-Caveat Lector- November 27, 2000 Election 2000 GOP Protest in Miami-Dade Is a Well-Organized Effort Bush Campaign Pays Tab For Aides From Capitol Hill Flown in for Rallies By NICHOLAS KULISH and JIM VANDEHEI Staff Reporters THE WALL STREET JOURNAL MIAMI -- When outraged Republicans raised a ruckus outside the Miami-Dade County elections office last week, some protesters at the door weren't local citizens. They were Capitol Hill aides on all-expenses paid trips, courtesy of the Bush campaign. Right up front on television images of the event last Wednesday were Thomas Pyle, an aide to GOP Rep. Tom DeLay, and Michael Murphy, who works for a DeLay fund-raising committee. Doug Heye from California Rep. Richard Pombo's office also was in the fray. Shortly after the door-kicking, window-banging protest, the Miami-Dade canvassing board made a sharp U-turn, suspending a recount that was expected to help Vice President Al Gore chip away at Texas Gov. George W. Bush's lead. Mr. Gore's inability to secure these votes was a key to Mr. Bush's certification as the Florida winner Sunday night. Miami-Dade canvassing-board members, while denying that the crowd cowed them, decided they couldn't complete the count by Sunday's 5 p.m. deadline without using a room that the protesters complained limited public access. Their work in Miami done, the Republicans headed to Broward County, where they joined a platoon that included about 20 other congressional staffers, who had watched the Miami-Dade commotion on CNN and wildly cheered their compatriots' televised antics. The protests grew in Fort Lauderdale, with hundreds of placard-wielding Republicans protesting the recount for several days. Sunday, some of these same staffers were involved in a confrontation with Democrats, including the Rev. Al Sharpton, in West Palm Beach. Tensions heightened momentarily as Democratic volunteers squeezed through the mob of GOP protesters to gather their campaign signs, but cooler heads prevailed. Behind the rowdy rallies in South Florida this past weekend was a well-organized effort by Republican operatives to entice supporters to South Florida. The protests drew angry denunciations from top Democrats, with several congressmen requesting a Justice Department inquiry. Vice-presidential candidate Joe Lieberman said the "orchestrated demonstrations ... were clearly designed to intimidate and to prevent a simple count of votes from going forward." Bush operatives deny trying to intimidate. But they readily acknowledge that shortly after Election Day they began recruiting Republicans nationwide to come to the three predominantly Democratic South Florida counties then considering manual recounts. The biggest contingent appears to have hailed from within the marbled walls of the Capitol complex in Washington. "Because we were heavily outnumbered in these counties, we called people from around the country," says Terry Holt, a communications director with the Republican National Committee. Democrats "may not need volunteers," he quips. "They've got judges" on local election canvassing boards. Democrats have organizers down here, too, and they were the first to hit the streets. The Rev. Jesse Jackson flew to West Palm Beach shortly after the election to lead a protest against the confusing "butterfly ballot," prompting conservative commentator Mary Matalin to dub attendees "rent-a-rioters." Democrats say they haven't flown staffers or operatives down to Florida to protest, and there is no evidence to suggest otherwise. This has allowed Republicans to quickly gain the upper-hand, protest-wise. In Washington, several GOP aides say the office of Mr. DeLay, the House Republican whip, took charge of the effort on Capitol Hill, passing on an offer many staffers couldn't refuse: free air fare, accommodations and food in the Sunshine State -- all paid for by the Bush campaign. Aides who accepted took advantage of liberal congressional workplace rules that allow them to jump from government jobs to political tasks at a moment's notice by declaring themselves on vacation or temporary leave. "Once word leaked out, everybody wanted in," says one GOP operative involved in the effort. Participants estimate that more than 200 staffers signed on, some spending more than a week in South Florida. Many stayed in Hiltons by the beach and received $30 a day for food, as well as an invitation to an exclusive Thanksgiving Day party in Fort Lauderdale. "They needed help down there," says GOP Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri. "A lot of people in Washington wanted to be a part of that." He adds that the collaboration has fostered a new sense of unity between congressional Republicans and Mr. Bush, who often ignored Washington Republicans during the campaign to bolster his outsider image. "The unfairness of [the Democrats' recount] effort has really brought Republicans together," the congressman said. The camaraderie was on full display at the glitzy Thanksgiving night party featuring free food and libations at the Hyatt on Pier 66 in Fort Lauderdale -- "a festive family mood," says one protester. Entertainer Wayne Newton crooned the song "Danke Schoen," until a group of frenzied female fans rushed the stage. The night's highlight was a conference call from Mr. Bush and running mate Dick Cheney, which included joking references by both running mates to the incident in Miami, two staffers in attendance say. But that was a rare break from the action. Often working 16- or 20-hour days, the congressional worker bees initially monitored recounts, attended news conferences and did other gofer tasks. Kyle Downey, 26 years old, an aide to Oklahoma Rep. J.C. Watts, assisted GOP lawyers in Broward County one day and escorted former presidential candidate Bob Dole around South Florida the next. "This is history," says Mr. Downey, explaining his decision to come. "I don't see how I could ever come across something like this ever in my lifetime." 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. On Friday night, one aide received notice that he and his colleagues were welcome to stay in South Florida until "further notice." Bush spokeswoman Mindy Tucker declines to estimate how much the operation will cost or exactly how many people have been enticed to Florida. Others say about 750 people have rotated in and out. This weekend, few were still involved in the somber recount-monitoring of the early days. "All we are doing is rallying and protesting," says one GOP aide. "We are blowing the Democrats away." Bush supporters sometimes outnumbered Gore backers by 10 to one outside the Broward County Courthouse in the Democrat-leaning community. A block to the north, a recreational vehicle festooned with Bush-Cheney signs served as operation central, having recently been transferred from similar duty in Miami. Not all out-of-state demonstrators came from Washington. Several New York Republicans paid for their own plane tickets, while the Bush-Cheney campaign footed the hotel bill. "They told me to send an invoice for our bills, and I told them we need the check by Sunday night, in case he loses," jokes one of them. Rick Nelson, a vascular surgeon from Oklahoma City, recalls arriving in Miami and being told by a GOP official that he and several other volunteers were going to become protesters. "Okay, we've never done this before," Mr. Nelson recalls the operative saying. "Anybody know how to put together a protest?" -- Evan Perez contributed to this article. EN-US&SD=gn&FR=0&qry=work%20offline&rnk=6&src=DHCS_MSPSS_gn_SRCH&SPR=W98 <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! 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