Judge rules in favor of Harris
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| • | Three officials holding fast to campaign plans |
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By Johnny Brannon
Advertiser Staff Writer
Mayor Jeremy Harris' decision yesterday to halt fund raising until the state Supreme Court rules whether he must resign to run for governor came hours after another court cleared the way for him to raise more money.
U.S. District Judge Helen Gillmor granted a preliminary injunction that ordered the Campaign Spending Commission to stop counting contributions to Harris' 2000 re-election campaign toward the $6,000-per-donor limit in the governor's race.
The commission had interpreted state law to require that all contributions to a gubernatorial candidate within the four-year period leading up to the November election count toward the limit.
That choked off the flow of money from many of Harris' strongest backers, who had given his mayoral campaign the legal maximum of $4,000 and could donate no more than $2,000 to Harris for the governor's race.
A lawsuit filed by Harris supporter Lex Smith argued that counting contributions toward both races was an unfair restriction of Smith's right to free speech.
Attorneys for Harris and his campaign, who joined the Smith suit, argued that Harris had been losing out on tens of thousands of dollars because of the commission's position and that no other gubernatorial candidate faced a similar obstacle.
The commission said that Smith had been treated the same as any other contributor and that the donation limit and time period applied equally to all candidates.
In arguing against the injunction, Deputy Attorney General Gary Kam said the commission had not attempted to fine or seek criminal prosecution of individual donors such as Smith for giving too much. The panel had instead focused on cases in which it appeared there was an orchestrated effort to circumvent the limit by falsely attributing contributions to others, he said.
But Gillmor found there was no guarantee that someone like Smith would not face sanctions for giving more than the commission believed allowable. The judge also found that the harm to Smith and the campaign was irreparable.
She granted the injunction pending an April hearing but did not rule out referring the matter to the Hawai'i Supreme Court.
Harris campaign attorney Chris Parsons said he was surprised by Kam's argument that the commission would not aggressively pursue individual contributors who run afoul of its guidelines. "I was always raised to follow the law, regardless of whether you were going to be caught," he said.
Smith, whom Harris named to the city Ethics Commission last year, did not attend the hearing and could not be reached for comment.
Harris said he was very pleased with the ruling, but would suspend fund raising and other campaign activities until it is clear whether he must step down from the mayor's office to stay in the governor's race.
"We've said all along that it isn't a level playing field," he said of the limits that the Smith suit seeks to overturn. "This idea that saying because you contributed to my mayoral campaign you couldn't give to my governor's campaign was clearly unfair and unconstitutional."
Harris announced 98 days after he was re-elected in 2000 that he would leave office midterm to run for governor as a Democrat, but he has intended to remain mayor until the July 23 deadline for filing nomination papers.
Parsons said it appeared that Gillmor's injunction would prevent the Campaign Spending Commission from seeking fines or prosecution of any donors who gave $4,000 to Harris' mayoral campaign and donate $6,000 to his war chest now.
Kam and commission director Robert Watada did not dispute that view but said the attorney general's office and the commission would review the situation carefully.
Harris has raised far more money than any other candidate in the governor's race, more than $1 million in the last six months of 2001. Harris' chief fund-raiser, Peter Char, estimated that the campaign would have collected as much as $500,000 more if not for the dispute over allowable contributions.
Harris' closest rival, Republican Linda Lingle, reported raising about $260,000 during the same six-month period.
Harris has repeatedly accused Watada of unfairly targeting his campaign for scrutiny, a charge that Watada denies.
"We're simply enforcing what we believe to be the law," Watada said.
The commission has fined 10 companies and individual contributors since November for making excessive contributions to Harris and other Hawai'i politicians. The panel also requested a criminal investigation that is now looking into allegations that the Harris campaign deliberately falsified campaign spending reports to hide the source of some donations.
Harris and his campaign have filed three lawsuits against the commission over the issues raised in the Smith suit and allegations by Watada of campaign finance irregularities.
Reach Johnny Brannon at jbrannon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.
