Conflict of Interest? What's That?

Yesterday I wrote about the State of California's lawfare against the Center For Medical Progress to punish them for cutting into Planned Parenthood's business, which consists mainly of collecting money from frightened young girls.

The article I quoted had this bit:

The California Department of Justice, under the auspices of now-Senator Kamala Harris, raided Daleiden’s home for footage in April 2016

Senator Kamala Harris. That's Kamala "possible frontrunning Democratic candidate for president in 2020" Harris. But there's more to the story:

Officials from California Attorney General and Kamala Harris office and Planned Parenthood collaborated to draft legislation targeting the pro-life activist whose undercover videos showed officials for the nation’s largest abortion provider discussing the sale of fetal body parts, emails show.

The emails depict conversations between the state agency and Planned Parenthood over AB 1671, which would amend the penal code to make secretly recording and disseminating communications with health care providers a crime. Gov. Jerry Brown has until the end of the month to sign or veto the bill.

AB 1671 is a response to the Center for Medical Progress’ undercover video series spearheaded by David Daleiden.

So if they were honest, they would just call AB 1671 the "Shut Up About Planned Parenthood's Chop Shops and F* You, Center For Medical Progress In Particular" Act.

But can they get away with this?

Ronald D. Rotunda, a professor of jurisprudence at Chapman University, said the emails show Ms. Harris is a “tool of Planned Parenthood.” He said it is not uncommon for the attorney general to play a role in the legislative process, but added that Ms. Harris in this case was “working with Planned Parenthood to protect it from criminal prosecution.”

I rate this statement: true.

Also, this one.

To describe Kamala Harris' relationship with Planned Parenthood as 'incestuous' gives incest a bad name.

And it gets even better: This latest witch hunt against Planned Parenthood's enemies is led by California's Attorney General, Inspector Javert Xavier Becerra, who is himself a recipient of campaign contributions from PP. It's such a dog's breakfast of conflict-of-interest that it is difficult to imagine it not getting immediately tossed.

But things never seem to work out that way. CMP is probably going to have to appeal a bunch of times, and spend a lot of money doing so. Which, no doubt, is exactly Becerra's intention.

I wish there was *one* crack investigative reporter from the MSM (you know, the kind they all imagine themselves to be), with the guts to ask "Mr. Becerra, isn't this prosecution a conflict of interest for you since you're a recipient of donations from Planned Parenthood? In fact, isn't that pretty much the very definition of 'conflict of interest?'"

Yeah, I know.

posted by OregonMuse at 12:52 PM

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