," Adams said.
Low-key opponents
Never one to miss an opportunity to insult a Republican, South County Political Cooperative Coordinator Andre
Fladell said a debate between county Democrats and Republicans is still on even though the Republicans have declined
to participate.
Fladell said he's found the perfect representatives for the debate-shy Republicans -- four stuffed dummies from a local
toy store.
Running strategy
Fresh from a series of Republican seminars on campaign strategy, Genny Hazelip said she's edging closer to a run for
the Boca Raton City Council next March against incumbents Al Travasos and Alan Alford. The two candidates with the
most votes will be elected.
"Why beat around the bush -- I'm thinking about it," said Hazelip, who ran for mayor last year against William Konrad.
"I think my biggest pitfall the last time I ran was the fund raising, " Hazelip said. "It's difficult when people don't know
you. Now, I'm known."
Big attraction
South County Republicans are hoping to get U.S. Sen. Alfonse M. D'Amato of New York as the main attraction to a
fund- raising rally, tentatively set for Jan. 19.
"He's a big name, and he will attract people," said Hazelip, an organizer of the fund-raiser. "There are a lot of New
Yorkers down here, you've got to realize that."
Wedding surprise
County Commissioner Dorothy Wilken got a bit of a surprise last weekend.
Daughter Melany Wilken, 26, announced without warning that she was getting married today. Her intended is Mike
Jenkins.
"She had said a week before that she was going to get married," Wilken said.
The plan had been for a mid-November wedding. "Then," Wilken said, "she just decided to make it mid-October."
No expansion here
The Democratic Executive Committee last week tabled a resolution from its legislative subcommittee that the Palm
Beach County Commission be expanded from five to seven members.
The committee also rejected a resolution that asked the County Commission to specifically delineate which beach prop-
erty will be purchased with $75 million in bonds if the issue is approved by voters next month.
Noteworthy
State Rep. Frank Messersmith has been elected secretary of the American Legislative Exchange Council . . . The South
County Chapter of the National Organization for Women will sponsor a panel discussion on women in government at
7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 2601 St. Andrews Blvd., Boca Raton. Panelists will in-
clude state Rep. Eleanor Weinstock, D-West Palm, state Rep. Carol Hanson, R-Boca Raton, County Commissioner
Dorothy Wilken, D-Boca Raton, West Palm Beach Mayor Carol Roberts, County Court Judge Kathleen Kroll and
Delray Beach City Council member Marie Horenburger . . . The League of Women Voters of South Palm Beach County
will sponsor a pubic forum at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 24 in the Delray Beach City Council chambers to review ballot questions
on the Nov. 5 Delray Beach election ballot . . . The Boca Area Commerce Committee, the political arm of the Greater
Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce, has scheduled a golf tournament for 7 a.m. Oct. 20 at the Boca Raton Hotel and
Club. The entry fee is $60 and registration forms are available through the Chamber at 1800 N. Dixie Highway, Boca
Raton . . . U.S. Rep. Tom Lewis, R-North Palm Beach, has taped several public service announcements to combat oste-
oporosis, the crippling bone disease that affects millions of older Americans . . . The World Trade Council will present a
Page 1142
MITCHELL JOINS THE LIST OF GOP SENATE HOPEFULS The Miami Herald October 14, 1985 Monday

special half-day seminar on "How to Market Your Product Abroad" on Thursday at 1:30 at the Port of Palm Beach
Building in Riviera Beach.
Verbatim
"If it weren't for sidewalks, I would have been dead, and you wouldn't have had me sitting up here to make fun of."
-- County Commissioner Jerry Owens, arguing against exempting a developer from regulations that would require him
to install sidewalks.
Ray Huard can be reached in Delray Beach at 272-2626 or 737-1009. Nick Ravo can be reached in West Palm Beach at
686-3221.


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MURDER PLOT BRINGS 20 YEARS


SECTION: LOCAL; A; Pg. 24

LENGTH: 364 words

Howard Masters, who engineered an unsuccessful plot to murder two FBI agents investigating his family's drug smug-
gling business, was sentenced Thursday to 20 years in prison.
U.S. District Judge Jose Gonzalez of Fort Lauderdale said the sentence will run concurrently to the 13-year prison term
the Fort Pierce native is serving for drug smuggling.
Masters, 55, talked briefly to family members, who two weeks ago saw his wife, Marjorie, sentenced to 10 years and
their son, Ben, sentenced to life for their part in the plot.
The FBI said Masters masterminded the plan to kill agents James Franklin and Dave Callan.
FARMERS MART PLANS OPPOSED
A coalition of South Palm Beach County political groups and farmers led by state Rep. Frank Messersmith, R-Lake
Worth, vowed Thursday to fight Broward County proposals for a $12 million state-financed expansion of the Pompano
State Farmers Market.
"If they're looking for a fight, they came to the right place," said Andre Fladell, coordinator of the South County Polit-
ical Cooperative, representing eight groups.
Palm Beach farmers said they are worried the expansion is the first step to bring in South American fruit and vegetables
to compete with home-grown produce.
SCAFFOLDING FALLS, 4 INJURED
Four workers were injured when a five-story scaffolding toppled at a Jupiter construction site Thursday morning, hos-
pital and company officials said. The accident occurred at The Bluffs, a 1,800-unit Burg & DiVosta residential devel-
opment between State Road A1A and U.S. 1.
Two men remained hospitalized Thursday afternoon. Charles Decemus, 39, of 40 NE 47th St., Miami, was among the
pair treated and released.
CUSTOMS: NO LAWS BROKEN
FORT PIERCE -- Customs agents did not violate criminal laws when they hit a diner at the Harbour House restaurant
last month, a Customs official said Thursday.
An investigation of the incident shows there was "no criminal involvement" in the brawl involving Steve Stromak and
several Customs agents, said Vic Clanton, director of internal affairs.
Page 1144
MURDER PLOT BRINGS 20 YEARS The Miami Herald October 11, 1985 Friday

Clanton's findings will be forwarded to Customs Regional Commissioner Ed Kwas, who will make the final decision on
what action, if any, should be taken against the agents.


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FIGHT ON AGAINST MARKET



LENGTH: 423 words

"It has outlived its usefulness," Messersmith said.
ical Cooperative. The cooperative is an umbrella organization of eight South Palm Beach County groups.
Palm Beach County farmers said they are worried the expansion is the first step to bring in South American fruit and
vegetables to compete with home-grown produce -- despite promises to the contrary from Broward County legislators.
The expansion proposal asks the state Legislature to create an independent authority in Broward County to run the mar-
ket, which is controlled by the state Department of Agriculture.
"If they get an independent authority, they could pretty much do as they please," said Billy DuBois, a Boynton Beach
farmer.
"It's not really a fight between Broward and Palm Beach counties," Messersmith said. "It's the entire Florida agricultural
organization."
The chairman of the Broward County legislative delegation, Sen. Peter Weinstein, said he's willing to include provi-
sions in the authority's charter to prohibit the Pompano market from importing foreign produce, if that would placate
Florida farmers.
"Broward County is not interested in putting Florida farmers out of business," said Weinstein, D-Coral Springs. "The
purpose of the farmers' market is to showcase Florida agriculture."
There's no justification for a $12 million expansion of the market without the foreign fruit and vegetable business to
support it, Messersmith said.
Even if the market initially does not sell imported produce, it would have to turn to foreign fruits and vegetables be-
cause not enough South Florida farmers use the market, Boynton Beach farmer John Whitworth said.
Expansion plans call for the sale of more than produce at the market to make it economically feasible, Weinstein coun-
tered.
Rather than expanding the Pompano market independently, Messersmith said, the state should review the performances
of farmers' markets throughout Florida.
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FIGHT ON AGAINST MARKET The Miami Herald October 11, 1985 Friday

"(The Pompano Beach market) is not the only market with problems," Messersmith said.
If the Department of Agriculture doesn't conduct a study of all farmers' markets, Messersmith, who chairs a House
Oversight Committee on Agriculture, said he'll ask the Legislature to do it.


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EXPANSION OF FARMERS MARKET IN POMPANO FACING CHAL-
LENGE



LENGTH: 475 words

"It has outlived its usefulness," Messersmith said.
ical Cooperative. The cooperative is an umbrella organization of eight South Palm Beach County groups.
Palm Beach County farmers said they are worried that the expansion is the first step to bring in South American fruit
and vegetables to compete with home-grown produce -- despite promises to the contrary from Broward County legisla-
tors.
The expansion proposal asks the state Legislature to create an independent authority in Broward County to run the mar-
ket, which is currently controlled by the state Department of Agriculture.
"If they get an independent authority, they could pretty much do as they please," said Billy DuBois, a Boynton Beach
farmer.
"It's not really a fight between Broward and Palm Beach counties," Messersmith said. "It's the entire Florida agricultural
organization."
The chairman of the Broward County legislative delegation, Sen. Peter Weinstein, D-Coral Springs, said he's willing to
include provisions in the authority's charter to prohibit the Pompano Beach market from importing foreign produce if
that would placate Florida farmers.
"Broward County is not interested in putting Florida farmers out of business," said Weinstein. "The purpose of the
farmers' market is to showcase Florida agriculture."
There's no justification for a $12 million expansion of the market without the foreign fruit and vegetable business to
support it, Messersmith said, .
Even if the market initially does not sell imported produce, it would have to turn to foreign fruits and vegetables be-
cause not enough South Florida farmers use the market, Boynton Beach farmer John Whitworth said.
Expansion plans call for the sale of more than produce at the market to make it economically feasible, Weinstein coun-
tered.
Page 1148
EXPANSION OF FARMERS MARKET IN POMPANO FACING CHALLENGE The Miami Herald October 11, 1985
Friday

But Messersmith called plans to develop part of the market into a pedestrian shopping area "absurd."
"That is a tough neighborhood," Messersmith said, adding that it's not likely many people would want to go there to
shop.
"I just think that's an ill-fated direction for them to go in," he said.
Rather than expanding the Pompano market independently, Messersmith said, the state should review the performances
of farmers' markets throughout Florida.
"(The Pompano Beach market) is not the only market with problems," Messersmith said.
If the Department of Agriculture doesn't conduct a study of all farmers' markets, Messersmith, who chairs a House
Oversight Committee on Agriculture, said he'll ask the Legislature to do it.


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S. COUNTY NURSING-HOME REVIEW SET



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The South County Political Cooperative will review every nursing home from Lake Worth to Boca Raton to improve
care and publish a rating of the homes, Delray Beach Vice Mayor Marie Horenburger and cooperative officials said
Wednesday.
"The purpose is to bring long-term health care facilities above minimum standards," Horenburger said.
The action was prompted by numerous complaints from people who have said the nursing home care their relatives re-
ceived was less than it should be, she said.
"I really don't want it to appear that we're some kind of vigilante committee," Horenburger said. "That's not my style."
The idea of rating nursing homes came from the many inquiries the cooperative gets from people seeking good nursing
homes, coordinator Andre Fladell said.
"We really want to find out where there are waiting lists, what their price scales are, who takes Medicare (patients), the
quality and number of staff, what physical therapy equipment and recreation potential is available and the quality of
food service," Fladell said.
The director of one South County nursing home has asked that her center be the first the cooperative inspects.
"I always welcome family comments and public comments," said Maureen Gartland, administrator of Hillhaven Con-
valescent Center in suburban Delray Beach.
"This is the only way we can tell if we're doing what we're supposed to be doing," Gartland said. "To have a group of
concerned citizens come in and evaluate our services is no problem to me."
The cooperative, an umbrella organization of eight South County groups, has many senior citizens as members, Fladell
said. Many have been frustrated in their efforts to find out what services various nursing homes offer and how they
compare.
"A lot of people ask us all the time for help," he said. "We don't know whom to contact in nursing homes; we don't
know what nursing homes offer."
Once the survey is completed, Fladell said, the cooperative will serve as a clearinghouse for information on South
County nursing homes.
"The only negative in the project," Fladell said, "is (that) people with things to hide aren't going to like it."

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S. COUNTY NURSING-HOME REVIEW SET The Miami Herald October 10, 1985 Thursday

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BEACH BOND GETS HEAVYWEIGHT SUPPORT



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A proposed $75 million county bond that would be used to buy beaches won the support of several key political organ-
izations Wednesday.
The South County Political Cooperative, the Florida Atlantic Builders Association and the Women's Coalition of Palm
Beach County urged voters to approve the bond issue on the Nov. 5 special election ballot.
The county wants to sell the $75 million bond to buy up to two miles of beachfront property in Jupiter, Juno Beach,
Manalapan and Highland Beach for public use.
"I think there's more to be gained in passing the bond issue than in not passing it," said Adele Messinger, president of
the Women's Coalition.
If the county doesn't buy the beaches now, Messinger said, developers almost surely will build on the property.
If that happens, she said, the county could wind up spending more to protect new condominiums from storm damage
than it would to buy the beaches.
"We are definitely for the beaches because they are essential to life in Florida," said Jeanne Sklar, of the political coop-
erative.
Recalling how, as a child, he used to walk the beaches of Boca Raton with his grandfather, Builders Association Presi-
dent Alan E. Hill said, "I think it's important that we build a legacy for future grandfathers and grandsons."
"In two years, you're probably going to sit back and say, wow, that's the best thing we've done for Palm Beach County,
this beach bond issue," said County Commissioner Karen Marcus, who described herself as "the beach bum of the
County Commission."
The political cooperative, an umbrella organization of eight South County citizen groups, initially had indicated some
opposition to the bond.
Its endorsement is significant because it represents condominium residents who historically vote in greater percentages
than the public. In the 1984 elections, cooperative coordinator Andre Fladell said, the cooperative delivered 26,000 to
28,000 votes to the candidates it endorsed.
Many members of the cooperative are retirees and the group initially said the bond would be of little use to them. Retir-
ees prefer condominium swimming pools and rarely use the beaches.
Sklar said a County Commission commitment this week to build a South County senior citizens center in suburban
Delray Beach helped win cooperative support.
Page 1152
BEACH BOND GETS HEAVYWEIGHT SUPPORT The Miami Herald October 10, 1985 Thursday

"In all businesses, you tend to help each other out and they (the commission) have been very cooperative," Sklar said.
And although most of the beaches the county would buy are in North County, Messinger said, South County voters
should back the bond.
"I know plenty of people (from South County) who like Singer Island, who love Singer Island, that go up there,"
Messinger said.


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SENIOR CENTER HINGES ON PRIVATE FUNDS



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Palm Beach County commissioners agreed Tuesday to build a South County senior citizen center if the money to pay
for the center's design is raised privately.
"I think it's an ideal opportunity for government and private citizens to work together," Commission Chairman Ken
Adams said of the estimated $1 million facility.
"I think it's something that's long overdue," Commissioner Jerry Owens said.
South County senior citizen groups would gladly raise the design money, said Andre Fladell, coordinator of the South
"We're willing, if you don't have money, to raise it for you," Fladell said.
Among other things, Fladell said the cooperative will lobby the 1986 Florida Legislature for money to help build the
center.
At the urging of Commissioner Karen Marcus, the commission instructed its staff to recommend one of two potential
sites for the center.
Marcus said the preferred site for the center probably would be on county land on Hagen Ranch Road, but a site near
Kings Point in Delray Beach is also a possibility.
The county also should consider building the center in downtown Delray Beach, Commissioner Dorothy Wilken said.
But Fladell said a downtown location would be inconvenient to the more than 30,000 seniors who live in Delray Beach's
western suburbs.
A senior center "is absolutely a must" for the up to 150 clubs and organizations associated with condominiums that line
Atlantic Avenue in suburban Delray Beach, cooperative member Sidney Krutick said.
"It's difficult for them to get a place that will hold more than 100 people," Krutick said.
Previous county commissions have promised to build a South County senior center and it was time for the county to
honor its commitment, cooperative member Murray Kalish said.


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AFTER A YEAR, FIRE UNIT PRAISED, CRITICIZED



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A year ago this week, Palm Beach County's 10 fire districts were merged to become a single Fire-Rescue department.
Administrator Herman Brice said the change has been dramatic. "I see us functioning more and more like we've been an
organization forever," he said.
But some say the change has been too dramatic in a department that serves 13 cities and towns and all of unincorporated
Palm Beach County.
Several North County communities complain that a consolidated department is too expensive.
"It has been a mistake, as far as the north end of the county is concerned," said state Rep. Jim Hill, R-Jupiter, who voted
against the legislation that allowed consolidation.
Volunteer firefighters worry that the consolidation might put them out of business.
"The only thing we ask is not to be left out," said Richard Mathers, assistant deputy chief of the Volunteer Firefighters
Association.
Mathers said his organization, which represents 75 volunteer firefighters, is reserving judgment on the consolidation
until Brice determines exactly how volunteers will be used.
They still will be used, Brice said, but less often.
"If they get trained and they want to participate, we'll give them that opportunity," Brice said.
Some South County residents worry that they may wind up paying higher taxes to buy fire equipment for North County.
"South County already paid for its fire department," said Andre Fladell, coordinator of the South County Political Co-
operative. "North County was building a house with straw while we built ours with bricks."
The advantages to consolidating 10 districts into one 560- member department are clear, Brice said.
"We have tremendous depth now," he said.
Brice said today the county has two hazardous materials teams, one on each end of the county, where before there was
but one.
Starting next month, the department will have a computer- assisted dispatch system connecting all fire stations. A year
ago the separate fire districts could barely communicate with each other.
"You could have a fire working on the north end of the county and the south end would not even know it," Brice said.
Page 1156
AFTER A YEAR, FIRE UNIT PRAISED, CRITICIZED The Miami Herald October 2, 1985 Wednesday

Under the new system, firefighters from the nearest station are the first to respond to a fire. Before, they would not if the
fire was in another district.
Lt. Ken Fisher, the department's public affairs officer, said the consolidated department has been able to respond to big
fires with more equipment -- and faster -- than it could under the old system.
More importantly, Fisher said, it can do so without stripping an area of its fire protection should another blaze break out.
For example, Fisher said, five fire trucks were dispatched to an October fire at Albertson's supermarket on Lake Worth
Road in suburban Lake Worth.
"Prior to consolidation, that would have been their total department; that would have been all their resources," Fisher
said.
None of that soothes Tequesta Mayor Carlton Stoddard, whose community faces a 13.8 percent increase in fire service
fees this year under consolidation.
"They have caused us great trouble up here, and how it's going to turn out, I don't know," Stoddard said. "We feel we're
being overcharged up here and we're not satisfied yet that we can live with the 13.8 percent increase."
Besides the higher fire service fees, Stoddard said, the consolidated Fire-Rescue has virtually killed a North County
volunteer ambulance service.
"They disrupted a volunteer organization that had performed faithfully for 19 years," Stoddard said.
Previously, Stoddard said, North County Ambulance responded to emergency calls in North Palm Beach County and
southern Martin County -- and for less money than the consolidated Fire- Rescue.
But Palm Beach County refused to renew the licenses of nine North County Ambulance paramedics, he said, which
means the volunteer organization can operate only as a transportation service -- bringing patients to and from hospitals
on nonemergency calls.
Stoddard said Tequesta, Jupiter and Jupiter Inlet Colony are continuing to study the feasibility of forming a tri- commu-
nity fire department and dumping the county service -- a suggestion first made when the county raised the fire service
fees it charges those communities.
Brice simply urges consolidation critics to be patient.
"All in all," he said, "I think it's growing pains."


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HILL SETS HIS SIGHTS ON HOUSE, NOT SENATE



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State Rep. James C. Hill Jr., R-Jupiter, has decided against running for the Florida Senate seat that may be vacated next
year by gubernatorial candidate William G. "Doc" Myers, R- Hobe Sound.
"I want to gain some seniority in the House," Hill said.
Though he thought he could win a race in the 27th state Senate District, Hill said, he didn't want to put his family
through a grueling campaign.
Hill, looking for a third term in the House, said he will file his re-election papers for the 80th House District seat after
Oct. 1.
Should Myers stay in the governor's race after the July 1986 qualifying date, there are other possible contenders for his
Senate seat.
They include, on the Democratic side, Dick McKinnon of Riveria Beach, David Wood of Juno Beach and Maggy
Hurchalla of Martin County. On the Republican side, Jupiter Mayor Mary Hinton, who just joined the party three
months ago, is one of the names being mentioned.
State Rep. James L. Watt, R-Lake Park, also had been considered a leading candidate for Myers' seat, but has since de-
cided to run for attorney general.
The force is with them
The 1986 elections are some 13 months away, but already the statewide candidates are out in full force.
Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Steve Pajcic toured the Palm Beach County Health Department last Thursday as part
of his statewide campaign kickoff, which stressed the theme of excellence in everyday life.
Meanwhile, the other Democratic gubernatorial candidate, state Senate President Harry Johnston, D-West Palm Beach,
and his running mate, Attorney General Jim Smith, will be honored Saturday at the Palm Beach Polo and Country Club.
The fund- raiser is being billed as a Favorite Son Day. Tickets cost $100.
Choice spots
An idle rumor: state Rep. Ray Liberti, D-West Palm Beach, will get his choice of any major chairmanship he wants
when his good buddy, Speaker-designate Jon Mills, D-Gainesville, takes power during the 1987 session.
Liberti, who decided against challenging state Sen. Don Childers, D-West Palm Beach, is already a member of the Mills
transition team that will help set the agenda for the session two years from now.
Page 1158
HILL SETS HIS SIGHTS ON HOUSE, NOT SENATE The Miami Herald September 23, 1985 Monday

Tough race brews
Some common speculation: If state Rep. Eleanor Weinstock, D-West Palm Beach, decides to run for Harry Johnston's
state Senate seat, she will be a stiff opponent for County Commissioner Ken Spillias, another Democrat who announced
for the seat last week.
Such a primary race would anguish many county Democrats, because Weinstock is a popular vote-getter, particularly in
the predominantly Jewish condominiums in her district.
Unfortunately, she is also regarded as a well-meaning but ineffectual legislator with little or no clout in the Florida
House.
Spillias is finishing only his first term on the commission. But he is highly regarded as one of the County Commission's
more effective and politically astute members.
Playing games
The latest Andre Fladell stunt will be an Olympics between members of the South County Political Cooperative and
the Florida Atlantic Builders on Nov. 23 and 24 in Delray Beach.
Fladell, the coordinator of the cooperative, said the games will include a variation of Monopoly -- complete with impact
fees -- poker, golf, tennis, bowling, billiards, shuffleboard, horse handicapping and pizza eating.
They're making waves
There's a new group organizing to fight the county's proposed $75 million beach bond referendum. It's called PALMS --
Peoples Action to Lower Monetary Spending. It's headed by David Robinson of Highland Beach, James Cook of Delray
Beach and Sandy Blumenkrantz of Highland Beach.
"We feel that Palm Beach County is bonded up to its neck," said Blumenkrantz. "Presently, some 50 to 54 percent of
our beaches are public, and this is too expensive an undertaking even for Palm Beach County. Plus, we don't like the
wording of the referendum question. These people are asking for a blank check to go shopping."
The organization can be reached at 498-2309 or 272-2164.
Noteworthy
Shirley Hodges of Boca Raton was selected as a delegate to the National Federation of Republican Women's 23rd con-
vention in Phoenix, Ariz. this past weekend. Genny Hazelip and Beryl Ford are alternate delegates. Also attending the
conference, held every two years, will be state Rep. Carol Hansen, R-Boca Raton . . . The Republican Women's Club of
the Palm Beaches will host a luncheon Wednesday at 11:30 at the Royce Hotel with GOP state Chairwoman Jeanne
Austin as the featured speaker . . . The Florida Federated Republican Women will hold their annual convention in West
Palm Beach on Oct. 24-27 with U.S. Sen. Paula Hawkins the featured speaker. State Attorney David Bludworth will
serve as the master of ceremonies. Six of Florida's Republican congressmen, including U.S. Rep. Tom Lewis of North
Palm Beach, are also expected to attend.
Verbatim
"Palm Beach is a special place, and I will always run it in a special way."
-- Palm Beach Town Council President Paul Ilyinsky
Nick Ravo can be reached in Central or North County at 686-3221 or in South County at 272-2626. Ray Huard is on
vacation.


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HILL SETS HIS SIGHTS ON HOUSE, NOT SENATE The Miami Herald September 23, 1985 Monday

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SPILLIAS EXPECTED TO RUN FOR SENATE

BYLINE: NICK RAVO Herald Staff Writer


LENGTH: 254 words

Palm Beach County Commissioner Ken Spillias will hold a press conference Wednesday that probably will mark the
beginning of his campaign for the Florida Senate seat being vacated by Democratic gubernatorial candidate Harry John-
ston.
"My understanding is that is his intention," said attorney Cynthia Allen, who helped run Spillias' 1982 commission
campaign. "I have no reason to believe he'll do anything but announce."
Spillias, who was in Washington, D.C., was unavailable for comment Monday. His commission aide, Robin Bernstein,
is vacationing in Europe.
Several of Spillias' close friends and political associates, however, said they expected him to run for the 26th Senate
District seat, a thin strip of a district that runs along the coast from West Palm Beach into Broward County.
"If I were a gambling man, that's what I'd bet," former state Rep. Ed Healey said.
"It's not his style to hold a press conference to say nothing," said Andre Fladell, coordinator of the South County Polit-
ical Cooperative.
"From all indications, he is running," he added. "He's concerned that with Harry (Johnston) out of the delegation, it will
lose the ability to provide goods and services."
The only other Democrat who has expressed an interest in running for Johnston's state senate seat is state Rep. Eleanor
Weinstock of West Palm Beach, who is vacationing out of the country.
No Republicans publicly have expressed an interest in the seat. "But I can assure you there will be a candidate," Palm
Beach County GOP Chairwoman Arlene Hollen said


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GUNTER'S EXIT GIVES JOHNSTON BIG BOOST



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The political stock of state Sen. Harry Johnston, D-West Palm Beach, shot upward last week with the announcement
that state Insurance Commissioner Bill Gunter will not seek the Democratic nomination for governor.
Gunter, a former U.S. Senate candidate who had been the apparent front-runner in the 1986 gubernatorial race, bowed
out to spare his family from the rigors of a campaign and a high- profile life as the state's first family.
The decision was the most shocking political statement since Johnston's April announcement that he would run for the
state's top job with Attorney General Jim Smith as his running mate.
The surprise move now leaves only Johnston, state Rep. Steve Pajcic of Jacksonville and, perhaps, state Sen. Frank
Mann of Fort Myers, as serious candidates for the Democratic nomination. Former television newscaster Ralph Renick
appears to be a long shot, a novelty candidate banking on his massive name recognition in the Miami area.
"Jim Smith called me," Johnston said. "I happened to be in New York on campaign business, and he called me from
Tallahassee at about eight in the morning and said, 'Are you sitting down? Well, at 10 o'clock, Gunter is going to an-
nounce that he is withdrawing from the race.' "
"So, all day I was on the phone. I had something like a $162 phone bill," he added. "We started calling as many of the
Gunter supporters as we could. Most of them were stunned, and I just wanted to let them know that we were interested
in their support. We didn't want to appear like a vulture swooping down, though, because some of them were a little
bitter."
"We started kind of late, and there are many people already on board with Gunter who said that if they weren't with
Gunter they would be with us," the Senate president said. "This means a substantial amount to us not only in terms of
votes but finance."
Another voice of support
Former Senate President Phil Lewis, a mentor to Johnston and the eminence grise of state politics in Palm Beach Coun-
ty, also believes Gunter's dropping out benefits the Johnston-Smith campaign.
"I think it does the Harry Johnston--Jim Smith campaign a tremendous amount of good, an immeasurable amount of
good," he said. "Harry won't be running against an incumbent. He has a better name recognition than any of the others.
That wasn't the case when Gunter was in the race. I think it will come down to a Johnston-Pajcic race eventually. Frank
Mann is just out there testing the waters."
"It will be a very interesting race, and this has got to add tremendous buoyancy to Harry's campaign -- and it won't split
up all the money," added Lewis. "Pajcic has strong Jacksonville support, and he is a hard worker. But Harry and Jim,
Page 1162
GUNTER'S EXIT GIVES JOHNSTON BIG BOOST The Miami Herald September 16, 1985 Monday

they're strong in every area. Unless some very powerful unknown comes out of nowhere, everybody but Harry is going
to be an also-ran."
Both Johnston and Lewis also said they believed and understood Gunter's feelings about his family. "I think every pub-
lic official should analyze the relationship to his family. There's no public office worth the loss of one's family," said
Lewis. "In this case, though, I also think there may have been the feeling that running for governor wasn't going to be
the sure thing he thought it was going to be."
"I think it was really his family," Johnston said. "I've had long talks with Jim Smith (who decided in March not to run
for governor), he just said he didn't want his kids to go to school with bodyguards. While you're up there, you live in a
fish bowl. I waited until my girls were in high school before entering politics. It can be a real strain on your family."
The strategy shifts
The current conventional political wisdom says that both Johnston and Pajcic will have to adopt more aggressive cam-
paign strategies. Both had been relying on a plan that would have made them a close runner-up to Gunter in a three-way
race, thus forcing a second primary.
Now, though, they may be the only candidates in the race, which eliminates the possibility of a second primary.
Johnston said last weekend that in a race between himself and Pajcic, the major differences will be experience and who
is more conservative.
"I'm president of the Senate. I have a little more maturity," Johnston said. "If you look at the voting records, Steve is a
little more liberal than I am. It makes it probably a unique race that we have never had before. You always had a
front-runner. Now, for the first time in modern history, there is no front-runner, and also someone could win easily in
the first primary."
Locally, one of the two key Gunter organizers has already jumped aboard Johnston's campaign. "I'm offering my ser-
vices to the senator," Ray Gerner said. The other Gunter organizer, Lou Eassa, could not be reached for comment.
But Palm Beach County School Board member Hugh MacMillan, who along with attorney Cynthia Allen is organizing
the county for Pajcic, dismissed the notion that Gunter's withdrawal benefits Johnston.
He said Johnston will do very well in his home county, but Pajcic will attract Gunter supporters in other parts of the
state, particularly in urban areas like Broward and Dade County.
"Both are excellent candidates," he said. "But I think this (Gunter's dropping out) will probably make Steve governor. I
do agree, though, that I don't think there will be a run-off."
Meanwhile, Andre Fladell, the coordinator of the powerful South County Political Cooperative, said he hopes to re-
place Gunter's scheduled appearance before his organization Thursday night with one by state Rep. Barry Kutun,
D-Miami Beach.
Kutun is also the candidate for Insurance Commissioner who suddenly finds himself running against Gunter, who now
has decided to seek re-election to his current post. Rumors are flying, however, that Kutun will either join Pajcic's ticket
as a candidate for lieutenant governor or run for attorney general.
"Harry is absolutely our candidate now," Fladell said. "If Barry runs with Pajcic, he will remain a very close friend and
a runner-up in the race."
"And if you want to be really profound about a Johnston-- Gunter race," Fladell added. "Wait two weeks and see how
many Gunterites go to Johnston and how many go to Pajcic, especially in Broward. That will tell you who your next
governor will be."
Noteworthy
Gubernatorial candidate Steve Pajcic will make an appearance in West Palm Beach Thursday at 4 p.m. at 901 Evernia
St.
Verbatim
"Harry Johnston would be the kind of governor you could cast on Benson. Harry looks like a governor. Steve Pajcic
looks like Benson."
Page 1163
GUNTER'S EXIT GIVES JOHNSTON BIG BOOST The Miami Herald September 16, 1985 Monday

-- Andre Fladell, coordinator of the South County Political Cooperative.
Nick Ravo can be reached in West Palm Beach at 686-3221 or from South County at 278-6955. Ray Huard is on vaca-
tion.


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TWO PRESS CONFERENCES, SPEECH TO TEST JACKSON'S ORATOR-
ICAL SKILL



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Civil rights leader and 1984 presidential candidate Jesse Jackson will be a busy man Tuesday.
After arriving at Palm Beach International Airport, he will hold a press conference. Then he will drive to Belle Glade,
meet with community officials and hold another press conference. Then he's off to Fort Pierce for a speech at the St.
Lucie Civic Center. And Wednesday, he will have a breakfast fund-raiser at the Sandpiper Bay Club in Port St. Lucie.
Why the sudden interest in Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast?
Fort Pierce lawyer Lorenzo Williams, one of the organizers of the tour, said Jackson -- whose wife, Jacqueline, was
born in Fort Pierce -- is particularly interested in the housing and health problems in the Belle Glade area.
"He's also a great role model for high school students," Williams said. "And we all know he's a big motivator."
That's Ambassador Mica, please
Democratic U.S. Rep. Dan Mica became an ambassador of sorts Friday.
Speaking before the management of the Rinker Materials Corp., he announced he was one of two congressmen selected
to the congressional delegation to the upcoming session of the United Nations.
The honor is bestowed on a House member or senator by the House and Senate Foreign Relations Committees.
Whose debate is it anyway?
The scene had media event written all over it. It was a press conference by six local Democratic leaders last week casti-
gating the local Republican Party for failing to debate them this fall.
Led by Andre Fladell, the chairman of the Democratic Executive Committee, the Democrats -- among them David
Pugh of the Young Democrats and former County Commissioner Dennis Koehler -- took pot shots at the Republicans in
the hope that reporters present would print their statements as bona fide news items. No Republicans were present. The
nonmedia audience numbered one.
Meanwhile, Democrats say they plan to have the debate with or without the Republicans. It is tentatively scheduled for
7 p.m. Oct. 29 at Florida Atlantic University.
Come again?
Wait. There was one statement handed out at that Democratic flogging of the GOP last week that was memorable.
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TWO PRESS CONFERENCES, SPEECH TO TEST JACKSON'S ORATORICAL SKILL The Miami Herald

This quote, by local Democratic leader Charles McCain, should get some kind of award for Churchillian imagery.
The topic is South Africa: "It is, therefore, no secret why the local Republican Party refuses to debate. For murder can-
not be defended. A foreign policy that supports despotic governments is inconsistent with the principles of the United
States. Thus, the Republicans remain silent. But we, as Democrats, will not be silent, and we will speak out again and
again when justice and freedom are stamped out by the jackboots of the police."
Jackboots?
Political crisis line
Former Florida House Minority Leader Don Reed says to count him out of the race for the state Senate, at least for now.
Reed, a Republican, was smitten with the idea of running again after spending last spring in Tallahassee when the Leg-
islature was in session.
But now that he's back home in Boca Raton, Reed said he's getting other ideas.
"I just don't think I can afford to do it from the standpoint of time and my law practice," said Reed, who served in the
House from 1963 to 1972. "When a bunch of us got out, back in 1972, there was a number you could call if you started
thinking about running again where somebody would talk you out of it."
Gray matter: Does he or doesn't he?
Boca Raton Mayor William Konrad said the Boca Raton rumor line that has him running for County Commission is
wishful thinking by people who would like to see him out of the mayor's office.
Konrad said driving to West Palm Beach for commission meetings is just too annoying.
"I worked most of my life trying to get rid of a commute," said Konrad, a retired oil executive. Still, Konrad is not rul-
ing out a run for the state Senate, although he called the race "a free-for-all."
Reed said Konrad would be "an attractive candidate."
"He'd probably do better than I because he's got more gray hair than I do."
Let's see him get out of this one
The subject was crime, but the discussion last week among County Commissioner Dorothy Wilken, Sheriff Richard
Wille and state Rep. Frank Messersmith, R-Lake Worth, had a slightly partisan tone.
Wille, a Republican, was telling fellow members of the Palm Beach County Crime Prevention Council how Gov. Bob
Graham is having a statewide crime prevention symposium in November with law enforcement officials from around
the state.
The symposium was a grand idea, Wille said, but he had problems explaining exactly would it would be about because
it took Graham five letters to tell him.
Messersmith, a council member, was mugging in the background while Wille carried on about all the letters Graham
sent.
Now hold on, said Wilken, a Democrat and chairman of the council. "Is this getting into politics?"
Wilken turned then to Wille. He should have no trouble explaining Graham's letters, she said.
"You're very good at explaining difficult situations."
Noteworthy
David Goodlett, the district representative for Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Lewis, and David Earle, the constituent ser-
vices representative, will hold office hours Tuesday at four Glades area locations: 9 to 10 a.m. at Belle Glade City Hall,
110 SW Ave. E, Belle Glade; 11 a.m. to noon at Clewiston City Hall, 115 Ventura Ave. W., Clewiston; 1 to 2 p.m. at
Moore Haven City Hall, 99 Riverside Dr., Moore Haven; and 3 to 4 p.m. at La Belle City Hall, State Road 80, La Belle.
Verbatim
"Usually, John's speeches are more interesting than that."
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TWO PRESS CONFERENCES, SPEECH TO TEST JACKSON'S ORATORICAL SKILL The Miami Herald

-- County Commission Chairman Ken Adams' review of a 10- minute recital of county budget figures by County Ad-
ministrator John Sansbury at a public hearing last week.
Nick Ravo can be reached in West Palm Beach at 686-3221. Ray Huard can be reached in Delray Beach at 272-2626
and 737-1009.


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HAWKINS WON'T BE WATCHING WHEN GRAHAM GOES ON STAGE



LENGTH: 913 words

No, Paula Hawkins will not be dancing anywhere in her underwear a la Bob Graham.
Charlie Black, a campaign consultant to Florida's junior U.S. senator, said Hawkins, with proper senatorial dignity, pre-
fers to ignore Gov. Bob's planned appearance, as the character Hucklebee, in the Florida Repertory Theatre's benefit
production of The Fantasticks in West Palm Beach.
"We're not that interested in what he does in his campaign," said Black, who is helping in Hawkins' effort to fend off
Graham's expected 1986 bid for the Senate. "The best possible political action for Paula Hawkins is to do a good job as
a senator and that's what she does."
Graham is appearing in the play Sept. 27 as part of his workday program, a campaign gimmick that helped him win his
first term as governor in 1978. His first entrance on stage will be in his underwear.
"His workday thing has been very successful," Black said. "I expect we'll just keep concentrating on fund raising."
So far, Black said, Hawkins has raised just over $2 million. The goal is to raise $5 million in anticipation of a tough
fight against Graham.
"Bob Graham and Paula Hawkins are far and away the most popular politicians in Florida," Black said. "It was obvious
in a race against Graham it could be a very expensive campaign."
Bigger and better?
There's a movement afoot, sponsored by some Palm Beach County Democrats, to increase the size of the county com-
mission from five to seven members, and have them elected from single- member districts rather than on an at-large
basis.
The idea comes in the form of a resolution from the Democratic Executive Committee's legislative subcommittee.
Subcommittee chairman David Wood said the larger commission would broaden the political base from which the
commissioners are elected.
And single-member districts would increase the representation on the commission of minorities and of geographically
alienated residents, such as those in Belle Glade, Wood said.
"There a growing minority, particularly in the North County, that should be entitled to their own commissioner," said
Wood, of Juno Beach, who is considering running for one of several posts in 1986 including the District 27 State Senate
seat. "I think it's time for us to have a black on the county commission."
Page 1168
HAWKINS WON'T BE WATCHING WHEN GRAHAM GOES ON STAGE The Miami Herald September 2, 1985
Monday

Wood added that he favors a seven-member commission with five members elected from single-member districts and
two commissioners on an at-large basis.
Tough customers
Insurance Commissioner Bill Gunter will come courting the South County Political Cooperative Sept. 19 in a bid to
sway the group away from favorite Harry Johnston in the 1986 gubernatorial race.
That same day, former state Rep. Steve Pajcic of Jacksonville will be in West Palm Beach as part of a 12-city, four-day
swing to officially start his campaign for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. Details of Pajcic's trip are still un-
settled.
This is a return trip to the cooperative for Gunter, but Cooperative Coordinator Andre Fladell said Gunter will have a
tough time persuading the cooperative to jettison Johnston, the Senate president from West Palm Beach.
"I'd say it's a real good possibility that we're going to be going for Johnston," Fladell said.
Still, Fladell said, even if Gunter manages to draw just one or two of the cooperative's nine member clubs away from
Johnston, "that's quite an accomplishment."
Attention grabber
Carol Hanson, the Republican state representative from Boca Raton, said she intends to make sure South County gets
some attention from Republican candidates.
Hanson said she's working with Genny Hazelip of the Poinciana Women's Republican Club and Geraldine Field to put
together a Republican meet-the-candidates fund-raiser, tentatively set for January. Field is the Republican who tried
unsuccessfully to unseat Democratic state Rep. Steve Press last November.
Hanson said she hopes to round up all Republicans running for statewide office "from Paula (Hawkins) down."
"I think it's time for South County and Broward Republicans to come together," Hanson said. "They've been a little shy
when it comes to going full steam ahead to bring in candidates."
Noteworthy
County Commission Chairman Ken Adams will address the League of Women Voters of South Palm Beach County at
9:30 a.m. Sept. 18 at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 188 S. Swinton Ave., Delray Beach. . . . Former Highland Beach City
Manager Elaine Roberts will address the league at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 17 at the Lakeside Holiday Inn in Boca Raton. . . . .
Palm Beach County Commissioner Jerry Owens, D-Lake Worth and Robert Weisman, director of Palm Beach County
Water Utilities, will speak at the meeting of the West Delray Democratic Club on Wednesday at 8 p.m. at Temple
Emeth. . . . The Palm Beach County Democratic Executive Committee will meet Thursday at 7 p.m. at the county
school board chambers. . . . State Rep. Ray Liberti, D-West Palm Beach, turned 39 two weeks ago. The event was cele-
brated by local political activists as diverse as Palm Beach County Director of Consumer Affairs Alice Skaggs and ani-
mal liberationist Gertrude Maxwell.
Verbatim
"We going to have to wait and see if Myers really is going to run for governor. I think he just likes to read about himself
as a gubernatorial candidate."
-- Democratic businessman and former state Senate candidate David Wood, referring to Republican state Sen. William
G. "Doc" Myers of Hobe Sound.


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HAWKINS WON'T BE WATCHING WHEN GRAHAM GOES ON STAGE The Miami Herald September 2, 1985
Monday

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PANEL TO REVIEW SEVEN ROUTES FOR TOLLWAYS THROUGH
COUNTY



LENGTH: 774 words

Seven alternative routes for toll expressways throughout Palm Beach County will be reviewed by the Palm Beach
County Expressway Authority on Sept. 4.
Residents who don't want the roads cutting through their backyards and those who do want them within a five-minute
drive of their front door can express their opinions about the alternatives at the authority's meeting.
The authority ultimately wants to have three to four toll roads -- one east-west expressway in the central and south parts
of the county and one or two north-south roads in the west.
"If we don't run into any unexpected problems or public opposition or lawsuits, we could have our first link under con-
struction by 1988 and in service by 1990," Authority Chairman Dennis Koehler said.
"I believe that the public is ready to support and use a toll road system in Palm Beach County. Our growth has just been
too great for traditional public road financing to keep pace," Koehler said.
Although the authority has yet to determine the cost of the system, Authority Director Larry O'Dell said an expressway
across the central part of the county would cost $200 million to $300 million.
In narrowing its choices to seven alternatives, the authority abandoned the University Parkway route that would have
run along the edges of the Loxahatchee Wildlife Refuge. Environmentalists warned it would harm the refuge.
"I just hated that Unversity Parkway," said Audubon Society Activist Rosa Durando.
The authority, however, has drawn the anger of some South County residents who oppose an east-west expressway
along one of two routes in suburban Boca Raton that would link up with the Sawgrass Expressway in western Broward
County.
Andre Fladell, coordinator of the South County Political Cooperative, called the proposal "completely idiotic."
"Those guys are delirious," Fladell said. "You would think they would understand the fact that no one wants to put a
major expressway through western Boca Raton."
Consultant Scott Lukehart of Post Buckley Schuh & Jernigan said state Department of Transportation figures show that
a South County expressway is needed.
"An awful lot of traffic will be generated in South Palm Beach County that maybe folks aren't aware of," Lukehart said.
Page 1171
PANEL TO REVIEW SEVEN ROUTES FOR TOLLWAYS THROUGH COUNTY The Miami Herald August 26,
1985 Monday

Koehler said top priority will almost certainly go to construction along one of three alternatives for an east-west ex-
pressway linking downtown West Palm Beach with the west.
The central county options are:
* Royal Palm Beach alignment, which heads west from I-95 parallel to and south of Okeechobee Boulevard, turns
northwest at Florida's Turnpike, then turns west again to connect to Royal Palm Beach Boulevard.
* Wellington alignment, which heads west from I-95 just south of Okeechobee Boulevard to the intersection of Palm
Beach Lakes Boulevard, then southwest to a point just north of Southern Boulevard, then west through Wellington to
Royal Palm Beach Boulevard.
* Combination alignment, which connects the east half of the Royal Palm Beach alignment with the west half of the
Wellington alignment.
Koehler said the Wellington alignment is the most likely choice because studies show it would carry more traffic and
therefore make more money.
Koehler said the second priority would probably be to improve the turnpike by widening it to six lanes through Palm
Beach County, adding more interchanges, and replacing the ticket system with the more efficient coin toll booths.
O'Dell said the authority expects an improved turnpike to accommodate north-south traffic in the west part of the coun-
ty, making the University Parkway unnecessary.
The state already is studying whether to convert the turnpike into an urban expressway from Dade County to Boynton
Beach.
The South County alternatives are:
* Clint Moore Road alignment, running east from I-95 parallel with Clint Moore Road to State Road 7, then curving
south to link up with the Sawgrass Expressway in Broward County.
* Jeffrey Road alignment, running east from I-95 parallel with Jeffrey Road, dipping southeast approaching the turn-
pike, heading east again to State Road 7, then curving south to link up with the Sawgrass Expressway.
The seventh proposed toll road would complement the upgraded turnpike in the west:
* State Road 27, widening it to four lanes and installing toll booths at the Broward County line.
"The only place throughout the state that 27 is not four lanes is right here in Palm Beach County," Koehler said.
Koehler said the S.R. 27 project would probably have a low priority because it is expected to carry the least amount of
traffic.
Koehler said the authority will set its priorities in October after the Sept. 4 public hearing in West Palm Beach


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MTV'S PROMOTION PUTS EISSEY IN THE SPOTLIGHT



LENGTH: 1103 words

What in the world is Palm Beach Junior College President Ed Eissey doing on MTV? Trying out as a video jockey?
Pondering a career change? Looking for some free media just in case he runs for state commissioner of education?
It's strange, but true. Segued between videos of hard-rock bands and semi-erotic ads for blue jeans, there's an occasional
five-second spot featuring Eissey that's been appearing locally on the Group W cable system's MTV channel.
Eissey doesn't talk about drugs with Keith Richards or sing Hot for Teacher in a duet with Van Halen's David Lee Roth.
No, he just stands in front of the camera and thanks everyone for watching Group W cable, sort of like Larry Bud Mel-
man on the David Letterman show.
What's even stranger is that until three days ago, Eissey didn't know he was appearing on the cable channel. Moreover,
he didn't know what MTV, or Music Television, is. His response to the spot was a classic political retort: "Until you
reminded me of it, I would have denied it."
When first asked about the promo, Eissey couldn't remember the taping. But then he recalled that the shot was taken by
the cable system after a Palm Beach Chamber of Commerce meeting at The Breakers a year or two ago.
Eissey also said he assumed the package would be used as a local promo during the cable systems' notoriously boring
public affairs channels -- not on other cable channels. (Note: Group W does not carry The Playboy Channel.)
The junior college president, who has hinted that he might run for education commissioner, also said there was no po-
litical motive intended by running the little commercials.
Fred Elliot, a programming director at Group W, could not be reached for comment.
"I don't need any more publicity," Eissey said. "I get all the publicity I need with the college. But if this is promoting
PBJC, then I favor it."
Scaling back
Republican gubernatorial candidate William G. "Doc" Myers may be scaling down his fund-raising expectations. Two
months ago, the Hobe Sound physician and state senator said he hoped to raise around $750,000 by the end of the year.
But last week, that figure was reduced a bit to $200,000 by this fall. Now, longtime Myers aide Mac McCartney says it
might be January until $200,000 or so can be raised for the Myers campaign.
"I'm not really worried about it," McCartney said. "You can't spend it now. If by March or April, we don't have $1.5
million, then I'll get a little worried."
Page 1173
MTV'S PROMOTION PUTS EISSEY IN THE SPOTLIGHT The Miami Herald August 26, 1985 Monday

Timely speech
At last Wednesday's School Board meeting, board Vice Chairman Susan Pell delivered an emotional speech related to
the controversy about the Wellington Elementary starting time.
This is Pell's seventh year on the board. She was away on vacation during the vote that changed the starting time from
7:30 a.m. The new starting time is 10 a.m. But she says she has never gotten such abusive calls as she did over this issue
over the past several months.
"The board has been called just about every name you could be called," she said.
Pell said that just because board members have been elected to their positions doesn't mean they aren't human beings.
"I am a human being," she said. "I made this decision to run for the School Board not because I wanted to be something
special. I did it because I wanted to contribute . . . You could not pay me for this job."
Clearly, the board's vote acquiescing to Wellington parents upset Pell. "While you changed this, you didn't change two
other schools, so you let the loudest people win," she said. "Tonight, I'm not proud to be a board member because I have
worked very hard for many years to give this job some dignity and in one moment you took the dignity away from me.
If this is the way education is going to be in Palm Beach County, I don't want to be a part of it."
"We are responsible to our constituents," she added. "But the telephone calls I have received the last couple of months
were nothing like the telephone calls I've received in the past couple of years."
Then board chairman Lou Eassa, also a seven-year board member, went through a rambling litany on school board sol-
idarity.
He said board members should stand together once a vote is taken, even if one member has voted differently. "If you
can't stand for something, at least you can get out of the way."
Train drive
West Palm Beach Mayor Carol Roberts, who has been toying with the idea of running for county commissioner, ap-
peared before the South County Political Cooperative last week to give a boost to the cooperative's drive to extend a
proposed tri-county commuter train to West Palm Beach.
Roberts said she's trying to get the federal government to press for extension of the rail line from Miami to her city in-
stead of ending it in Boynton Beach.
"Unless this tri-county becomes a true tri-county, there would be some question of federal participation and without
federal participation, it doesn't happen."
"There's a lot of reasons why this commuter system, to be tri-county, should go from airport to airport to airport," said
cooperative member Hy Rosenberg.
Al Edmunds, another possible commission candidate, was doing some politicking of his own with the cooperative.
Introduced as a "rumored candidate" for the commission, Edmunds yelled back "not a rumor." But Edmunds, a Boca
Raton City Council member, still says he's not ready to make any campaign announcements.
Classy dresser
South County Political Cooperative Coordinator Andre Fladell showed up at his own luncheon at the Boca Raton Hotel
and Club last week wearing his usual scruffy T-shirt but with a dressy red patterned tie around his neck.
Fladell said John Temple of Arvida-Disney gave him the tie.
Temple said yes, and he gave Fladell the tie because Fladell showed up at The Breakers hotel for lunch not too long ago
with a T-shirt and no tie. That just won't do in Boca Raton, said Temple, whose company manages the Hotel and Club.
"He still hasn't cleaned up his act," Temple said. "He doesn't wear a belt."
At that, Temple whipped off his suspenders and gave them to Fladell. They were Mickey Mouse suspenders.
Noteworthy
Page 1174
MTV'S PROMOTION PUTS EISSEY IN THE SPOTLIGHT The Miami Herald August 26, 1985 Monday

The Loggerhead Club will meet at noon Thursday at the Boca Teeca Restaurant in Boca Raton. Luncheon reservations
may be made with Treasurer Elaine Roberts at 312 N. Swinton Ave., Delray Beach.
Verbatim
"The Reagan administration is not known for wanting to send money out of Washington."
-- Developer Bill Finley, explaining why it had taken a year to get a federal grant for a West Palm Beach housing pro-
ject.
Herald Staff Writer Ann Macari contributed to this column.


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ADAMS SAYS HE'LL RUN IF WEINSTOCK DOES, TOO



LENGTH: 1048 words

Riviera Beach City Council member Gerald Adams said he'll run for Eleanor Weinstock's state House seat if Weinstock
goes ahead with her plans to run for Harry Johnston's state Senate seat.
"If she's running, you've got me," said Adams, a Republican.
"Palm Beach County is the only metropolitan area in the state of Florida that does not have black representation," Ad-
ams said, although he was quick to add that "that's not the only reason I'm running."
Adams said he'll run as a Republican because "if we're going to make a difference in this country as a minority, we've
got to put ourselves in a win-win situation. If there are blacks in the Democratic Party and blacks in the Republican
Party, black interests are going to be represented."
Adams, a one-time Democrat, said he switched parties in 1977 because "Jimmy Carter disappointed me."
Weinstock hasn't officially announced her intention to run for Johnston's seat, but she said last week that she'll begin her
Senate campaign toward the end of the year.
"I really hate for us to be going this early," Weinstock said.
So far, Weinstock, a West Palm Beach Democrat, is the only contender to replace Johnston, who's running for governor.
"I'd like to keep it that way," Weinstock said. "That wouldn't break my heart."
County Commissioner Ken Spillias is toying with the idea of running against Weinstock, but he's making no commit-
ments.
State Rep. Frank Messersmith, R-Lake Worth, has been mentioned as another potential candidate for Johnston's seat.
But Messersmith said it's unlikely that he'll run.
"I'm not committed either way, right now, but I favor staying in the House," Messersmith said. "The only advantage of
going to the Senate would be a four-year term."
Messersmith said his authority is rapidly rising in the House and "I'd really have a lot to give up to go to the Senate."
The A-Team in action
William "Doc" Myers said that next month he'll get serious about his bid for the Republican gubernatorial nomination.
"We've been running around collecting money, that's the big thing," Myers said.
Page 1176
ADAMS SAYS HE'LL RUN IF WEINSTOCK DOES, TOO The Miami Herald August 19, 1985 Monday

So far, Myers said, he's raised about $100,000. His goal is to raise $200,000 by October, and he said his first big fund-
raiser is a Sept. 12 cocktail party in Orlando prepared by what he calls his A-Team, headed by Bob Coy, a Martin
County contractor, and Clark Gibson, a Martin County Realtor.
Myers said supporters began distributing bumper stickers last week. Come September, Myers said the public can expect
to see a lot of him, particularly people on Florida's west coast, stronghold of Tampa Mayor Bob Martinez, another
would-be governor.
Martinez has made a number of forays into Palm Beach and Martin counties but Myers said Republican clubs check
with him first before they invite Martinez to address them.
"I told the Young Republicans, 'Hey, you can make more money having him come over here to speak than listening to
me because everybody's already heard me,' " Myers said.
Bountiful plan
Andre Fladell says the Republicans may have a winner in their plan to pay a bounty of $4 a head for every Democrat
that becomes a Republican.
Fladell, a staunch Democrat and coordinator of the South County Political Cooperative, said he may even sign up as a
bounty hunter for the Republicans.
But hold on. Fladell said he'll do it to raise money for the Democrats.
At $4 a head, Fladell figures he can raise $32,000 in one step converting Democrats in Delray Beach's Kings Point, a
retirement community.
"We're considering converting Kings Point to Republican just to collect the $32,000, then giving the $32,000 to the
Democratic Executive Committee, then converting them back to Democrats," Fladell said. "We could raise more money
for the Democratic Executive Committee in converting than we could in running fund-raisers."
Early converts
But seriously, Democratic Executive Committee Chairman Henry Handler said Democrats are more worried about new
voters than converts.
"I think that we have a better shot right now in convincing voters before they register of the philosophy of our party,"
Handler said. "There could be more tangible rewards in going after voters who are registering for the first time."
At the suggestion of Elections Supervisor Jackie Winchester, Handler said he hopes to set up civics programs in county
high schools.
The plan is for Republicans and Democrats to send people into the schools to talk politics and Handler figures the
Democrats can win the loyalty of the younger set.
"I think we have some expert spokesmen and women. I think we would be putting our best foot forward," Handler said.
Beach bash
The Republicans are doing a little organizing of their own with a beach bash county Young Republicans are planning
for Sept. 14 at the Colonnades Beach Hotel in Palm Beach Shores.
"We're thinking this will be a big party," said Young Republicans President Kevan Boyles. "We hope it will be a major
gathering of Republicans.
The Young Republicans had 300 tickets up for sale at $10 each and Boyles said they're printing more.
Anyone can go for the price of a ticket, but Boyles said he's hoping to get a few new recruits for his 60-member club.
Boyles said the club has tentatively signed up a presidential contender to make an early appearance in the county next
spring. He declined to say which one in case it doesn't come off.
Talks and bagels
A South County tradition has died, at least for now.
Page 1177
ADAMS SAYS HE'LL RUN IF WEINSTOCK DOES, TOO The Miami Herald August 19, 1985 Monday

State Rep. Carol Hanson and County Commissioner Dorothy Wilken have stopped their breakfast confabs at the Bagel
Queen Restaurant in Boca Raton.
"Now we're doing it on the telephone because we both want to get skinny," Hanson said.
Hanson and Wilken had become such regulars at the Bagel Queen that many times people who had a problem to present
to them went to the restaurant instead of either Hanson's or Wilken's office.
Wilken said she hopes to resume the practice.
"Bagels are may favorite food, everyone knows that," Wilken said.
Noteworthy
County Commissioner Karen Marcus will address the South County Political Cooperative at noon Thursday at the Boca
Raton Hotel and Club.
Verbatim
"It's been a lot of bull all day."
-- County Commissioner Jerry Owens' assessment of a day spent interviewing firms to manage the expansion of the
Palm Beach International Airport.
Ray Huard and Nick Ravo may be reached at 278-6955 or 686-3221.


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COUNTY-BACKED CORONATION GIVES ADAMS THE ROYAL RUB



LENGTH: 1026 words

The nonsense never stops at the Palm Beach County Commission.
During last week's meeting -- which was cut short because of the death of assistant county administrator Jane Thompson
-- the commission proclaimed the ubiquitous Andre Fladell the Prince of Palm Beach County.
The honorary title was part of a resolution approved by the Democratic-controlled commission that praised Fladell -- the
coordinator of the powerful South County Political Cooperative -- for bringing together feuding Democratic political
groups in the South County area.
Fladell received the honor with his usual grace. He quoted Shakespeare and delivered the appropriate chamber of com-
merce spiel on how dreams are possible in Palm Beach County.
Then came the coronation. Standing at the podium, Fladell doned a stunning, floor-length red cape.
"This is my one-piece suit," said Fladell, who is well- known for his casual t-shirt and jeans uniform.
"Is that the Tire Kingdom suit?" Commissioner Dorothy Wilken asked. "Or, do you leap over tall buildings in a single
bound?"
"I do things that are just as remarkable," responded Fladell.
At this point in the conversation, commission chairman Ken Adams, a Republican, had had enough.
"I was raised to believe that having feuding Democratic groups was in the interest of good government," he said.
Fladell later said he left his matching crown upstairs in the county commission building. "I didn't have the guts to bring
it down," he said.
Getting a head start
U.S. Rep. Dan Mica is running hard for the 1986 elections and says he's not about to stop despite the withdrawal of his
most likely opponent, College of Boca Raton President Don Ross.
Mica said the fund-raising campaign he started earlier this year will continue even though the Republicans have yet to
field a replacement for Ross, who nearly beat Mica last year.
"After what I went through the last time, I'm never again going to get caught off guard," said Mica, a Boynton Beach
Democrat. "I expect someone will be there and running."
Page 1179
COUNTY-BACKED CORONATION GIVES ADAMS THE ROYAL RUB The Miami Herald August 12, 1985
Monday

Mica said he's still on a Republican hit list and needs a head start to raise the up to $500,000 he said Republicans will
put up in 1986 to beat him.
Mica said he'll also change his campaign style this time, confronting head-on any accusations would-be opponents may
sling at him.
"The old theory that you stay above it worked fine when you're the incumbent and you've got a guy out there swinging
at you with very little money," Mica said.
But Mica said the big bucks that Republicans will pump into the campaign against him buys enough television adver-
tising time to turn accusations that may be unfounded into a lasting impression among voters.
The public's right to know
Just to change the subject, Mica is also a firm believer in President Reagan's warning for Americans flying to Athens,
Greece.
He said last week that he had discovered that the Athens airport is so dangerous that pilots only make the trip voluntari-
ly.
Such facts about dangerous airports are usually kept very quiet, Mica said, because terrorists would flock to an airport
with highly publicized security flaws.
Even so, Athens is a special situation.
"It's one thing to keep things quiet," Mica said. "But when the pilots know its dangerous doesn't the public have a right
to know about it, too?"
From the 'Quick Comeback' department
State Rep. Carol Hanson, R-Boca Raton, had quick retort to Mica when the congressman said he couldn't understand
how Boca Raton and Deerfield Beach signed a rather unfavorable contract with the feds.
"It's that old carrot you keep holding out for us, Mr. Congressman, and we all rise up and take a bite out of it," Hanson
said.
"It was a pretty pale carrot," added Boca Raton City Manager Jim Rutherford.
The deal was that Boca Raton and Deerfield Beach signed a contract with the feds in 1976 saying the two cities would
forevermore pay for maintaining a stretch of the Hillsboro Canal if the feds would dredge it that one year.
Senatorial one-liners
Here are some random thoughts from U.S. Sen. Lawton Chiles, D-Fla., who stopped in West Palm Beach last week to
deliver a speech to the Chamber of Commerce of the Palm Beaches:
On giving the president power for line-item vetoes in the federal budget, Chiles said: "I detest that like the devil detests
holy water."
The most popular sport in Washington, D.C., these days? "Japan bashing," says Chiles.
Seeking mobile home park answers
One of the bigger political battles this summer has been mobile home owners vs. the mobile home park owners who
would like to evict their tenants so they can develop the land for a greater profit.
Because of the growing number of evicted mobile home owners, the Palm Beach County Commission has created the
Mobile Home Task Force to find a solution to the problem:
The members of the task force are: Commissioner Jerry L. Owens; County Attorney Gary Brandenberg; Bob Basehart
or his designee from the Office of Planning, Zoning and Building; Allan Schnier, housing and community development
director; Alice Skaggs, consumer affairs director, Gerald DeFoe, acting president of the Federation of Mobile Home
Owners of Florida Inc.; Jack Skelding or his designee from the Florida Mobile Home Manufacturers Association or the
Florida Manufactured Homes Association; Shelia Trepanier or her designee from the Parkway Mobile Home Park; Ger-
ald Donohue or his designee of the Shadow Lakes Mobile Home Park; Clair Anderson; state Rep. Ray Liberti, D-West
Palm Beach; and state Rep. Frank Messersmith, R-Lake Worth.
Page 1180
COUNTY-BACKED CORONATION GIVES ADAMS THE ROYAL RUB The Miami Herald August 12, 1985
Monday

Noteworthy
The League of Women Voters of South Palm Beach County will register new voters Aug. 16 to 17 at Boca Expo in the
Florida Atlantic University gymnasium . . . The study committee for the Port of Palm Beach redistricting will hold a
public meeting on Sept. 4 at the Port of Palm Beach administration building. State Rep. James L. Watt, R-Lake Park, is
the chairman of the committee.
Verbatim
"I've already been censored once. They can't do it again."
-- Palm Beach County Commissioner Jerry Owens.
Herald Staff Writer Mike Wilson also contributed to this column.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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The Miami Herald

PLM BCH EDITION

DOCTOR-CHIROPRACTOR FRAUD SCHEME SUSPECTED

BYLINE: PAUL SALTZMAN And MIKE WILSON Herald Staff Writers


LENGTH: 566 words

Federal authorities in Fort Lauderdale are investigating what they suspect is a scheme by chiropractors working with
physicians to defraud Medicare, documents filed Friday disclosed.
Among those from whom office records have been seized are Andre Fladell, a Delray Beach chiropractor and a
well-known political figure in Palm Beach County.
Fladell, one of two partners in a Delray Beach chiropractic office, confirmed the search, but said he did not believe he
was a target of the investigation and that he did not defraud Medicare, the federal health insurance plan for the aged or
disabled.
Fladell founded the South County Political Cooperative, an umbrella group for several Democratic clubs in South
County. A member of the Palm Beach County Democratic Executive Committee, he once ran unsuccessfully for mayor
of Delray Beach.
Political candidates, including Senate President Harry Johnston and gubernatorial candidate Steve Pajcic, regularly seek
his counsel.
The warrant for Fladell's office was sealed Friday by U.S. District Judge Norman C. Roettger. Sources said it was be-
cause there was no evidence that one of those named in that search warrant had committed any fraud.
The federal officials said they do not know yet how much money may be involved, and that it may be "months" before
any case may be presented to a grand jury.
Their yearlong undercover investigation was dubbed Operation Mr. Hyde, referring to the dark side of the fictional
character Dr. Jekyll.
It marks the first time retired FBI agents have been used in such a probe and the first time physicians and chiropractors
have been tied together in what investigators say is a Medicare fraud scheme, officials said.
Under Medicare, the physicians can bill for services that chiropractors cannot. The federal investigators said in docu-
ments Friday they believe the physicians and chiropractors split fees for phony services billed to Medicare.
More undercover investigations are planned of doctors and other health-care providers, said Special Agent Charles A.
Bateman of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' inspector general's regional office.
The operation was revealed Friday when search warrants for four chiropractic offices from Hollywood to Delray Beach
were returned to the federal courthouse in Fort Lauderdale.
Page 1182
DOCTOR-CHIROPRACTOR FRAUD SCHEME SUSPECTED The Miami Herald August 10, 1985 Saturday

The documents showed that investigators from the FBI and the Health and Human Services Department have seized
hundreds of medical and financial records from at least 12 physicians and chiropractors in Broward and Palm Beach
counties.
Physicians and chiropractors billed Medicare for services that were not performed or were exaggerated in the billings,
the documents contend. The chiropractors and physicians being investigated may have violated federal criminal statutes
including filing false statements, filing fraudulent claims, mail fraud and conspiracy, the search warrants and related
documents said.
Besides Fladell, records were seized from other physicians, including:
* Dr. Stan Guberman, a Deerfield Beach chiropractor and owner of the North Broward Chiropractic Center. Guberman
said he believes "it's just a routine search at this time." Authorities said they acted on patients' complaints, verified by
the undercover agents. Asked if the allegations were true, Guberman said, "Absolutely not."
* Dr. David S. Muransky, a Hollywood chiropractor. He declined comment on his attorney's advice.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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Page 1183


The Miami Herald

BRWRD EDITION

FBI INVESTIGATES CHIROPRACTORS IN SCHEME TO DEFRAUD
MEDICARE

BYLINE: PAUL SALTZMAN Herald Staff Writer


LENGTH: 526 words

Federal authorities in Fort Lauderdale are investigating what they suspect is a scheme by chiropractors working with
physicians to defraud Medicare, documents filed Friday disclosed.
The federal officials said they do not know yet how much money may be involved and that it may be "months" before
any case may be presented to a grand jury.
Their yearlong undercover investigation was dubbed Operation Mr. Hyde, referring to the dark side of the fictional
character Dr. Jekyll.
It marks the first time retired FBI agents have been used in such a probe and the first time physicians and chiropractors
have been tied together in what investigators say is a Medicare fraud scheme, officials said.
Under Medicare, the physicians can bill for services the chiropractors cannot. The federal investigators said they believe
the physicians and chiropractors split fees for phony services billed to Medicare.
More undercover investigations are planned of doctors and other health-care providers, said Special Agent Charles A.
Bateman of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' inspector general's regional office.
The operation was revealed Friday when search warrants for four chiropractic offices from Hollywood to Delray Beach
were returned to the federal courthouse in Fort Lauderdale.
The documents showed that investigators from the FBI and the Health and Human Services Department have seized
hundreds of medical and financial records from at least 12 physicians and chiropractors in Broward and Palm Beach
counties.
Physicians and chiropractors billed Medicare for services that were not performed or were exaggerated in the billings,
the documents contend. The chiropractors and physicians being investigated may have violated federal criminal statutes
including filing false statements, filing fraudulent claims, mail fraud and conspiracy, the search warrants and related
documents said.
Among those from whom office records have been seized are Andre Fladell, a Delray Beach chiropractor and a
well-known political figure in Palm Beach County.
Fladell, one of two partners in a Delray Beach chiropractic office, confirmed the search, but said he did not believe he
was a target of the investigation and that he did not defraud Medicare, the federal health insurance plan for the aged or
disabled.
Page 1184
FBI INVESTIGATES CHIROPRACTORS IN SCHEME TO DEFRAUD MEDICARE The Miami Herald August 10,
1985 Saturday

The warrant for Fladell's office was sealed Friday by U.S. District Judge Norman C. Roettger Jr. Sources said it was
because there was no evidence that one of the people named in the search warrant had committed any fraud.
Among others whose records were seized are:
* Dr. Stan Guberman, a Deerfield Beach chiropractor and owner of the North Broward Chiropractic Center. Guberman
said he believes "it's just a routine search at this time." Authorities said they acted on patients' complaints, verified by
the undercover agents. Asked if the allegations were true, Guberman said, "Absolutely not."
* Dr. David S. Muransky, a Hollywood chiropractor. Muransky declined comment on his attorney's advice.
The warrants were unsealed late Friday afternoon. Others named in them could not be reached for comment.
Herald Staff Writer Mike Wilson contributed to this report.


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Page 1185


The Miami Herald

PLM BCH EDITION

ADAMS WARNS GROUP ABOUT PROJECT SUPPORT



LENGTH: 1029 words

County Commission Chairman Ken Adams riled some South County activists last week when he warned that the South
County Political Cooperative may have tarnished its image by supporting a new housing project after the developer
promised to put in a bike path the cooperative wanted.
"I know that they won't be compromised. I'm not so sure the public will perceive it that way," Adams said. "What I was
concerned about was developers contributing to their pet projects."
Cooperative Coordinator Andre Fladell said the cooperative presses developers to contribute things like bike paths
because the county won't.
"I don't think there's anything wrong," said cooperative member Murray Kalish. "The community should get everything
it can get. Who's going to give it to the community? The county isn't."
"I have to admit, what they're doing is in the best interests of the community," Adams said. "My concern is for their
appearance."
Fladell said the cooperative's support can't be bought. It will oppose any development with more than five housing units
per acre, support those with less than four, and talk about those in between.
"The only time your image gets tarnished is if you compromise your standards, and we don't intend to do that," Fladell
said.
The development with the bike path had 4.8 units per acre, and Kalish said the cooperative would have backed it with or
without the bike path because the developer also agreed to pay the county impact fees of $1,000 per unit and donate
land for a new school.
"If it's bad for the community, we'd fight it," Kalish said. "There's going to be a hotel and motel coming up and if they
gave us half a million dollars, we wouldn't support it."
Post-victory squabble
Leaders of a Boca Raton citizens group that helped to kill a proposed $125 million downtown financial center are now
squabbling among themselves about what they ought to do next.
Jerry Solin, former chairman of Active Boca Citizens (ABC), has incorporated the group as a permanent lobbying or-
ganization and reformed a separate political action committee of the same name to push projects backed by ABC.
But Genny Hazelip, an unsuccessful candidate for mayor and organizer of the original ABC, says Solin is trading on the
good name of ABC for his own purposes.
Page 1186
ADAMS WARNS GROUP ABOUT PROJECT SUPPORT The Miami Herald July 29, 1985 Monday

"People will think this is the same ABC group and it is not," Hazelip said. "I feel it is very unethical for him to use the
name ABC."
Solin said the old ABC died when the financial center was defeated in a referendum last month and the new ABC is
taking up where the old organization left off.
"I think we have someone's attention now. I think it would be a terrible waste to sit here and let this founder," Solin
said. "I don't think ABC belongs to anybody. It's a citizens vehicle. It isn't me."
Hazelip, by the way, is thinking about running for office again, although she won't say for what office or when.
But she said she'll be attending special campaign seminars when she goes to a National Federation of Republican
Women convention next month.
"I just want to further my education in that area should I ever run for office again," Hazelip said. "I learned the hard
way. Now I'd like to hear how the professionals do it."
Shaken up
Boca Raton Mayor William Konrad was so badly shaken by the loss of the financial center that he said he's all but ruled
out a run for the state Senate.
"At the moment, I wouldn't put a lot of money on it," Konrad said.
Konrad said earlier this year he might go for the Senate if the president of the College of Boca Raton, Don Ross, didn't.
Ross said last week that he was quitting politics for good.
Konrad campaigned hard for the downtown project, and now that it's dead, he said he's none too sure about running for
anything anymore.
"I have to reassess where I am and where I'm going," Konrad said. "Running for office gets to be too much like work."
Way to go
Sometimes the wheels of government move incredibly quick -- especially when it comes to a little self-promotion.
At last week's County Commission meeting, the commissioners spent only a few seconds deciding to rename Rubin
Road in honor of County Administrator John Sansbury, who is celebrating his 10th anniversary with the county.
The street, which runs from Southern Boulevard to Okeechobee Boulevard between West Palm Beach and Royal Palm
Beach -- will now be known as Sansbury's Way.
The change was requested by Economic Development Council President Hugo Unruh and backed by Andre Fladell.
"Sansbury's always trying to get his way," said Commission Chairman Ken Adams.
Staying power
House Speaker Designate Jon Mills, D-Gainesville, said he's putting the pressure on Ray Liberti to stay in the Florida
House and drop a possible run for the state Senate against Don Childers, D-West Palm Beach.
Liberti, D-West Palm Beach, is expected to announce next month that he will follow Mills' advice.
"I've encouraged him, cajoled him, argued with him," Mills said. "I've done everything I can to persuade him to stay."
Mills said that includes promises of a prominent role in his administration.
"Ray's going to be in a leadership position, a strong leadership position," Mills said. He declined to say what that would
be.
"I really haven't said what I have in mind for anyone," Mills said.
Getting the big guys
A South County group is forming its own nonpartisan luncheon club in an attempt to draw big-name speakers to the
county to talk about what's going on in the world.
Page 1187
ADAMS WARNS GROUP ABOUT PROJECT SUPPORT The Miami Herald July 29, 1985 Monday

"We'd like an ambassador to come. We'd like a senator to come. We'd like the president to come. We'd like Gov. Gra-
ham to be our first speaker," said organizer David Cohen of Delray Beach. "It's not political. It's not Republican versus
Democrat."
Tentatively called The Spanish River Club, the group has scheduled an organizing luncheon for noon today at the An-
nex Restaurant in Delray Beach.
Noteworthy
U.S. Sen. Lawton Chiles, D-Fla., will address the Progressive Democrats at 7:30 a.m. Aug. 7 at Palm Beach Atlantic
College in West Palm Beach.
Verbatim
"I have a hearing problem. The louder you shout, the harder it is for me to hear."
-- Palm Beach County Commission Chairman Ken Adams.
Ray Huard and Nick Ravo may be reached in West Palm Beach at 686-3221 or 278-6955


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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Page 1188


The Miami Herald

July 24, 1985 Wednesday
PLM BCH EDITION

COUNTY MOVES TO PUT BEACH ISSUE ON BALLOT

BYLINE: NICK RAVO Herald Staff Writer


LENGTH: 287 words

The Palm Beach County Commission took the first step Tuesday to put on the Nov. 5 ballot a $75 million bond issue
for the purchase of 1.7 miles of beaches.
The commission ordered County Administrator John Sansbury to prepare the paperwork for the referendum.
After the ballot language and financial data are completed, the commission is expected to approve a motion placing the
issue on the ballot.
The $716 million county budget proposed by Sansbury earlier this month included the bond issue for the purchase of 12
parcels of beach in Jupiter, Juno Beach, Manalapan and Highland Beach.
Commission Chairman Ken Adams, responding to criticism that the county was more interested in recreation than
providing for the needy, said he also intends to seek $5 million in improvements for the Glades area.
Sansbury said that could be done by using $2.9 million that had been allocated to pay for the first-year debt service on
the beach bond to build housing in the western part of the county.
"What the Glades area needs obviously is housing, not beaches," Sansbury said.
At a public hearing Tuesday, the beach plan drew few comments. Most were favorable.
"It's critical that you get every square foot that you can," said Ron Harsh of Tequesta. "If the state can't buy it and you
can, the people will support this."
"I absolutely support it," added county resident David Lloyd. "I'd rather have my kids out there surfing than watching
TV."
But Andre Fladell, coordinator of the powerful South County Political Cooperative, cautioned that the plan may not get
his support unless the county's tourism industry starts paying for the costs of increased tourism.
"We agree with the concept," he said. "But we are far, far from supporting this now."


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


Page 1189
COUNTY MOVES TO PUT BEACH ISSUE ON BALLOT The Miami Herald July 24, 1985 Wednesday

All Rights Reserved
Page 1190


The Miami Herald

PLM BCH EDITION

LIBERTI IS LIKELY TO FORGO SENATE BID FOR HOUSE RACE



LENGTH: 1001 words

Ray Liberti says he'll more than likely drop out of a potential primary fight with Don Childers in the 1986 state Senate
election in District 28 and run instead for re-election to the House.
Liberti, a West Palm Beach Democrat, said he'll make a formal announcement next month.
He said House Speaker Designate Jon Mills has been trying to keep him in the House with promises of including him in
the House leadership.
"That's hard to give up," said Liberti, who was first elected to the House in 1978.
Liberti roomed with Mills in Tallahassee during the 1985 legislative session and is a member of Mills' five-member
transition team.
Liberti's apparent decision to remain in the House follows Childers' announcement earlier this month that he was drop-
ping out of the race for state insurance commissioner and would run for re-election to the Senate.
In April, Liberti said he'd run for the Senate no matter what Childers did. But he said his supporters said he would have
more influence in the House because of his ties to Mills than he would in the Senate as a freshman.
"I think what they're saying makes a lot of sense," Liberti said.
Lunchtime lull
A puzzled group of county engineers and reporters couldn't figure out why the Palm Beach County Commission showed
up 40 minutes late for its 2 p.m. meeting last Tuesday.
Here are some clues.
Fifteen minutes late, Commission Chairman Ken Adams took his seat without a word. Waiting for a quorum of com-
missioners to arrive, the audience made small talk.
At 2:38 p.m., Commissioner Karen Marcus walked in and said, "We need some music in this place. Liven it up a bit."
She then started batting her microphone back and forth, humming a tune. Assistant County Administrator Vince
Bonvento entered commission chambers and told Marcus her song was heard on the public address system throughout
the county Governmental Center.
Said Bonvento: "Hate to tell you where I was. In the men's room. It came in loud and clear."
Page 1191
LIBERTI IS LIKELY TO FORGO SENATE BID FOR HOUSE RACE The Miami Herald July 22, 1985 Monday

A few minutes later, when Commissioner Jerry Owens finally arrived, the commissioners began to review a proposed
$716 million budget.
The explanation for the tardiness: Adams, Marcus and Owens had joined County Administrator John Sansbury for
lunch at The Breakers to celebrate his 10th anniversary on the job.
The commissioners said they -- not the taxpayers -- paid the bill.
Beach battle
Sansbury's plan to win voter approval of a $75 million beach renourishment project in a special referendum next No-
vember may face resistance in South County.
"We are far, far from supporting this," said Andre Fladell, coordinator of the South County Political Cooperative.
Before county officials ask taxpayers for money, Fladell said, they should divert to beach renourishment the bed tax
money they now spend on tourism advertising.
"That's promoting a couple of hotel owners and some airlines and some restaurants," Fladell said. Tourists, Fladell said,
cause nothing but problems for year-round residents.
Fladell said more beach erosion could even help full-time residents.
"Less people will come here and more people will go to Broward, which suits us just fine," Fladell said.
Dueling commissioners
Lake Worth City Commissioners Andy Andrews and Ed Shepherd have been dueling for months but Al Howell, an
unsuccessful commission candidate, said last week that it's getting out of hand.
Howell wrote a letter to Andrews last week through Mayor David Hinsa asking Andrews to apologize to Shepherd. No
apology has been forthcoming and none is likely.
Some time back Andrews told Shepherd, a stroke victim, that judging by his action on the commission, maybe Shep-
herd has been taking so many pain pills that it's muddled his thinking.
Andrews also remarked on Shepherd's intellectual abilities by saying Shepherd's elevator didn't go all the way to the top
floor.
Said Howell: "Commissioner Shepherd, with his disability, has no problem and is superb in performing his duties as a
commissioner. He doesn't need you to instruct him on what medication to take."
Shepherd, by the way, has called Andrews "a lying S.O.B."
He apologized, sort of. Shepherd said he didn't mean to call Andrews "an S.O.B."
Healthy contributions
When state Sen. William G. "Doc" Myers, R-Hobe Sound, gets sick, he doesn't have to worry about paying a huge
medical bill. His rich friends in Jupiter Island help pick up the tab.
On his recent financial disclosure form, Myers stated that he received $5,700 from something called the Myers Medical
Fund.
The fund, for the most part, is made up of a group of millionaires who kicked in money to pay for the state senator's
recuperation from a collapsed lung two years ago, a pacemaker implant last year and a trip to a weight loss center in
North Carolina.
Among the contributors: Dorothy Walker Bush, the mother of the vice president; Douglas Dillon, the former U.S.
Treasury secretary, and his wife, and the Count and Countess de Primio Real.
Noteworthy
The South Palm Beach County Chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW) will show the anti-abortion
film, The Silent Scream, and its rebuttal, A Response to the Silent Scream, at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in Room 207 of the
University Center at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton . . . State Rep. Ray Liberti, D-West Palm Beach, will
speak at the next meeting of the Palm Beach County Young Democrats on July 25 at 6:30 p.m. at The Ark restaurant on
Page 1192
LIBERTI IS LIKELY TO FORGO SENATE BID FOR HOUSE RACE The Miami Herald July 22, 1985 Monday

West Lantana Road . . . Mark Obmascik, County Commission reporter for The Miami Herald in Palm Beach County,
has resigned to take a job as an investigative reporter for The Denver Post . . . John Kennedy is the new Palm Beach
County political writer for The News / Sun Sentinel of Fort Lauderdale.
Verbatim
"I'm the master of compromise, and (Delray Beach Mayor) Doak Campbell is the master of appeasement."
-- West Palm Beach Mayor Carol Roberts, overheard speaking to Delray Beach council member Malcolm Bird.
Herald Staff Writers Frank Cerabino and Mark Obmascik contributed to this column.
Ray Huard and Nick Ravo may be reached at 686-3221 or 278-6955.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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Page 1193


The Miami Herald

PLM BCH EDITION

FRIENDS VOTE TOGETHER, GAIN POLITICAL CLOUT

BYLINE: MARK OBMASCIK Herald Staff Writer


LENGTH: 1407 words

By voting together almost all the time, rookie Palm Beach County commissioners Karen Marcus and Jerry Owens have
gained unusual power after just eight months in office.
Of the more than 1,800 votes cast by commissioners since taking office in November, Marcus and Owens have disa-
greed only eight times. The pair has lost just four decisions by sticking together in the commission's 160 contested
votes.
It's a voting pattern that is being talked about by county politicos. They sense that Marcus and Owens are fast dominat-
ing a body that will decide how to spend $1,000 for every man, woman and child in Palm Beach County next year.
Not everyone applauds their growing influence. One of their decisions this month prompted Commissioner Ken Spillias
to heatedly declare that some thought there was a "lock" on the commission.
Commissioner Dorothy Wilken agreed: "It's no secret that Jerry and Karen are very close. I sense as a commissioner
that I automatically have two votes against me when I go into a meeting on some issues."
Several county political activists say Owens, with no prior experience in government, appears to follow Marcus' lead on
decisions. They also wonder how independent Marcus has remained from County Administrator John Sansbury, her
longtime friend and former boss.
Marcus and Owens say they're nothing more than good friends with similar backgrounds. Although they lunch together
from time to time, they deny they arrange any votes before commission meetings, which would violate state law. They
say the months they spent on the campaign led them to view many issues the same way.
"We are the same age, we have young kids, we both grew up in Florida, we were elected at the same time. We just have
a lot in common," said Marcus, who was a county employee for 11 years before her election to the commission. "But
when it comes to voting, we're two very independent people."
Still, Marcus said, she has heard some questions about how frequently she votes with Owens.
"Somebody came to me and said, 'You ought to vote differently once in a while just for appearance's sake.' Well, I think
that's ridiculous," she said.
Owens said he doesn't align himself with any one commissioner more than others.
"I don't see any pattern whatsoever," said Owens, an electrician who has been active for years in local Democratic poli-
tics. "I vote my conscience. Karen and I may have the same philosophies, but as far as following her, no, no way. Man,
that's ridiculous."
Page 1194
FRIENDS VOTE TOGETHER, GAIN POLITICAL CLOUT The Miami Herald July 21, 1985 Sunday

When county political observers are asked to describe Marcus, they use words such as "strong-willed," "tough" and
"savvy." For Owens, they say "friendly," "sincere" and "a good listener." Marcus won much of her political support
during the campaign from developers and other businessmen; Owens was elected largely on his strong support from
organized labor.
Marcus and Owens have formed the nucleus of every important decision reached by the commission this year. They
both voted for a landmark $561 million road package that included a two- cent increase in the county gasoline tax, de-
spite Owens' campaign pledge that he wouldn't support any gas tax hike.
Just before the commission vote, Owens began to reconsider his stand. Marcus said she told him, "You do what you
think is right. Think of how your decision is going to affect Jerry Jr. (his preschool son) in 10 or 15 years."
Owens later joined Marcus and the rest of the commission in the unanimous vote for the road package. He explained his
decision by saying, "I don't want my son to have the same problem with roads that we have today."
With little public discussion, the pair also nominated Indian River County Attorney Gary Brandenburg for Palm Beach
County's top legal job. In an unusual and controversial move, Sansbury lobbied commissioners to vote for Brandenburg,
who applied for the job in a chatty letter to Sansbury more than a week before the outgoing county attorney resigned.
The heated vote led Spillias to talk about a rumored "lock" on the commission, saying several capable attorneys didn't
bother applying because they heard Brandenburg was assured of getting the job.
"There was a perception that the decision-making process wasn't opened up," said Spillias, the commission's lone attor-
ney, who thought two other candidates were better qualified than Brandenburg. "People rapidly lose confidence in a
board when they think the decisions are being made ahead of time."
Marcus and Owens said Sansbury's lobbying had little to do with their decision.
Unlike other commissioners, the pair has rarely criticized county administrators in public for mistakes or poor prepara-
tion. But Marcus, in particular, bristles at the suggestion that she's unduly influenced by Sansbury or any other county
administrator.
"Because I have worked here for so long, I probably do enjoy a much more casual relationship with the county staff,"
Marcus said. "But if they've screwed up and I feel like going down there and chewing their asses off, I do it."
Earlier this month, Marcus and Owens both threatened to vote to relocate the county courts outside West Palm Beach
because of the city's poor roads, but eventually decided to build the $83.7 million facility downtown.
They both voted for a plan to ban noisy night flights out of Palm Beach International Airport, and against a plan to place
liens on hundreds of properties whose owners refused to pay impact fees totaling $5.9 million. State legislators criti-
cized the pair for stepping on political toes during a lobbying trip to Tallahassee.
Marcus and Owens also broke a nine-year tradition by engineering the political rebuff of Commissioner Wilken, a fel-
low Democrat who had been scheduled to serve as commission chairman this year. Marcus and Owens were censured
by the Democratic Party for their nomination of Republican Ken Adams as the ceremonial head of the commission.
Adams has joined Marcus and Owens 17 times to form the commission's voting majority. Still, he's viewed by most of
the county's political leaders as being more independent than Marcus or Owens. More than half of his tie-breaking votes
with the pair came on routine septic tank approvals.
Lately, Adams has been an outspoken critic of county officials, chastising Sansbury two weeks ago for making too
many decisions without commission approval.
"It seems as if you are just managing things by the seat of your pants," Adams told Sansbury. "If this were a business,
we would have been bankrupt long ago."
Adams also has been the lone dissenter on 13 votes -- more than twice as many times as Marcus or Owens.
"I think Adams and Wilken and Spillias are all independent," said Harry Bilawsky, a West Palm Beach political activist
who attends most commission meetings. "But there's no question about Marcus and Owens: the two of them are work-
ing hand in glove."
Andre Fladell, head of the powerful South County Political Cooperative, said Marcus and Owens have been working
well for his area. He calls Owens the most improved commissioner.
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FRIENDS VOTE TOGETHER, GAIN POLITICAL CLOUT The Miami Herald July 21, 1985 Sunday

"In one night, Jerry went from being an electrician to being a chairman of a $700 million a year corporation," Fladell
said. "It was a huge jump, and he had to do a lot of learning. The logical person for him to learn from was Karen, who
has a similar background and political philosophy."
In his first months in office, Owens said he asked Marcus for help in meeting county administrators and learning about
county projects in his district. Marcus had served for eight years as an aide for Owens' predecessor in Commission Dis-
trict 3.
"He mostly asked me about personalities," Marcus said of Owens. "He was being introduced to the movers and shakers,
and I gave him the histories of the players. I gave him my opinion on which people you could rely on for advice, and
which people only wanted you for your vote and their personal gain."
So far, Owens' main contribution to the commission has been creating two panels that face little opposition but receive
plenty of publicity: the Palm Beach County Sports Authority and the Artificial Reef Committee. Both advisory boards
are just getting started.
"I know I haven't come out like gangbusters," Owens said. "I came into this job cold, so I sat back and listened and
learned the ropes for a while. But now I'm ready."
Marcus agreed.
"I take this job as a very personal commitment," Marcus said. "I grew up here. It's my turf. It's my future and my chil-
drens' future that I'm dealing with, and I'm not going to compromise it."


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EARLY DAYS ARE LONELY IN MYERS' CAMPAIGN



LENGTH: 1070 words

The early days are the lonely days on the campaign trail. Just ask Mac McCartney, an aide to state Sen. William G.
"Doc" Myers, R-Hobe Sound. McCartney has been stumping for support and raising money for Myers' embryonic gu-
bernatorial bid.
"This is the part of a campaign that nobody sees," McCartney said. "You just go out and slug along, trying to get volun-
teers. There's no glory."
There aren't even any big campaign stops. The most notable event coming up in the near future is a fashion show and
fund- raiser scheduled for later this month in Stuart.
"It's lonely, but it's a big job raising money," said Myers, who hopes to raise more than $500,000 by Oct. 1. "Right now,
everything is a long way off, and you look at yourself and you have a name recognition of 12 to 14 percent.
"But that's still better than (Gov.) Bob Graham had when he ran the first time," Myers said. "He started at 4 percent."
Myers is also looking for two things to help his campaign: a plane and a campaign manager. He may have both by next
month.
"I've gotten three or four offers (for planes)," he said. "There's a Lear jet with a North Carolina company that I've been
doing some medical consulting for that might help me out."
As for a campaign manager, Myers says he has one in mind, but he won't reveal a name. He will only say that the pro-
spect is a White House Fellow in Vice President George Bush's office who helped run Republican U.S. Sen. Pete Wil-
son's successful campaign against former California Gov. Jerry Brown.
Ringing endorsements
After money, an airplane and a campaign manager, one of the key things an early candidate like Myers looks for are
endorsements.
Among the Republicans in the Palm Beach County legislative delegation, Myers has already picked up one: state Rep.
James C. Hill Jr., R-Jupiter.
"I have been contacted by Chester Clem, the (GOP vice chairman from Vero Beach) and (Tampa Mayor) Bob Mar-
tinez," Hill said. "But I told them both that I was supporting Doc. I also told (state Rep.) Tom Gallagher (of Coconut
Grove)."
One local endorsement Myers hasn't picked up -- at least not yet -- is that of state Rep. Bernard Kimmel, R-West Palm
Beach. "I'm not ready," Kimmel said. "I may wind up endorsing someone who hasn't entered the race yet."
Page 1197
EARLY DAYS ARE LONELY IN MYERS' CAMPAIGN The Miami Herald July 15, 1985 Monday

Into the fray
If Myers abandons his state Senate post next summer for the gubernatorial race, Hill said last week that he probably
would be a front-runner for the vacant seat.
"I think I would be in a strong position if I ran," he said. "My biggest strength seems to be name recognition because I'm
in both the Treasure Coast and Palm Beach editions of the newspapers.
"Plus the district is a good Republican district, especially in light of how well Doc did during his last race," he added.
The other leading contender for the GOP nomination for the 27th state Senate district is Rep. Jim Watt, R-Lake Park.
Like Hill, Watt is considering a bid, but he couldn't be reached for comment. He is vacationing with his family on a
houseboat on a canal somewhere between Paris and Marseilles, France.
Democratic possibilities for the Senate seat include Martin County Commissioner Maggy Hurchalla, former state Rep.
Bill Taylor and perhaps West Palm Beach businessman David Wood, who lost to Myers in the 1984 race.
Rematch rumors
While he's pondering an endorsement for governor, Kimmel held a barbecue last week for about 30 volunteers and leg-
islative staff members at Dreher Park in West Palm Beach. "I just wanted to let them know that they are not forgotten,"
he said.
Kimmel also has re-introduced several of his bills that died in the Florida Legislature last year. Those bills include set-
ting a speed limit for school zones and setting penalties for obtaining narcotics from hospitals fraudulently.
But more important, Kimmel is starting to think about a possible rematch with West Palm Beach Democrat Ed Healey
next year.
"If it comes, it comes," he said. "He spent as much time up there (in Tallahassee) last session as I did. I get rumors back
that he's thinking of running for a different seat. But who knows?"
As for Healey -- who just returned from a vacation in Spain -- he says he hasn't made up his mind whether to run against
Kimmel again.
"I haven't planned anything yet," he said. "My heart lies in the House, and if I planned to do anything, that's where I'd be
looking."
Healey will also spend the next year or so acting as an unpaid consultant to the gubernatorial campaign of state Sen.
Harry Johnston, D-West Palm Beach.
Would he run for that seat next year?
"No," Healey said. "I think I'm the only one around who is not considering running for that seat."
Answering the challenge
"We'll bury them," was Republican State Committeewoman Marion Hallman's answer to a debate challenge from
county Democrats.
"We'll take them on," Hallman said.
"We'll walk away with the prize," she said. "We have the best package and we can prove it."
Andre Fladell, nominating committee chairman of the Democratic Executive Committee, issued a formal challenge to
county Republicans last week for two debates, one at Florida Atlantic University and the other at Palm Beach Junior
College, to be moderated by the League of Women Voters.
The debates are part of a campaign by county Democrats to stop a surge of new Republican voter registrations.
Hallman said the Democrats are wasting their time.
"If they were the party that people thought they should go to, they'd be going to them in droves and they're not," Hall-
man said. "It's like grasping for straws."
Taiwan tours
Page 1198
EARLY DAYS ARE LONELY IN MYERS' CAMPAIGN The Miami Herald July 15, 1985 Monday

U.S. Rep. Tom Lewis, R-North Palm Beach, recently arrived back from a trip to Taiwan. "He toured industrial plants,
agricultural plants and food production facilities," said press secretary Ken McKinnon. "Of course, they (the Taiwanese)
wanted to talk about military aid. They always want to talk about that."
Now that he's back in Washington, though, Lewis and his staff are settling in for another unbearable D.C. summer.
"We've spent the week doing markups on the ag bill," McKinnon said. "You think that's interesting?"
Verbatim
"I can't imagine that we would want to have a primary battle involving two legislators. That doesn't make a whole lot of
sense to me."
-- State Sen. Don Childers, D-West Palm Beach, suggesting that Rep. Ray Liberti, D-West Palm Beach should drop his
plans to run for the Senate now that Childers has decided to seek re-election.
Ray Haurd and Nick Ravo can be reached in West Palm Beach at 686-3221.


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JOHNSTON IS A BIG HIT WITH S. COUNTY GROUP



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Senate President and would-be governor Harry Johnston of West Palm Beach made a winning impression during a
campaign tour of South County last week.
"If they were casting someone to be governor, it would be Harry Johnston," said Andre Fladell, coordinator of the
South Florida Political Cooperative.
"When Harry speaks, what you basically want to do is agree with him," Fladell said.
Two other Democratic gubernatorial contenders have wooed the cooperative -- Insurance Commissioner Bill Gunter
and Jacksonville State Rep. Steve Pajcic -- but Johnston made the biggest impression.
"I hate to say we saved the best for last," Fladell said.
Johnston also drew some big names to a campaign cocktail reception in Delray Beach sponsored by Boca Raton lawyer
Howard Weiss and the Southern Floridabank.
They included Delray Beach Mayor Doak Campbell, Delray Beach City Council Member Marie Horenburger, Boca
Raton City Council members Alan Alford, Albert J. Travasos, and M. Richard Robinson, Boca Raton Planning & Zon-
ing Board Chairman Robert Hagerty, David Gostfrand of Homeco Development, Elliott Winer, president of the Levitt
Corp., Ed Rosenberg, president of Southern Floridabank, bank senior vice president Michael Micallet and vice president
Jerry Damore, and Richard Hollowell, president of Southern Florida Bancorporation.
She did it for a kiss
If Johnston was expecting the same kind of respect at a South County League of Women Voters forum last week that
he'd gotten on his campaign trip, he got a surprise from state Rep. Carol Hanson, R-Boca Raton.
Hanson, a chain smoker, taunted Johnston about how he won her support for legislation that would restrict smoking in
public places.
"You know what he promised?" she asked.
"He promised me a kiss. Do you think he'd promise Sen. William 'Doc' Myers (of Hobe Sound) that? I mean, sexual
harrassment," Hanson said.
The vet set
County Democrats are wooing veterans by throwing a July 4 fund-raising bash in suburban West Palm Beach.
Page 1200
JOHNSTON IS A BIG HIT WITH S. COUNTY GROUP The Miami Herald June 24, 1985 Monday

Admission to the party at Armed Forces Park on Belvedere Road is free, but the Democrats will split the money they
make selling food and beverages with the veterans for construction of a new veterans center.
"This is one of our first projects to make the outside community aware of what the Democratic Party is all about," said
Karen Caldwell, who is organizing the bash with former County Commissioner Dennis Koehler.
"The efforts of the Democratic Party have always been helping the veterans, leaning towards the veterans," Caldwell
said.
Signing on
Political campaigning in Boca Raton would become a tad more expensive and a little more structured under proposals
by City Council members Al Edmunds and M. Richard Robinson.
As an alternative to the outright ban on political signs on public land proposed by three other council members, Robin-
son and Edmunds want the city to allow candidates to post signs for only the two weeks before an election and require
them to remove the signs within a week after the election.
The two council members also would require candidates to post a $200 bond to cover the city's cost of removing the
signs if the candidates leave them up. Candidates also would have to get a city permit for the signs and list every sign
location.
Signing up
The Cuban American Republican Club of the Palm Beaches has announced that it will take part in the GOP's "Opera-
tion Open Door."
Club President Ed Gonzalez said the organization will work closely with defeated congressional candidate Don Ross,
chairman of the Republicans' voter registration drive in Florida.
"The committee will concentrate on converting those Hispanic Americans who live in predominantly Hispanic areas of
Palm Beach County," Gonzalez said. "The realignment of political parties that is taking place today is indicative of the
approval that the American people have of the president's policies."
On the offensive
Narcoterrorism is in the news again. Last week, U.S. Rep. Tom Lewis, R-Fla., introduced the Narcoterrorism Infor-
mation Act of 1985, which is designed to protect federal government employees involved in drug enforcement.
"We're in the middle of a fierce international drug war, where the stakes are high, and it's time we protect our federal
drug enforcers and nonagent personnel and their immediate families, for they are all at risk," said Lewis, of North Palm
Beach. "The bill I am introducing . . . does this by providing rewards for information which prevents or resolves future
tragedies."
Lewis' bill authorizes the U.S. attorney general to issue a reward for information leading to the arrest or conviction of
those conspiring to kidnap or kill a U.S. government officer or a relative of that officer because of their drug law en-
forcement duties.
There is no specific amount for the rewards, but the attorney general must personally approve any disbursements over
$100,000.
The legislation, Lewis said, came in response to the kidnap and murder of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent
Enrique Camarena Salazar last year.
Noteworthy
The Boca Democrats, a political club, last week gave County Commissioner Dorothy Wilken their second annual
Claude Pepper Humanitarian Award for what the club said was Wilken's "lifelong service for the improvement of the
quality of life for Florida residents."
Verbatim
"I'm a fifth generation Floridian. That doesn't impress too many people in the condos, so I don't say that too much."
-- Senate President Harry Johnston, campaigning last week in suburban Delray Beach.
Page 1201
JOHNSTON IS A BIG HIT WITH S. COUNTY GROUP The Miami Herald June 24, 1985 Monday

Ray Huard and Nick Ravo can be reached in West Palm Beach at 686-3221.


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SOUTH COUNTY LEADERS WANT MORE SERVICES



LENGTH: 497 words

South County political leaders say their part of the county has been cheated out of needed government services -- like
adequate police protection and health care -- while other parts of the county less than a tenth its size have gotten more.
"The situation is horrendous," said Jeanne Sklar, vice president of the Atlantic Democratic Club and chairman of the
South County Government Commandos, an umbrella group of political leaders that will storm the County Commission
next week with demands for better service.
The property appraiser's office in the South County Courthouse is nearly the same size and has the same number of
full-time workers as the property appraiser's office in Belle Glade, said Rene Rosenberg, financial secretary of the At-
lantic Democratic Club.
Yet in 1984 the South County office processed 8,497 homestead exemption requests per month compared to 228 in
Belle Glade, Rosenberg said.
"Considering what's happened here, the growth in the last five years, South County has been shortchanged," said com-
mando Jack Bernstein, a member of the board of directors of Century Village West Democratic Club. "Shortchanged is
a mild word. It's obscene."
Among other things, the South County Commandos want more sheriff's deputies in South County, more workers and
more space for the property appraiser's office at the South County Courthouse in Delray Beach, more workers and more
space for the tax collector's office, a new health clinic and a full-service South County Courthouse with its own jury
trials.
The commandos say they have the figures to prove that South County deserves better and they'll present their demands
to the County Commission on June 25 for better services and on July 3 for a bigger South County Courthouse.
The sheriff's office is in the most critical situation, Bernstein said.
Bernstein said South County has 41 deputies -- seven of whom are sergeants -- to patrol an area from Hypoluxo Road to
the Broward County line and west from Military Trail.
With 32,742 calls in 1984, "these men are running from call to call," Bernstein said.
Bernstein said the sheriff's office is looking for 10 new deputies and 10 new patrol cars for South County in next year's
budget, but he said they need at least 20.
"We're paying taxes. We'll pay more if we have to," Bernstein said. Irwin Ives said the South County health clinic has
the same size staff today as it did in 1980, yet the workload has risen 24 percent a year.
Page 1203
SOUTH COUNTY LEADERS WANT MORE SERVICES The Miami Herald June 18, 1985 Tuesday

South County residents have been complaining for years that their services have been limited.
The difference this time is that South County political organizers have the numbers to back up those complaints, said
Andre Fladell, coordinator of the South County Political Cooperative and organizers of the commandos.
"We pay taxes. We're entitled to the same services and we're not getting them," Fladell said. "We're going to point it out
to them (county commissioners) in such black and white clearness that no one's going to be able to dispute it."


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June 16, 1985 Sunday
PLM BCH EDITION

BIG APPLE TAKES A BITE OF BOCA REAL ESTATE

BYLINE: RANDY LOFTIS And MARIE BETANCOURT Herald Staff Writers


LENGTH: 901 words

A man used to drive around Boca Raton in a pickup truck with a blunt bumper sticker: "Happiness is 100,000 Canadi-
ans headed for home with a New Yorker under each arm."
Whoever the modern-day rebel was, he almost assuredly did not sell real estate.
In fact, the sellers of Palm Beach County, especially Boca Raton, are finding that New York is a hot market. In down-
town Manhattan, South Florida condos are selling like Sabrett hotdogs.
"Several of the local real estate firms have put together slide shows and other packages that they will show to the em-
ployees of (northern) companies" to encourage corporate relocations, said Pat Wilson, information director for the
Greater Boca Raton Area Chamber of Commerce.
Luring northerners south is nothing new. It goes back as far as the earliest Florida land-sales schemes, in which hun-
dreds of thousands of northerners bought property by mail.
These days, the selling is far more sophisticated.
For example, there's the unusual offer from Kessler Realty, a Boca Raton firm that specializes in selling places such as
Boca West.
For qualified shoppers, Kessler will pay the plane fare for couples flying from New York if they buy $100,000 in prop-
erty. In Boca Raton, it's easy to reach that minimum.
Other developers are trying free travel, too. The offers are appearing in advertisements in New York newspapers, which
are crowded these days with enticements of recreation and real estate in the Sunshine State.
"Wherever it's cold, that's where the buyers are," said Mike Goldstein, director of out-of-state sales for Radice Corp.
Open the Sunday New York Times in Brooklyn and read about Deerfield Beach's Meadow Ridge East. Or scan the real
estate ads in Long Island's Newsday and see the villas of Boca Delray in Boca Raton.
"The idea is to get them (the customers) before they get down here," Goldstein said. "Once they're here, it's like a
smorgasbord."
In the past 28 months, Goldstein said, his division has sold more than 200 condominiums, townhomes and luxury hous-
es in Florida, raking in nearly $32 million. Of those sales, $24 million have come from out-of-state buyers.
"New York is a feeder market," said Joe Vincent, vice chairman of the Communications Group, a Boca Raton-based
marketing and public relations firm.
Page 1205
BIG APPLE TAKES A BITE OF BOCA REAL ESTATE The Miami Herald June 16, 1985 Sunday

"You know the story. Mom and dad sell their house in the Bronx. They take the equity out of their house. They come
down to Florida. They buy a little condo in Wynmoor Village."
The New York Times has been running small ads in its real estate section seeking advertisements from Dade, Broward
and Palm Beach County developers or homeowners trying to sell Florida real estate.
Outside of the newspaper's metropolitan area in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, the three South Florida coun-
ties are the only areas where the Times circulates its real estate section.
"It's been very effective for us," said Chris Ragona, group manager of the Times real estate advertising. "There's a tre-
mendous amount of interest in it, particularly for the classified ads."
One of the Times' most faithful followers has been Cenvill Development Corp. The creators of Century Village have
been advertising in New York and throughout the Northeast for 10 years.
The company, which sells 60 percent of its homes to northern residents, also holds seminars in New Jersey, Philadelph-
ia, Washington, Long Island and in New York's five boroughs. They let potential buyers go shopping without traveling.
For those who want a closer look, Cenvill will pay for a couple of days of accommodations -- and if they buy, the com-
pany will knock $400 from the condo's purchase price.
"We've been very, very successful with our program," said Michael A. Rich, Cenvill's vice president for marketing.
But some local developers say the cost of such an intense Northeast advertising campaign is too expensive and time
consuming.
"We've run some small real estate ads in The Wall Street Journal," said Thor Amlie, president of FPA, developers of
Pompano Beach's Palm-Aire. "But at $100,000 a page, we don't do it very often."
Besides the cost of the ads, out-of-state developers must pay as much as $10,000, plus attorney fees, to get New York
State's permission to market condos there.
The law was passed in response to past swindles, the ones that made Florida swamp-sales famous.
Radice's Goldstein said a couple of ads in big Northeast newspapers will result in about 70 calls a weekend to the com-
pany's toll-free number. During the winter season, it increases to 300 calls.
The ads, most of which are classifieds, cost the company about $100,000 a year.
Like Cenvill, Radice also will pay a customer's air fare if a sale results.
"I'll never stop advertising in those newspapers," Goldstein said. "Why should I? It works."
Not everybody thinks urging northerners to come here is such a good idea. The influx of people, especially during the
winter tourist season, has frustrated more residents than just the anonymous pickup-truck driver in Boca Raton.
Andre Fladell, a Delray Beach chiropractor, is leading a campaign to stop Palm Beach County's Tourist Development
Council from using tax money to advertise the county.
He's not crazy about the realty ads aimed up North, either.
"They took a paradise and turned it into strictly a place for making money," Fladell said.
And where did Fladell come from?
"Brooklyn," he said. "But let's face it. We have enough people. Frankly, I wouldn't have let me here."


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DEMOCRATS WANT DEBATE TO SWAY YOUNG VOTERS



LENGTH: 979 words

Republicans beware.
The Palm Beach County Democratic Executive Committee wants to debate you.
The prize for the winner is the allegiance of lots of young voters.
Before November's presidential elections, college students in Palm Beach County and elsewhere were registering Re-
publican by a considerable margin.
Executive Committee Chairman Henry Handler said that was before the Reagan administration began threatening to cut
student loans.
The Democrats are proposing debates in September and October at Palm Beach Junior College and Florida Atlantic
University.
"We're going to return to an area where we can get some good (registration) numbers," Handler said.
Peter Sachs, a member of the executive committee's public relations committee, said he wants the debates to dispel a
troubled image that plagued the Democrats during the presidential campaign.
"We had the image of people who were losers and who represented the special interests," Sachs said.
No word yet from the Republicans if they'll accept the challenge.
Risky business
State Sen. William G. "Doc" Myers, R-Hobe Sound, ended months of speculation last week when he said he would run
for governor in 1986.
But Myers said he was somewhat concerned about the strength of U.S. Sen. Paula Hawkins, who will be seeking
re-election next year in a race against outgoing Gov. Bob Graham.
"If it looks like she's not doing too well (in the public opinion polls), then she could bring the whole ticket down," he
said.
Myers has until July 1986 to decide whether he really wants to risk his Senate seat and stay in the gubernatorial race.
On the move
Brad Culverhouse, a Fort Pierce attorney, citrus grower, businessman and 1982 Democratic congressional candidate,
will move to Palm Beach County this fall.
Page 1208
DEMOCRATS WANT DEBATE TO SWAY YOUNG VOTERS The Miami Herald June 10, 1985 Monday

Culverhouse, a likely opponent in 1986 to U.S. Rep. Tom Lewis, R-North Palm Beach, is a fifth generation Floridian
whose ancestors settled in St. Lucie County after the Civil War.
He said political ambition has nothing to do with the move. He said he likes the area and hopes to open a law practice in
West Palm Beach.
Culverhouse, who will maintain his law office, citrus grove and office complex in St. Lucie County, hasn't picked out a
Palm Beach County city to call home. "My wife hasn't told me where she wants to buy the house," he said.
For someone who has everything
Billy Bowman, the farmer known for the fund-raising barbecues he throws for Democratic candidates at his suburban
Delray Beach ranch, is about to get something unusual for a good ol' boy.
The South County Political Cooperative is giving Bowman a bar mitzvah June 19.
"It's one of the only things he needs," said Cooperative Coordinator Andre Fladell. "It's not fair that he should go
through his entire life without it."
But Bowman isn't Jewish.
"He will be when we get through," Fladell said.
Fladell said the cooperative is honoring Bowman for bringing South County farmers and condo dwellers together.
It also is honoring Meril Stumberger of the Florida Atlantic Builders Association for forming an alliance between South
County builders and homeowner associations and Fran Reich for organizing the West Boca Community Council.
Stepping down
Genny Hazelip has resigned as chairman of the committee she helped organize to try to stop developer George Barbar
from building a $125 million downtown financial center in Boca Raton.
Hazelip said she's leaving Active Boca Citizens because too many people were saying the organization was a front for
her political ambitions.
Hazelip lost a bid for mayor last March. She hasn't decided yet if she'll run again.
Jerry Solin will replace her as chairman of Active Boca Citizens.
New faces on lobbying front
Palm Beach County will have new lobbyists in Tallahassee next year. Commission Chairman Ken Adams said the
$27,000-a-year contract for Michael Haygood and Gerald Williams will not be renewed.
Instead, the county has begun searching for a director for the new Office of Intergovernmental Affairs. The director's
job will be to lobby legislators and maintain good relations with other cities.
The county's lobbying weaknesses became apparent during the legislative session when the lobbyists didn't explain to
commission members the political protocol for meeting with state lawmakers.
Specifically, commissioners Karen Marcus and Jerry Owens did not notify local legislators that they were going to lob-
by the House leadership about the county's bills. That prompted a public scolding by Reps. James L. Watt, R-Lake Park,
and Ray Liberti, D-West Palm Beach.
Marcus blamed the lobbyists for failing to brief the commissioners on legislative manners. Haygood blamed the bun-
gling on the commissioners and called them overzealous rookies.
"We knew before the session started that they (the commissioners) were going to go in-house (for lobbying)," said
Haygood. "And we agree that they should."
Noteworthy
The Boca Raton Women's Club is sponsoring a debate at 7:30 tonight in Old Town Hall on Federal Highway on plans
for a $125 million downtown financial center. The issue comes up for a referendum June 25 . . . State Sen. Betty Castor,
D-Tampa, will address the Greater Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce at 7:45 a.m. Thursday at the Sheraton of Boca,
2000 N.W. 19th St . . . The anti-abortion film The Silent Scream and the film A Response to the Silent Scream will be
Page 1209
DEMOCRATS WANT DEBATE TO SWAY YOUNG VOTERS The Miami Herald June 10, 1985 Monday

shown by the South County Chapter of the National Organization for Women at 7:15 p.m. June 19 at Planned
Parenthood, 455 N.W. 35th St., Boca Raton.
Verbatim
"I finished better than I started. I was inexperienced in knowing personalities more than anything else. I think that was
my biggest problem."
-- Senate President Harry Johnston, assessing his performance in the 1985 Legislature.
Herald Staff Writer Mark Obmascik contributed to this column.
at 686-3221.


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May 20, 1985 Monday
PLM BCH EDITION

SANSBURY IRKS SOME WITH ATTORNEY MEMO



LENGTH: 944 words

County Administrator John Sansbury irked some county employees last week when he issued a memo urging deparment
heads to back former Assistant County Attorney Gary Brandenburg as the replacement for outgoing County Attorney
Charles Schoech.
But Commission Chairman Ken Adams and Commissioner Jerry Owens said it was fine with them.
"It's no big deal," Owens said.
"Some people are concerned," Adams said. "It doesn't bother me personally."
Schoech announced his resignation May 2 to work for the New York-based law firm of Mudge, Rose, Guthrie, Alexan-
der and Ferdon in July.
Brandenburg, the county attorney in Indian River County, sent Sansbury his resume April 23 -- more than a week before
Schoech handed in his resignation.
Sansbury sent copies of Brandenburg's resume to county commissioners and department heads, along with a memo
saying "I am encouraging any of our department heads who had the opportunity to work with Gary during his tenure as
assistant Palm Beach County attorney to either write or phone members of the commission as to their thoughts on
Gary's ability to assume the position of Palm Beach County attorney."
Adams said Sansbury's recommendations will carry no special weight when it comes to choosing a successor to
Schoech. He said the key recommendation will come from a special five-member committee.
Sansbury and Schoech will serve on the committee.
Promises, promises
State Sen. William G. "Doc" Myers, R-Hobe Sound, promises to decide this week if he's running for governor.
Myers was scheduled to meet last weekend with Florida GOP Vice Chairman Chester Clem of Vero Beach and former
U.S. Rep. Lou Frey of Orlando to decide which of the three will challenge Tampa Mayor Bob Martinez for the Repub-
lican nomination. Myers said that if Clem runs, Myers won't. But if Frey runs, Myers said he'll run, too.
All three are well-connected in the state party leadership and hope to win support of the party's old guard.
Myers is also looking for a running mate. He's been turned down by state Sen. Toni Jennings. He's hoping a certain
young Dade County politico with national name recognition will accept.
Join the crowd
Page 1211
SANSBURY IRKS SOME WITH ATTORNEY MEMO The Miami Herald May 20, 1985 Monday

Add Boca Raton Mayor William Konrad to the list of those who are talking about running for Harry Johnston's state
Senate seat.
And Rep. James L. Watt, R-Lake Park, now says he has talked to a few people about running for Myers' Senate seat --
but won't decide until later this summer.
Konrad said he's waiting to hear if Don Ross will run for the state Senate or make another bid to unseat U.S. Rep. Dan
Mica, D-Lake Worth.
Ross, who is the president of the College of Boca Raton, isn't saying yet what he intends to do politically.
Konrad has been either the mayor or a council member in Boca Raton since 1979. Now he says he is starting to feel the
itch to do something different.
Name that group
Call them Yuppie Democrats for now, but a no-name group led by Robin Bernstein, Cynthia Allen, Ken Spillias and
Andre Fladell are trying to round up about 60 other Democratic dynamos to meet with state party director Mike Hamdy
in a dinner strategy session June 5 at the Hyatt Palm Beaches in West Palm Beach.
"We are looking for people who are interested in rolling up their sleeves and working hard to register Democrats,"
Bernstein said.
Bernstein said the traditional party machinery just isn't moving fast enough to counter what some see as the rapid Re-
publicanization of Palm Beach County. So organizers of the no- name Democrats will do it themselves.
"We're going to have to come up with a name," Bernstein said. "We've called ourselves everything fom Progressive
Democrats to New Democrats. We're almost Yuppie Democrats. We're trying to attract a younger, professional Demo-
crat."
Carded
If you haven't voted in the last two years and you get a card this week from Supervisor of Elections Jackie Winchester,
fill it out or you won't be able to vote in the next election.
Winchester said she sent registration renewal cards to 30,708 voters, but those who haven't voted in two years and didn't
get a card should contact her office if they want to retain their right to vote.
Hoofing it
They will be known as the Tallahassee Pigettes.
They include Rep. Ray Liberti, D-West Palm Beach, his aide Clover Ulrich; Marty Lewis, an aide to Senate President
Harry Johnston, D-West Palm Beach, and Woody Van Voorhees, an aide to state Sen. Don Childers, D-West Palm
Beach.
The pigettes will appear at the Legislative staff dinner and talent show this week. They will appear on stage a la the Ra-
dio City Music Hall Rockettes.
"He admits he's got good legs," Ulrich says about Liberti. "Woody does, too."
No conflict here
Boca Raton City Council member M. Richard Robinson, a stockbroker, didn't have to worry about anyone accusing him
of having a conflict of interest when the company for which he works bid on a $7.5 million city bond issue.
His company, Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc., submitted the least attractive of the 11 bids.
"It's a heck of a way to avoid a conflict to embarrass yourself that bad," council member Albert J. Travasos told Robin-
son.
"You could have not bid," added Mayor Konrad.
Said Robinson: "We make money on our bonds."
Noteworthy
Page 1212
SANSBURY IRKS SOME WITH ATTORNEY MEMO The Miami Herald May 20, 1985 Monday

Republican Vincent Goodman, a Riviera Beach school teacher, has announced he will run for Commissioner of Educa-
tion.
Verbatim
"I'm afraid to wear a hat with the good old red-white- and-blue on it after this."
-- Boca Raton council member M. Richard Robinson, commenting on a proposal to ban political signs on public prop-
erty in the city.
Herald staff writer Mark Obmascik contributed to this column.
Nick Ravo is on assignment in Tallahassee. Ray Huard may be reached in Delray Beach at 272-2626 or 737-1009.


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The Miami Herald

May 13, 1985 Monday
PLM BCH EDITION

MYERS DROPS THE BIG HINT ABOUT RACE FOR GOVERNOR



LENGTH: 921 words

Talk about big hints. State Sen. William "Doc" Myers, R- Hobe Sound, said last week that he will most likely hold a
press conference either Friday or May 26 to make an announcement about running for governor.
Here's the hint. Myers, who made a brief bid for governor in 1982, said he would not hold a press conference to an-
nounce that he wasn't running.
Myers also met last week with a political consulting firm from New York, Dresner and Sykes, and is contemplating
having some polling done by Richard Wirthlin, one of President Reagan's pollsters.
Myers, chairman of the Palm Beach County legislative delegation, now appears to be the leading candidate in the
movement to stop Tampa Mayor Bob Martinez from walking away with the Republican nomination.
One other Republican who might enter the race is Rep. Tom Gallagher, R-Coconut Grove. If he makes the jump by May
26, Myers said he might take himself out of the running.
Another hint: Although Republicans are usually loath to fight each other in primaries, state GOP chairwoman Jeanne
Austin said last week she expects a primary for the nomination next year.
The political shuffle
State Reps. Eleanor Weinstock, D-Palm Beach, Jim Hill, R-Jupiter and Ray Liberti, D-West Palm Beach, appear to be
the early leading contenders for the county's three Senate seats if Myers runs for governor and State Sen. Don Childers,
D-West Palm Beach, runs for Insurance Commissioner.
Others looking at higher office:
* Robin Bernstein, an aide to County Commissioner Ken Spillias, might run for Spillias' seat if Spillias decides to run
for the Senate. Or Bernstein may try for Weinstock's House seat if Weinstock runs for the Senate.
* Rep. James L. Watt, R-Lake Park, may go for the Senate if Myers runs for governor. Democrats looking at Myers'
seat include David Wood and Fort Pierce rancher Brad Culverhouse, although Culverhouse will more likely again chal-
lenge U.S. Rep. Tom Lewis, R-North Palm Beach.
* Other possibilities include Delray Beach Mayor Doak Campbell and Palm Beach County School Board member Hugh
MacMillan for the Senate and Jupiter Mayor Mary Hinton for the House should Hill run for the Senate.
Name dropper
"Who is Kenneth C. Mock and why does Myers want to name State Road 80 after him?"
Page 1214
MYERS DROPS THE BIG HINT ABOUT RACE FOR GOVERNOR The Miami Herald May 13, 1985 Monday

On Senate floor last week as the bill changing the name of the highway was approved, Myers explained that the late Mr.
Mock was the engineer who brought the road to fruition. Jim Watt is sponsoring legislation in the House to name the
road for Mock. The road is now called the Spanish American War Memorial Highway.
A swinging time
On the mound was Senate President and would-be governor Harry Johnston, D-West Palm Beach, and behind the plate
was Myers. That was the battery for the Senate last week in a losing effort against the Capitol Press Corps.
The athletic Johnston managed to beat out a single, but Myers, using a pinch-runner from home plate, was easily thrown
out at first.
Is there a political metaphor here? No one would say. Myers only comment: "Harry's a good pitcher."
His Hart wasn't in it
Ray Liberti, D-West Palm Beach, got stood up last week. U.S. Sen. Gary Hart couldn't make it to Tallahassee for a
fund-raiser on Thursday because of the Senate vote on the budget.
Liberti was a co-host of the banquet. A spokeswoman for Hart said no new date had been set for a fund-raiser."But I'm
sure it's the first thing on his mind," she said.
Visits for votes
Palm Beach County is just awash in would-be governors this month.
Last week it was Insurance Commissioner Bill Gunter who came to Delray Beach to break pizza with leaders of several
South County Democratic Clubs.
And next week, state Rep. Steve Pajcic, D-Jacksonville, will come courting the members of the South County Political
Cooperative. Pajcic has already met with several South County politicos, trying to undercut Johnston's home-county
support.
Johnson has yet to make a bid for the Political Cooperative's support.
"He's busy playing Senate president," said Cooperative Coordinator Andre Fladell.
But Fladell warned that Johnston shouldn't assume that he's got South County wrapped up just by virtue of being a na-
tive Palm Beach candidate.
"We're in (Sen. Don) Childers district," Fladell said.
Post your comments
Don't all gag at once, but the U.S. Postal Service, at the urging of U.S. Rep. Dan Mica, D.-Fla., wants to know what you
think of its service.
Mica said one out of every 10 people who visit post offices in Palm Beach and Broward counites will be handed a ques-
tionnaire that could help places like Wellington, suburban Boca Raton and Coral Springs get new post offices.
Partial opposition
Marion Pilero of the Palm Beach County Chapter of the Populist Party does not want everyone to think her upstart po-
litical party is completely anti-immigration.
Last week's political column said the party was against immigration, both illegal and legal.
She now says her party is indeed against illegal immigration and "unreasonably" high numbers of legal immigrants --
but not all immigrants.
Noteworthy
The Greater Boca Raton Coalition will meet in the Boca Raton City Hall at 7:30 p.m. on May 23.
Verbatim
"After I finished speaking, there were boos and catcalls and that embarrassed other people that wanted to speak ... I just
considered it rude behavior."
Page 1215
MYERS DROPS THE BIG HINT ABOUT RACE FOR GOVERNOR The Miami Herald May 13, 1985 Monday

-- Genney Hazelip, former candidate for mayor in Boca Raton, describing the reception she received at a council hear-
ing on a proposed downtown financial center.
Nick Ravo is in Tallahassee on assignment. Ray Huard may be reached in Delray Beach at 272-2626 or 737-1009.


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May 7, 1985 Tuesday
PLM BCH EDITION

GUNTER HUNTS VOTES IN JOHNSTON COUNTRY



LENGTH: 234 words

Insurance Commissioner and would-be governor Bill Gunter said he just happened to be in the neighborhood when he
dropped by the Delray Beach Mall Monday to meet with leaders of several South County Democratic Clubs.
Gunter said he hoped to take a few votes away from Palm Beach County's hometown gubernatorial candidate, state
Senate President Harry Johnston, D-West Palm Beach.
Johnston last week entered the race for governor with Attorney General Jim Smith as his running mate.
Gunter hasn't announced yet but has been seeking support.
He was in Boca Raton Monday for the opening of the headquarters of the National Council of Compensation Insurance.
But his side trip to Delray Beach may have paid off, said Andre Fladell, coordinator of the South County Political Co-
operative, the umbrella organization of a variety of political clubs.
"We certainly would have a leaning towards Johnston because of geography," Fladell said, but "everything he (Gunter)
said they ate up, except the lottery."
Gunter said he opposed lotteries.
Gunter hit home with the South County group when he called for strict state regulation of health maintenance organiza-
tions, predicting that the 1985 Legislature would pass legislation to control them.
Gunter refused to commit himself on whether he would support Palm Beach County's drive to get a local option sales
tax and a real estate transfer tax passed by the Legislature this year.


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The Miami Herald

May 6, 1985 Monday
PLM BCH EDITION

ADAMS WORRIES JOHNSTON GOT TOO MUCH RESPECT

BYLINE: RAY HUARD & NICK RAVO Herald Staff Writers


LENGTH: 1019 words

The political genuflecting to State Sen. Harry Johnston, D- West Palm Beach, continued this week with local office-
holders once again gushing over the gubernatorial candidate.
In fact, Palm Beach County Commission Chairman Ken Adams, a Republican, became a bit worried that he may have
been a little too free in paying his political fealty to the Democratic Senate president.
"We really respect you," Adams told Johnston as the senator entered a Tallahassee meeting with four of the five county
commissioners.
Then, as Johnston was leaving some 30 minutes later, Adams had some second thoughts. "I may have trouble with my
party saying I respect you," he said.
"Oh, you may get censured," Johnston replied. "That's an inside joke."
The inside joke, of course, refers to the censure earlier this year of Commissioners Jerry Owens and Karen Marcus, both
Democrats, by the Palm Beach County Democratic Executive Committee for backing Adams as commission chairman
over Democrat Dorothy Wilken.
But, please, let us all take note that the recent tidal wave of bipartisan praise that's hit Johnston hasn't left the senator
with political amnesia.
Speaking to reporters after his announcement to run for governor last week, Johnston turned pensive as he remembered
back 11 years when he announced his first run for the state Senate. "No one printed my press release," he said. "And no
one came to my (press) conference."
ANNOUNCEMENT FEVER
Spring fever in Tallahassee usually consists of day- dreaming under the dogwoods. But this season, there's a new ail-
ment afflicting this sultry southern city: Announcement Fever.
After the formal declaration of candidacy by Johnston on the brick steps of the Old Capitol last Monday, state Sen. Wil-
liam G. "Doc" Myers, R-Hobe Sound, said he, too, will soon tell the world of his gubernatorial plans.
"Somewhere in the middle of the month I'll make an announcement either way," he said. "Everybody uses the court-
house steps. I'm trying to think of someplace else."
FORWARD, MARCH
Page 1218
ADAMS WORRIES JOHNSTON GOT TOO MUCH RESPECT The Miami Herald May 6, 1985 Monday

U.S. Rep. Tom Lewis, R-North Palm Beach, put on his walking shoes last week and marched out of the Capitol along
with 179 other Republicans in the historic protest of the House's vote to seat Democrat Frank McCloskey.
"I think it was a very sad day that those steps had to be taken," Lewis said. "But it was the only method available for the
actions that took place."
McCloskey was declared the winner Wednesday over Republican Richard D. McIntyre in Indiana's fiercely disputed
Eighth District congressional race.
"Even the Washington Post blasted the Democrats for the way they handled things," added press secretary Ken McKin-
non. "There were questionable ballots, and a special election would have been the best way to go."
Coincidentally, the next piece of legislation to be heard before the Republicans took a hike was the State Department
Authorization bill, sponsored by U.S. Rep. Dan Mica, D-Boynton Beach.
"The irony of it all is that the walkout stopped consideration of a bill that had been requested by (Secretary of State
George) Shultz and supported by (President) Reagan," said Mica press secretary John Gersuk. "It had nothing to do with
the walkout and was critical to the conduct of America's day-to-day diplomacy."
LOBBYING BLITZ
Back in Tallahassee, Palm Beach County blitzed the Capitol last week with a platoon of citizen lobbyists.
They included Sid Gilburd, president of the Kings Point Democratic Club, Sidney Krutick, past president of the Kings
Point Democratic Club, Leonard Syrop of the Delray Beach Democratic Club and Rene Rosenberg and Jeanne Sklar of
the Atlantic Democratic Club.
"We left the supreme allied commander at home but I brought my generals," said Meril Stumberger of Sensible Associ-
ation for Effective Political Action Committee (SAFEPAC).
The supreme commander is Andre Fladell, coordinator of the South County Political Cooperative, who chose to do his
lobbying from his Delray Beach office.
Krutick said he was lobbying the state Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services for funding for the South
County Neighborhood Center. "I think I hit a home run," he said.
Syrop said he wasn't quite as successful in pushing for legislation that would allow Delray Beach to annex unincorpo-
rated land within city limits. "The bill is dead but we're working around it," he said.
PARTY TIME
Palm Beach County has a new political party. This one is a strange breed of the Libertarian Party, the John Birch Soci-
ety and the ultra-right wing of the Republican Party. It's called the Populist Party.
Buck Lee, the Palm Beach County Populist chairman, said the national party was formed in Nashville one year ago and
managed to place former Olympian and Wheaties huckster Bob Richards on the 1984 presidential ballot in 14 states.
The local chapter was formed in Palm Beach this month. The party's primary goal is to get local and statewide candi-
dates elected in 1986. "We are for less government," Lee said. "And that in itself means we're conservative."
Some samples from Populist literature include: Repealing the federal income tax; abolishing the Federal Reserve Sys-
tem, canceling the national debt, refusing to intervene in foreign affairs and halting all immigration -- illegal and legal.
NOTEWORTHY
The Delray Beach Citizens for Social Responsibility will discuss the nuclear freeze at its regular meeting at 9:30 a.m. on
Wednesday at the American Savings Bank on Atlantic Avenue . . . Jerry Maxwell, a Lantana civil engineer, has an-
nounced he will run for governor . . . U.S. Rep. Tom Lewis will hold a press conference today at 9:30 a.m. in West
Palm Beach at the Fourth District Court of Appeals and at 1:30 p.m at the Florida Press Center in Tallahassee with
Florida Department of Law Enforcement Director Robert Dempsey. The topic: missing children.
VERBATIM
"We're all starting to look a little silly, and I don't like that."
Page 1219
ADAMS WORRIES JOHNSTON GOT TOO MUCH RESPECT The Miami Herald May 6, 1985 Monday

-- State Sen. Gwen Margolis, D-North Miami, after the Senate Finance, Taxation and Claims Committee spent three
hours in debate, much of it consumed with parliamentary maneuvering, over a bill that would remove tax exemptions on
cigarettes sold by Seminole Indians.


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PLM BCH EDITION

MYERS' NAME RECOGNITION FUELS HIS POLITICAL HOPES



LENGTH: 1110 words

State Sen. William G. "Doc" Myers, R-Hobe Sound, has received an unexpected -- and some might say unbelievable --
boost in his exploratory campaign for governor.
According to the author of a pamphlet called The National and Florida Letter & Poll Combined, 42 percent of Florida's
residents recognize Myers' name.
Myers, who was last seen trying to track down the validity of the poll, said that if the figure is correct, then he will "take
out the (nomination) papers."
Meanwhile, long-time Myers associate Mac McCartney said he will be meeting with a firm in Tallahassee this week to
commission a survey on the name recognition of all the candidates seeking statewide office in 1986.
Myers is expected to make a decision on running for governor during the first week in June. Last week, however, the
physician-legislator tossed out a few comments on the men who might be opposing him should he announce his candi-
dacy and wrestle the GOP nomination away from Tampa Mayor Bob Martinez, who will make his first South Florida
campaign appearance Thursday in West Palm Beach.
On Rep. Steve Pajcic, Myers said the Jacksonville Democrat would be the easiest foe to defeat because "he represents a
far left liberal wing of the Democratic Party."
On state Sen. Harry Johnston, D-West Palm Beach, Myers simply predicted that the Senate President won't run.
Democrats cultivating new image
Florida Democrats are trying to put some distance between themselves and the national party in an attempt to stop Re-
publicans from becoming the majority party in the state.
"We realize that the Florida Democratic Party and Florida Democrats aren't in tune with the national leadership so we're
creating our own image, doing our own thing," said state Rep. Ray Liberti, D-West Palm Beach.
"We are trying to get the message out that we are not the National Democratic Party," Liberti said. "I think the average
Democrat is more moderate, and that's exactly what the Florida Democratic Party is trying to project."
The campaign to establish a new party image, Liberti said, will start April 22 at a caucus to choose state Rep. Jon Mills
of Gainesville as the next Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives.
Liberti, who shares a Tallahassee apartment with Mills while the Legislature is in session, also is helping to organize a
May 9 $100-per-person fund-raiser in the state capital for U.S. Sen. Gary Hart, D-Colo.
Page 1221
MYERS' NAME RECOGNITION FUELS HIS POLITICAL HOPES The Miami Herald April 15, 1985 Monday

Presumably, the money will be used to pay off Hart's debts from his 1984 presidential campaign or to stockpile funds
for a bid for the White House in 1988. The fund-raiser is co-sponsored by Mills and Rep. Tom Gustafson, D-Fort
Lauderdale.
Mica has Texas-size wishes
U.S. Rep. Dan Mica, a Boynton Beach Democrat, must have been dreaming at a fund-raiser last week with U.S. Rep.
Larry Smith, a Democrat from Hollywood, and U.S. Rep. Jim Wright, D- Texas, the House majority leader as well as
probable future Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.
During his introduction for Wright, Mica noted that the Texas lawmaker is so popular back in his Fort Worth congres-
sional district that there have been 10 elections when he wasn't challenged by either a Republican or a member of his
own party.
"We've got to do that here for Larry Smith and Dan Mica," suggested Mica, who narrowly won his last election against
Republican Don Ross of Boca Raton.
Lottery chances looking slim
Asked at a Friday news conference what he considered the 1985 Legislature's biggest accomplishment so far, state Sen-
ate President Johnston said "just surviving."
Not as lucky, however, will probably be the bill to create a state lottery. Johnston said he would vote for a lottery if the
bill gets to the Senate floor -- not because he has any strong feelings on the matter but because he said the public in
Palm Beach County is overwhelmingly for it.
"It could very easily pass out of the Senate," Johnston said. But the Senate president added that that Florida is still a
long way from getting a lottery because the House leadership has made it clear they're out to kill it.
Panel eases rule on gifts
The House Ethics & Elections Committee last week voted to raise to $100 the limit on gifts elected officials can accept
without reporting.
State Rep. Carol Hanson, R-Boca Raton, was the only committee member to vote against raising the ceiling. Hanson
said she wanted to keep the limit at $25.
South county raising its voice in capital
The South County Political Cooperative will be marching to Tallahassee later this month and might also register five
members as unpaid lobbyists with the state.
The five official or unofficial lobbyists will be Jeanne Sklar, vice president of the Atlantic Democratic Club; Sid Gil-
burd, president of the Kings Point Democratic Club; Sid Krutick, past president of the Kings Point Democratic Club;
Lenny Syrop, president-elect of the Delray Democratic Club; and Renee Rosenberg, a board member of the Atlantic
Democratic Club. The group is scheduled to be in the Capitol on April 29, 30, May 1 and 2.
"It's significant because it's the first grass-roots lobby from Palm Beach County," said Andre Fladell, the coordinator of
the cooperative. "We don't have a lobbyist, so we're going up there ourselves."
The group will be meeting with Lt. Gov. Wayne Mixson and Insurance Commissioner and Treasurer Bill Gunter. The
key interests of the citizen-lobbyists will be approval of the real estate transfer tax, a state lottery and funds for the
South County Neighborhood Center.
Noteworthy
Palm Beach County Commissioner Dorothy Wilken will speak on growth management at the monthly meeting of the
League of Women Voters for South Palm Beach County on Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. at the St. Paul's Episcopal Church,
188 Swinton Ave., Delray Beach . . . David Wood, the former state Senate candidate from Juno Beach, has been ap-
pointed by Gov. Bob Graham to serve as a consumer member of the State Board of Nursing . . . The Young Republicans
of the Palm Beaches last week installed Kevin Boyles as president, Scott Williams as vice president, David Chapin as
treasurer and Celina Klee as secretary . . . The Port of Palm Beach Commission will hold its monthly meeting in the
board room of its Riviera Beach headquarters on Wednesday at 3 p.m. . . . Political novelist Allen Drury, author of the
Page 1222
MYERS' NAME RECOGNITION FUELS HIS POLITICAL HOPES The Miami Herald April 15, 1985 Monday

classic best-seller Advise and Consent, will speak at the Palm Beach Round Table on April 29 at 2 p.m. at the Hyatt
Palm Beaches in West Palm Beach.
Verbatim
"He is to television what Roosevelt was to radio, and that's formidable."
-- U.S. Rep. Jim Wright, D-Texas, referring to President Reagan, while speaking at a Boca Raton fund-raiser last week
for Democratic Rep. Dan Mica of Boynton Beach.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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PLM BCH EDITION

FARMERS PLEASED WITH COMMISSIONER CONNER



LENGTH: 953 words

Doyle Conner was all gosh, golly and gees last week when about 200 farmers and their friends said please, please,
please be our commissioner of agriculture again.
"We all came out here to make sure Doyle Conner doesn't retire in two years," said Billy Bowman, co-chairman of what
was billed as a Doyle Conner Appreciation Day at Bowman's dairy.
Even former Senate President Phil Lewis got into the mood.
"This guy is untiring in his efforts to help the people of Florida," Lewis said.
"You know, Billy, I really came here to eat ribs with you," Conner said.
"I don't announce until the proper time, which is the year before the election," Conner said. "I certainly don't intend to
announce not to run, if that takes care of any rumors, so be it."
More Conner backers
Farmers weren't the only people wooing Conner last week.
The South County Political Cooperative, most of whose members are condo-dwellers, said it too would be right pleased
if Conner ran again.
"The commissioner of agriculture is the biggest elected officer protecting consumers in Florida," Cooperative Coordi-
nator Andre Fladell said in endorsing Conner.
The cooperative also last week raised $9,700 in a $100 per person fund-raiser.
May need ambulance
Who says politicians should kiss and make up once the election's over?
Not Honey Duncan, who lost her seat on the Lake Worth City Commission last month.
Meeting last week for their final session before the new commission took over, the old commission was discussing a
five- year contract for ambulance services when Joe Martin, a political foe of Duncan's, rose to have his say.
"I'm concerned about this issue because at my age I may need this service sometime," Martin said.
"Let's hope so," Duncan said.
Mica, Ross still sniping
Page 1224
FARMERS PLEASED WITH COMMISSIONER CONNER The Miami Herald April 1, 1985 Monday

Don Ross, who insists he's not running for anything yet, said he just somehow felt compelled last week to call a news
conference denouncing U.S. Rep. Dan Mica's vote against the MX missile.
"Someone asked me if I was a shadow Congressman here," said Ross, who ran as a Republi#an against Democrat Mica
last November.
Ross is considering taking another shot at Mica in 1986.
But he said his news conference last week was prompted by phone calls from people who insisted that someone just had
to take Mica to task for his vote.
Mica, of course, was peeved by Ross' statements.
"If Mr. Ross was speaking as a private citizen," he said, "I have taken note of his opinion."
"But if he was trying to use his failed candidacy as a platform to criticize my vote, the issue stops being the MX and
becomes Ross himself," Mica added. "It becomes the mentality of someone unable to judge a question on its merits. I
received thousands of letters on the MX, but his was the only one to insist that such major decisions should be decided
solely on the basis of a president's personal popularity. It's a coat-tail mentality."
"I find that not only demeaning to the Congress, but a bizarre perception of what voters in Palm Beach and Broward
counties want in their elected officials. Let's judge important decisions on their merits, not as Mr. Ross has requested,
on the basis of politics or partisanship."
East, West to cooperate
Representatives of Delray Beach city and suburban Democratic clubs met with Mayor Doak Campbell and city council
members Saturday to renew a three-year-old East-West coalition.
"We did nothing last year only because it was an election year," said organizer Jack Babich, president of the West
Delray Democratic Club.
But Babich said the city and suburban groups share many common goals, including improved roads and elimination of
county pockets within Delray Beach city limits.
Babich said the coalition includes the Atlantic Democratic Club, the Kings Point Democratic Club, the West Delray
Democratic Club and the Delray Beach Democratic Club.
Deceptive appearances
The support from the local police department was certainly a factor in the Lake Worth political races last month, but
more than a few people were stunned when they saw George Harrs riding in a parade with what appeared to be a police
motorcycle escort a few days before Tuesday's run-off election .
The police, however, turned out to be security guards dressed up to look like cops.
Harrs, who was elected to the city commission, said he did not stage the scene to prove to the public that he had the
support of the local cops.
"I hired a private security firm just to be on the safe side so there wouldn't be any traffic accidents," he said. "I had the
overwhelming support of the police, and I didn't need to use anything like that."
A political God?
Palm Beach County Commissioner Ken Spillias has some thoughts on God, man and politics last week. "If God runs for
office, vote against Him," he said, apparently presuming that God is of the male gender. "Because if He becomes a poli-
tician, you can't trust Him."
Myers may not run
The latest intelligence report on a possible run for governor by state Sen. William G. "Doc" Myers, R-Hobe Sound, is
that he probably will not run if state Sen. Toni Jennings, R- Orlando, decides to challenge Tampa Mayor Bob Martinez
in the Republican primary.
Out after six terms
Page 1225
FARMERS PLEASED WITH COMMISSIONER CONNER The Miami Herald April 1, 1985 Monday

Well, we won't have South Bay City Commissioner Vernita Cox to kick around anymore, at least for awhile. She lost
last week to Dorothy Davis in a run-off election.
Cox had served six terms on the commission and unsuccessfully ran for the county commission in 1984.
"Apparently, I didn't get enough votes," she said. "I can't say why. I guess the constituency said we need a change."
Verbatim
"There's a need for culture in South County. We're up to our toes in it."
Andre Fladell, coordinator of the South County Political Cooperative.
Herald Staff Writers Mike Wilson and Mark Obmascik contributed to this column


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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PLM BCH EDITION

STOP THE DEVELOPMENT, EASE TRAFFIC BURDEN, POLITICAL
GROUP URGES



LENGTH: 363 words

A South County political group called for a moratorium Thursday on rezoning property for commercial use until the
county adopts new traffic standards aimed at protecting the elderly.
The South County Political Cooperative, in its annual position paper delivered to the County Commission, also de-
manded that the county build a proposed new courthouse in suburban West Palm Beach instead of downtown West
Palm Beach.
Cooperative Coordinator Andre Fladell said new standards are needed to set speed limits and to determine when a road
becomes overcrowded. Most of the people who live in South County's western suburbs are older residents who can tol-
erate less traffic congestion than younger people, Fladell said.
"Three-quarters of West Delray is senior citizens," Fladell said. "When they made these standards, they didn't anticipate
perhaps this unique situation. They planned for an average community of 30,000 people, not 26,000 senior citizens."
But Assistant County Engineer Haney Frakes said the county already considers the age of nearby residents in reviewing
the traffic impact of proposed commercial developments.
National traffic standards used by the county are only part of the analysis, he said.
"You just don't go off and make decisions just based on that. The characteristics of an area are then considered prior to
any recommendation," Frakes said.
On the courthouse issue, Fladell said that if the county insists on building a new courthouse downtown, it should build a
new courthouse in South County as well.
"South County can't come to West Palm Beach anymore," Fladell said. "They're going to have to build a South County
court complex, whether it's this year, next year or 10 years from now."
Lance Clarke, executive director of the Downtown Development Authority, agreed that a satellite courthouse was
needed in South County but said the main courthouse must go downtown.
"This is the county seat. This is the seat of government and has a tradition to uphold as well," Clarke said. "Yeah, there
are parking and access problems but we're actively trying to pursue a solution.'
The Political Cooperative is an umbrella organization of nine South County political clubs.

Page 1227
STOP THE DEVELOPMENT, EASE TRAFFIC BURDEN, POLITICAL GROUP URGES The Miami Herald

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DEMOCRATS CENSURE 2 OFFICIALS


SECTION: LOCAL; C; Pg. 1

LENGTH: 457 words

Palm Beach County Democratic County Commissioners Karen Marcus and Jerry Owens were censured Tuesday by the
county's Democratic Executive Committee for electing Republican Ken Adams commission chairman.
"They censured us, they censured us?" said a stunned Marcus from the rear of the school board chambers in suburban
West Palm Beach, where the vote was taken late Thursday.
"Look what they've done to the party right now in this room -- they have split the party," Marcus said.
From now on, Marcus said she'd be hard pressed to support anything suggested to the commission by the people who
voted for her censure.
"They just did themselves a disservice," Marcus said.
Said Owens: "I'm going to have a drink."
Owens was pulled from the room by his supporters before he could say any more.
The 47-38 hand vote to censure Marcus and Owens came despite impassioned pleas for party unity from Commission-
ers Dorothy Wilken and Ken Spillias, both Democrats.
"Turn you attention on the things that unify us and away from the things that separate us and divide us," said Wilken,
who was next in line to be commission chairman until Marcus and Owens switched from tradition to elect Adams.
"We have an election coming up in two years. I would encourage you to turn you thoughts forward and not backward,"
Wilken said.
Spillias said a censure vote would do what no Republican could -- set Democrat against Democrat at a time when Re-
publicans are already gaining most of the people registering to vote in Palm Beach County for the first time.
"Most of the time, what we do in the Democratic Party is sit up here and complain about each other," said Spillias.
But Democratic State Committeeman George Comerford said that for Democrats "to sit idly aside and not do anything
is to say we agree with what they did and we don't agree with what they did."
County committee member Jackie Malone of Boca Raton was loudly booed when she came to the defense of Marcus
and Owens.
"I'm sad we don't have a Democratic (commission) chairman, but I respect these people's right to vote for whoever they
want," Malone said.
Page 1229
DEMOCRATS CENSURE 2 OFFICIALS The Miami Herald February 8, 1985 Friday

But county committee member Rosetta Rolle of Delray Beach said Marcus and Owens were like children who had mis-
behaved, still loved by party members but needing discipline.
"I would chastise my children if they were wrong," Rolle said.
"When you punish your children, Rosetta, don't take them out in the neighborhood and embarrass them in public," said
Andre Fladell of Delray Beach, arguing against censure.
The censure vote has no affect on the position of Marcus and Owens on the County Commission or their party affilia-
tion.
But Comerford said it puts them on notice that party leaders will be watching them closely.
"They will be monitored in the future," he said.


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BUILDERS' GROUPS SEEK TO HIRE SENIORS



LENGTH: 607 words

You won't find these jobs in the want ads in the back of the newspaper.
And the wording would be a little odd if you did. It would go something like this:
"Wanted: men and women, preferably living alone, with years of experience, willing to work for low wages and a few
laughs. Must be over 65."
Maybe it's not the career opportunity of a lifetime.
But Andre Fladell of the South County Political Cooperative said people are already clambering for the work. And this
is before anyone's put the jobs on the market.
The deal is that the Political Cooperative, the Florida Atlantic Builders Association and the Home Builders and Con-
tractors Association are getting together to find part-time jobs for the thousands of retired people in Palm Beach County
who are going out of their minds with boredom.
"All anybody does around here is say 'I wish I had something to do.' That's the standard cry of people, they say 'every
day is the same. I get up and do the same thing, weekday and weekend,' " Fladell said.
And that's where the part-time jobs come in, said Meril Stumberger of Florida Atlantic Builders.
"When they get up in the morning, they'll know they have a place to go and they'll feel productive and I'm sure they
could use a little extra money," Stumberger said.
The plan is to hire 100 people at a time in 12-week cycles starting sometime next summer, but Stumberger said some
people may wind up staying on permanently.
Fladell said preference at first will be given to widows, widowers and those living alone -- people most likely to be
lonely and in need of the boost in self-esteem that a new job can give.
Stumberger said her organization has already started contacting its 1,100 members, looking for those with part-time jobs
to offer.
Florida Atlantic Builders will line up people and jobs in South County and the Home Builders will do the same in North
County.
The work will be just about anything, from filing papers to landscaping, said Home Builders' Jay Hasner.
"I know I have a need on weekends for people to act as hosts or hostesses to show people through models," Hasner said.
"There's a tremendous resource out there of retired people that would benefit," Hasner said.
Page 1231
BUILDERS' GROUPS SEEK TO HIRE SENIORS The Miami Herald January 28, 1985 Monday

The program sounds noble, but contractor Bob Satter, who came up with the idea, said there's a bit of self-interest to it
as well.
"Where could we get someone to work part time with a lot of experience? You take a guy 35, he's going to want to work
full time and have a big salary," Satter said.
And Satter should know. He's been hiring retired people for years. The head of his mortgage department is a retired
banker who, Satter said, used to run a $4 million a year business.
"We did it absolutely selfishly," Satter said. "We were looking for people who've been through the same things we had
and could help us out."
Another bonus, said Fladell, "it kind of breaks down an artificial barrier between developer and retiree."
Historically, the two groups have been at odds with each other politically, Fladell said.
But he said the jobs program could lead to better understanding on both sides.
Florida Atlantic Builders President Ron Ellish said the construction industry is perfect for this sort of program because
its business is so cyclical.
"I'm a perfect example. Right now, we're looking for someone to work part time for the next couple of weeks because
we have some extra work. You don't want to go out and hire someone then fire them in a couple of weeks," Ellish said.
"You wind up working the staff extra hours and everybody gets tired."
Said Satter: "I have no doubt if it works, we could spread it out to include people who are not in the building industry."


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DON ROSS GETS ITCH; HE MIGHT RUN AGAIN

BYLINE: NICK RAVO AND RAY HUARD Herald Columnists


LENGTH: 1142 words

Watch out, Dan Mica.
Don Ross is talking about running again.
Ross, who is president of the College of Boca Raton, came close to beating Mica last November in the 14th Congres-
sional District.
He was in Washington last weekend for President Reagan's inauguration and just happened to stop by the National Re-
publican Congressional Campaign Committee to say hello.
And guess what? The man who two months ago said he was through with being a candidate came back saying that if the
Republican Party wants him to run for something, he'll do it.
"I've told the state party, if they think I'm a viable candidate, I'd be willing to run, whether that be in the 14th District or
not, we don't know," Ross said.
He said he bumped into Mica at Reagan's inaugural ball, but didn't mention his intentions to run again. For now, Ross
said he'll head a Republican voter registration drive aimed at having two million registered Republicans in Florida by
July 4. He delivered 25,000 new registrations to Reagan as an inaugural present, and said he's only 75,000 short of two
million.
Repeat challenge for Culverhouse
Another local congressman who should be stockpiling campaign money for 1986 is U.S. Rep. Tom Lewis, R-North
Palm Beach, who had no opposition last year.
Fort Pierce attorney and rancher Brad Culverhouse, who lost to Lewis in the 1982 election and decided not to run last
year, says he is "definitely interested" in challenging Lewis again.
"I am still interested," he said. "With a properly financed candidacy -- which I would have -- and an aggressive cam-
paign, I can beat Lewis."
Culverhouse's publicly announced reason for not running last year was because of a pressing personal business interest:
He's in the process of putting in a citrus grove in St. Lucie County. Privately, however, the portly, fifth-generation Flo-
ridian said that he foresaw a sweeping Ronald Reagan coattail effect that would make Lewis almost unbeatable in 1984.
Because of his fund-raising ability and his strong agricultural background, Culverhouse is considered the Democrat
most likely to run against Lewis for the geographically massive 12th District seat, which covers most of Palm Beach
County.
Page 1233
DON ROSS GETS ITCH; HE MIGHT RUN AGAIN The Miami Herald January 28, 1985 Monday

Agriculture committee, here he comes
Speaking of Lewis, the congressman this week is expected to win what likely will be the biggest appointment of his
political career: a seat on the House Agriculture Committee.
Besides the obvious benefit to his farmer, citrus grower and rancher constituents, an appointment to the agriculture
committee will be of great political benefit to Lewis, a retired excutive from Pratt & Whitney Aircraft who served in the
Florida Legislatire for 10 years.
Lewis can now use his newfound agricultural expertise clout in a 1986 battle against probable candidate Culverhouse,
who wryly described the appointment as something that "cannot hurt" the congressman.
"I congratulate him," Culverhouse said. "I hope he will be able to help the farmers, citrus growers and other agri- busi-
nessmen in these bad times. I hope now he will be able to help agriculture interests in the district more than he has be-
fore."
"If I were not an agri-businessman, it would make him very strong," he added. "But with my being a farmer, rancher
and citrus grower, the agriculture people will be able to identify much more so with me. After all, Lewis has never been
a farmer or a rancher."
Lewis lost a bid for the agriculture seat during his first term in office because of behind-the-scenes opposition from
some Democrats and because he was only a freshman member of the minority party.
Wood comes out of the woodwork
Alas, this must be the time of the year when defeated candidates start coming out of the woodwork for one reason or
another. Some are beginning the groundwork for new campaigns; others just can't live without some degree of lime-
light, a few others say it's just plain old civic responsibility that gets them involved again.
For example, Democrat David S. Wood of Juno Beach, who was trounced by Republican state Sen. William G. "Doc"
Myers of the 27th District in the most expensive legislative race in the state last year, was spotted at the public hearing
on the Proposed State Florida Plan on Wednesday night.
The appearance, however, does not mean Wood has any future plans for elected office. "I really don't know," he said.
"I'm going to let things develop over the next few years, attend meetings and maintain communications with the gover-
nor's office and Sen. (Harry) Johnston's office."
Wood said he would not be interested in challenging Myers again or running against state Rep. James Watt, R-Lake
Park. "I've received an amazing number of letters from people asking me to stay in the political process," he said. "I
might be interested in one or more political appointments."
What would he do differently should he run for office again. "I wouldn't run as a Democrat in that district," he said. "I'm
not anticipating changing parties, but it's a strong Republican district."
Wood, as you might remember, switched from the Republicans to the Democrats two years ago.
It's just a platonic relationship
With all the sweet talk last week between builders and South County Democratic clubs you would think the two groups
were getting married. But Andre Fladell, coordinator of the South County Political Cooperative, says it's just a platonic
relationship.
"They're not going to hear out of us, it's OK, build," Fladell said. "What we've done is opened lines of communication."
But Ron Ellish, president of the Florida Atlantic Builders Association, and Jay Hasner, president of the Home Builders
and Contractors Association, were so impressed with the Democratic clubs' aggreement to back a county road and sewer
financing proposal that includes higher taxes that they said their lobbyists in Tallahassee would work for the cooperative
as well on issues such as health care cost containment.
"That's what we support, the idea that we're all working together," Ellish said.
Noteworthy
Former U.S. Rep. Paul Rogers will address a Boca Raton prayer breakfast sponsored by the city's three Kiwanis Clubs
at 8:15 a.m. Thursday at Bibletown Community Church, 600 NW Fourth Ave., Boca Raton . . . State Rep. Frank Mes-
Page 1234
DON ROSS GETS ITCH; HE MIGHT RUN AGAIN The Miami Herald January 28, 1985 Monday

sersmith, R-Lake Worth, has been appointed chairman of the Oversight Subcommittee of the House Committee on Ag-
riculture. The annual Palm Beach Daily News Forum for the Palm Beach Town Council candidates will be held Tues-
day at 7 p.m. in St. Edward's Parish Hall, 181 North County Rd. in Palm Beach.
Verbatim
"Based on what I see here tonight, there's no Boca Raton that can be built."
-- Developer George Barbar, complaining about a city review committee's demand that he change the designs for a
proposed $125 million downtown financial center.
Nick Ravo can be reached in West Palm Beach at 686-3221. Ray Huard can be reached in Delray Beach at 737-1009 or
272-2626.


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January 22, 1985 Tuesday
PLM BCH EDITION

POLITICAL GROUPS OPPOSE CUTTING FEES

BYLINE: MARK OBMASCIK And RAY HUARD Herald Staff Writers


LENGTH: 417 words

A consortium of nine South County political groups pledged Monday to scuttle the county's $561 million road tax plan
if the County Commission decides to cut recommended commercial impact fees by 25 percent.
Andre Fladell, coordinator of the South County Political Cooperative, said commissioners would create a huge politi-
cal problem if they agree to the fee changes sought by contractors' trade groups.
"If they in any way start to fiddle with the numbers, we're going to torpedo the whole package," said Fladell, who said
his groups represent 35,000 registered Democrats. "We've come too far on this package for last-minute switches."
Commissioners are scheduled to hear the contractors' proposal for the first time at a public hearing at 7 tonight. The
county's current road tax plan, endorsed by the Infrastructure Task Force, calls for commercial and industrial developers
each year to pay $4.5 million in impact fees, which are levied on each square foot of new construction.
But contractors say they'll eventually be forced to pay more than that total because new development will occur faster
than county officials are predicting.
"We want to pay our fair share, but the way the fees are set up now, we'd pay a lot more than our share," said Joe Curil-
la, executive director of the Associated Builders and Contractors.
Under the county's current guidelines, commercial developers must pay $106,000 in impact fees to build a typical strip
shopping center with a grocery store and specialty shops. The Infrastructure Task Force has proposed that those fees be
increased to $228,000. The contractors only want the fees raised to $171,000.
The task force, chartered to find a way to recover an anticipated $561 million road tax shortfall over the next 15 years,
also has proposed to:
*Boost property taxes by 50 cents per $1,000 taxable value to raise an extra $13 million a year. That would raise annual
tax bills by $25 for a property owner with a home valued at $50,000 after a $25,000 homestead exemption
*Increase the gasoline tax from 2 cents to 4 cents a gallon, generating an additional $4 million a year. That would cost a
motorist who drives 10,000 miles and gets 20 miles per gallon $10 per year.
*More than triple impact fees for residential developments. When combined with the proposed doubling of commercial
impact fees, that would raise an extra $10 million a year.
*Seek permission from the state Legislature to tax real estate transactions, aimed at raising an extra $10 to $12 million
annually.

Page 1236
POLITICAL GROUPS OPPOSE CUTTING FEES The Miami Herald January 22, 1985 Tuesday


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SOME DEMOCRATS ANGRY ABOUT VOTE



LENGTH: 803 words

Length: 23 inches
Content edited by: dk
jump hed SELECTION OF ADAMS IRKS SOME DEMOCRATS
Jerry Owens and Karen Marcus have driven a sharp wedge through the Palm Beach County Democratic Party with their
vote last week to make Republican Ken Adams chairman of the County Commission over fellow Democrat Dorothy
Wilken.
Whether they meant to do it or not, they've set off a strident debate among different factions within the party and the
county over what happens next.
Some Democrats say they'll call for the party to take some sort of disciplinary action against Commissioners Owens and
Marcus.
Others say the importance of the chairmanship has been overblown, and that what Marcus and Owens did had nothing
to do with party politics.
Still others say the choice of Adams over Wilken was one of harmony over discord.
Builders say they're relieved.
That the commission vote has left strong feelings brewing is unquestioned.
Owens said people made threatening phone calls to his family late last week while he was in Tallahassee at a session of
the State Association of County Commissioners.
"I apologize for nothing. I did nothing wrong," Owens said.
Wilken, insisting she wants to put it all in the past, said it was a deal made months ago in the back rooms of county big
shots.
"I don't question that the development community had a hand in it. I couldn't tell you who, I couldn't tell you where and
when the deals were cut. But this was written five or six months ago," Wilken said.
"I think that if they were going to elect anybody but (me), it really would have been well for them to come out of the
closet and have elected Karen. I think that's what she wanted, and it certainly would have been better to have that Dem-
ocratic leadership."
Page 1238
SOME DEMOCRATS ANGRY ABOUT VOTE The Miami Herald January 20, 1985 Sunday

Marcus said she didn't want the chairman's job.
"I think it's too soon for me. I wanted to avoid it looking like I was having a power struggle with Dorothy," Marcus said.
"I think she (Wilken) is a very capable commissioner. It's just that she has a tendency to be more extreme on some is-
sues and has a tendency to alienate people."
But Walter Fuchs of the Cresthaven Democratic Club said talk was rampant the day before last week's commission
meeting that Wilken wouldn't get the chair, even though as vice chairman, Wilken was the traditional choice.
And Fuchs said he warned Marcus, Owens and outgoing chairman Ken Spillias against opposing Wilken. Spillias did
vote against Adams.
"They were told in no uncertain terms that a thing like that should never be tried," Fuchs said. "At that time, they were
touting Karen Marcus as commission chairman."
Marcus was backed by developers -- the Florida Atlantic Builders Association among them -- in her election campaign
last November.
But Association President Ron Ellish said builders had nothing to do with the dump Wilken vote.
"I don't think there's any question that the building industry is very pleased that Ken Adams is chairman instead of Dor-
othy Wilken. I think it's very common knowledge that Dorothy Wilken is no friend of the building industry," Ellish
said.
Said Marcus: "No developers ever called me and said don't make Dorothy chairman."
"In matters of votes, my whole theory was, bottom line, what's best for this county," Marcus said.
Jerry Owens said builders carry no special weight with him because among other things, they endorsed Bill Perry over
Owens in last fall's elections.
"I really don't see what the big stink is other than we didn't follow tradition," Owens said.
Owens, of all people, should have supported Wilken, said Harry Bilowsky, president of the Century Village Democratic
Club.
Bilowsky said Owens, as an elected member of the Democratic Executive Committee, took an oath to never support or
vote for a Republican.
"He violated that oath," said Bilowsky, who is one of those calling for some sort of party action on the matter.
Not so, said Owens.
"It was not a partisan decision," Owens said. "Elections are partisan, but how do you zone property Republican and
Democrat?"
Henry Handler, chairman of the Democratic Executive Committee, agreed.
"I view it as an internal management decision within the commission," Handler said.
Nevertheless, Handler said the committee will investigate Owens and Marcus' action if other committee members de-
mand it.
Andre Fladell, coordinator of the South County Political Cooperative, said Wilken should have seen the vote coming
as retribution for Wilken's endorsement of Leah Schad over Marcus in the Democratic primary.
"When you endorse against a person, it is a declaration of war, no matter how you put it, that's a declaration of war,"
Fladell said.
Wilken said the commission vote tells her that she must work harder than ever to keep developers in check.
"Certainly, I will raise my voice as I have in the past. I'm not at all cowed by statements of my being outspoken,"
Wilken said.


Page 1239
SOME DEMOCRATS ANGRY ABOUT VOTE The Miami Herald January 20, 1985 Sunday

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YOU PAY YOUR MONEY, YOU SHUT YOUR MOUTH

BYLINE: NEIL BROWN AND RAY HUARD Herald Columnists


LENGTH: 1076 words

Bring your money, but keep your mouth shut.
That's what county Democrats are telling elected Republicans who come to meetings or social gatherings of any of the
county's Democratic clubs.
"If they happen to show up or purchase a ticket or come to a function, it is perfectly all right to introduce them as a pub-
lic official," said Andre Fladell, coordinator of the South County Political Cooperative. "It would not be proper in any
way to allow that man or woman to speak."
Fladell said those are the rules passed down to the county by the state Democratic Party.
What happens if club members want to hear from an elected official who just happens to be Republican, asked Sid Gil-
burd, president of the Kings Point Democratic Club.
"They are not, under any conditions, to give that man a forum," Fladell said.
"I think this thing is ridiculous, they're still elected officials," Gilburd said.
Fladell said he didn't like the rules, either, but rules are rules.
Martin becomes man of few words
Joe Martin isn't known for being a man of few words.
But the former Lake Worth city commissioner made his point quickly in his written reply to complaints Commissioner
Leamon "Andy" Andrews filed with the Florida Elections Commission saying that Martin and former Mayor Dennis
Dorsey had violated state election laws.
Said Martin:
"One, my name is Joe Martin.
"Two, I am the person named in the complaints filed by Leamon Andrews."
"Three, I ran against Leamon Andrews in 1980 for City Commission and I beat him badly."
And, "Four, I never willfully or intentionally violated the law."
So there.
The elections commission committee agreed and said neither Martin nor Dorsey had broken the law.
Page 1241
YOU PAY YOUR MONEY, YOU SHUT YOUR MOUTH The Miami Herald January 7, 1985 Monday

Andrews, by the way, has been mentioned as a possible candidate for mayor and is doing nothing for now to dispel the
rumors although friends say he'll keep his word to serve out his two-year commission term.
Martin said he's giving up running for anything.
Is Gun Club Road downtown?
Remember the television commercial with the tallking margarine in which the margarine says it's butter and a customer
says it's margarine?
Substitute downtown for butter and Gun Club Road for margarine, and that could have been Sheriff Richard Wille and
County Administrator John Sansbury last week.
Wille was telling the County Commission how county jails are overcrowded.
Except he kept talking about all these prisoners he had downtown in West Palm Beach.
Downtown?
Newly elected commissioners Ken Adams, Jerry Owens and Karen Marcus looked perplexed.
Sansbury said there are no prisoners in downtown West Palm Beach -- that Wille really meant the prisoners who are
kept in the Gun Club Road jail.
That said, Wille continued, and again talked about downtown.
Gun Club Road, muttered Sansbury.
Downtown, said Wille.
And so it went.
Incumbents, you shall have opposition
Watch out, Jim Watt and Jim Hill.
Dick McKinnon, newly elected president of the North County Democratic Club, said he's already started recruiting
Democrats to run against you both in 1986.
Republican state representatives Watt of Lake Park and Hill of Jupiter ran unopposed last November, and McKinnon
said he's not going to let that happen again.
"We in North County are going to need everybody's help. We have a Republican from Eleanor Weinstock's district
north to Brevard County," McKinnon said. "I want to get Republicans out and the Democrats in and get some damn
roads built."
State Rep. Steve Press, D-Highland Beach, sounded a similar theme, although not targeting anyone in particular.
"We can all look back at what happened in recent times but we don't have to dwell on that," Press said. "We lost our
majority in the delegation, but that just means we have to work harder."
Control of the Palm Beach Legislative Delegation shifted in November from the Democrats to the Republicans when Ed
Healey lost his West Palm Beach seat to Republican Bernard Kimmel.
Going back to private practice
Former Judge John Beranek is returning to private law practice in West Palm Beach next week after serving for the last
six months as Gov. Bob Graham's special counsel. Beranek resigned from the Fourth District Court of Appeal bench
last July to go to work for Graham. Beranek said he will work with West Palm Beach lawyer Larry Klein.
Ex-Highland manager shopping around
Backers of former Highland Beach Town Manager Elaine Roberts will have to wait to learn if she'll run for the Delray
Beach City Council. Roberts last week said she set a Jan. 1 deadline for making a decision.
Roberts said she's extended the deadline one week because "I've had a very interesting job offer" and she'll find out this
week whether it's what she wants.
Page 1242
YOU PAY YOUR MONEY, YOU SHUT YOUR MOUTH The Miami Herald January 7, 1985 Monday

Some very Democratic changes are made
South County's Democratic clubs are busy this month choosing their leaders for 1985.
Sid Gilburd is the new president of the Kings Point Democratic Club; Fred Kass will head the Century Village Demo-
cratic Club in Boca Raton and in Delray Beach; Dorothy Young replaces her husband; Tom Young, as president of the
Atlantic Democratic Club, and Jack Babich has been re-elected president of the West Delray Democratic Club.
Raymond Rea, who ran unsuccessfully last November for state representative and last month for chairman of the Dem-
ocratic Executive Committee, is the first vice president of the West Boynton Democratic Club. The president is Paul
Kellner. And Chuck Wender will be president of Democrats of Boca Raton.
Noteworthy
The Palm Beach County Legislative Delegation has scheduled a public hearing in Delray Beach City Hall at 2 p.m. Jan.
14 to discuss the 1985 session of the Legislature. Hearings also are scheduled Feb. 11 at 10 a.m. in Belle Glade City
Hall and Feb. 21 at 7 p.m. in the County Commission chambers in West Palm Beach . . . State Sen. Don Childers,
D-West Palm Beach, will address the South County Political Cooperative at noon Thursday at the Delray Beach Coun-
try Club . . . Palm Beach County Young Democrats have scheduled a Donkey Roast Award Dinner from 5 to 8 p.m.
Sunday. Roastmasters include state Rep. Ray Liberti, D-Lake Worth; County Commissioners Ken Spillias and Dorothy
Wilken; former commissioner Dennis Koehler; Lake Worth City Commissioner Ron Exline, and Henry Handler,
chairman of the Democratic Executive Committee.
Verbatim
"I honestly didn't think I could take the heat that goes with politics."
-- Boca Raton Mayor William Konrad, explaining his misgivings about the first time he ran for the council in 1979. He
is seeking a third term as mayor.


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TOP DEMOCRAT



LENGTH: 894 words

Henry Handler met his wife on a blind date.
It wasn't your standard night out on the town.
He took her to a political reception in Palm Beach for U.S. Sen. Bill Bradley of New Jersey.
She stayed with him anyway.
"We went out to dinner afterwards," Handler said.
Handler, 31, is the new chairman of the Palm Beach County Executive Committee, elected earlier this month when
Richard Carrington quit.
He is an unusual fellow.
For recreation, he reads the Harvard Classics.
"What I'm trying to do is reintroduce myself to the classics," said Handler, who graduated with honors from Princeton
University in 1975 with a degree in political science.
"I finished Stevenson and I have to start Joyce," he said. "I should have taken more English courses, more language
courses, more music courses."
This from a man who makes his living as a real estate lawyer in Boca Raton.
"I think I always wanted to be a baseball player but when the time came and I was in high school, I saw that baseball
players had to be slightly larger than I turned out to be," said Handler, who is five feet two and a half inches tall, "five
foot three on a good day with the wind to my back."
"I always figured I could be the best, probably the shortest of the short stops," he said.
Jackie Malone, a Democratic Executive Committee member, remembers the first time she met Handler.
He walked into the Democratic party offices in West Palm Beach and wanted to know how the party worked in Palm
Beach County.
"I wanted to pick him up and put him in my lap and hold him. Everybody gets a very strong maternal instinct about
Henry," Malone said.
But beyond that, Malone calls Handler "brilliant, just a bright shining star in our Democratic firmament."
Page 1244
TOP DEMOCRAT The Miami Herald December 31, 1984 Monday

"I would call him one of the 24-carat types, really genuine," she said.
Andre Fladell, coordinator of the South County Democratic Cooperative calls Handler "100 percent credible."
"When he spoke about Walter Mondale, he was one of the few people who made Walter Mondale sound good," Fladell
said.
Handler was Mondale's Palm Beach County coordinator.
"People trust him. He won't say maybe I'll see you next week, he'll tell you what time, when and where," Fladell said.
Joe Tarnow, president of the Century Village West Democratic Club, said senior citizens support Handler because they
like to hear him speak.
"Words of wisdom always come out of his mouth," Tarnow said. "He's a hell of a nice guy."
Raymond Rea, who ran against Handler for executive committee chairman, said Handler "is going to be probably one of
the best Democratic Executive Committee chairmen we've ever had.
"He has the ability to listen to people instead of acting unilaterally," Rea said.
Handler said politics is almost a family tradition.
His grandfather, Charles Handler, was corporate counsel to the city of Newark, N.J. His uncle, Alan, is a Supreme Court
justice in New Jersey. And another uncle, Joel, is a law professor at the University of Wisconsin and Georgetown Uni-
versity. His father was a developer.
Handler started early.
When he was 18 years old and a junior in high school, Handler was elected to the Monmouth County, N.J., Democratic
committee from his home town of Rumson.
"There really wasn't too much competition in Rumson. It was a Republican community," Handler said. "We had proba-
bly our first full contingent from Rumson to the Democratic party in the history of Rumson."
His family moved to Florida 11 years ago and Handler followed in 1978 after getting a law degree from the University
of Virginia.
That's when he showed up at Jackie Malone's doorstep.
He was appointed to the executive committee to fill a vacancy that year, and elected in 1980, when he worked on Ed-
ward Kennedy's Florida primary campaign.
He almost didn't run for chairman of the executive committee because he feared he didn't have enough time between his
law practice and impending fatherhood (his first child is due in May).
As it is, Handler is in his Boca Raton law office seven days a week, although he takes time out on weekends to play
tennis.
"Work is not a travail for me. I enjoy the work," Handler said.
He took the job as chairman of the executive committee on his own terms. They were that other people accept responsi-
bility for some committee work and that the committee restrict its activities to those which Handler says it does best --
registering new Democrats and recruiting Democratic candidates.
"The committee is not a political machine," Handler said. "We're not responsible for running the campaigns of Demo-
cratic candidates or running their re-election campaigns."
He hopes his contacts with the business community will draw more young professionals into the party.
"There are Democrats lurking everywhere. I don't think we should limit our efforts within the publicly recognized
groups that support Democrats," Handler said.
He hopes to bring some of the big stars of the Democratic party to Palm Beach County to boost public interest in local
candidates. Kennedy and Bradley already come to the county because their families have winter homes here.
Page 1245
TOP DEMOCRAT The Miami Herald December 31, 1984 Monday

Handler said there are people within the state who could help attract others, maybe even his father-in-law, former U.S.
Rep. Ed Stack of Broward County.
And that sort of explains Handler's choice of entertainment on the blind date with his future wife, Kathie.
"I thought it might be an appropriate date for the daughter of Ed Stack," Handler said


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GRAHAM'S SPECIAL COUNSEL PREDICTING MAJOR EVENTS



LENGTH: 1112 words

A year to remember is what West Palm Beach lawyer Dan O'Connell is predicting for the 1985 Legislature.
"It ought to be a ball," said O'Connell.
Gov. Bob Graham has chosen O'Connell as his special counsel for the session.
And O'Connell, who has gained a reputation as a champion of the environment, says this is the year that the Legislature
will do something about managing the state's rapid growth. He said his primary assignment in Graham's office will be
working on growth management legislation.
The 1984 Legislature had a pile of growth management bills at the start of the session, but they went nowhere.
This year will be different, insists O'Connell, who subscribes to the Ralph Turlington theory of legislation.
"In one year, you plant the seed; in the second year you water the plant, and in the third year, it blooms," O'Connell
said.
And he said this is the blooming year for growth management.
"I think something significant is going to happen," O'Connell said.
Just about the whole town's running
No one can say people in Delray Beach are bashful about running for the City Council.
There already are five people talking about running for the two council seats open in March city elections. And more
could emerge within the next few weeks, said council member Arthur Jackel.
"I don't think any of us, including myself, are so high and mighty that we should go unchallenged and just step into the
job," said Jackel, who isn't up for re-election until 1986.
But Marie Horenburger, who must run in March, said she wouldn't be terribly upset if she had no competition.
"It's work, running, but it's more work being in the council," Horenburger said, and even more work doing both at once.
But Horenburger said she's filed to run again.
Malcolm Bird, the other council member up for re-election, is making no commitments this early, but no one expects
him to step aside.
"I ain't talking until the holidays wear off," Bird said. "I just think we ought to wait until the holidays are over before we
start talking about this mundane stuff."
Page 1247
GRAHAM'S SPECIAL COUNSEL PREDICTING MAJOR EVENTS The Miami Herald December 31, 1984 Monday

Retired police Capt. Ed Dalton has already declared his intentions.
"I never wanted to be a politician," said Dalton, who retired last October after 28 years on the Delray police force.
But Dalton said "I see a lot of things I don't like," and he figures the only way to do anything about it is to run for coun-
cil.
Elaine Roberts, the former town manager of Highland Beach, said she'll decide this week whether to run for council.
"I've given myself until the first of the year to decide whether to accept job offers or to run for office," Roberts said. "I
want to work for my city, and I'm already on the Community Appearance Board."
James "Pete" Bowen also is expected to run.
The potential savings keep escalating
Like a fine wine, some legislative proposals just increase in value with age, say state Sen. William "Doc" Myers,
R-Hobe Sound, and state Rep. Carol Hanson, R-Boca Raton.
Take their bill that would require state agencies to hire their own internal auditors.
Myers and Hanson said last year that the proposal would save the state $90 million a year.
It passed in the House, but died in the Senate Appropriations Committee because hiring the auditors would have cost
$100,000 and the commitee ran out of money.
Myers and Hanson say they'll refile the bill in the 1985 session.
"Its time has come," said Myers.
The reason for his optimism: Myers said new figures show the savings will actualy be around $200 million a year.
Myers said he's also added a new provision that would require state agencies to spend their money in quarterly install-
ments.
It's not a sexy issue, but Myers said it will stop state agencies from going on an end-of-the-year spending spree to prove
to the Legisalture that they really needed all the money they got the year before.
"There is a problem if one of the departments has $100,000 a year to spend and they get to the fourth quarter and have
only spent $20,000. It's funny how they can spend that $80,000 by the end of the year," Myers said.
Sign here, where it says 'Republican'
Don Ross is dreaming if he thinks he's going to have an easy time convincing Palm Beach County Democrats to become
Republicans, says Henry Handler, the newly elected chairman of the county Democratic Executive Committee.
Ross, who tried in November to unseat U.S. Rep. Dan Mica, D-Boynton Beach, has been appointed chairman of a
statewide Republican voter registration drive with a goal of signing up 20,000 new Republican voters this month as an
inauguration present for President Reagan.
However, Ross said Palm Beach is one of the counties that offers the best prospects because of its concentration of
young professionals who may be Democrats in name but voted for Reagan.
Handler said those Democrats may have defected to go for Reagan, but they remained loyal in local and county elec-
tions, and that's what Handler said matters most.
Handler said county Democrats will have their own voter registration drive, although not with the strict deadline Ross
faces.
Rather, Handler said, the county executive committee will target specific neighborhoods in areas where the elections
office sends its mobile voter registration unit.
A taxing debate rides rocky road
Taxes aren't the dirty word they used to be, at least not to the South County Political Cooperative and the West Boca
Raton Community Council.
Page 1248
GRAHAM'S SPECIAL COUNSEL PREDICTING MAJOR EVENTS The Miami Herald December 31, 1984 Monday

Both groups have endorsed a proposed county tax package that includes a two-cent increase in the gasoline tax and in-
creases in the real estate transfer tax and the impact fees developers pay the county for new roads, said cooperative co-
ordinator Andre Fladell.
"It's a really healthy package where everyone contributes," Fladell said.
The cooperative in the past has opposed any increase in the gas tax, but Fladell said "it pays for the community to rec-
ognize they have some responsibility for building roads."
He said the South County organizations will back a gas tax increase only as long as county developers agree to support
an increase in the impact fees and transfer tax.
The real estate transfer tax increase could be a toughie.
It requires approval by the state Legislature.
And both Senate President Harry Johnston and Palm Beach Delegation Chairman William "Doc" Myers predict it will
fail because of intense lobbying by the real estate industry.
Noteworthy
The Palm Beach County Democratic Executive Committee will meet at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the school board build-
ing, 3323 Belvedere Rd., suburban West Palm Beach ... State Rep. Steve Press, D-Highland Beach, was made a page in
the newly formed Knights of Pythias Atlantic Lodge 8 of Delray Beach.
Neil Brown can be reached at 686-3221. Ray Huard can be reached at 272-2626.


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GROUP ASSAILS STATE SENATOR OVER REMARKS ABOUT SENIORS



LENGTH: 376 words

A South County political group is demanding that Sen. Don Childers, D-West Palm Beach, be kept off legislative com-
mittees dealing with senior citizens.
South County Political Cooperative Coordinator Andre Fladell said his group is angry with Childers for saying that
some senior citizens who move to Florida become a burden because they sign up for Medicaid in Florida after disposing
of their assets up North.
"He's blaming them and finding them guilty and what he's apparently finding them guilty of is being old," Fladell said.
"The doctors are here because of them, the lawyers are because of them, the building industry is surviving because of
them. Their pension checks come here, their Social Security comes here."
Childers said remarks he made about Medicaid at a Nov. 15 Palm Beach Junior College seminar have been misinter-
preted by people like Fladell who haven't even called him for an explanation.
"I don't think anybody questions the fact that the senior citizens contribute greatly to the economy," Childers said. "I'm
saying that hey, if we want to continue to have a low tax base here we want to make sure the system is working properly
and not have the freeloaders that come into the state abusing the system."
What's needed, said Childers, is federal legislation to reform Medicaid eligibility standards so people wouldn't be forced
to get rid of their assets before they can get government help to pay their medical bills.
Childers said he's suggested some form of graduated federal insurance plan under which senior citizens would get some
government help paying their medical bills but how much help would depend on their income.
Childers, 52, said he considers himself a champion of the senior citizens.
"You know what's ironic about this whole thing? I'm trying to help the people that are already here," Childers said.
But Fladell has sent a letter to Senate President Harry Johnston, D-West Palm Beach, asking that Childers not be ap-
pointed "on any committees or in any capacity where funding or programs for senior citizens are involved."
Johnston has appointed Childers chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, chairman of a Select Committee on
Citrus Canker and a member of the Senate Transportation and Finance and Taxation committees


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

Page 1250
GROUP ASSAILS STATE SENATOR OVER REMARKS ABOUT SENIORS The Miami Herald December 1, 1984
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November 14, 1984 Wednesday
PLM BCH EDITION

DENNIS KOEHLER LEAVES PUBLIC OFFICE WITH AT LEAST 30
CENTS IN HIS POCKET

BYLINE: NEIL BROWN Herald Staff Writer


LENGTH: 194 words

Last summer, when Palm Beach County Commissioner Dennis Koehler announced he wouldn't seek a third term, he
said long enough had he sacrificed the spoils of private enterprise in the cause of public service.
Or as he put it more bluntly: "I don't have two nickels I can rub together."
Tuesday was the last regular meeting for commissioners Koehler, Bill Bailey and Peggy Evatt after eight years on the
commission. Evatt was absent but Bailey and Koehler didn't leave empty-handed.
County Administrator John Sansbury presented Koehler and Bailey with large plaques, hats with the seal of Palm Beach
County on the front, vinyl attache cases (with the seal embossed on one side) and belt-buckles depicting -- what else --
the seal of Palm Beach County.
In addition Bailey's staff gave him a portable phone and Koehler's staff gave him a leather belt with -- you guessed it --
a Palm Beach County seal on the buckle.
And before it was over there was yet another gift for Koehler.
Andre Fladell, leader of the South County Political Cooperative, presented Koehler with a white envelope.
Inside were two nickels.
Said Koehler: "That's the third set of two nickels I've received."


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DEMOS, GOP ASSESS VERDICT OF THE VOTERS

BYLINE: NEIL BROWN Herald Staff Writer


LENGTH: 1299 words

The Democrats say they are not as bloodied as some might think.
The Republicans say they are inspired to work toward more election victories.
And the statistics show that politically, last week's election changed little in Palm Beach County.
As candidates pry election signs off telephone poles, politicos are studying the numbers, trying to find the clues to what
went right, what went wrong and what will happen in 1986.
"With the tremendous vote for Ronald Reagan, I think we did very well," Democratic Executive Committee Chairman
Richard Carrington said.
"We're at the top of the heap," said Republican Jean Pipes, the head of the Reagan-Bush campaign in Palm Beach
County. "If we keep our organization up, we'll continue to do very well."
Both parties exude optimism and claim victories. What constitutes a victory is a matter of perspective. The totals reflect
some facts:
* Only one significant political post was changed by the election. Democratic incumbent Ed Healey lost to Republican
challenger Bernard Kimmel, giving control of the delegation to the Republicans, six members to five.
Other than that, all other incumbent state legislators -- three Republicans and three Democrats -- were re-elected; the
county's congressional makeup was unchanged; the party division on the County Commission remained at four Demo-
crats and one Republican; and Republican Sheriff Richard Wille easily won a third term.
* Ronald Reagan's popularity in Palm Beach County grew during the last four years. Nearly 62 percent of the county's
voters backed the president, compared with 56 percent in 1980.
* Traditional Democratic voting blocs -- senior citizens and blacks -- did not defect. Both groups voted overwhelmingly
for Walter Mondale. Reagan was buoyed by the affluent voters at the south end of the county in Boca Raton and by
those in North County, including young, more conservative Pratt & Whitney professionals.
* Black voters did not vote in the numbers that some black leaders expected. There was about a 50 percent turnout
among blacks, compared with an 81 percent turnout countywide.
* Residents of retirement-oriented condominiums continued their history of bloc voting. The condominium residents
banded together to help bring about a victory for charter government and a defeat of a tax-supported bond issue for a
new courthouse.
Page 1253
DEMOS, GOP ASSESS VERDICT OF THE VOTERS The Miami Herald November 11, 1984 Sunday

"The numbers we got for the Democrats were exactly what we were expecting," said Andre Fladell, director of the
South County Political Cooperative, a coalition of several Democratic clubs and condominium associations.
What Fladell and other Democrats didn't count on was the massive turnout of Republicans. They figured Reagan would
win, but they didn't anticipate the strength.
"What you had was a lot of people who voted for Reagan, but were not astute on local politics and just voted Republi-
can down the line," Fladell said.
That, in a nutshell, is the so-called "coattail effect."
But like they do on most issues, the party leaders disagree over whether Reagan's coattails affected local races.
Democrats say it directly caused the defeat of Healey, who beat Kimmel in 1982, yet won only eight of 31 precincts last
week. Democratic leaders also blame Reagan's coattails on the closeness of the District 3 County Commission race in
which Democrat Jerry Owens -- who collected 89 percent of the vote among senior groups and who was heavily backed
by organized labor -- eeked out a 242-vote victory over the less-monied, late-start campaign of Republican William
Perry. The precinct results show that Perry ran exceedingly strong in the same places that Reagan did -- Boca Raton and
North County.
But Republicans like Pipes point to Dan Mica's win over Republican Donald Ross for the 14th District congressional
seat. Although Ross was recruited by Vice President George Bush -- who also taped a television ad on his behalf -- Mi-
ca, the Democratic incumbent, beat Ross 53 percent to 47 percent.
"I can't see much of a coattail effect," Pipes said. "There wasn't any in the Mica-Ross race . . . Other Democratic in-
cumbents besides Healey (in the Legislature) won. I can't see it."
Neither Reagan nor Mondale had coattails as far as blacks living in the Glades were concerned. A sampling of Glades
precincts indicated about a 22 percent drop-off between the number of votes cast in the presidential election and the
number cast in County Commission elections.
The drop-off was less -- only about 8 percent -- in some predominantly black Riviera Beach and West Palm Beach pre-
cincts, possibly reflecting a growing political sophistication among blacks in the urban areas.
"Discrimination is universal, but blacks in Belle Glade have had a hard history politically, socially and economically,"
said Henry Swilley Jr., president of Palm Beach County's NAACP chapter. Blacks in the Glades have less faith in gov-
ernment than blacks on the coast, Swilley said, and as a result "blacks in Riviera Beach are a little more astute to poli-
tics."
Still, Swilley said, black voter turnout was fairly good considering there was only one black candidate on the ballot. The
candidate, school board member LaVoise Taylor Stepherson, was defeated by Joseph Belluccio. Stepherson conducted a
low- profile campaign and collected about 69 percent of the county's black vote -- but that was less than the 91 percent
won by Walter Mondale.
The political future for blacks and other minorities might brighten with the passage of the county charter and of Consti-
tutional Amendment No. 5, both of which would allow the expansion of the County Commission to up to seven mem-
bers and single-member districts by public referendum.
Single-member districts would allow candidates to run for the commission solely within the boundaries of their district.
Voting would be by district rather than the current at-large method.
Senior citizens, such as the residents of Century Village in West Palm Beach, supported the home-rule charter, but op-
posed Amendment 5 because single-member districts would diminish their political power.
"It divides our clout," said Harry Bilawsky, president of the Century Village Democratic Club. Century Village and
other similar condominiums voted about 2 to 1 against Amendment 5, though it passed in Palm Beach County 54 per-
cent to 46 percent.
If a proposal to convert the County Commission to single- member districts is on the ballot in 1986, the senior blocs
will fight it, Bilawsky said.
Although last week's political casualties are still warm, the politicos are already preparing for 1986.
Page 1254
DEMOS, GOP ASSESS VERDICT OF THE VOTERS The Miami Herald November 11, 1984 Sunday

Carrington, of the Democratic Executive Committee, says the Democrats must reorganize at the state level. He angrily
points to a lack of support from the state party as the chief reason for Palm Beach County's difficulties this year.
Of an estimated $1 million in campaign money supposedly made available by the state Mondale campaign, only $7,500
went to Palm Beach County, he said. He also said state party officials offered little support for local candidates, and
state party support of Ed Healey came too late. Republican candidates, he noted, were more cohesive.
Pipes, of the Reagan-Bush effort, agreed that the Democrats were less organized and started campaigning too late to
make gains on the Republicans this year.
"Unless the Democratic Party gets reorganized, we'll continue to move forward," Pipes said. "We've built a good organ-
ization. We'll do well again next time."
But Democrat Fladell, of the South County cooperative, is bluntly optimistic. Without President Reagan at the top of the
ballot, he said, the Democrats will score well.
"The president and the vice president backed Don Ross and he still couldn't beat Dan Mica," Fladell said. "That's their
best shot. What good can they do without Reagan? . . . In 1986, they're going to get creamed."
Campaign 1986 is off and running.


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DISPUTE OVER BOND TRIP PERPLEXES ADMINISTRATOR



LENGTH: 1137 words

Is the election pressure getting to Peggy Evatt?
Evatt, an eight-year member of the County Commission,lashed into County Administrator John Sansbury for his request
to spend $582 to travel to New York for a bond closing. The other four commissioners didn't agree that the trip was
unnecessary, and they approved the request.
Now she says she would fire Sansbury if she had the votes. She doesn't.
Sansbury say he is surprised, but unfazed.
"My job is in jeopardy every Tuesday," he said.
"I've appreciated her support for the past eight years. I don't know what's happened. I didn't do anything to warrant this.
If she thinks it's best to dismiss John Sansbury, then she's just doing her job."
Evatt says her stand is not politically motivated, although many commission observers privately see she believes
Sansbury favors Democrat Karen Marcus over Evatt's husband, Herb Evatt, in the District 1 commission race.
Sansbury says he is steering clear of the political fight between Marcus and the Evatts, saying succinctly, "Herb Evatt is
a friend. Karen Marcus is a friend. I'm not getting involved."
Registration is where you find it
The gas gauge didn't register.
As a result, three more Palm Beach County residents did.
Elections office volunteers Al Roy and Anita Roy were eastbound on Glades Road in Boca Raton one afternoon last
week, traveling in the county's circus-like red, white and blue mobile voter registration unit when the rickety-old school
bus sputtered out.
No gas.
Al Roy took off for a phone to call CoTran for help. Meanwhile, Anita sat on a chair outside the stuffy van. Suddenly a
car stopped on the median strip. An enthusiastic citizen ran across to the van.
Here to help repair the bus, Anita thought.
Nope, he wanted to register to vote. Two more cars parked on the median, while the passengers jumped out to register.
"They thought we were set up there," Al said.
Page 1256
DISPUTE OVER BOND TRIP PERPLEXES ADMINISTRATOR The Miami Herald September 17, 1984 Monday

Supervisor of Elections Jackie Winchester praised the Roys for putting up with a mobile unit "held together by strings."
Technically though, it's illegal to register voters outside of advertised locations, such as the shopping center at Glades
Road and U.S. 441, where the Roys had been parked during the morning.
"They were close enough," she said.
Time for a bagel break
Trying to corral County Commissioner Dorothy Wilken or state Rep. Carol Hanson?
Try eating breakfast any Monday at the Bagel Queen Restaurant, 1999 N. Federal Highway, Boca Raton.
They're both there at 7:30 a.m., talking business in between chomping on a bagel, and Hanson said it's just fine with
them if people stop by to discuss their troubles with the county or state.
"We talk about the county and the state and gossip about a city council," Hanson said. "It's sort of a South County sub-
station."
Hanson said Wilken chose the location. She's the one that likes bagels. But she said the weekly sessions are sort of a
female version of the good ole boy network.
"I think it works well and we work well together," Hanson said.
Today is one of the few exceptions to the weekly routine. Wilken will be out of town this morning and Hanson can't
make it. But usually, Hanson said she'll cover for Wilken when visa versa.
New house, old house, same traffic
People who buy old houses should help to build new roads as much as people who buy new homes, says the South
The cooperative last week started a drive to generate support for a sort of sales tax on existing homes so the county can
get more money to ease growing traffic problems in South County.
"This way, you not only have an impact fee on new property, but anybody who buys old property will pay an impact
fee," said cooperative coordinator Andre Fladell.
Developers pay the county an impact fee when they build new houses, and people who buy new houses indirectly pay a
tax through the increased cost of their home, Fladell said.
So, he said, it's only fair that people who buy old homes should be taxed because they use the same crowded roads as
everyone else.
Fladell said the cooperative is trying to sell the plan to the Florida Atlantic Builders Association and the Home Builders
and Contractors Association of Palm Beach County.
The cooperative also is trying to convince voters to reject November ballot questions that would limit
pain-and-suffering awards in lawsuits to $100,000 and approve a $25 million bond for a new county courthouse.
"We're not against the courthouse. We need it, we need it bad," Fladell said.
But he said county voters should demand to see detailed plans before spending their money on a new courthouse.
He said the cooperative opposed lawsuit limits because the limits are too broad.
"It protects people who are driving drunk and injuring people," Fladell said.
The Republican Club of the Palm Beaches will hold a luncheon meeting Sept. 26 at the Royce Hotel. State Attorney
David Bludworth will speak. For reservations, call 832-3233 or 832-1176 ... The Coalition of Boynton West Residential
Associations will meet Thursday at 10 a.m. at Bent Tree Villas West Clubhouse. County Commission candidates Herb
Evatt, Karen Marcus and Jerry Owens will speak ... Frank Messersmith, R-Lake Worth, has opened his 1984 campaign
headquarters at 300 S. Federal Highway in Boynton Beach ... Messersmith's Democratic opponent, Raymond Rea, will
have a fund-raising cocktail party Sept. 21 from 6 to 8 p.m. at La Notte in Boynton Beach ... Bob Nichols, the Republi-
can candidate for county tax collector, has opened a campaign office at 3607A S. Dixie Highway in West Palm Beach ...
State Rep. Steve Press, D-Delray Beach, and County Commissioner Dorothy Wilken, D-Boca Raton, will address the
Independent Democrats of West Boca Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at Affirmation Luthern Church, 9465 W. Glades Rd., Boca
Page 1257
DISPUTE OVER BOND TRIP PERPLEXES ADMINISTRATOR The Miami Herald September 17, 1984 Monday

Raton ... The League of Women Voters of South Palm Beach County will discuss nine proposed state constitutional
amendments and the proposed county charter in a public session at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday at St. Paul's Episcopal Church,
188 S. Swinton Ave., Delray Beach ... The Women's Coalition of South Palm Beach County has endorsed Louis Mar-
tinez for County Commission in the District 5 runoff election ... the Cuban-American Republican Club of the Palm
Beaches is sponsoring a meet-the-candidates luncheon at 1 p.m. Sunday with bJeb Bush, son of Vice President George
Bush, as the speaker ... Congressional candidate Don Ross has scheduled public receptions Sunday from 4 to 6 p.m. at
the home of Norman Thomson of 1682 NW Eighth St., Boca Raton and next Monday at 7:30 a.m. at Morrison's Cafete-
ria, 9530 W. Sample Road, Coral Springs.
Verbatim
"I hope the 'Recall' provision doesn't mean anybody's going to call me back (to office) after November."
-t-t-t---tCounty Commissioner Bill Bailey, who is retiring after the general election, speaking during last week's debate
on charter government.


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DEMOCRATS WRITING POLITICAL LOVE LETTERS TO PROMPT
SWITCHES

BYLINE: NEIL BROWN AND RAY HUARD Herald Staff Writers


LENGTH: 825 words

Terry Verner was angered.
Arthur Jackel was flattered.
And Ron Elish was convinced.
All three were sent love letters earlier this month from the Palm Beach County Democratic Executive Committee, ask-
ing them to become Democrats.
A Republican since he first registered to vote, Verner, a member of the Jupiter City Council, said he has no plans to
change now.
"I don't want my changes in affiliation to be taken as supporting a particular candidate or not supporting a particular
candidate," he said.
Besides, Verner said he doesn't put all that much stock in party labels.
"I've basically always been an individual voting for the individual rather than voting for the party," Verner said.
Jackel, a Delray Beach City Council member, said he was flattered that the Democrats would come courting and he may
make the switch. He said he was a strong supporter of John Kennedy, but became a Republican about 20 years ago
when he got fed up with Lyndon Johnson.
These days, Jackel said, he'll decide which party to stick with depending on who's doing more countywide. Right now,
he said it looks like the Democrats have the edge, never mind that they misspelled his name on the letter they sent.
"They've become a more vibrant organization," Jackel said. "They seem to be trying harder to better our government
than the Republicans."
Elish, a registered independent and president-elect of the Florida Atlantic Builders Association, said the letter persuaded
him to sign up.
"I still will support the candidate who is best for my industry," Elish said.
He said he'd never given it much thought to becoming either a Republican or Democrat because political organizations
and builders just never seemed to get along. But then the South County Political Cooperative invited the builders to a
forum on a rapid growth in South County and backed the builders in fighting a proposed building moratorium.
Page 1259
DEMOCRATS WRITING POLITICAL LOVE LETTERS TO PROMPT SWITCHES The Miami Herald June 18, 1984
Monday

"I think it's historic what's happened in the last three months to have the cooperative meet with industry," Elish said.
GARAGE SALES FOREVER
Boca Raton Mayor William Konrad thought he had a good idea.
His is a city that takes appearances very seriously, and Konrad said some people have been making it look downright
tacky by having garage sales on their front lawns every weekend.
"I've had any number of complaints," he said.
So, Konrad told the council last week that he'd introduce an ordinance to charge people $5 for every garage sale they
have and limit how many they could have in a year.
Boy, did he get in trouble for that.
Council Member Al Edmunds said he didn't want any part of it.
"My wife tells me if anybody needs a garage sale, it's me," Edmunds said. "Somehow, I got tagged as the godfather of
this ordinance. I want to disavow any connection with it."
Council Member Al Travasos said City Hall would be packed with irate people who'd cleaned out their attics and
wanted to sell what they'd found.
Konrad said he didn't mind people having a sale to clean out their attics, but doggone it, he said some people were
making a regular business of garage sales.
City Attorney M.A. Galbraith said the city could already stop somebody from running garage sales, as a business, if
they could prove they're doing it as a business and not to clean out their attics.
Konrad said they'd better start proving it. He withdrew his ordinance, but said he'd be back with it if he sees someone
running a garage sale week after week on their front lawn.
BUT WHY ELECT JUDGES?
Two new judgeships granted to Palm Beach County by the Legislature this year will be filled without a lot of the usual
politicking.
That's because Sen. Harry Johnston, D-West Palm Beach, pushed through an amendment on a bill creating judgeships
around the state that provides that the new judges for Palm Beach County -- one circuit and one county -- shall be ap-
pointed by the governor, rather than elected. Only one other county in the state, Alachua, has the same provision, John-
ston said.
Johnston, a lawyer, is not particularly fond of the popular election of judges.
"We have many excellent county judges here," Johnston said. "If they were to run for circuit judge (a step up), they
would have to resign as a county judge and leave that seat, and might lose in an election that's a popularity contest."
So instead, a judicial nominating commission will recommend three applicants for each post to Gov. Bob Graham, who
will make the appointments.
"I think you'll get a better qualified person if they go through the judicial selection committee," Johnston said.
VERBATIM
"If somebody's been first class, why should he have to suffer as a Republican? He's entitled to cleanse his soul. If a man
serves his time, he must be forgiven for his crime."
-- Andre Fladell, chairman of the Democratic Executive Committee's Nominating Committee, explaining why Demo-
crats are wooing county Republicans to switch parties.
Neil Brown can be reached in West Palm Beach at 686-3221. Ray Huard can be reached in Delray Beach at 272-2626.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
Page 1260
DEMOCRATS WRITING POLITICAL LOVE LETTERS TO PROMPT SWITCHES The Miami Herald June 18, 1984
Monday


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The Miami Herald

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SOUTH COUNTY POLITICAL COALITION OPPOSES BUILDING MOR-
ATORIUM



LENGTH: 430 words

Palm Beach County developers picked up a key ally Wednesday when the South County Political Cooperative said it
will oppose a proposed building moratorium in Boca Raton's western suburbs.
"As they say, we might have the money but they've got the votes," said Howard Head, executive director of the Florida
Atlantic Builders Association.
The cooperative, an umbrella organization of representatives from nine South County political clubs, will join develop-
ers in fighting the moratorium proposal at a County Commission workshop Friday at Boca Raton High School, said
Cooperative Coordinator Andre Fladell.
"What's happened is the county government has screwed up and the developers are taking it on the chin," Fladell said.
Commissioner Dorothy Wilken, who proposed the moratorium, later said the cooperative acted too soon and should
have waited to hear county staff recommendations Friday on how to deal with South County growth.
"It disappoints me. I see the pressure of labor and builders on condominium owners," Wilken said of the cooperative's
action. "I think they (cooperative members) should have waited instead of just listening to the builders."
Wilken said she's convinced that county planners will recommend a moratorium as part of the solution in dealing with
the overcrowding that's come with rapid growth.
Fladell said a building moratorium would cut off the very source of money for fixing roads and building the new
schools needed to cope with rapid growth in South County.
The commission, in approving new developments, has required developers to donate money or in some cases, actually
widen or repair roads to lessen the impact of the new housing they will build.
"If you stop development, how do you get the money?" Fladell asked.
Reading from a position paper adopted by the cooperative Wednesday, Jeanne Sklar said the cooperative backed a pro-
posal by Commissioner Peggy Evatt to use 50 cents of every $1,000 the county gets in property taxes to help pay for
water, sewer, road and school improvements.
Said Wilken: "I proposed that last year and got laughed out of the commission chambers."
Sklar said the county could also earmark an extra two cent gasoline tax for handling growth problems throughout the
county.
Page 1262
SOUTH COUNTY POLITICAL COALITION OPPOSES BUILDING MORATORIUM The Miami Herald June 7,
1984 Thursday

And Fladell said the county could double or triple the impact fees it charges developers.
Fladell and Head said the significance of the cooperative's action goes beyond the moratorium because it is the first time
the two groups have worked together.
"In the past, I think they've looked at us as the enemy and we've looked at them as the enemy," Head said.


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The Miami Herald

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'6TH COMMISSIONER' WILL ATTEND NO MORE

BYLINE: NEIL BROWN AND RAY HUARD Herald Staff Writers

SECTION: LOCAL; PB; Pg. 4

LENGTH: 764 words

The Sergeant-at-Arms has retired.
Rudy Wishy, a fiery, ruddy-faced man who has come to Palm Beach County Commission meetings for more than 20
years to blast, lambast, mock, cajole and berate the powers that be, announced last week that he will attend no more.
"Promise?" muttered one politician who has listened to Wishy for many years.
Despite vilifying the commissioners for everything from constructing new offices to being late in starting their meet-
ings, Wishy had been adopted by the commission as its unofficial sergeant-at-arms.
Chairman Ken Spillias called Wishy the "sixth commissioner" at the recent dedication of the Palm Beach County Gov-
ernmental Center.
Wishy never minced words. He called politicians bums, said he could put his critics "in my vest pocket and squeeze
them like cockroaches," once told a reporter he would buy the newspaper she worked for because he didn't like what she
wrote.
"I say stuff the politicians are scared to say because they are afraid to lose votes," Wishy once said.
He even spent his own money to help build a community meeting hall in Royal Palm Beach.
But after three heart attacks, Wishy is ready to retire. He must take oxygen six hours a day, his wife said.
The commissioners instructed County Administrator John Sansbury to draft a resolution commending Wishy for his
public service.
Sansbury agreed, but only if Wishy agrees to stay retired.
"We don't want to be drawing up retirement resolutions all the time," explained Sansbury, a frequent target of Wishy's
wrath."Look at Muhammed Ali. He announced his retirement and then he would try to come back. It looked bad."
Sheriff's contenders in hot debate
The race for the Democratic nomination for sheriff could be a tad rowdy if last week's debate between Don Schultz and
Bob Herron was any indication. They haven't started calling each other names yet, but give them time.
Schultz, a criminal justice teacher, said he was a "police expert."
Some expert, said Herron, a former major in the Sheriff's Office. Herron said teaching about crime control doesn't make
it, that he has on-the-job experience while Schultz would need on-the-job training.
Page 1264
'6TH COMMISSIONER' WILL ATTEND NO MORE The Miami Herald April 2, 1984 Monday

Some experience, said Schultz. He said Herron's got so many cronies in the Sheriff's Office that he could not make
promotions and demotions without causing resentment.
So it went, and this is only March. The primary isn't until September.
An ominous beginning
Newly hired Palm Beach County public information officer Sheila Bertino has her work cut out for her.
"Miss Bertino, do you have any experience in making silk purses out of sows' ears?" Commissioner Dennis Koehler
asked Bertino last week when she was introduced to the commission.
"Well, I used to teach home economics, so I suppose it can be done," she responded.
Wilken by any other name ...
Sometimes, even your friends can't get your name right.
Take the Women's Coalition of South Palm Beach County, for example. The coalition was created earlier this year to
give women a stronger role in county politics.
Who better to talk to the coalition at its April 29 fund- raising brunch than Dorothy Wilken, one of two women on the
County Commission. Except that in announcing its choice, the coalition said they'd be hearing from Dorothy Wilkins,
spelled i-n-s. Oh well, you know who they mean.
The fund-raiser, by the way, will be at the Camino Real Holiday Inn on Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach. Tickets are
$15.
Noteworthy
The South County Political Cooperative last week endorsed incumbent State Rep. Steve Press, D.-Delray Beach, in-
cumbent Property Appraiser Rebecca Walker and Karen T. Marcus for County Commissioner in District 1. Cooperative
Coordinator Andre Fladell said 40 cooperative volunteers headed by Robert Kaufman of the Boca West Homeowners
Association will campaign for Marcus ... Republican Congressional candidate Donald Ross has named David Denault
as his press secretary. His campaign chairman is Patricia Paretta. Hononary chairmen are former Lieutenant Gov. Ray
C. Osborne; Ronald Assaf, president of Sensormatic Electronics Corp, and Bill Shubin, president of Arivda Corp.'s
commercial-industrial division.
Verbatim
"I've heard there's a new definition of frustration. Frustration is seeing a bumper sticker that says, 'Honk if you're against
Reagan's policies,' and you're walking." -- Barry Silver of Temple Sinai, speaking to a coalition of South County senior
citizens formed in Delray Beach last week to campaign against Reagan.
If you know of any interesting political doings and events, call Neil Brown in West Palm Beach at 686-3221 or Ray
Huard in Delray Beach at 272-2626.


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Page 1265


The Miami Herald

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CANDIDATE'S DECISION FUELS WILKES-ROBERTS FEUD

BYLINE: STEPHEN REISS Herald Columnist


LENGTH: 645 words

Toby Sue Widett's decision to campaign against West Palm Beach Commissioner Helen Wilkes has fueled the flames
that have long been burning between Wilkes and Commissioner Carol Roberts.
After last week's City Commission meeting, Wilkes confronted Roberts in front of the first-floor elevator in City Hall
and accused her of encouraging Widett to run. The dialogue in this political drama went as follows:
Wilkes: "You put her up to run against me."
Roberts: "I did not."
Wilkes: "Yes you did. She told me."
Roberts: "She didn't say that because I didn't put her up to run against you."
Wilkes: "That's what she said."
Roberts: "Then she's wrong."
Widett said she never told Wilkes that Roberts encouraged her to run, and that Widett and Roberts did not discuss the
matter.
But one development had given at least some circumstantial support for Wilkes' suspicions. Sandy Klein, a Port of Palm
Beach commissioner and Roberts' brother, is a friend of Widett's. And the recently distributed West Palm Beach city
calendar includes a picture of Roberts and Widett standing next to each other at a cocktail party.
Widett denies Roberts had anything to do with her candidacy. The picture was taken at a Provincetown-Boston Airlines
party to introduce its new service at Palm Beach International Airport. It was only the second time the two women had
met and there was no discussion of her candidacy, Widett said.
In fact, the person who first suggested she run was Wilkes herself, Widett said. At a party two years ago, Widett said
she told Wilkes she was interested in politics and described her background.
"Her response was -- and I'm sure it was off the cuff -- that I should run," Widett said. "So she's the first person who
told me to run."
Beating the pack
The South County Political Cooperative, the Democratic club presidents' coalition that made an AFL-CIO-style early
endorsement of state Rep. Steve Press (D., Delray Beach) last month, also plans to beat the pack in its endorsements of
County Commission candidates.
Page 1266
CANDIDATE'S DECISION FUELS WILKES-ROBERTS FEUD The Miami Herald December 26, 1983 Monday

Although many potential candidates still haven't opened campaign accounts -- the first formal step in a race -- the coop-
erative is inviting them for screening interviews Jan. 21.
The formal qualifying period doesn't begin until July and the first primary is in August. But any serious candidate for
the commission should be out shaking hands by now, said Andre Fladell, the cooperative's coordinator.
Among those who haven't opened accounts but are invited to the screening are Mary Hinton, the mayor of Jupiter; Ka-
ren Marcus, an aide to Commissioner Dennis Koehler, and Lou Martinez, a Democratic activist.
Fladell is promising a tough interview that should weed out the wafflers.
"This is not like, 'What did you do in the third grade?' " Fladell said. "We want to pin them down. A lot of people run
and they never get pinned down."
Dump the authority
Blushing deeply and apparently startled, Economic Council Executive Director Hugo Unruh had a hard time explaining
his actions last week when Solid Waste Authority member Tom Altman challenged him about the business group's
plans to replace the authority with a group appointed by the governor.
The embarrassment was justified. The council was almost sneaky in the way it solicited support from the legislative
delegation before informing most members of the waste authority of its plans. And when questioned earlier in the week,
Unruh refused to discuss the proposal with reporters "on the record."
The timing of the move is also highly questionable. Unruh protested that the reorganization is not aimed at thwarting the
authority's selection of a garbage dump site west of Riviera Beach. But it comes when the authority is on the verge of
finally taking action on the site and with the county less than two years away from having no place to put its garbage.
Herald Staff Writer Neil Brown contributed to this report.


LANGUAGE: ENGLISH


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The Miami Herald

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SUBURBAN DEMOCRATS TRY UNITY

BYLINE: STEPHEN REISS Herald Staff Writer


LENGTH: 465 words

A group of South County Democratic club presidents gathered around a table at a Delray Beach restaurant Wednesday
to announce they have buried the political knives they freely swung at one another in the past.
Along with two other community activists, the six club presidents announced the formation of the South County Politi-
cal Cooperative, which will attempt to unite several South County organizations on particular political issues.
"You want to see something?" West Delray Democratic Club President Jack Babich asked reporters. He then demon-
strated the new unity by shaking hands with Atlantic Democratic Club President Tom Young, a man Babich has feuded
with in the past.
That was followed by another public handshake between Young and Sid Krutick, president of the Kings Point Demo-
cratic Club. Both Krutick and Babich head organizations that splintered from the Atlantic club, one of the largest in
South Florida, leading to several years of bad feelings.
But the bad feelings are now in the past, the club presidents insisted.
Their constant bickering was hurting their effectiveness when they confronted developers or other interests in the polit-
ical arena, said Andre Fladell, coordinator of the new group.
"Andre Fladell spent a lot of time talking to us and convincing us that if we worked together we would accomplish a
lot more," Young said.
"Here's a group of people who were uncomfortable with each other but because of the lack of services for their commu-
nity they were willing to put aside their differences," Fladell said. "We have here some of the strongest egos in South
County. That's not unhealthy if handled properly."
The immediate beneficiaries of the cooperative's formation were Rep. Steve Press (D., Delray Beach) and Delray Beach
City Council member Doak Campbell.
Press, who attended the lunch, won an endorsement for reelection to the Florida House.
"We have a responsive representative. That's all anybody can ask for and we're satisfied," Fladell said.
"When you ask Jack Babich about Steve Press, all Jack Babich has to say is 'He's our boy.' " said Babich.
Campbell won an endorsement in his fledgling campaign for mayor.
Although most of the cooperative's members live in the unincorporated area, they said many of their club members live
in Delray Beach and the others are vitally affected by municipal actions.
Page 1268
SUBURBAN DEMOCRATS TRY UNITY The Miami Herald December 1, 1983 Thursday

"Don't believe that you can live west of Delray and not be affected by Delray," Fladell said.
The other members of the cooperative include Richard Carrington, president of the Federated Community Associations;
Dave Cohen, president of the Delray Beach Democratic Club; Joe Tarnow, president of the Century Village West
Democratic Club; and Jerry Baruch, president of the South County Democratic Club. Together, they say they represent
more than 40,000 voters.


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