Special Email Article

11/16/00, 1:35 AM

By J. Andre Weisbrod

I have been asked to comment on the election. What does it mean for the country and what does it mean for my investments?

Perhaps you are sick of it. Maybe you are angry about it. Or you could be sad or concerned or fearful. But I doubt you are completely disinterested.

Over the past week I have heard it all. Commentators have commented and pundits have pundited. Jokes have proliferated. Friends have argued. The financial markets have roiled. The politicians have, well, acted as we might expect. The candidates themselves have made mistakes under pressure. Many think it all adds up to a damaging season for our country.

Last Thursday I came to believe that the closeness of this election was one of the best things to happen in many years. Many positives presented themselves in my mind. Here is a list:

1. Apathy is dead. People are interested and they care.
2. People will believe that their votes do indeed count. They are likely to participate more positively and intelligently in future elections.
3. The mechanics of elections will be examined and improved.
4. People are learning more about our country, its history and its founding principles. Both the beauty and beast in us are exposed and hopefully better understood.
5. The media will have to be more careful, less arrogant and hopefully less obviously biased. Editorial bias, non-objective reporting and premature proclamations will not so easily sway people.
6. Perhaps a law will be proposed that no news organization may proclaim any winners until the last polling place affecting an election is closed.
7. Neither party can claim a mandate. Nor can they claim that their people behaved in statesmen-like manners most of the time. They will have to figure out how to lead again by employing cooperation over confrontation. They will need to recognize that the general public is confused, dissatisfied and even angry with politicians of all parties. They will need to recognize that the general public is tired of lawyers and newscasters interpreting our Constitution for us and telling us what to think. They will need to realize we are sick of political correctness and extreme partisanship. And perhaps they will understand that we are sick of the lying, cheating and hypocrisy that run rampant in Washington.

Investment markets do not like uncertainty and the week's volatility bore out that assumption. In many ways, who is elected President will have no immediate affect on the economy. If your investments were appropriate before the election they should be after the results are finalized. Long term, the policies of the new administration and Congress will have an impact, but the President will not be able to dictate the direction by himself.

This morning I believe the above assessment still holds, but I am less confident. I have found myself revolving among many thoughts and emotions. I have laughed. I have felt angry. I have been disgusted, disillusioned and dismayed. I have felt hopeful and very, very human. I still want the one I voted for to be elected. But I want more than that to have a leader who I can respect and trust, even when I disagree with him. Alas, the longer this goes on, the less the opportunity for such a result.

My biggest fear is that lawyers will usurp the law. Yes, that sounds like a contradiction, but that is what our legal system has become. Too many lawyers seem to see themselves as an elite class. They act as if the law exists to serve them and their careers. They grandstand and manipulate and place truth and justice behind their own ambitions. They split hairs until there is no recognizable hair to split. To listen to O.J. Simpson's lawyer call the Florida Secretary of State a "crook" was mind numbing.

To hear former Chicago Mayor Daley's son call her a "hack" and talk about fair voting would have been downright hilarious if were not so pathetic. Who are these people, and why are they let loose? How do they look themselves in the mirror without getting sick?

Both sides have made errors. Both sides have allowed their passion to overtake their reason. I have had a few irrational moments myself, and I am not happy about that.

I have yet to see an indication that either party is ready to sacrifice for the sake of the country. I hope such a message will come from someone soon. The biased charges and counter charges and character assassinations and bitterness need to stop.

The best thing would have been to allow the votes to be counted and recounted as prescribed by Florida law and be done with it. After two machine recounts, that should have been it.

The ballot question is ridiculous. It was designed by a Democrat and approved by both parties. I have looked at it, and have to say that if you couldn't figure out where to punch the hole you were either drunk, had problems with your sight or you just weren't careful. If you had problems seeing, there were election officials there to help you. If you weren't careful, then tough darts.

Where does the recounting end? Should the Florida panhandle precincts where Republicans who might have been discouraged from voting due to the irresponsible media pronouncement of a Gore win be allowed to re-vote? If you truly want to be "fair", then you must consider it. Hundreds or even thousands of Bush votes might have been lost because of that travesty.

We ordered an absentee ballot for my daughter. She never received it. Hmmnn, maybe we should sue. I wonder how many other people were denied their voting rights due to shoddy (or worse) handling of absentee ballots. My point is that there could be an endless number of valid complaints on both sides. Somebody has to return to the concepts of honor and dignity and put it to rest.

If a judge decides this election, it will be a sad day for America. There has got to be a better way. The Vice President's proposal this past evening was transparently self-serving and a week late. The Bush camp also has acted in a self-serving manner. Perhaps they too could have made a constructive proposal last week instead of just digging in their heels.

Had last night's Gore proposal been put forth early on, before anyone knew how it might favor one candidate over the other, it might have been a good idea. A method acceptable to both parties might have been negotiated. Fair ground rules could have been laid. Greater care to eliminate subjectivity and party advantage could have been promoted. As it stands now, it is understandable why the Bush camp would be so distrustful. And yes, they are self-serving in rejecting the proposal. But who wouldn't do the same if they were in the same position.

My hope is that the judges will resist the temptation to control. Maybe both candidates should agree to release the Electoral College electors to vote their consciences. I don't know, but the more the lawyers take over, the less positive I can be.

One thing is for certain. Someone must lose and someone must win. Whoever loses must be a statesman. And so must the winner. Both parties must return to values such as dignity, honor, integrity, respect and accountability. If so, then this election can be a positive moment for this country.

I choose to believe this will end on the more positive side. I choose to anticipate that we will be stronger and better for it. Similar situations have occurred in our history and we survived.

I suspect that once it is over, the financial markets will settle down and resume their daily argument over just how profitable companies will be and how the economy will grow. I trust that the United States will continue to grow and prosper and, hopefully, lead the world to a better era. I certainly hope and pray it will be so.