Letters to the Editor

A questionable endorsement

To the Editor:

I personally call into question your endorsement of Jim Eisenhower for attorney general ("Endorsements of state candidates," The Daily Pennsylvanian, 11/01/04). In your own justification, you cite his qualifications as a main reason for his endorsement. Your assertion that Jim Eisenhower is more qualified to be attorney general than Tom Corbett is completely baseless.

Corbett has previously served as attorney general of Pennsylvania, doing so at the request of Tom Ridge following the resignation Ernie Preate, who was then convicted of criminal wrongdoing. Corbett restored dignity to the office, and in his short tenure strengthened the attorney general's position to include investigation of illegal activities via the Internet. He also established the Insurance Fraud Section in the Attorney General's Office, which has returned several million dollars to Pennsylvania's taxpayers. Corbett also has many years of experience as a federal prosecutor. He is concerned about the safety and well-being of the environment and convicted the first municipality for violating laws intending to keep our rivers and streams clean for our many generations to come.

Corbett also served as an impetus behind the Telemarketer Registration Act, which since enacted has created the Do Not Call Registry and saved numerous Pennsylvanians from those numerous inconvenient calls right around dinnertime.

Chris Mclaughlin

Wharton '08

False accusations on Florida

To the Editor:

Kevin Collins' recent column ("Make sure to know your voting rights," DP, 11/02/04) insinuates that Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Republicans intentionally disenfranchised black voters in 2000 and tried to do it again. Collins made the same allegations in a recent Fox Leadership forum on the 2004 election. The lead counsel for Pennsylvania, a lifelong Democrat who has been hired to prevent disenfranchisement this year, rejected the claims, calling them partisan "exaggerations."

Moreover, what Collins fails to mention is that subsequent investigations in Florida found no intentional voter suppression activities by the Republican Party, or anyone else. The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, led by Mary Frances Berry, a black Democrat, concluded that "potential voters confronted inexperienced poll workers, antiquated machinery, inaccessible polling locations and other barriers to exercise their right to vote."

This scenario, however, replayed itself all over America, and was not a scheme by the Republicans. The commission's report went on to say, "Moreover, even if it was not foreseeable that certain actions by officials led to voter disenfranchisement, this alone does not mean that intentional discrimination occurred." The Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice conducted a similar investigation. The department said that it "found no credible evidence in our investigation that Floridians were intentionally denied their right to vote during the November 2000 election."

It is also important to remember that recounts by major newspapers, including The New York Times, determined that George W. Bush had won Florida fair and square. He would have won by a larger margin if news stations hadn't declared polling places closed when western Florida, in the Central time zone, still had an hour left to vote. People familiar with Florida know that the western region is solidly Republican.

For years now, Democrats have been repeatedly accusing the Republicans of denying blacks the right to vote in Florida. The hope is that, if you repeat a lie often enough, eventually it will stick. It's a bit odd, however, that four years later, the Democrats have been unable to produce the name of a single voter who was prevented from voting by the Republican Party.

Scott Kahn

College '08

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