Former attorney general reflects on recount

PRESQUE ISLE – A significant legacy of the presidential vote recount in Florida has been the willingness to criticize judges, undercutting their credibility and independence, according to a former Maine attorney general who participated in that post-election exercise.

“There were far too many extra-legal attacks in Florida,” James Tierney said Thursday night during a speech at the University of Maine at Presque Isle.

Tierney, Maine attorney general from 1980 to 1990, works as a consultant for state attorneys general across the country and was called late last year to assist Bob Butterworth, Florida’s attorney general, in that state’s presidential vote recount.

He originally was scheduled to deliver his talk, “Public Advocacy in the Digital Age,” in November.

A Democrat, Tierney told the audience of about 150 that although he didn’t agree with the outcome of the recount, such decisions should be made by an independent judiciary that applies law to the facts and not what is popular.

“I like the fact that the courts can make these decisions,” said Tierney. “They are there to stick up for views that may be the minority – a place we all are from time to time.

“What I don’t like is the view … that the judiciary should not be independent,” he said.

Tierney pointed to newly sworn-in U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, who once called a Missouri judge “pro-criminal” because he took a position Ashcroft disfavored.

“What message does that send to every judge who sits in this country?” said Tierney.

Judges in the future will have to make decisions on issues of faith-based organizations receiving government money, abortion, and drilling for oil in sensitive areas. They also will have to deal with issues such as suspending environmental law “because the people of California failed to act rationally with their energy sources,” Tierney predicted.

“The judiciary needs to make these tough calls,” said the former attorney general. “They do not need to get the Florida treatment.”

Tierney said the Florida recount issue also involved who is allowed to vote and who decides who sits at the table when there’s no agreement.

Everyone, including “he who is without sin and convicted felons,” should be able to vote, he said.

“Many in Florida and in other states don’t want people to vote,” said Tierney. “There is a name for these people. They are called ‘incumbents.’ They like the system just the way it is.”

Barriers of all sorts have been erected, such as badly working voting machines and inconsistent voting procedures, Tierney said. Those barriers generate a philosophy that asks why people can’t just read the ballot and follow the rules, he added.

“Well, the honest answer is that not everyone can,” said Tierney, citing health or language problems.

“Those who think that these people should not vote are wrong,” said Tierney. “We are all God’s children. Their votes should have been counted. They should be at the table.”

Earlier in his speech, which at times was humorous, Tierney talked about community and being connected in a digital age. Technology in a democracy has allowed people to make their own way, he said.

At the same time, people are working harder because of the increased insecurity, risk and stress. Because of this, Tierney said, society is experiencing loneliness even with all of the interconnectedness.

“Social networks are deteriorating,” said Tierney. “We are less joiners. We do not know our neighbors.”

Attendance at public meetings is down, as is trust in government, he said.

The attorney said advocacy is more important in communities than in government. Law, politics and government are less significant in defining life quality, he said.

Tierney urged his audience to advocate by getting out and meeting people, not by relying on a computer.

Let’s not substitute a computer screen for the television screen,” said Tierney. “Let’s get out and meet each other face-to-face.”