Kelly Launches Another Round at Harris in AG Contest War of Statistics

Yesterday we published a release from the increasingly-competitive Chris Kelly for AG campaign and a punch back from the Kamala Harris campaign. Until now, the AG battle has been a sleeper of a race despite the high number of quality candidates and campaigns.

This morning, the Kelly campaign again is on the attack. Here's a memo from spokeswoman Robin Swanson we just received:

"The Harris campaign sure kicked up a lot of dust yesterday when they were hightailin’ it away from her record; but when the dust clears, the California Department of Justice (DOJ) statistics simply cannot be ignored or explained away.
 
First, note that the Harris campaign didn’t dispute these numbers from the DOJ – because they can’t.  These are violent crime statistics that are collated by the very same department she wishes to oversee as the Attorney General.  Instead, in some lame attempt to distract from the hard truth of the DOJ stats, the Harris campaign quoted statistics from a six month period in 2009 and compared them to statistics from 6 months in 2008. This is a distortion of the facts, plain and simple.
 
The problem is that Harris hasn’t been DA for 6 months.  She has been DA for 6 years.  And in that period of time, the Department Of Justice numbers show that violent crime and homicides have indisputably and tragically increased, while crime fell statewide.
 
The stats, which Harris’ camp seems to think are hard to “access” are right here for San Francisco and show data for Kamala Harris’s tenure.  Here is what they say:
 
•         The homicide rate in San Francisco County in 2003 was 8.8 per 100,000 population.  The homicide rate in San Francisco County in 2008 was 11.6 per 100,000.  That’s a 32% increase.
 
•         The violent crime rate in San Francisco County in 2003 was 732.5 per 100,000 population.  The violent crime rate in San Francisco County in 2008 was 808.0 per 100,000.  That’s a 10% increase.
 
•         The robbery rate in San Francisco County in 2003 was 392.3 per 100,000 population.  The robbery rate in in San Francisco County in 2008 was 493.7 per 100,000.  That’s a 26% increase.
 
Even if you accept Harris’ own data evaluating crime in 2009, her record is nothing short of awful:

 

CRIME	CALIFORNIA	SAN FRANCISCO
VIOLENT CRIME	153.58 per 100,000	346.63 per 100,000
HOMICIDE	1.8 per 100,000	3.0 per 100,000
FORCIBLE RAPE	7.22 per 100,000	11.71 per 100,000
ROBBERY	58.86 per 100,000	201.29 per 100,000

In other words, based on the numbers the Harris campaign used in their blast, San Francisco has over twice the rate of violent crime than the rate statewide—nearly twice the homicide rate, nearly twice the rape rate and nearly four times the robbery rate.
 
The fact is, Kamala Harris has failed the very people she has purported to protect - she simply doesn’t have a record that has kept San Franciscans safe.
 
Second, the Harris campaign did what most campaigns do when they can’t defend their record.  They resorted to personally attacking Chris Kelly. When confronted with these statistics, instead of asking, “What does this mean for me?” Kamala Harris should be asking “What does this mean for the people of San Francisco?” She attacks Chris Kelly’s experience in the courtroom, but it’s clear from these tragic statistics that Kamala Harris’ courtroom experience has done little to keep the people of San Francisco safe.
 
Kamala Harris says she is smart on crime, but these statistics and her campaign’s obfuscatory response sound more like she’s trying to be slick on crime."

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