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Her Name is Kathy and she works for Jeb
Katherine Harris no stranger to controversy
By Dara Kim
Nov. 13, 2000
| TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- A Harvard-educated blueblood from one of
Florida's wealthiest families, Secretary of State Katherine Harris is no stranger to
controversy.
She's been investigated for campaign finance violations and criticized for spending
state money jetting around the world, spending up to $500 a night for hotel rooms in
Washington. She's also been one of George W. Bush's most prominent political
supporters, campaigning for him in Florida and elsewhere.
Harris placed herself in the middle of the increasingly partisan
struggle over Florida's 25 electoral votes Monday with her
public announcement that all 67 counties are required by law
to wrap up their recounts by 5 p.m. Tuesday.
She sits as one of six elected members on the Florida
Cabinet, which with Gov. Jeb Bush, decides on issues
ranging from the mundane to the momentous affecting
schools, the environment and other statewide concerns.
As secretary of state, Harris oversees elections, the state's
historical and cultural resources and also keeps the state's
public records. She makes $106,000 a year.
"For what is probably the easiest of the Cabinet positions,
she's made it awful difficult," said state Democratic Party
spokesman Tony Welch.
In her first two years on the job, Harris spent $100,000 in Florida tax dollars on foreign
trade missions to places like Barbados and Brazil as well as the Sydney Olympics. Her
travel expenses were significantly higher than the other five Cabinet members and
three times more than Gov. Jeb Bush.
Harris defended her travel, saying she has brought millions of dollars of international
trade to the state and established cultural ties such as a cooperative ballet between
the state and Mexico.
Sandra Mortham, the incumbent who lost to Harris in a nasty Republican primary in
1998, said every secretary of state emphasizes their own key areas of concern.
"For me, it was elections, and it was to get the elections online and on the Internet,"
Mortham said. "Katherine has decided that she wanted to move the office more into
the area of international relations."
Ben McKay, Harris' chief of staff, said Harris was too busy with Monday's court hearing
to return calls.
In 1994, Harris became implicated in a campaign finance scheme surrounding her first
run for public office. She was forced to reimburse $20,000 after state investigators
discovered that employees of Riscorp, Inc., an insurer, were improperly reimbursed
for their contributions to her 1994 Senate campaign.
She said she had no knowledge that anything was amiss with the contributions.
This year, Harris approved a taxpayer-financed public service announcement featuring
retired Gen. Norman Schwartzkopf, a Bush ally, urging Floridians to vote. She
received criticism for spending the public's $30,000 to finance the ads, which aired
during the final month of the presidential campaign.
McKay said Harris' office asked Schwartzkopf, as a prominent Floridian, to make the
ads months ago, after Gloria Estefan and Tiger Woods turned down the request.
Harris, 43, earned a degree in history from the all-female Agnes Scott College in
Georgia, received a master's degree in public administration from Harvard and she
studied art and Spanish in Madrid, and philosophy and religion in Geneva.
Her grandfather, citrus magnate Ben Hill Griffin, served as a longtime legislator. He was
also a friend of former state Republican Party chairman, Tom Slade, who hand-picked
Harris for her Senate run. Her cousin, J.D. Alexander, is a state representative.
The Cabinet job, one that has been largely ceremonial, is being abolished after Harris'
current term, which expires in January 2003.
Harris, who is married to businessman Anders Ebbeson, listed her net worth as more
than $6.5 million as of December 1999, according to her latest financial disclosure.
Associated Press