Florida Government Officials

Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida recused himself on grounds that his brother's future is at stake. But Secretary of State Katherine Harris did not, although she co-chaired George W. Bush's campaign in Florida. Five state judges in Palm Beach County have stepped aside, citing political and other reasons. But a majority of Democratic justices on the Florida Supreme Court have not, nor have six Republican appointees on the U.S.

The handcuffed defendants have familiar faces. In recent months, the police "perp walk" on the nightly TV news has featured a virtual who's who of politicos and public officials. So many South Florida officials have been arrested or forced to resign lately that friends are urging part-time Miami resident Madonna to run for office, a local radio station reports. "People are looking for a leader with no need to steal as much as he can," explained WHYI Producer Tina Malave.

Where Democrats saw an unruly Republican mob that last week scuttled Miami-Dade County's manual recount, election supervisor David Leahy said Saturday he saw "a noisy, peaceful protest." "I was not intimidated by that protest," Leahy told The Times in a telephone interview. "I saw it for what it was."

Looking back, the signs were there all along that Florida's presidential election would be different. Five days before the election, Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris issued a press release declaring that Election Day was Nov. 7, "regardless of party affiliation." The reason for the curious memo? A story had circulated on the Internet that Republicans and Democrats would vote on different days. "This story is false," wrote Harris, "and a poor attempt at humor."

Florida's attorney general opened a new front in Tenet Healthcare Corp.'s legal battles Wednesday, accusing the hospital chain in a lawsuit of scheming to obtain better than $1 billion in improper payments from a Medicare fund. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Miami, alleges that the nation's second-largest hospital company inflated charges at its 15 Florida facilities from 2000 to 2003 to squeeze more money than it was due from the fund. "They filed phony bills.

Moving is never fun. But Carol Erickson figured she'd picked the right firm for the job. She found Transworld Van Lines in the U.S. Postal Service Mover's Guide, a booklet distributed at all 38,000 post offices. Erickson, 80, who moved in July from Santa Cruz to Washington to be near her daughter, was a believer in the adage "buyer beware." But she figured that because Transworld was "associated with the Postal Service, they must be all right."