Seaton: Harris’ Presidential Bid Killed By Bad Prosecutor Status

Kamala Harris’s Presidential campaign is dead. Tulsi Gabbard struck the fatal blow at a recent CNN debate. Please feel free to watch Ms. Harris’s campaign sputter out and die.

When Kamala Harris announced her run for the Presidency, I was honestly shocked. After all, when you run for the nation’s highest office, you’re practically begging people to dig up every particle of dirt they can on your past. It’s one reason why I’m afraid good, honest people don’t seek political office these days.

Harris was a very peculiar choice for a candidate. While the unduly passionate woke praised her mad prosecutor questioning skillz during the Bret Kavanaugh confirmation hearings, and the intersectional coalition loved her for being a woman of color, I kept thinking of one name that could sink her Presidential aspirations in a heartbeat: Celeste Guap.

Celeste Guap was a sex worker back in 2016. She was also the center of a controversy engulfing the entire Bay Area that saw three police chiefs resign in a span of nine days.

Apparently Guap was friendly with several departments, and the men with badges she frequented would often exchange favorable information like where prostitution stings would be conducted. Guap’s vocal claims about Bay Area police activity were apparently so uncomfortable to people in power she somehow ended up in a Florida rehab center for “heroin addiction.”

Her vacation was allegedly paid for by a Richmond, California “victim’s fund.” And in case you’re not entirely familiar with the West Coast, Richmond is part of the Bay Area.

Now three years ago when all this was first emerging, someone was the Attorney General of California. Someone who could have held these Bay Area police officers accountable. Someone who could have truly put an end to the “frat house culture” in Oakland and other similarly located police departments.

That someone would be Kamala Harris, who’s out on debate stages and touring the country right now acting offended when a fellow politician and Democratic Primary candidate questions her horrendous record as a California prosecutor.

Yes, there’s the thousands of people she incarcerated for marijuana offenses. Yes, there’s the parents she locked up because of truancy issues. Yes, you can and probably should google every claim made by Ms. Gabbard in the above video, and check the links in this post.

Despite all of that, just remember this one little nugget: when Kamala Harris was head of the California Department of Justice, she had the ability to stop police in positions of power from raping and abusing an underage sex worker.

And just like every other time Kamala Harris wanted to make something bad in her state go away, she did something she’s really good at: looking the other way and pretending no problem existed.

Of course, Senator Harris hasn’t pulled out of the race just yet. She’ll make it to right before the primaries and then bow out “gracefully” when she loses the nomination to someone who doesn’t have skeleton after skeleton spilling out of her closet.

When she returns to her Senate seat, I hope Ms. Harris does one good thing in her life, reaches out to Celeste Guap, and offers her an apology. She’s one Californian who damn sure deserves it.

37 thoughts on “Seaton: Harris’ Presidential Bid Killed By Bad Prosecutor Status

    1. CLS

      Normally I try to listen to GuitarDave’s musical selections, as they’re of high quality and spot on. However clicking the YouTube link this morning sent me to some ad about the CMA’s and some moron named Little NasX and “Old Town Road.”

      I will respond by linking a song from a really good band that seems to accurately sum up the way many criminal defendants felt under Kamala Harris’s reign of terror as a prosecutor.

      1. Guitardave

        wuh?…never had that happen. Never had anything pop up if you play it from here…anyway,
        those Gangstagrass guys really kick ass, and i don’t generally like rap.. I found it a while back when searching for a tune for one of Scott’s defendants rights posts….good stuff….and thank you for the quality Friday posts.

        1. CLS

          Thanks. I think if I asked GG to classify themselves, they’d respond “Americana with a dash of hip hop.” Their frontman, Rench (the guitar player in the video) is very committed to the musical aspect staying very old school bluegrass/country.

          Please do yourself a favor and check out all their other stuff. They’re the only band I make a point to go see live when I have a chance these days.

          And here’s one more track for good measure you should give a spin, since their incredible dobro wizardess Landry McMeans is off pursuing other ventures these days.

          1. Guitardave

            My SOP is when i find something good, i dive right in and spend at least an hour or two fully immersed (thank you YT)…and i did so with those guys.
            They were in town (Lancaster.PA) a couple a weeks ago and i missed it…now i’m regretting it more.

  1. Ahaz01

    I have issues with Sen. Harris’s record as well, but I think you overstate the overall impact. People in this country really don’t care much about prosecutorial or police misconduct. They are fine so long as it happens to the “other guy”. They believe that if someone is stopped by the police, they must have done something to deserve it. They believe that it’s better for 10 innocent people to remain in jail rather to see 1 guilty go free. And, most importantly, they don’t believe that such abuses can happen to them. Our country loves the tough sheriff, the tough prosecutor. We want tough judges to throw away the key. We want to feel safe and as long as that goal is met, all is good.

    1. CLS

      And what part of the “tough prosecutor who looked the other way when cops were raping kids” exactly did you miss in this post?

      Thanks for stopping by to talk your stupid.

      1. Dan

        I don’t think he missed anything at all. What you’re missing is that the unduly passionate are utterly inconsistent and will tolerate just about anything from someone with the right intersectionality score and stated political leanings. Thus, I agree with Ahaz01 that you’re overstating the impact of this history on her campaign. I’d like for you to be right, but I don’t think you are.

      2. Black Bellamy

        And what part of “People in this country really don’t care much about prosecutorial or police misconduct” did you miss in his comment? And instead of being all like no I disagree about your point about how much people will discount her prior behavior, you go your stupid.

        This is the lowest quality exchange I’ve ever seen on this blog.

        1. SHG

          I’m going to jump in here, because I can. I think Chris may have misapprehended Ahaz’s point, that Chris is right but that people just don’t give a shit about it unless it affects them. But on the other hand (pay close attention here), it’s often less clear when you’re reading comments that at first blush seem to be saying one thing when they’re really saying something different, what they are trying to say. So you react, but after some reflection, realize you misunderstood the point.

          Happens to me all the time, mostly because I get bored and annoyed with long-winded, irrelevant or confused and poorly written comments. Get over it. You get Chris’ posts for free. Nobody makes you read them, and it’s not as if you’re contributing as much here as he does.

      3. CLS

        I’m going to take a stab at answering both Dan and Black Bellamy in one reply.

        I completely agree the unduly passionate and terminally woke will go completely inconsistent and ignore just about anything as long as their chosen mouthpiece checks off all the correct intersectionality points and spouts the correct ideological nonsense.

        Likewise, I also agree most people don’t really care about prosecutorial or police misconduct until it hits their own back yards. And yes, people want the tough judges, cops, and prosecutors. That’s been a recurring theme and warning writers at SJ and Fault Lines have consistently preached.

        What I’m talking about here goes far beyond prosecutorial misconduct. This is a person running for the highest office in the nation who, prior to her term in the senate, looked the other way when Bay Area cops were raping kids. Not just any person. California’s top prosecutor. A mother. Someone who’s running a campaign on being a “progressive prosecutor” and touting successful attempts at criminal justice reform.

        Kamala Harris let a kid get raped by cops. She let cops cover it up by sending the kid to a Florida rehab facility on a victim’s fund dime. If this doesn’t take her out of the running as a candidate, I don’t know what will.

          1. CLS

            All it could take is a candidate willing to run a couple of Willie Horton style attack ads featuring Celeste Guap’s story and Harris is done, primary or general.

            Since Biden had to do an apology tour for being handsy, something tells me even the most woke Democrat will have a hard time forgiving Harris for letting cops rape kids on her watch as California’s top cop.

  2. Mario Machado

    She knew that issue would be brought up sooner or later, and never bothered to prepare a bullshit disingenuous answer that her progressive base would’ve embraced in a second. Instead, she gave a vague non-answer. Hell, a straight up lie (“I never did such a thing”) would’ve been better for her, given the current dearth of attention spans.

    Either she didn’t bother to prepare, or she really believes she’s been doing god’s work all along (“I’m proud of that work”) and she just can’t hide it.

  3. Ken

    Not an expert on California, but looking at what news I can find that’s not behind a pay wall (had to go to the East Bay Express to read about this), it appears there a number of prosecutions involving Guap that disintegrated in 2017. Were these undertaken by Harris and got to court after her term? Or did her successor start them? Or was it purely a matter handled solely by the Oakland prosecutor’s office?

    And, on a slightly different point, it’s surprising that being a State prosecutor doesn’t doom anyone in any higher campaign where the other side can afford serious opposition research. Your opponents can comb through the record you’ve made in thousands of cases and always find something people will have problems with. “You reduced 57 rape charges to misdemeanor sexual battery or contributing to delinquency!” Never mind the 500 rape convictions you did get, you can’t explain the nuances of those 57 cases and you’re tarred. “You abandoned victims.” “You hate women.” etc. etc.

    1. CLS

      You stoked my curiosity, so I looked at the East Bay Express article you mentioned. Harris was sworn into the Senate following the 2016 elections, so her concerns were more focused on advancing her career.

      The cases you mentioned were brought by an Alameda County DA who looks to have tried to make amends for the Bay Area police officers’ bad behavior. At face value, it looks like Guap was tired of facing these guys in court and wanted an end to the attention.

      But given my lack of faith in humanity, I wouldn’t be surprised if the DA fizzled out on the prosecutions to make her personal career easier.

  4. B. McLeod

    Lot of pundits are still saying she is one of the four front-runners. The attempted reinvention of her record is hypocritical, but Crone did that crap constantly, and got the nomination last time around.

  5. Paul L.

    QOTD
    Sunny Hostin on The View,
    “But I think she needs to do better in terms of defending her record as a prosecutor because we are a Nation of Laws and that should positive as opposed to a negative.”

  6. Thomas

    While Harris ignored the Guap fiasco, she also took care to ensure a tepid investigation of the Orange County jail snitch scandal. That investigation has been shut down and nobody seems to know when or why. Assistant Public Defender Scott Sanders who exposed that the DA and Sheriff’s office were working together to place snitches with suspects said Harris’s review was, ” A sham from beginning to end.”

    In the United States of Amnesia people have already forgotten what was once a pretty big scandal. And maybe no-one cares. But a well informed opponent could make her look pretty bad over it.

    1. CLS

      Oh damn you’re right. I honestly forgot about the Orange County jail debacle. That’s another arrow in someone’s quiver to push on Harris.

      (And for any potential Democratic Presidential nominees skimming this thread, you’re welcome for the free opposition research. Do us all a favor and nominate someone smart and sane with good ideas as a thank you, please?)

            1. Dan

              Ah, the one who’s suing Google for suspending her advertising account for six hours? Yep, sounds smart and sane.

        1. CLS

          Okay that’s just fucking funny. I don’t care who you are. That legit made me spit beer laughing so hard.

  7. Richard Kopf

    CLS,

    It is late afternoon, and I have done all the damage I can do for one day. I had a tough sentencing at noon. (Poor me.) Anyway, as so often happens at Simple Justice, your post caused me to pause and think hard.

    As you know, I cannot ethically take a position on politics or politicians and this comment is not intended to violate that rule.* So with that caveat, let me ask:

    Should a voter like you, who otherwise likes the candidate’s policy positions, support a former prosecutor who is running for the Presidency with a long record of being tough as nails (like arguing for the death penalty) but who was also known to be fair, and who, during the political campaign, was intellectually honest about what he or she had done or failed to do as a prosecutor?

    All the best.

    RGK

    * As I have disclosed before, ever since I became a judge, I have consciously decided not to vote. I will follow that practice this year and most probably until I bite the dust.

      1. Richard Kopf

        SHG,

        Perhaps it is on topic but not the part which you wish to grapple with. On the other hand, you might be correct. Over/under?

        All the best.

        RGK

    1. CLS

      Can we let the record reflect Judge’s question is enough to ask me to sleep on it before I answer?

      That’s the best answer I have at this point.

      1. Richard Kopf

        CLS,

        SHG is probably right that my comment was not on point. Far too obscure. The hypo did not reflect the facts of the subject of your post. Don’t worry about responding.

        All the best.

        RGK

Comments are closed.