Justice reform groups urge Kamala Harris not to call Trump 'criminal'
Vice President Harris has found herself between a rock and woke place when it comes to criminal justice.
More than 160 criminal justice advocacy groups sent Harris an open letter urging her not to call former President Trump a "criminal" and a "felon" while pressuring her to embrace their progressive agenda.
The former San Francisco district attorney and California state attorney general has repeatedly cast herself as an aggressive prosecutor who knows Trump's "type" – a reference to his recent felony conviction in New York City.
"There will be those that simplify a match-up between you and former President Trump as one between a 'tough-on-crime' prosecutor and a 'criminal,'" the letter states. "We hope you will resist this language and this framing. It is both harmful to us and harmful to your campaign."
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The group praised Harris for backing criminal justice reform and cautioned her against using language that unfairly denigrates and stigmatizes those who have been convicted of crimes.
"First, we believe you have been and will be a criminal justice reform leader," they wrote. "And, also, words like ‘criminal’ and ‘felon’ paint with a broad brush that stains more than 70 million Americans with criminal records, including the 1 in 3 Black men who have felony convictions."
The missive, which was signed by more than 160 leaders of groups ranging from The Bail Project to Beauty after Bars, ripped Trump but encouraged Harris to focus on his track record rather than his new status as a felon.
"Hold Donald Trump to account for his conduct and for failing to demonstrate remorse," the letter states. "Describe the impacts of his actions and policy proposals but resist this outdated fear-mongering that reinforces the criminalization that locks so many of us out of voting, out of housing and jobs and freedom."
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The letter highlights the challenges Harris faces trying to reconcile her tough-on-crime persona with her proclamations that "everyone needs to be woke."
Corrin Rankin, vice chair of the California Republican Party, told Fox News Digital that Harris' record on crime is one of contradiction and political expediency rather than principle.
"She’s a walking contradiction," Rankin said. "She blows with the political wind, so whichever way the wind is shifting, that is the direction she’s going to follow, the direction that's going to help her career. She doesn’t come across as a person with real values. I see her as a chameleon. Whatever wave it is that leads to her success, she’s riding it."
Rankin said Harris began her career as San Francisco's district attorney by putting thousands of minorities in jail for low-level marijuana offenses for which defendants faced $5,000 bonds.
"Black, brown and Polynesians were disproportionately impacted," Rankin said.
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But President Biden's right-hand woman later morphed into a crusader for criminal justice reform after becoming the Golden State's attorney general, Rankin said.
Her office backed Proposition 47, a controversial bill that lessened a slew of felony charges to misdemeanors.
Titled the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act by Harris' office, the 2014 law has been blamed for ushering in an era of lawlessness and disorder in California that has yet to subside.
"I remember we would be fighting this, and it felt like we were shouting in the wind back then," Rankin said. "But imagine how ridiculous we sounded telling people to vote no for safe neighborhoods and schools. It was wild to us. It seemed intentional. There is nothing safe for any neighborhood or any school about decriminalizing serious felonies."
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Rankin said Harris now faces a dilemma about which of her contradictory personas to embrace, which she won't be able to "laugh and giggle her way out of it."
"You can't trust her," Rankin added. "I think the only commitment she's going to make is to herself."
Harris' press secretary didn't immediately return a request for comment.