Sen. Harris of CA Likely to Face Lawsuit for Conduct as State's Attorney General

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Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) will likely lose an effort to get a judge to dismiss a lawsuit alleging that she abused her authority as California’s attorney general, reports the Washington Examiner.

A San Diego district judge has indicated that the allegations against Harris have enough merit to move forward, on Wednesday, reports the Examiner.

“At this juncture, given the limited scope the court has to view these allegations … it seems almost inconceivable the court could grant a motion to dismiss,” District Court Judge Conzalo Curiel said, according to Courthouse News.

The lawsuit, put forth by Prime Healthcare Services, a national healthcare company, alleges that Harris imposed onerous requirements on its efforts to purchase another healthcare company. The company alleges that Harris did so in order to benefit one of her biggest donors during her campaigns for California attorney general, the Service Employees International Union, which was seeking to organize its workers, explained the Examiner.

The California attorney general’s office oversees the sale and purchase of nonprofits and their assets. In most cases, the office required that any company purchasing a healthcare provider nonprofit had to maintain the nonprofit’s current level of services for at least five years. Harris expanded that requirement to 10 years in the case of Prime’s attempt to purchase the Daughters of Charity Health System, according to the Examiner.

Prime has contented that the change in policy made the planned $843 million sale “financially unviable” and was done deliberately by Harris to undermine it as part of a “quid pro quo” with SEIU. “The only time Attorney General Harris veered from that pattern (of requiring five years) was with respect to Prime and the 10 years condition for the first time,” said Prime’s attorney John Mills, reports the Examiner.

Harris’ lawyers rebuttal and argued that there is no uniform requirement for approving a sale. “Every single transaction is different,” Harris attorney Michele Inan said. She called for a summary judgment to dismiss the case, said the Examiner.

Curiel said that Prime’s claim “is not a random allegation the court can just ignore,” indicating the case will likely go forward. The judge will instead issue a written order.

A spokesperson for Harris could not be reached for comment, said the Examiner.