DATE: Sunday, September 14, 1997            TAG: 9709130002

SECTION: COMMENTARY              PAGE: J5   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Opinion

SOURCE: MARGARET EDDS

DATELINE: RICHMOND                          LENGTH:   86 lines

STATE POLITICS RICHMOND WHEELER-DEALER'S LUCK FINALLY RUNS OUT

He was the cat with nine political lives, the immaculately coiffed and tailored presence hovering around one campaign and then another, the small-time entrepreneur whose deal-making seemed forever shadowed by hints of impropriety.

For two decades, Joel Walker Harris traversed Virginia's political landscape, servicing Republicans and Democrats, falling from grace and then reappearing at the core of yet another campaign or speculative venture.

He was chief of staff to the state's first African-American lieutenant governor, executive assistant and doorkeeper to a Richmond mayor and confidante in a variety of roles to a variety of candidates with a range of political beliefs. Briefly, he was even a GOP legislative candidate himself, before the tangled affairs of an associate prompted him to withdraw.

Last week, Harris' storied luck ran out. Sans hairpiece and pretense, he appeared in U.S. District Court to plead guilty to one count each of cocaine distribution and racketeering. He retracted the allegation made earlier this year that police and prosecutors were hounding him because of a witch hunt of black politicians. (This in a city where both the police chief and top prosecutor are black.)

Meanwhile, Harris' wife - Elizabeth Ralston Harris - entered a guilty plea to one count of bank fraud. Were the charges facing the couple not so serious, the concocted tale that became Elizabeth's undoing would be amusing both for its cheek and its temporary success.

There is, however, nothing humorous in the fact that the blend of ingratiating service and rudderless purpose that characterized Harris' political life could endure and thrive over so long a time.

According to the indictment, Elizabeth Ralston Harris posed as a wealthy heiress to the Ralston Purina Co. fortune, even though she was actually the daughter of middle-class parents from Tennessee. What may have begun as a lark evolved into a complex scheme that included financial misstatements to banks and potential investors.

The couple's reported intent was to build political and business connections that would allow them to turn reputation and good will into lucrative real estate development deals.

Soon after she arrived in Richmond in 1995 as Harris' fiancee, Elizabeth Ralston began making donations to politicians and charitable causes. Within months she was being mentioned in newspaper articles as a wealthy benefactress with a commitment to improving the inner-city.

``I'm quite amazed at all the people who were taken in,'' said Paul Goldman, a former Democratic Party chairman who attended the Harris' wedding. From the start, he recognized from the nods and winks that Elizabeth's alleged wealth was a sham, he said.

The indictment alleges that the couple met in Fort Lauderdale where Elizabeth was working in a Banana Republic clothing store. But ``Joel would say he met her in West Palm Beach. People would project,'' recalled Goldman, who viewed the talk as a harmless attempt to burnish credentials.

The only time he confronted Harris about the claims, Goldman said, was once when Joel - who was then an aide to Richmond Mayor Leonidas Young - complained about the Ukrops, a wealthy and politically connected Richmond grocery family.

``He said, `To her father, the Ukrops are just corner grocers.' I said, `Joel, it's Paul. C'mon,''' Goldman recalled.

As one-time associates scrambled to distance themselves from Harris last week, only a few would talk directly about the reasons for Joel Harris' political longevity.

``He was kind of a deal-maker. It would be other's ideas, and he would figure out a way to make them happen,'' said Richmond Councilman Timothy Kaine. ``His weakness as a political assistant was his reliance on some overly aggressive tactics, and his tending toward the belief that the end justified the means.''

How great is Joel Harris' fall won't be fully apparent until February. Sentencing has been delayed until then so that the degree of his cooperation with an ongoing multi-jurisdictional grand jury can be gauged.

Such assistance could reduce his sentence from the 30-37 months in prison prescribed by federal guidelines. Elizabeth Harris, who will be sentenced in November, could receive up to six months in prison.

Meanwhile, the connection to Joel Harris has slowed the political rise of Councilman Young, who lost his bid for a second mayoral term. And an assortment of allegations involving various other political figures are being probed.

Perhaps the saddest commentary comes from Goldman, and it is less about the fortunes of his erstwhile friend than about a truth Harris represents.

Asked if he had known others of Harris' political type, Goldman confessed: ``More than you'd like to think, people who can maneuver their way in and be in the room and take credit. . . . There are a whole bunch of 'em.'' MEMO: Ms. Edds is an editorial writer for The Virginian-Pilot.

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