MIAMI (AP) -- A Democratic Florida congressman on Friday compared Gov. Jeb Bush's behavior after the contentious 2000 presidential recount to that of Osama bin Laden, saying the governor went into hiding.
Rep. Kendrick Meek, in a conference call designed to discuss President Bush's record on issues key to black voters, said there was a ``lack of accountability from the state of Florida'' during the disputed recount process.
``No one could find him when they had issues as it relates to so many African-American votes that were left on the floor in many supervisor of elections offices throughout the state,'' said Meek, the Florida chairman for the Kerry-Edwards presidential campaign.
``The governor was like bin Laden after the 2000 election.''
Alia Faraj, a spokeswoman for Gov. Bush, replied: ``We are not even going to dignify the comment with a response.''
Just 537 ballots decided Florida's 25 electoral votes, sealing the presidency for Bush. The win came amid claims that thousands of ballots from minority voters and others were not counted.
Later Friday, Meek spokesman Drew Hammill said the congressman was only trying to reiterate that Gov. Bush did not or could not answer what Hammill said were ``significant questions'' about the disputed election.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Florida-Congressman.html