Harris' candidacy in judge's hands

The SHT (Sarasota Herald-Tribune) ^ | 8/30/2002 | Gary Fineout

[Joe Brower]

Harris' candidacy in judge's hands
By GARY FINEOUT, CAPITAL BUREAU
08/30/02

TALLAHASSEE -- Before Katherine Harris makes it to Congress, she must not only win over the voters of Southwest Florida but she also must win over a Leon County judge who could derail her candidacy.

Circuit Judge Kevin Davey, the same judge who declared Florida's voucher program unconstitutional earlier this year, spent more than an hour Thursday hearing arguments on whether or not Harris should be removed from the ballot because she did not properly qualify.

It was a strikingly similar scene to the legal battles in the 2000 presidential election when lawyers for George W. Bush and Al Gore argued over Harris' interpretation of law. The irony wasn't lost on Davey, who at one point noted he must reconcile conflicting areas of election law "just like in Bush vs. Gore."

Davey did not immediately rule on the lawsuit brought by John Hill, who is Harris' lone Republican opponent in the Sept. 10 primary. There are also four Democrats and one write-in candidate seeking the seat now held by retiring U.S. Rep. Dan Miller, R-Bradenton.

Davey did, however, openly question the logic and arguments of both lawyers. He also made it clear that it would be unfair and expensive to make the elections supervisors of Charlotte, DeSoto, Hardee, Manatee and Sarasota counties remove Harris' name from the ballot. He reached an agreement with lawyers representing Hill and Harris that if he rules against Harris he will order supervisors to not count any votes she may receive.

"I think both sides presented very good arguments," said Hill, a former television anchorman who sat in the courtroom as lawyers argued before Davey. "The judge has a very difficult decision." He said he didn't expect the judge to rule until after the Labor Day weekend.

There was no dispute over the main facts behind the lawsuit. Harris was supposed to turn in a letter saying when she would resign as secretary of state when she qualified for Congress on July 15. She didn't discover her mistake until two weeks later when she sent Gov. Jeb Bush a letter on Aug. 1 explaining what had happened. Bush appointed former Secretary of State Jim Smith to succeed her.

Florida's resign-to-run law says that if a state or local elected official qualifies for a federal election and fails to turn in a letter at qualifying, the official is automatically forced to resign.

Hugh Ferrell, the lawyer representing Hill, maintains that Harris did not follow this law when she remained on the job as secretary of state for two weeks.

She did not make a "good faith" effort to follow the law, Ferrell told the judge.

But Ferrell also said that the federal loyalty oath signed by Harris does not follow Florida's resign-to-run law and is a "false oath."

He said the Division of Elections had unilaterally chosen to give the form to federal candidates over the last six years even though the law states otherwise.

Ferrell told Davey that if he did not remove Harris from the ballot then anyone could deceive the public and use their current state elected office to help them with a bid for federal office.

"We need some order in our election qualifying process," Ferrell said.

Donna Blanton, who represented Harris during the presidential recount battle in 2000 and once again on Thursday, argued that Harris had done nothing improper that warranted her removal from the ballot. She said Hill was just trying to find a way to win the election.

"He's asking for you to declare his client the winner of the primary," Blanton said of Ferrell's arguments.

Blanton also pointed out that the current law was designed to deal with court rulings that said the state's resign-to-run law could not apply to federal candidates. The provision was placed into law in 1983 shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a Texas law that called for an automatic resignation.

She also cited a state appeals court ruling in 1994 over eligibility involving current Secretary of State Jim Smith. Smith ran for governor that year and came in second to Bush in the primary. Smith dropped out of the race before the runoff election and then took the place of a Republican candidate for agriculture commissioner challenging incumbent Bob Crawford.

Crawford contended Smith could not qualify for two offices in the same election year. But the appeals court said that while there was doubt about whether Smith followed the law, the court ruled that "doubt should be resolved in favor of holding a free and competitive election."

[Joe Brower]

I've been telling everyone that this Hill guy was poison -- he just wants to win, and doesn't care what he does to the party to get that Congessional seat. I get the impression that, like too many "Republican" candidates in this neck of the woods, he used to be a democrat and switched parties just to have a flying chance.

His lawyer also strikes me as a little self-anointed demagogue who thinks he's smarter than the rest of humanity. Birds of a feather, I suppose. Too much ego, too little loyalty and ethics. I watched this judge on FOX news last night and it was painfully apparent that much of his thinking was, "whoops -- the camera's on me -- I better look important"!

Much to my amazement, this was _not_ on the front page of the SHT (that's "Sarasota Herald-Tribune"), but on page 1 of the "South County" section.

Gary Fineout must be losing his touch.

[Joe Brower]

[Greeklawyer]

I hope this does not turn into a payback situation.

Which flsc judges are up for re-election?

[Consort]

Harris was supposed to turn in a letter saying when she would resign as secretary of state when she qualified for Congress on July 15. She didn't discover her mistake until two weeks later...

Considering what went on in Florida during the general election and the part that she played in it, she should NEVER have made this stupid mistake. If this is all true, then she should be disqualified and given the maximum penalty.

[Coop]

Where did you come up with that?!? It is true that she missed the deadline. So? The law, as stated in this article, says

...if a state or local elected official qualifies for a federal election and fails to turn in a letter at qualifying, the official is automatically forced to resign.

Resign from office? She did. Resign from the election? Why? Their whole point of contention is that she would potentially use her office to aid her campaign.

[Dante3]

She did resign from her office. In any case, at least she is alive, not like the dead man in Missouri who was declared qualified to win a US Senate election.

[Joe Brower]

It was an unfortunate gaffe, to say the least. Conservatives are always held to a much higher standard than their liberal counterparts, since the right tends to attack itself all too often (as you demonstrate), and the leftmedia is more than happy to make a mountain out of any available molehill.

On the other hand, there is no precedent for this, since the Secretary of State position she occupied is gone as of 1/2003. Imagine, government actually getting rid of, not adding, offices.

Add to this the fact that the Florida state A.G.'s office reviewed this situation at the order of governor Jeb Bush last week and, after analysis, publicly stated that no wrongdoing existed. Now why would that very important fact be omitted from the "news" article above, do you think?

[Consort]

The law, as stated in this article, says...

If it was not a mistake, that's great. If she is still qualified, that's great. If she disqualified herself, then she's an idiot and should have the book thrown at her.

[Militiaman7]

Hill, a former television anchorman

Does this guy qualify as a congressman or what?

[Coop]

Add to this the fact that the Florida state A.G.'s office reviewed this situation at the order of governor Jeb Bush last week and, after analysis, publicly stated that no wrongdoing existed. Now why would that very important fact be omitted from the "news" article above, do you think?

Hmmmmm...

[Coop]

Is the AG still a Democrat? Butterworth?

[goldstategop]

A liberal judge kicking Katherine Harris off the ballot? The Rats may yet have their revenge. Stay tuned.

[Joe Brower]

Is the AG still a Democrat? Butterworth?

A-yep. That's him.

[Joe Brower]

Does this guy qualify as a congressman or what?

Exactly. By my measure, that's a strike against.

[Judith Anne]

Is there any time limit to write the resignation letter contained in the law? If not, no problem for Katherine.

[Greeklawyer]

The is also part of the law which states that upon filing officialy to run for a election campaign, the official is deemed to have AUTOMATICALLY resigned. This has happened before and the parties were not kicked out of the campaign. This is just mudslinging.

[Judith Anne]

Thanks for the information. I didn't see anything posted anywhere that ever gave a time limit for the letter to be written, so I wondered. I hope she wins.

[Coop]

The is also part of the law which states that upon filing officialy to run for a election campaign, the official is deemed to have AUTOMATICALLY resigned. This has happened before and the parties were not kicked out of the campaign. This is just mudslinging.

Yeah, but look what happened before when certain Florida judges chose to ignore written election laws and interpret things as they saw fit (despite warning shots from the U.S. Supreme Court).

[section9]

Coop raises a cautionary note, given the judges in this state.

How and ever, I fully expect Katharine to beat this silly charge.

Be Seeing You,

Chris

[katherineisgreat]

This is not good.

If this judge thinks a voucher plan is unconsitutional then what will he do to Katherine??!!
I'm praying it'll be ok but certainly not counting on it. The judge looks bad. BUt if Williams is running as a write-in in DC.. would it be possible for Harris to still win as such in Sarasota. Sarasotans appear to have a little more political knowledge than those in DC, but juding by their paper you'd never guess...