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"We should also point out that Brenda Snipes in Broward County is a Republican appointed by former governor, then-Governor Jeb Bush," Mitchell said in a clip flagged by Mediaite. "So, she was put in by a Republican governor after the mess that we all remember from 2000. And she’s hardly a Democratic official, or someone doing the bidding of the Democratic candidates there."

Gov. Jeb Bush was justified in suspending former Broward County Elections Supervisor Miriam Oliphant, and the state Senate should vote to formally remove her from office to head off a lawsuit, the judge appointed to hear her case recommended Tuesday. The findings by Steve Kahn, the Senate's general counsel who served as the Senate's judge during the two-week trial last summer, upheld the most serious charges that were alleged about Oliphant when she was suspended by Bush on Nov. 20, 2003. The charges that Kahn said were proven included massive misspending resulting in a $936,328 deficit, the loss of 268...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - Suspended Broward Supervisor of Elections Miriam Oliphant has been charged with 55 counts of violating election laws. Oliphant, already facing a Senate trial for her conduct in office, is accused of not opening polls on time and not keeping them open late enough during the September 2002 primary. The Florida Elections Commission levied the charges against Oliphant at its Feb. 19 meeting. If found guilty, Oliphant faces a fine of up to $55,000. She has 30 days to respond and can choose to appear in administrative court or in front of the Elections Commission. Oliphant, a...

FORT LAUDERDALE -- Political consultant Ellyn Bogdanoff of Fort Lauderdale won a special election for state House District 91 on Tuesday evening, defeating her closest rival, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea Mayor Oliver Parker, apparently by a mere 12 votes. A special recount has been ordered for Thursday in the district, which spans from southeast Palm Beach County through Broward County's coastal cities into Dania Beach.

BROWARD ELECTIONS Oliphant's fate hangs on report, Gov. Bush Gov. Jeb Bush is 'likely' to remove Broward Elections Supervisor Miriam Oliphant if a report due today indicates no progress has been made in fixing problems in her office. BY ERIKA BOLSTAD ebolstad@herald.com Gov. Jeb Bush said Tuesday it is ''likely'' he will remove Broward Supervisor of Elections Miriam Oliphant from office if a report, due today, shows she has not made progress toward straightening out her troubled office. But if Secretary of State Glenda Hood, the report's author, finds that progress has been made toward rectifying a range of problems,...

The Super Boat Off Shore Racing teams are in town again. This is an inconvenience most of us are willing to put up with and usually enjoy. But this year the event coincides with the local developers deciding to shove one their cranes up our darker extremities. At 11:30 am Friday November 7, 2003 a tractor trailer with a crane mount, attempted to make the left turn off Hillsboro Blvd to head north on A1A. If you have trouble understanding this maneuver, try to imagine while the cab of the tractor trailer turns to head north, the top of the...

Texans are undefeated on opening day. Don't mess with Texans.

From the post-election muck of the past two weeks, with all the mud flying back and forth, who emerges from the Broward County swamp with the cleanest profile? Perhaps the smartest politician in town: Sheriff Ken Jenne.With a steady -- but not a heavy -- hand, he dispatched deputies on Election Day to troubled polls, served as a confidant for Secretary of State Jim Smith, plotted with county commissioners and repeatedly offered assistance to beleaguered Supervisor of Elections Miriam Oliphant.In a carefully calculated effort, he walked the line between selling her out and appearing as her close ally.Instead of publicly...

OK Broward, who do you want running the November election? Frightening. What did we do to deserve this? This mess keeps getting stranger. First, the County Commission thought it had a deal to help Oliphant, the embattled elections supervisor.

Supervisor of Elections Miriam Oliphant apparently doesn't recognize the depth of the hole she has dug for herself because of the botched Sept. 10 election. For the good of the county, and her own political future, she must allow the County Commission and county administrator to help run the Nov. 5 election. On Tuesday, Oliphant asked county commissioners for $4 million in additional funding. They responded by essentially telling her that she had a management problem, not a funding problem, and that she needed to contract with them for key election services.

It's simple, really. After the mother of all election snafus in 2000, the one thing Broward can't afford is another election snafu. So we spent $17 million on fancy new touch-screen voting machines, which are supposed to be idiot-proof. Unfortunately, the people in charge still aren't. There's no doubt Miriam Oliphant, the well-connected first-term supervisor of elections, is an effective, adept politician. Whether she's capable of running a complex operation that serves nearly a million voters is another story.

State officials were asked Wednesday to rule on whether Broward County Supervisor of Elections Miriam Oliphant’s plans for this year’s elections violate Florida law. The request for a state ruling came the same day the supervisor conceded she was in “dire need of a minimum of 112 volunteers” to staff next Tuesday’s primary. The volunteers would staff 14 locations where votes will be transmitted via modems to the Broward County elections office’s central computers.