Monday, August 23, 2004
HERBERT'S DISHONEST JIHAD CONTINUES: On Friday, and again this morning, Bob Herbert accused Republicans of conspiring to suppress the black vote in Florida this November. Later this week I'll take a closer look at Herbert's claim that Governor Jeb Bush and his Secretary of State, Glenda Hood, tried to specifically and secretly target African-American voters by concealing a "felon purge list."

For now, however, let's focus on Herbert's claim on Friday (repeated again today) that the vote fraud investigation in Orlando continues despite a letter from the FDLE on May 13, 2004 shutting it down for lack of evidence:

"there was no basis to support the allegations of election fraud concerning these absentee ballots. Since there is no evidence of criminal misconduct involving Mayor Dyer, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement considers this matter closed."

Herbert holds this letter up as a smoking gun and proof positive that the vote fraud investigation in Orlando is politically motivated and continues only because of Jeb Bush's desire to intimidate African-American voters. But again, Herbert is misleading.

The May 13 letter from FDLE only addressed the initial criminal complaint generated against Dyer. I've also been told the letter was written specifically at the request of the Mayor's office to help distance himself from the controversy. Here is how the Orlando Sentinel reported the release of the letter on May 14:

FDLE spokesman Tom Berlinger said the review of the complaint, done in conjunction with the Florida Elections Division, pertained only to Dyer and doesn't necessarily clear other people associated with the mayor's campaign.

Brian Mulvaney, Ken Mulvaney's brother, said he filed the original complaint alleging election fraud at the Orlando Police Department, which forwarded it to FDLE. He said Thursday he did not think FDLE conducted a thorough enough investigation to close the case.

"It's impossible they've concluded any investigation because they haven't sent one person out into the field to interview anybody," said Brian Mulvaney, who said he has received no correspondence from FDLE since he filed the complaint.

He says he and others have collected affidavits from voters who cast absentee ballots witnessed by Dyer campaign worker Ezzie Thomas. Those ballots, Mulvaney's campaign says, were improperly collected and filled out. (empahsis added)

On May 17, three days after Dyer leaked the FDLE letter clearing him of any criminal wrongdoing to the Orlando Sentinel, Ken Mulvaney's brother and his former campaign manager showed up at the FDLE office in Orlando with the 42 sworn affidavits they had collected alleging that Ezzie Thomas mishandled absentee ballots.

Based on that evidence, Orange County State Attorney Lawson Lamar, who Herbert fails to mention is both a Democrat and a longtime ally of Buddy Dyer, asked the FDLE to reopen the investigation.

On Friday I spoke with Jeff Billman, the reporter from the Orlando Weekly who wrote this detailed account of the matter. Jeff, who described himself and his paper to me as "pretty liberal" - has spoken to most all the principals in the case, including Ezzie Thomas. He said Herbert's claims are absolutely ridiculous and he's currrently writing a rebuttal to them now. We'll post it as soon as it's available.

One last thing: Billman said that Joe Egan, one of the lawyers representing Ezzie Thomas (and the firefighters union) has been shopping this "voter suppression" story around for a while now. But because the claim is so outlandish (not to mention irresponsible), nobody had been willing to take the bait until Bob Herbert came along.

Egan couldn't have found a better possible surrogate for the story. Herbert hates George W. Bush so much and is so intent on portraying Republicans as racist that he has no problem willfully misleading his readers as to the facts of this case.

Egan couldn't have found a more influential surrogate for the story, either. The day after Herbert slung the accusation of voter suppression last Monday, six Congressional Democrats (four of whom are black and five of whom are from Florida) used the misleading claims in his column to indignantly call for a federal investigation and to further inflame the racial fears and distrust among African-Americans everywhere.

Here is what Rep. Alcee Hastings had to say:

''This is just another example in the long list of efforts to stop black folk from voting. They can't stop us, so now they're trying to scare us. Well, it's not going to work.''

And this from Rep. Corrine Brown:

"I don't know who this is, and I don't know who these people are, but I want it to stop. I just don't want voters to feel intimidated. This goes back to the old Jim Crow days, and I would not think this would be going on as we speak in 2004."

That's an extraordinary statement coming from a Congresswoman whose district includes the west side of Orlando. This investigation has been going on for months and she doesn't have a clue? She needs Bob Herbert to tell her there is voter intimidation and suppression going on in her district? Corrine Brown is either completely incompetent or she's being willfully deceitful to rouse the partisan passions of African-American voters. I'll let you decide what you think is more likely.

We are definitely witnessing a case of fraud, manipulation, and intimidation - but it has nothing to do with what's going on in Orlando. - T. Bevan 10:15 am Link | Email | Send to a Friend

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