http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=...954&sec=apworld

US Congresswoman caught in fallout from bribery scandal

TAMPA, Florida (AP) - U.S. Congresswoman Katherine Harris says she did not knowingly do anything wrong in her associations with a defense contractor who prosecutors say illegally funneled thousands of dollars to her campaign in 2004.

Questions about the donations have arisen as Harris, the former Florida secretary of state who oversaw the 2000 presidential election recount, tries to unseat U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, a Democrat.

The donations were described in a plea agreement last Friday, when Mitchell Wade, the former president of MZM Inc., pleaded guilty to bribing U.S. Rep. Randy "Duke'' Cunningham in exchange for assistance in getting $150 million (euro125.83 million) in Defense Department contracts for his company.

He also admitted making illegal campaign contributions in the names of MZM employees and their spouses to Harris and Congressman Virgil Goode, also a Republican.

Prosecutors said Harris got $32,000 (euro27,000) from employees who were reimbursed by Wade.

Harris said she recently donated the money to charity, and didn't know the donations would be reimbursed.

In the plea agreement, Wade acknowledged dining with Harris at a Washington restaurant in 2005 to discuss a possible fundraiser for her and obtaining funding for a Navy counterintelligence program involving his company. She requested the funding, but Wade didn't get it.

"I requested a $10 million (euro8.4 million) appropriation for the U.S Naval Criminal Investigative Services project because I thought it would bring new jobs to Sarasota,'' said Harris.

"I never requested funding for this project in exchange for any contributions, but rather to bring more high-skill, high-wage jobs to the region.''

Wade has been cooperating with federal prosecutors in Washington and San Diego since last summer and is required to continue to do so as part of his plea agreement with the government.

He faces up to 20 years in prison.

Prosecutors said they are continuing to investigate and won't say if Harris is a subject.

Harris said her office has not been contacted about the investigation.

"I think these revelations should matter to voters because I think ethics should count for something in a public servant,'' said Dan McLaughlin, spokesman for Nelson.

This lying witch has been spewing out that kind of lie since 2000. :bad:

Yeah, like that she was only following the law in 2000. Totally arbitrary deadlines that the law didn't require be enforced . . . all for the sake of ending the vote counting. I hope the witch loses that race for Senate BIG TIME.

I hope she is led away to prison in chains. :clap:

I think I blame her more than anyone else for what happened in 2000. The arbitrary enforcement of deadlines and early certifying of votes were, I think, even more problematic than the SCOTUS decision. Although I suppose that if she had allowed the votes to be counted and certified at a later date, the Bush team would still have gone to the SCOTUS to somehow undo the fact that Gore got more votes.

I hope that b____ goes to prison just like Duke Cunningham. She should have been there since 2000.

It is a fine line to walk, discussing a fundraiser and then saying by the way, I want this contract....hmmmm

No doubt she's a corrupt evil criminal, but let's not forget evil little Jebby. He was beside that bitch every step of the way to stolen election 2000. They both should be sharing a rat infested prison cell.

http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll.../NEWS/603050833

Article published Mar 5, 2006

Harris 'circling the wagons,' consultant says
Senate hopeful cancels weekend appearance

By Jeremy Wallace

PORT CHARLOTTE -- Already trying to avoid the media, Longboat Key Republican Katherine Harris is now canceling campaign stops in Southwest Florida as questions swirl about her ties to a Washington, D.C., defense contractor at the center of an ongoing national 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 now in full crisis mode. Political consultants say that shying away from the public right now is also a 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 be talking to the media and staying away from some events, but she is trying to control the damage in other ways. And she recently told her backers that she is making a fund-raising push over the next few months.

Harris organized a conference call on 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.

Continuing with the conference call, Harris described a campaign on a roll and gaining momentum daily. She said prominent national politicians, like U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., hosted a fund-raising event for her in Washington last week, proof that all is well.

"Now there is a buzz in Washington," Harris said on the call.

Harris' ties to defense contractor MZM Inc. have been under the microscope since Feb. 24.

That's the day 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, D.C., 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 that dinner meeting, Harris put in a $10 million budget request to the Defense Appropriations subcommittee to fund the project. Days later, an employee in Harris' congressional office went to work for Wade at MZM.

The funding for the project never was approved.

Justice Department officials have refused to comment on Harris' role in the investigation, saying the probe is ongoing.

Harris still hasn't granted any interviews about the issue, but told supporters on the telephone that she did nothing wrong.

"It was a legitimate project in our district for high-skilled, high-wage jobs," Harris said.

Federal investigators have said that Wade never told Harris that the 16 checks of $2,000 each in the name of MZM employees and their spouses were obtained illegally.

Harris told her supporters on Friday's conference call that federal investigators have never asked her any questions about Wade or MZM.

While Harris spoke to some of her supporters by phone a day earlier, others waiting for her in Port Charlotte on Saturday were upset that Harris canceled her trip to that county.

"I'm really disappointed," said Charlotte County Republican Party Chairman Bob Starr.

Harris' staff confirmed two days earlier that she would be at a ribbon-cutting to open a new party headquarters in Charlotte.

But Starr said Harris' staff called back to cancel after he had already sent notices promoting the event.

Harris' campaign staff declined to comment, and have offered no explanation for why Harris canceled the Charlotte trip. They also did not say how many other events were taken off her schedule.

Prominent Republicans continue to back her campaign.

"Katherine Harris is going to make a great U.S. senator," U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., said in video greeting to the Manatee County Republican Party last week.

Also in Manatee County, Florida Republican Party Chairman Carol Jean Jordan called Harris the hardest-working campaigner she knows and said she would beat Sen. Bill Nelson, a Democrat, in November.

Even U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., who has been cool to Harris' candidacy, invited Harris to a weekly Republican caucus meeting, usually reserved only for Republican senators. The next day, Harris attended a Washington fund-raiser.

"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 of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.

The best thing going for Harris, said Sabato, is that most Americans already believe Washington is so corrupt that Harris hasn't done anything abnormal.

Most people already believe everyone in Congress takes bundles of cash from contractors, he said, and may see nothing new or outrageous about a scenario in which a contractor asks Harris for favors over dinner.

Others caution against reading too much into the public support for Harris during her latest crisis.

Johnson said he isn't surprised at the public support for Harris, but it doesn't mean much.

While top Republicans are sticking by her, Harris can expect fund-raising to get a lot harder, particularly in Florida, Johnson said.

Harris has struggled to raise money, and has put $250,000 of her own money 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 her supporters she is planning fund-raisers in California, Texas, New York and Illinois. And she said television talk show host Sean Hannity is planning a bus tour with her through Florida.

"The campaign is really off to the races," Harris said.

I guess it would be too much to hope that she'd cancel all her appearances everywhere for the rest of her life. <_<