State plans to pay Harris ally $126,000
By Johnny Brannon
Advertiser Staff Writer
The state plans to pay $126,000 in attorney fees to a political ally of Mayor Jeremy Harris who won a lawsuit against the state Campaign Spending Commission last year.
Lex Smith, an attorney and Harris appointee to the city's Ethics Commission, originally asked the U.S. District Court to award him $184,000, but the amount was reduced, court records show.
Smith sued the campaign commission last February over donation limits it had imposed on Harris' top political contributors during his campaign for governor.
Harris and his campaign committee joined the suit in support of Smith, and have asked that the court award them an additional $55,000 in attorney fees. That request is still under consideration.
In March, U.S. District Judge Helen Gillmor ruled that it was unconstitutional for the campaign commission to count donations made to Harris' 2000 mayoral re-election campaign toward the $6,000-per-donor limit for last year's governor's race.
The four-year election periods for the two offices overlapped, and the commission had argued that all money given during the four years before the governor's race should be lumped together, even if it was donated for the mayor's race.
That had crippled the Harris campaign by limiting many major supporters — who had given Harris the maximum of $4,000 in his run for mayor — to donating no more than $2,000 more for the governor's race.
Candidates who had not run for office since 1998, such as Gov. Linda Lingle, had been free to seek the full $6,000 from each contributor.
Smith's attorneys argued that the limits violated Smith's First Amendment right to freedom of expression by unfairly limiting Smith's ability to support Harris.
An appropriation for Smith's attorney fees is pending before the Legislature.
State attorneys representing the campaign commission say Harris' claim for fees became moot after he dropped out of the race for governor in May. Harris' lawyers argue that they deserve the money because Harris was still a candidate when Gillmor ruled on the case.
