There have been reports for years that Vice President Kamala Harris is a terrible boss, leading to a huge percentage of staff turnover and millions of taxpayer dollars spent to settle sexual harassment and hostile work environment lawsuits. Now, RedState has uncovered a 2019 editorial from a small community newspaper in Northern California in which the father of one of Harris’ former interns shared four episodes from his son’s monthlong internship in Harris’ office when she was California’s Attorney General, and they’re like nothing you’ve heard before in the “terrible bosses” file.
I was tipped off to the post late Sunday as I was in flight from Minneapolis to Las Vegas and was so stunned that rather than waiting until I got to my destination and could write up something here at RedState (and take the chance that the column would be memory-holed in the meantime), I tweeted a few screenshots and a brief summary.
Hmm maybe this is why 90% of @KamalaHarris‘ staff quit on her? From a very involved Democrat family in Northern CA whose son interned in Harris’ office when she was CA AG:
“Harris vocally throws around “F-bombs” and other profanity constantly in her berating of staff and… pic.twitter.com/QpswPisg1T
— Jennifer Van Laar (@jenvanlaar) July 29, 2024
As I said in the tweet, the author of the column, Terry McAteer, is a Democrat from a family that’s been politically involved for generations. His son, Gregory, wanted to intern with then-Sen. Dianne Feinstein in the summer of 2011; her office couldn’t start him in June but said Harris’ office had an intern slot available for that month. So, off to Harris’ office Gregory went. His LinkedIn page lists both experiences:
Terry McAteer’s recitation of those episodes is short and to the point, so I’m quoting it in full:
Four short episodes I would like to share of his month-long internship for Kamala Harris:
Senator Harris vocally throws around “F-bombs” and other profanity constantly in her berating of staff and others. The staff is in complete fear of her and she uses her profanity throughout the day.
As Attorney General, Senator Harris instructed her entire staff to stand every morning as she entered the office and say, “Good Morning General.”
Never once during the month-long internship did Harris introduce herself to our son (as he was only in an office with 20 paid employees) and staff was too intimidated by her to introduce him. The only acknowledgment was a form letter of “thanks” signed by Harris given to him on his last day of service.
Gregory was also given instructions to never address Harris nor look her in the eye as that privilege was only allowed to senior staff members.
Harris was elected as California Attorney General in 2010; this entitled, diva behavior is something one would expect much later in someone’s career, although it’s never acceptable, especially for someone who’s supposed to be a humble public servant. But seeing the trajectory of staff complaints in her office, it’s not surprising.
It’s also rather hilarious that Harris would have employees address her as “General,” since the term “General” in her Attorney General title doesn’t refer to any rank.
Lest one think that this column was just a father’s take on what his son said about an unsatisfactory internship, before it was printed on November 5, 2019, McAteer asked his son to read it, knowing that sharing these stories about a very powerful person in California politics (Harris was then a U.S. Senator running for President) can be a career breaker – and Gregory was willing to accept that potential outcome:
I had Gregory read this piece before submitting it and he is willing to put his own integrity on the line because the truth is important to him. In fact, integrity and character are still virtues that can and should be upheld in our politicians and politics; we just haven’t seen them in a while.
The truth, integrity, and character should be so important to us all.
