Kendall Coffey Named to Election Advisory Group

After yet another election in Florida plagued with long lines and extremely late final counts, Miami-Dade mayor Carlos Gimenez has created an election advisory group. Named to the group was Kendall Coffey, former US Attorney of Miami, who played a large part in the 2000 election recount.

Kendall Coffey is now a partner in Coffey Burlington in Miami, and is one of the nation’s best litigators. He’s been a part of many high-profile cases and has appeared frequently on news channels like CNN to provide expert insights on the law. He has also been an adjunct faculty member of Florida Constitutional Law at University of Miami School of Law and for Trial Practice at University of Miami School of Law. Coffey has lectured for various organizations on trial skills and substantive law.

Other members of the election advisory group include lawyer Robert Fernandez, Property Appraiser Carlos Lopez-Cantera, Rev. Victor Curry, Miami Gardens Mayor Oliver Gilbert, former County Attorney Murray Greenberg, Executive Director of SAVE Dade CJ Ortuño, Executive Director of Sant La Gepsie Metellus, Alice Ancona, and Lovette McGill. Commissioners Lynda Bell, Sally Heyman, Dennis Moss, and Rebeca Sosa will also join Coffey in the group.

"I'm excited to get to work, and our objective is clear: now is the time to for us to take stock of what we did right, what needs to improve, take appropriate action and move forward to make our elections process the best in the nation," Gimenez said, stressing the need for change in the next election cycle. "I want to incorporate the latest technology to make voting fast and easy in our community."

Indeed, voting was frustrating for many this year, something that Coffey and many others have long thought needed to change. Florida is not only one of the largest states in terms of electoral votes, but it is also one of the most important because it is a swing state that can determine the outcome of an election during a tight race.

Mudslinging and attack ads in the sunshine state

We all know about attack ads. In fact, in an election cycle a certain amount of misleading mudslinging is expected.  But in Florida, at least, some candidates are fighting back.

Back when the recent health care bill was passed Republicans saw a chance to label the Democrats as anti-Medicare.  How?  Well, while the bill actually increases Medicare spending from $560 billion this year to $1.04 trillion in ten years, the health care bill does assume that during that time the program will result in savings of about $500 billion- mostly through increased efficiency.

But rather than explaining all of this, Republicans are just labeling the savings as cuts and telling the public that the Democrats are cutting Medicare by $500 billion.  And they’re using those numbers in a recent set of attack ads.

Not everyone is content to simply get angry at the misinformation, however.  Senator Bill Nelson, Democrat, has embarked upon a quest to get those ads off the air.  In a letter written by his attorney, former U.S. Attorney Kendall Coffey, he explains that these letters are blatantly untrue.

And stations have “a duty to protect the public from the spread of false information and deliberate deception,” writes Coffey.

Not that such letters will have made much a difference so far.  Several stations have rejected the letter from Coffey and will continue showing the messages.  But it’s nice to have someone who is willing to fight back.