attributed to the primary campaign. (Harris won the primary election in June 2016 and the general election in November 2016.) Federal election records do not reveal the dates of Barankin’s trip to Washington. The Holiday Inn Capitol is not expensive by corporate-lobbyist standards. At $100 a night, he could have stayed for two weeks. The records do not reveal what Barankin was doing on behalf of the primary campaign. Nor do they reveal if he took a leave of absence from his job as a deputy attorney general while working for the campaign. There is no FEC record of Barankin being paid a salary by the campaign... Presumably, he volunteered his time. Did Barankin perform volunteer work for the campaign and travel on its dime while he was being paid by the Department of Justice to do his job? According to attorney Julie H. Biggs, who is an expert in California public agency law, state legal codes prohibit officials from participating in political-campaign activities during working hours or on state property or using state office equipment, including computers and telephones. Biggs, who is a partner at Aleshire & Wynder in Riverside, California, said, “If Barankin was volunteering his time with the Harris campaign during normal business hours that would certainly be a misuse, and potentially a misappropriation, of public funds.” Those actions could give rise to criminal and civil actions under California laws, should law enforcers choose to investigate, Biggs explained. Biggs observed that answering an occasional
e-mail from a campaign worker would slip under the normal-working-hours prohibition as “incidental and minimal,” but engaging in campaign business beyond rare events is not allowed by government codes. The Department of Justice is charged with enforcing these codes. Neither Harris’ press office nor Barankin responded to multiple requests by telephone and e-mail to clarify whether or not he performed campaign work during normal business hours at the Department of Justice. Surely, the public has a right to know. After this story was published online, it was edited to reflect additional information regarding Barankin’s relationship to the Harris campaign.
Peter Byrne combines investigative reporting with science writing. He wrote a feature profile on Kamala Harris – The Kamala Contradiction – last month in American Consequences. Kamala remains at the top of the list of likely Democratic presidential candidates in 2020. Peter’s reporting has been recognized by Investigative Reporters & Editors, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Society of Professional Journalists. His books on strange physics, medical fraud, and political corruption are critically acclaimed. Based in Northern California, his work can be found at www.peterbyrne.info .
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