[Mb-civic] Recount story a surprise to Jeb

[Jef Bek]

Jeb Bush: Roberts involvement in 2000 recount "news" to him

Gov. Jeb Bush said Wednesday that he was surprised by a report that U.S.
Supreme Court nominee John Roberts played an influential role in Florida's
2000 presidential recount, insisting that "my relationship with him lasted
about 30 minutes." 

Jeb is telling us that in the most important period of his brother's life
and possibly for the GOP in recent memory, he had no knowledge of Roberts
role. Does he remember who Katherine Harris is?


http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/legislature/sfl-arecount28jul28,0,6558573.s
tory?coll=sfla-news-legislature

Recount story a surprise to Bush

Governor says Roberts' role `news to me'
  By John Kennedy
Tallahassee Bureau

July 28, 2005


TALLAHASSEE · Gov. Jeb Bush said Wednesday that he was surprised by a report
that U.S. Supreme Court nominee John Roberts played an influential role in
Florida's 2000 presidential recount, insisting that "my relationship with
him lasted about 30 minutes."
The governor, whose brother, President Bush, won the White House after the
high court stopped the Florida recount by a 5-4 vote, said he huddled
briefly with Roberts during the 36-day legal standoff for a "very arcane
discussion."
The governor made the remarks after Texas Solicitor General Ted Cruz, a
former domestic policy adviser to George Bush's campaign, told reporters
that he brought Roberts, then a Washington lawyer, to Tallahassee to take
part in the frenzied legal battle that followed the Florida contest.
Cruz said he called Roberts and asked him to join the campaign's recount
team because he was "one of the best constitutional minds in the country."
Cruz said Roberts arrived in Tallahassee a week into the recount, writing
and editing legal briefs before eventually helping prepare Bush's argument
before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Once in Tallahassee, the governor's legal staff likely sought out Roberts,
Cruz said.
"I am surprised," Gov. Bush said of Roberts' apparently expanding role.
"But since I wasn't part of all the inner workings of the Bush campaign
after the election, it was news to me that he was. I don't know if it's true
or not; it hasn't been confirmed by anybody other than some guy in Texas."
Gov. Bush recalled that his meeting with Roberts focused on the governor's
role in certifying the election.
Bush said Roberts was sought out by "my legal team because at the time he
was one of the brighter lawyers on constitutional issues."
He said Roberts' counsel covered "what does the constitution say is the
governor's role based on a few scenarios."