Katherine Harris for Senate

It looks like former co-chair of Bush's Florida campaign/Fla. Secretary of State now Congresswoman, Kathy Harris is in a bit of political hot water over some campaign issues.

No, not her 1994 campaign for state office where she received more than $20,000 in illegal campaign contributions from an insurance company she subsequently helped by introducing legislation that would have hurt one of its competitors.

"Federal prosecutors say nearly $400,000 of Riscorp contributions to Harris and dozens of other politicians were illegal. Five Riscorp executives have pleaded guilty to felony and misdemeanor charges. Riscorp's founder, Bill Griffin, was sentenced to five months in federal custody earlier this month in connection with the scheme to reimburse his employees for the illegal contributions.

Harris got $20,292 in illegal contributions from Riscorp during her 1994 state Senate campaign -- more than any other legislative candidate. She also has put that amount into the special elections trust fund. Harris also received $13,000 in legal corporate contributions from various Riscorp companies, more than any other candidate in any race, federal records show.

Federal prosecutors described her 1994 campaign manager as one of the "co-conspirators" or "co-schemers" in an effort to hide the true identity of campaign contributors on campaign finance reports." St. Petersburg Times, 8/25/98

No, not Election 2000. That's old news which has been thoroughly documented.

Mitchell Wade

We're talking about fresh new problems of corruption. This Congressional corruption, however, isn't connected to Jack Abramoff. This round is connected to Mitchell Wade.


If you don't know Wade, he's the generous founder of the defense contracting firm MZM. Wade, who took a $700,000 loss on the purchase of former Congressman now felon Randy “Duke” Cunningham's Del Mar home, allowed the Congressman to stay on his yacht while in Washington, and just outright bribed him, plead guilty last Friday.

"Mitchell J. Wade admitted yesterday in federal court that he attempted to illegally influence Defense Department contracting officials and tried to curry favor with two House members, in addition to lavishing more than $1 million in cash, cars, a boat, antiques and other bribes on convicted Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Calif.)." Washington Post, 2/25/06

Harris' problem lies in the fact that she's one those unnamed House members.

"Wade also pleaded guilty to election law fraud for making nearly $80,000 in illegal campaign contributions to "Representatives A and B," who are identifiable as [U.S. Rep. Virgil Goode, R-Va.]and Harris.

The member identifiable as Harris received $32,000 in illegal donations from Wade and his employees in 2004. Documents filed with Wade's plea say that he took Harris to dinner early last year, where they discussed the possibility of another fundraiser and the possibility of getting funding for a Navy counterintelligence program in the member's district. One source familiar with the inquiry said Harris made such a request for funding, but it was not granted.

Harris said in a statement that Wade had "discussed opening a defense plant in Sarasota that would create numerous high-skilled, high-wage jobs in my district." She said [she] had donated all her MZM donations to charity. "This case demonstrates the perils of a process in which candidates are sometimes asked to determine the intent of a contributor.'" Washington Post, 2/25/06

The good news for Harris is that she's not immediately the target of an impending prosecution:

"[P]prosecutors said yesterday that there was no sign they knew the contributions were illegal. Prosecutors said the investigation is continuing but wouldn't say whether Goode and Harris or the MZM employees who made the illegal donations for Wade are subjects of the investigation."

I'm sure it was all a big misunderstanding and Ms. Harris had no idea that something was amiss despite running afoul of similar campaign laws earlier.

"Wade also admitted that much of the campaign money he sent Harris and U.S. Rep. Virgil Goode, R-Va., was raised illegally by a method called straw contributing. Straw contributing, considered a felony, is done by giving employees money, then having them make a contribution to a candidate.

On one day alone, Harris collected 18 checks for $2,000 each from MZM employees and spouses." Herald Tribune, 2/26/06

The bad news is, this can't help her second attempt at the Senate.

Senate 2006

Trailing her Democratic opponent 53 percent to 31 percent, Harris has had to shake her prior campaign issues, as well as her cosmetically challenged image,



and well publicized gaffes. All these liabilities seem to have scared away the powers that be.

"In 2002, Harris ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in a heavily Republican district and won. Two years later, she considered making a run for Bob Graham's Senate seat. But the White House wanted a different candidate in the race—Mel Martinez, then the secretary of Housing and Urban Development. In an effort to keep Harris out of the primary, Republicans approached her with a backroom deal, according to Florida media reports: Stay out of the 2004 race and the party will support your Senate run in 2006. Harris agreed, and Martinez ascended to the Senate.

Earlier this month, Harris announced, right on time, that she would indeed make a 2006 run for Florida's second Senate seat, now held by Democrat Bill Nelson. But the Republicans she counted on haven't lined up behind her." Slate, 6/30/05

Without strong Republican backing and now being associated with the "culture of corruption" in Washington, Harris might flounder like another abandoned fawn of the Republicans, Jeanine Pirro

"Even Republicans would say she had her warning and apparently didn't learn anything from it. It's one thing to be fooled once but to be fooled twice says more about you than the foolers." Larry Sabato, political science professor at the University of Virginia. Herald Tribune, 2/26/06