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Contractor picked up dinner tab for Harris
Orlando Sentinel ^ | April 21, 2006 | Jim Stratton

Posted on 04/21/2006 7:10:47 AM PDT by MC Miker G

A defense contractor seeking help from Rep. Katherine Harris for $10 million in federal money last year took her to one of Washington's most exclusive restaurants, where he paid for a meal that may have cost as much as $2,800 and offered to sponsor a campaign fundraiser for her.

Mitchell Wade, who pleaded guilty this year to bribing a California congressman, spent $2,800 on wine and food, said Ed Rollins, former chief political strategist for Harris in her campaign for the U.S. Senate.

In an interview with the Orlando Sentinel this week, Harris R-Longboat Key, said it was "news to me" that the total bill had been that expensive.

Rollins said he and Harris discussed the meal and its cost early this year after Wade, the central figure in a congressional bribery scandal, admitted giving kickbacks to U.S. Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham of California.

...

The rules also state that members "must never accept a gift that is linked to any official action that the individual has taken, or is being asked to take. . . ."

In her interview Wednesday, Harris acknowledged for the first time that Wade had paid for the dinner at Citronelle, reversing a statement from her congressional spokeswoman earlier this year.

But in the interview, Harris also said her campaign had, at some point, "reimbursed" the restaurant.

When asked how she could have reimbursed a business that was owed no money -- Wade paid the bill that evening -- she abruptly ended the interview and walked off.

(Excerpt) Read more at orlandosentinel.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Florida
KEYWORDS: katherineharris; senate; shecantwin
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To: Joe Brower

Just the latest hit-piece on Katherine Harris and her run for US Senate.
Number 2,892 in an ongoing series...



Let me see, if I were to run for Senate and had prior notice that the dems were going to do everything in their power to ensure I lose, I would be so squeeky clean. She should know better than have any hint of scandle. What does a millionaire need to be having some contractor pay for a 2800 dollar meal? That is like 50 bucks for you and I. She needs to get serious about this election or she is going to LOSE!!!!! Get with it Katherine...NOW. Stop doing things for attention like going on TV saying you are going to use your own money and then later say oh I guess I am not going to use my money. It just makes you as a great conservative look horrible and you are not helping the GOP at all which we need all the help we can get this year.


21 posted on 04/21/2006 7:31:00 AM PDT by napscoordinator
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To: RedBloodedAmerican

"If we are going to try to dig dirt, lets spend time on finding out why Ted Kennedy has land in Lafayette LA which may have been provided him by Abramoff. Do something constructive.
"

I have no resources that will let me do that. I'm not trying to dig dirt on Harris. I have no resources to do that, either. I'm just commenting on how this might affect the election, which is probably a lost cause, anyhow.


22 posted on 04/21/2006 7:31:27 AM PDT by MineralMan (non-evangelical atheist)
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To: napscoordinator
Perhaps you haven't noticed by now, when you're in the crosshairs of the political left and their media acolytes, you can do absolutely nothing wrong and the hate-mongering media will simply make stuff up out of whole cloth.

So you don't like Harris. Fair enough. Do you have any alternative candidate(s), or are you just complaining?

23 posted on 04/21/2006 7:34:23 AM PDT by Joe Brower (The Constitution defines Conservatism. *NRA*)
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To: MineralMan

I didn't know about the house rule, but I understand it now. I honestly don't even know much about Harris and whether I'd support her or not. I just don't have an opinion of her.

The reason this looks like a cheap shot then is that we don't know what her portion cost, nor how many people there were. Nor do we even know if she *did* kick in for anything over fifty bucks, if it was. There's just a couple of facts that she was there and the total was $2800. Most of the time, the people at the dinner don't see the check. I don't have a hard time believing that she would have had no idea what the meal ended up costing, especially if there were a number of people there.

Again... I'm not jumping to her defense necessarily, but this is pretty obviously just a partisan cheap shot.


24 posted on 04/21/2006 7:43:28 AM PDT by Ramius (Buy blades for war fighters: freeper.the-hobbit-hole.net --> 1100 knives and counting!)
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To: RedBloodedAmerican
Go to the restaurants webpage and check out the Chefs table pricing.

That still doesn't explain the $2,800 tab. Wade's penchant for $1,000-a-bottle bordeaux seems to be the best explanation.

25 posted on 04/21/2006 7:47:06 AM PDT by PBRSTREETGANG
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To: MineralMan
This story is going to do Katherine Harris no good whatsoever. Indeed, it will probably cost her a couple more percentage points in the polls.

No way. Anyone who already subscribes to a newspaper, reads a newspaper, or occasionally has a newspaper blow by their front door already knows enough about Harris to avert their eyes. Her supporters now are people who don't read the news or who will vote Republican because they can not morally vote for a Democrat or skip an election.

Still amazed the primary hasn't happened yet and we don't have a better candidate.
26 posted on 04/21/2006 7:59:54 AM PDT by HostileTerritory ((heh heh.))
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To: MineralMan
I didn't mean to imply you were digging dirt, but more that the author of the article was/is. I don't know, maybe it will affect the polls but polls are short term and are based on what people think right at the moment which is not the same as long term

Those types of polls are like sibling disagreements. Ya love your siblings but they can piss you off. If you get polled on something they do that pisses you off, well of course the poll will be negative results. But overall it doesn't mean you don't care or support them in the long run.

I agree with Bush: Screw polls :)
27 posted on 04/21/2006 8:06:31 AM PDT by RedBloodedAmerican
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To: MineralMan

Remember, Alan Keyes pulled 27% of the vote, and Katharine Harris is nowhere near in the same league as Keyes.

I'm predicting the high 30s.


28 posted on 04/21/2006 8:07:00 AM PDT by HostileTerritory
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To: PBRSTREETGANG

Chef dinner: 250 per plate minimum 6 people.
Thats 1500 right there. only need 5 more people to make almost 2800. How many people were there? Who sourced this? Who cares? LOL
How did the author find out anyhow? Have an actual tab? I may have missed seeing that part...


29 posted on 04/21/2006 8:09:23 AM PDT by RedBloodedAmerican
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To: HostileTerritory

"and Katharine Harris is nowhere near in the same league as Keyes"

Thats true! Harris has been in Florida for more than 6 months and has a clean financial record!


30 posted on 04/21/2006 8:10:25 AM PDT by RedBloodedAmerican
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To: RedBloodedAmerican

It wasn't necessarily at the Chef's Table; the story doesn't say. There is regular restaurant seating as well, and the prix fixe (without wine) is about $150 per person. Worth every penny. I've paid a lot more for a lot less!


31 posted on 04/21/2006 8:17:46 AM PDT by linda_22003
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To: MineralMan

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ


32 posted on 04/21/2006 8:20:42 AM PDT by Unicorn (Too many wimps around.)
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To: montag813

She isn't losing it's in the bag.


33 posted on 04/21/2006 8:22:02 AM PDT by Unicorn (Too many wimps around.)
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To: Joe Brower

So you don't like Harris. Fair enough. Do you have any alternative candidate(s), or are you just complaining?


First of all. I NEVER said or implied that I don't like Representative Harris. Secondly, it does not matter if I do or not...can't vote. I am a Pennsyvanian so we have our own difficult election. Third, I was just pointing out what I would do if I was running for Senate and it would not be going out to dinner with contractors unless I paid for it myself...where does that say I don't like her...Very confusing post you wrote.


34 posted on 04/21/2006 8:22:21 AM PDT by napscoordinator
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To: H. Paul Pressler IV
While the MSM may be out to "get" Harris, she is adept at putting her foot in her mouth...seemingly on a daily basis.

From the article:

The dinner first became an issue within the campaign late last summer when senior advisers learned that Wade had been one of Harris' biggest campaign contributors a year earlier.

Rollins said he questioned Harris at the time about her relationship with Wade and about the dinner meeting.

At that point, Rollins said, Harris told him she had instructed a campaign staff member to make sure her portion of the meal would be paid.

But Jim Dornan, campaign manager at the time, said no such request was ever made.

Dornan said he oversaw campaign expenditures, and none of the staff members ever approached him about the Citronelle dinner.

"They would have brought that to me," he said.

Rollins said the amount of the bill didn't become clear to him and other campaign staffers until early this year when Wade pleaded guilty. Rollins said he met with Harris again to discuss the dinner and asked how the bill could have been so much.

Harris, he said, told him that Wade bought expensive wine.

"She was very anxious," said Rollins, "and wanted to know how she could reimburse the restaurant."

When Rollins said that couldn't be done, Harris asked about repaying Wade. Rollins said he advised against that, pointing out that Wade, by then, was a convicted criminal. He said he told Harris to talk to a lawyer.

"I left the campaign shortly after that," said Rollins, who, like Dornan, was among more than half a dozen key staffers who quit Harris' Senate campaign in the past five months. "I have no idea what steps she took."

-----------

Oh, I know...everyone is now out to get Harris, right? I think the more reasonable explanation is that Harris is imploding. Is is possible that she is just a typical corrupt politician?

35 posted on 04/21/2006 8:23:42 AM PDT by ContemptofCourt
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To: MC Miker G

Bill Clinton did a lot worse with the Lincoln Bedroom and the drive-by media thought that was just fine.


36 posted on 04/21/2006 8:25:03 AM PDT by capt. norm (W.C. Fields: "Hollywood is the gold cap on a tooth that should have been pulled out years ago.")
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To: MC Miker G
Mitchell Wade, who pleaded guilty this year to bribing a California congressman, spent $2,800 on wine and food, said Ed Rollins, former chief political strategist for Harris in her campaign for the U.S. Senate.

Yeah, Ed Rollins is a real paragon of honesty. I don't know why Republicans keep hiring this slimebag.

Sorry, but this is just more garbage ginned up by the RINO-Dem-Media Triscumvirate to knock Harris out of the race.

I say yet again--if she's such a weak candidate, take her out in the Primary! Enough with the attempted political assassinations!
37 posted on 04/21/2006 8:28:22 AM PDT by Antoninus (I don't vote for liberals, regardless of party affiliation.)
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To: Owen
It is past time for her to serve her term in Congress and let the party nominate an opponent for Nelson. She simply has to know she's not helping the cause.

There is something called a PRIMARY. Why are you "let the party nominate someone" types so afraid of the PRIMARY. If Harris is so weak, then let someone run in the PRIMARY and take her out then. I am so sick and tired of this "let's let the GOP party hacks corronate someone" attitude. If you can't win a PRIMARY, you obviously aren't the choice of the people in the field.
38 posted on 04/21/2006 8:31:58 AM PDT by Antoninus (I don't vote for liberals, regardless of party affiliation.)
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To: Antoninus

In my state, I'm tired of the "good ol' boy" GOP-endorsed candidates. Apparently many others were as well....and elected Tom Coburn.


39 posted on 04/21/2006 8:36:34 AM PDT by RasterMaster ("Bin Laden shows others the road to Paradise, but never offers to go along for the ride." GWB)
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To: RedBloodedAmerican
How did the author find out anyhow? Have an actual tab? I may have missed seeing that part...

The article said that the bill may have been "as much as.....".

As soon as I see "as much as" or "less than", I quit reading.

That's somebody's wild ass guess. Similar to listening to a used car salesman.

40 posted on 04/21/2006 8:40:20 AM PDT by Ole Okie
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