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Harris answers critics

“Okay, so I made up the part about the plot and the explosives and the power grid, but a swarthy type was recently spotted in or near Indiana, and if we let brown skinned people just run around free, then the terrorists have won..”

State: Harris now :regrets her tale of terror plot

U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris said Wednesday she regrets claiming a plot existed to blow up the power grid in Carmel, Ind., a notion city officials disputed.

But the Republican from Sarasota stood by her statement that based on classified information, the United States has thwarted more than 100 potential terrorist attacks.

Harris, who as Florida secretary of state was at the center of the political storm over the disputed 2000 presidential election recount, made the comments about terrorism and the plot Monday at a rally for President Bush in Venice and in a subsequent interview with the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

She told the audience that while she was in the Midwest recently, the mayor of Carmel told her a man of Middle Eastern heritage had been arrested and hundreds of pounds of explosives were found in his home.

"He had plans to blow up the area's entire power grid," Harris said, according to the newspaper.

City officials in Carmel said they know of no such plot.

"We're aware of the comments we read in the paper," said Tim Green, assistant chief of police in Carmel, a town about 10 miles north of Indianapolis. "We're not aware of any plans to blow up Carmel's power grid."

Nancy Heck, a spokeswoman for Carmel Mayor Jim Brainard, said, "The mayor never talked to Katherine Harris. They never had that conversation."

Questioned Wednesday, Harris' office issued a statement in which the congresswoman said, "I regret that I had no knowledge of the sensitive nature of this situation."

But Harris stood by her comments to the newspaper that the United States has thwarted potential attacks in the last three years, which she said was based on classified information.

"Actually, it's been more than 100," she told the newspaper. "It's classified ... obviously not classified to me ... but things I can't go into details about."

She said Wednesday in a statement that her comments underscore the need "for each of us to remain alert and vigilant in fighting terrorism."