Did Roberts work on the Bu$h Recount Team

[DoYouEverWonder]

during the 2000 Election?

Roberts donated $1000 to the campaign and then another $1000 for the recount, so we have proof that, at the least, he supported the cause.

Supposedly he also traveled to Florida to work behind the scenes. This is very troubling since many illegal activities were conducted by this team.

One of the most blatant acts was the infamous Miami Riot. Mini riots like Miami were conducted at other Board of Elections around the state.

Then we had Bolton barging into the middle of a recount demanding that they stop. They did.

These are just two examples of shenanigans that went on and in the end the Supreme Court, which this man now might become a member of, selected the President of the United States. Some of us believe that this is the day America died. Do you want to have someone in the Supreme Court who was an active participant? I don't.

[movie_girl99]

1. i think i heard on Morning Sedition that he

was one of the attorneys that worked on the recount.

[DoYouEverWonder]

3. Then we need to find out what his role was

This guy is definitely a Bushbot, willing to do anything for the cause type. Not a suitable choice for SC if that is the case.

[Pathwalker]

19. MSRNC said he wrote the brief for the case!

Said that last night - does that count?

[GR]

2. Don't KNow But Bolton Worked On the Bork Confirmation Team...

C-SPAN was showing some footage of that and there he was...John Bolton...the Forrest Gump of Fascism standing right there at the hearing table...

[DistressedAmerican]

4. Absolutely! He Is THE ENEMY. Fight Him!

[DoYouEverWonder]

5. I think it might be easier to win

going after him this way rather then fighting the obvious pro-life issues.

Here he proves he's a POLITICAL ACTIVIST and a history of this sort of activism is inappropriate for a Supreme Court Justice.

[Sydnie]

6. I really like this angle

This information needs to be documented and circulated. We need to know what his job was in that recount effort.

[DeepModem Mom]

7. CNN's John King said Bushies were being "hush-hush" about this...

in the run-up to the selection of a nominee, when Roberts was discussed as a candidate. I heard King say this shortly after the name emerged yesterday, and he said it was to prevent Roberts's nomination as being portrayed as "partisan." Apparently, Roberts's role in the recount was a major one.

[bananas]

10. is there a video clip or transcript of this?

Do you remember what time he said it?

[DeepModem Mom]

13. I'll check it out on CNN website. King said it shortly after...

word got out that Roberts was the nominee.

On edit: Found this -- "We should also note, Mr. Roberts' law firm, Hogan & Hartson, had a big part of Mr. Bush's legal fight in the recount back in election year 2000. So the president rewarding someone who was involved with him politically a long time ago." I'm sure there was more. Still looking.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0507/19/acd.01.h...

[DeepModem Mom]

14. Found no more, but I didn't imagine the words "hush-hush," or...

the remainder of what I heard. Is this a full transcript, I wonder, or has it been edited?

I will note that I tried to Google ties between Roberts and the recount, and could not find any -- I kept getting entries for the newsperson John Roberts.

[bananas]

16. You posted this at 8:06pm (EST?) yesterday

so you probably saw it shortly before that time.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

DeepModem Mom (1000+ posts) Tue Jul-19-05 08:06 PM
Original message
CNN's John King saying WH has been "hush-hush" re. Roberts, FL recount --
Edited on Tue Jul-19-05 08:08 PM by DeepModem Mom

Apparently, he played a major role. King indicated that when Roberts emerged among the finalists, this part of his resume seemed not a popular topic for comment from the Bushies, so as not to portray this as a "partisan" appointment.

It's been my observation that they have not been shy about flaunting stolen elections, nor about rewarding those involved.

[DeepModem Mom]

18. Yes, it was 8:06 Eastern. nt

[DeepModem Mom]

20. FOUND IT, bananas! Eureka!

ZAHN: Well, it's interesting that you noted that there's such a short paper trail, because he just served just two years on the appellate court.

But I think one thing that is interesting to note -- and a Republican was telling me this earlier today -- this is a man who got a great deal of attention during the Florida recount. He was working behind the scenes. And people perceived him as the heavyweight that gave the president ultimately a big boost.

KING: Well, it's interesting you raise that point, because his law firm was involved. And it's been very hard in recent weeks, as his name has emerged as someone we knew was under very serious consideration, and, indeed, in recent days, was among the handful of finalists for this job, to try to get people to tell us publicly what exactly did he do in the recount, what exactly was his role. They're very HUSH-HUSH about that, because the last thing the White House wants to do is have this man portrayed as a political partisan, if you will.

They say, sure, he is a Republican. He has a Republican pedigree. Sure, he and his law firm were helpful in the recount effort. But the last thing they want to do is suggest that this pick was made for any reason, for partisan reasons, partisan political reasons. The president will make the case he looked at the complete legal record of this gentleman.

He also served as a deputy solicitor under Ken Starr. He is familiar with arguing cases before the Supreme Court, the court on which the president now wants him to sit. But that -- make no doubt about it, Paula. Anything critics can do to make him political...

ZAHN: Well...

KING: ... not a judge, if you will, will be in this fight. ZAHN: Well, it's not like they need a whole lot of ammunition here, John. I mean, can't you almost see the Democratic response to this $18 million Republican ad campaign? You know exactly what they're going to say. This is the guy who helped get the president elected.

KING: If -- I will tell you this now. The White House would be thrilled. If that is the only weapon the White House has against Justice -- Judge Roberts, now justice nominee Roberts, is that he helped the president more than five years ago in the recount battle, this White House will take that fight any day of the week....


http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0507/19/pzn.01.h...


So, on edit, WHAT EXACTLY WAS HIS HEAVYWEIGHT BEHIND-THE-SCENES ROLE?

[bananas]

24. Great! Maybe dembloggers or crooksandliars can find a video clip

They like to collect those kinds of things
www.dembloggers.com
www.crooksandliars.com

[DeepModem Mom]

27. dembloggers.com has this from Dallas Morning News --

....Role in 2000 recount

In the aftermath of the disputed 2000 presidential election, Judge Roberts played a key, if quiet, role in the Florida recount.

Although his name did not appear on the briefs, three sources who were personally aware of Judge Roberts' role said he gave Republican Gov. Jeb Bush critical advice on how the Florida Legislature could constitutionally name George W. Bush the winner at a time when Republicans feared that if the recount were to continue the courts might force a different choice.....

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestne...

[Samantha]

46. That's true, but we discussed this last night in another thread

and I posted that I had heard Katrina Of The Nation commenting that he had acted as an advisor to Jeb Bush during the recount controversy. If he's the one who suggested that Jeb nudge the Florida Legislature into stating it would appoint its own slate of electors should a recount give Gore the popular vote, there's no question this would have been unconstitutional. The lawyer who suggested this, had he any Constitutional expertise, would have known this. He also would have known that the gullible public would simply have to hear the threat to believe it. No one would research the issue.

David Bois has a chapter about the 2000 election controversy in his most recent book, and he specifically discusses why that would have been unconstitutional. If Roberts were the one behind this maneuver, shame, shame, shame on him -- as I said last night.

[DoYouEverWonder]

11. If Robert's played a major role

then we might be able to kill two birds with one stone? Drawing attention to the Bush Recount Team and the 2000 Election is probably a place Bush would rather not go.

[The Magistrate]

17. This Is Indeed, Ma'am, The Best Angle By Far For Opposition

Queries on this subject by Democratic Senators would receive coverage, and in the current atmosphere of scandal and distrust could do much to renew interest in the fact of the '00 Coup, and undermine the popular perception of legitimacy about the regime installed by it.

It could also establish the wretch as a politicized figure unfit for the High Court on grounds of partisanship, particulatly as there will certainly be cases invoolving war crimes, torture and the like committed by his cronies reaching the High Court during his potential service there, on which he could not possibly be trusted to rule fairly and in accordance with the law and the Constitution, in light of his obvious partisanship.

"The whole art of war consists in a reasoned and extremely circumspect defensive, followed by audacious attack."

[Just Me]

28. I think your strategy is spot on.

Take away the decisive wedge issue and pound on him as a proven political activist who has no place on the SCOTUS.

[The Magistrate]

33. This Is Indeed The Ticket, Ma'am!

"No quarter!"

[G_j]

9. good point

he helped * 'take' the WH by advising Jeb in FLA.
payback anyone?

[me b zola]

23. Political activist---will legislate from the bench!!

This is the word. We should recomend this to be a course of action for the DU activists corp.

[G_j]

8. gave Jeb critical advice on how Florida could name * the winner

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/20...

<snip>
Roberts's name did not appear on any of the briefs during the Florida presidential recount, but sources say he gave Jeb Bush critical advice on how the Florida legislature could name George W. Bush the winner at time when Republicans feared the courts might force a different choice.

<snip>

[DeepModem Mom]

15. Well, that advice is a clearly undemocratic outrage -- it would have...

disenfranchised the majority of Florida voters.

On edit: I'm nominating this thread. Let's find out more.

[dbt]

12. Kick. This needs to stay on the front page.

[EFerrari]

21. Somone needs to write a piece about all the people who were

rewarded for FLA 2000 and use the question of Roberts as the punchline.

[glitch]

29. Sounds like a job for Greg Palast! nt

[EFerrari]

31. Agree! You could write a book about the rewards doled

out by Bu$h to people who helped him into power by breaking the law.

[glitch]

36. That would take a 26 volume encyclopedia set. Many would have to

contribute, because compiling the crimes of the bush family would drive a single author quite, quite mad!

[bunny planet]

22. Amy Goodman talked about Robert's role in stopping the recount this

morning on Democracy Now. He 'advised' others on how to present the case before the courts (Florida Supreme Court?) to prevent the recount from going forward. Kind of shady business for Supreme Court justices to be involved in at all....... oh wait....nevermind.

[progressoid]

25. He may very well have been part of the recount debacle

But since most of those activities (regardless of their legality) have been accepted by most in DC as innocuous, I doubt that any of it would stick.

Hell, the Repugs wear the shenanigans of 2000 as a badge of honor. And sadly, most of the Dems there just want to forget it.

[DoYouEverWonder]

30. That all well and good for politicians

but it is not well and good for any judge to participate in this sort of activity, especially one that will have a life term on the Supreme Court.

[progressoid]

34. Aye, there's the rub - regardless of what is well and good...

The politicians are in charge of vetting & approval and the 2000 election probably won't make their top 10 of issues to deal with.

[realFedUp]

26. What did he do under Ken Starr?

any links?

[bunny planet]

32. Don't you mean the * no recount team.

[bunny planet]

35. I don't get it, if Roberts worked on the case in Bush v. Gore for Jr.,

doesn't that make it a conflict of interest or at least suspect that he would be rewarded with a Supreme nomination. Or is it just me?

I guess ethics or tainted cronyism and nepotism really have proved to be no problem for this WH. Unbelievable.

Pretty much everyone he appoints has something to do with some scandal or other. It is FUBAR.

[glitch]

37. I like to call it FUBUSH

it's several orders of magnitude above FUBAR.

[electron_blue]

38. That's a lot of $ for recount

[alfredo]

39. Is he in that picture of the Brooks Brother Riot?

Looks like he wasn't. Is he connected with anyone in this image?

[AlGore-08.com]

42. The Brooks Brothers riot was organized out of Tom Delay's office

And John Sweeney was involved as well. Since the actual rioters were REpublican Congressional Aides and former Republican Congressional aides, I would guess that there's probably a stronger tie to Delay or Sweeney.

But a lot of these rioters went on to work in the Smirk White House, so I could be wrong...

[alfredo]

43. I guess we will have to

wait for researchers to find how deeply Roberts was involved in the 2000 campaign.

[DoYouEverWonder]

40. Looks like Roberts might have helped bankroll the 2004 Campaign

and was also a member of the Bush Transition Team in 2004.

Can a Justice be a lobbyist at the same time?


http://www.publicintegrity.com/bop2004/report.aspx?aid=...

Lobbyists Bankrolling Politics
Bush gets nearly four times as much as Kerry

WASHINGTON, May 6, 2004 — More than 1,300 registered lobbyists have given slightly more than $1.8 million to President George W. Bush over the last six years, according to a Center for Public Integrity study comparing the donations of all registered lobbyists from 1998 through March 2004. Sen. John Kerry received $520,000 from 442 lobbyists during the same period.

Such numbers account for a significant percentage of those who ply the influence game. In fact, the lobbyists who donated to Bush have represented about 6,000 clients; those who gave to Kerry, approximately 3,000 clients. Combined, these figures add up to more than half of all the companies that hire lobbyists, according to the Senate Office of Public Records. The SOPR says that there are currently 24,000 lobbyists registered to represent 15,000 clients.

Registered Lobbyists Appointed to Bush's Transition Teams and Their Activity

Justice John Roberts - Hogan & Hartson - 80,000

[me b zola]

44. "Can a Justice be a lobbyist at the same time?" No. Here's the link

This is the government website of lobbying regulations.

http://www1.pr.doe.gov/lobbying.pdf

[DoYouEverWonder]

45. Thanks, now we just need to compare the dates

he became a judge, May, 2003 and the dates for his lobbying activities, which it seems from the CPI report would have been during the Bush Campaign which would be Jan 2004 at the earliest. If there's any overlap, I would think he's in violation of this rule.


Various Federal statutes and regulations prohibit "lobbying" by federal employees, as well as federal contractors, cooperative agreement participants, and grantees. Although the definition of “lobbying” may differ within statutes and regulations, the restrictions generally prohibit contacting or encouraging others to contact a state or federal legislator or executive branch official in an attempt to influence the enactment or modification of legislation or other specified activities. The following discussion provides general guidelines that should help identify the various statutory and regulatory lobbying restrictions. For more detailed guidance, you should consult your cognizant legal counsel.

[AuntiBush]

41. Nominated. Hope other's read this, too!

Thanks "DoYouEverWonder" as now I am past your username daily.