I have, for a long time, recognized Kamala Harris, our state Attorney General, as a political hack. Now I am convinced she is nothing but a leftist's leftist.

She's licking her chops to take the U.S. Senate seat occupied by Barbara Boxer. Harris must first duke it out with Democratic Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez.

Birds of a feather flock together. If you will recall, Barack Obama got real cozy with Harris in 2013 with Obama's sickening hots for Harris. He raised more than a few eyebrows when he noted during an April 2013 speech: "You have to be careful to, first of all, say she is brilliant and she is dedicated and she is tough, and she is exactly what you'd want in anybody who is administering the law, and making sure that everybody is getting a fair shake. She also happens to be, by far, the best looking attorney general in the country. It's true! C'mon."

Obama later apologized through press secretary Jay Carney for his come-on, saying, "They are old friends and good friends, and he did not want in any way to diminish the attorney general's professional accomplishments and her capabilities. He fully recognizes the challenge women continue to face in the workplace and that they should not be judged based on appearance."

Is Harris a power drunk prosecutor who punishes those with ideology with whom she disagrees? I believe so. California voters need to demand that Harris explain herself with regard to the recent raid on David Daleiden's home. The DOJ directed 11 agents to raid Daleiden's one-bedroom Orange County apartment. Who is Daleiden, you ask? Remember the shocking video of Planned Parenthood officials discussing the sale of aborted baby body parts? Daleiden was the investigator with the pro-life Center for Medical Progress who exposed the illegal actions.

For whatever reason, Harris wanted Daleiden's laptop and hard drives related to his hidden-camera investigation into Planned Parenthood's role in fetal tissue procurement for medical research.

Harris is an avowed supporter of liberal causes and Planned Parenthood. According to the pro-life group Operation Rescue, Harris has received $81,000 from Planned Parenthood-affiliated Political Action Committees (PACs) and other pro-choice campaign committees since 2010. Of that total, about $31,000 has been contributed for her U.S. Senate run this year. It's little wonder that she would go after the guy who exposed Planned Parenthood.

Daleiden is in hot water because of the ruse he used to get to the truth. On Jan. 25 a grand jury in Texas indicted Daleiden on a felony count of tampering with governmental records by making and using a fake driver's license, and a misdemeanor charge for emailing a (fake) offer to buy fetal tissue for $1,600 (to see if they were actually violating the law and they were). Daleiden faces a prison sentence of up to 22 years if convicted of crimes alleged by the grand jury. He turned himself in in Harris County, Texas on Feb. 4, 2016, and appeared in court after posting $3,000 bond.

This is all about leftists going after the good guy to make him the scapegoat while nobody does anything about the bad guys (Planned Parenthood officials who have been selling tissue from discarded human beings).
Of course, Harris won't discuss her heavy-handed Daleiden raid, hiding behind the old "we can't talk about an investigation" excuse. Former California Republican Party Chairman Tom Del Beccaro feels that "the use of excessive legal force searching Daleiden's home from a person who refused to apply the death penalty as required by law demonstrates that Harris is an activist prosecutor/attorney general - not a fair-minded civil servant."

Of course, our champion liberal who believes in climate change as her religion even though the science isn't there, last month said she's teaming up with other Democratic state attorneys general to punish those who don't believe in climate change. How? Harris is now investigating Exxon Mobil Corporation for "lying" about the risk to its business from climate change, suggesting that their "lies" amount to securities fraud and violations of environmental laws. Did it ever dawn on Ms. Harris that man-caused climate change is only a theory? That if you don't believe in it isn't criminal?

When you peel back the onion far enough, Democrats say they believe in man-made global warming because it gives them the sense of urgency in the public's mind to create more control and more taxes, two things they absolutely crave.Truly it's all about using the power of their office to extort more money from corporations and punish "evil" businesses they feel are bad.

But then again, that's what our state does best - extorting money from taxpayers, businesses and corporations to the point that they flee California.

The state was already reeling from the announcement of the $15 minimum wage increase when Gov. Jerry Brown dropped another bomb on the business world. After jetting to L.A. - using jet fuel and adding to the world's pollution and harming the environment Democrats care so much about - Brown signed a bill that forces businesses to pay up to 70 percent of an employee's wages for up to six weeks if they happen to go on family leave to care for a new child or take care of ailing family members.

The increased benefits will cost about $587 million annually by 2021, requiring the state to increase the amount workers pay into the fund.

It's the same old story. More control and more taxes. If you happen to think we're paying too much in taxes and that government already has too much control, run like hell from Kamala Harris. Consider too that she was a San Francisco prosecutor who routinely thumbed her nose at Second Amendment gun rights. She also buys into the Black Lives Matter mantra of police as racists.

There are some officials in the state who are a breath of fresh air bit they are outnumbered; people like George Runner, the Republican member of the State Board of Equalization, who is a watchdog for taxpayers. He just issued a press release to point out that Californians now have to work from Jan. 1 to April 30 just to pay their tax debt. Runner notes that "California's complicated and oppressive tax system continues to make life hard. Californians will have to work 120 days to pay our tax bill this year and, unbelievably, some lawmakers want to make the number higher by raising taxes."

According to the Tax Foundation, Americans' total tax bill comes to nearly $5 trillion, or about 31 percent of their income. Collectively that amounts to taxpayers handing over more money to the government in 2016 than they spend on food, clothing and housing combined.

When does it end? When do Californians wake up and quit electing people with the wrong thinking to office? The answer is when they collectively get their heads out of their rears and study the issues and quit electing people ONLY because they have a D or an R behind their name.

How do you feel? Let Jeff know by emailing him at jeffb@cerescourier.com