Slightly More than 2/3 of a Good Time with Mark Leno

by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

So, I'm sitting at lunch yesterday when I see a certain Mark Leno staffer call me. I ignore it because I'm in the middle of a meeting for SF Young Dems. Another call. I ignore it again. He calls a third time, and I finally pick it up.

So, he invites me up to the debate in Rohnert Park between Sen. Migden and Asm. Leno in the Leno campaign bus. Aka, Asm. Leno's car. So, I run back home and grab my computer (gotta have that, you know). I then run back onto MUNI to meet the staffer  and the Assemblyman at a parking garage on Mission. All fun stuff, there.

So, on the way up, I take my conference call with the Speaker and half-listen. Now, I'm a pretty good multi-tasker, so I really had few problems actually getting both conversations. But one thing that I did miss was the line about this budget not being a Republican budget -- referring to a line in a George Skelton story.  But when you get down to it, this budget seems pretty darn close to a Republican budget. It's hard to imagine a less progressive budget coming out of a Dem Legislature.

But, we continue driving, and I learn some cool things about the Assemblyman. Did you know that Mark Leno used to work for Art Garfunkel? Yup, the lesser-know half of Simon and Garfunkel. It's true. Mark Leno helped Art Garfunkel to break out of S&G and skyrocket to superstardom. Oh, um, right...just flip it... Oh, and for more 2/3 goodness, check out Assemblyman Leno's op-ed in the Chronicle.
So, we're driving through the streets of the Rohnert Park area, pretty place, that Rohnert Park, and we keep going. The GPS tells us to keep going and make a right, and then three more rights. And guess what? We're back on the street that we were on before, now trying to make a left with no stop light. It turns out we really could have just made a left (with the light) a few blocks before where we originally turned right, but, um, I guess the GPS likes fun drives through subdivisions. I dunno, but I just hope nothing like that picture happens to the Assemblyman, you know getting your car stuck in a tree by listening to GPS. Anyway, beyond the detour, no poor driving decisions were made. In fact, I'd be happy for Mr. Leno to chauffeur me every day.

So, we eventually get to the forum location, an old business park that is going to be converted into a housing development using smart growth and green technologies. I think that's cool, but apparently nobody bothered to tell them that there is no frickin' way to get there without sitting in traffic for like 2 hours. The roads are narrow, so that's one issue, and the people will likely be commuting back to at least Santa Rosa, possibly San Francisco. That's far.  But, on the plus side, the development will be high-density, like 8 stories or something like that. You can get more info about Sonoma Mountain Village here. Ok, that's all well and good...

When I got there, I was standing in the corner with my backpack when Senator Migden came up to me and asked if I was working for the enemy. I said no, I was a blogger who wrote about California politics and, um, unfortunately, nobody pays me. *sigh* It's interesting, because I've kinda told her this like, I dunno, 10 times. I understand that she's busy and meets a lot of people, but, um, can we cease the accusatory overtones?  However, I will cut her some slack, as I did come out of Asm. Leno's car. How would she know that I was trailing the Asm. for the blog, not because, um, he's paying me.

So, the debate, was um, the debate.  Senator Migden was peppy! She told the crowd to get some pep into you! Which, is always interesting, considering that this was, shall we say, a pretty mixed age crowd.  But, they asked some good questions. Answers were what you would expect, you know, nothing too crazy, nothing to rock the boat really. You know, they both support affordable housing and Debra Bowen. The moderator praised them both before the concluding remarks for their good behavior. So Asm. Leno concluded with remarks about the importance of ethics, and how politicians must work to ensure that they do everything to obey laws and to conduct themselves as role models.  Then, Sen. Migden kind of went, um, excited! Yes, she was very enthusiastic to talk about her car accident, and how it wasn't her fault. To me, it seemed like someone doth protest too much.

The way home seemed a lot quicker. I'm guessing that's because it was. Traffic clears out once you get past that magical 7 hour or whatever, and we cruised back home. The conversation was light and cheery. We talked about all the inside baseball stuff that so delights um, me, and like 3 other people. But, you know, I find it interesting. So there! Oh and he offered me a protein bar from his personal stash of protein bars. I declined, mostly because I had spent ten of the final twenty minutes stuffing my face with junk food. I tell you what, the No-name Woman's Club really knows how to throw down a spread!

At the end of the evening, he dropped me off at my house. What service! Certainly, it was 2/3 of a blast.