Former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown finally broke the silence about his relationship with 2020 presidential hopeful and Democratic senator Kamala Harris on Saturday. He admitted in his weekly column that he used his power to elevate her career when they dated when she was very young.
Even though Brown was in an openly extramarital relationship with Harris when he was speaker of the California State Assembly and also running for mayor. Since she just announced she was running for president a week ago he avoided commenting on his relationship with Harris. Harris has also avoided commenting on the situation regarding Brown giving her career a push in its early stages.
Former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown admits he had an extramarital affair with Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) and that her political career was boosted as a resulthttps://t.co/MbvARuuShQ
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) January 27, 2019
Brown addressed it in his weekly San Francisco Chronicle. He referred to it as the "elephant in the room."
"I’ve been peppered with calls from the national media about my ‘relationship' with Kamala Harris, most of which I have not returned," Brown explained. "Yes, we dated."
134 words from former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown on his relationship with Kamala Harris: https://t.co/wozyN78nOG pic.twitter.com/7LzeaiwlMC
— Lois Beckett (@loisbeckett) January 26, 2019
He even took things a step further and admitted that he appointed her to two well-paid posts on California state commissions and later helped her with her first election when she was fresh out of law school.
"Yes, I may have influenced her career by appointing her to two state commissions when I was Assembly speaker," Brown wrote. "And I certainly helped with her first race for district attorney in San Francisco."
The two ended their relationship in December of 1995 just before he became mayor, but after that he still remained as a political ally.
Also, there have been reports that Brown gave Harris, who is 31 years younger than him, a BMW in 1994.
Brown said that the biggest challenge for Harris is packing the streets for her campaign launch in Oakland's Frank Ogawa Plaza in Oakland. He believes that she needs to pack the streets like former President Barack Obama did before his first campaign back in 2007.
"That feat took months of old-fashioned organizing by Obama’s operation," Brown wrote. "It will be interesting to see if Harris can match it using social media."