'Each step of her career appears marked by scandal'
A conservative legal organization has launched seven investigations into Vice President Kamala Harris’ record of service in California state government.
“The American people deserve to know the facts about Kamala Harris’ time in California government,” a spokesperson for America First Legal told The Daily Signal.
Harris, now the presumed 2024 Democratic presidential nominee, served in the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office in the 1990s. In 2004, she was elected district attorney of San Francisco before being elected attorney general of California in 2010, a role she served in until being elected to the U.S. Senate in 2017.
Over her more than 25 years in California government, “America First Legal’s research and information, based on public reporting, reveals evidence of alleged malfeasance and misconduct,” according to the Washington, D.C.-based legal group.
“Each step up the ladder of her career appears marked by improprieties or scandal,” Dan Epstein, America First Legal vice president, said of Harris in a statement.
With a pledge to “fight for transparency,” America First Legal has filed Freedom of Information Act requests seeking information on Harris’ record with the California Office of the Attorney General; the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office; the Oakland, California, Board of Supervisors; the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board; the California Department of Health Care Services; and the California Fair Political Practices Commission.
“Should the government fail to turn over these records, we will be left with no choice but to consider pursuing legal action to obtain them,” the group’s spokesperson told The Daily Signal.
Each of the seven investigations examine a “failure” of Harris’ during her long service in California government.
‘Failure to Comply With Federal Law Protecting Donor Privacy’
During Harris’ tenure as attorney general, California required organizations receiving donations to “file copies of their federal IRS Form 990 tax forms,” according to an America First Legal news release announcing the seven investigations.
“These forms include a list of all donors who contributed at least $5,000 to the charity in a given year,” the legal group explains. But, in 2021, the Supreme Court held in the case of Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta that mandatory disclosures were a violation of the First Amendment.
America First Legal says it believes that Harris may have “sought donor information about her political enemies without complying with federal law designed to protect donor privacy.”
‘Failure to Enforce Federal Immigration Laws’
In 2012, while serving as attorney general, Harris issued a bulletin to law enforcement in California regarding an Immigration and Customs Enforcement program called Secure Communities that enables ICE to detain and deport criminal illegal aliens. In the bulletin, Harris told law enforcement that they were not required to fulfill individual ICE immigration detainers but could instead “make their own decisions” about detainer requests.
“As California attorney general, Kamala Harris interfered with the enforcement of federal immigration laws,” according to America First Legal, adding that “as California’s top cop,” Harris may have “failed to enforce immigration laws and used her office to push a political agenda paid for by taxpayers.”
‘Failure to Pursue Equal Justice Under the Law’
In 2004, black gang member David Hill shot and killed San Francisco police officer Isaac Espinoza. Harris, who was the district attorney of San Francisco at the time, did not pursue the death penalty.
America First Legal says it is concerned that “Kamala Harris failed to do justice when cop killers and gang members were members of minority groups.”
‘Failure to Disclose Conflicts of Interest’
While Harris was serving as a prosecuting attorney in Alameda County in the 1990s, she was in a romantic relationship with California Assembly Speaker Willie Brown. America First Legal holds that the relationship was a “conflict of interest.”
The group “is concerned that Kamala Harris benefited from political favoritism and is investigating whether Harris properly recused herself or otherwise disclosed conflicts of interest to the appropriate ethical authorities.”
‘Failure to Address Evidence of Misconduct’
In 2015, Harris began a criminal investigation into corruption inside Orange County’s jails.
“Clear evidence existed that deputy sheriffs in the county had misused informants in a manner that violated the rights of criminal defendants,” according to America First Legal. “Four years later, no charges were filed.”
The legal group believes Harris may have “ignored clear evidence of misconduct over a penal entity under her jurisdiction.”
‘Nature of Probes by California Fair Political Practices Commission’
The California Fair Political Practices Commission determined in 2015 that Harris had not violated state law when she received “gifts from a company owned by San Francisco interior designer Ken Fulk,” according to America First Legal.
But the legal group is “concerned that former Attorney General Harris may have been subject to numerous probes by the California Fair [Political] Practices Commission and is committed to ensuring the public is educated about such investigations.”
‘Failure to Address, and Potential Cover-up of, Evidence of Misconduct’
While Harris was serving as California attorney general, it came to light that state prosecutors had committed “outrageous government misconduct” in the case The People (of California) v. Efrain Velasco-Palacios, according to the California appeals court.
Prosecuting attorney Robert Murray falsified a confession from the defendant. After it was revealed that the confession was fake, the judge dismissed the charges against the defendant. Harris, however, appealed the case, arguing that the insertion of the false confession was not prosecutorial misconduct because it did not involve physical brutality.
Harris’ handling of the Velasco-Palacios case and others has led America First Legal to be “concerned that Kamala Harris intentionally ignored or covered up misconduct by prosecutors under her watch as well as her own close political aides.”
[Editor’s note: This story originally was published by The Daily Signal.]
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