UPDATED: Harris joins Steelman campaign, woos fee-office operators

UPDATED: Harris joins Steelman campaign, woos fee-office operators
By Jo Mannies
04/24/2008 12:28 pm
State Treasurer Sarah Steelman announced this morning that she has added “prominent Republican consultant James Harris as a political advisor” to her campaign for governor.
Harris had been a key operative for Gov. Matt Blunt, first with his campaign and later in his official office.
Harris has been tied to several of the governor’s more controversial activities, including Blunt’s privatizing of the state’s fee office branches. Early in the administration, Harris also oversaw many of the governor’s appointments, including who got awarded those fee-office licenses. (Harris’ grandmother, for one.)
UPDATE: And today, Harris sought to renew his ties to some of those fee-office operators by sending them an email that highlighted a recent KCStar blog about Steelman’s GOP rival, U.S. Rep. Kenny Hulshof of Columbia, Mo., who has proposed changes in how fee offices are awarded.
The email begins:
“Friends -
“Please do NOT forward. I think Hulshof’s continual flip flop demonstrates that he has become a DC politician and unable to be a conservative agent for change.
“Here is a quote from Hulshof’s top person regarding fee offices. ‘Under a Hulshof administration, zero consideration will be given to political support,’ (Scott) Baker said. Hulshof is opening himself up for Democrat attacks. He should be talking about tax cuts, social conservative issues or innovative ways to make government more efficient, not this.