Posted on: Friday, April 12, 2002

Ruling favors Harris campaign

By David Waite
Advertiser Courts Writer

A federal judge yesterday made permanent a temporary ruling prohibiting the state Campaign Spending Commission from counting contributions made to Mayor Jeremy Harris' 2000 reelection campaign for mayor toward the $6,000-per-donor limit in the ongoing governor's race.

Chris Parsons, one of Harris' attorneys, called U.S. District Judge Helen Gillmor's latest ruling "a vindication" for Harris who has claimed that Robert Watada, executive director of the Campaign Spending Commission, has been using his position in a politically motivated effort to damage Harris' bid to become governor.

But Watada yesterday said Harris' charges that he is the victim of a "political vendetta" are baseless.

Gillmor on March 12 had issued a temporary injunction against the commission in a lawsuit brought by Harris contributor Lex Smith.

Smith argued his constitutional right to free speech was being impeded by the Campaign Spending Commission's enforcement of a 1996 state law that limits the amount contributors can give political candidates.

The law limits contributions by individual donors to state House candidates to no more than $2,000 during a two-year period, no more than $4,000 to state senators and Honolulu mayoral candidates during a four-year period and no more than $6,000 to a gubernatorial candidate during a four-year period.

Because Smith had contributed a maximum of $4,000 to Harris during his campaign for mayor in 2000, the commission ruled that Smith could donate no more than an additional $2,000 to Harris to use in his current campaign for governor.

Attorneys for Harris and his campaign joined with Smith in the lawsuit, arguing that Harris was losing out on tens of thousands of dollars because of the commission's position and that no other candidates for governor faced a similar impediment.

In another federal court case, Watada announced Monday that he was withdrawing a complaint he filed with the commission alleging that Harris broke state campaign spending laws by failing to report that his campaign had donated the $100,000 to a Democratic National Committee "soft money" account. The complaint also said Harris violated the law by spending more than $24,000 on expenses unrelated to re-election, such as trips to Washington, D.C., California and the Philippines, and paying parking tickets for a campaign volunteer.

Parsons said Gillmor's ruling yesterday and the decision Monday to withdraw the soft money complaint amount to two major setbacks for Watada in the same week.

"We have been saying all along that we don't think Jeremy Harris is being treated fairly," Parsons said. "We knew when we got to federal court we would be able to prove it."

Watada denied his actions were politically motivated.

"We've heard all of that before and there is absolutely no truth to it," Watada said. "We've heard the same kinds of things from (former state Sen.) Marshall Ige and (former City Councilwoman) Rene Mansho" both of whose campaign organizations were investigated by the Spending Commission, Watada said.

Watada said he dropped the complaint regarding Harris' donation of the Democratic Committee because the commission is now focusing on other concerns about some architectural or engineering firms allegedly "bundling" or using phony names to make contributions to Harris' campaign organization.

Harris is fighting one other legal battle in the Hawai'i Supreme Court where he is appealing a ruling that he should have resigned from office by May 15 last year when he filed a report with the Campaign Spending Commission indicating he planned to run for governor this year.

Harris has suspended his campaign activities while awaiting the high court's ruling on the matter.