Posted on 05/04/2006 11:45:30 AM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist
(AP) ORLANDO, Fla. A political strategist who left U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris' Senate campaign last month said Harris ignored her staff's recommendation to reject a defense contractor's $10 million appropriation request, now being challenged by a congressional watchdog group.
Harris insisted the request be submitted even though it was late and hard to understand, according to a report in the Orlando Sentinel's Thursday editions. The newspaper cites Harris' former chief political strategist Ed Rollins.
"She told them she wanted it done," Rollins told the paper. "And she wanted it done now."
Harris spokesman Chris Ingram declined to comment Thursday when reached by The Associated Press. The Sentinel said Harris did not respond to its repeated inquiries.
On Monday, the congressional watchdog group Common Cause asked the Justice Department to investigate whether Harris attempted to obtain the appropriation in return for financial support from the defense contractor, Mitchell Wade.
In filing the complaint, Common Cause cited information provided by Wade as part of a plea agreement in the bribery case of convicted former Republican Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham of California.
Harris' campaign issued a statement calling the Common Cause complaint "false and outrageous." The statement said her work on behalf of Wade's company "was nothing more than an effort to secure jobs and economic opportunities" for her district.
Wade, former president of MZM Inc., has acknowledged making $32,000 in illegal contributions to Harris' 2004 campaign for the U.S. House. Harris said she did not knowingly do anything illegal and said she would donate that money to charity.
Harris, who drew national attention as Florida's secretary of state during the 2000 presidential recount, is now trying to unseat Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson (news, bio, voting record). Statewide polls show her trailing by double digits.
Rollins has said he left the Harris campaign because "Katherine wasn't listening to us." He previously served as President Reagan's political director and ran Ross Perot's presidential campaign in 1992.
More garbage from the MSM...
BUMP
Ed works his long knife.
Anyone who directed Ross Perot's presidential race has got to have an IQ on par with that of bread mold.
Well, it's pretty strange she would railroad this appropriations through after the negative review from he own staff.
Corruption runs through politics and it must be rooted out, dem or pub.
Imagine dat. ;-)
Until there's solid evidence, then nobody knows for sure.
It's whacked out.
Rolling=Rollins
I hadn't seen a hit peice in a couple of days; I guess even the most hardened propagandists need a break once in a while.
I really have to wonder if her campaign would be the impending trainwreck that it's shaping up to be, if she'd actually gotten proper support from the GOP from the git-go. She's made some pretty big mistakes, but pols have recovered from worse to win races--provided they actually had some backing from their party. From up here out of state, it looks like they're just conceding the race and leaving her twisting in the wind.
She may be beyond the point of salvaging her campaign, which is a damn shame. She SHOULD be able to win that Senate seat running against Nelson, but she can't do it running against an opponent *and* her own party.
}:-)4
Totally, dude. There's enough smoke being blown in this thread to unnerve Tommy Chong.
How come the MSM doesn't delve into Harry Reid's real estate dealings in Nevada ?????
If there's evidence of Harris being involved in wrongdoing, then yes, she should resign and face the music.
It was true when I first said it and it's true now:
KATHERINE HARRIS IS INNOCENT OF CORRUPTION, BUT GUILTY AS SIN OF INEPTITUDE!!!
Heck, the fact that she hired Ed "Ross Perot" Rollins calls her judgement into question.
I suppose she could have done worse and hired Bob Shrum.
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