Harris' account of law she pushed is at issue

[DoYouEverWonder]

Katherine Harris touts her passing of a law to help the poor own their own homes, but she fails to mention how a former staffer benefited from the act -- and government figures show she exaggerated the program's reach.

September 28, 2006

In calling Democrat Bill Nelson a ''do-nothing senator,'' U.S. Senate challenger Katherine Harris talks up her signature legislation in Congress, the American Dream Downpayment Act, which she tells voters she passed in ''record time'' to help poor people buy homes.

But the congresswoman never mentions one person who also benefited from the act: B. Dan Berger, who left his post as chief of staff of her congressional office to lobby for one of the act's prime backers, America's Community Bankers.

Berger began lobbying on the issue so quickly that his name appears on the bankers' group lobbying report that covers the first half of 2003, though he was with Harris until the end of May 2003. It's illegal for a congressional staffer to lobby a former boss within one year, and Berger says he did nothing wrong because he followed the law.

Harris -- who stopped making exaggerated claims about the number of people being helped by the program after a primary challenger raised questions -- also denied any wrongdoing.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/15629240.htm

This woman breaks more laws in week, yet in 2000 she couldn't give 5 more minutes to WPB to finish recounting votes because she had to strickly enforce the law.