Katherine Harris Resigns - Says No Election Laws Violated

TBO.com ^ | 08/01/02 | MIKE SALINERO

[kinganamort]

TALLAHASSEE - Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris revealed Thursday she didn't resign her office before qualifying to run for Congress, an apparent violation of state election law. Harris sent her resignation letter to Gov. Jeb Bush Thursday, but said it was effective July 15, the day she qualified to fun for the 13th Congressional District seat. Harris said she has been the ``de facto''' secretary of state since then.

Bush was out of town on a campaign trip. His office said he accepted Harris' resignation but had no further reaction.

The oversight is embarrassing because the secretary of state is in charge of elections. And the revelation comes after last week's fiasco in which Harris' Division of Elections charged candidates the wrong qualifying fees. One of the candidates was gubernatorial candidates Janet Reno. Harris was out of town at the time, raising money for her congressional campaign.

``I made a mistake,'' Harris said. ``But in no way should the confidence of the voters be shaken.''

According to Tallahassee elections law expert Mark Herron, it's not likely there could be a successful move to knock Harris off the ballot for Congress because she failed to file her resignation letter.

Under the U.S. Constitution, he said, the state isn't allowed to impose requirements on candidates for federal offices - only federal law or the Constitution can do that.

That means her situation is different from that of Attorney General Bob Butterworth, who also failed to file a resignation letter on time for his run for state Senate. The state's resign-to-run law, he said, has separate sections for federal and state candidates.

Under the section dealing with federal candidates, Herron said, a state officeholder who fails to file the required letter but qualifies for a federal office is deemed to have resigned from the state office ``automatically and irrevocably, effective immediately.''

In effect then, Harris has not legally been secretary of state since she qualified to run for Congress July 15.

[kinganamort]

see guys, its ok!

[Republican Wildcat]

So it appears that this article is slanted for no reason.

[kinganamort]

good news ping

[kinganamort]

also guys, if you want to follow the situation you can run searches for katherine with one click here

[kinganamort]

ping

[kinganamort]

sarasota ping for you my long lost cousin!

[Blood of Tyrants]

Sounds like a hanging offense to me. (sarcasm off)

[kinganamort]

huh?

[RJayneJ]

Essay Of The Week

Quote of the Day by by Libloather

[Joe Brower]

BTTT, and thanks!

[kinganamort]

thanks for the bump

[kinganamort]

hey guys i just got an email back from sarasota herald tribune about a letter to editor i sent yesterday and she is not publishing it because she published one of mine on the 31st, but she said it was the only pro katherine letter sent about this issue. she might be bluffing, but if anyone wants to send a letter to the editor about this topic to the local papers here are the email addys to send to:

editor.letters@heraldtribune.com (sarasota herald tribune)
letters@naplesnews.com (naples news)
dklement@bradentonherald.com (bradenton herald)
tribletters@tampatrib.com (tampa tribune)

[kinganamort]

as of 2pm today the editor only had 2 prokatherine articles... lets not forget she used the florida law to save the election, can we spend a moment or two to send a brief note to the s-h-t to show our support?

[JulieRNR21]

I just had a letter printed in the SHT so they won't print another from me for a month.....please help by writing one in support of Katherine Harris or pinging to someone who would. Thanks, Julie

editor.letters@heraldtribune.com (sarasota herald tribune)
letters@naplesnews.com (naples news)
dklement@bradentonherald.com (bradenton herald)
tribletters@tampatrib.com (tampa tribune)

[Joe Brower]

Already in the works.

[JulieRNR21]

Thanks, Joe

[goldstategop]

Ok, so Katherine Harris is an East Coast Bill Simon. Lots of Republicans running around pleading ignorance these days. I don't think that matters much except to the liberal nattering nabobs of negativism journalists who'd never find anything good to say about a conservative in the first place.

[kinganamort]

thanks for the bump... wendy paige and i appeared to get in an email dispute today.. hehe

[MeekOneGOP]

Katherine Harris & Jeb Bush

[MeekOneGOP]

Katherine Harris