Kamala Harris is a former California state worker boss. How would she treat federal employees?
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Before her time as Joe Biden’s vice president, before her tenure as the Golden State’s junior senator, Kamala Harris was California’s “top cop.”
As attorney general, Harris oversaw more than 5,000 Department of Justice attorneys, investigators, peace officers and other staffers. Former employees told The State Worker Bee that Harris was a tough boss with high expectations. They also said she was an ally to state workers and their interests.
Others saw her friendliness with public sector unions as an affront to California taxpayers, particularly in the case of an effort at pension reform.
As a California Democrat, Harris’ support for public unions isn’t exceptional. She’s consistently been supportive of labor (while in the Senate, Harris regularly scored 100% on the AFL-CIO’s yearly legislator scorecard.) And after President Joe Biden dropped out, national and California unions were some of the first groups to sing her praises.
For those who worked under her at the DOJ from 2011 to 2017, Harris impressed the impact of the department’s daily bureaucratic decisions on the public, said Venus Johnson, who served as associate attorney general while Harris was the AG, and has since returned to the DOJ to serve as chief deputy attorney general.
“She was intent on ensuring folks knew that she appreciated their work,” said Johnson, “acknowledging and appreciating staff when big cases were fought — win, lose or draw — in picking up the phone and calling and thanking staff and attorneys for their work, and for their commitment to the people of the state of California.”
Perhaps her most notable, and controversial, pro-labor action as AG came in 2013 when she published a description of a ballot measure attempting to reform public pensions with language that a union-funded polling firm found would help kill the measure.
The initiative, pushed by then-San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed, would have given state and local governments authority to prospectively reduce pensions for current employees. The official depiction, published by Harris’ office, told voters that the measure, “Eliminates constitutional protections for vested pension and retiree healthcare benefits for current public employees, including teachers, nurses, and peace officers.”
Reed sued over the description, arguing Harris used false and misleading words to prejudice voters against the measure. Reed and former San Diego City Councilman Carl DeMaio, a Republican who was also helping to lead the pension reform effort at the time, dropped the measure in 2014, before Californians had a chance to vote.
Harris was very hostile to pension reform, said Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.
“By giving it an awful title and summary, so much so that they had to abandon the effort,” Coupal said Harris effectively killed the measure. While Harris was in the AG’s office, Coupal said she prioritized the interests of public sector labor over those of the business community or California taxpayers.
What does this mean for federal unionized employees, should Harris cinch the White House in November?
“Labor will never be disappointed in her,” longtime political consultant Steven Maviglio predicted.
Under a Harris administration, federal workers and labor groups alike would enjoy a continuation of Biden’s pro-worker agenda, Maviglio told The Bee. Harris represents the “polar opposite” of her opponent, former President Donald Trump, who has pledged to remove protections for federal civil servants immediately upon his return to the White House.
