News Clips

In the quest to be the state's next top lawyer, Jeff Harris has one decided advantage -- he used to work at Bryan Cave, and the state's largest firm is also the race's biggest source of legal donations.
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For Harris, familiarity breeds support, not contempt. He has integrity and an ability to fight for causes. He has a law-and-order mindset.
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Though he acknowledges that the state can have only a limited impact on gasoline prices, Jeff Harris said Thursday that he wants to see Missouri consumers protected from the costs of “hot fuel.”
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Democrat Jeff Harris was in predominately Republican country Thursday campaigning in his bid to become the next Missouri Attorney General.
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Democratic Attorney General Candidate Jeff Harris came to Springfield with a list of ways he will protect Missouri’s consumers.
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During a press conference Thursday morning at the Greene County Democratic Party headquarters, Harris laid out a laundry list of consumer protection initiatives he would plan to champion if he's elected attorney general.
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Jeff Harris, a Democratic attorney general candidate from Columbia, said Thursday that he wants to expand the state’s no-call list and crack down on e-mail spammers.
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Of the Democrats polled, 33 percent sided with Harris, giving him a 10-point lead that is just outside the poll's margin of error.
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As he campaigns to become Missouri’s attorney general, Rep. Jeff Harris comes out with the most vociferous, strongest position regarding concentrated animal feeding operations. He says local residents, through their local officials, should retain authority to limit the location and number of CAFOs.

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Democratic Attorney General candidate Jeff Harris said Wednesday that he would use the office to side with local property owners against large animal feeding operations.
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Rep. Jeff Harris, a Columbia Democrat and House minority leader, released a plan to combat the price effects of hot fuel, in part, by focusing on having Big Oil pay for upgrades to fuel pumps to fix the problem.
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The former LG joins two former governors backing Harris: Gov. Roger Wilson and Gov. Warren Hearnes. Harris is in the lead as of now with 126 endorsements.
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Rep. Jeff Harris, seeking the Democratic nomination for Missouri attorney general, said he plans on holding utility companies accountable for costs and making the protection of Missouri's natural resources a priority if elected to office.
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U.S. Rep. Ike Skelton and Missouri House Minority Leader Jeff Harris, a candidate for state attorney general, were on hand to cut the ribbon to launch the new Laclede County Democratic Party Headquarters.
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“Jeff Harris is the future of the Democratic Party,” Warren Hearnes said in a release from the campaign.
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Democratic AG contender Jeff Harris today picked up the endorsements of former Gov. Warren Hearnes and his wife, Betty.
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The Committee for County Progress, Jackson County’s largest Democratic political club, has endorsed state Rep. Jeff Harris, D-Columbia, in the Democratic primary for attorney general.
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The governor’s latest target is Rep. Jeff Harris, a Columbia Democrat now running for attorney general. Harris called the governor’s demand “a cheap political stunt,” but said he would comply with the request as quickly as possible.
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The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, on its Political Fix blog, called the request made of Nixon a “not-so-subtle attempt to broaden the controversy over state e-mails.” If that’s true, and we believe it is, then the request of Harris is an attempt to make a mockery of Missouri’s Sunshine Law.
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Gov. Matt Blunt’s office announced that it “is seeking e-mails and e-mail backup tapes from a state representative who has purported to be a champion of Missouri’s Sunshine Act.”
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A day after Harris criticized the governor on the House floor over e-mails, Blunt’s office sent a letter to Harris asking for five years’ worth of archived e-mails, e-mail backups and any documents sent to or from Harris’ office.
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On Wednesday morning, Blunt's office issued the third press release in two days announcing a Sunshine Law request it had filed with Democratic Rep. Jeff Harris for all e-mails he has sent or received on a state account since 2003.
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Two days after a lawsuit accused the Blunt administration of breaking the open records law and a day after it requested back-up tapes from Attorney General Jay Nixon's office, the Governor's office now has a new Sunshine target: Rep. Jeff Harris.
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They just did it to jerk the chain of Harris, who had the temerity to stand up and defend the public's right to know what's going on with their governor.
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The governor is facing a lawsuit for destroying e-mails to avoid an open records request. The day after Harris criticized the governor over the e-mail issue, Blunt demanded five years of Harris' archived e-mails.
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Harris, who is running for attorney general, criticized Blunt’s office Tuesday on the House floor, publicly praising unnamed employees who refused to follow the alleged instructions to destroy the backup e-mail tapes.
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This was Harris’ second campaign visit to the area since July. He told the crowd that he was running for Attorney General because the office provides an opportunity to do great things for the public.
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Attorney General candidate Jeff Harris talks about the ecological and economical problems with factory farming.
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Rep. Jeff Harris is declaring victory in the first Democratic Attorney General debate that's been cancelled.
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It was more than seven months ago when Former Democratic House Leader Jeff Harris launched his criticism of a state policy that allows private firms to advertise in renewal notices for licensees mailed by the Dept. of Revenue. And those ads are going to disappear this summer, at least temporarily.
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Legislation creating a specific state crime of mortgage fraud and expanding civil penalties for it passed the Missouri House without any dissent Thursday.
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Suspects found guilty of shaking a baby could soon be spending more time behind bars.
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Missouri lawmakers are debating for a third time a bill which aims to more aggressively punish those who shake any baby.
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Rep. Jeff Harris, a Columbia Democrat running for attorney general, harshly criticized the Missouri Ethics Commission for voting to let 10 Republicans keep $312,000 in over-the-limit campaign contributions.
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Jeff Harris, former Missouri House Minority Leader and candidate for Attorney General, will speak to the Randolph County Women's Democrat Club meeting Thursday, March 20, at Nelly's Restaurant. The meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. and the public is invited to attend.
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Democratic candidate for Attorney General Jeff Harris is sponsoring legislation to help "can Spam." The kind of spam that ends up in your e-mail inbox, that is.
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State Rep. Jeff Harris, Democratic candidate for Missouri attorney general, unveiled his plan to give rural communities greater power to limit the development of concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO) near their properties. Harris says his plan will help rural communities deal with the growing CAFO problem.
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Rep. Jeff Harris, a candidate for the Democratic nomination for attorney general, has unveiled a proposal to stop the spread of CAFOS across the landscape of Missouri.
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Corporate Pig Farms (CAFO's - concentrated animal feeding operations) continue to be a big environmental and local control issue. The Joplin Globe recently can a story on the desire of local governments to control these enormous feed operations vs. the efforts by some Republicans to force these operations on folks.
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A bill recently introduced by state Rep. Jeff Harris, D-Columbia, would give rural communities greater power to limit CAFOs near their property. House Bill 1931 would allow local residents to use the initiative-petition process to put approval of a proposed CAFO to a public vote.
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Big ag will take proposals by state Rep. Jeff Harris as a slap in the face. Don’t. Take them rather as a boot to the butt.
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Two bills are being considered, both proposed by Democratic representatives in response to recent controversy regarding electronic communication and the state’s freedom of information act. The first, sponsored by Rep. Jeff Harris, D-Columbia, would require documents received via mobile devices to become detained for public record and would raise fines for those who violate the Sunshine Law.
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State Rep. and Attorney General candidate Jeff Harris is expected to introduce a bill today to make laundering campaign contributions a crime.
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A spokesman from Harris' campaign says Harris is the only candidate in the Attorney General race to address the current issues with the No Call listing and also the only candidate with a plan calling for an expansion of the list. An MPN review of other Attorney General candidates' websites confirms an absence of information about the No Call listing on other candidates' issue pages and press release sections of their websites.
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State lawmakers are considering several changes to the laws
that govern how much the public knows about its government.
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The General Assembly will consider two bills that would significantly strengthen Missouri’s Sunshine Law. Rep. Jeff Harris, D-Columbia, has sponsored a bill that would close a major loophole in prosecution.
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Gov. Blunt deserves more credit than he's received" (Feb. 12) by Trish Vincent, the governor's chief of staff, was a thoroughly implausible defense of her boss' lackluster record.
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House Democrat Jeff Harris has proposed a bill to strengthen the state's Sunshine Law that deserves serious discussion.
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An attorney general candidate wants to stiffen the state's Sunshine Law by increasing fines, clarifying that e-mails are open records and requiring government officials to show why documents are closed. Rep. Jeff Harris said Thursday the changes are needed to protect Missourians' right to know what their government is doing.
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Attorney General candidate Jeff Harris is planning to file a bill this week that would improve Missouri's Sunshine Law. Among the provisions is a section that would make Missouri's law more like the open records law in Texas, tilting the presumption of openness toward consumers. In other words, the intent of the law is to make it harder for public bodies to close records. The proposal also increases penalties and requires e-mail that is sent on non-government servers to be copied to government accounts.
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Representative Jeff Harris proposed "Karra and Jocelyn's Law" to enforce stronger punishment for those who harm a child or infant. He hopes changes to the law will keep babies and children safe.
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Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do, even if you know you aren't going to succeed--or at least, not right away. Not this year.

Jeff Harris (Democratic representative from Columbia, running for the Attorney General nomination) takes umbrage that Tyson, Smithfield and MOArk are turning the Missouri countryside into their personal fiefdoms. He resents the damage done by CAFOs (contained animal feeding operations) in our state so much that he's filing two bills this session to restrain CAFOs and big ag.
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The Shaken Baby case in Miller County has drawn more attention to a bill that would increase the punishment for people who injure or kill a baby by shaking it.
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Rural communities in Missouri will receive increased power to limit the development of concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) if a bill filed this week by former Democratic leader Jeff Harris becomes law.
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State Rep. Jeff Harris filed legislation Tuesday to give rural communities greater power to limit the development of concentrated animal feeding operations near their property.
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Now that a new bill that would give the state's residents more control over CAFOs has been proposed by State Rep. Jeff Harris in the state legislature (see related article), Nichols said he would like to see it approved.
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Columbia State Rep. Jeff Harris (D) has notified the Democrat-Leader that he introduced House Bill 1855 Thursday in the Missouri House which will honor baby Jocelyn Nivert of Glasgow who was killed last summer by the boyfriend of the baby’s mother, Clifford Helmka.
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State legislators say they want to prevent another surge in foreclosures by cracking down on lending practices. "This subprime mortgage crisis is turning the American dream of owning your own home into the American nightmare," said Jeff Harris, D-Columbia, the bill's sponsor.
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Lawmakers on Thursday proposed new regulations for sub-prime mortgages in response to concerns about a large number of people nationally facing foreclosure. The bill, which is expected to be sponsored by Democratic Rep. Jeff Harris and Republican Rep. David Pearce, is designed to target predatory lending.
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Former Democratic House Leader Jeff Harris, a candidate for Missouri Attorney General, will introduce a bill next week to cut down on unregulated subprime lenders and the practices that lead to Missouri's surging foreclosure rate.
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Missouri state Rep. Jeff Harris says he will introduce legislation as early as next week that would crack down on business practices by some over-zealous subprime lenders.
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Democratic candidate for Attorney General Jeff Harris has announced a plan to give local towns more power to stop concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) near their properties.
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Last night, Representative (and AG candidate) Jeff Harris invited a number of Missouri bloggers to participate on a conference call. He started off with a quick overview of his background, why he's running, and some of the recent developments in his campaign. He then took questions from us bloggers for approximately an hour, talking about everything from CAFOs to the battle of the endorsements to Internet fundraising to when he'll next visit Branson.
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Jeff Harris, the former minority leader of the Missouri House, is taking his campaign for attorney general into the blogosphere tonight by holding a conference call with Missouri bloggers.
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Rep. Jeff Harris, D-Columbia was in Fayette Thursday night continuing his on-going campaign for Missouri Attorney General. Harris, 43, a former House Minority Leader, led Democrats in the Missouri House to their first increase in legislative seats since 1986 and their largest increase since 1978.
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Attorney general candidate Jeff Harris wants to create a special Sunshine Law unit within the office as a way to boost enforcement of Missouri's open records and meetings law.
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“Anyone running to be the chief law enforcement official in the state should honor both the letter and spirit of the law,” said Harris, a Columbia Democrat. “Missourians want leadership, not candidates who seek to skirt the law by exploiting legal loopholes for their own personal gain.”
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State Rep. Jeff Harris (D-Columbia), who wants to be your next attorney general, wrote a curt note to Blunt last week regarding advertisements for the Toyota Tundra truck that were being enclosed in correspondence regarding automobile license renewals sent from the Missouri Department of Revenue.
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Democratic candidate for attorney general Jeff Harris says Missourians didn't ask for it but they got it anyway: Toyota ads in their auto license renewal notices.
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State Rep. Jeff Harris, D-Columbia and a candidate for attorney general, circulated today copies of a letter that he’s sent to Gov. Matt Blunt, complaining about Toyota ads in a state mailing.
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Virtually all of Howard County’s Democratic officeholders were on hand Monday at Schnell Hall to welcome State Rep. Jeff Harris of Columbia’s 23rd district.
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Former Democratic House Minority Leader Jeff Harris, who represents Columbia and is a candidate for Attorney General, is not at all concerned about potential Attorney General candidate Sen. Chris Koster’s switch from the Republican Party to Democratic Party.
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Harris's slick, well organized and easy-to-navigate AG campaign website is as effective as any campaign's on the web, with lots of emphasis on signing up and donating.
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House minority floor leader Jeff Harris, D-Columbia, toured St. Francois County on Thursday, stopping to talk with educators, businessmen and other citizens as part of his campaign for state attorney general.
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House Minority Leader Jeff Harris, D-Columbia, now has $300,000 of cash on hand for his Attorney General bid after he unleashed his latest fundraising quarter report.
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House Democratic Leader Jeff Harris popped his second-quarter fundraising report early and announced today that he had raised $170,484.
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State Rep. Jeff Harris - who is running for attorney general - has offered legislation for the past two sessions of the Missouri General Assembly that would upgrade the crime to a class B felony, punishable by a minimum of 15 years in prison. That approach is far more appropriate for this crime.
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Rep. Jeff Harris of Columbia said he will give up his position as House minority leader to run for attorney general.
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Rep. Jeff Harris, D-Columbia, has entered the 2008 race for Missouri's attorney general.
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State Rep. Jeff Harris of Columbia said he would give up his position as House minority leader next session to run for attorney general.
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Harris plans to prefile a bill in December, that will send a message about the seriousness of shaking baby crimes.
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"I filed legislation in 2006 and 2007 that would in fact increase penalties and basically make this a class B felony for shaking a baby or shaking a child under the age of five. Under my legislation, it would be a minimum of 15 years in prison," says State Representative Jeff Harris.
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The three-term lawmaker is so serious about his bid to succeed Jay Nixon after 2008 that he is stepping down as House minority leader, a post he's held since 2005.
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Over the weekend in Howard County a man was arrested for shaking his girlfriend’s baby while she was at work. The Howard County Sheriff's Department said he was charged with a class C felony, which could send him to jail at a maximum of only seven years.

This issue has been getting some attention from prosecutors and even state representatives. We have more on the story from Howard County and what others would like to see happen.
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Rep. Jeff Harris (D-Columbia) as Minority Floor Leader is the top Democrat in the House. He won't concede a thing on MO HealthNet, completely critical of the change to Medicaid. He even mocks Governor Blunt's first stop on his ceremonial bill signing tour: a Jiffy Lube in Springfield. Harris says the governor equates health care with an oil change and that shows that the governor is out of touch with everyday Missourians.
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Missouri House Minority Leader Jeff Harris has stolen another march on anyone thinking of challenging him for the Democratic nomination for attorney general next year. Harris, the first state Democrat to officially declare his intention to run, announced in a press release Tuesday that he has launched an official campaign website.
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House Minority Leader Jeff Harris, D-Columbia, unleashed a new site today in anticipation for his 2008 bid for attorney general. The page provides websurfers with a biography, stances on various attorney general-esque issues such as privacy and environmental control and a number of pictures.
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Harris, a self-described "law and order Democrat" who has previously worked in Nixon's office, said he has the experience and the expertise to do the job. "It is the way to stand up for the little guy, the average Missourian, and to really be the people's lawyer for all of the state of Missouri," Harris said. "I consider myself a champion of the average Missourian."
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A bill has been introduced in the Missouri House of Representatives that would prevent the development of concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) within five miles of state parks and historic sites.
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As minority leader in the House of Representatives, Harris has been a hard worker. He has crafted an ambitious -- astonishing, really -- list of proposals for his party to consider during the coming session.
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Despite serving only his second term, the Columbia Democrat's colleagues in November tapped him to serve as their leader in the lower chamber. In that role, Harris has become an increasingly outspoken critic of Gov. Matt Blunt and sustained a tough-on-crime legislative policy carried over from his first term.
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Sometimes legislators simply need to take a deep breath, step back and then do the one thing that often provides the state the most good. Nothing.
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