ISSUE NO. 6 August 18, 2003 OUR 82nd YEAR
www.RotaryClubofSantaMonica.org
IT WAS AN AUGUST GROUP FOR THIS AUGUST MEETING.
Standing in for the PresiDEEnt this week was the sling-free LIONEL RUHMAN. Giving a sneak peak at his upcoming year, barring any recall effort from the peanut gallery, RUHMAN lead us through a timely meeting on election laws. The ever inspirational WILLIAM CROOKSTON, was our invocateur with a quote from Thomas Merton, sharing the light was GEORGE COLLINS. Welcoming our guests and fellow Rotarians was DICK LAWRENCE, our speaker COLLEEN MCANDREWS was introduced by that man about town and local attorney TOM LARMORE.
Ms. McANDREWS was kind enough to take time away from her hectic schedule at the moment, and give us a most interesting speech on the history of election laws in the state of California. She herself seems to have led quite an interesting life in the political world. As a minority at Berkeley, she was a Republican after all, her major was history, and in a bit of historical coincidence, she wrote her thesis on Hiram Johnson, the man who is credited with the Referendum/Recall amendment for California, which is keeping her busy these days, working with possibly the next governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
She pointed out that this was not the first time by any means that a recall effort had been waged against a sitting governor, Reagan, Jerry Brown, and Pete Wilson all had recall campaigns started against them. What makes this one remarkable, is the fact that it is so successful. The campaign needed 900,000 or so valid voter signatures, so the campaign collectors wanted to collect 1.3 million to make sure they met their requirements, they were able to collect over 1.6 million.
The current governors approval ratings are lower than Nixon’s BEFORE he resigned.
It is not certain who will be the governor once all the votes are counted, which McANDREWS expected to take about two or three weeks, due to the absentee ballots.
Our second speaker was the youthful and ebullient JON KEMP, who gave a rousing speech on politics also.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
The Gotta Go Group (GGG) wants to sign up 30 people for their trip September 23rd to the Aquarium of the Pacific. This is a Tuesday trip for those who can take the day off.
LIONEL’S slings were off, but luckily he didn’t put on the boxing gloves, so we had no fines this week. He did however have a couple of pithy quotes from that raconteur extraordinaire, WILL ROGERS.
UPCOMING EVENTS
August 22 we have a presentation from Steve Soboroff, president of Playa Vista, one of the nation’s most significant multi-use land projects and is working to deliver an innovative project that respects the environment, meets community needs and establishes parks and environmental protections.
He served as president of the Recreation and Parks Commission from 1995 to 2001. In addition, he helped spearhead the Alameda Corridor Project and the Staples Center.
Soboroff holds Bachelor and Masters Degrees in Insurance and Real Estate from the University of Arizona. He resides in Pacific Palisades, with his wife Patti and their five children.
DAVID’S DOODLINGS
"Divide and rule, the politician cries;
Unite and lead, is the watchword of the wise."
-Goethe
---------
Once a group of attorneys visiting Washington, D.C. called on then Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis. Brandeis inquired about the reason for their visit.
The leader of the group answered, “To see the government in action.”
“Is that one word or two?” asked Justice Brandeis