X-Posted @ BearFlagBlue
Last Thursday, Assemblymember Joan Buchanan held an open house for her new office in San Ramon and I have to say, I was pretty impressed. For one thing, my wife was introduced to these really amazing little brownie bites they sell at Costco. So thanks to which ever staffer was in charge of those. They’re great. Personally, I love the schwag, and ended coming home with a great book all about the workings of the California State Legislature…not to mention my cool new Joan Buchanan pencil.
On a serious note though, it was pretty amazing to see the amount of people that showed up for an open house for a simple little office in the middle of a San Ramon business park on a Thursday afternoon. The place was packed; literally standing room only with many more people hanging out on the balcony outside. I had heard that there had been over 350 RSVPs for the event and while I was unable to stay for the full 3 hours, while I was there, I must have seen well over 150 of them. The level of excitement that I saw for Assm. Joan Buchanan was through the roof.
As my wife and I toured the office, one of the things that I found kind of interesting was that while some of her major aides had some very nice offices to themselves, as we looked around we couldn’t seem to find an office with Buchanan’s name on the door. When I finally got curious enough to ask somebody, I was led to a small conference room at the back of the building. There in the corner of the conference room, off to the side of the big table in the center, was a small and modest desk sitting in the corner. That was Joan’s area I was told. The staffer said that Assemblymember Buchanan would much rather spend her time away from Sacramento, out and about, talking with her constituents, so she didn’t really need a big office. From my experience, I know this to be true. Since the election, I have seen Joan Buchanan at more events, big and small, then pretty much any other local office holder. I’ve even had the opportunity to share a beer & burger when she visited with the Iron Horse Dems a few months ago. It’s nice to see a politician getting out and about and having real conversations with the people she serves. The small desk in the conference room said more to me personally though. This is not a person with huge ego.
As would be expected, the Assemblywoman was pretty much the center of attention throughout the evening. With all of the people surrounding her for questions or comments or conversation, I don’t think I saw the poor woman move more than 5 ft while I was there. Most of the comments that I was able to eavesdrop on were of a congratulatory nature, but there were plenty of legislative questions as well. I particularly appreciated Joan’s forthrightness when answering. One of the moments that really stuck out for me though, was when a shy & quiet woman finally got her chance to speak to Buchanan. The woman began to choke up and you could see the tears welling in her eyes as she thanked Joan Buchanan for being the one and only legislator in the Assembly or the Senate, to take a voluntary 10% pay cut after the budget was passed. When I had thanked Joan myself for the same thing earlier, commenting that I appreciated the sacrificial move that she made when she didn’t have to, she stopped me cold. “I did have too” she said. For me, one of the marks of a good captain is somebody who wouldn’t ask others to do what they aren’t willing to do themselves. In that regard, Joan Buchanan is an excellent leader.
Of course, the question I was most interested in though…as I’m sure are the rest of you…is will she be running for Congress?
It was certainly an interesting day to be having an open house. Thursday just happened to be the day that that a poll was released showing Joan Buchanan as the potential favorite in California’s 10th. Then, just hours after that poll was released, Rep. Ellen Tauscher & Rep. George Miller endorsed State Senator Mark DeSaulnier for the seat. I think it was made pretty clear last week that Joan is indeed interested in the position, while the Democratic establishment is lining up to push her out.
When I asked her about this and where she stood on the race, Joan gave me a slight grin and responded “We’re still living in a Democracy aren’t we?”
I loved it.
If I had to put my money down, I’d say Joan Buchanan is running for Congress.