This might be the time to bring the rest of the country up to date
on the
Jeb Bush administration's conflict of interest dealings surrounding
the
Ichetucknee Cement Kiln, see www.Ichetucknee.org.
Harris voted in the Cabinet meeting January 25,
2000, along with Bush, to
confirm the Deal guaranteeing to pay Anderson $23 million to discontinue
use
of his played out linerock mine threatening the Ichetucknee River,
in
exchange for the DEP permit for his controversial, unpopular cement
kiln 3
miles from the Ichetucknee State Park. Anderson was paid $23
million to stop
mining 3 miles North of the Ichetucknee River, only to be given permission
to
blast, mine, and construct a mercury polluting cement kiln 3 miles
West of
the Ichetucknee River. Anderson contributed over $150,000 to
the Republican
campaign.
Virginia Seacrist
SICK, Chairperson
904 497 4471
Subject:
Harris has said she is interested
in running for the U.S. Senate
Date:
Tue, 14 Nov 2000 20:07:25
EST
From:
Matotanka@aol.com
To:
Greenumbrella1@aol.com
Controversy Swirls Around Harris
By Dana Milbank and Jo Becker
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, November 14, 2000; Page A22
TALLAHASSEE, Nov. 13 –– Last winter, Katherine
Harris, a former real estate
broker from Sarasota, flew to New Hampshire with other Floridians to
campaign
for George W. Bush. Going door-to-door with Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and
other
state Republicans, she handed out orange-shaped stickers and even kissed
two
lapdogs on their noses while meeting voters in one Manchester home.
Today, Harris, Florida's secretary of state, announced she would end
the
state's presidential vote recount on Tuesday--a decision that, if it
holds up
in court, would enable the Bush campaign to succeed in preventing what
a
spokesman said was Vice President Gore's attempt to "ignore the law
so that
he can overturn the results of this election."
Warren Christopher, leader of the Gore effort in Florida, said after
an
eight-minute meeting with Harris at her ornate capitol office this
morning
that her deadline was "arbitrary and unreasonable." Gore spokesman
Chris
Lehane, accused her of being "a lackey for the Bush campaign."A flamboyant
and controversial figure in Florida politics, Harris, 43, is not close
personally to the Bush family--Jeb Bush endorsed her opponent in a
primary
fight last year. And her Republican allies say that in insisting on
Tuesday's
deadline, she was simply enforcing state law."She's not doing anything
on
behalf of a party," said Sandra Mortham, a health care lobbyist who
lost to
Harris in the 1998 primary. "She's doing what the statutes tell her
to
do."But there is no doubt that Harris is closely allied with Jeb Bush,
and
keenly interested in the election of his brother. In addition to her
work in
New Hampshire for George W. Bush she was a co-chair of his Florida
campaign
and a delegate to the Republican convention. She recruited retired
Gen. H.
Norman Schwarzkopf, a prominent Bush supporter who taped phone messages
for
Bush in Florida, to do a taxpayer-funded get-out-the-vote commercial
just
before the election, drawing a rebuke from the watchdog group Common
Cause.Harris, "when wearing that hat as head of elections, has a
responsibility to be nonpartisan," said Ben Wilcox, the Florida director
for
Common Cause.As a result of a change in the state constitution, the
job of
secretary of state will be eliminated in 2002, and Harris has said
she is
interested in running for the U.S. Senate. But she would bring a decidedly
mixed record to any race.Even top Republicans say Harris has shown
little
interest in the election law side of her job. While her predecessor
was
credited with making campaign finance information more readily available
to
the public, Harris has made few proposals in the area of election reform.
And
as she has made these important decisions over the past few days, she
has
done so with senior staffers at her side who are relatively new to
her
department. Since Harris took office, there has been a significant
level of
turnover of senior-level staffers, including in the division of elections.
Though the secretary of state's job is traditionally one for internal
matters
such as elections and corporate governance, Harris has seen her job
as
promoting the state overseas. She has flown to Barbados, Rio de Janiero
and
Sydney, spending upwards of $400 a night for hotels at times. She has
spent
more than $100,000 on travel, and her expenses last year were nearly
triple
those of the governor.Energetic and ambitious, Harris benefited from
her
powerful family when she first ran for the state Senate in 1994. Her
grandfather, Ben Hill Griffin, a cattle and citrus magnate, served
in the
state House and Senate and the University of Florida's football stadium
is
named after him. Harris, herself reported to be worth $6 million, went
to
school at Agnes Scott College in Georgia, and earned a master's degree
in
international trade from Harvard while serving in the state Senate
in 1996.
She worked for IBM and then in real estate.While in the state Senate,
Harris
became ensnarled in a scandal involving Riscorp, a Florida insurance
company
that made illegal contributions to dozens of political candidates and
committees, including $20,600 to her 1994 campaign. Employees were
asked to
make contributions on behalf of Riscorp and then were reimbursed through
fake
bonus checks or fake expense accounts. A memo written by Harris to
Riscorp's
founder later appeared in Florida newspapers: "Katherine's office called
and
asked if we could give them different addresses to list for each of
the
checks."Harris denied knowledge of the matter, returned the money and
was
cleared in a state investigation, though her campaign director was
an
unindicted "co-conspirator." Five people from Riscorp pleaded guilty
and the
firm's founder served time in prison.Harris defeated Mortham, the incumbent
secretary of state, in a bitter Republican primary in 1998 after Mortham,
who
had been Jeb Bush's running mate, was dropped from the ticket amid
controversy. Harris attacked her for using private donations to a nonprofit
group to promote herself.Mortham today called Harris's campaign "very
aggressive, much more aggressive than we had seen on the Florida scene."In
March 1999, just a few months after taking office, Harris began eyeing
a
promotion: the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Connie Mack. With a net
worth of
more than $6 million, Harris said at the time she would be willing
to finance
a campaign out of her own pocket. Asked how much she would spend, she
replied: "Whatever it would take." She eventually decided against running
and
Rep. Bill McCollum became the party's nominee, losing last week to
Insurance
Commissioner Bill Nelson.As one of several elected members of the Florida
cabinet, Harris has been a reliable vote for Bush, supporting his
controversial school voucher program and rarely disagreeing with him.Harris's
office is just down the hall from Bush's, but according to Susan McManus,
a
University of South Florida political scientist who was appointed by
Harris
to chair an elections commission, "They're not close personal friends.
Never
by any stretch has she been part of the intimate kitchen cabinet of
Governor
Bush."Van Poole, a former Republican state party chairman and state
senator
who is now a lobbyist, said it is likely Harris is keeping Bush informed
of
what she is doing, but he believes Bush's decision to remove himself
from the
recount process is real. "He bends over backward to avoid stuff like
that,"
Poole said.Harris, for her part, has not spoken publicly since vowing
last
week to proceed "with all due speed, but with a determination to ensure
the
full accuracy and independence of this process."Milbank reported from
Florida, Becker from Washington.