Courtesy photo

Kamala Harris

Kamala D. Harris, the San Francisco district attorney who is running for state attorney general, accused her Republican opponent, Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley, of hypocrisy on Thursday after a report revealed that he had received fraudulent contributions in 2003 and 2004 from a Glendale, Calif., businessman.

According to an LA Weekly article published Thursday, Cooley received thousands of dollars in 2003 from Gladwin Gill and phony donors associated with Gill, even as Cooley was simultaneously waging a public campaign to root out Los Angeles donors who skirted campaign contribution limits by funneling funds through “straw” donors.

Gill, an active Republican giver, pled guilty to campaign-finance fraud in federal court in 2008 after acknowledging to investigators that he had made $67,000 in illegal contributions to federal campaigns between 2003 and 2005. But Gill’s involvement in local races — including Cooley’s re-election in 2004 — was never investigated by Cooley’s office, although Cooley had launched a high-profile effort against campaign-finance fraud, the Weekly reported.

On Thursday, the Harris campaign accused Cooley of selectively prosecuting Democrats and called for outside investigators to examine whether Cooley was intentionally overlooking Gill’s illegal activities. Averell “Ace” Smith, a consultant for Harris, called on Cooley to “immediately return all of the contributions” stemming from Gill.

“Here’s a man who has claimed his career on corruption busting and he doesn’t have the moral fortitude to go ahead and investigate this case,” said Smith. “It appears that when the same things happens under his own roof, no one even notices.”

In response, Cooley’s campaign said that Cooley's office did not know about Gill's contributions, and that Cooley was "not aware of any federal charges brought against" Gill.

"The real question here is, would the DA’s office have pursued an investigation if a formal complaint was filed?" said Kevin Spillane, Cooley's campaign manager. "The answer is yes, but no formal complaint was filed."

Spillane called allegations of impropriety coming from the Harris camp a "smear not only against Cooley but the professionals in the DA's office who have an incredible record" on fighting corruption.

Cooley’s ethical record has come under fire in recent weeks, most recently after the San Francisco Chronicle showed that he received thousands of dollars in gifts over nine years — including $1,600 in Lakers basketball tickets, designer Italian suits and cigars — even though none of the gifts ever proved to be illegal.

At the time, Spillane defended the gifts, telling the Chronicle, "He and his wife have a lot of friends, and that's what you're seeing, him taking gifts from close personal friends."

Still, Harris’ campaign has pounced on the opportunity to taint the Republican’s image.

“It’s cognac and cigars, it’s like an old-time politician from what, Jersey?” said Harris' campaign manager Brian Brokaw.

Correction: Due to an editing error, a previous version of this story incorrectly stated that Gladwin Gill was from Glendale, Ariz. He is from Glendale, Calif.