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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mr. Whist who wrote (74475)	11/14/2000 2:50:10 PM
From: ColtonGang	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769669

FLA secty of state has skeletons in her closet.[wash.post]........Energetic and ambitious, Harris benefited from her powerful family when she first ran for the state Senate in 1994. Her grandfather, Ben Hill Griffin, a cattle and citrus magnate, served in the state House and Senate and the University of Florida's football stadium is named after him. Harris, herself reported to be worth $6 million, went to school at Agnes Scott College in Georgia, and earned a master's degree in international trade from Harvard while serving in the state Senate in 1996. She worked for IBM and then in real estate. While in the state Senate, Harris became ensnarled in a scandal involving Riscorp, a Florida insurance company that made illegal contributions to dozens of political candidates and committees, including $20,600 to her 1994 campaign. Employees were asked to make contributions on behalf of Riscorp and then were reimbursed through fake bonus checks or fake expense accounts. A memo written by Harris to Riscorp's founder later appeared in Florida newspapers: "Katherine's office called and asked if we could give them different addresses to list for each of the checks." Harris denied knowledge of the matter, returned the money and was cleared in a state investigation, though her campaign director was an unindicted "co-conspirator." Five people from Riscorp pleaded guilty and the firm's founder served time in prison. Harris defeated Mortham, the incumbent secretary of state, in a bitter Republican primary in 1998 after Mortham, who had been Jeb Bush's running mate, was dropped from the ticket amid controversy. Harris attacked her for using private donations to a nonprofit group to promote herself. Mortham today called Harris's campaign "very aggressive, much more aggressive than we had seen on the Florida scene." In March 1999, just a few months after taking office, Harris began eyeing a promotion: the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Connie Mack. With a net worth of more than $6 million, Harris said at the time she would be willing to finance a campaign out of her own pocket. Asked how much she would spend, she replied: "Whatever it would take." She eventually decided against running and Rep. Bill McCollum became the party's nominee, losing last week to Insurance Commissioner Bill Nelson. As one of several elected members of the Florida cabinet, Harris has been a reliable vote for Bush, supporting his controversial school voucher program and rarely disagreeing with him.