Subject:  The American Oligarchy Personified
Date:     Tue, 14 Nov 2000 232553 -0600
From:     Roy Beavers 
To:       guru 
--------------------------------------------------

.........From EMF-L........

The lady below personifies what has happened to the American democracy.
She, **alone,** will decide that the thousands of (mostly poor and black) 
votes in Florida -- which are presently the subject of a number of federal
and state law suits -- will not be counted in the recent election......
.......guru....  



London Times
EDITOR TUESDAY NOVEMBER 14 2000

US Election 2000 


FROM BEN MACINTYRE IN WASHINGTON
 
KATHERINE HARRIS, multi-millionaire, avid supporter of George W. Bush
and Florida's Secretary of State, may represent the Republican
candidate's best remaining hope of clinching victory in the
presidential election. Ms Harris flatly declined yesterday to extend an
election deadline to accommodate manual recounting of the votes in
several Florida counties, prompting outrage among Democrats, delight
among Republicans, fresh litigation and a new flood of controversy, to
which she is no stranger. The Republican camp opposes the hand recounts,
which are likely to produce additional votes for Al Gore and could swing
the election by wiping out Mr Bush's slim lead in Florida. 

Ms Harris, 43, who took office in January last year, is a close ally of
the Bush clan. "I am thrilled and honoured to announce my support of
George W. Bush for the presidency," she declared after becoming
co-chairwoman of Mr Bush's Florida campaign. 

A delegate to the Republican National Convention, she recently
proclaimed that working alongside Jeb Bush, the candidate's brother
and the Governor of Florida, had "provided a constant reminder of the
power of values-based leadership -- the same leadership George has
shown in Texas."  Ms Harris, who is married with a teenage daughter, is
the granddaughter of a citrus fruit tycoon. Last January she could be
found, alongside Jeb Bush and other Republican dignitaries, during the
primary campaign, handing out Florida strawberries and oranges in the
snowy hills of New Hampshire, where she campaigned on Mr Bush's
behalf.
 
Her actions drew immediate suggestions of bias. "She is clearly a
partisan Republican," Robert Wexler, a Democratic Congressman from
Florida, said. He added: "The only reason to certify the elections at
5pm tomorrow is partisan one."
 
When she took office last year, Ms Harris declared that she intended her
job, usually focused on overseeing state elections, the arts and
historic preservation, to shift attention to international affairs. Last
month it was reported that the Secretary of State, inevitably nicknamed
"Florida's Madeleine Albright", had made ten foreign trips to
promote trade and culture, with an out-of-state travel bill of more than
$100,000 (£70,000). One of the wealthiest women in Florida, worth more
than $6.5 million, she reportedly filed several expenses items for less
than $5. 

Her globetrotting has also raised suspicions she is angling for
an ambassadorial post in a future Bush Government. She raised Democratic
hackles during the election when she recruited retired General Norman
Schwarzkopf, a vociferous Bush supporter, to appear in a nominally
impartial public television advertisement calling on Floridians to vote.
A former executive at IBM and a vice-president of a property company, Ms
Harris served for four years in the Florida Senate before her election
as Secretary of State.
 
Copyright 2000 Times Newspapers Ltd.


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Reprinted with permission of Roy Beavers, http://www.emfguru.com