Miami Mayor Denies Gore Urged Him to Publicly Support Recount

In the continuing controversy over the aborted ballot recount here, Miami-Dade County Mayor Alex Penelas on Friday denied reports he had been pressured by Al Gore to make a public statement urging that the Nov. 22 recount be resumed.

“The vice president called me to inquire about the status of the canvassing board decision,” said Penelas. “He asked whether it was likely to meet again and if its decision to suspend the manual recount was due to a lack of county resources. I assured him that ample county resources had always been available to the canvassing board.

“At no time did he pressure me to influence the members of the board, nor did he ask me to issue a statement encouraging the canvassing board to reverse its decision.”

Penelas, who was in New York for a wedding Friday, made his comments in a written response to what he called “a number of media stories relating to my role in the presidential election.”

Also Friday, Gwen Margolis, who as chairwoman of the county commission normally serves on the canvassing board, said she “immediately regretted” her decision to remove herself from the board prior to the election.

Asked whether she would have voted to suspend the recount, the former Florida statehouse Democratic leader replied, “Never.”

Margolis said she asked not to serve on the board prior to the September primary elections because colleagues were running for reelection and she wanted to avoid the appearance of conflict of interest.

“I certainly believe that every vote counts, and I’ve been on the canvassing board long enough to know that people get confused,” Margolis said. “They circle and they punch, even write on ballots. So unless you look at ballots, you don’t know.

“I feel in my heart I could have made a difference.”

On the day after the election, Margolis said she asked the chief county judge to reinstate her to the canvassing board but was turned down. She was replaced by county Judge Myriam Lehr.

The unanimous decision of the three-member canvassing board to suspend the recount came about two hours after Republicans, angered over a move to a smaller counting room, staged a raucous demonstration outside the election office. The group of about two dozen demonstrators, who chanted protests and pounded on closed doors, included top aides to Republican members of Congress.

Gore telephoned Penelas, a Democrat, almost immediately after the board’s decision. According to press reports, Gore’s campaign communications director, Mark D. Fabiani, said Penelas told Gore he would call for resumption of the recount.

Penelas denied making any promise. “At no time did I attempt to influence the decision of the Miami-Dade canvassing board at anyone’s request.”

Canvassing board members have said they felt no pressure to quit the recount. Instead, they said, they decided they could not meet the deadline set by the state Supreme Court for the final tally, and to continue counting would be futile.

The controversy over the abrupt end to the recount in Miami-Dade County underscores what Democrats say is the unpredictability of politics in South Florida, where ethnic alliances often count more than political party. As a Cuban American Democrat, Penelas, 38, is a rarity here and once seemed destined for a national stage. Early on in the campaign, he was mentioned as a possible Gore running mate.

But Penelas’ political fortunes took a tumble during the Elian Gonzalez affair last spring when he said that the Clinton administration would be responsible for any violence ignited by attempts to take the Cuban boy from his Miami relatives.

The local press has speculated that Penelas would bolt to the GOP, which he denied Friday. Telephone records released by Penelas’ office this week indicate that on the day the recount was halted and the following day, the mayor was in touch with both Democrats and Republicans in Florida and Washington.

Hialeah Mayor Raul Martinez, a fellow Democrat, said he also talked to Penelas immediately after the canceled recount. “When I called Alex, he sounded very nervous. He said, ‘There’s nothing I can do.’ ”