As promised in public statements prior to his election on Nov. 3, Rep. John Garamendi, D-Walnut Grove, has scheduled the first of three in-person town halls before the end of the year.

He invites constituents to join him at a brownbag lunch town hall in Livermore on Thursday from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m.at City Hall, 3575 Pacific Ave., Livermore. (It’s not a telephone town hall; you can come and see him in person.)

Prior to the town hall, Garamendi will meet with local transportation and elected officials

Two of the other town halls will be held on Dec. 5 and Dec. 12. The times and locations will be announced when they have been finalized.

A listing of upcoming political events in the East Bay:

Pleasant Hill

Court Appointed Special Advocates, or CASA, Executive Director Charles Mead will speak Thursday on the impacts of state budget cuts on foster children.

The free presentation is sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Diablo Valley, Interfaith Council of Contra Costa and the social justice committee of Christ The King Catholic Church.

It begins at 7 p.m. at the Christ The King church’s parish hall, rooms A and B, 199 Brandon St. in Pleasant Hill.

Refreshments will be served after the talk.

Blackhawk

Former FBI agent Donald Noel, who worked on high-profile cases such as the kidnapping of Patricia Hearst, is the featured speaker at the Thursday meeting of the Blackhawk Republican Women.

Noel also investigated the Weathermen Underground, the hijacking of a PSA flight by Bulgarian terrorists, the disappearance of Teamster President James Hoff and others.

The recipient of the Attorney General’s Award of Distinguished Service will speak on “Domestic Terrorism: William Ayers and the Media’s Refusal to Make the Connection.”

Admission is $25 per person. The event begins at 5:30 p.m. at the Blackhawk Country Club, 599 Blackhawk Club Drive in Danville.

For information, e-mail rlyons1009@sbglobal.net or call 925-820-6452.

Orinda

Linguistics expert and UC-Berkeley professor George Lakoff will speak at the Nov. 12 meeting of the Lamorinda Democratic Club about his ballot initiative that would eliminate the two-thirds voting requirement for a state budget or new taxes.

Lakoff wrote “Don’t Think of an Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate” and “The Political Mind: Why You Can’t Understand 21st-Century American Politics with an 18th-Century Brain.”

The social hour begins at 6:30 followed by the club’s business meeting at 7:30 and Lakoff’s presentation at 8 p.m.

Admission is $5 per person and it is open to the public.

The group meets at the Orinda Community Church, 10 Irwin Way in Orinda. For more information, call 925-210-7337 or visit lamorindademoclub.org.

Orinda

Republican lieutenant governor candidate and state Sen. Jeff Denham, R-Merced, is the featured speaker at the Nov. 19 meeting of the Lamorinda Republican Women Federated.

Social hour begins at 11:30 a.m. followed by lunch at noon and the speaker at 12:30 p.m.

Admission is $25 for lunch or $15 for the speaker only. It will be held at the Orinda Country Club, 315 Camino Sobrante in Orinda.

For information, contact Elsie Euing at 925-254-8617.

Victor Fazio

Former Congressman Victor Fazio will speak on lessons from the health care debate as part of the free 2009-2010 Matsui Lecture Series on Nov. 3 at 4 p.m.

Fazio represented the Sacramento area from 1979-1999.

The event will held in the Lipman Room at Barrows Hall on the UC-Berkeley campus.

A reception will follow.

Click here to register.

Read on for the press release with additional details about the event. Read the rest of this entry »

Here are a few upcoming political events in the East Bay that might interest you:

Orinda

Organizing for America’s California Political Director Peggy Moore is the keynote speaker at the Oct. 16 meeting of the Lamorinda Democratic Club.

Moore will offers details about operations of the group, which is the successor organization to Obama for America and a project of the Democratic National Committee.

The organization advocates for progressive policies in the areas of health care, energy and education.

Before joining Organizing for America, Moore was the Northern California field director for Health Access and the outreach coordinator with Lavender Seniors of the East Bay.

The meeting is open to the public. The club’s general meeting begins at 7:30 p.m., followed by the speaker at 8 p.m.

It will be held at the Orinda Community Church, 10 Irwin Way, Orinda. The cost is $5 per person and students are free.

For more information, call 925-210-7337 or visit lamorindademoclub.org.

Concord

The Contra Costa Democratic Party will host on Oct. 24 an opportunity to participate in the California Budget Challenge.

Sponsored by the nonpartisan Next 10 policy think tank, participants will make choices about how to pay for state schools, prisons and other state programs. (There’s also an online version.)

Audience members will register their selections via an instant electronic response system, and the results are tallied and presented on a large screen.

Next 10 budget experts will guide participants through the process, which will help residents see how legislators make decisions and the trade-offs required to balance the budget.

The free event will be held from 2-4 p.m. at the party’s offices at 2737 Clayton Road in Concord.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg

Lafayette

California Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg will speak at the Oct. 20 meeting of the Commonwealth Club on legislative gridlock.

Jerry Lubenow, managing editor of the California Journal of Politics and Policy at UC-Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies, will moderate the event.

Check-in starts at 5:30 p.m. followed by the program at 6:30 p.m. It will be held at the Veterans Memorial Hall, 3780 Mt. Diablo Blvd., Lafayette.

The cost is $12 for Commonwealth Club members, $18 for nonmembers and $7 for students.

For tickets, contact the Commonwealth Club at 415-597-6705 or register at www.commonwealthclub.org.

The five candidates in the Nov. 3 special general election to replace former East Bay Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher will participate in an Oct. 26 public forum at Saint Mary’s College.

In addition to the college, the event is sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Diablo Valley and the Contra Costa Times.

Tauscher was confirmed in June as Undersecretary for Arms Control and International Security in the U.S. State Department.

The candidates include Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, Democrat; David Harmer, Republican; Mary McIlroy, Peace and Freedom; Jeremy Cloward, Green Party; and Jerry Denham, American Independent.
The bulk of the 10th Congressional District is in Contra Costa County, with smaller segments in Solano, Alameda and Sacramento counties.

The bulk of the 10th Congressional District is in Contra Costa County, with smaller segments in Solano, Alameda and Sacramento counties. (Click here for a map of the district.)

I will moderate the forum and pose questions to the candidates submitted by members of the audience.

The free forum will be held from 7-9:30 p.m. at the Soda Activity Center at Saint Mary’s College of California, 1928 St. Mary’s Road, Moraga. (Click here for driving directions to the college.)

A video of the forum will also be made available at www.contracostatimes.com and air on local public access television stations.

CCTV will air the candidates’  forum on Oct. 30, 8 p.m.; Oct. 31, 11:30 a.m. and 8 p.m., and Nov. 1 at 7 p.m.

Here are some upcoming political events on the East Bay calendar:

Orinda
Former National Rifle Association President Sandra Froman is the featured speaker at the Oct. 15 luncheon of the Lamorinda Republican Women Federated.

Froman, the second woman to hold the post in the organization’s 136-year history, will speak on “Why the Second Amendment Keeps Us Free.”

Check-in begins at 11:30 a.m., followed by lunch at noon and the speaker. The event is open to the public and will be held at the Orinda Country Club, 315 Camino Sobrante in Orinda.

The lunch is open to the public at a cost of $25 per person or $15 for the speaker only.

For reservations, contact Elsie Euing at 925-254-8617.

Kensington
Jenn Pae, a young delegate for President Barack Obama, is the keynote speaker for the El Cerrito Democratic Club’s annual dinner set for Oct. 17.

Pae’s speech is titled “Is the Honeymoon Over? A Young Obama Delegate Looks Back and Ahead.”

The dinner will be held at 6 p.m. at the Arlington Community Church, 52 Arlington Ave., Kensington.

Advance tickets are $30 for adults and $10 for children age 12 and under. Prices at the door are $35 and $15 respectively.

For tickets, call 510-526-4874 or visit www.ecdclub.org.

Walnut Creek
Spiritual author and Peace Alliance founder Marianne Williamson will be the keynote speaker at the Mount Diablo Peace and Justice Center 40th anniversary celebration on Oct. 19.

The group will also honor its peace awards to area residents Arne Westerback, Louise Clark, Bon Hanson, Sheila Pedersen, Barbara and Ed Tonningsen.

The dinner gala will be held from 6-9 p.m. at Zio Fraedo’s restaurant, 611 Gregory Lane in Pleasant Hill at a cost of $70 per person.

The center is also offering, for an additional $50, tickets to private reception with Williamson at 5 p.m., which includes a signed copy of her latest book, “The Age of Miracles.”

To purchase tickets, contact the alliance at 925-933-7850 or www.mtdpc.org.

Walnut Creek
Author and Dr. Saul William Seidman will speak from a physician’s perspective at the Nov. 4 meeting of the Conservation Connection and Lamorinda Republican Women Federated.

Seidman, a neurosurgeon, is part of the group’s health care speaker series. He wrote “Inevitable Incompetence, Soaring Medical Costs, Dangerous Medical Care and Trillion Dollar Scam, Exploding Health Care Fraud.”

The event is open to the public and begins at 7 p.m. at The Gardens at Heather Farm Park, 1540 Marchbanks Drive in Walnut Creek. The cost is $10 per person.

For reservations, contact Phyllis Stout at 925-938-4098 or louisstout@comcast.net.

Iconic White House reporter Helen Thomas will speak at Mills College in Oakland on Oct. 12 with Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland.

Thomas is promoting her new book, “Listen Up, Mr. President: Everything You Always Wanted Your President To Know and Do.”

The free event is open to the public. Here are the details per the college’s press release:

Helen Thomas, the dean of the White House press corps will join Congresswoman and Mills College alumna Barbara Lee (Class of 1973) on Oct. 12 in a conversation to discuss Thomas’ 60 years of covering presidential politics. All members of the public are invited to this free event from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm at the Littlefield Concert Hall at Mills College.
In her latest book, “Listen Up, Mr. President: Everything You Always Wanted Your President to Know and Do” (Scribner, 2009), Thomas and her co-author Craig Crawford, offer their observations of the most powerful role in the country and advice to presidents and the public who vote for them.
Gleamed from her years of covering John F. Kennedy’s presidency to the current Obama administration, longer than any journalist working today, Thomas has collected valuable lessons to impart to future presidents. Part history and part practical advice with examples from the first presidency through the forty-fourth, the book reveals the qualities, attitudes, and political and personal choices that make for the most successful leaders.
“Why not share what we think with all future presidents, and in the process help voters understand a little more about what to look for when picking someone for the most powerful and challenging job in the world?” Thomas said.
Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Oakland) is chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus. Lee’s political experience began in Oakland in the early 1970s when she was president of the Mills’ Black Student Union and campaigned for Shirley St. Hill Chisholm, who became the first African American woman elected to Congress in 1968. Chisholm also ran for president in 1972.
The Barbara Lee Distinguished Chair in Women’s Leadership at Mills College, an endowed teaching position, was established in her honor for her leadership in human rights and social justice. Lee studied psychology at Mills College and has a master of social work from UC Berkeley. Mills awarded her an honorary doctor of laws degree in 1999.
Copies of Thomas’ book and Lee’s book, “Renegade for Peace and Justice,” will be available for purchase and signing following the presentation.
Nestled in the foothills of Oakland, California, Mills College is a nationally renowned, independent liberal arts college offering a dynamic progressive education that fosters leadership, social responsibility, and creativity to approximately 950 undergraduate women and 550 graduate women and men. Since 2000, applications to Mills College have more than doubled. The College is named one of the top colleges in the West by U.S. News & World Report, and ranks as one of the Best 371 Colleges by the Princeton Review. Forbes.com ranked Mills 55th among America’s best colleges and named it a “Top Ten: Best of the All-Women’s Colleges.” Visit us at www.mills.edu.

Here is a list of upcoming political events scheduled for the East Bay:

Lafayette

The Lafayette Flag Brigade will host on Sept. 11 its 8th annual 9/11 remembrance rally in Lafayette.The free program will take place from 3-8 p.m. at the El Curtola Bridge Overpass in Lafayette. The overpass is located off Highway 24 at the intersection of Pleasant Hill Road.

The event features what organizers describe as the largest overpass flag display in California, an updated “Wall of Honor,” live music performances and speakers from groups such as the Blue Star Moms and Operation Postcard.

The rally will also include an “Operation Welcome Home” display, video presentations, Scottish American Military Society bagpipers, Patriot Guard Riders Motorcycle Group, free commemorative American flags for children and a candlelight vigil at dusk.

For more information, call 925-212-9260 or 925-262-3307 or visit www.nevereverforget911.com
Moraga

White House adviser on faith-based organizations Eboo Patel will lecture Sept. 15 at Saint Mary’s College.

Patel, author of “Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation,” will speak as part of the college’s yearlong Interfaith Initiative project.

Patel is the founder and executive director of the Interfaith Youth Core, a Chicago-based institution dedicated to building a global interfaith youth movement. He was recently appointed by President Barack Obama to the Advisory Council of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships,

He will speak about “the necessity of interfaith engagement and how young people can help foster religious pluralism through shared values and service across the religious landscape,” according to the college.

The event is free and open to the public.

It begins at 7 p.m. at the Soda Activity Center, Saint Mary’s College, 1928 St. Mary’s Road in Moraga.

Walnut Creek

East Bay physicians Len Saputo and Lonnie Bristow will host a health care reform town hall forum on Sept. 16 in Walnut Creek.

The doctors are jointly sponsoring the event with the Health Medicine Forum, the Rossmoor Wellness Group and the Community Club of Rossmoor.

Bristow is the former president of the American Medical Association.

Saputo is the founder of the Health Medicine Forum and Health Medicine Center in Walnut Creek. Both men have practiced internal medicine for more than 40 years in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The event is open to the public and costs $5 per person.

It will be held from 7-10 p.m. in the Hoffman Theater at the Lesher Center for the Arts, 1601 Civic Drive in Walnut Creek.
Walnut Creek

Water experts will speak at the Sept. 16 meeting of the Diablo Valley Democratic Club about the problems facing the state.

Speakers include wildlife biologist and vice chairman of the Contra Costa Fish and Wildlife Committee Jim Hale, SaveDeltaFish.org founder Robert Johnson, Jr.; and Mindy MacIntyre, consultant for the state Senate select committee on Delta stewardship and sustainability.

The meeting is free and open to the public.

It begins at 7 p.m. at the  Ygnacio Valley Library, 2661 Oak Grove Road in Walnut Creek.

For information, call 925-946-0469 or visit www.dvdems.org.

Dublin

A panel will speak on health care reform at the Sept. 21 meeting of the Tri Valley Democratic Club.

Speakers include Ellen R. Shaffer, co-director of the Center for Policy Analysis;  Karl Keener, lawyer involved with volunteer community service; and Linda Leu, Northern California Regional Organizer of Health Access and Health Care for America Now.

The event is free and open to the public.

The program begins at 7:30 p.m. at the IBEW Hall, 6250 Village Parkway in Dublin.

For information, contact Ellis Goldberg at 925-831-8355 or Ellisg237@aol.com.
El Cerrito

West Contra Costa County United School District Superintendent Bruce Harter and United Teachers of Richmond President Pixie Hayward Schickele are the featured speakers at the Sept. 22 meeting of the El Cerrito Democratic Club.

The pair will speak on “Giving Education Top Priority in Tough Times.”

The event is open to the public.

The free program begins at 6:30 p.m. at the El Cerrito United Methodist Church, 6830 Stockton Ave., El Cerrito.

Doors open at 6 p.m. and light refreshments will be available along with pizza for $4 a person.

For questions or information, contact Kip Crosby at 510)-527-5953 or panterazero@gmail.com .

Willie Brown Jr.

Willie Brown Jr., the legendary former mayor of San Francisco and speaker of the California Assembly, will be the featured speaker at the Sept. 3 meeting of the Contra Costa County Mayors Conference.

San Ramon Mayor Abram Wilson traveled to San Francisco a few months ago, had lunch with Brown and successfully persuaded the famed California politician to come to Contra Costa. Brown is now a newspaper columnist, frequently quoted pundit and director of the Willie Brown Jr. Institute on Politics and Public Service.

The mayors conference is made up of the mayors of Contra Costa County cities and it rotates among its member cities monthly.

Brown’s speech is free and open to the public but it will cost $50 if you want to stay for dinner.

The conference meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. at the Bishop Ranch Business Park, No. 8, 3000 Executive Parkway, San Ramon.

The dinner begins at 8 p.m. To RSVP for the meal, contact Karen McHenry-Smith at ksmith@sanramon.ca.gov or call 925-973-2532 by 5 p.m. on Aug. 26.

Saturday, April 25 – The Northern California chapter of American Political Items Collectors will host a political memorabilia show from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Finnish Brotherhood Hall, 1970 Chestnut St. in Berkeley. Aside from lots of dealers, there’ll be free appraisals, a special display of Obama campaign collectibles and a live mini-auction at noon. Admission is $4, but free for kids or students with valid ID.

Sunday, April 26 – Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish, a Palestinian physician whose three daughters and niece were killed January 16 by Israeli shelling in Gaza, will speak about the reasons for his unwavering hope for peace between Israelis and Palestinians at 7 p.m. in Kehilla Community Synagogue, at 1300 Grand Ave. in Piedmont. The longtime peace advocate’s loss gained an international spotlight when he called into an Israeli television show during the attack. The event is co-sponsored by Kehilla, Americans for Peace Now, and the Bay Area chapter of Brit Tzedek v’Shalom. The suggested donation is $10 to $20, but nobody will be turned away for lack of funds.

Thursday, April 30 — American Civil Liberties Union executive director Anthony Romero will speak on “The Urgency of Action in the Age of Obama” at 6 p.m., preceded by a 5:30 p.m. reception, at the Commonwealth Club of California’s office on the second floor of 595 Market St. (at Second) in San Francisco. Romero says that while the first months of Obama’s presidency have been marked by considerable change, if the threats to civil liberties are not addressed, America’s future may be more imperiled than previously believed. Tickets cost $12 for club members, $18 for nonmembers and $7 for students with valid identification, and are available online.

Thursday, May 7 – Former Assembly Speaker and former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown will give his annual critique of state and national political trends at 6 p.m., preceded by a 5:30 p.m. reception, in the Commonwealth Club of California’s office on the second floor of 595 Market St. (at Second) in San Francisco. This event is open only to club members at $12 per ticket, each of whom can bring one guest at $18 per ticket; tickets are available online.