That Kamala was involved with him is remarkable only in that usually Willie was seen with a tall, leggy blonde, so she wasn't his type.

Most of his mistresses he would find government jobs for -- when he was speaker of the house, Willie had over 1000 full time "aides", but they weren't primarily mistresses, most were pure political patronage positions, to keep the power base growing. Brown was in absolute control of the Assembly,

"In many ways, the Speaker of the Assembly, in pure politics, may have more power than the Governor. . . . Willie has an awful lot of power, and none of the headaches of being governor.
Ed Meese
Chief of Staff to Governor Ronald Reagan, 1967–1975"

To understand how he ran things, just imagine a pyramid of patronage with Brown on top:

The party cost $250,000 to stage, but not a cent came out of Brown's pocket. Brown raised the money from corporations, trade groups, and others with business in the Legislature. The food and booze also came free of charge: California wineries delivered a truckload crammed with one hundred cases of wine. San Francisco's best eateries, the finest on earth, provided delicacies to match. "I am hell-bent on enjoying every minute of my life," Brown proclaimed in an interview with GQ magazine. "So I do not mistreat myself. I make very few sacrifices. I live my dreams."

Not everyone was impressed with Brown's stupendous excess. David Roberti peevishly stayed away, giving his ticket to a Burbank city council-woman. The prickly Senate leader was in a snit over Brown listing himself on the invitation as "Speaker of the Legislature." Roberti fulminated that the Legislature had two houses and Brown was Speaker of only one. "You should bill yourself accordingly," Roberti huffed in a letter to the Speaker.

Roberti was technically correct; Brown was the leader of only one house of one branch of state government. But nobody that night cared about Roberti's civics lesson, much less his pride. In the world of politics, there really was only one Speaker of the Legislature, and that was Willie Brown.

He was the most powerful politician in the Capitol, and arguably in the entire state. Willie Brown was more than that; he was the P.T. Barnum of California politics, the best show in a state that relentlessly produced bland, blow-dried political leaders.

Brown's flamboyance, however, hid another reality. The bashes were one more method for Brown to spin his web of power, tying other politicians, interests groups, campaign donors, and power brokers to himself. Lobbyists, corporate executives, and union officials paid for everything so that they could don a tuxedo or a formal gown and rub elbows with Brown and his friends.

Brown was allegedly "treating" them to his party, and everyone played along with the facade. The end result was the same. Those who wrote checks expected, and got, the attention of the Speaker and a place at the negotiating table when the party was over. Brown got their money and used it to fuel an election machine that kept his friends and allies elected to the Assembly. His friends, in turn, kept him elected Speaker.

The whole edifice was based on a simple principle: keeping Assembly members happy. As long as Brown could keep forty-one members happy, he could remain Speaker. As long as he was Speaker, the checks kept coming, and Assembly members remained happy.

"Don't ever misread me—ever," Brown once said in the middle of a challenge to his leadership. "I always have forty-one votes. Always." Few understood or appreciated how accurate he was.

https://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft0m3n...

After he was term limited out -- and that proposition was basically written against him (which is why it also reduced the number of "aides") -- he became mayor of San Francisco and got a reduced allotment of about 100 mayor appointed positions and that's where Kamala came into the picture, no doubt working it to get a position in the DAs office. But in fairness to her, it would be hard to get any valuable position in SF unless Willie signed off.

Look at any notable CA politician and they are one or at most two steps away from Willie and his machine. They all owe Willie something.

When it comes to playing politics, Brown’s protégés learned from the best. In Sacramento, opponents complained he routinely flouted conflict-of-interest laws, representing clients who had business in the capital, but FBI investigations went nowhere, earning him the nickname “Slick Willie,” a moniker Brown wore proudly. He also called himself the “ayatollah of Sacramento” — vote with him, and you were rewarded with perks. Cross him, and you were banished to a basement office. Brown’s escapades were so infamous that, after meeting Brown in 1992, future president Bill Clinton quipped, “Now I’ve met the real Slick Willie.”
https://www.marinatimes.com/dpw-boss-mohammed-nuru-finally-s...

For a long time, almost nothing happened in California that he didn't have his hands in, and a good chunk of what did happen was used to either line his pocket or cement his power, and sometimes both. Brown would find a way to do both with remarkable ease.

The position of SF mayor was almost retirement for him, and it came at just the right time, when the city was booming with dot-com money, going on a building spree, and Willie set up a special power group consisting of the city's biggest tech companies that he would meet with -- something like the old Phoenix Forty, in order to keep the gravy train going. My guess is that a big reason why SF became popular with techies is because of Willie wrangled them to increase office space there. In the beginning, all the tech was in sunnyvale/MV, and didn't really go up to SF. SF was where the techies would drive to in order to party on weekends, but the office was a big campus in Santa Clara county. Willie played a big role in changing that, as well in remodelling the cap on city hall, emblazoning it with gold (probably brass, but the symbolism was clear - gold rush!).

Here is a pic of Brown and his Fundraiser (who became baby-mama in 1999):

https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/LOVE-AND-MONEY-Mayor...

But his current gf is Sonya Molodetskaya, however at this point I'm not sure she does more than keep him warm at night, like King David in his twilight years. Sonya became a fasion icon in SF and I think became an editor of some magazine, but not sure.

https://heavy.com/news/2019/01/sonya-molodetskaya-willie-bro...

In dot-com 2.0, sniffing opportunity again, he also ended up on the boards or as a paid consultant for some of the ride-sharing outfits.

I remember seeing Willie a few times when he was mayor. He would spend a lot of time attending high class parties or driving down market street or some other notable street like Haight in his limo, with the Brioni suits, a cigar, and the current blonde. Music blasting, sometimes talking to people out of his limo. Also known for the hats. It was like a cartoon.

But the guy has a joie-de-vivre and fantastic political instincts. He knows the system better than anyone else, and played it like a fiddle. And the machine he set up is still going -- if you want to build something or bid on something, you better pass a white envelope to someone who owes Willie. That machine will keep going long after he's dead. Last I checked, he had his own column in the Chronicle, "Willie’s World", doing political commentary.

The FBI has tried multiple times to hit the machine. Once during the "shrimp boy" scandal, they got a wiretap and recorded some of the conversations by the officials:

"You got to pay to play here. We got it. We know this. We are the best at this game … better than New York"
https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/in-shrimp-boy-drama-connecti...

But nothing ever happened except a few low-level officials. And after the election of 2020, no more indictments have been handed out. Willie Brown wins again.

https://www.marinatimes.com/the-city-family-is-a-machiavelli...

https://www.marinatimes.com/cronyism-is-still-alive-and-well...