NCC WASHINGTON UPDATE, Vol. 6, #44, December 15, 2000
by Bruce Craig <rbcraig3@juno.com> of the National Coordinating Committee for
the Promotion of History
*****************
1. 107th Congress: The Post-Election Political Landscape
2. Preserving History: What About the Florida Ballots?
3. Appropriations Update: Clinton, Congress Agree on Budget Accord - $50
Million for History Education Assured
4. News Bits and Bytes: NCLIS Deadline for Comments Extended; New FRUS volume
1. 107th CONGRESS: THE POST-ELECTION POLITICAL LANDSCAPE
The long dreaded fear of congressional Democrats - the loss of control of
both the White House and Congress - now is the stark reality. But the
political landscape is perhaps not all that bad for Democrats; in no way does
it resemble the battleground of years past when House Speaker Newt Gingrich
(R-GA) froze out Democrats, manipulated rules, and mustered majorities to
pass virtually any legislation the Republicans wanted. If anything, the
Democratic leadership seems invigorated as they have nearly erased GOP
majorities in both the House and Senate. Irrespective of the Bush victory,
Republicans are cognizant that with a majority of the popular vote in the
recent presidential election leaning left of center (taking into account the
Al Gore popular vote and the Green Party Ralph Nader vote tally), there
clearly is no conservative "mandate."
If the Bush administration hopes to get anything significant accomplished in
the 107th Congress, Democrats will have to be permitted to exercise latitude
in shaping legislation. In the Senate, for example, Republicans will need at
least ten Democrats to pass anything of significance. Centrists on both sides
of the aisle are the new "wild cards" as they will be the swing votes and
will have the power to break deadlocks between the more liberal and
conservative factions of their respective parties. Some Hill observers note
that if any group has lost ground it is Republican conservatives. In fact,
some of the most conservative voices of the 106th Congress (including several
House members who spearheaded the Clinton impeachment) were booted out of
Congress by their constituencies.
Now that the presidential election and nearly all the contested House and
Senate campaigns seem settled, here is the projected make-up of the 107th
Congress: The Republicans will control the White House and both houses of
Congress albeit by very slim margins. With 42 new members, the House
experienced a 10% turnover during this most recent election. The body will
be split 221 Republicans to 212 Democrats (one seat has yet to be filled
owing to the recent demise of Congressman Julian C. Dixon (D-CA); a Democrat
is expected to fill the now vacant seat).
The new Senate will be split 50/50 and appears to reflect the division in the
nation and the dead-heat nature of the presidential election. Republicans
technically will be in charge because Vice-President-elect, Richard Cheney,
will preside over the Senate and he would cast any tie-breaking votes. Thus
far, the Democrats' call for "power-sharing" appears to have fallen on deaf
ears. But with over five senators being 75 years old or older (Strom Thurmond
(R-SC), at 98 years is the oldest member of the Senate) theoretically,
control of the Senate could change hands should any one of the aged
Republican members die. This does not mean, however, that the Senate
leadership would change hands if a Republican senator should pass on.
The 83rd Congress provides the most recent precedent for how the 107th
Congress would probably address this situation should it arise. During the
83rd Congress, some nine senators died in office with numerical control of
the Senate flip-flopping between the two major parties. After member deaths,
the Senate elected not to change their leadership - and for a while, the
minority party actually retained numerical control. It's relevance to the
107th Congress? To quote Donald Ritchie of the Senate Historical Office, for
members of this next Congress, precedent will probably be viewed as "a guide
but not a straightjacket." Given the partisan nature expected of this next
Congress, who knows what would happen. Control of the Senate, indeed, hangs
by a thread.
2. PRESERVING HISTORY: WHAT ABOUT THE FLORIDA BALLOTS?
The results of the Florida vote undoubtedly will provide future historians,
political scientists, and journalists decades of fodder for historical
research, analysis, and political commentary. We can expect, in years to
come, that hundreds of articles and books will flow from the pens of
researchers, many of whom will examine the still unanswered question that the
U.S. Supreme Court declined to force the state of Florida to determine: Who
really won the popular vote in the disputed presidential election in Florida?
At the center of the controversy are the ballots themselves.
Now that George W. Bush is slotted to become the 43rd President of the United
States, the NCC has received a number of inquiries asking what the
historical/archival community is doing to see to it that the Florida ballots
are preserved. To this end, the executive directors of several historical
organizations have already sent letters to the Florida Secretary of State's
office requesting the state to take immediate action, for posterity sake, to
consolidate and preserve in the state archives the ballots from all 67
counties.
In Florida, state law charges each of the 67 counties to preserve election
ballots for a minimum of 22 months after which they may be destroyed. During
this 22-month window, Florida's "sunshine" laws enable anyone to view the
documents. Already, Judicial Watch (a nonpartisan but conservative leaning
organization) and several news organizations have filed papers in all of the
states' counties to do just that. Though perhaps not officially sanctioned,
supporters of Vice-President Gore are also expected to raise the necessary
funds to conduct their own ballot recounts.
Some have suggested, that in order to definitively answer what will be a
central question for future historians and political scientists writing about
the 2000 election, the federal government - specifically Congress - should
step in and subpoena, if not "federalize," the Florida ballots and other
related documentary evidence of that state's election, and then turn them
over to the National Archives, thereby preserving them for posterity. House
Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-ILL) has taken a careful step in this direction
by proposing to create a Select Committee on Elections to examine the 2000
race. The Speaker's proposal, however, does not seek to protect the
integrity of the ballots themselves. It falls short of perhaps an even
better idea: the creation of an investigatory body roughly modeled after the
U. S. Assassination Records Review Board - the independent, bipartisan review
board that investigated the controversy surrounding the assassination of
President John F. Kennedy.
Advocates of a review board propose that such an independent panel could
examine ways to prevent voter fraud, scrutinize ballot procedures, and make
recommendations for new federal law to make voting procedures more uniform
across the fifty states. But perhaps the most important result would be that
the documentary trail would be preserved thus allowing future historians to
study the disputed election.
After considerable research, the NCC has learned that there are at least
three possible options to weigh if these nationally significant records are
to be preserved: Since the ballots presently are the property of local
governments, the Florida Department of State could request the ballots be
voluntarily transferred to the state archives as quickly as possible for
consolidated permanent retention. But according to officials at the Florida
Division of Library and Information Service (a division under the direction
of the Florida Secretary of State), the archives plans to take no action to
consolidate the ballots for at least 22 months, and after that, given the
highly charged political atmosphere, it is unclear what action (if any)
professional archivists would be permitted to take to preserve the
documentary record.
Second, Congress, or the Archivist of the United States, could request that
the state of Florida voluntarily transfer the ballots to the National
Archives. The official views of the National Archives on this option have not
been obtained, but irrespective, this scenario is problematic as even if
state officials wanted to turn the records over to a federal repository,
Florida state law probably does not permit officials to voluntarily turn the
records over to the federal government without the approval of the governor,
legislature, or both. This seems highly unlikely. In the meantime, these
nationally significant records are at risk.
Third, Congress could subpoena and ultimately "federalize" the records. Such
an action is not without precedent. State records have been secured by
Congress on several occasions including Congress' 1876-1879 efforts to
clarify election results of the 1876 contested election where Rutherford B.
Hayes was ultimately declared the winner. If, however, Congress was to
subpoena the records, the materials they collect could remain closed for a
long time because of Congress' records closure rules (30 years for House
records; 20 years for the Senate and up to 50 years for certain investigatory
records that impact personal privacy) unless Congress made special provisions
to open the records earlier. Because most recent polls show that 53% of the
American people now question the legitimacy of the Florida tally, some argue
that Congress should act if for no other reason than to assure the public
that someday what really happened in Florida will become part of the public
record. What needs to be preserved? Some argue, that initially at least,
nothing short of the complete historical record - all 6 million presidential
ballots cast in Florida (including absentee, military, and all questionable
ballots cast statewide) - should be preserved. In addition to the ballots,
it has been suggested that other documents that contribute to the story of
this election should be preserved. Such items as instructions and
communiques, E-mail communications and other electronic records between the
Florida Secretary of State's office, the Division of Elections, and officials
of municipal governments and local election boards that were responsible for
tabulating election returns should all be immediately preserved and not lost
to history.
Certainly, the long-term goal of the historical and archival community is to
preserve the integrity of the documentary evidence for the nation's
posterity. It is clearly in our interest to take whatever actions are
appropriate to see that someday the entire documentary record relating to the
disputed election in Florida will be available for scholarly study.
Readers and NCC member organizations are urged to let their views on the
necessity to preserve election records be known by sending letters and e-mail
communications to: Katherine Harris, Secretary of State, Florida Department
of State, PL-02, The Capitol, Tallahassee, FL 32399 and to Barratt Wilkins,
Director, Division of Library and Information Services, R.A. Gray Building,
500 South Bronough Street, Tallahassee, FL 32399. e-mail:
bwilkins@mail.dos.state.fl.us
3. APPROPRIATIONS UPDATE: PRESIDENT, CONGRESS AGREE ON BUDGET ACCORD - $50
MILLION FOR HISTORY EDUCATION ASSURED
On December 11, during a third meeting designed to reach an accord on various
remaining appropriation bills between President Clinton and congressional
leaders, negotiators agreed to a plan that would slightly trim the Pentagon
and other departments next year but preserve the majority of the substantial
increases for education and medical research previously agreed to by joint
agreement. The present agreement calls for a Labor, Health and Human Services
and Education appropriation bill totaling $108.9 billion, less money than had
originally been worked out before the November 7 election ($112.6 billion),
but more than a proposed spending freeze ($97 billion) vociferously advocated
by House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-TX). The agreement represents an 18%
increase in education spending over last fiscal year's totals. According to
Hill sources, Senator Robert C. Byrd's amendment (#3731) that allocates $50
million to history education is part of the agreement. With the logjam over
the Education bill now resolved, Hill insiders expect the other remaining
appropriation measures including funding for the Library of Congress and
National Archives to be finalized and passed quickly.
While some Hill observers had predicted that once George W. Bush was elected,
conservatives would press to carry over the appropriations battle to after
the inauguration, it seems that Congress (perhaps the nation) is tired of
bickering and wrangling over the budget and just want to finish the lame duck
session and go home. Appropriation Committee aides expect negotiators to
complete working out details on the remaining appropriation bills, pass the
legislation and bring the extraordinarily long 106th Congress to a certain
end.
4. NEWS BITS AND BYTES
Item #1 - NCLIS Comment Deadline: In the November 30, 2000 issue of this
newsletter (Vol 6, #42) we reported that the National Commission on Libraries
and Information Science (NCLIS) was inviting comment by 9:00 am, December 11,
2000, on its proposed recommendations on public information dissemination
politics and practices. At the request of the Senate Committee on Commerce,
Science and Transportation, that deadline for public comment has been
extended to 5 pm, January 4, 2001. The draft report may be found at
http://www.nclis.gov/govt/assess/draftrpt.pdf
Item #2 - FRUS Volume: The office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State,
has released a new volume: "Foreign Relations, 1964-1968, Vol. XXI, Near East
Region; Arabian Peninsula" (ISBN 0-16-049828-7). The volume is one of five
documenting U.S. policy with respect to the Near East during the Johnson
administration. A summary of the volume is available. For more information
contact FRUS General Editor, David S. Patterson, at (202) 663-1127 or tap
into the history office's web page at
www.state.gov/www/about_state/history/index.html
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