“Legislature of 1,000 Drinks”

California’s first legislative session in 1849 has become known as “the Legislature of 1,ooo Drinks, thanks to the famous sh0uted urgings of Sen. Thomas Jefferson Green, a Texas transplant, who upon recess would say:

“Well boys, let’s go and take a drink, 1,000 drinks.”

History is silent as to how close his colleagues got to goal set by Green, who carried the bill creating the University of California.

But those first 52 lawmakers – 36 Assemblymen, 16 senators – did far more than simply drink.

Here’s how Nat B. Read in his biography of Don Benito Wilson, who went from mountain man to Read more »

More

Fitting Jerry Brown Honors Ronald Reagan Since Reagan Aided Brown’s Political Career

For the  third time in as many years, Gov. Jerry Brown declares February 6 to be Ronald Reagan Day in California. To wit:

“From his humble Midwestern origins, through a successful career in Hollywood, and on to the highest offices in his state and country, Ronald Reagan lived the California dream. 

“On this 102nd anniversary of his birth, we remember not only his most celebrated achievements—his successful diplomacy with Mikhail Gorbachev and the economic recovery that occurred under his presidency. We also remember the turbulent years of his governorship, during which he proved his ability to manage the affairs of Read more »

More

Remembering John Quimby

John Phillip Quimby, a craggy Capitol fixture for five decades first as a legislator and then a lobbyist for the Inland Empire, died December 23, 2012 of complications from pneumonia. He was 77.

A Democratic Assemblyman from 1962 to 1974, he subsequently lobbied for the counties he previously represented, San Bernardino and Riverside. 

“Politics is a game of addition – not subtraction,” Quimby was fond of saying.

Quimby was 28 when he began his first term, becoming the youngest person to win election to the lower house at the time. Previously, he was elected to the San Bernardino City Council at 22, the youngest person to serve on Read more »

More

The Case of the Stolen Overcoat

The California Assembly’s Indomitable John Quimby Had a Lion’s Build, a Cheery Wit and a Hound’s Tooth Coat He Didn’t Own

By James R. Mills

San Diego Magazine, December 1983 

“Hire the handicapped,” John Quimby used to say. “They’re fun to watch.”

Upon his arrival in Sacramento in 1962, John had become the most popular member of the State Assembly, partly because he carried on so cheerfully and indomitably in spite of his own handicap.

He was the first paraplegic ever to serve in the California Legislature, having been paralyzed from the waist down by polio as Read more »

More

Who GIves a F*CK About “Hope” Anyway?

The card at left and below adorned the tables at a December 14 Birthday Party for California Democratic Party Chair John Burton, who turned 80 the following day. Burton, former president pro tempore of the state Senate and longtime San Francisco Assemblyman, expressed gratitude and a measure of surprise at reaching the milestone. 

Brainstorming and bankrolling of the handbills is the work of a member of Congress who chooses to remain anonymous.

(Numbered, autographed lithographs no doubt will be available through the state Democratic Party in 2013.)

-30-

More

Happy Birthday UNICEF!

UNICEF – the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund — was created on December 11, 1946.

Since then, the acronym jhas remained the same by the name has changed to the United Nations Children’s Fund.

Originally, UNICEF provided food, clothes and medical care for children in countries devastated by World War II.

Over the past 66 years, it has evolved into a provider of humanitarian aid in stricken and developing nations.

Among the goals it works for are improved child nutrition, health, and education opportunities.

In 2010, the organization reported income of nearly $3.7 billion, primarily through contributions by countries and individuals. Income was $1.1 billion Read more »

More

From Whom Gilroy Gets Its Name

Gilroy is named for California’s first non-Spanish permanent settler, John Gilroy.

The Scottish seaman from Inverness was actually born John Cameron. Gilroy was his mother’s maiden name, which he substituted for Cameron presumably to avoid detection.

The History of Santa Clara County published in 1881 by Alley, Bowen & Co. of San Francisco describes Gilroy as “six feet in his stockings, as straight as an arrow, broad in the shoulders, a well-proportioned frame, with a keen eye, wide forehead, and lowering brow.

“He was gifted with considerable intelligence and, though not having the advantage of an early scholastic training, Read more »

More

Mike Kahl, Influential and Respected Sacramento Lobbyist, Dead at 71

Mike Kahl, one of Sacramento’s most effective and influential lobbyists for more than a quarter century died November 18 of Parkinson’s disease. He was 71.

Principled, strategic and tenacious, Kahl and his partner Fred Pownall, built one of the most respected and one of the biggest grossing lobbying firms in Sacramento, representing the oil industry, water districts, and timber concerns, among many other clients.

Kahl pioneered a lobbying style grounded more in the policy of an issue than in political contacts.  He was successful at it because, in most cases, he had studied the homework twice while his opponents were Read more »

More

Seven Score and Nine Years Ago…

On November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln delivered two-minutes of remarks — around 270 words — to some 15,000 listeners at the dedication of a new national military cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

Although the morning was foggy and bleak, by noon the sun broke through bathing the crowd that gathered on a hill overlooking the battlefield where, from July 1 to July 3 Confederate and Union forces met in a bloody confrontation that generated the most casualties of any battle in the war and made the South’s eventual defeat certain.

A military band played. A local preacher gave a lengthy invocation.

The headliner at the Read more »

More

Happy Birthday Governor Gillett!

James Norris Gillett — born on September 20, 1860 – became the GOP nominee for governor in 1906 through a deal cut between party bosses and Southern Pacific Railroad. 

As a consequence, the imposing six foot four, 240-pound lawyer was dogged throughout his four-year term as being the railroad’s vassal. He was the last governor politically anointed by the seemingly all-powerful railroad.  

Gillett’s orchestrated selection, combined with Southern Pacific’s unfettered sway in both houses of the Legislature, became the springboard that launched the Progressive movement in California, fueled in part by Gillett’s predecessor, George Pardee who was denied a second term by Read more »

More