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| THE BUSH LAWSUIT | |
 November 13, 2000  |
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After excerpts of statements made by Karen Hughes, Bush's director of communications, Theodore Olson, the attorney who argued George W. Bush's case against the Florida's hand-count in federal court today, outlines the Texas governor's view on the situation.
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THEODORE OLSON: I can hear you just fine. I hope you can hear me. JIM LEHRER: Now I hear you. Magic. It's working. THEODORE OLSON: Thank you.
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| A loss in federal court | ||||||||||||||||||||
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JIM LEHRER: Mr. Olson, Karen Hughes said no decision had been made yet on whether to appeal. It was up to you all in Florida to make the decision. Have you made it yet? THEODORE OLSON: No, no decision has been made. The discussions are ongoing, and I can't tell you exactly when that decision will be made. JIM LEHRER: On a scale of 1 to 10 how likely is it, it will be appealed?
JIM LEHRER: I mean, the decision was made... Oh, I see, your decision. THEODORE OLSON: The decision with respect to the appeal. JIM LEHRER: I see. You heard what Mr. Klain just said. Did you hear what Mr. Klain said, that the judge's ruling was so strong it seems unlikely that you all would win this on appeal. THEODORE OLSON: Well, he wasn't at the hearing. I don't know who he
was talking to. The judge said that the concerns that we expressed in
this litigation were very, very serious. And he was concerned that since
it was probably going to have to be decided by a higher court that he
didn't want to give an injunctive relief at this time, and he thought
that those decisions should be made by a higher court, but he said the
concerns that you've expressed about this process are very, very serious.
Now, let me tell you why he said that and why we have brought the case
that we did: The process that we have here is a selective hand manual
recount after the votes in Florida have been counted not just once but
twice by a process that's objective and fair and reasonable by machines
that have no interest in the outcome of the case. The process that we're seeing now involves selective counties, selected by Democrats, for recount according to unreviewable and inconsistent standards. We have one set of rules in one county, another set of rules in another county. In Palm Beach on Saturday, many Americans saw the rules being changed during the process itself, and the ultimate decision as to whether to count a vote or how to count it is being made under that system by Democrat officials. So, if your vote is going to be evaluated by an official who has an interest in the outcome opposite yours, you are going to be concerned about that. All Americans are entitled to have their votes measured equally by a consistent process, and that's the exact opposite of what is happening in Florida.
THEODORE OLSON: Well, I have no idea what the outcome of it will be, but it is clear what the objective of the Gore campaign is. As Karen Hughes said, they are interested in recounting and recounting and recounting until they're satisfied with the result. On top of that, as we heard in court today, there are more than eight lawsuits filed. The lawsuit that was filed to extend the deadline is yet another one. The deadline, by the way, is mandatory in the statute. At 5:00 PM on Tuesday, the process must come to an end and the results must be certified. This is another example of what doesn't matter what the law says, we're going to try to keep the process open. So we have perpetual recounts. We have perpetual lawsuits; and we even heard the lawyers for the Gore campaign in federal court today suggest that there ought to be additional elections in certain areas -- undoubtedly the areas that would be favorable to them. So we have a process that the Gore campaign is very sad what is happening in this country. They will not accept the outcome of a duly, fair process where the votes were counted twice; so recounts must go on, lawsuits must go on, and the threats of further dislocation and chaos in this elective process. |
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| Finding a winner in Florida | ||||||||||||||||||||
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JIM LEHRER: But the legalities... I'll say the same thing to you as I just said to Mr. Klain…the bottom line here is you want this thing stopped tomorrow afternoon at 5. That means Governor Bush carries the state and wins the presidency, correct?
JIM LEHRER: What's your reading of the state court hearing that is still underway as we speak? Do you think you're going to win there or do you think the Democrats will prevail? THEODORE OLSON: I don't know because I was not there at that state court hearing. But what I do know is what the position... our position... the position of our lawyers are in that case and the secretary of state and, an elected official of the state of Florida, looked at the statute and said, "I don't have any discretion here. There isn't any emergency. It will be seven days after the election last week. The statute says that the certifications must take place at 5 o'clock on the seventh day, by 5 o'clock on the seventh day, and that must be the end of it." Now, the Gore campaign thinks, "well, we want to continue to count ballots until we're satisfied with the result and the courts ought to interfere and extend that deadline apparently interminably." |
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| Partisan politics? | ||||||||||||||||||||
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THEODORE OLSON: Well, no because she's complying with the statute that was enacted by the legislature and is in the books and has been in the books for a long, long time. All she's saying is that the statute and anyone who would read the statute would find that the statute means what it says. I mean it's very clear. So all.... JIM LEHRER: I'm sorry. Go ahead. I was just going to say, wouldn't the outcome of the election of the President of United States constitute an emergency for a little discretion on her part? THEODORE OLSON: She said if we had a hurricane or if we had certain events like that, just because someone wants to keep the process open to some interminable, never-ending date is not a good reason to do it. Remember, we're only talking about four counties here -- four counties selected by Democrats for recount because they could have the recounts done manually, subject to the individual discretion of the vote counters and those vote counters are Democrats. So it's a process that's extraordinarily unfair. Think of the other 63 counties in Florida who aren't going through this process. Their votes were counted and presumably are complete through a process that weighs votes equally. And yet four counties are going to go through this process where they keep getting changed and added to and so forth. It's unfair and it violates the Constitution to have an inconsistent process that has no end to it. JIM LEHRER: Mr. Olson, thank you very much. THEODORE OLSON: Thank you, Jim. |
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JIM
LEHRER: The Bush campaign's position now from Theodore Olson, the attorney
who argued the Bush case in the Miami federal court this morning. Mr.
Olson, welcome. I can't hear you. Can you hear me? 
THEODORE
OLSON: I think we probably wait until a decision is made before we start
to speculate about something like that. 
JIM
LEHRER: So your expectation, your campaign's expectation is that if
this manual voting is allowed to continue, the end result will be Vice
President Gore will win Florida? 
THEODORE
OLSON: Well, it happens to be... I don't know what the result, the certifications
will be by 5:00 tomorrow. The law of the state of Florida says that
that is a mandatory ending date. The position that the Bush campaign
has been throughout all this process is let's comply with the laws of
the state of Florida with respect to the count and the recount. The
only thing that we've objected to is the constant barrage of litigation
and this process of selective recounting according to standards that
don't exist that put the decision with respect to the counting of ballots
in the hands of partisans. And people saw what a chaotic process that
is -- people handing ballots to one another, holding them up to the
light, changing the rules. This was chaotic. It's a very, very sad thing
that this process has turned into this. 
JIM
LEHRER: But, Mr. Olson, doesn't the same thing apply there? The secretary
of state is a Republican who supported Governor Bush. The same complaint
could be made about her that you're making about the Democrats doing
the hand counting?