No number of op-ed pieces written by an African American
columnist, however compelling, absolves the NYTwits of
their journalistic responsibility of ACCURATELY
reporting what is happening in Fraudida -- on their
FRONT PAGE...The NYTwits failed the US Electorate in
2000, and there is little evidence that it will be any
different in 2004...
Bob Herbert, NY Times: From the G.O.P. perspective, it
doesn't really matter whether anyone is arrested in
the Orlando investigation, or even if a crime was
committed. The idea, in Orange County and elsewhere,
is to send a chill through the democratic process,
suppressing opposing votes by whatever means are
available.
Thwart the Theft of a Second Presidential Election,
Show Up for Democracy in 2004: Defeat Bush (again!)
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/082404J.shtml
A Chill in Florida
By Bob Herbert
New York Times
Monday 23 August 2004
The state police investigation into get-out-the-vote
activities by blacks in Orlando, Fla., fits perfectly
with the political aims of Gov. Jeb Bush and the
Republican Party.
The Republicans were stung in the 2000 presidential
election when Al Gore became the first Democrat since
1948 to carry Orange County, of which Orlando is the
hub. He could not have carried the county without the
strong support of black voters, many of whom cast
absentee ballots.
The G.O.P. was stung again in 2003 when Buddy Dyer,
a Democrat, was elected mayor of Orlando. He won a
special election to succeed Glenda Hood, a three-term
Republican who was appointed Florida secretary of
state by Governor Bush. Mr. Dyer was re-elected last
March. As with Mr. Gore, the black vote was an
important factor.
These two election reverses have upset Republicans
in Orange County and statewide. Moreover, the anxiety
over Democratic gains in Orange County is entwined
with the very real fear among party stalwarts that
Florida might go for John Kerry in this year's
presidential election.
It is in this context that two of the ugliest
developments of the current campaign season should be
viewed.
"A Democrat can't win a statewide election in
Florida without a high voter turnout - both at the
polls and with absentee ballots - of
African-Americans," said a man who is close to the
Republican establishment in Florida but asked not to
be identified. "It's no secret that the name of the
game for Republicans is to restrain that turnout as
much as possible. Black votes are Democratic votes,
and there are a lot of them in Florida."
The two ugly developments - both focused on race -
were the heavy-handed investigation by Florida state
troopers of black get-out-the-vote efforts in Orlando,
and the state's blatant attempt to purge blacks from
voter rolls through the use of a flawed list of
supposed felons that contained the names of thousands
of African-Americans and, conveniently, very few
Hispanics.
Florida is one of only a handful of states that bar
convicted felons from voting, unless they successfully
petition to have their voting rights restored. The
state's "felon purge" list had to be abandoned by
Glenda Hood, the secretary of state (and, yes, former
mayor of Orlando), after it became known that the
flawed list would target blacks but not Hispanics, who
are more likely in Florida to vote Republican. The
list also contained the names of thousands of people,
most of them black, who should not have been on the
list at all.
Ms. Hood, handpicked by Governor Bush to succeed the
notorious Katherine Harris as secretary of state, was
forced to admit that the felons list was a mess. She
said the problems were unintentional. What clearly was
intentional was the desire of Ms. Hood and Governor
Bush to keep the list secret. It was disclosed only as
a result of lawsuits filed under Florida's admirable
sunshine law.
Meanwhile, the sending of state troopers into the
homes of elderly black voters in Orlando was said by
officials to be a response to allegations of voter
fraud in last March's mayoral election. But the
investigation went forward despite findings in the
spring that appeared to show that the allegations were
unfounded.
Why go forward anyway? Well, consider that the
prolonged investigation dovetails exquisitely with
that crucial but unspoken mission of the G.O.P. in
Florida: to keep black voter turnout as low as
possible. The interrogation of elderly black men and
women in their homes has already frightened many
voters and intimidated elderly get-out-the-vote
volunteers.
The use of state troopers to zero in on voter
turnout efforts is highly unusual, if not
unprecedented, in Florida. But the head of the Florida
Department of Law Enforcement, Guy Tunnell, who was
also handpicked by Governor Bush, has been unfazed by
the mounting criticism of this use of the state
police. His spokesmen have said a "person of interest"
in the investigation is Ezzie Thomas, a 73-year-old
black man who just happens to have done very well in
turning out the African-American vote.
From the G.O.P. perspective, it doesn't really
matter whether anyone is arrested in the Orlando
investigation, or even if a crime was committed. The
idea, in Orange County and elsewhere, is to send a
chill through the democratic process, suppressing
opposing votes by whatever means are available.
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Posted by richard at August 24, 2004 11:44 AM