How Kamala Harris forged close ties with Big Tech

When Kamala Harris, was running to become California’s attorney general in 2010, she didn’t hide her excitement about speaking at Google’s Silicon Valley campus.

“I’ve been wanting to come to the Google campus for a year and a half,” she said. “I’ve been wanting to come because I want these relationships and I want to cultivate them.”

For her a Bay Area politician, connections to tech have always been essential. In past campaigns, her two elections to be attorney general, her successful run for the Senate and her failed bid for the Democratic presidential nomination — she relied on Silicon Valley’s tech elite for donations. And her family, friends and former political aides has fanned throughout the tech world.

Those industry ties have coincided with a largely hands-off to companies that came under increasing scrutiny from regulators and lawmakers of the world. As California’s attorney general, critics say, Harris did little to curb the power of tech giants as they gobbled up rivals and muscled into new industries. As a senator, consumer advocacy groups said, she has often moved in lock step with tech interests.

Now that she is the running tech industry critics worry that a Biden administration with Harris would mean a return to the cozy relationship that Silicon Valley enjoyed with the White House under President Barack Obama.

“This is good news” for tech companies, said Hal Singer, an economist who specializes in antitrust and a managing director at Econ One, a consulting firm. “They probably feel like they have one of their own and that at the margin this is going to help push back against any reform.”

“There are familial connections and a level of mutual affection with Silicon Valley that goes above and beyond the fact that she is a San Francisco politician,” said Jeff Hauser, executive director of the Revolving Door Project, a left-leaning watchdog group that has criticized Harris’ ties to Big Tech and other corporate interests.

Addressing Google’s employees in 2010, Harris presented herself not as a potential foe. She talked about sensitive issues. With online privacy, she said, she wanted to strike a balance between what’s good for business and protecting consumers.

When asked about antitrust enforcement, she said it was important not to be shortsighted. A state on the verge of bankruptcy, as California was then, “cannot stand in the way of business growth and development,” she said.

In that month, David Drummond, Top lawyer of Google’s, personally donated $6,500, to her campaign. Google kicked in another $6,500. Backed by tech money. Harris challenged the major tech companies after becoming California’s attorney general.