Is she still secretary of state? (Katherine Harris)

Is she still secretary of state?
Katherine Harris' back-dated resignation throws election office into uncertainty

TALLAHASSEE -- Katherine Harris, Florida's chief election official, admitted Thursday that she had failed to follow one of the election laws she is charged with administering in her own bid for Congress and abruptly resigned her office.

Harris' admission and her resignation sparked a flurry of questions about just who is Florida's secretary of state and brought promises of a legal challenge of her candidacy from one of her Democratic opponents in the 13th Congressional District race.

Harris said she did not know she was required to submit with her election filings a letter stating her intention to resign from her state post by Jan. 3, 2003. The letter is required under the state's resign-to-run laws because her term as secretary of state would overlap by four days with the start of a congressional term should she win the November election.

Harris said that because the secretary of state becomes an appointed position in 2003, she didn't believe the requirement applied to her.

"This is my total responsibility," said Harris in an interview with the New York Times Regional Newspapers. "I made an assumption I shouldn't have made."

With the mistake discovered, Harris sent a letter to Gov. Jeb Bush dated Aug. 1, in which she said she had resigned as secretary of state -- effective July 15, the date on which she qualified to run for Congress.

She said she has been "acting" secretary of state during the intervening two weeks, and she asked Bush to appoint her successor by the Sept. 10 primary election.

But neither state law nor the Florida Constitution makes any provision for "de facto" or "acting" Cabinet members. The law states that candidates for federal office who don't file the letter on time are considered to have resigned effective immediately.

And Harris' own letter seemed to contradict her claim that her resignation was effective July 15, stating that "to this date, I have vigorously engaged in my duties as secretary of state, particularly with respect to our preparations for the upcoming elections, despite the increasing demands of my congressional campaign."

Democrats harkened back to their criticisms of Harris during the 2000 presidential recount, when they accused her of selectively enforcing the state's election laws.

"She doesn't know election law," said Bob Poe, head of the Florida Democratic Party. "She couldn't even resign properly."

The governor's office on Thursday concurred with Harris' position: that she still acts in the capacity of secretary of state until Bush appoints her replacement. But the state's resign-to-run law states that the penalty for failing to submit the letter on time is "an automatic irrevocable resignation, effective immediately, from the office he or she presently holds."

Democrats seized on that point to ask Bush to appoint a new secretary of state immediately. They also filed a public records request with the Secretary of State's Office to determine what documents Harris has signed and how much state money she has spent between July 15 and Thursday.

"We're going to take a look at what duties she performed between July 16 and Aug. 1," said Poe. "We're going to take a look at what she did when she thought she was secretary but wasn't."

Harris' acknowledgment that she made a mistake in filling out her elections paperwork gives at least one of her opponents an opening to try to eliminate the front-running candidate, who has amassed a campaign war chest of more than $2 million.

Candice Brown McElyea, a former TV reporter for SNN-6 and one of four Democrats seeking the congressional seat, said she would go to court today in Sarasota County challenging Harris' place on the Sept. 10 primary ballot. Harris is squaring off against Republican John Hill in the primary.

"She always thinks she's above the law," said McElyea. "No rules or regulations ever apply to her. She's in charge of the Division of Elections. If anyone would know the law, it should be her."

Other Democrats made similar comments. Jan Schneider, a lawyer seeking the seat, contended that if any of the other candidates had failed to properly file their paperwork, "we'd be out."

Democrat Patrick Feheley, a retired construction manager, called the development "exciting."

"I would definitely want to make sure she abided by the law," said Feheley. "If she committed a blunder, sometimes it happens and you have to take the consequences. I'd want to know things were done properly."

Hill, a former television anchor, said he did not plan to challenge Harris' place on the ballot.

"I'm awfully sorry to hear it," said Hill. "It must be devastating for Katherine. She's such a strong-willed woman, to have to resign the position must be difficult."

This year's election season had already gotten under way in a bizarre fashion when the Division of Elections admitted last week that it had given legislative candidates the wrong information about how much they had to pay to qualify for the ballot. Then Bush had to extend qualifying for a day after the crash of a Federal Express cargo jet in Tallahassee closed the airport and destroyed qualifying paperwork sent in by candidates. That extension was requested by Harris.

"Elections in Florida are a never-ending drama," said Susan MacManus, a University of South Florida political science professor.

But Harris said on Thursday that voters should not view the recent confusion as any sign that this year's elections will go as awry as they did in 2000, when Florida became the butt of jokes across the nation.

"In no way should the confidence of the voters be shaken," said Harris, who said election law reforms and the millions spent on new machines should end the state's bad reputation.

But Harris added that she would be glad to leave office because that could end the bad publicity that has been heaped on the state Division of Elections.

"It's unfortunate this issue is adding fuel to the fire," she said. "Last week the division took hits that wasn't their fault. When I'm gone, they can focus on the election and not be a lightning rod."

"Oh my, oh my," said incoming Senate President Jim King, R-Jacksonville, who had hoped to use a similar questionable resignation by Attorney General Bob Butterworth, a Democrat, to keep him off the ballot in a Palm Beach County state Senate race.

Butterworth resigned effective Nov. 4, but did not file the letter required 10 days before the start of state office qualifying period. He said that deadline does not apply to him because he is being term-limited out of office and that no potential candidates could have been dissuaded for running for his job in the belief that he would still hold it.

King acknowledged that Harris' problem could force the Republican Party to rethink the strategy of going to court to knock Butterworth off the ballot.

Party Chairman Al Cardenas said Harris's case was "in stark contrast to the Bob Butterworth situation," and that party lawyers were still researching whether Butterworth could be thrown off the ballot. "We haven't made a decision whether to proceed in court yet," he said.

One lawyer who represents the Florida Democratic Party says Harris' decision to announce her resignation may have preserved her congressional bid. Mark Herron, who fought on behalf of Al Gore during the recount battle, says the law spells out that the only penalty for forgetting to turn in the resignation letter is that one is forced to resign immediately.

"That's the only consequence," Herron said. 'You can't go to court and have her thrown off the ballot.'"

Harris said on Thursday that she had intended to resign in August and concentrate on her campaign for the 13th Congressional District, which includes Sarasota, DeSoto and Hardee counties, most of Manatee County and a small portion of Charlotte County.

Staff writer Victor Hull contributed to this story, which also contains material from Cox News Service and the New York Times.

As promised, here's the article from this morning's SHT. Hopefully, you'll be reading this before you've had breakfast. I note that democRAT bimbette Candice Brown-McElyea (or whatever her last name is lately) is already pressing a legal attack. Seeing as this gal has no compunction against pulling fast ones on her own competition in the democRATic primary, this should come as no surprise.

I also note that Bob Butterworth made a similar error. Gee, I wonder why there was no front-page headlines about him?

Ultimately, this has all the earmarks of a storm full of sound and fury, signifying nothing...

FYI, here is the op-ed from today's SHT:

Ungraceful exit Harris obfuscated facts and created confusion

If the letter of resignation Katherine Harris submitted to Gov. Jeb Bush had concisely and gracefully recognized her failure to read state law and follow it closely, her abrupt announcement yesterday could be dismissed as the result of an ironic blunder.

But there's more to this telling story about how Florida's famous chief elections officer failed to relinquish that position as required by election law. In a letter filled with self-promotion and partisan pandering, Harris obfuscated the facts and created confusion at a critical point in the election cycle.

After she resigned, Gov. Bush made Harris acting secretary of state Thursday -- a misjudgment, given the turmoil she has created and the potential for conflicts of interest in an election year.

Harris admitted in a press conference yesterday that she made a "mistake in not filing the letter" of resignation on July 15, the day she qualified to run for U.S. Congress from a district that includes Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte counties. However, Harris' Aug. 1 letter to Bush was duplicitous, claiming that her resignation was "effective on July 15," which would retroactively comply with Florida's so-called resign-to-run law. She also wrote: "To this date, I have remained vigorously engaged in my duties as secretary of state".

If the resignation was truly effective July 15, what authority did Harris have to remain "engaged" in her duties as secretary of state? During the period between July 15 and Aug. 1, was she or wasn't she secretary of state? If Harris engaged in the duties of the secretary, are the actions she took during that period valid? Does she owe the state money for any remuneration received or expenditures made on her behalf? Floridians deserve answers.

Harris' critics have questioned whether she paid adequate attention to Florida's election laws while traveling extensively on trade missions and campaigning for federal office. Now, the answer to this question is clear.

The letter is required under the state's resign-to-run laws because her term as secretary of state would overlap by four days with the start of a congressional term should she win the November election.

Not according to the Okaloosa County, Florida Supervisor of Elections, Ms. Pat Hollarn! She was interviewed on a local radio show this morning, and said that because Ms. Harris would not take the oath of office for the Congressional seat until after the term of her present office expires, there was no need for her to submit the letter of resignation. Ms. Hollarn specifically referred to this article in the Saratoga paper, and said it was factually inaccurate.

Here's some info for you:

The radio station on which the interview aired is WFTW (1260 AM, Ft Walton Beach, FL.) Their website is: www.wftw.com. The interview took place on this morning's Wake Up Call, between 0730-0800, and the interviewer was the host Greg Allen.

The website for Pat Hollarn's Supervisor of Elections office is: www.govote-okaloosa.com. Her e-mail address is: phollarn@co.okaloosa.fl.us

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