Ask and you shall receive...
Posted on 03/05/2006 8:11:18 AM PST by devane617
PORT CHARLOTTE - Already trying to avoid the media, U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris, R-Longboat Key, is canceling campaign stops in Southwest Florida as questions swirl about her ties to a Washington defense contractor at the center of a bribery scandal.
Harris, who is running for the U.S. Senate, abruptly canceled a stop in Charlotte County on Saturday, and four other events planned for Lee and Collier counties were removed from her campaign Web site.
It's another sign that Harris' struggling campaign is in full crisis mode. Political consultants say that shying away from the public now is also bad strategy.
"She can't hide and expect this to go away," said David Johnson, a Republican political consultant. "It looks like her campaign is circling the wagons."
Brandon-based political consultant Mark Proctor said he advises clients to hold court early with the media to avoid a story dragging on for a week, as it has with Harris. The longer the story goes on, the more likely it is for voters to remember the issue come Election Day, he said.
Harris may not talk to the media and may stay away from some events, but she is trying to control damage in other ways. She recently told backers she will make a fundraising push in the next few months.
She Downplays Controversy She organized a conference call Friday with her most loyal supporters in which she downplayed her connections to MZM Inc., saying, "There is nothing to it except for the press trying to be negative."
The company's owner admitted in federal court that he gave $32,000 in illegal campaign donations to Harris.
In the conference call, Harris described a campaign on a roll and gaining momentum daily. She said prominent politicians, such as U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., hosted a fundraising event for her in Washington last week, proof all is well. "Now there is a buzz in Washington," she said in the call.
Harris' ties to defense contractor MZM Inc. have been under the microscope since Feb. 24, when MZM founder Mitchell Wade admitted to bribing one member of Congress and giving Harris illegal contributions in March 2004.
Over a private dinner in Washington, Wade and Harris talked about "obtaining funding and approval" for a Navy counterintelligence program that Wade wanted to open in Sarasota, Justice Department records show.
After the meeting, Harris put in a $10 million budget request to the Defense Appropriations subcommittee to fund the project. Days later, a staff member in her congressional office went to work for Wade at MZM.
The funding for the project was never approved.
Justice Department officials won't comment on Harris' role in the investigation, saying that it is ongoing.
Harris hasn't granted interviews about the issue but told supporters in the conference call she did nothing wrong.
"It was a legitimate project in our district for high-skilled, high-wage jobs," Harris said.
Federal investigators have said Wade never told Harris the 16 checks of $2,000 each in the name of MZM employees and their spouses were obtained illegally.
Harris told supporters in the conference call that investigators never asked her questions about Wade or MZM.
While Harris spoke to some supporters by phone Friday, she upset others waiting for her in Port Charlotte on Saturday by canceling her trip.
"I'm really disappointed," Charlotte County Republican Party Chairman Bob Starr said.
Harris' staff confirmed two days earlier she would be at a ribbon-cutting ceremony to open a new party headquarters in Charlotte. But Starr said Harris' staff called back to cancel after he had sent notices promoting the event.
Harris' campaign staff declined to comment and gave no explanation of why Harris canceled the trip. They did not say how many other events were taken off her schedule.
Prominent Republicans still back her campaign.
"Katherine Harris is going to make a great U.S. Senator," U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Orlando, said in video greeting to the Manatee County Republican Party last week.
Manatee County Republican Party Chairwoman Carol Jean Jordan called Harris the hardest working campaigner she knows and said she would beat U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Tallahassee, in November.
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., cool to Harris' candidacy, invited her to a weekly Republican caucus meeting, usually reserved for GOP senators. The next day, Harris attended a Washington fundraiser.
"It says the Republican leadership has accepted the political reality that Katherine Harris will be the GOP candidate for the United States Senate," said Larry Sabato, director for the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.
The best thing going for Harris, he said, is that most Americans think Washington is so corrupt Harris hasn't done anything abnormal. Most people think everyone in Congress takes bundles of cash from contractors and may see nothing outrageous about a contractor asking Harris for favors over dinner, he said.
However, others caution against reading too much into such public support for Harris during her latest crisis.
Fundraising To Get Harder Johnson said he isn't surprised at the public support for Harris but it doesn't mean much. While top Republicans stick by her, she can expect fundraising to get a lot harder, particularly in Florida, he said.
Harris has struggled to raise money and has put $250,000 of her own into her campaign. Nelson has $8 million.
"It's going to get worse," Johnson said. "Nobody is going to want to give her money."
In the conference call, Harris told supporters she plans fundraisers in California, Texas, New York and Illinois. She said television talk show host Sean Hannity is planning a Florida bus tour with her. "The campaign is really off to the races," Harris said.
What no pics???????
"Over a private dinner in Washington, Wade and Harris talked about "obtaining funding and approval" for a Navy counterintelligence program that Wade wanted to open in Sarasota, Justice Department records show.
After the meeting, Harris put in a $10 million budget request to the Defense Appropriations subcommittee to fund the project. Days later, a staff member in her congressional office went to work for Wade at MZM."
This stuff happens all the time. Where do people go work when the move on, or resign, or get reassigned? Typically, it is with the people they are constantly seeing anyway, i.e. their network pool, aka contractors. Politicians are always giving favors or jobs to big-time donors. It is not shocking. It is only shocking to those that don't understand the reality, or wish to bring down someone who is engaged in something that everyone does, even the taker-downers. If this is a problem, make it a law that staff members, the elected member, cannot work directly, or indirectly for a lobbyist/or associated firm for 10 years, or five years. But lets not all be "OMG!" when it happens. Just change the rules.
I agree also that she is making a mistake. She just needs to plow through it non stop. Just like Bubba didn't during his multiple crises. As long as nothing directly is connected, keep plugging along. Don't cancel anything and keep smiling. Talk about the future.
I understand that this is the way things are, but I wish there was some way that legislators would make multi-million-dollar purchasing decisions based on the merits of the deal and not based on who gave them, excuse me, their campaign committee $20,000.
It's NOT all about them. It's about our national defense.
Like my Tagline says: "The truth, not politics, is right for our beautiful America."
It's time for JEB to step up to the plate. He'd beat Bill "Astronaut" Nelson easily.
Come on JEB. Do it!
Rules, please... can we get this thread up to regulatory requirements?
My favorite is Ms. Harris on horseback...
When is the primary in Fla? Until then, there is at least hope she'll quit.
"She just needs to plow through it non stop. Just like Bubba didn't during his multiple crises."
Isn't it amazing how Republicans seem to be derailed (and imprisoned, in the case of Duke Cunningham) for minor campaign finance violations, and yet the Democrats (e.g. Bill Clinton) are untouched by even major crimes?
Harris already stated that she didn't know where the money originated from. Thanks to our myopic campaign finance "laws," this happens all the time to politicians. Criminal lobbyist money-launders to person A, who then gives the money to person B, who then donates the money to a legitimate PAC or organization, which then gives to Harris. The entire system is F up.
Can't she just do like the Democrats do, give the money back or donate it and the story is over?
The word "corrupt" is badly used in situations like this. No one has accused her of taking money and putting it in her pocket. These are campaign donations. It pays campaign staff. None of it pays her.
It is "influence buying", not "corruption", and every donor who ever gave a penny was buying influence. In general the media is out of control on this subject because there are no Pulitzers awarded for reporting good news.
She already did give it away -- she donated it to charity. But she is a republican, so the story will never go away.
I agree with you completely: this is nothing more than an AP hitpiece.
But it's a huge mistake on Harris' part to cancel appearances, go into hiding, etc. I think this is what most on this thread are pointing out. Hiding makes it look as if one has something to hide.
Harris has nothing to explain. She already released a statement. If the FL MSM and the GOP party hacks who are secretly undermining her campaign can't let it go, so be it.
The bottom line is that these people still hate Harris' guts for obeying FL election law in 2000.
Harris is toast ---
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