Kamala Harris and BNE (California Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement) – New English Review

By Gary Fouse

One of the themes of Harris’ campaign is that she was a “tough” prosecutor when she was DA in San Francisco and later Attorney General of California. We who live in California know better. As DA in San Francisco refused to seek the death penalty in murder cases, even when it involved police officers killed in the line of duty. As attorney general, Harris’s primary interest was in going after “polluting corporations” at the expense of violent street criminals and criminal gangs. In short, she was unconcerned about the rise in violent street crime that was plaguing the state, a situation that continues to worsen today.

There is, however, one aspect of this issue that seems to have been overlooked. As attorney general, Harris presided over the dissolution of the California Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement (BNE), an agency founded in 1927 that was the oldest drug enforcement agency in the United States until its dissolution in 2012.

When I was a young U.S. Customs agent in the early 1970s and later a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent starting in 1973 in Los Angeles, BNE was a highly respected agency with whom we often worked cases together. In addition, BNE agents were assigned to joint task forces with DEA, local police departments, Immigration, IRS, and others. Their contributions were greatly appreciated by the DEA agents who worked with them.

It should be noted that BNE did not get involved in low-level street cases, but rather, like the DEA, they focused on the larger organizations that were smuggling drugs in and out of California. Like the DEA, they had intelligence analysts, diversion investigators who investigated the illegal distribution of legally prescribed controlled substances, covert lab investigators, and financial investigators. In short, they were a highly respected, professional organization.

Yet in 2011, when the maverick Jerry Brown was governor, he negotiated with the state legislature to drastically cut funding for the Division of Law Enforcement, the state Department of Justice’s main crime-fighting entity, which included BNE, for the coming fiscal year. Although it was billed as a cost-saving measure, it was reported that Brown was angry because the Association of Special Agents for the California Department of Justice had endorsed Brown’s opponent in the 2010 gubernatorial election, Meg Whitman (R). As a result of the cut, it was decided to abolish BNE and transfer its functions to the newly created California Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

In November 2011, the Association of Special Agents for the California Department of Justice filed a petition (case number 34-2011-80001009) in the Superior Court of Sacramento against Governor Brown and the California Department of Finance, seeking an injunction. In their petition, they alleged that the effect on drug enforcement in California would be devastating and that Governor Brown was retaliating because the aforementioned association had supported his opponent. Additionally, the petitioners alleged that Brown’s action was an infringement of the Attorney General’s prerogatives. In fact, the majority of the petition was devoted to this issue. The court rejected the arguments, holding, among other things, that the budget was a matter for the legislature and that the petitioners lacked jurisdiction over the issue of the Attorney General’s prerogatives. The official record of the Sacramento Superior Court case can be read here. Regardless, the request for an injunction was unsuccessful and BNE was disbanded in February 2012, with many of its duties absorbed into the newly created California Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The impact on the various drug task forces was negative, as they lost their BNE members.

This begs the question for Kamala Harris: In short, where was she in all of this? Why was the cops’ association trying so hard to argue that her jurisdiction had been violated when she was apparently not a part of this lawsuit? Was she quietly working behind the scenes to support the association? Was she working behind the scenes to undermine it? Or was she simply not involved in any way? According to at least one report, the petition was filed by the cops’ association because they had no support from Harris.

In December 2011, after the petition was filed, the news site reported, Full Disclosure-PR Newswire, published an interview with a board member of the aforementioned association, Cary Cavaleri, in which he accused Brown of potentially retaliating against the agency and that the AG’s constitutional authority had been undermined. He further stated that the move would destroy drug enforcement in California.

“In the absence of resistance from Attorney General Kamala Harris, the Association of Special Agents for the California Department of Justice has stepped in to fight.”

-PR Newswire

If Vice President Harris is bragging about her experience as a “tough” prosecutor and attorney general in California, someone should ask her about the BNE issue. In short, what did she do, if anything, to support BNE and prevent the dissolution of this valuable agency? My guess is that she stood back and did nothing or said nothing. It certainly appears that she was not a party to the petition and did nothing to support the agents. She may have a reasonable explanation for this, but she should explain it. If she agreed with Brown that it was a cost-saving move, let her make her case. But she should be questioned on this.

I think she’s served the whole thing, just like she served her assignment as “border czar.” Just like she doesn’t care about the border, she doesn’t care about drug enforcement. She just doesn’t care.