Ross Harris, key figure in inquiry, dies Had been convicted of federal vote-fraud charges in 2004 By Lee Mueller, The Lexington-Herald Leader, June 27, 2006 PIKEVILLE - Ross Harris, a wealthy Pike County coal operator who became the central figure in a prolonged federal crackdown on vote fraud in Eastern Kentucky, died Saturday in a Houston hospital where he was being treated for bile-duct cancer. He was 59. Mr. Harris, who was convicted of federal vote-fraud in 2004 in London, was sentenced last year to 18 months of house arrest under terms that allowed him to work and receive medical treatment. He was at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center when he died at about 4 p.m. Saturday, friends said. A Pikeville doctor testified during a sentencing hearing last July 20 that Mr. Harris had "only months" to live. Houston doctors did not testify, but federal officials agreed to home incarceration after obtaining sworn statements in Texas. "He was a good man," said Velma Childers of Pikeville, a friend. "Most people did not know the Ross Harris I knew. He was generous and kind." Mr. Harris may have bragged of his political power among friends, but not his generosity, Childers said. "About this, he never boasted," she said. "Ross never flaunted his wealth and he never forgot where he came from." Mr. Harris, the son of a Floyd County coal miner, moved to Pikeville about 27 years ago to practice tax law and wound up becoming wealthy in the coal and real estate business. He was listed as president of more than 40 active companies, according to Secretary of State records. "The reason I've been successful is not because I'm smart," Mr. Harris said in a 2004 interview. "It's because I worked real hard." After working for the Internal Revenue Service, Mr. Harris moved to Pikeville about 1980, he said, and into the law office of Gary C. Johnson, whom he met at Berea College.\ "And the only way either one of us could get in then," Johnson said in 2004, "was that we had to be dirt poor." At the time, Johnson was running for county attorney against an incumbent. Mr. Harris said he had always been interested in politics and became involved in Johnson's campaign. "To me, what's important is having good people in office," Mr. Harris said. "That's more important than any party label." Johnson, who won the county attorney's race, said it was obvious from the beginning that Mr. Harris was a businessman, not a trial lawyer. Mr. Harris said he stopped practicing law about 1982 after he began acquiring coal properties and real estate, but continued his involvement in politics. By 2001, Mr. Harris was conducting joint fund-raisers with Leonard Lawson, the state's largest road contractor. They raised money for both Republican U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell and Democratic gubernatorial nominee Ben Chandler. Mr. Harris also contributed to candidates across the state. "There's nothing wrong with being politically active and that's what I consider myself -- politically active," Mr. Harris said. "I wish more people would be that way." Mr. Harris said he had considered running for office himself, but decided against it because he was too busy with business and projects. After becoming Eastern Kentucky's top political fund-raiser in 2002, however, Mr. Harris became personally involved in a Pike County judicial race and was caught laundering his own money through "straw" contributors into a losing campaign. Most of those straw contributors were friends or relatives of one of Mr. Harris' employees, Loren Glenn Turner, 52, of Pikeville. Turner was convicted with Mr. Harris of vote fraud and mail fraud and sentenced to four years in prison. Both he and Mr. Harris appealed their convictions and each also was awaiting trial on separate charges in connection with an indictment against state Sen. Johnny Ray Turner, D-Drift, in a 2000 Senate race. Larry Mackey of Indianapolis, who was Mr. Harris' attorney, called his client "a working man's millionaire" and predicted his conviction will be overturned on appeal. "We would be a better nation if the rest of us felt Ross Harris' passion for our political process," Mackey said in an e-mail. "He feared that East Kentucky would be ignored or worse unless he did his part to fight for their place at the table. ... His recent journey through the federal courts only stiffened his resolve to fight for what he believed in." Assistant U.S. Attorney Ken Taylor said the charges against Mr. Harris, including the 2004 conviction under appeal, will be by law abated. His death does not, however, affect the pending charges against Glenn Turner and his cousin Johnny Turner. Taylor, the lead prosecutor in the 2004 vote-fraud case, said he saw Mr. Harris at lunch about two weeks ago in a Lexington restaurant. Mr. Harris had lost weight, Taylor said, but "I thought he was doing pretty well. His death came as a surprise." David Gooch, president of Coal Operators and Associates (COA) in Pikeville, said Mr. Harris will be missed. "Ross fought the disease with the same energy and positive attitude that he applied to all his endeavors," Gooch said in an e-mail. Mr. Harris served on the COA board and the executive committee. "His enthusiasm and businesslike approach to association matters will be missed," Gooch said. Mr. Harris, who was married three times, is survived by his father, Austin Harris of Clay City; one son, Ross Beau Harris of Pikeville; three daughters, Tanya Harris, 33, of Ivel; Allison Marie Harris, 6, and Lauren Grace Harris, 4, both of Lexington; three brothers, John Harris and Jim Harris, both of Pikeville; and Dan Harris of Jeffersonville; and a sister, Barbara Baldwin of Franklin, Ohio. Visitation is at 6 p.m. today and Wednesday at J.W. Call Funeral Home in Pikeville. The funeral will be at 1 p.m. Thursday at Allen First Baptist Church at Watergap. Burial will be in Davidson Memorial Gardens at Ivel.