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CNN Live At Daybreak
Interview With Jack Burkman
Aired October 30, 2002 - 06:39 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk about elections now. We are not far from the November 5 elections, elections that could determine control of the Senate and possibly the nation's direction.
In addition to the candidates, there are plenty of interesting questions on ballots across the country.
Jack Burkman is a Virginia attorney, who has done consulting work for the Republicans. He joins us from Washington to talk about various propositions on the ballots.
Good morning.
JACK BURKMAN, ATTORNEY, GOP CONSULTANT: Carol, good morning. How are you?
COSTELLO: I'm fine. What's the most interesting one?
BURKMAN: Well, it's hard to say. You know, I'm reminded on a week like this, all of this talk about voter fraud, of what Winston Churchill once said. He said, "Democracy is the very worst of systems, except for all of the others."
And you see the piece in "The New York Times" yesterday. You've got armies of lawyers, literally thousands of lawyers on both sides. I'm a Republican. We've got them. The Democrats have them. There are 800 numbers set up in place.
I think what you have -- the reality is we've moved into a very different phase in American elections in that these post-election court battles, like what you saw in Florida in the year 2000, are going to become part of our process. I think it's sad, but I think it's real.
COSTELLO: Well, tell us which states that you think may have problems with balloting?
BURKMAN: Well, No. 1, Florida is an obvious case. I think the McBride, the current numbers have Bush up by about 8 points. I think that will tighten. I think Bush will win, but I think in the end, that's going to be a very close race. Obviously, both sides -- you're going to see a lot of fraud on both sides, I hate to say it.
What happens is that once you have a situation where each side knows they're going to accuse the other, you kind of mark up to mark down. Both sides know...
COSTELLO: But couldn't the problems in Florida be taken care of?
BURKMAN: Well, they should be, but you see, they've intensified, because now everybody has a stake in it. You've got all these lawyers standing by, who see a financial opportunity that, yes, the trial bar is driving this, people want to build, people want to make money. You've got political consultants, who make money from this post- election process.
You know, normally, you'd just have people paid during the campaign. Now, you have people paid after campaigns. It's a financial incentive. Is it sad? Sure it is.
You could -- you know, New Jersey, obviously, historically a very corrupt political state. You could see a lot of this again. I think that's another state where you'll see a close race. Lautenberg well ahead in the polls now, but that's going to tighten. You'll see a lot of fraud there.
Different types of fraud. I mean, the thing about it, Democrats and Republicans historically, each party kind of has their own set of fraudulent things that they do. With Democrats, it's designed -- their fraud is designed to optimize turnout. They want to bring new people into the system. They go into low-income areas, minority areas, union areas. They'll go into, say, a housing project. They'll pull up with a bus. You know, they'll give out $10 bills to get on the bus, they'll give away cigarettes to homeless people. This has gone on for 100 years.
I mean, frankly, voter fraud has been around as long as democracy has been around. I mean, everyone in politics knows this. Is it sad? Sure. Should we be better? Sure. But you know, over the years, you kind of get a little cynical.
COSTELLO: Yes, definitely so. I wish I had more time to talk to you, Jack Burkman. It's been interesting. Thank you very much for your perspective on this.
BURKMAN: Thank you, Carol.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired October 30, 2002 - 06:39 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk about elections now. We are not far from the November 5 elections, elections that could determine control of the Senate and possibly the nation's direction.
In addition to the candidates, there are plenty of interesting questions on ballots across the country.
Jack Burkman is a Virginia attorney, who has done consulting work for the Republicans. He joins us from Washington to talk about various propositions on the ballots.
Good morning.
JACK BURKMAN, ATTORNEY, GOP CONSULTANT: Carol, good morning. How are you?
COSTELLO: I'm fine. What's the most interesting one?
BURKMAN: Well, it's hard to say. You know, I'm reminded on a week like this, all of this talk about voter fraud, of what Winston Churchill once said. He said, "Democracy is the very worst of systems, except for all of the others."
And you see the piece in "The New York Times" yesterday. You've got armies of lawyers, literally thousands of lawyers on both sides. I'm a Republican. We've got them. The Democrats have them. There are 800 numbers set up in place.
I think what you have -- the reality is we've moved into a very different phase in American elections in that these post-election court battles, like what you saw in Florida in the year 2000, are going to become part of our process. I think it's sad, but I think it's real.
COSTELLO: Well, tell us which states that you think may have problems with balloting?
BURKMAN: Well, No. 1, Florida is an obvious case. I think the McBride, the current numbers have Bush up by about 8 points. I think that will tighten. I think Bush will win, but I think in the end, that's going to be a very close race. Obviously, both sides -- you're going to see a lot of fraud on both sides, I hate to say it.
What happens is that once you have a situation where each side knows they're going to accuse the other, you kind of mark up to mark down. Both sides know...
COSTELLO: But couldn't the problems in Florida be taken care of?
BURKMAN: Well, they should be, but you see, they've intensified, because now everybody has a stake in it. You've got all these lawyers standing by, who see a financial opportunity that, yes, the trial bar is driving this, people want to build, people want to make money. You've got political consultants, who make money from this post- election process.
You know, normally, you'd just have people paid during the campaign. Now, you have people paid after campaigns. It's a financial incentive. Is it sad? Sure it is.
You could -- you know, New Jersey, obviously, historically a very corrupt political state. You could see a lot of this again. I think that's another state where you'll see a close race. Lautenberg well ahead in the polls now, but that's going to tighten. You'll see a lot of fraud there.
Different types of fraud. I mean, the thing about it, Democrats and Republicans historically, each party kind of has their own set of fraudulent things that they do. With Democrats, it's designed -- their fraud is designed to optimize turnout. They want to bring new people into the system. They go into low-income areas, minority areas, union areas. They'll go into, say, a housing project. They'll pull up with a bus. You know, they'll give out $10 bills to get on the bus, they'll give away cigarettes to homeless people. This has gone on for 100 years.
I mean, frankly, voter fraud has been around as long as democracy has been around. I mean, everyone in politics knows this. Is it sad? Sure. Should we be better? Sure. But you know, over the years, you kind of get a little cynical.
COSTELLO: Yes, definitely so. I wish I had more time to talk to you, Jack Burkman. It's been interesting. Thank you very much for your perspective on this.
BURKMAN: Thank you, Carol.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
