Harris expert: File deletions normal

By STEVE BOUSQUET

© St. Petersburg Times,
published August 10, 2001

TALLAHASSEE -- An expert hired by Secretary of State Katherine Harris has concluded that some computer files from the presidential vote recount period were deleted, but he described that as "business as usual" whenever new operating systems are installed.

William Morgan of Bradenton spent three days copying hard drives on four government-owned computers from the Secretary of State's Office in one of the most unusual public records searches in state history.

Harris hired Morgan in hopes of silencing the latest post-election uproar, triggered by one newspaper's reporting and Harris' initial refusal to let reporters view the hard drives.

Like Ontrack Data International, the private firm hired by the St. Petersburg Times and other news organizations to view the same computers, Morgan found that "reformatting" computers with updated software can cause them to write over older data, erasing it.

"During the normal course of business, files are created and deleted," Morgan wrote in a cover letter with his report. "This is "normal' in the usage of computers, and should be expected to some degree. There is no indication of abnormal usage or use of permanent disc erase software. These two systems reflect "business as usual' type of usage."

Morgan concluded that the two computers used the most during the recount period were not reformatted during November or December 2000, the period that was the focus of his review.

The review centered on the hard drives of four computers pressed into service by Harris' office in November and December. During that period, Harris, a Republican and a co-chairwoman of George W. Bush's campaign, said she built a "fire wall" to prevent any partisan political activity from compromising her public duty.

Harris has been dogged for weeks by questions about the computers, following a July 15 article in the New York Times that reported two Republican operatives, both friends of Harris, used the computers in the tense first week of the recount. The New York Times article said they helped draft statements that guided county election supervisors in handling the overseas absentee ballots that ultimately proved crucial to Bush's 537-vote victory margin.

Morgan's report was issued without comment from Harris, whose handling of the controversy has been reminiscent of the post-election period. Under intense media spotlight, Harris has issued a series of terse statements but has not granted interviews.

Morgan, who has submitted an invoice for $7,600, worked in total privacy. Harris would not allow reporters to watch Morgan work and his contract contained a confidentiality clause that required any questions about his work to be directed to the department's spokesman, David Host.

Host said Morgan's work vindicated Harris.

"The thing that's unambiguous is what this is all about: Was there partisan political activity in this office during the recount period? Absolutely not, and this review proves that," Host said.

Democrats seized on that as further evidence of suspicious conduct by the state's chief elections officer.

"Katherine Harris' data recovery expert did all of his work behind closed doors," said Tony Welch, a spokesman for the Florida Democratic Party.

But Ontrack Data's experts looked at the computers after Morgan, and a senior engineer, Kevin Bluml, said he found no evidence that Morgan tried to tamper with the contents. The analysts for both Ontrack and Harris made a byte-by-byte mirror image of the computers' contents without turning on the machines, which often rearranges files or data.

"We can tell you factually what was done from the drives. It is very difficult for any forensic engineer to glean the motivations for anything," said Ontrack Data lawyer Kristin Nimsger.

What Morgan found is similar to what Harris had predicted two weeks ago when she hired the 36-year-old doctoral student. At that time, Harris said, Morgan would "verify that no public records created on these two computers were destroyed."

-- Times researcher Stephanie Scruggs contributed to this report.

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