My fellow Kossacks, please join me in welcoming a rising new inspiring leader ....
A woman of integrity ...
A woman of conviction ...
Kamala D. Harris for CA-Attorney General (2010)
2009 UCLA Law School Commencement Address (Part 1)
Remarks by San Francisco District Attorney Kamala D. Harris
*** Full Transcript of Speech included in Comment ***
... a good prosecutor wins convictions,
a great prosecutor has convictions ...
... a crisis is an opportunity riding a dangerous wind ...
2009 UCLA Law School Commencement Address (Part 2)
Kamala Harris is currently the District Attorney of San Francisco and a celebrated rising star in the Democratic Party. She was the first female DA to be elected in San Francisco and is now running to become the first female, first African-American, and first Indian-American Attorney General in California history. She was also the first elected official in California to publicly endorse President Obama and was the co-chair of his California campaign. In fact, journalist Gwen Ifill recently compared Kamala to President Obama on The Late Show with David Letterman, saying: "She's brilliant, she's smart. They call her the 'female Barack Obama.'"
She was also featured on Oprah as one of "America's Most Powerful Women" and The New York Times named her one of the 17 women most likely to become the first female president of the United States. Most recently, Kamala was recognized by Lifetime Television among other prominent and accomplished women such as First Lady Michelle Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton for her commitment to justice. Watch Lifetime’s "Every Woman Counts" Salute to Kamala Harris.
Kamala has lived up to the hype. She was recently re-elected to her second term as District Attorney and ran un-opposed for that position. She raised the felony conviction rate in San Francisco to 67%, the highest in over a decade. But she's not just tough on crime, Kamala has completely revolutionized the District Attorney's office by implementing progressive, creative programs that also seek to be "smart on crime." In addition to increasing convictions for serious and violent crimes, she has also championed education by using truancy statutes to improve attendance at schools and has pioneered programs to protect and aid the families of victims. She hopes to bring this same progressive approach to the Attorney General's office on issues of prison reform, education, and the environment.
4.25.2009: California Democratic Party Convention
1- Reform Criminal Justice System - Prison System -
2- Taking care of and protecting Homeowners against Predatory Lenders
3- Environment
Kamala Harris, SF D.A. and California Obama campaign co-chair gives her endorsement to Barack Obama
Swearing In Speech
The Honorable Kamala D. Harris
District Attorney
City and Count of San Francisco
January 8, 2008
EXCERPT:
You remember the conversation we had four years ago. We knew then that the criminal justice system had to be reformed. You all agreed that we have to get beyond talking about who’s tough on crime or who’s soft on crime and start actually being smart on crime.
So now we’ve got a bunch of prisoners that rightfully were sent to prison for an offense, but shortly after their release, 70% of them are going right back to prison because we, as a state, have not been smart in re-entering them into our cities in a way that they don’t re-offend.
We’re hoping to create more than just solutions, but a momentum – a new way of doing business. One built on the premise that we can finally sweep aside the tired question of whether we’re "soft on crime" or "tough on crime" and instead be "smart on crime."
In December 2003, Kamala Harris was elected as the first woman District Attorney in San Francisco's history, and as the first African American woman in California to hold the office. She was overwhelmingly reelected to a second term in November 2007.
Harris was born in Oakland, California and raised with her sister Maya in the East Bay by their mother Dr. Shyamala Gopalan, a breast cancer specialist. After attending public schools, her strong commitment to justice and public service led her to Howard University, America’s oldest historically black university, and then to the University of California, Hastings College of the Law.
Harris has spent her entire professional life in the trenches as a courtroom prosecutor. After graduating from U.C. Hastings College of the Law, she took a position in the Alameda County District Attorney's Office, where she specialized in prosecuting child sexual assault cases. As a Deputy District Attorney she also prosecuted cases for homicide and robbery. She worked at that office from 1990 to 1998 before going on to serve in the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office.
In 1998, Harris was named managing attorney of the Career Criminal Unit of the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office, where she prosecuted three strikes cases and serial felony offenders. She then served as the head of the San Francisco City Attorney’s Division on Families and Children.
As San Francisco DA, Harris - who has been a prosecutor for nearly twenty years - has focused intensively on fighting violent crime. She has increased conviction rates for serious and violent offenses, expanded services to victims of crime and their families, created new prosecution divisions focused on child assault, public integrity and environmental crimes, and launched innovative re-entry initiatives to prevent re-offending. To combat one of San Francisco’s biggest challenges, gun violence, she created a gun specialist team and implemented tough gun charging policies.
This work is paying off --- the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office has more than doubled its trial conviction rate for gun felonies to 90 percent. Under her leadership, the office has sent 50 percent more serious and violent offenders to State Prison, has put more than 220 gang members behind bars and convicted more than 1,200 domestic violence offenders. According to the San Francisco Superior Court, the office’s overall felony conviction rate is at its highest point in 12 years.
Harris has brought much-needed consistency and innovation to the handling of narcotics and quality-of-life crimes. Her office has tripled the number of misdemeanor cases taken to trial, and Harris has assigned senior prosecutors to specialize in prosecuting graffiti, vandalism and auto burglaries. She has also launched unprecedented programs of outreach to San Francisco communities and brought free legal clinics to immigrant neighborhoods.
District Attorney Harris is the recipient of numerous awards. California’s largest legal newspaper, The Daily Journal, designated Harris as one of the top 75 women litigators in California – the only elected official to receive that honor – as well as one of the top 100 lawyers in the state. She was recognized as a "Woman of Power" by the National Urban League and received the Thurgood Marshall Award from the National Black Prosecutors Association. She has been featured on the Oprah Show and in Newsweek as one of "America’s 20 Most Powerful Women." She was selected as one of 24 elected leaders from throughout the country to serve as a Rodel Fellow with the Aspen Institute. Additionally, Harris was elected to the Board of Directors of the California District Attorneys Association and is a Vice President of the National District Attorney’s Association.
Endorsements:
- Betty T. Yee, Chairwoman of the State Board of Equalization
- San Diego Police Chief William Lansdowne
- East Palo Alto Police Chief Ronald L. Davis
- Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson
- Silicon Valley Leaders
- Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg
Kamala's Favorite Quote:
"You may be the first to do many things, but make sure you are not the last."
~ my mother, Shyamala G. Harris ~
Kamala will be the progressive, new generation of leadership that California needs. To learn more, please visit
www.kamalaharris.org.
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Over the coming days, weeks and months, we will be posting video speeches, rallies, endorsements and scheduling online-live blogging special events with this rising new leader, Kamala D. Harris. Please show your support.