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The secretary of state mentions pay for a volunteer, according to a letter.
©Associated Press
© St. Petersburg Times, published August 24, 2001
TALLAHASSEE -- Secretary of State Katherine Harris proposed to have the state pay $12,000 to a GOP operative who she has said worked as a volunteer out of her office during the election recount, a newspaper reported Thursday.
"You provided support to the Dept. of State and should be paid," Harris wrote to consultant Adam Goodman on April 9.
She was responding to an April 3 note from Goodman suggesting that she pay him $20,000 from a campaign account for his work, according to correspondence obtained by the Palm Beach Post.
Harris has said repeatedly that Goodman and fellow operative J.M. Mac Stipanovich volunteered their time in the weeks following the disputed presidential election.
Ultimately, neither Goodman nor Stipanovich got paid. Stipanovich said Tuesday he never broached the idea. While Harris wrote that she wanted to pay Goodman, she told him she didn't think the money should come from her or a campaign account.
"It was not for me personally nor for a campaign," Harris wrote Goodman. "Consequently, I do not believe I should have to pay (raise the $$) for it when it was for the govt."
Goodman said Harris was the first to mention the idea of compensation, and he said he did not press his request for payment. He said he decided he was better off remaining a volunteer.
"Upon reflection, it was understood that I best remain in that original (volunteer) position," he told the Post Wednesday.
Harris, who is vacationing with her husband in Sweden, could not be reached by the Post.
Agency spokesman David Host acknowledged that Harris had looked into paying Goodman.
"Both Secretary Harris and Mr. Goodman agreed that the latter's role as a friend and adviser outweighed all other considerations," Host said, explaining why Goodman was not paid out of the state treasury.
Goodman, a Tampa consultant who worked for Harris in her previous campaigns, wanted $4,000 per month for the five months starting November 2000.
In the April 3 note, he told Harris, who is considering a run for Congress from her Sarasota hometown, that he didn't mind waiting until the end of the spring legislative session, when fundraising begins in earnest under a new entity.
"We've enjoyed a tremendous experience, and opportunity, together. Now, let's firm up the terms of our association and continue to rock the world," Goodman wrote.
Democrats have criticized Harris, a Republican, for allowing partisan activity to take place in the state office that oversees elections, which was integral in the outcome of the presidential race. Bush beat Al Gore in Florida by 537 votes following a recount.
Harris has countered that both men merely helped her handle media requests and write her public statements, but did not give her partisan political advice.
State records show that neither Goodman nor Stipanovich has received any payments from the treasury in the past year.
Harris, 44, is considering a run for the congressional seat held by Sarasota Republican Dan Miller, who plans to retire.
Goodman, who worked for Harris as a paid adviser in both her 1994 election to the state Senate and her 1998 campaign for secretary of state, said Wednesday he expects to be part of Harris' campaign when she makes a formal announcement.