Updated at 12:05 p.m, Wednesday, February 13, 2002

Harris campaign files three suits

By Johnny Brannon
Advertiser Staff Writer

Mayor Jeremy Harris and his campaign committee filed three lawsuits today against the state Campaign Spending Commission and its executive director, Robert Watada, to challenge a series of actions that campaign attorney William McCorriston said have unfairly hampered Harris' plan to run for governor.

The Democratic National Committee is joining as a plaintiff in the first suit, filed in federal court, which challenges a complaint by Watada that the Harris campaign improperly contributed $100,000 to a DNC "soft money" account in 2000, McCorriston said.

The Campaign Spending Commission is scheduled to vote this afternoon on that complaint, which also alleges that the Harris campaign spent more than $24,000 on travel, parking tickets and other expenses unrelated to Harris' 2000 re-election drive.

The campaign, which has denied any wrongdoing, could be fined more than $350,000 if the commission upholds the complaint.

A second federal suit challenges Watada's assertion that contributions made after November 1998 to Harris' 2000 mayoral campaign should count toward the $6,000-per-donor limit in the governor's race, McCorriston said.

The campaign says the earlier contributions shouldn't count because they went toward a separate race that was not statewide, but Watada contends that all donations made within the four-year election period for the governor's race count toward the limit.

The third suit, filed in state court, asks that the commission be barred from collecting fines from the campaign while the issues in the second federal suit are being litigated, and that the court instead act as a receiver for any fines.

"The suits address the overreaching of the executive director in trying to formulate laws that aren't on the books and infringe upon the rights of candidates and contributors," McCorriston said.

Watada said he was not surprised to hear of the suits. He said he considered them part of an ongoing harassment strategy by the Harris campaign.

"It just shows they have a lot of money for attorneys," Watada said. "But we've got a job to do and we're doing the job. We have a situation here where whoever's the chosen candidate can raise a lot of money through a system and is able to get a lot of money illegally."

The commission has fined nine companies and individual contributors since November for making contributions to Harris that exceeded illegal limits. It intends to fine another company today.

Thermal Engineering Corp. has agreed to pay a $31,000 fine for making excess contributions of $16,000 to Harris, $21,075 to Gov. Ben Cayetano, $2,000 to Maui Mayor James "Kimo" Apana, and $200 to gubernatorial candidate Linda Lingle. The company has admitted no wrongdoing.

The commission agreed last month to seek a criminal investigation of Watada's allegation that the Harris campaign circumvented contribution limits by deliberately attributing donations to people who never made them. Harris and his campaign deny the charge, which the city prosecutor's office is investigating.