Whether due to fading memories or a White House-imposed silence, few of those involved recall details about Supreme Court nominee John Roberts' advice to Gov. Bush during the 2000 recount.

... Bush doesn't even remember meeting Roberts, or for how long or any specifics about the discussion, a spokesman said Thursday. The office can't figure a date when the two met or who recommended Roberts, then an attorney with the global firm of Hogan & Hartson, to the governor.

Sources have told The Herald the meeting lasted 30 to 40 minutes and that Roberts was accompanied by a law professor.

"There is not an effort to urge her not to run," said Adam Goodman, Harris' campaign manager in response to questions about a story in The Washington Times that said Rove and Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., chairwoman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, "have been trying to talk... Harris out of running for the Senate... but have been unsuccessful thus far."

Brian Nick, a spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, confirmed that Dole met with Harris to discuss polling data before Harris' announcement, but he would not say whether Dole has tried to dissuade Harris from running since then.

Calls to Rove's office were not answered.

"Now that the President has named a highly respected and imminently qualified nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court, the spotlight turns to the U.S. Senate focusing on Bill Nelson and his party.

The board that runs Florida's public universities will ask the state for a $2.46-billion university system budget next year and a 5 percent tuition hike for Florida undergraduates.

The Board of Governors voted Thursday to recommend the budget and tuition increases to Gov. Jeb Bush, who will decide whether to include them in the budget he proposes to the Legislature. The Legislature has the final say on funding Florida's universities.

Last year, the Legislature did not give state universities as much as the board recommended. It is unclear whether the Legislature will follow the board's recommendation for an 11.5 percent increase this year.

State education Commissioner John Winn was the only board member to vote against the recommendation. "It's unrealistic," Winn said later. "It's out of line."

To some, unused ballots left over from the contested 2000 election are of deep historical significance. To others, they're just stacks of paper in the way.

But as far as the 1st District Court of Appeal is concerned, the famed butterfly ballots and other unused punch-card ballots are not public records; they can, therefore, be destroyed rather than donated to universities or museums.

That was the ruling Thursday of a three-judge panel, which denied the appeal of Weston attorney Gary M. Farmer Jr., representing two voters who wanted the ballots saved. Nova Southeastern University was one institution that had shown an interest in obtaining them, according to court records.

A Department of Environmental Protection spokeswoman said Thursday that Hogan & Hartson has received more than $1.2 million in the past two years representing the state in a battle over water rights with the states of Georgia and Alabama. The firm was also recently hired to work on litigation involving the Everglades, although they have yet to charge the state for that work.

The firm also represents the Scripps Research Institute, which received $310 million in late 2003 to open up a branch in Florida. The contract came by way of Paul Rogers, a former Palm Beach County congressman who sat on the Scripps board and works for the law firm, according to Thomson.

A Scripps spokesman, Keith McKeown, wouldn't say why the law firm was hired, but confirmed Hogan & Hartson has performed work for the institute for more than a decade.

Florida utility regulator Rudy Bradley is being investigated for two potential ethics violations, but a nominating council forwarded his name for reappointment Monday after a public inquiry that went essentially like this:

Nominating council chairman: How's that ethics complaint going?

Bradley: It's not true.

Bradley, presumably, is just misunderstood. He is the only current member seeking reappointment, and he got his job as a political payback from Gov. Jeb Bush. Bradley, then a Democrat, endorsed the Republican for governor in 1998, switched to the GOP himself a year later and lost a state Senate race in 2000. But Bush took care of him, appointing him to the $129,000-a-year PSC job.

Leaving aside the sexual harassment allegations raised by former female aides in his office, Bradley so far has drawn attention mainly for his cheerful obedience to utility companies. His starring role came in an October 2002 PSC hearing, when he performed what amounted to a dramatic reading of a three-page Verizon Communications memo - except that he recited the arguments as though they were his own. Oops. ...

This is the best Florida can do?

President Bush's nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court, Judge John Roberts, came to Florida during the 2000 presidential election dispute and gave legal advice to Gov. Jeb Bush.

The Washington Post reported Wednesday that Roberts gave "private legal advice" to the governor during the recount as a long-standing member of the Republican National Lawyers Association, while others reported that Roberts gave the governor advice on how to declare his brother the winner.

DiPietre refused to answer questions on Roberts' role during the recount or why the governor talked to the attorney after his vow to recuse himself from the dispute.

"This is a person who had a prominent role in the legal team on the recount and has been active in Republican Party circles," said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston. "I understand the president would nominate a conservative. The Senate should be careful they don't confirm a radical." ...

The 2000 election, however, raised especially sensitive issues that some observers at the time feared would turn into a constitutional crisis. The Florida Supreme Court's decision to order a partial recount riled President Bush's supporters. And the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to end it left many supporters of Democratic candidate Al Gore with a lasting resentment.

"Last night, President Bush's nomination of Judge Roberts threw salt on the wounds of the thousands of Floridians whose voting rights were disenfranchised during the 2000 election," said Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton. "Judge Roberts worked to ensure that George Bush would become president -- regardless of what the courts might decide. And now he is being rewarded for that partisan service by being appointed to the nation's highest court."

Florida AG alleges Medicaid scam by generic drug makers

On the heels of whistle-blower complaints from a Key West company, state Attorney General Charlie Crist on Wednesday sued three generic-drug makers who allegedly defrauded taxpayers of $25 million by inflating Medicaid drug prices.

The unveiling of Democrat Charlie Stuart's first campaign report shows that the money he touted as having raised in his bid to unseat U.S. Rep. Ric Keller, R-Orlando, had a caveat: He raised some of it from himself. While his news release said the $141,000 total was evidence of "the strong support my campaign is receiving across Florida," the records show that $41,755 reflected strong support from his own bank account. That's how much he lent his campaign. The amount Stuart collected from others was still impressive for a challenger so early in the 2006 race -- more than Keller's last challenger raised during the entire campaign. And money spends just the same, no matter where it comes from. Still, the prudent pol understates. Stuart on Wednesday said of the loan: "It counts just as much. And it's something that shows I care deeply about this race."

In the inquiry's cross hairs: Rumberger, Kirk & Caldwell, one of Florida's top-flight law firms ... .

The court's internal inquiry, completed July 8 by Inspector General Ken Chambers, labeled Rumberger, Kirk & Caldwell "the most likely recipient" of the information, but didn't rule out the other lawyers in the case. The statement -- and the corresponding suggestion of unethical conduct -- irritated law firm founder Thom Rumberger, who called Chambers' speculation "b---s---."

Representing the Republican Party of Florida in 1992, he was instrumental in redrawing the historic district lines during the Florida Redistricting. ... He was Chairman of the Florida Lawyers for President Bush in the 1988 and 1992 Presidential Campaigns, Florida General Counsel for the George Bush Presidential Campaigns of 1988 and 1992, and Florida General Counsel for the Bob Dole Presidential Campaign.

In the case in question, the justices had wrangled among themselves for 19 months over whether Rodrigo Aguilera, a Miami warehouse worker, was entitled to sue his workers' compensation insurance carrier for allegedly denying him essential care. Eight days before they ruled 4-3 that he was, the company settled with Aguilera in exchange for his agreement to ask the court to dismiss the appeal without a decision.

The court insisted on deciding it nonetheless. The reason, it is now clear from the inspector general's report, is that someone had already warned the court that the case would be settled because the probable outcome had leaked. Should that turn out to be true, it would be a serious matter. Aside from the fundamental ethical proposition that no litigant should have a back channel to the court, inside information is the stuff of which windfall profits could be made from timely financial transactions.

Whether it was tipped or not, the company obviously thought it was better to pay Aguilera than to risk exposure to a damaging precedent and to a trial. The question remains: Why didn't it think so much earlier?"

Don Quixote would definitely be simpatico with Florida House Democrats who want to call for a special session to tilt at Gov. Jeb Bush's windmill. ...

The legislation they want to override would set stronger standards and require more oversight of state contracting and outsourcing so that the very word "privatize" won't become synonymous with "deviously scratching the back of political cronies." ...

The privatization-standards bill (SB 1146) passed as a result of failures and/or ethical lapses in contracting and/or outsourcing of state jobs and services. The legislation did enjoy broad bipartisan support and it did get more than the two-thirds majorities that are required for an override.

But passing a bill and challenging the governor so bluntly are two very different things, especially when the House and Senate leaders have said they'd rather work on compromises to the legislation next session. This approach plainly invites pay back from a governor famous for playing hard ball.

We admire the Democrats' pluck, but this is an impossible approach.

Other things being equal, if a candidate for office supports anti-bullying legislation to protect all students, including gay and lesbian students are you more likely, to vote for the candidate or against the candidate?

More likely vote for: 71 percent

More likely vote against: 14 percent

No difference: 15 percent

[e]arlier this year, Representative Ken Gottlieb (D-Miramar) sponsored bill 1303 which would have extended basic anti-bullying protections to students. The bill was defeated in a House Education Committee on a 9-2 vote.

"I consider him an imminently [sic] qualified jurist. I want to give (his nomination) due diligence. I would anticipate I would be supportive of his nomination," Martinez said.

Finally, Martinez said he was aware of the argument Roberts made in favor of overturning the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion.

However, Martinez said he wanted to learn more about what Roberts argued before passing judgment.

Attorney General Charlie Crist called the nominee "a lawyer's lawyer and a judge's judge." Crist, a GOP candidate for governor, said Roberts has been "a brilliant jurist" in two years on the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

"a brilliant jurist" in two years on the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

Please name a single court opinion, legal brief or indeed anything else written by Mr. Roberts that led you to reach your considered opinion that Roberts is a "a brilliant jurist"

As Florida's most prominent lawyer and a leading light in the profession, we hold you to a higher standard on such things, and both need and respect your opinions about critical issues concerning the quality of nominees to the Supreme Court, a matter important to all Floridians; but we simply wish to be assured that your publicly stated opinions are based on neutral, objective principles, rather than, say ... rank politics.

So, we ask again, Charlie: Please name a single court opinion, legal brief or indeed anything else written by Mr. Roberts that led you to reach your considered opinion that Roberts is a "a brilliant jurist"

Activists who cooperated with the Justice Department's investigation of Osceola County said Tuesday that Kissimmee should be the feds' next target for a voting-rights suit.

Of the city's 51,905 residents in 2003, 46.6 percent were Hispanic, according to the University of Florida's Bureau of Economic & Business Research. Yet, the city has never elected a Hispanic commissioner, while the county has elected only one. ...

A Justice Department investigator questioned Kissimmee officials several months ago about its at-large electoral system but has not given any indication of a lawsuit, City Manager Mark Durbin said Tuesday.

"It wouldn't surprise me if they do sue us, but they have not notified us yet," Durbin said. "At this point, Kissimmee doesn't feel like we've done anything wrong and if we get sued, we get sued, and we'll have to handle it accordingly."

Concerned that the state may be losing millions because it doesn't give all businesses an equal shot at state contracts, a House-Senate panel voted Tuesday to see just how many projects are bid competitively.

The decision underscores concerns by Republicans and Democrats alike that Florida has made many big-ticket mistakes over the past few years, particularly in outsourcing or privatizing work formerly done by state employees.

But Rep. Tom Anderson, R-Dunedin, said outsourcing is just "the tip of the iceberg." The state also is lax, he said, in bidding out routine work. His research for legislation he was pushing this spring indicated that as many as 80 percent of contracts aren't put out to bid.

That accounts for some $30 billion to $40 billion annually in routine contracting compared to about $1 billion in outsourced contracts, Anderson said: "We're talking about a potful of money."

Had you put money in a savings account last year you would have been lucky to earn 3 percent interest. Had you stuck it in a mutual fund tracking the returns of the Dow, you would have enjoyed a return of 3.2 percent. But had you been lucky enough to invest in Progress Energy, a St. Petersburg-based utility whose rates are set by the Public Service Commission, you would have seen a whopping return of more than 13 percent.

Clearly, the utility's priority is to reward shareholders at the expense of its customers, a practice it is continuing this year by requesting both a surcharge to cover hurricane recovery costs and an increase in its base rate. The increase in the base rate would generate a rate of return of 12.8 percent. ...

The company is asking for an increase of $3.79 per 1,000 kilowatt hours.

It was a matter of time before the Justice Department connected the dots between a lack of Hispanic voting power and Osceola's discriminatory at-large system, in which candidates run for elections countywide. On Monday, the Justice Department filed a much-anticipated lawsuit seeking a change to single-member districts. Under a district scenario, Osceola would be carved into geographic regions; candidates would run only in one area, making it easier and less expensive for minorities to run for elective office.

This is long overdue in Osceola, which is 35 percent Hispanic, and where not one Hispanic holds an elected position, although many unsuccessfully have run for office. The same holds true for Kissimmee, which is 50 percent Hispanic, and where the City Commission recently passed over six Hispanic mayoral candidates to appoint a former city commissioner who was term limited.

The federal suit plausibly alleges that: At-large districts dilute Hispanic voting strength; commissioners split the Hispanic vote in the 2001 redistricting to avoid creating a majority-Hispanic district; and campaigns for county commissioners have been characterized by racial appeals. The suit states commissioners created a charter-review commission in 1995 to push for a return to at-large districts.

Osceola boasted single-member districts between 1992 and 1996. The county reverted to at-large voting in 1996 -- not coincidentally in the same election that thrust the first, and only, Hispanic onto the County Commission. Other charter-review commissions have recommended against a referendum on single-member districts. The suit implies this is no accident.

Florida Power & Light's average customer will pay an extra $1.68 for 30 months starting in mid-September to make up money the company spent fixing damage from three of last year's hurricanes.

The Public Service Commission granted part of FPL's request Tuesday, letting it pass on $442 million in hurricane costs to its 4.3 million Florida customers. That was less than the $533 million the company wanted to add to customers' bills — which would have meant an extra $2.09 a month on average.

A decade ago, the U.S. Department of Labor investigated whether a worker was held against her will at a North Carolina camp owned by a farm labor contractor who is facing allegations of wrongdoing at his North Florida camp.

The earlier case was closed without any violation found.

Liberal groups, however, say Roberts has taken positions in cases involving free speech and religious liberty that endanger those rights. Abortion rights groups allege that Roberts is hostile to women's reproductive freedom and cite a brief he co-wrote in 1990 that suggested the Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 high court decision that legalized abortion.

Crist netted at least 10 maximum-level checks of $500 from [Lou] Pearlman and the companies he owns and with which he is involved. That would be the same Lou Pearlman who once controlled a model-scouting company that Crist's office investigated for nearly two years before deciding not to file criminal charges. Former Attorney General Bob Butterworth launched the investigation in which about 2,000 young people and their parents claimed the scouting agency took their money for promises it never delivered, but after Crist took office and continued the investigation, the case was dropped. A spokeswoman for Pearlman said Monday that the donations and investigation were unrelated, stressing that Pearlman gave the money after the probe was closed.

What stands out in Gallagher's report are the hundreds of donations from companies in the insurance business -- you know, the one he helps regulate. Gallagher also has gotten money from gambling interests, from Jacksonville Greyhound Racing all the way to the Los Angeles Turf Club.

Davis seems to have a nod from national Democrats in the check he received from House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer's Political Action Committee.

Florida Nurserymen Political Action Committee. Speaking of PACs, Smith also received help from Wal-Mart's PAC. Any number of gambling interests have placed bets on Smith in the form of campaign contributions, from the likes of Summer Jai Alai, the Florida Greyhound Association and Calder Race Course.

Having a twisted interest in this sort of thing, I spent Monday at the interviews of applicants for the Florida Public Service Commission, which regulates utilities in our state.

By the phrase "regulates utilities," I mean, of course, "does not regulate utilities." Florida has one of the most pro-utility commissions in the country, which is how our Legislature wants it.

Monday's gathering at the Tampa Airport Marriott was a virtual hotbed of nonregulators. Several of the candidates, especially those with past employment under Gov. Jeb Bush, expressed a vigorous distaste for the actual deed of regulating. The less of it done, the better.

One applicant even said - I swear this is true - that what Florida's PSC really needs is more representation from the utility point of view. I was surprised they did not halt the proceedings and hold a parade for her on the spot.

Don't expect Democrat Jan Schneider to get to upset about seeing her rival Christine Jennings score big donations from the likes of Sen. John Kerry and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

Schneider, an attorney, said she's too focused on emersing herself in issues. On Friday morning, she spent her time at the Janie Poe public housing complex trying to give free legal advice to residents there.

Given his animus toward a voter mandate to reduce classroom sizes and his own stubbornness, Gov. Jeb Bush probably can't be expected to leave well enough alone. But if his Education Department is going to insist on making the chore as difficult as possible for Florida school districts, then he needs to put the dollars behind his edicts.

Gov. Jeb Bush opposes state funding of embryonic stem cell research, citing an objection to destroying embryos that he says represent human life.

Keller recently bragged on a local radio show about how he considered himself unbeatable given his current crop of opponents. In fact, he claimed there was no chance that national Democrats would spend more than a couple of thousand bucks to try to unseat him.

Oops. What [Keller opponent Democrat Charlie] Stuart had just unveiled ... was a news release saying he raised $141,000 in his first 20 days of campaigning -- including checks from several national Dems, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. Now, Stuart's money still pales in comparison to the power of incumbency fund-raising. Keller has more than $750,000 in the bank. But the plugged-in brother of Chamber of Commerce leader Jacob Stuart has raised more than twice as much as Keller's opponent last year -- with more than a year to go.

But the former state attorney's handling of another high-profile campus case that is now resurfacing could play a critical role as he courts one of the Democratic Party's most influential constituencies: female voters.

In 1999, the campus chapter of the National Organization for Women criticized Smith for not filing rape charges against a fraternity member who attended a house party where an exotic dancer claimed she had been raped. Smith eventually charged six fraternity members with misdemeanors, including soliciting a prostitute.

Smith defends his position, saying inconsistent statements by the woman and hours of lurid video shot that night by the fraternity brothers made the case impossible to prosecute.

just as the little-known North Florida state senator launches his campaign for the Democratic nomination for governor, the case is about to be revisited.

The state agency responsible for helping the severely disabled has forfeited $62 million because it did not spend the money in time.

Thousands of Floridians are recovering from Hurricane Dennis, and the state's Emergency Operations Center remains at the ready. The governor and department heads get the most TV time, but they willingly give credit to state employees - the most visible of whom are the Florida Highway Patrol, Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Department of Transportation agents and other uniformed officers.

So this might be a good time to point out that some officers whose first hurricane was Dennis earn nearly as much as some who were out there after Andrew blew through in '92.

In a record-setting dash for cash, Republicans Tom Gallagher and Charlie Crist have been collecting about $70,000 a day for next year's governor's race, relying heavily on contributions from industries that their Cabinet jobs often touch. ...

Davis is the leading Democratic fund-raiser, having collected $390,000 in the quarter ending June 30, bringing his overall total to more than $800,000.

Close behind Davis is Smith, an Alachua state senator, who has collected about $730,000, including more than $332,000 over the most recent 90-day period.

Maddox, the former Tallahassee mayor and state party chairman, trails with just over $300,000 raised since entering the race in May.