Republican Rep. Katherine Harris accused the man she is trying to unseat in her quest for the U.S. Senate of accepting illegal campaign contributions, as she did last year. Harris, a U.S. representative from Longboat Key, received a warm welcome in Osceola County on Thursday, taking shots at her chief opponent, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson.Harris, who spoke after a brief presentation by candidates for the Osceola County School Board at the Kissimmee Bay Country Club, stuck to habitual campaign topics -- illegal immigration, drilling off the Florida coast and eminent domain. But after a question from a member of the audience about illegal contributions made to her campaign by a defense contractor in 2004, Harris said that she had not known the $32,000 donation was illegal and she has since donated the money to charity. She then upped the political ante by suggesting Nelson had made a similar mistake. "That actually happened in the past, and it happened to Bill Nelson," Harris said. "The difference is that when I did find out, I donated that money to charity. . . . He received some $80,000 the same way and he never did reimburse. So there is a little bit of difference, and I'm happy to draw attention to that." She never identified the money to which she was referring.
Her comments were in response to Nelson's camp, which last month accused Harris of being a "bribe taker." A Nelson spokesman was reprimanded for the comment.