News-Press from Fort Myers, Florida • Page 58

6D THE NEWS-PRESS, SUNDAY, JANUARY 5, 2003 State Tallahassee mayor selected to chair Democratic Party if i i vrTTV 64 oz. 4 lb. bag Idaho Potatoes i 4 Hawaiian Punch Juicy Red I XT vat wrr 1 Z3 598on3 wWicanl $458 I MO wttti cird lim 2 DEALS price without card $1.79 price without card $2.99 Maddox vows to take group to the next level The Associated Press ORLANDO The new leader of Florida's Democrats admits the cupboard is bare as he prepares to rally the party from years of floundering through one November election night loss after another. No money, no message, no candidates. "It's 4th (down)-and-99 (yards).

We should be candid about it," Tallahassee Mayor Scott Maddox said Saturday, shortly after the party's state executive committee unanimously chose him as chairman. "We're really in disarray following Nov. 5. We're at the bottom of a very deep hole. "But I've got a shovel and there's a lot of people down here with me with shovels, and we're going to dig our way out" Maddox, 34, had no competition in the vote to replace Bob Poe, who announced Dec 12 that he was stepping down.

Democratic activists from across the state converged on a hotel at Orlando International Airport to make their decision. Maddox appears to be energizing the parry two months after divided Democrats looked for someone to blame for their poor showing at the polls. Republican Gov. Jeb Bush trounced Bill McBride, the GOP swept the statewide Cabinet races and Democrats lost ground in the Legislature and in the state's congressional delegation. "Scotfs a quick worker," said Shannon Collins, executive vice president for the Florida Young Democrats.

"I've got all confidence that within three to four months, there's going to be a complete change in the Democratic Party." Maddox has served as Tallahassee mayor for nearly 10 years. He surprised many by earning 35 percent of the vote in a four-way primary for attorney general last fall, just two points behind former state Sea Buddy Dyer, who won the nomination but lost to Republican Charlie Crist Maddox will complete the remainder of Poe's term, which expires in December 2004. He will remain mayor until an election in February. "I believe very strongly in Democratic ideals," said Maddox, who will earn $100,000 annually. "I believe very strongly that someone should look out for working people in the state of Florida, and that we ought to preserve our environment, and we should have affordable health care.

"The Democratic Party has traditionally filled that role, but right now we don't have a voice at the table and real people will suffer. And I want to try to make a difference there." Maddox said his top three priorities were developing a coherent message, candidate recruitment at all levels and establishing a get-out-the-vote structure. But even before Maddox's selection, his peers were trying to steer him in various directions. During the nominating process, Joe Martin, Palm Beach County's representative on the executive committee, insisted that universal health care should be a top priority. And state Sea Ron Klein said the party leadership needs to reconnect with its rank-and-file members across the state.

"Local Democrats have not had statewide Democrats visit with them and talk with them to find out what the issues are. That hasn't happened in a long time," said Klein, of Delray Beach. "WeVe sort of let big portions of the state go without having active Democratic organizations." The party said Maddox would spend part of February traveling across the state in an effort to reach out to Democrats at the grass-roots level. It would be a tour reminiscent of his "Mayor on the Move" motor-home journey in 2001, when he visited officials in 405 cities across the state as president of the Florida League of Cities. The meeting also was a chance for Poe to bid farewell to those he worked with since taking over as chairman in March 2000.

"You will do a great disservice to hand the success and the failures of this party on the new chair," Poe said. "Remember that you gave him a gavel and not a magic wand." 16 oz. Mild or Hot Tennessee Pride Roll Sausage 150 ct Wide or College Rule Topflight Filler Paper 16 oz. Regular or Polish Eckrich Rope Smoked Sausage cms $6M3 $6M-3 UMI I UtAL Ml1 am DEAL price without card $3.49 price without card $3.49 price without card 79 ii3if mx tfyggj T1 DieOttier I 'hue Meal i 1 1 4 WD Brand U.S. Choice Beef Boneless Bottom Round Roast Fresh Skinless WD All Natural Boneless Chicken Center Cut Breasts or Tenders Boneless Pork Chops State ends racketeering inquiry of investment firm mil i y-y a.

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Froot Loops or 20 oz. Raisin Bran Kellogg's Cereal 12 oz. Yellow American Winn-Dixie Singles Slices A ...4 15-' mA sion fund will lose money because the fund is a defined benefit plan that guarantees a certain return. A spokesman for Alliance did not immediately return a phone call Saturday. Alliance Vice Chairman Alfred Harrisoa who had averaged a 14 percent annual return for Florida before being fired after the Enron loss, testified to a US.

Senate committee last year that he was deceived by Enron's and Anderson's misleading financial price without card $1.69 price without card price without card $1.99 Alliance Capital had bought Enron stock The Associated Press TALLAHASSEE The state attorney general has dropped the racketeering investigation of an investment firm that put Florida pension money into failing Enron stock and resulted in a loss of more than $300 million in the fund. Attorney General Richard Doran said Friday that a yearlong investigation of Alliance Capital Management the contract money manager that bought the stock on the state's behalf, found no evidence that the firm engaged in racketeering. The investigation was based on dozens of interviews and the review of 172 boxes of subpoenaed documents from Alliance, Enron and Enron accountant Arthur Andersea The attorney general's decision is not expected to have an immediate bearing on the state pension fund's ongoing civil lawsuit against Alliance or on federal inquiries into the practices of Enron and Andersea Investigators also found no evidence that Gov. Jeb Bush whose brother, President Bush, had longtime ties to former Enron Chairman Kenneth Lay was involved in directing the pension fund's purchases, lead investigator Mary Leontakianakos said. "That wasn't the focus of our investigatioa but we saw no evidence of collusion whatsoever," Leontakianakos said.

The governor has denied any involvement with the stock sclec-tioa Despite the loss of more than $300 millioa none of the 650,000 government retirees in the pen- 1M6 r. Harrison bought 7.6 million Enron shares for the Florida retirement fund, including 2.7 million shares after Oct 22, 2001, when it was announced that the U.S. Securities and Exchange ji 64 oz. White House Apple Juice Commission was investigating Houston-based Enron. 18-19 oz.

Selected Varieties Progresso Soups i i Harrison sold Florida's shares and those he managed for other institutional clients and his own retail mutual fund just two days 13.72-17.2 oz. Selected Varieties Regular or Thin Crust Torrs Pizza price without card $3.49 before Enron declared bankruptcy Dec 2, 2001, costing Florida $306 13 millioa Doran's decision comes a year 1 1 after then-Florida Attorney Gen price without card $1.99 price without card eral Bob Butterworth launched the investigation amid speculation over the cause and impact of Enron's collapse. Prices in the ad good through January 8, 2003 Medicare assignment accepted for: Uf rXTIAtl riTI7EXT'C EVE EVAHf" SUN. I MON. TUES.

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