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Kamala Harris and Willie Brown's controversial relationship: Will he always be the ‘albatross’ around her neck?

One of the biggest controversy Kamala Harris had to face was about her past relationship with Willie Brown, the former mayor of San Francisco

The race for Joe Biden’s choice of vice-presidential candidate was won by Kamala Harris. While many say they had predicted it, her road to this selection has been peppered with questions and controversies. One of the biggest questions she has to face is about her past relationship with Willie Brown, the former mayor of San Francisco. And due to this, she even had to face a few misogynistic comments.  

According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, TV personality Tomi Lahren had tweeted, "Kamala did you fight for ideals or did you sleep your way to the top with Willie Brown?" But later Lahren had apologized on Twitter, saying, “I apologize for my comment on Kamala’s personal relationship. It was the wrong choice of words. There are many other things to take her to task for and I will stick to those.”

The topic didn’t stop there. In a letter to the San Francisco Chronicle on January 26, 2019, Brown indicated he might have helped Harris to boost her career. Brown wrote: “Yes, we dated. It was more than 20 years ago. Yes, I may have influenced her career by appointing her to two state commissions when I was Assembly speaker. And I certainly helped with her first race for district attorney in San Francisco. I have also helped the careers of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Gov. Gavin Newsom, Sen. Dianne Feinstein and a host of other politicians.”

According to Politico, in 1994, Harris began dating Brown, who was then the speaker of the state assembly and was 30 years older than Harris. The former mayor appointed Harris to the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board and the Medical Assistance Commission — positions that together paid her around $80,000 a year on top of her prosecutor’s salary.

A report in USA Today suggests, Brown was married at the time he and Harris were together. However, he had been "estranged from his wife" Blanche Brown since 1981, according to People magazine. A 1994 Los Angeles Times report, as cited by the USA Today story, claimed that Brown's "rush to hand out patronage jobs" described Harris as Brown's “frequent companion” and said several people referred to her as Brown's girlfriend. That report also cited a column from the Chronicle's Herb Caen that called Harris “the Speaker's new steady.” The story further cites Caen, and states that the couple split up in 1995.

In 2003, according to SF Weekly, though Brown supported Harris in her run for San Francisco district attorney, she tried to distance herself from him – there were corruption allegations against him -- in that race and said Brown was an "albatross hanging around my neck." The story further quotes her saying, “His career is over; I will be alive and kicking for the next 40 years. I do not owe him a thing. If there is corruption, it will be prosecuted. It's a no-brainer, but let's please move on.”

Harris is married to attorney Douglas Emhoff. The couple got married in 2014. According to a Forbes report, her fortune, which Harris shares with her husband Emhoff, is estimated to be at $6 million.

Brown in his letter, as quoted in the USA Today, wrote: “The difference is that Harris is the only one who, after I helped her, sent word that I would be indicted if I 'so much as jaywalked' while she was DA. That’s politics for ya.”

In a recent column for San Francisco Chronicle, Brown opined that if Biden offers the vice presidential slot to Harris, “my advice to her would be to politely decline”. According to New York Post, Brown wrote, “Harris is a tested and proven campaigner who will work her backside off to get Biden elected. That said, the vice presidency is not the job she should go for — asking to be considered as attorney general in a Biden administration would be more like it.” He argued that while being included on a presidential ticket “is obviously a huge honor … the glory would be short-lived.”

After the announcement of Harris’ selection, in a video by NBC Bay Area, Brown is heard saying, “As a Black man, I am absolutely blown away.”

When Twitter started discussing Harris' personal relationship, a few came forward to opine that it is not right to shift focus from the real discussions. One opined, "And here come the Willie Brown Tweets. Brown had been separated from his estranged wife for 13 years before he began dating Kamala. If you’re clutching your pearls over that, but praising the serial adulterer in the Oval Office, YOU are the problem."

Another argued, "Ok, I'm going to say this because in real life I don't just pander to women...I actually believe their sex lives are none of your fucking business. Stop making fun of her affair. It doesn't score you points and there are better arguments to make against her. #KamalaHarris"