Matt Dorsey, an elected supervisor in San Francisco, speaks from the City Hall there to the Belfast News Letter about having working with Kamala Harris when she was the attorney general for the city. Video by Ben Lowry October 21 2024
00:00So this is the office of the city attorney and back in 2002 I started
00:04working here. I was the director of communications for the city attorney
00:09whose name was Dennis Ferreira. He has gone on. We have a new city attorney, David
00:14Hsu. But back when I started Kamala Harris was running the children and
00:20families team of the city attorney's office and we got to be friends and we
00:25were both serving on the senior staff of the city attorney's office. She's a
00:29really incredibly special person. Somebody I have a lot of affection for
00:34and I'm just really excited that she is a candidate for president. I would say
00:43who could have imagined it but in some ways I could have imagined it because
00:47she was just a remarkable leader. So she's a she's a wonderful person and
00:51someone you're talking about it you're saying she's a wonderful leader
00:53therefore you have no doubt that she's up to the huge role of President of the
00:58United States. I think she will be a phenomenal president. You know I'm a member of the LGBTQ community and Kamala and I both have mentors from that community. There's a guy named Jim Rivaldo who was Harvey Milk's campaign consultant and mentor. He was Kamala's campaign manager when she ran for district attorney.
01:23She was a consultant. He was a consultant. Kamala just understands a lot about the community. Back in 2003 when I found out that I was HIV positive, Kamala Harris was one of the first people I told just because she was somebody who I was close to and understood that and was just really supportive.
01:45In other words she wasn't somebody who just laterally supported LGBTQ issues when
01:50they became fashionable. Kamala really understands the LGBTQ community and I think because of her work with Jim Rivaldo who was a mentor to me and also a mentor to her. Jim has passed away. He passed away I think in 2009 but in her autobiography, I think in the autobiography that she wrote she talks a lot about the influence of Jim Rivaldo and that's an influence that I share.
02:20So she's a dear person and I haven't stayed close with her as she has risen through the ranks.
02:29When would you last have known her well?
02:30Oh I mean we were close during when she was district attorney.
02:34Which ended when?
02:39She did a term and a half and then ran for state attorney general and I'm blanking on the year.
02:47And she was a good district attorney?
02:50Oh yeah yeah she was a she was you know it was also interesting that she was a moderate.
02:58She unseated a very progressive district attorney in 2003. That was a race that meant a lot to me.
03:06Why did it mean a lot to you?
03:08Because one because Kamala was my friend also because I think the city needed somebody who
03:14understood that it really...
03:16Who wasn't as radical is that what you're saying?
03:18I think this is a city where we really need somebody who understands public safety but
03:23balances that with compassion. Sometimes it can get a little out of whack. Kamala Harris brought
03:28what I always appreciated was the way that she led the district attorney's office was
03:33it's not about hard on crime or soft on crime it's about being smart on crime.
03:37That was the way that she led that office.
03:39In other words you're saying that she's not going to be an overly radical president?
03:42No I mean this was the in fact her tenure as district attorney attorney general and I think
03:51U.S. senator has been more to be more of a centrist but certainly going back to her
03:57understanding of criminal justice I think she is somebody who is a mainstream democrat who
04:02will lead this country well and I'm really rooting for her.
04:05Some people critics say that she's a diversity hire and out of her depth and all that kind of
04:12thing.
04:12This is if you're getting elected in California there you're getting more votes than most people
04:19that she's earned everything she's got and in many ways she had a harder time because I think
04:25women women have a harder time in American politics so I'm proud of Kamala I think she's
04:31I hope she gets elected and if she gets elected I think she'll be a great president.
04:35Last question um setting aside your personal admiration for her your like for her
04:40what who do you think is going to win?
04:43I think Kamala's going to win.
04:45I think I think that Donald Trump I mean my sense is um I think Donald Trump has been an exhausting
04:53leader and I do think that as as we're going into the closing two weeks of this election
04:58I think it's he is reminding people of what just what an unseemly trauma his presidency
05:04was for four years so I have a feeling that when all is said and done people are going to choose
