http://www.heraldsun.com/state/6-631178.html

Taylor aid says she gave wrong information on CAFTA vote

Jul 29, 2005 : 11:58 pm ET

ASHEVILLE, N.C. -- A top aide to U.S. Rep. Charles Taylor said Friday she was wrong when she said the North Carolina Republican was not on the House floor during the customary voting time for a deeply contested trade deal and that he voted near the very end of the extended period.

Taylor said an electronic voting problem prevented his vote against the Central American Free Trade Agreement from registering. The trade bill passed the U.S. House early Thursday by two votes, 217-215, after Republican leaders extended the customary 15 minute voting period to 63 minutes to line up enough votes.

Taylor's press secretary, Deborah Potter, said Friday that Taylor was on the House floor for the vote and cast his vote within the first 15 minutes of the allotted voting time. Taylor did not check the board that shows how each member voted and had no idea his vote against CAFTA wasn't counted, Potter said.

The agreement, for which President Bush campaigned aggressively, sets up free trade with six Latin American countries -- Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic.

The bill, which the Senate approved last month, now goes to the president for his signature.

Democrats weren't buying Taylor's explanation.

"I think that after seven terms in Congress, especially on such a crucial vote, one would hope U.S. Rep. Charles Taylor might be able to figure out the many ways to vote, and I think his story might be unraveling," said Schorr Johnson, a spokesman with the North Carolina Democratic Party.

"In a body of 435 people, very rarely does a vote become so close that every vote matters. In this case, every vote mattered, and he missed it," Johnson said.

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