---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 06 Aug 2002 23:09:51 -0700
From: radtimes <resist@best.com>
Subject: Bushs Conspiracy to Riot
Bush's Conspiracy to Riot
<http://www.consortiumnews.com/2002/080502a.html>
August 5, 2002
More than three decades apart, two political riots influenced the outcome
of U.S. presidential elections. In 1968, protests at the Democratic
National Convention in Chicago hurt Democrat Hubert Humphrey and helped
Republican Richard Nixon eke out a victory. On Nov. 22, 2000, the so-called
"Brooks Brothers Riot" of Republican activists helped stop a vote recount
in Miami, and showed how far George W. Bush's supporters were ready to go
to put their man in the White House.
But the government reaction to the two events was dramatically different.
The clashes between police and Vietnam War protesters in 1968 led the Nixon
administration to charge seven anti-war radicals with "conspiring to cross
state lines with the intent to incite a riot." The defendants, who became
known as the Chicago Seven, were later acquitted of conspiracy charges, in
part, because the protests were loosely organized and because solid
documentary evidence was lacking.
After the Miami "Brooks Brothers Riot" named after the protesters' preppie
clothing no government action was taken beyond the police rescuing several
Democrats who were surrounded and roughed up by the rioters. While no legal
charges were filed against the Republicans, newly released documents show
that at least a half dozen of the publicly identified rioters were paid by
Bush's recount committee.
The payments to the Republican activists are documented in hundreds of
pages of Bush committee records released grudgingly to the Internal
Revenue Service last month, 19 months after the 36-day recount battle
ended. Overall, the records provide a road map of how the Bush recount team
brought its operatives across state lines to stop then-Vice President Al
Gore's recount efforts.
The records show that the Bush committee spent a total of $13.8 million to
frustrate the recount of Florida's votes and secure the state's crucial
electoral votes for Bush. By contrast, the Gore recount operation spent
$3.2 million, about one quarter of the Bush total. Bush spent more just on
lawyers $4.4 million than Gore did on his entire effort.
Extended Deadline
The new evidence was submitted by the Bush recount committee to the IRS
under an extended deadline for disclosures of soft-money spending by
so-called "527 committees," which are not directly related to a candidate's
campaign. Bush lawyers had argued that they were not obligated legally to
disclose how they had raised and spent their money.
The Bush committee finally reversed itself and filed the records on July
15. The records were released to the public on the IRS Web site in late
July. Gore's committee submitted its records in line with the original IRS
deadlines.
The documents show that the Bush organization put on the payroll about 250
staffers, spent about $1.2 million to fly operatives to Florida and
elsewhere, and paid for hotel bills adding up to about $1 million. To add
flexibility to the travel arrangements, a fleet of corporate jets was
assembled, including planes owned by Enron Corp., then run by Bush backer
Kenneth Lay, and Halliburton Co., where Dick Cheney had served as chairman
and chief executive officer.
Only a handful of the Brooks Brothers rioters were publicly identified,
some through photographs published in the Washington Post. Jake Tapper's
book on the recount battle, Down and Dirty, provides a list of 12
Republican operatives who took part in the Miami riot. Half of those
individuals received payments from the Bush recount committee, according to
the IRS records.
The Miami protesters who were paid by Bush recount committee were: Matt
Schlapp, a Bush staffer who was based in Austin and received $4,276.09;
Thomas Pyle, a staff aide to House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, $456; Michael
Murphy, a DeLay fund-raiser, $935.12; Garry Malphrus, House majority chief
counsel to the House Judiciary subcommittee on criminal justice, $330;
Charles Royal, a legislative aide to Rep. Jim DeMint, R-S.C. $391.80; and
Kevin Smith, a former GOP House staffer, $373.23.
Three of the Miami protesters are now members of Bush's White House staff,
the Miami Herald reported last month. They include Schlapp, who is now a
special assistant to the president; Malphrus, who is now deputy director of
the president's Domestic Policy Council; and Joel Kaplan, another special
assistant to the president. [See Miami Herald, July 14, 2002]
The Bush committee records show, too, that Bush's operation paid for the
hotel where the Republican protesters celebrated after the Miami riot at a
Thanksgiving Day party. At the party, the activists received thank-you
phone calls from Bush and Cheney, and were serenaded by crooner Wayne
Newton, singing "Danke Schoen," German for thank-you very much. [Wall
Street Journal, Nov. 27, 2000; Consortiumnews.com's "W's Triumph of the Will"]
The IRS records show that the Bush recount committee paid $35,501.52 to the
Hyatt Regency Pier 66 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., where the party was held.
The House of Masquerades
A number of miscellaneous expenses, reported by the Bush recount committee,
also appear to have gone for party items, such as lighting, sound systems
and even costumes. Garrett Sound and Lighting in Fort Lauderdale was paid
$5,902; Beach Sound Inc. in North Miami was paid $3,500; and the House of
Masquerades, a costume shop in Miami, had three payments totaling $640.92,
according to the Bush records.
The Brooks Brothers Riot carried live on CNN and other networks marked a
turning point in the recount battle. At the time, Bush clung to a lead that
had dwindled to several hundred votes and Gore was pressing for recounts.
The riot in Miami and the prospects of spreading violence were among the
arguments later cited by defenders of the 5-to-4 U.S. Supreme Court ruling
on Dec. 12, 2000, that stopped a statewide Florida recount and handed Bush
the presidency.
Backed by the $13.8 million war chest, the Bush operation made clear in
Miami and in other protests that it was ready to kick up plenty of
political dust if it didn't get its way.
A later unofficial recount by news organizations found that if all legally
cast ballots in Florida had been counted regardless of which kinds of
chads were accepted, whether punched-through, hanging or dimpled Gore
would have won Florida and thus the presidency. Gore also won the national
popular vote, defeating Bush by more than a half million votes, making Bush
the first popular-vote loser in more than a century to be installed in the
White House. [Consortiumnews.com's "So Bush Did Steal the White House"]
Across State Lines
The evidence also is clear that the Bush campaign organized the
transportation of Republican activists across state lines into Florida. As
early as mid-November, the Bush campaign called on activists to rush to
Florida and promised to pay their expenses. "We now need to send
reinforcements," the Bush campaign said in an appeal to Republicans on Nov.
18, 2000. "The campaign will pay airfare and hotel expenses for people
willing to go." [See Tapper's Down and Dirty.]
These reinforcements many of them Republican staffers from Capitol
Hill added an angrier tone to the dueling street protests already underway
between supporters of Bush and Gore. The new wave of Republican activists
injected "venom and volatility into an already edgy situation," wrote Tapper.
"This is the new Republican Party, sir!" Brad Blakeman, Bush's campaign
director of advance travel logistics, bellowed into a bullhorn to disrupt a
CNN correspondent interviewing a Democratic congressman. "We're not going
to take it anymore!"
Around the country, the conservative media apparatus, led by talk show host
Rush Limbaugh and pro-Bush pundits, rallied the faithful with charges that
a hand recount was fraudulent and amounted to "inventing" votes.
Bush himself did nothing to temper the inflammatory rhetoric. Nor did he
urge his supporters to respect the legally sanctioned vote counting.
Instead, Bush's recount representative, James Baker, and Bush himself
denounced the Florida Supreme Court, which had ordered that recount results
be included in the official vote tallies. Bush accused the court of abusing
its powers in a bid to "usurp" the authority of the legislature.
The Battle of Miami
On Nov. 22, 2000, after learning that the Miami canvassing board was
starting an examination of 10,750 disputed ballots that had previously not
been counted, Rep. John Sweeney, a New York Republican, called on
Republican troops to "shut it down," according to Down and Dirty. Brendan
Quinn, executive director of the New York GOP, told about two dozen
Republican operatives to storm the room on the 19th floor where the
canvassing board was meeting, Tapper reported.
"Emotional and angry, they immediately make their way outside the larger
room in which the tabulating room is contained," Tapper wrote. "The mass of
'angry voters' on the 19th floor swells to maybe 80 people," including many
of the Republican activists from outside Florida.
News cameras captured the chaotic scene outside the canvassing board's
offices. The protesters shouted slogans and banged on the doors and walls.
The unruly protest prevented official observers and members of the press
from reaching the room. Miami-Dade county spokesman Mayco Villafana was
pushed and shoved. Security officials feared the confrontation was spinning
out of control.
The canvassing board suddenly reversed its decision and canceled the
recount. "Until the demonstration stops, nobody can do anything," said
David Leahy, Miami's supervisor of elections, although the canvassing board
members would later insist that they were not intimidated into stopping the
recount. [Down and Dirty]
A Sample Ballot
While the siege of the canvassing board office was underway, county
Democratic chairman Joe Geller stopped at another office seeking a sample
ballot. He wanted to demonstrate his theory that some voters had intended
to vote for Gore but instead marked an adjoining number that represented no
candidate.
As Geller took the ballot marked "sample," one of the Republican activists
began shouting, "This guy's got a ballot!"
In Down and Dirty, Tapper writes: "The masses swarm around him, yelling,
getting in his face, pushing him, grabbing him. 'Arrest him!' they cry.
'Arrest him!' With the help of a diminutive DNC aide, Luis Rosero, and the
political director of the Miami Gore campaign, Joe Fraga, Geller manages to
wrench himself into the elevator.
"Rosero, who stays back to talk to the press, gets kicked, punched. A woman
pushes him into a much larger guy, seemingly trying to instigate a fight.
In the lobby of the building, a group of 50 or so Republicans are crushed
around Geller, surrounding him.
^Å
"The cops escort Geller back to the 19th floor, so the elections officials
can see what's going on, investigate the charges. Of course, it turns out
that all Geller had was a sample ballot. The crowd is pulling at the cops,
pulling at Geller. It's insanity! Some even get in the face of 73-year-old
Rep. Carrie Meek. Democratic operatives decide to pull out of the area
altogether." [Tapper's Down and Dirty]
Despite the use of intimidation to influence actions by election officials,
Bush and his top aides remained publicly silent about these disruptive
tactics. The Washington Post reported that "even as the Bush campaign and
the Republicans portray themselves as above the fray," national Republicans
actually had joined in and helped finance the raucous protests. [Washington
Post, Nov. 27, 2000]
The Wall Street Journal added more details, including the fact that Bush
offered personal words of encouragement to the rioters in a conference call
to a Bush campaign-sponsored celebration on the night of Thanksgiving Day,
one day after the canvassing board assault.
"The night's highlight was a conference call from Mr. Bush and running mate
Dick Cheney, which included joking reference by both running mates to the
incident in Miami, two [Republican] staffers in attendance say," according
to the Journal. [Nov. 27, 2000]
The Journal also reported that the assault on the canvassing board was led
by national Republican operatives "on all expense-paid trips, courtesy of
the Bush campaign." After their success in Dade, the rioters moved on to
Broward, where the protests remained unruly but failed to stop that count.
The Journal noted that "behind the rowdy rallies in South Florida this past
weekend was a well-organized effort by Republican operatives to entice
supporters to South Florida," with DeLay's Capitol Hill office taking
charge of the recruitment.
About 200 Republican congressional staffers signed on, the Journal
reported. They were put up at hotels, given $30 a day for food and "an
invitation to an exclusive Thanksgiving Day party in Fort Lauderdale," the
article said.
Upper Hand
The Journal said there was no evidence of a similar Democratic strategy to
fly in national party operatives. "This has allowed the Republicans to
quickly gain the upper hand, protest-wise," the Journal said.
The Bush campaign also worked to conceal its hand. "Staffers who joined the
effort say there has been an air of mystery to the operation. 'To tell you
the truth, nobody knows who is calling the shots,' says one aide. Many
nights, often very late, a memo is slipped underneath the hotel-room doors
outlining coming events," the Journal reported.
On Nov. 25, the Bush campaign issued "talking points" to justify the Miami
protest, calling it "fitting, proper" and blaming the canvassing board for
the disruptions. "The board made a series of bad decisions and the reaction
to it was inevitable and well justified," the Bush campaign said. [Down and
Dirty]
Still, other recounts in Broward County whittled down Bush's lead. Gore was
gaining slowly in Palm Beach's recount, despite constant challenges from
Republican observers.
To boost Bush's margin back up, Republican Secretary of State Harris
allowed Nassau County to throw out its recounted figures that had helped
Gore. Then, excluding a partial recount in Palm Beach and with Miami shut
down, Harris certified Bush the winner by 537 votes.
Bush partisans cheered their victory and began demanding that Bush be
called the president-elect. Soon afterwards, Bush appeared on national
television to announce himself the winner and to call on Gore to concede
defeat.
"Now," Bush said, "we must live up to our principles. We must show our
commitment to the common good, which is bigger than any person or any party."
Changed Course
To many Gore supporters, the aborted recount in Miami changed the course of
the Florida events, preventing Gore from narrowing Bush's small lead or
possibly edging ahead.
The Brooks Brothers Riot also represented an escalation of tactics,
demonstrating the potential for spiraling political violence if the recount
battle dragged on. The Republicans were putting down a marker that they
were prepared to do what was necessary to win, regardless of what the
voters had wanted.
After the Florida Supreme Court ordered a statewide recount to determine
who won the state and thus the presidency, Bush sent his lawyers to the
U.S. Supreme Court where five Republican justices decided on Dec. 9, 2000,
to stop the counting of votes. Then, on Dec. 12, the same five Republicans
blocked a resumption. The disruptions in November had played out the clock
so a slim majority on the U.S. Supreme Court could effectively award the
White House to Bush.
Unlike the Chicago Seven case three decades earlier, no one faced charges
for disrupting the Miami recount.
In the Chicago Seven case, the jury acquitted all defendants of conspiracy
charges, though finding five defendants David Dellinger, Tom Hayden,
Rennie Davis, Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin individually guilty of
inciting a riot, charges that later were reversed on appeal. Separate
government investigations also faulted the Chicago police for using
excessive violence to quell the 1968 protests.
Ironically, the kind of documentary evidence that might have proved
valuable in tying up the loose ends of the Chicago Seven conspiracy is
present in the new filings that the Bush recount committee made to the IRS.
The evidence is clear that the Bush committee organized the movement of
protesters across state lines, paid for their lodging, moved them into a
position for the riot, and then defended their actions.
After the incident, Bush personally thanked some of the participants at a
celebration paid for by Bush's organization. Since taking office, Bush has
further rewarded some of the participants with high-level government jobs.
But the biggest reason for the very different government reactions to the
Chicago Seven case and the Brooks Brothers Riot is obvious: the ultimate
beneficiary of the Miami riot is now president of the United States.
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