Sen. Barbara Boxer plans to vacate her California Senate seat in the next few years, and the Democrats are looking for the Next Great Hope of the party to step into her wildly outdated sensible heels. Although rumors have flown about that Michelle Obama is angling for the job (with the Obama Library going to Chicago, but the Obama’s decidedly not, Palm Springs is still on the roster as potential post-Presidential digs), she hasn’t formed any committees or coffee klatches that would lead me to believe she’s serious just yet.
In her place, the Democrats have arranged the coronation of Kamala Harris, the bright young multi-racial California Attorney General who caught the eye of the President (literally) last year, and whose progressive credentials have made her a darling of the Party (she was even given a key speaking slot at at the 2012 DNC). She’s widely credited with whipping California into shape (or, as “into shape” as California could ever be), but it seems she missed something very important happening right under her nose that might cost her her privileged status.
According to the LA Times, Kamala Harris’s Deputy Director of Community Affairs is now being accused of operating a “rogue police force” that claims to be a 3,000-year-old fraternal organization operating with extra-judicial authority.
An aide to state Atty. Gen. Kamala D. Harris and two others are accused of operating a rogue police force that claimed to exist for more than 3,000 years and have jurisdiction in 33 states and Mexico, authorities said Tuesday.
Brandon Kiel, David Henry and Tonette Hayes were arrested last week on suspicion of impersonating a police officer through their roles in the Masonic Fraternal Police Department, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department…
Suspicions about the Masonic Fraternal Police Department — whose members trace their origins to the Knights Templar — were aroused when various police chiefs in Southern California received a letter in late January that announced new leadership for the group, sheriff’s officials said.
After the letters were mailed, a man claiming to be Kiel and describing himself as the police force’s “chief deputy director” called various law enforcement agencies to schedule in-person meetings, sheriff’s officials said.
Although California officials have no idea what the group was actually doing or what it hoped to accomplish, they do know that it was well outfitted for the task. A search of two sites in Santa Clara revaled a cache of weapons and badges, full uniforms and “law enforcement paraphernalia,” which the group was using for… something. Apparently, this was all very well hidden, though, since Kiel interacted with the public on a daily basis and yet no one had any idea that he was actually the select leader of an elite, ancient band special operations forces, charged with protecting and serving the people of California.
Frankly, this would all be more exciting if Kiel was Batman. As it stands, the story falls short of the expectations we’ve come to attribute to urban vigilantes.
