Aide left (Katherine) Harris to work for MZM

[ProSense]

Aide left Harris to work for MZM

By CORY REISS and JEREMY WALLACE

An aide to Rep. Katherine Harris quit last year to work for a defense contractor who at the time was pressing the Longboat Key Republican to secure federal funding for a counterintelligence project.

Mitchell Wade, former principal owner of defense contractor MZM Inc., pleaded guilty last Friday to bribing a California congressman and to charges he gave illegal campaign contributions to Harris and a lawmaker from Virginia.

The move last April by Mona Tate Yost, Harris' former schedule coordinator, to MZM suggests the contractor was more tightly tied to the congresswoman's office than previously known. Wade had asked Harris over dinner last year to seek funding for a project in her district that would benefit MZM.

Wade is at the center of a corruption scandal that forced Rep. Randall "Duke" Cunningham, R-Calif., to plead guilty to federal charges and sparked debate about lobbying and appropriations reforms.


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