Viewing the Treasures of California’s State Archives

October celebrates California’s State Archives. As part of the celebration, reporters were allowed into areas of the archives closed to the public, including a vault containing the most significant treasures.

Among the treasures are English copies of California’s 1849 constitution and its 1879 constitution which was signficantly revised after a constitutional convention that concluded the same year.    Read more »

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High Time To Celebrate California Archives Month

October is California Archives Month, a celebration of one of the Golden State’s great treasures.

The archives, which once were shoehorned into a Roseville warehouse, now are housed mainly at the California History Museum on 10th and O Streets in Sacramento. Many of the exhibits in the museum are items from the archives, which contains far more than just records of the official acts of the Legislature and the executive branch.    Read more »

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Guest Post: Pete McCloskey on His Friend, Jerry Waldie

(Pete wrote this essay a week or so before Jerry died and showed it to Jerry, who loved it. It will be appearing in this week’s Mountain Democrat. Best — Helen McCloskey)

There is a man amongst us who, like one of the ancient Redwoods, stands taller than most.

His name is Jerry Waldie.    Read more »

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Jerry Waldie…In His Own Words

(Jerry Waldie was a thinker, among many other things. He enjoyed expressing those thoughts in the elegant, somewhat mannered language of his era. Below are two pieces, an essay and a personal reflection. The essay, on the hypocrisy of the Republican reaction to President Obama’s economic stimulus plan, is regrettably published posthumously.    Read more »

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Guest Post: The Very Possibly True Story of Nestle J. Frobish, Chair-Creature of the World Wide Fair Play for Frogs Committee

(Editor’s Note: This was e-mailed to the chief correspondent of California’s Capitol who, naturally, is on the East Coast and unavailable to be of any assistance — scant difference from when he is on this coast. The following guest post is presented here with minor, non-substantive edits to the introduction.)

Dear Friends of Jerry Waldie:

Jerry was my friend and client in the course of our mutual interest in frog when we published “Fair Play for Frogs.”    Read more »

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Jerry Waldie — Congressman, Assembly Majority Leader, Humorist — Dead at 84

Jerry Waldie, the East Bay congressman who introduced Articles of Impeachment in 1973 against President Richard Nixon, carried the 1966 bill creating a full time California Legislature and was an unsuccessful Democratic gubernatorial candidate in 1974 is dead. He was 84.

Principled, conscientious and thoughtful, Waldie also wrote one of the funniest – if not the funniest — political books ever written, Fairplay for Frogs.    Read more »

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John K. Geoghegan dead at 75

John K. Geoghegan, former state cabinet secretary and business lobbyist, has died fighting prostate cancer. He was eight days shy of his 76th birthday.

Genuine and generous, Geoghegan was s principled straight-shooter both as a state official under Governors Ronald Reagan and George Deukmejian and as an advocate for the California Manufacturers Association and, later, the oil industry.    Read more »

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Serenisimo Agustin Iturbide

On the left side of the colorful mural above the dais in the California state Senate’s largest hearing room, 4203, are names and dates important to California’s history prior to becoming a state in 1850.

Most are fairly recognizable explorers: Cabrillo, 1512; Drake, 1579; Portola 1769 and Kuskof, 1812.

But Iturbide?    Read more »

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Bon Anniversaire Soixante-Quinzieme, Monsieur Willie Brown!

Demain, mon anniversaire, est le premier jour de printemps – comme toujours, vieil homme.

E, naturalmente, Buon Compleanno a mia sorella bella, Leslie!

XOXOX    Read more »

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The More Things Change…

Still true. Still being said — with almost identical words. Circa 1962.

   Read more »

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