Katherine Harris Watch

Rep. Harris' Action Prompts Call for Probe: A political strategist who left U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris's Senate campaign last month said Harris ignored her staff's recommendation to reject a defense contractor's $10 million appropriation request, now being challenged by a congressional watchdog group. Harris insisted the request be submitted even though it was late and hard to understand, according to a report in the Orlando Sentinel's Thursday editions. The newspaper cites Harris' former chief political strategist Ed Rollins. "She told them she wanted it done," Rollins told the paper. "And she wanted it done now." [..] On Monday, the congressional watchdog group Common Cause asked the Justice Department to investigate whether Harris attempted to obtain the appropriation in return for financial support from the defense contractor, Mitchell Wade. [..] Wade, former president of MZM Inc., has acknowledged making $32,000 in illegal contributions to Harris' 2004 campaign for the U.S. House. Harris said she did not knowingly do anything illegal and said she would donate that money to charity. [..] Rollins has said he left the Harris campaign because "Katherine wasn't listening to us."More on Common Cause's criminal complaint here.In unrelated related news, Harris's decision to pump $10 million of her own personal funds into her campaign will (if she actually spends it) trigger the campaign finance "millionaires' amendment", which allows her opponent Sen. Bill Nelson to exceed campaign contribution limits by a factor of three to six times the usual $2100 limit.UPDATE: From Crooks and Liars, Katherine has a new ad:"Tested under fire."As C&L says, you can't make this stuff up.