San Francisco DA Is Running for AG

Daily Journal
November 13, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO - District Attorney Kamala Harris launched her campaign for
state attorney general Wednesday, taking a few cues from the playbook of her friend, president-elect Barack Obama.

Harris, like Obama, will have two years to convince voters that she's ready to move to a larger stage.

Also one of her top priorities, cracking down on "financial predators" in the wake of the economic crisis, echoes Obama's emphasis on fixing the economy.

Harris, 44, filed papers Wednesday morning before conducting a series of media interviews at the powerhouse law firm of Keker & Van Nest in San Francisco. The firm is a supporter of her candidacy and granted her request to host the event.

Harris outlined three goals she would have for the job: combating gang crime, reforming the state prison system and going after lenders who prey on homeowners.

"The financial crisis has hit a high that hasn't been seen in generations," she said. "The urgency and the prevalency of this work is beyond compare. I would put the resources of the attorney general's office into supporting the investigation and tracking down those predators to make sure they're held accountable."

Harris said the Obama campaign demonstrated that many things on the minds of voters are nonpartisan.

"I believe crime falls into that paradigm," she said. "We can all learn and benefit from seeing issues through that prism." Some have speculated that Harris, who crisscrossed the nation campaigning for Obama, would seek an appointment in the administration.

Although she declined to rule it out when asked Wednesday, Harris insisted that her objective is to take the place of Attorney General Jerry Brown, who is widely expected to run for governor in 2010.

"I'm a career prosecutor," she said. "My first love is law enforcement. I intend to  run for attorney general of the state of California."

Harris has shown political savvy by starting her campaign early, possibly scaring away competitors and giving her plenty of time to raise the money needed to run a statewide campaign, said Kevin Spillane, a Republican political consultant.

"I think she's a very formidable candidate," he said. "She's someone people have been watching for a long time as a potential rising star."

Harris was the first female African-American district attorney in the state when she was elected in 2003. She easily won a second four-year term last year. It's too early to say what her opposition might look like.

At least one name has surfaced as a possible contender on the Democratic side, Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo, who lost to Brown the last time around.

No Republicans have been willing to step forward yet, Spillane said.

Harris' challenge, Spillane said, will be convincing voters that she's more moderate than her San Francisco Bay Area roots might suggest.

Her commitment to being seen as a centrist was evident when she joined Brown and others to defeat Proposition 5, an effort to expand drug treatment programs that was popular among San Francisco voters, he said.

Harris' opposition to the death penalty also could be seen as a weakness. San Francisco police officers were angry with her for refusing to seek the death penalty after the 2004 killing of Officer Isaac Espinoza.

But Harris said she would put aside her personal feelings and enforce the state's death penalty law.

"I would put the rule of law above the rule of politics," she said.

Harris was born in Oakland. She and her sister, Maya, vice president of the Ford Foundation's peace and social justice program, were raised in the East Bay by their mother, Dr. Shyamala Gopalan, a breast cancer specialist.

Harris received her bachelor's degree from Howard University, America's oldest historically black university, and her law degree from the University of California Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco.

She was a deputy district attorney in Alameda County for eight years and a prosecutor in San Francisco for five years before being elected district attorney.

Source: DailyJournal.com