Skip to content
Advertisement

Kamala Harris is stand-out candidate for Attorney General

Advertisement
Kamala Harris (75434)
Kamala Harris

The election for California’s Attorney General is June 3rd, as Kamala Harris seeks a second term. At this point, she is the front runner.

Harris is regarded as a rising star who may seek a higher office in the future. Before serving in her current position, Harris served as district attorney of San Francisco, and there has been talk of her running for Governor or seeking a U.S. Senate seat in the future.

While in office, Harris has turned many detractors into believers. A number of law enforcement groups refused to back her in 2010 when she was running for the office against former Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley, who she defeated in a close race; but now she has won their support, which greatly strengthens her chances of winning the election again.

Republican candidates vying for position as Attorney General include Ronald Gold, John Haggerty, David King, and Phil Wyman. Jonathan Jaech is a Libertarian candidate, and Orly Taitz is running as an independent.

Gold has extensive experience in law. While in college, he led the Bobby Kennedy for President campaign at UCLA.  After law school, he worked for the California Attorney General’s office, where he became the Deputy Attorney General.  After practicing law for more than 40 years, he feels that the Attorney General’s office has become increasingly ineffective at serving the residents of California.

Haggerty opened his own law office in Santa Clara upon passing the bar in 1987. His focus has been on civil, trial, appellate, and arbitration law.  He is a supporter of the death penalty, an active opponent of reverse discrimination, and he opposes both same sex marriage and abortion.

King has broad legal experience, as well as business and government experience.  He worked as a San Diego Deputy City Attorney, before being promoted to the civil division where he defended the land development decisions made by the San Diego City Council.  He practiced corporate securities law at Sidley Austin Brown & Wood on Wall Street and at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in Silicon Valley. He founded The King Law Group in 2004.

Wyman won a special election for the Fresno 16th State Senate District in 1993.  During his political career, he authored anti-gang legislation that allows public school students to wear uniforms. Nearly half of the students in Los Angeles public schools now wear uniforms.  He authored legislation that repealed the “Inmate Bill of Rights”  and the bill that makes it easier for schools to expel drug users. Wyman was the Senate author and floor manager for the “Three Strikes & You’re Out” legislation.

Jaech was elected southern vice chair of the Libertarian Party of California in March 2014.  He is running “to advance and promote libertarian ideas for peaceful self-governance, and provide voters an option to conventional politicians and political parties.”  Jaech wants to protect citizens from enforcement of unjust laws, shift police resources to protecting citizens from violent crime and fraud, remove incentives for stacking of excessive criminal charges by prosecutors, reduce prison populations, and investigate and prosecute police and prison guard misconduct.

Taitz is a “birther” who gained notoriety with her lawsuit challenging President Barack Obama’s eligibility to serve as president. She is commonly known as the “Birther Queen.”  If she is elected, she wants to prosecute state officials who ignored evidence that Obama fabricated his birth certificate.

Advertisement

Latest