Experts say Kamala Harris’ policies as San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general could come back to haunt her as the Democratic presidential nominee.
“She’s a two-faced individual, and her long-standing positions are going to create problems for her from both the left and the right,” Los Angeles-based criminal defense lawyer Nicole Castronovo told Fox News Digital.
Critics of the presidential candidate have noted her support for a controversial 2014 California law that has been blamed for a crime epidemic across the state.
As California’s Attorney General at the time, Harris and her office were responsible for preparing a summary of Proposition 47 to inform voters of its content and intent.
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Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign rally in Las Vegas on June 28, 2024. (Bizayev Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Called the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act, the law reduced penalties for a variety of crimes, including making theft of items totaling less than $950 a misdemeanor.
Critics say the provision effectively gives thieves the power to plunder struggling retailers with near-impurity.
“She’s now facing someone in the general election who is tough on crime, but I expect she’ll go back to her less progressive, more conservative prosecutorial roots.”
“They changed sentences and gave them misleading titles to free criminals who should be incarcerated,” Castronovo said, “but in reality they made communities less safe.”
Other crimes that were once felonies, including forgery, fraud, drug possession and receiving stolen property under $950, have been reclassified as misdemeanors.
Democrats are scheduled to meet on Wednesday to finalize the timing of Harris’ nomination for president.
Castronovo said the legislation has also drawn ire from some of Harris’ liberal supporters.
“People are tired of crime,” she said. “Crime really affects daily life. We pay a lot of money to live in Los Angeles where crime is out of control.”
Then-Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley, in an op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle, called Proposition 47 a political “Trojan horse” that would ultimately facilitate illegal activity.
Castronovo also highlighted Harris’ full support for controversial Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón.
“As District Attorney for Los Angeles County, I know George Gascón will work every day to keep our communities safe, demand true accountability in our justice system, and seek true justice for all Angelenos,” Harris said. Los Angeles Times, February 2020.
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Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón speaks at a press conference at the Le Meridien Defina hotel in Santa Monica on October 23, 2023, regarding allegations that the hotel is using a temp agency to hire homeless immigrants to replace strikers. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
But Gascón’s rule has been tumultuous since then, with critics saying his administration has plunged the country into chaos.
There were several recall efforts during his tenure, all of which failed.
Before becoming California’s attorney general in 2011, Harris served as San Francisco’s district attorney from 2004 to 2011.
Some observers say she took a tougher stance on prosecuting crimes during that period.
Neama Rahamani, a former federal prosecutor and now lawyer, said Harris was seen as a moderate in a very different political climate before the killing of George Floyd and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement.
“I thought she was tough and fair,” he said. “This was long before all these progressive efforts began. She’s now trying to distance herself from that.”
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Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at an event as part of the Essence Festival of Culture in New Orleans, Saturday, July 2, 2022. (Photo by The Associated Press/Gerald Herbert) (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
As San Francisco’s district attorney, Harris drew criticism for her efforts to prosecute parents of students who were chronically absent from school and for pushing for higher bail for defendants charged with gun-related crimes.
Some progressives have criticized Harris for prosecuting more than 1,900 marijuana cases during her tenure as district attorney.
“She was attacked for being too extreme, for incarcerating people for longer periods of time, for disproportionately impacting men and people of color,” Lahamani said.
But despite his reputation as a prosecutorial hardliner at the time, Harris continued to oppose the death penalty.
Her position drew attention when she rejected a death penalty request for a murder conviction against a man who shot and killed a San Francisco police officer.
The White House and family have given conflicting accounts of whether Biden’s health issues influenced his decision to drop out of the race.
President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris arrive at a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, on May 27, 2024. (Mandel Gunn/AFP via Getty Images)
The decision drew a rare public condemnation from then-Senator Dianne Feinstein, but Castronovo noted that she defended the death penalty after becoming attorney general.
“She’s going to have a lot of issues with her position on the death penalty,” the lawyer said.
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Rahamani said he expects Harris to change her tone again in light of a possible confrontation with former President Donald Trump.
“She’s now running in the general election against someone who is tough on crime, but I expect she’ll go back to her less progressive, more conservative prosecutorial roots,” he said.
