Who is John "Drunken Frat Boy" Sweeney? Flash back to Miami 2000

[BurtWorm]

Talking about this turd (the one old enough to be legally drunk).

http://www.slate.com/id/1006572/

chatterbox
Sweeney and the Siege of Miami
Timothy Noah
Posted Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2000, at 5:59 PM ET

Why isn't Rep. John Sweeney, R-N.Y., being held accountable for his alleged role in starting the Miami mayhem that may have cost Al Gore the election? In a Nov. 24 editorial page column in the Wall Street Journal, Paul Gigot (who was there) wrote that when the Miami-Dade canvassing board made its (admittedly unfair) decision to move its manual recount to a room that could not accommodate reporters, Rep. Sweeney, "a visiting GOP monitor, told an aide to 'Shut it down,' and semi-spontaneous combustion took over." In their complaint contesting the Florida election, Al Gore and Joe Lieberman describe what happened this way:

Republican and other supporters of George Bush launched a campaign of personal attacks upon the Canvassing Board members and election personnel. ... Some news reports described the protests as a "near riot." The New York Times ... reported on November 24, 2000: "One nonpartisan member of the board, David Leahy, the supervisor of elections, said after the vote <to halt the manual recount> that the protests were one factor that he had weighed in his decision."



According to the Nov. 28 Washington Post, protesters chased one Democratic leader and shouted "thief, thief," because they believed (mistakenly) that he was stealing a ballot. (It turned out to be a sample.) According to Time, that leader, whose name is Joe Geller, said he was "pushed by two dozen protesters screaming, 'I'm gonna take you down!' " Time also reports that a Democratic observer named Luis Rosero said he was punched and kicked.

What happened in Miami may not have been a riot, but it was certainly an organized disturbance aimed at stopping the hand recount. It was successful, and, possibly, it was against the law. "A group of out-of-state, paid political operatives came to south Florida in an attempt to stop county-wide recounts," Democratic Rep. Peter Deutsch told the New York Times today. "They crossed state lines and intimidated the counting in a federal election, which is a violation of the Voting Rights Act." Actually, the part about crossing states lines appears to be superfluous. The law states:

No person, whether acting under color of law or otherwise, shall intimidate, threaten, or coerce, or attempt to intimidate, threaten, or coerce any person for voting or attempting to vote, or intimidate, threaten, or coerce, or attempt to intimidate, threaten, or coerce any person for urging or aiding any person to vote or attempt to vote. ...



Which brings us back to Rep. Sweeney (who, remarkably, has himself used the word "thugs" to describe the Florida officials whose efforts he allegedly "shut down"). In the days since Gigot's column appeared, hardly anybody seems to have asked Sweeney whether he said what Gigot claims he said. Chatterbox phoned Sweeney's office yesterday (twice!) and was told no statement had been put out and that somebody would get back to him. No one did. Today, Chatterbox called back twice more and finally got through to Sweeney's chief of staff, Brad Card (who happens to be the younger brother of Andrew Card, whom George W. Bush just named to be his White House chief of staff). "It wasn't necessarily 'shut it down,' as I understand it," Card said. He added that he wasn't there, that he didn't know which aide it was to whom Sweeney said whatever it was he said, and that whatever it was Sweeney said was aimed not at stopping the hand recount but merely at restoring the process to public view, in keeping with Florida's sunshine laws. "I'm not convinced that the words were 'shut it down,' " Card repeated....



http://www.slate.com/id/1006572/

[Cooley Hurd]

1. Also, see my thread on this (with add'l info):

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=1043124&mesg_id=1043124

[Ignacio Upton]

3. This guy looks so shit-faced

I wonder if that pic is on anyone's Facebook galleries.

[BOSSHOG]

2. An old republican grooming young republicans

It continues to suck incredibly being them.

[BurtWorm]

4. "the ugliest single set piece of the Election 2000 epic"

http://archive.salon.com/politics/feature/2000/11/28/miami/index.html


The incident -- the ugliest single set piece of the Election 2000 epic and possibly the most decisive one -- was set in motion by one imported GOP operative: Rep. John Sweeney, R-N.Y., who from an office in that same county building has led the Miami fight against the recount.

But Sweeney wasn't alone. According to the Miami Herald, he had a few helpers, including Elizabeth Ross, a staffer for Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., and Thomas Pyle, an aide to House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, R-Texas.

London Sunday Times correspondent Tom Rhodes, who was present during the protest, says he overheard one GOP protester on a cellphone in the midst of that political mosh pit bragging that he had tipped off Bush campaign strategist Karl Rove about the rally. "I just told Rove," Rhodes overheard. As with the presence of Ross and Pyle, the call demonstrated that these weren't just protesters lured off the streets by the party, but connected, dyed-in-the-wool party operatives.

Wednesday's upheaval came suddenly and unexpectedly. With the Sunday deadline mandated by the Florida State Supreme Court fast approaching, the three-person canvassing board decided to scrap a total recount and tally only contested ballots. The board also announced it would move its operation to a smaller room closer to the computerized ballot-scanning machines in order to speed up the count. Despite the fact that observers and pool media could still be admitted, the GOP's Miami team, which had been decrying possible corruption in the count all along as Gore picked up another 157 votes, decided it was time to act.

[BurtWorm]

5. The Battle of Miami

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2002/080502a.html

On Nov. 22, 2000, after learning that the Miami canvassing board was starting an examination of 10,750 disputed ballots that had previously not been counted, Rep. John Sweeney, a New York Republican, called on Republican troops to “shut it down,” according to Down and Dirty. Brendan Quinn, executive director of the New York GOP, told about two dozen Republican operatives to storm the room on the 19th floor where the canvassing board was meeting, Tapper reported.

“Emotional and angry, they immediately make their way outside the larger room in which the tabulating room is contained,” Tapper wrote. “The mass of ‘angry voters’ on the 19th floor swells to maybe 80 people,” including many of the Republican activists from outside Florida.

News cameras captured the chaotic scene outside the canvassing board's offices. The protesters shouted slogans and banged on the doors and walls. The unruly protest prevented official observers and members of the press from reaching the room. Miami-Dade county spokesman Mayco Villafana was pushed and shoved. Security officials feared the confrontation was spinning out of control.

The canvassing board suddenly reversed its decision and canceled the recount. “Until the demonstration stops, nobody can do anything,” said David Leahy, Miami’s supervisor of elections, although the canvassing board members would later insist that they were not intimidated into stopping the recount.

[BurtWorm]

6. The Guy Who Gored Al

Rep. John Sweeney, R-N.Y., speaks at a news conference in Miami, Nov. 19, as Rep. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, looks on at right. Marta Lavandier

http://www.thegully.com/essays/america/001201sweeney.html

Election 2000
The Guy Who Gored Al
The irresistible ascension
of John E. Sweeney

by Toby Eglund

DECEMBER 1, 2000. Among the legions of Republicans who will cash in their chips if George W. Bush gets to the White House is the heretofore nationally obscure U.S. Representative John E. Sweeney, an upstate New York Republican insider.

The suddenly prominent Mr. Sweeney is credited for giving the signal for last week's productive Republican fracas inside the Miami Dade county offices, after which the canvassing board abruptly canceled a hand recount of votes that would have helped Al Gore. "Street-smart New York Rep. John Sweeney, a visiting GOP monitor, told an aide to "Shut it down," and semi-spontaneous combustion took over," The Wall Street Journal's Paul Gigot admiringly wrote.

The melee, of course, has turned out to be as spontaneous as a Rockettes' Christmas extravaganza. Democrats are charging that the board was intimidated. Republicans pooh pooh that. And board chairman David Leahy, who seemed to agree at first, has since denied the board acted under duress. The whole, nasty megillah is now before a Florida court.

[Scout1071]

7. I love it that the dude in the back is smoking a joint in that pic!

So clear to me that he's smoking one!

[w13rd0]

8. Ah, so now Sweeny is busted...

...and one of the other guys at the Brooks Brothers riots is deputy chief of staff or chief policy advisors (can't recall which) in the WH. These guys really have NO shame whatsoever, their hubris is just baffling.