Trump Had Roy Cohn, Bobbie Singh-Allen Had Harmeet Dhillon and a Party Label With a Return Policy
Before she ran Donald Trump’s Civil Rights Division, Dhillon was a San Francisco lawyer who had clients like Elk Grove Mayor Bobbie Singh-Allen
Harmeet Dhillon is out at the U.S. Justice Department, the first senior official there to leave after Republicans got clobbered in the midterms. Before she ran Donald Trump’s Civil Rights Division, Dhillon was a San Francisco lawyer, a California GOP vice chair and, in a line on her résumé that probably got less attention at the White House, Bobbie Singh-Allen’s attorney.
Donald Trump had Roy Cohn. Bobbie Singh-Allen had Harmeet Dhillon. Every political operation gets the legal talent appropriate to its operating philosophy.
In 2010, Dhillon and another lawyer represented Singh-Allen in a lawsuit (see filing below) against MV Transportation, Elk Grove's bus service provider. Singh-Allen advised the company on Elk Grove politics, alleging it had shared a confidential email she wrote about a city council member’s fundraiser.
Read the 2010 Elk Grove News story.
She sought more than $1 million and later dismissed the case with prejudice. In Elk Grove, apparently, the most expensive thing you can do with an email is hit “Forward.”
But the more revealing transaction involved Singh-Allen’s party affiliation. She was a Republican when being a Republican made sense in Elk Grove. Then Elk Grove changed, and she became a Democrat.
That’s the Trump resemblance. His first question about any political position is what it can do for him.
Singh-Allen's switch invites the same question in reverse. What would she have done if Elk Grove had stayed Republican?
My bet is she’d still be a Republican, and we’d be hearing about the deep convictions that kept her there.
Dhillon, meanwhile, brought her own sense of priorities to Washington. Her division dropped discrimination cases while pursuing voter rolls and university investigations.
Federal agents killed Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. The division oversaw investigations into both deaths, and neither has produced criminal charges. Somehow, when the government wanted a state’s voter file, everyone knew where to find a lawyer.
If Dhillon goes back into private practice, there’s a career opportunity right here. She could offer the mayor a Roy Cohn–inspired litigation boutique.
Dhillon finds the lawsuits, Singh-Allen picks the letterhead, and opposing counsel gets an opening demand with enough zeroes to make the settlement look like a civic discount.
They can print the business cards in red and blue. Save a little money next time the city's political landscape changes.
