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Just making sure Doin' What Comes NaturallyBy Rick Horowitz
TALLAHASTY, Fla., Dec. 8 -- Meeting in an extraordinary special session, the Florida Legislature voted today to construct a 50-foot-high electrified fence around the vice president's official residence in Washington, D.C. The legislature's action, which came late this afternoon on a Republican-sponsored joint resolution, was seen as further complicating Al Gore's efforts to gain the White House, no matter what the ultimate result of the various lawsuits that continue to swirl across this city. "The people of Florida deserve to have some certainty, some finality, in the voting process," explained the President of the Florida Senate, John McKay, at a news conference just minutes after the resolution was passed. "We believe our actions today help provide that finality." Approved on a straight party-line vote after several hours of contentious debate, the resolution authorizes the immediate expenditure of "whatever moneys are necessary" to send a 12-man construction crew from Florida to the nation's capital to confine Mr. Gore within the grounds of the Naval Observatory in Northwest Washington. "Nobody gets in, nobody gets out," explained Mr. McKay. "Our legal experts are very clear about this: If you can't take the oath, you can't be president." The construction crew, flying on a cargo plane filled with chain-link fencing and high-voltage transformers, was reported on its way to Washington within an hour of the vote, and was expected to begin work directly upon arrival, laboring through the night if necessary to ensure Mr. Gore's continued presence on the Observatory grounds. Tom Feeney, Speaker of the Florida House, insisted that despite strong GOP majorities in both chambers, the resolution was not driven by partisan considerations. "We'd have done exactly the same thing regardless of who the vice president is," Mr. Feeney said. "We had a solemn obligation to protect the voters of Florida from some runaway court making an ill-considered decision that would taint our electors and defeat the will of the people." A second resolution, calling for the kidnapping of the vice president's wife, Tipper, was set aside by Republican leaders as "premature." Democratic complaints about today's actions were termed "typical sore-loser, cry-baby tactics" by GOP aides, while officials sought to portray their decision as a reasonable effort to bring order out of electoral chaos. "It's all right there in the Federalist Papers," said Mr. Feeney. "You have to read between the lines a little, but if Madison and Hamilton had thought of an electric fence, they'd have liked it just fine." While some observers saw the legislature's move as an attempt to guarantee the election of Texas Gov. George W. Bush, GOP leaders professed their willingness to let the chips fall where they may. "Does anyone really think," asked the Senate's McKay, "that we'd do something special to benefit one candidate over another just because that candidate happens to be a Republican, and also happens to be our Republican governor's Republican brother?" Apparently eager to be viewed as flexible, Mr. McKay made clear that the height of the fence, and even its voltage, could be adjusted downward depending on Mr. Gore's actions in coming days. The fence would be removed entirely, he suggested, as soon as Mr. Gore issued an irrevocable concession and Mr. Gore's Democratic allies abandoned all lawsuits and all efforts to conduct further recounts of Florida's ballots. "We take no joy from today's actions," said Mr. McKay. "The joy will come later, when we get the best seats at the Inaugural Parade." Posted 12/7/00. Get
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Rick Horowitz