Representative Mike Caruso Describes the Recount Circus
Our February lunch featured FH89 Representative Mike Caruso.
With the nickname “landslide” in Tallahasee, given his 37 vote winning margin, Mike relayed some of the arduous steps involved in moving through the circus that was Susan Bucher’s election operation.
Although he admits he very much enjoys the work of the capital, he may have thought twice about running if he knew what was in store for him. The coastal district, held for the last 8 years by Bill Hagar, was described to him as an easy Republican win when he decided to run. “Easy” is relative of course as the district is actually only R+1.6, practically even.
The campaign was dirty, with opponents stealing signs, lots of nasty lies spread in mailers, etc., but the worst was to occur after election day.
FH89 was one of the four races that were close enough to trigger a recount, and Mike witnessed first hand all the corrupt practices that were on display at the Supervisor of Elections. Many of us who were involved in the process were aware that there was no transparency, and that communications from Susan Bucher’s office were few, misleading and probably not true.
What you may not have known about though, was the gobs of ballots that were being “found” after the counting was supposed to be done – over 4000 in the case of FH89. Mike’s opponent Jim Bonfiglio was heard to say at one point during the recount “don’t worry, we will have the votes”. Bucher was never able to actually say how many votes had actually been cast in any of the races, yet she seemed to always know the margins.
Lots of dirty tricks were occurring. SOE employees were observed in a backroom hurriedly filling out new ballots – supposedly transcribing “unreadable” ones but who could tell – no one was allowed in there and the canvassing board was not present in violation of law. When this activity was challenged, the supervisor’s response was to move filing cabinets around to block the view of the activity from the “public”. When the canvassing board was present and involved in “determining the intent of the voter”, Mike was keeping count of how many votes were being assigned to him and his opponent. At the end of the day though, when the tallies were supposedly “rolled up”, his count never changed. This occurred multiple times.
The most arrogant action by Bucher though was about toilets. With hundreds of volunteers from both parties descending on the Riviera Beach counting facility, there was only one bathroom and she refused to remedy the situation as she really didn’t want to make it pleasant for those looking over her shoulder. Mike requested from the Republicans in Tallahassee assistance in obtaining porta-johns and toilet paper, and when they came through, Bucher refused to place them on “her” property and said she would have them towed if placed on the street.
Fortunately, when the race was finally certified, Mike was ahead by the same 37 votes he had been from the start and his opponent conceded. Although the entire experience was an unpleasant one, he has taken his place in the Legislature, and through the actions of Governor DeSantis, we have a new Supervisor of Elections.