Since 1994 Willie Brown had used his influence to promote his mistress, Kamala Harris, into appointed State positions on several government boards. The married Brown was 60 at the time, and Harris 29.
“Yes, we dated. It was more than 20 years ago. Yes, I may have influenced her career by appointing her to two state commissions when I was Assembly speaker” wrote Brown in his 2019 letter to the San Francisco Chronicle.
But when Harris decided to run for President, both Brown and Harris tried to erase evidence of the affair. In 2024 both claimed they never had the affair, but they eventually went quiet on the matter once videos and statements went viral and showed they were clearly lying.
As Speaker of the Assembly, Brown had exclusive power to appoint whomever he wanted, including his mistress. Harris was Brown’s “steady” girlfriend and was appointed to the Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board, which paid $97,088 per year ($206,796.13 in today’s dollars), and then to the California Medical Assistance Commission, at a salary of $72,000 per year. (LA Times, 1994)
While Harris held her law degree and practiced criminal law as a Deputy DA in Alameda County, she lacked any professional background experience in either insurance or medical assistance to justify sitting upon the boards.
Harris was socially promoted by her boyfriend without any relevant qualifications. The State boards already had their own legal counsel and continued to have legal counsel while Harris was on the board, and had no need for Harris’ legal skills. Often, Harris would not attend the monthly board meetings but continued to receive her hefty salaries.
When San Francisco District Attorney Terrance Hallinan brought public corruption charges against Willie Brown, Brown’s friends, and political donors. Willie Brown again used his influence to push Kamala Harris into the spotlight and influence her successful run for District Attorney.
“And I certainly helped with her first race for district attorney in San Francisco” said Brown.
At that time in San Francisco numerous investigations were underway against priests for allegations of sexual abuse. Armed with more than 800 pages of investigation documents, San Francisco District Attorney Terrance Hallinan was proceeding along a pathway toward prosecuting multiple local church members. The lawyers representing the Church were among the largest donors for Kamala Harris in her race for District Attorney.
When she won the race for District Attorney Kamala Harris dropped the investigation against the Church members and the 800 page document was “disappeared”.
As for Willie Brown’s friends and donors who were facing active criminal charges, several cases were also suddenly dropped or downgraded with reduced charges and reduced sentences. One of the cases was dropped from a felony which carried a lengthy prison sentence to instead home detention. Kamala cited “prosecutorial discretion” in her decisions but told Brown if he so much as jaywalked while she was not District Attorney, he would be prosecuted. The favors had been repaid.
According to investigative reporter Peter Schweizer
City officials were stunned because the evidence against Brown’s friends was “overwhelming”. In his book, Schweizer devotes 40 pages to describing the details of Harris’ corruption.
In 2014, while Kamala Harris was Attorney General, she married Doug Emhoff in a civil ceremony at the Santa Barbara County Courthouse. Emhoff was a lawyer who worked within the areas of media, entertainment, and intellectual property.
Emhoff also just happened to have six corporate clients who were under investigation by the Office of the Attorney General. Just like the pending investigation into sexual misconduct by priests when Harris was SF District Attorney, once Harris was Attorney General the investigation against Emhoff’s six clients suddenly went away.