Still more on Florida 2000

The continuing story of the 2000 vote selection:



Miami Herald



Posted on Fri, Jul. 11, 2003

Commissioner faces $450,000 fine over presidential election
Associated Press

WEST PALM BEACH - A Palm Beach County Republican is trying to block a $450,000 fine levied by the state for allegedly misreporting funding during the campaign to oust three Florida Supreme Court justices over the 2000 presidential election.

Mary McCarty filed suit in federal court in Tallahassee on Monday to block the fine for alleged state campaign law violations. The fine would be one of the five largest penalties ever imposed by the Florida Elections Commission, McCarty attorney Mark Herron said.

Commission attorney Eric Lipman declined to comment.

The state elections commission ruled in May that McCarty filed an ''incorrect, false or incomplete'' campaign report and accepted individual contributions above Florida's $500 campaign limit, including a $150,000 loan during her brief campaign to oust the justices. The campaign claimed the justices tried to ''hijack'' the election for Al Gore, who ultimately lost the state by 537 votes to George Bush.

McCarty said she did not intentionally do anything wrong. ''I didn't do any of this except sign my name,'' McCarty said of the political committee. ``This was basically some sort of a scam that was set up that I was used in. I was duped. My name was used, so I have to take the brunt of it.''

McCarty has said she was approached by Washington lobbyist Roger Stone to lead the committee and agreed to let a 350,000-piece money-raising mailing go out in her name.

The mailing urged voters to oust Florida Justices Harry Lee Anstead, Leander Shaw and Charles Wells at retention elections. The trio voted to recount votes in three Florida counties, including Palm Beach, but later voted against a statewide recount.

The letter called it an ''outrageous, arrogant power grab by a left-wing court which is stuck in the liberal '60s.'' The campaign eventually collected $220,000. Wells retired, as he had previously announced, and Anstead and Shaw were retained.