Kamala Harris

Kamala Devi Harris was sworn in on January 3, 2011 as the 32nd Attorney General of the State of California. Not only is she the first woman to hold the position in history she is also the first African American as well as the first woman of Southern Asian and Indian American origin. As California’s “Top Cop” Kamala Harris has stood on the platform of fighting the war on drugs, human and gun trafficking and gang activity. Before ascending to the position of Attorney General, Harris was a young star on the rise being elected and serving as the District Attorney of San Francisco before her 40th birthday. After her defeat of stalwart veteran incumbent Terrence Hallinan in 2003 and was re-elected in 2007 before setting her sights on the Attorney General position in 2011.

Kamala was born in Oakland, California in 1964. She is the eldest daughter of mother Shyamala Gopalan an Asian Indian doctor from India and Donald Harris a Jamaican American Stanford University economics professor. Kamala was raised with her younger sister Maya in a household that collectively practiced Hindu and Baptist religions. The future Attorney General of California is an alumnus of Howard University in Washington, D.C. where she pledged the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority eventually receiving here Juris Doctorate from the Hastings College of the Law at the University of California. By 1990 she was admitted to the California Bar while starting her legal career as a Deputy District Attorney in Alameda County until 1998. After that she moved on to become the managing attorney of the career criminal unit in the San Francisco District Attorney’s office. By the turn of the century Ms. Harris became Chief of the Community and Neighborhood Division overseeing civil code enforcement matters. Taking notice, the Los Angeles Daily Journal recognized her as one of the Top 100 lawyers in California. Her devotion to the state of California extended to her serving on the boards of the California DA’s Association and she also served as the Vice President of the National District Attorneys Association. Capping off her run as San Francisco’s District Attorney, Kamala release a book entitled Smart on Crime: A Career Prosecutor’s Plan to Make Us Safer.

Attorney General Harris inherited the subprime mortgage disaster but was able to lend her expertise in the National Mortgage Settlement against five major banks. After balking from the discussions, she returned to the bargaining table and secured $12 Billion of debt reduction for California homeowners. Kamala Harris has consistently raised the overall felony conviction rate to over 80%. Harris is against the death penalty but does review each case on an individual “case by case” basis. The California Attorney General continues to attack environmental issues as well as predatory lending practices particularly to the elderly along with cyber-crimes and identity theft. Harris is a credit to our country and has received innumerable awards for her civic actions. She is a true inspiration for her tireless public service and continues to define what a true leader can accomplish.