Thursday, October 28, 2004
Harris was Florida's secretary of state during the 2000 presidential election.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
SARASOTA, Fla. -- A man in a silver Cadillac drove up on a sidewalk and nearly hit U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris as an exercise in "political expression," authorities said Wednesday.
Harris, R-Fla., was campaigning for re-election with several volunteers Tuesday evening when a car ripped through an intersection, hopped the curb and headed for Harris, a Sarasota Police Department report stated.
The car veered away from Harris at the last second, but not before witnesses got the car's license plate number. Police later arrested Barry M. Seltzer, a 46-year-old self-employed real estate investor, on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He was being held in the Sarasota County Jail on Wednesday without bond.
No one answered the telephone or door at Seltzer's Sarasota home. The Cadillac was still in the driveway, next to a Kerry-Edwards sign that appeared to have been vandalized.
Seltzer is a registered Democrat, according to the Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections office, but Democrats campaigning for Harris' opponent, Jan Schneider, were appalled by the incident. Schneider's campaign manager said they did not know Seltzer.
As Florida secretary of state during the 2000 presidential election, Harris was vilified by Democrats for overseeing the recount that gave the presidency to George W. Bush by 537 votes. She went on to win election to Congress in 2002 and is running against Schneider, a Sarasota lawyer who lost to Harris two years ago.
The incident clearly frightened Harris, who told police that she was frozen in place from fear as the car approached.
According to the arrest report, Seltzer first said that Harris and the volunteers were standing in the street, impeding traffic. Then, he said, he "intimidated them" with his car.