More trouble for Kamala: Nina Simone's granddaughter accuses her of taking away the family's estate
I wonder why this story is appearing now. With Joe Biden's doddering performance at the G7 and pathetic inability to share a press conference with Putin, Kamala Harris looks even closer to occupying the Oval Office. But her own performance in office is arguably even worse. Is someone greasing the skids to ease her out so Democrats will have a more electable candidate in 2024?
Evie Fordham of Fox News reports:
Legendary singer Nina Simone's granddaughter accused Vice President Kamala Harris of causing the family to lose control of Simone's estate while Harris was California attorney general.
Nina’s granddaughter here. My family doesn’t run her estate anymore. It was taken away from us & given to white people. Our family name was DRAGGED in the media. We get NO royalties, nothing. Wanna hold someone accountable?Ask Kamala Harris why she came for my family #NinaSimone https://t.co/mMXOz7iLxn
— RéAnna Simone Kelly (@reasiimone) June 19, 2021
Y’all, I deleted the rest of this thread due to me needing to contact my family and see how we all felt about me publicly speaking about this since it has to do with all of us. Now that I’ve done that, I feel more comfortable speaking my truth openly and freely.
— RéAnna Simone Kelly (@reasiimone) June 19, 2021
As I said before, Ask her why she separated my family. Ask her why my grandmothers estate is in SHAMBLES now. Ask her why we as her family no longer own the rights to anything. Ask her why she bullied my mother in court and my mom almost killed herself from the depression.
— RéAnna Simone Kelly (@reasiimone) June 19, 2021
A 2016 settlement regarding the Nina Simone Charitable Trust refers to Harris multiple times for her "primary responsibility for supervising charitable trusts in California" as state attorney general.
"The Attorney General asserts that [Lisa Simone] Kelly breached her fiduciary duty to the Estate and to the Charitable Trust and wrongfully diverted Estate assets. The Attorney General seeks to surcharge Kelly for amounts totaling $5,937,749.42 plus over $2.5 million in interest, which the Attorney General contends is far more than one-half of the Estate's value during [Lisa Simone] Kelly's administration of the Estate," the settlement reads.
I have no knowledge of the case whatsoever and cannot comment on the merits of the argument made against Harris. It is possible her actions were perfectly justified. But I have read of instances of abuse of estates where politically connected people end up reaping enormous fees after courts intervene.
The politically interesting issue is, why are skeletons in Harris's closet emerging now? This story was broken by The Daily Beast, a lefty house organ. Maybe it is just one person grumbling, but we'll see what scrutiny of Harris's actions comes up with.
Does Kamala Harris even have a base? She couldn't get double digits in presidential campaign polling in her home state. Being given the thankless job of border czar makes it look as though she doesn't have a lot of friends in the White House.
Hillary Clinton, like Harris, is a phony, has an annoying cackle, and achieved a political career by sleeping with the right man (albeit with benefit of clergy and no big age gap). But Hillary Clinton did have a sizable base of fans in the public and political allies of weight and competence. Why doesn't Harris come even close to that? Is it because she is stupid? Naturally, she and others would blame it on race, but seriously, how many people care about a mixed Tamil-Afro-Caribbean person's race?
Photo credit: Gage Skidmore.
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