Does this end Kamala Harris candidacy?

[ghostsinthemachine]

For more than a decade, Larry Wallace was one of Kamala Harris’ closest professional confidantes.

During her tenure as the district attorney of San Francisco, Wallace was Harris’ personal driver. When she was elected California attorney general, she appointed him to lead the law enforcement division of the Department of Justice, where he oversaw her security detail. And Wallace followed Harris last year to the U.S. Senate, serving as a senior adviser in her Sacramento field office.

That ended abruptly Wednesday, when Wallace resigned after The Sacramento Bee inquired about a $400,000 harassment and retaliation settlement resulting from his time at the Department of Justice.

Wallace’s former executive assistant, who alleged that Wallace harassed and discriminated against her because of her gender, sued the department shortly before Harris was sworn into the U.S. Senate for retaliating against her after she complained.

MORE AT LINK:
https://www.sacbee.com/latest-news/article222775590.html

At minimum, Harris should’ve known key staff member was accused of harassment

On paper, Sen. Kamala Harris is a rather enticing Democratic presidential nominee for 2020. Formerly a San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general, she was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2016 and labeled a presidential contender even before stepping on to the Senate floor.

Harris has, in part, staked her potential candidacy in 2020 on her leadership on women’s issues and, in particular, on sexual harassment in the workplace. Harris, along with Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-MN, and Cory Booker, D-NJ, made headlines with their strong and persistent questioning of now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who was accused of sexually assaulting Dr. Christine Blasey Ford when they both were teenagers.

Furthermore, Harris was front and center with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY, in calling for Sen. Al Franken, D-MN, to resign after he was accused of sexual harassment.
MORE AT LINK:
https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/editorials/article222758350.html

Hmmm. Seems to me she had to know and is covering something up. Not sure I can hang with that. She's my Senator and I really dont like the trajectory of this story.

[UncleTomsEvilBrother]

1. That's a good question

If she were running as a repuke, it would barely measure a blip on the radar.

That purist Dem primary jungle may have some problems with this, though.

[dameatball]

2. Another wait and see moment. Not good, but let's see what happens.

[TheBlackAdder]

3. What is it with personal drivers being promoted to higher jobs? NJ politicians did that a few times.

[elocs]

4. It would seem that she should have known that this would be a big potential problem,

yet she marched ahead anyways. Anybody who is thinking of running for president has to know that there are thousands of people out there looking to see if they have any skeletons in their closets. If they have some I wish they would just spare us and not run.

[tblue37]

14. Like freakin' John Edwards! nt

[Power 2 the People]

65. Such a shame. This really sucks. She is a fighter and smart as a whip

The Repugs and primary challengers will bludgeon her with this revelation,especially in the era of "Me Too" and her call for Al Franken to resign.

Link to tweet

[DFW]

5. When did she declare that she was a candidate?

I must have missed that one.

[CTyankee]

8. She hasn't. She said she would decide whether to run over the holiday.

We'll find out soon enough.

[brooklynite]

68. If she's not, someone spent a lot on breakfast this morning for nothing.

I was in a group of 60-odd people who had breakfast with her to talk about "the future".

[DFW]

69. A lot of those breakfasts are held where only the caterer wins

Obviously, many people are thinking about "it," but the number that actually declare their candidacy is usually much smaller (unless you are talking Republicans, where everybody but Alexander Throttlebottom joins the priimaries).

[Pantagruel]

6. Not a complete disqualifier

but a nasty smear on her CV.
IMHO, the better CA candidate is Gavin Newsom.
His black mark is an affair during a previous marriage but running v. Trump would totally negate any effect of that miscue.I believe his experience is better and he's a very, very charismatic candidate who no one is paying attention to in an extremely crowded field.

[PatSeg]

46. Oh

I have been paying attention to Newsom since he was Mayor of San Francisco. He most definitely IS very charismatic. Also, he is very progressive.

[Merlot]

52. I don't know the details of that affair, but thought he was separated at the time

At any rate, if he ran against trumpft (which is unlikely), the bar had been lowered substantually on cheating on spouses.

[Pantagruel]

64. Details of Newsom's affair

https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article198929584.html

[Mike Nelson]

7. Not if she...

… did not know. I've known people professionally for years, and have not always known personal stuff...

[vsrazdem]

9. Yes, but she should have known about this.

It says this happened shortly before she was sworn in, so it must have been going on prior when she was still the attorney general and why would you promote your driver to lead the law enforcement division at the Dept. of Justice. It leads me to wonder about her judgment. I like her style and they way she handles the Republicans, and I think she is very intelligent, but I am not sure about being president.

[qazplm135]

12. exactly why "should she have known?"

It's possible she "should have known" but that would require evidence that there was information that a reasonable person in her position should have found out about. Was there? Do you know?

The bottom line is, either she knew or she didn't know. If she knew and did nothing, then she's culpable. If she didn't know, then she's not really culpable.

[vsrazdem]

25. Because she was the attorney general and the Justice Department was under her authority

I would think that if there was a law suit against the department, the attorney general should know that.

[qazplm135]

42. You mean the lawsuit

That was served on that department three days after she was sworn in as senator?

[Blue_true]

50. Everyone but the "Chosen" one are held to a different standard.

WHY DON'T YOU KNOW THAT? !!!!!!

It is totally reasonable that she did not know anything.

[eissa]

10. Because our candidates have to be flawless

God help us if we still haven’t learned our lessons and continue to seek candidates that are absolutely without blemish, and who apologize for every fucking minor infraction.

[Blaukraut]

13. Yup. Theirs can rape, pillage, and murder and make perfect candidate material, but ours?

Not so much.

[PatSeg]

47. Isn't that incredible?

Democrats have to be absolutely perfect in every way. Republicans can lie, cheat, and break the law, but god help a Democrat if he wears a tan suit or uses a private server.

We need to quit apologizing for our candidates whenever they are attacked for superficial reasons.

[LovingA2andMI]

57. Exactly.....

Now this is straight by the way....

[uponit7771]

75. +1

[hueymahl]

11. I hope so

I still have not forgiven her for what she did to Franken. I personally find her very unlikable.

[Charlotte Little]

16. Agreed

I went to one of Harris' rallies in LA last year. She didn't impress me and, to be honest, I don't think she impressed the crowd around me much either. She started saying "Don't take our stuff!" in reference to healthcare and in a voice very stereotypical of how certain folks speak, if you get my meaning. The woman next to me at the rally at the time turned to me with her eyebrows raised. It was awkward.

This was the rally: https://www.dailybreeze.com/2017/07/03/sen-kamala-harris-leads-rally-against-gop-healthcare-bill-at-harbor-ucla-medical-center/

(fixed it)

[Awsi Dooger]

24. I'm worried about her likability

It is merely instincts but I think she would come across as nasty while on the attack. We can't afford anything like that. Female candidates have more problems to begin with, in terms of how their personality is viewed.

My opinion is not cemented. I'm willing to see how Harris performs during a primary campaign. But I would not be optimistic that she could go through a general election retaining likability against Trump and right wing onslaught.

2020 is more complicated than we prefer to believe. Trump is not going to stop at anything in terms of mocking our nominee and using everything at his disposal as incumbent. I realize posters here believe he will either be out of office, or not the nominee. Neither one is likely.

[Raine]

23. I hope so too

I'm not impressed with her at all, she let the banksters off too easy before she became senator here in California.

[still_one]

33. So using that as criteria that will also eliminate the following potential candidates

Elizabeth Warren
Cory Booker
Bernie Sanders
Kamala Harris
Sherrod Brown
Chris Murphy
Kirsten Gillibrand

[EffieBlack]

15. It shouldn't, but given our penchant for eating our own, who knows?

[peggysue2]

17. How sweet. Another hit job on a promising Democratic candidate.

Someone who worked for Harris, someone she promoted to her Security Detail is accused of harassment and she should have known? What? That an accusation would be made by Wallace's executive assistant? That the man had a history of sexual harassment? Do we even know that? But somehow Kamala Harris who coincidentally is being named as a possible contender for 2020 is now automatically viewed with a jaundiced eye?

Really?

How about we wait for the actual evidence to come rolling in before we jump to conclusions to blame Harris or anyone else for the actions of others?

Keep this up and the number of Democrats running in 2020 will be damaged goods before they even start. Which begs the question: who might benefit from the ongoing trashing of promising candidates??

Hummmmm.

[denbot]

20. This

As predictable as sunrise.

[Blue_true]

51. Yep. nt

[rusty fender]

18. It depends

Is this scandal as bad as or worse than Hillary’s emails?

[UTUSN]

19. While *daily* crap about SHITLER hasn't ended him?!1

[Tavarious Jackson]

21. I think it's better than saying women fantasize about gang rape nt

[JI7]

22. women are going to be held to far higher standards

including for things OTHER people did.

[still_one]

35. Especially DEMOCRATIC WOMEN.

[Bucky]

26. This is a wait-and-see moment. There's a lot of people who would love to smear her with this

A good leader should have a few enemies already dogging them. I like Senator Harris because I think she's tough, and precise, and policy-oriented, and smart. But no candidate that we nominate will be perfect. If one of her lieutenants turns out to be harasser, well, it's an epidemic in this country. How she handles this will be telling. The fact that it happened at all is really not a thing she could control

[RandySF]

28. It's starting again

People you don't often see on DU posting hit jobs on potential presidential candidates not from New England.

[NewsCenter28]

36. Randy, I've been on DU every day since the night of the MN bridge collapse in 2007

I’m also in the Pacific Northwest and have followed every presidential campaign since 1992 when I was 9. So, at least I’m not from New England. Trust me when I say she would be an unmitigated disaster and the worst nominee the Dems have put up since 1984 Mondale. My entire body, heart, and soul screams at me that she would destroy our party’s chances of regaining the presidency.

Like a poster up thread, I could easily get behind Governor-Elect Newsom though.

[MrsCoffee]

37. Well gee, that was convincing.

Not.



Randy is right. Here we go again.

[MrsCoffee]

38. +1

[Autumn]

54. If it's a potential presidential candidate under discussion who gives a flying fuck if the

person with an opinion is from the potential presidential candidates state? Any potential presidential candidate concerns us all no matter what state we live in.

[CentralMass]

62. The New England candidates get more then their fair share of negative posts here

Last edited Mon Dec 10, 2018, 02:35 PM - Edit history (1)

Such as Sander and Elizabeth Warren.

[uponit7771]

76. +1

[jalan48]

29. Probably not, unless someone can prove she knew about the settlement. It does seem odd that she

didn't know about the settlement given that Wallace was one of her senior aides and had been with her 14 years.

[Liberty Belle]

30. The article lists only one example of supposed harassment:

Him refusing to move a printer that was under his desk, after she objected to having to change the ink in it because she had to crawl underneath in a skirt.

Maybe he just liked the layout of his office and didn't want a printer cluttering up his desk.

Unless he did more than this, there may not be harassment at all.

And why would you have to "crawl" to change ink? Couldn't she just kneel or sit on the floor, as one has to do to open a lower file drawer for example?

[OnDoutside]

31. Let's not go Al Franken on this, without knowing all the facts. Have we

learnt nothing from that debacle ?

[LovingA2andMI]

58. It Appears.....

No, not at all....

[Hekate]

32. This is a disgusting attack on a rising star, and I want to know why. nt

[BannonsLiver]

72. LIkely stirred up by one of the prospective candidates operatives

I’ll leave you to guess who that might be but a similar tactic has been used by their acolytes to recently smear another prospective Dem candidate that might also be “in the way”.

[still_one]

34. New Rule. Any Democrat running for President, who has a key staff member who has engaged in

inappropriate sexual behavior, MUST BE AWARE OF IT, regardless if they are or not


I think that about covers it.

[ucrdem]

39. Hard to say.

$400 k is a lot of harassment, or maybe just a well-timed complaint, when making it go away was worth the payout. It isn't like Harris did it, but it isn't like she can plausibly say she didn't know about it, either. On the other hand, it isn't likely that fellow Dems will make a big stink about it, so she might get through the primaries, but her GOP opponent will doubtless tweet every hour about it, if it's individual #1 at least. So ... hard to say.

[Sunsky]

40. You can only wish

Firstly, Kamala has not announced that she is running for the presidency.
Secondly, if we are to be held accountable for the actions of the people around us, 90% + of us would have been disqualified.
Every election cycle the Republicans try to disqualify Democrats by the deeds of their associates, while they put forward- traitors, liars, sexual assaulters, thieves etc. I care about proven actions, not suppositions. Nice try though.

[treestar]

59. Exactly. Like the Rev. Wright.

Obama was to be responsible for what that person said in the pulpit.

[Vinca]

41. Oh FFS. Trump has been linked to Epstein and we stew about this??????

[ProfessorGAC]

43. This Is Ridiculous

Her potential candidacy is derailed because somebody else did something wrong?

Huh?

We're not talking about wrongdoing on her part. Somebody that worked for her screwed up and that is her fault?

[NewJeffCT]

45. Just posted below

but, Democrat Elizabeth Esty from Connecticut declined to run again this year because a staffer had been involved in sexual harassment.

[ProfessorGAC]

48. Well, That's Ridiculous Too

What common good is derived by making someone pay for another person's ills?

[NewJeffCT]

44. A similar situation happened in Connecticut this year

Democratic Congresswoman Elizabeth Esty declined to run again because of it.

At least the seat was won by Democrat Jahana Hayes, the 2016 National Teacher of the Year.

https://www.courant.com/politics/hc-pol-esty-wont-run-again-20180402-story.html

[Blue_true]

49. Did Bernie know that one of his key people was up to his eyeballs with Russia?

Hmmmm, seems at the least Bernie should have known or asked questions.

See, two can play this game.

Why not focus on getting rid of Trump?

[revmclaren]

66. Exactly.

If Harris is out, Sanders is out too by the Ops logic.

Only! 2019 and beyond.

[KentuckyWoman]

53. No.

Go ahead, let the shit stirring begin now - 2 years before the election. It will be long forgotten by then.

Anyone with enough experience to rise to POTUS is going to have SOMETHING that can be twisted up to look bad. Better to let the snakes and concern trolls whip it out now and get it over with. Come 2020 when we really get into gear all this will be yesterday's lunch.

[LongtimeAZDem]

55. Based on what we know now, I hope not. /nt

[LovingA2andMI]

56. No....

And we are going to shut our mouth and typing fingers as this type shit is going old.

[LanternWaste]

60. Don't see any valid reason it would end.

Simply a handful of excuses and "if-it-simply-looks-like-A-it-must-be-treated-like-A" rationalizations.

[question everything]

61. She still has to explain her support of Civil forfeiture that she supported while the CA AG

just like Sessions..

[Just a Weirdo]

63. To be honest, Harris was a non-starter

When she protected Mnuchin as California's AG, and he contributed to her candidacy.

That, and the civil asset forefeiture was also a non-starter.

[brooklynite]

67. Didn't come up at today's breakfast....

As for being "front and center with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY, in calling for Sen. Al Franken, D-MN, to resign" I assume you're knocking every other Senator out of the running?

[BannonsLiver]

70. Meh. Reads like a nothingburger to me.

And it’s old news. Read about it on HuffPo? at least a week ago. Kind of a boring story. Oh, also I don’t plan on voting for Harris in the primary before anyone reaches for that card.

Ps-The civil asset forfeiture thing is a big nothingburger too. Too nuanced and dull for 95 percent of the population to care.

[Hekate]

71. Hellooo, OP ghostinthemachine. Care to add anything now, or was this just a stink bomb? Asking for a

...friend.

[ghostsinthemachine]

74. Tell your friend

I asked, and answered in to OP as to what I thought.
To be clear, I dont think she can control people behavior. I do think she was aware of the payments and that's where my problem stems.
If this were an R, xe would be calling for her head. Just because it is a D doesnt make it better. Just because she is a woman, doesn't lake it better. In fact, it makes it worse that the accuser didnt think enough of KH to go directly to her, about her right hand person, instead of the way this transpired.

Oh yeah. Im from CA and supported KH, until yesterday. Im not a Bernie Bro. Or a EW or Joe Biden fan. I want a good candidate however. KH is already painted and hasn't even announced.

[WeekiWater]

73. Not for me.

"The lawsuit did not name Harris or Wallace as defendants."

"By the time the case was settled less than five months later, on May 16, 2017, by Harris’ successor, Attorney General Xavier Becerra, Wallace was working for the new senator."

There are a lot of things that go into issues like this. I'm willing to bet that Harris never saw such acts from him.

Newsweek.

"The California Department of Justice denied “each and every allegation” in response to the lawsuit and settled in May 2017 for $400,000, while denying any wrongdoing."

https://www.newsweek.com/kamala-harris-larry-wallace-aide-staffer-resigns-california-senate-1246402

[dem4decades]

77. Didn't something like this end Elizabeth Esty's congressional career?

She couldn't keep her job never mind go further.

Harris might have some problems, and i'm a fan.

[Moostache]

78. Oh For F's sake already...

I don't care...I don't care if she knew, I don't care if she grabbed guys by the dick, I don't care if she bragged about grabbing dicks on a tour bus!!!

In fact, I would prefer it to be honest. I want someone with a hard edge to take out the shit gibbon and I am willing to allow a wide berth to get them. Whomever the candidate is in 2020, they are going to be up against a ghastly excuse for a human being and running against a barrage of lies, innuendo and bullshit.

Too coarse? No. Such. Thing.

This is not a gentility exhibition, its bare-knuckled street brawling and the other side doesn't get verklempt at the thought of being "too harsh" or "too coarse"....not for a millisecond!

We can collectively join the fight and go into battle with all hands on deck AND WIN....OR....we can tie our hands under our legs and hinder ourselves in the search for Neo or the Alpha or whatever purist nonsense someone can come up with and we'll wonder how the F did we lose to Trump again?!??!

Listen to Connery...it is the same as it ever was...

[lpbk2713]

79. Thank you for the information.

I have found the Sacramento Bee to be a reliable news source. This
is the first I have heard of this story. I'll try to keep current with it.

[nini]

80. "Hmmm. Seems to me she had to know and is covering something up"