Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris' political campaign spent nearly $200,000 on its legal defense, or nearly three times the amount of money that it raised from political donors this year. [CAMPAIGN SPENDING REPORTS]
Legal woes cost
Harris $200,000His semiannual tally for lawyers
and audits is nearly 3 times
what the campaign raisedBy Rick Daysog
rdaysog@starbulletinHarris' filings with the state Campaign Spending Commission yesterday show that the campaign spent a total of $196,667.66 on attorneys and consultants during the six months ending June 30.
Harris, the Democratic front-runner who dropped out of the governor's race on May 30 amid state, federal and city investigations into alleged campaign finance violations, raised $68,722.78 from political contributors during the first six months this year.
By comparison, Harris raised $130,495 during the first six months of 2001.
Robert Watada, executive director of the state Campaign Spending Commission, said he was not surprised by the amount of money spent given the legal challenges faced by the campaign. "If they would have just done things right they wouldn't have had any legal fees," he said.
In January, the commission referred its investigation into the Harris campaign to city Prosecutor Peter Carlisle for a criminal probe.
The criminal investigation, which has been joined by the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service, came as Harris' lawyers filed suits in state and federal courts, alleging that the Watada unfairly singled out the mayor's campaign.
William McCorriston, an attorney for the Harris campaign, could not be reached for comment.
According to Harris' filings, McCorriston's firm was paid $99,747.69, while the Im Hanifan Parsons firm received $39,341.97 in legal work.
Peterson Consulting LLC, the Chicago-based accounting and consulting firm hired to audit Harris' political contributions in response to criticisms by the commission, was paid $57,578.
Although Harris dropped out of the governor's race, he was required to file a statement since he was a candidate for most of the reporting period.
As of June 30, the Harris campaign reported that it had $640,118.46 cash on hand. The campaign said it spent $481,873.84 during the first six months this year.
Those expenses include $27,350 paid to the Hawaii Elections Campaign Fund for excessive campaign contributions by local architecture and engineering firms during the 2000 mayoral race. During the past year, the Campaign Spending Commission has fined several local city contractors for giving hundreds of thousands of dollars in over-the-limit contributions to the Harris 2000 re-election campaign.
The Harris campaign also refunded $7,050 to more than a dozen local contributors.
Among the donors, Alexander & Baldwin Inc.'s executives gave generously. Since Jan. 1, five of the company's top executives gave a total of $8,000 to the Harris campaign, according to Harris' report.
Engineering and architecture firms, which have contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to Harris campaign in the past, did not contribute any money to Harris' campaign during the latest reporting period.