Boston Globe Exhibits Extreme
Gore Partisanship; Is Embarrassed

November 15, 2000

A Florida court agreed yesterday with the Secretary of State in her Monday ruling that the state’s law required all ballots to be in by yesterday afternoon at 5 p.m. The court’s decision made the Boston Globe look very foolish because they had attempted to demonize the Secretary for her ruling -- which turned out to be correct.

The Globe showed its extreme partisanship for Al Gore yesterday morning when it reported in the very first paragraph of its lead story that a decision to place a deadline of 5 p.m. on the Florida vote was, according to lawyers for Gore, “unfairly imposed by a key supporter of George W. Bush.”

In the very next paragraph, it described the person who made the decision, Secretary of State Katherine Harris, as “a prominent Bush supporter.”

In the next paragraph, it quoted Warren Christopher as saying the Secretary performed her duties “in a ‘partisan’ manner in an effort ‘to produce a particular result in the election, rather than ensure that the voice of all citizens of the state would be heard.’”

In addition to that, the newspaper had another feature story right underneath the lead story. It was four columns wide with a picture of the Secretary and it demonized her.

It described the halcyon days when she was first elected. She traveled on trade missions to foreign countries and was called “a Florida version of Madeleine Albright.” The Globe said: “Some viewed her as a potential US Senate candidate, while others pegged her for an ambassadorship in a Bush administration, given her ties to Florida Governor Jeb Bush and her co-chairmanship of George W. Bush’s presidential campaign committee in the state.”

But all of that glory appeared to be gone now. “No longer is she putting on the state’s sunshine face; today she remains virtually barricaded in her first-floor Capitol office, the one next door to the governor’s. She arrives and departs via an underground garage, and hasn’t made a public statement since a news conference last Thursday that was widely derided as uninformative."

Another Gore spokesman called her decision which was upheld by the judge as a “blatantly political, partisan act designed to frustrate the will of the people….She is obviously a close political ally of the Bush campaign, a crony of Jeb Bush, and she seems to be acting as a lackey for the Bush campaign.”

Too bad for the Globe that Katherine Harris was exactly right in her decision, according to the Florida court. She had no other choice under the law. And sloppy, partisan reporting has put another nail in the coffin of the Boston Globe.

What the Court Apparently Held

It appears as though the judge held that the Secretary of State is the ultimate fact-finder. If she determines that unusual circumstances require that additional returns be allowed after 5 p.m. yesterday, she may do so. But she cannot be arbitrary in her decision and allow such returns without reason.

The judge apparently has decided that he will not second-guess her decision. If anyone challenges her rulings, the judge will not substitute his decision for hers. He will overrule her decision only if she has been arbitrary.

There is nothing," Judge Lewis said, "to prevent the county canvassing boards from filing with the secretary of state further returns after completing a manual recount. It is then up to the secretary of state, as the chief election officer, to determine whether any such corrective or supplemental returns filed after 5 p.m. today are to be ignored."