Federal prosecutors say nearly $400,000 of Riscorp contributions to Harris and dozens of other politicians were illegal. Five Riscorp executives have pleaded guilty to felony and misdemeanor charges. Riscorp's founder, Bill Griffin, was sentenced to five months in federal custody earlier this month in connection with the scheme to reimburse his employees for the illegal contributions.
No no she just didn't take Dirty Money
Harris obliged, sponsoring a bill in 1996 to block Riscorp competitors from getting a greater share of Florida workers' compensation market.
She also pushed a proposal that would hurt a particular competitor.
hmmm but wait, there's more
A week before the primary election, Harris is airing a television commercial that criticizes her opponent, Secretary of State Sandra Mortham, for taking "illegal contributions from insurance executives."
Mortham got $5,825 from Riscorp in 1993 and 1994, but she has since put that amount into a special elections trust fund that combats voter fraud. She also got $1,500 in legal contributions from companies associated with Riscorp.
In contrast, Harris got $20,292 in illegal contributions from Riscorp during her 1994 state Senate campaign -- more than any other legislative candidate. She also has put that amount into the special elections trust fund. Harris also received $13,000 in legal corporate contributions from various Riscorp companies, more than any other candidate in any race, federal records show.
now who were these people who bankrolled harris
well lets look at this class action suit
Conclusion: In July 1998, Riscorp Inc. and the plaintiffs executed a stipulation and agreement of settlement in which the Company agreed to pay $21 million in cash to a settlement fund to settle this litigation.
Between November 20, 1996 and January 31, 1997, nine shareholder class-action lawsuits were filed against RISCORP and other defendants in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida (the 'Securities Litigation'). In March 1997, the court consolidated these lawsuits and appointed co-lead plaintiffs and co-lead counsel. The plaintiffs subsequently filed a consolidated complaint.
According to a Press Release dated 1/22/97, the Complaint, filed by the law firms of Rabin & Garland and Leo W. Desmond, Esq., alleges that Riscorp, certain of its officers and directors, and the underwriters of the IPO violated the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 by issuing to the investing public false and misleading statements regarding, among other things, Riscorp's financial performance, revenue, and earnings growth and their impact on the company's future. The Complaint alleges that as a result of these misrepresentations and omissions Riscorp's Class A common stock was artificially inflated throughout the Class Period.
or how about here
Griffin hatched an illegal scheme to funnel contributions to candidates after Gallagher's campaign solicited money from Riscorp in 1990.
Now, Gallagher's ties to Riscorp have come back to haunt him as he campaigns for state education commissioner, the state Cabinet official who oversees Florida's public schools.
A Republican with high name recognition -- this is his fifth campaign for statewide office -- Gallagher has raised nearly $600,000 and spent only $107,000. His opponent, former state House Speaker Peter Rudy Wallace, has less than $50,000 after a Democratic runoff election last week.
hmmm or how about here
In early 1996, before the political scandal became apparent, and before the public stock offer took place, we ran a long feature called “Riscorp goes to Wall Street.'' It quoted a former policyholder in a mutual insurance company that Riscorp acquired. This businessman, Arthur Falls, felt he had been deprived of his ownership interest without just compensation. He blamed coziness between Griffin and then-state insurance commissioner Tom Gallagher, who had approved Riscorp's takeover of the mutual company in 1994. That same year, the newspaper later reported, Griffin and the companies he controls donated almost $100,000 to Gallagher, then seeking the Republican nomination. As it turned out, many of these contributions were illegally reimbursed.
In April 1996, only a couple of months after the February stock offer, Falls and another former policyholder filed a civil class-action lawsuit against Riscorp and Griffin in Miami's federal court, alleging fraud and racketeering in Riscorp's takeover of their mutual insurance company. Riscorp stock began a downward descent from which it has never recovered.
and more fun
According to the New York Daily News, Riscorp gave Harris more than $25,000 in campaign contributions. Nearly $21,000 of that amount was deemed illegal. During the final moments of the 1996 session, she was presented with a handwritten amendment by a Riscorp lobbyist. She introduced the amendment, unaware that the Riscorp-sponsored legislation was designed to put one of its competitors out of business. Harris later allowed that she had introduced the amendment at the lobbyist's urging without understanding what it was about.
Harris eventually returned the money and never was prosecuted. Five people from Riscorp pleaded guilty to fraud charges and the head of the company spent five months in prison. Ironically, the Riscorp money Harris returned went to the Florida Election Commission Trust to fight voter fraud.
but she just wasn't a crooked state senator
Harris would win that race in a landslide. To me, the news of that victory was simply an item that I glanced over in the alumni bulletin and paid little attention to. As it turned out, she had little interest in what is traditionally a secretary of state's duties -- handling election law, campaign finance, and corporate governance. Instead, she used the international trade knowledge and connections she picked up at the Kennedy School to become Florida's overseas ambassador for business.
No 2000 election jokes please
According to The Washington Post, she spent more than $100,000 in 1999 on travel to places such as Sydney, Rio de Janeiro and Barbados. She stayed in $400-a-night hotels and used a state plane to commute between Sarasota and Tallahassee. Her expenses were nearly triple those of Governor Jeb Bush.
and yes there is more
Harris muffs another
Ending her inept career on an appropriate note.-- ... When the controversy broke, Ms. Harris not only was out of town, she was conveniently out of touch, in her own undisclosed location. Her staff stressed that she was back in the office Friday -- "the critical day for her to be here." What a relief. She thus was in place to ask Gov. Bush to extend the qualifying deadline for a day because of the "emergency" caused by the plane crash. This would be the same Katherine Harris who saw no "emergency" when a virtual tie in the Florida presidential race demanded that counties get time to count as many legal ballots as possible. 7/30/02
I don't take any credit on other peoples editorials just the meat is to good to go chopping this up
All of those folks hoping that the fiasco of 2000 won't be repeated in this fall's elections have to be swallowing hard right about now.- Qualifying candidates to run for office should be a cut-and-dried affair: Fill out the paperwork and pay the filing fee before the deadline.- Even that simple task was bungled last week.-- 7/31/02
but she did have to leave the post to become my congress monster
TALLAHASSEE -- Facing questions regarding the legality of former Secretary of State Katherine Harris' continued claim to that office, Gov. Jeb Bush on Friday quickly appointed former Secretary of State Jim Smith to the job through the coming elections. 8/3/02
how about another source and another scandal
This is what the law says: "Each inspector general shall report to and be under the general supervision of the agency head and shall not be subject to supervision by any other employee of the state agency." After Assistant Secretary Dave Mann fired Inspector General Dwight Chastain -- an act impossible to square with the language of the law -- Chastain said he had been allowed to speak directly to Harris only once in the past two years.
Harris may be an icon to Republicans nationwide for having cut short the presidential recount, but at home she is a growing embarrassment. A special committee is already reviewing her grandiose spending on international relations, which -- it hardly needs to be said -- should not survive the special session that will cope with a $1-billion budget deficit. Beyond that, Florida Republican leaders need to seriously reassess the wisdom of her campaign for Congress. The record in Tallahassee does not commend Katherine the Great.
This woman is everything thats bad in olde southern Polticians. Is it any wonder she only got 55% of the vote in a largely republican district?
Is it any wonder she polls the worst of any state republican canidate to run against bill nelson
the woman is slimy, and the only time she seems to have done anything legal was the 2000 election... but lets hate her for all her other improprieties
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