Dems, GOP signing up lawyers for Florida 2004

[DeepModem Mom]

Boies, Lawyers in 2000 Fight on Call for Florida's 2004 Vote


Barry Richard and David Boies, two of the courtroom stars of the infamous 2000 presidential ballot recount fight in Florida, are set to do battle again if voting problems arise in the George W. Bush-John Kerry contest in November.

And Boies predicts that there will indeed be litigation.

Richard, 62, a shareholder at Greenberg Traurig in Tallahassee who is one of Florida’s top appellate litigators, said he agreed last week to represent the Bush/Cheney campaign, but only in matters arising after the election....

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Boies, 63, the founding partner of Armonk, N.Y.-based Boies Schiller & Flexner, said he will represent the Kerry/Edwards campaign if any major litigation occurs after the election....

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“I will not be involved unless there is litigation,” Boies said in an interview. “I would not be involved in any immediate litigation on Election Day, such as lawsuits to keep the polls open. But post-election, I would agree to be involved.”

Boies predicted there will be post-election litigation in Florida over problems with the touch-screen voting systems used in 15 Florida counties, including Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach. “It’s particularly unfortunate that some touch-screen machines have a verifiable audit and others don’t,” he said.

http://www.nylawyer.com/news/04/08/080904l.html



GOP recruiting lawyers for election fallout
By Dara Kam


Tuesday, August 10, 2004

TALLAHASSEE — With the Democrats threatening to file lawsuits in anticipation of post-presidential election fallout, Republicans are amassing their own team of legal eagles, headed in Florida by Gov. Jeb Bush's former deputy general counsel.

Hayden Dempsey, who left Bush's office to join the prominent Greenberg Traurig firm last year, confirmed Monday he has been tapped as the statewide chairman of the Bush-Cheney campaign's legal defense team, Lawyers for Bush.

While the Democrats have made no secret about their cadre of lawyers — Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry reportedly has 2,000 lawyers ready to defend him — Republicans, including Dempsey, remain tight-lipped about their legal brigade....

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Miami attorney Stephen Zack, who with partner David Boies represented Al Gore in his losing 2000 challenge against President George W. Bush, was hired by the Kerry campaign last month to head its effort. Boies, on safari in Africa, could not be reached for comment Monday, but his aides said he is not expected to play a dominant role in Florida.

Zack already has 100 attorneys, including former Florida Attorney General Bob Butterworth, former U.S. Attorney Kendall Coffey and criminal defense lawyer Roy Black, to be on the watch for mistakes and voter problems at high-turnout precincts and each of the state's 67 elections offices.

Democratic lawyers in Florida are offering their services pro-bono in preparation for legal challenges that are expected after the Nov. 2 election, said Scott Maddox, chairman of the Florida Democratic Party. The lawyers already are meeting to determine who will cover what parts of the state.

"We have an intense network of lawyers across they state. They're volunteering across the state because they don't want to see the system subverted like it was in 2000," Maddox said....

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/politics/content/news/epaper/2004/08/10/a4a_gopvote_0810.html