With disgraced military hero and former Congressman Duke Cunningham of California headed off to the Hotel Graybar for taking millions in bribes from a defense contractor, it's time to check in on the Florida angle of this fundraising scandal: Katherine Harris.
The upshot is that the same guy who was Cunningham's corporate sugar daddy — Mitchell J. Wade, formerly CEO of MZM Inc., a defense and intelligence contractor — raised a bunch of money for Harris' 2004 congressional re-election campaign.
There's been no hint of wrongdoing on her part in the MZM scandal, nor has there been any indication that her actions are a target of the federal task force that nabbed Cunningham. Harris said she has never been contacted by the FBI in connection with the Cunningham probe; an FBI spokeswoman in Washington, D.C., Debbie Weierman, would not comment on the task force's investigation while it is ongoing.
But Harris' mere guilt by association with MZM and Cunningham's plight has been fodder for pro-Democrat bloggers.
"Katherine Harris was on the gravy train," wrote Joshua Micah Marshall of the Talking Points Memo blog, which broke parts of the story online.
Other Florida-based liberal bloggers have argued that Harris should give back the money to MZM employees who contributed (she has offered to), regardless of whether they ask for it back or not.
Wade —who gave Duke Cunningham wads of campaign cash, sweetheart real estate deals and free room and board on a yacht — rounded up $50,000 in contributions for Harris, who sat on no defense or homeland security committee at the time. That is the largest single batch of campaign contributions to Harris, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, and more than double the next largest giver, national beer wholesalers.
Wade's company was an under-the-radar screen provider of intelligence, data and counterterrorism consulting services to the defense and homeland security industry, with a heavy emphasis on millions of dollars in government contracts.
Wade did not raise money for many in Congress. He gave to only three others beyond Cunningham, and one of those was Harris. Subsequent newspaper reports quoted unnamed MZM employees who say they were coerced by Wade into contributing to MZM's PAC, which, if true, would violate federal law.
Harris, who is running for the U.S. Senate in 2006 against incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson, said earlier this year that she has no evidence that MZM's contributions to her were coerced. She said Wade's interest in her campaign was because he was discussing plans for a new MZM facility in her district and the promise of 40 new jobs.
"All contributions were proper and legal, according to the Federal Elections Commission (FEC), and were spent appropriately," Harris said. But within two months of MZM's contributions, Wade purchased a building for his Florida operations in May 2004 in Tampa, not in Sarasota. The Twiggs Street building is still being used by MZM, renamed as Athena Innovative Solutions after Wade resigned and a venture capital firm bought the company.
After the Cunningham scandal broke earlier this year (first in print in the San Diego Union-Tribune), Harris wrote letters to all MZM contributors offering to return their money if they felt coerced. Harris said in an e-mail to the Planet last week that none has requested a refund, and now says she is going to give the money to charity.
The attention from Wade to Harris is certainly strange, given that she did not sit on any defense-related committees at that time.
But being linked to contributions that were later found to be tainted is not new for Florida's most controversial Republican.
In 1994, employees of Riscorp, an insurance company, bundled more than $20,000 in campaign contributions for then-state Sen. Harris. They were part of more than $400,000 in contributions that investigators later determined were made to dozens of lawmakers. Riscorp officials illegally reimbursed those employees for their donations, in essence laundering corporate support. Five Riscorp officials pleaded guilty to felony and misdemeanor charges, and Riscorp founder Bill Griffin went to prison for five months as a result.
Harris was cleared of any wrongdoing in the Riscorp matter and donated those funds to charity, too.
(As an aside, don't expect Nelson to be able to attack her much on this; he received more than $63,000 from Riscorp in 1994 and refunded only $7,000, according to news reports at that time.)
Planet art critic Mary Mulhern is mulling a 2006 campaign for the Hillsborough County Commission seat being vacated by Kathy Castor, but contrary to a report in La Gaceta, she has not made up her mind yet and is not likely to announce in the next few weeks.
Now, before we get too far along in this piece, we have to raise several red flags about objectivity. Obviously, Mulhern is well-known in this office as our freelance maven on all things in the visual arts. I've also known her as a friend for many years and count her husband, WMNF Friday DJ Cameron Dilley, as a longtime friend and former occasional business colleague. Both the Planet and I will have to tread carefully in our coverage in this matter to be fair and accurate. Disclaimer delivered.
Mulhern, a progressive Democrat and former arts administrator in Chicago, said her ruminations are fueled by a combination of disgust with the Republican majority on the commission and disappointment with her own party's inability to field a strong slate in the 2006 county elections.
"The only reason I thought about getting involved now is because nobody else is doing it," Mulhern said. (Democrat Deborah Cope, already in the race, might take exception to that.)
"If there was a time for Democrats to step up and take back the county commission, this is it, but nobody's running," Mulhern said, referring to strong candidates who aren't seeking County Commission seats, such as Scott Farrell and Les Miller (running for Congress against Castor) and Frank Sanchez (running for City Council). "Our one strong candidate can't even decide if he wants to run."
She's talking about state Rep. Bob "Coach" Henriquez, who is likewise considering a campaign for Castor's seat. Henriquez said last week that he is trying to get together with his bosses at Tampa Catholic High School to discuss his desire and continues to meet with supporters to gauge his chances. "I'd like to make a decision by the first of the year, maybe before the holidays," Henriquez said.
Mulhern said she won't run against Henriquez. So while she's waiting for Coach to decide whether he is going to run or pass, we can assess a Mulhern candidacy.
Mulhern's upside: Her experience and contacts made while organizing grassroots as co-chair of the South Tampa 537 Club and in the Kerry presidential campaign; her husband's business savvy; and the inspiration of her sister-in-law, who happens to be Gov. Jennifer Granholm, D-Michigan.
Disadvantages: Mulhern might prove too liberal for a Republican-leaning Commission District 1 that winds from Town 'N Country through South and West Tampa, Davis Islands, and ends up down in Riverview and Apollo Beach, and it remains to be seen if she could raise the several hundred thousand dollars it will take to run a modern media-oriented campaign.
Whether it is Cope or Mulhern or Henriquez, the Democrat will have a tough fight to keep this commission seat in the "D" column, since the Republicans have former Chamber spokesman Brad Swanson and Tampa City Councilwoman Rose Ferlita running in their primary.
Until she makes her decision, Mulhern's art column will be on hiatus. "We'll miss her," editor David Warner said, "but we'll continue covering art and architecture with the same passion and insight that Mary has brought to the field."
Political Whore can be reached by e-mail at wayne.garcia@weeklyplanet.com or by telephone at 813-739-4805.
This article appears in Dec 7-13, 2005.