Vice President Kamala Harris faced repercussions from her past once more this week when President Joe Biden declared he would not seek reelection and instead supported her as the Democratic nominee. The San Francisco Standard reported that former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown publicly endorsed Harris during a brief press conference outside a local restaurant. The publication briefly mentioned Brown’s past relationship with Harris while she served as an Alameda County prosecutor in the mid-1990s, hinting at a deeper backstory.

However, their relationship goes beyond that. According to Politico in 2019, Harris was first mentioned in San Francisco newspapers in 1994, when a columnist reported that actor Clint Eastwood accidentally spilled champagne on Brown’s “new steady” at Brown’s 60th birthday party. Harris was only 29 years old at the time.

According to Politico, “Harris had dated Brown, who was investigated by the FBI when he was speaker of the California Assembly and as mayor was dogged by conflict of interest, and she had benefited from his political patronage.”

The report added, “As the speaker of the state Assembly, Brown had named Harris to well-paid posts on the California Medical Assistance Commission and Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board.”

Furthermore, “As mayor of San Francisco in 2003, Brown was supportive of her district attorney campaign although they were no longer dating. Critics — including her opponents — were bemoaning cronyism at City Hall.”

In other words, Harris succeeded under Brown’s guidance, so to speak, at a very young age, despite being investigated for political misconduct.