-Caveat Lector- Harris gets a scolding from civil rights panel <http://www.sptimes.com/News/011301/State/Harris_gets_a_scoldin.shtml> Members lash out when the secretary of state says she delegated responsibility for the election. By DIANE RADO 1/13/01 TALLAHASSEE--For two days, a federal civil rights commission listened to a string of public officials shift the blame for Florida's notorious voting problems during the presidential election. Frustration boiled over Friday when Secretary of State Katherine Harris, Florida's chief elections official, testified that she delegates a high level of authority to elections director Clay Roberts and that she would refer some questions to him. The impression was that Harris was shirking responsibility for voting problems that subjected Florida to national ridicule and sparked a U.S. Commission on Civil Rights inquiry into alleged civil rights violations. Irate commission members lashed out at her. "It (the election) was a disaster for your state as well as for the rest of the country and the way people feel about having faith in the system of this country," said commission member Victoria Wilson. She accused Harris of ignoring local elections supervisors who wanted money for voter education and other improvements, as well as guidance from the state on election matters. Supervisors "were desperate for your help, and the word that comes to mind, is that you abandoned them," Wilson said. "The fact is, that you didn't help the voters," she said. "You did not help the voters and the voters really had to the pay the price. I don't know who's responsible, the supervisors are saying you're responsible, you're saying Mr. Roberts is responsible. I'm on the merry-go-round called denial." Commission vice chairman Cruz Reynoso raised his voice as he told Harris that she can't avoid responsibility by saying she delegates authority for elections. Harris is an elected member of the state Cabinet. Roberts is an employee of the state. "You're the one that's responsible," he said. The commission's chairwoman, Mary Frances Berry, posed her questions to Harris anyway, not to Roberts. "I care what Mr. Roberts says, but as I understand the law, you are accountable and even though you delegated it, we should ask you what you think," she said. In her prior role as an assistant secretary of education in the federal government, Berry said, she felt it was her duty to be informed so that she could answer any questions posed by Congress. After being criticized by commission members, Harris said that though she delegates day-to-day operations for elections to Roberts, "I am chief elections office and I consider myself accountable and responsible for this election." The election put Florida in the international spotlight when the close vote between Texas Gov. George W. Bush and Vice President Al Gore led to vote recounts and legal battles for five weeks after Election Day. Bush was ultimately declared the winner, and Florida's 25 electoral votes put him in the White House. Harris, a co-chairman of Bush's campaign in Florida, was in the center of the political drama. Upon the advice of her attorneys and media consultants, Harris usually read carefully written statements, answered no questions, or referred questions to Roberts as her elections expert. But that didn't work before the civil rights panel Friday. Commission chairwoman Berry called Harris' description of her role as a manager who delegates "laughable." Indeed, members of the audience began to chuckle every time Harris turned to Roberts to answer a question. Harris and Roberts were the last of the witnesses at the commission's two-day hearing. The commission is looking into a host of allegations, including that minority voters were intimidated, turned away from the polls, forced to use outdated equipment at polling places and wrongly listed as convicted felons on voter lists. Confusion over the convicted felons extended to non-minorities as well. Linda Howell, the white elections supervisor in Madison County, told the commission Friday that she too was being accused of being a convicted felon after a mix-up created by the state. She received a letter at her office from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement in March 2000 that stated: "After reviewing your Florida criminal history, we have determined that you have a Florida felony conviction in our repository." The state later apologized. Attorney General Bob Butterworth's civil rights division is investigating the purging of voters from registration rolls, as well as other allegations of civil rights violations. He also told the commission Friday that he has already drafted proposed legislation that would prohibit motor vehicle checkpoints on Election Day. Roberta Tucker, 49, a state employee, told the commission Thursday that she was suspicious and intimidated when she was stopped at a roadblock about two miles from her polling place by highway patrol troopers. She had never seen a checkpoint on that road before. Col. Charles C. Hall, head of the highway patrol, testified Friday that the checkpoint at that location on that particular day was not authorized and that the media was not notified. For that reason, troopers involved in the incident were counseled. However, the troopers did not intend to intimidate voters and did not stop anyone from getting to the polls. "Our troopers did nothing wrong," Hall said. But Butterworth said such a checkpoint on Election Day may remind minorities of incidents that occurred 50 years ago during the struggle for civil rights. "For what it symbolizes, it gives the state of Florida a bad name," Butterworth said. He also is recommending that Florida establish a Voters' Bill of Rights that would describe the rights of eligible voters and be dedicated to Harry T. Moore, one of the founding fathers of the Florida NAACP and a pioneer in voting rights and education. He was known for registering poor blacks in rural Florida towns. Moore, a former school principal and owner of a small orange grove, was the first civil rights activist to be killed for his work. He died in 1951 when a bomb exploded under his family's home in Mims. Butterworth also is recommending that Florida create a uniform statewide voting system; eliminate punch card voting that confused voters this election; allow voters to cast "provisional" ballots if their names have inadvertently or mistakenly purged from registration rolls; and pass laws to ensure that Haitian-Americans and other minority and immigrant groups have materials in their language to better help them vote at the polls. The civil rights commission is scheduled to hold its next hearing in Miami in mid February and finish its work sometime before September. <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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