Harris' political director departs

Rhyan Metzler, Katherine Harris' political director of three months, left her Senate campaign.

The departure came on Thursday, the same day that Harris held an Orlando campaign rally that was attended by only about 30 to 40 people, none of them the expected elected officials.

Harris blamed the paltry turnout on a change in the location after a tree fell on the original airport hangar. But it turns out there was no fallen tree. Her spokeswoman Jennifer Marks later said Harris gave reporters misinformation about the tree because "that was the information we were given by our political director.''

Reached on Sunday, Metzler wouldn't say whether his departure had anything to do with the tree. "I adore her and wish her well,'' he said of Harris.

Marks, however, wasn't so kind. Later on Sunday, she said Metzler was "not adequately perfoming his duties" and he and the campaign reached a mutual agreement that he should leave.

Comments

You wonder why anyone would even work on her campaign??

Orlando Sentinel
Published August 8, 2006

Tom Gallagher is doing the impossible. He is doing worse than Katherine Harris.

Will she just go away already?

If 1 year = 7 in dog years, then 3 months = 21 months in Harris... err... I mean "dog months." ... Relatively speaking, then, Meltzer lasted a lifetime.

[Dr . Channard]

McBride, now more than ever .

[tomgfan]

Tom has had a few problems, but none like Harris.

Tom has only lost his: tv guy, pollster, mail guy, the general campaign guru, and the finance consultant.

I renew my question:

If a tree falls on the hangar and no one shows up, does it make a sound?

mcbride ahhhh. the sound of relief

1:05 - was that really your question?

Funny thing is everyone warned Metzler before he went over to her campaign.

He probably thought because they could shoe shop together that he'd get along with her and last.

Metzler was there fr three whole months? That seems too long for him.... we'll when you get jobs as "3rd String" for KH, what can you expect?

My question is, who is left working on her campaign? She obviously has this kool aide Marks girl, the CM, that fat scheduler named Jennifer....hmmm, anyone else?

Ok---the comment about "that fat scheduler" was uncalled for. They all should be called Saints, w/ the exception of Marks because at this point slandering any member of the staff that leaves only makes you look bad and chances are it will be you next week. The statement should have been something along the line of sorry to see him go but we have replaced him w/.....

At this point do we feel safe in saying that no one told her a tree fell on the hangar and she is just "katherine harris cray" ?

there are a few people left.
its funny that her website has her key people in every county that are suppose to be her county co-chairs are really her field staff. she has no county co chairs...just field staff at this point. she use to have county chairs in almost every county...what happened? oh, i can tell you, everyone lost interest in her and realized she was kooky katherine.

rhyan metzler-we all told you she was going to blame you for one thing or another and you posted on here that she was good, great, fantastic and suppose to the be the next US senator. well...hate to say it but "we told you so"...you won't go on record and bash her. not because you aren't itching to do so...but because you know you will be a hypocrite if you do. sorry you left your cushy RPOF job with Carole Jean to work for CRAZY KH...wonder where you are off to now???

I would have paid money to see Ryan and KH bitch fight.

ryan will be fine - he's stocked up enough gel in his hair to last for months

10:55am-i second that my dear! talk about priceless moments.

hey, are we all still getting together for her indictment party? i say we do a theme? expensive wine and orange jumpsuits? i think if we all got together and did a costume party it would be grand. some people wear prada suits (pre jail) and some wear orange jump suits (clearly jail time). we could dine on no food (in honor of KH) and sip either expensive red wine or starbucks. Irish Heather has the melon ball shooters and Whiskey can bring...well the whiskey! Hip Hip HOORAY

[The Home Office in Bartow]

From the Home Office in Bartow
Katherine Harris’ Top Ten Lies: Fact and Fiction (in no particular order)

Fiction: Convicted felon/Harris travel aide is “just a volunteer.”
Fact: The FEC reports that will be out next month will show this person was on the campaign staff.

Fiction: A tree fell on the airport hanger, that’s why there wasn’t anyone here.
Fact: Numerous newspapers have quoted airport officials as saying there was no tree that fell on an airport hanger, and the Harris campaign was in the hanger it originall booked.

Fiction: We’ve had to let so many people on staff go who were not loyal to us.
Fact: Katherine Harris cannot name one person she has ever actually fired. They all quit!

Fiction: Harris is only 3.9% down against Nelson. (This from a recent Harris campaign mailing).
Fact: The poll is at least a year old. All recent polls show Harris down at least 25 points.

Fiction: Governor Bush supports Katherine Harris.
Fact: No one believes this horse s***. No one. Well, except Katherine Harris.

Fiction: When the Harris campaign turns out its base “we win with 53%” Harris repeatedly claims.
Fact: The polling doesn’t exist. If it did, certainly Harris would prove it by proudly releasing the numbers.

Fiction: Harris will put $10 million of her “inheritance” into the campaign.
Fact: There was no inheritance (her father’s money went to her mother who is alive and well) and Harris doesn’t have $10 million of her own money to put into the race.

Fiction: Corrupt defense contractor Mitchell Wade (who gave Harris $32,000 in illegal contributions) took bottles of expensive wine home with him, that’s why the dinner she had with him in Washington cost $2,800.00.
Fact: Harris can’t name a single person to support this statement. (And taking bottles of wine from the restaurant is a violation of DC Beverage Control laws).

Fiction: Last week the campaign proudly posted on the web “endorsements” from every GOP member of the Florida congressional delegation. This week, the list is gone and Harris blamed former staffers.
Fact: The former staffers have been gone for more than a month. The web posting was made a week ago. The former staffers refused using names without signed endorsement letters.

Fiction: The Harris campaign is “cooperating” with US Dept. of Justice officials. (Harris won’t answer the question when asked, if the campaign has been issued a subpeona).
Fact: Multiple former staffers have been interviewed by the FBI and two former staffers have alleged the campaign has been issued a subpeona.

Fiction: The campaign never planned to come to the Hills. GOP Exec. Comm. Meeting. Fact: Party Chairman David Stork said that’s not true, that the Harris campaign was expected to attend.

Fiction: Harris supporter Jackie Brownhill was not asked by the campaign to ask another candidate about his background/name change.
Fact: Brownhill says she was asked by the campaign to do so. Harris at first said they didn’t put her up to it, then qualified her statement saying “senior members of her campaign” didn’t do it. She also flip-flopped as to whether or not Brownhill was a supporter (she was Harris’ county co-chair).

If you want a nominee who will say anything to get elected and who wouldn’t know the truth if it smacked her in the face, Katherine Harris is your gal. All of you GOPers who think she is “owed” something by the party, ought to take a good hard look at your children and grandchildren and think about what you “owe” them.

[formerKHstaffer]

Irish Heather was right !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rhyan is gone. He learned just like the rest of us Harris' former staffers that she is nuts. Personal attacks on him are unfair and inappropriate and don't serve to educate the voters as to why Katherine Harris should never be elected to the United States Senate. If you have a problem with Rhyan M., you should be a man about it and address it with him directly, not here on this blog as some tough-guy who is really an anyonymous loser.

Nice job 12:45... nice job.

If Rhyan would like all questions directed to him please post his email or come on here as Rhyan M. so that we may ask him. I feel that if you are going to put it out there...then put it out there fully!

and we aren't anonymous...its a blog. would you like our SSN's put on here?

yes. and your names

could you place your name 4:08pm? i think its really funny that people that beg of names never put their own.
rhyan-was it you too that demanded amy foster to do background on all ex staffers so that KH could sling mud at them? even the innocent ones that have never gone on record, spoken to the media or blogged? if so, you are just as dirty as KH.

funny thing is...us old staffers that left en masse the first and second round NEVER did background on previous staff members so to put negative facts in the hands of the DEVIL (aka KH). but thanks...you did well on that campaign. You didn't do opp research on Bill Nelson, but ex staffers. What is wrong with you guys over there????

4:32 I know what you did last summer

wasn't begging. Accepted the offer.

And let's take a trip in the ol' Wayback Machine to the opening paragraphs of this 2002 Sarasota Herald-Tribune profile of KH. Any of this seem sad and/or amusing in retrospect?
---
Katherine Harris came to her political senses slowly. She might not have at all, except for some leisurely Saturday morning breakfasts nearly a decade ago. Back then, Harris and friends would shop for fruit and flowers at the Farmer's Market, then sit down at the First Watch in downtown Sarasota to talk.

"It wasn't really breakfast," Harris said, "it was solving all the problems of the world."

Immersed in volunteer work and selling real estate, Harris didn't think about such chatter leading anywhere, until the topic of the beleaguered John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art came up. Harris sat on the board that ran the Sarasota institution. Breakfast pal Graci McGillicuddy also loved the arts and the Ringling. And it galled them that the man who should be getting more money out of the state Legislature for their museum was State Sen. Jim Boczar, who disdained art. A Reubens, Boczar had said, was just a sandwich.

Somebody, the women decided, ought to run against Boczar. Only who? Most ofthem had family and commitments to worry about; one didn't.

"We said, 'Katherine, you're it,'" said McGillicuddy, whose brother-in-law is former U.S. Sen. Connie Mack. "You're smart, you're single, you've got passion. Let's do it.'"

...

Her ascent is all the more stunning because less than two years ago, sheseemed destined for oblivion, a lame duck in an obscure state post that hadbeen stripped of its elected status. The 2000 presidential election changed everything.

...

Critics knock it as the latest break for a politician they consider intellectually shallow, ethically shady and easily manipulated by power brokers.

Harris is a lightning rod for angry Democrats, who count her as little more than a wealthy opportunist.

"She's been a good servant for Katherine Harris, but not a good servant for the public, and that's a big difference," said Florida Democratic Party Chairman Bob Poe. To supporters, she is sincere, upright and astute, a relentlessly hardworker who is charming and outgoing, yet politically tough. Harris may have gotten breaks, they say, but she's made the most of them.

"You have to congratulate her on a meteoric rise in politics," said state Rep. Nancy Detert, R-Venice. "She must be doing something righ

4:39pm-It was a fun summer. Wish you were there.

After September 5, summer starts all over again for you. Congratulations.

11:18-how is that? i don't work on campaigns. is my boss letting me have off?

now i am excited that you have a crystal ball and a)know who i am and b) know my boss is letting me have some summer fun! thanks!!!

[Reality Check]

Katherine Harris is political roadkill, her career and future potential squashed flat by an excess of greed, hubris and an abject disregard for her constituents.

Her current position was a political ten dollar bill casually tossed upon her night stand for a job well done in rigging the 2000 Florida counts.

Now tossed aside and forgotten by her former paramours, the Repuplican Party, for prettier faces and perkier futures, she takes her scorn out on hapless underlings while we're the ones still left with the need to get up and take a shower.

reality check-well said!

[formerKHstaffer]

There are now, what? only 2 paid staffers left? It keeps getting proved time and time again, KH is mean, nasty and evil.

[Irish Heather]

Just wait until the tape gets released. Ms. Harris will vindicate her staff all by herself. One more week until everyone gets to hear what a tyrant she is.

One more time: Ding Dong, the Witch is Dead!

Ding Dong the witch is dead!!! Lets everyone join in now..."ding dong the witch is dead"

release the tape already staffer. we need to hear it.

I am glad that you are happy. Now, get over yourselves and go buy some popcorn for your phantom tape listening session. Apparently, your agenda will be light after September 5th. Is it not interesting to you that most of the comments are made under the Harris blog section and not Will Collins' or LeRoy Monroe's section???

[5:59]

That's because people are distracted by all of her missteps, lies, erratic behavior, etc. At the same time, people want leadership and integrity -- neither of which Katherine Harris has. But she'll look good in a prison jump-suit.