The Caucas: THE ELECTION THAT WON'T DIE

[Larkspur]

from The Hartford Courant
http://www.ctnow.com/news/politics/hc-caucus0712.artjul12,0,880884.story?coll=hc-headlines-politics

Speaking of presidential contests, you can pretty much count on the Democratic crop of wannabes invoking the ghost of Florida 2000 as they seek to upend the Bush presidency. But this may be a bonus: The Washington Post reports that during the infamous recount and legal battle, a newly created political group spent $150,000 attacking three pro-Democratic state Supreme Court justices who threatened George W. Bush's hopes for victory.

The Florida Elections Commission now says the Committee to Take Back Our Judiciary was a front group for unidentified donors trying to ensure Bush's election. The panel is weighing a possible $450,000 fine against the committee's chairwoman, Republican Mary McCarty, a Palm Beach County commissioner.

But the committee's real organizer, the election commission said, was veteran GOP political consultant Roger Stone, who has been involved in major campaigns dating from Richard Nixon's administration. The election commission wanted to question Stone, who owns a home in Florida.

In a recent report on the matter, the commission says Stone persuaded McCarty to head the committee and that he supplied $150,000 from undisclosed sources. The group mailed letters to 350,000 Republican voters asking for money to send "a clear message to the Florida Supreme Court that we will not tolerate their efforts to highjack the presidential election for Al Gore."

The Florida Elections Commission concluded that McCarty violated several state election laws, including accepting contributions exceeding the $500 state limit and filing an inaccurate disclosure report. McCarty has sued in federal court, seeking to block the commission proceedings. She told The Associated Press: "I didn't do any of this except sign my name. ... This was basically some sort of a scam that was set up that I was used in. I was duped."

Stone's lawyer, Judd Burstein, said, "Roger's position is that questions about the substance here are not going to be dealt with. ... The answer to all those questions, to use a legal phrase, is that it is none of anyone's damn business."