Harris' political director departs

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AUGUST 20, 2006

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.

Posted by Anita Kumar at 8:33:41 pm on August 20, 2006 in

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