Power Couple

Loni Hancock and her husband are familiar faces in the local political scene and have been for quite some time now. In the late eighties and early nineties (while I was a student at Cal), she was the first woman to be elected and serve as mayor of the City of Berkeley. In her two terms as mayor, she made a name for herself at the state and national levels of the Democratic Party, along with friend and Berkeley economics professor Laura Tyson. Both were eventually tapped by Bill Clinton to serve in his administration, Hancock in the Department of Education and Tyson as his chief economic adviser. Hancock returned to Berkeley in 2001, in part, to run for the state assembly seat being vacated by her husband, Tom Bates, a seat that he had held for two decades. I know this, in large part, because I served as a legislative intern for then Assemblyman Bates while a student at Berkeley. It was quite an experience. In large measure because the district, the 14th Assembly District, comprised the most diverse hodgepodge of constituent cities and towns, from the liberal stronghold of Berkeley and the communities north of Berkeley to the affluent but politically moderate (at times progressive) area of Lafayette-Moraga-Orinda ("Lamorinda") to the solidly conservative middle-class suburb of Walnut Creek. It was a testament to Bates' political acumen that he succeeded in office for so long given this demographic challenge. He stuck to the issues that were of common concern to all including health services for the elderly and indigent, primary and secondary education, and strong support for the Berkeley campus as well as the East Bay parks district including the creation and funding of the shoreline park and walking trail that now runs from El Cerrito through the Berkeley marina down to Emeryville. Of course in a district dominated by countless Berkeley alums, it didn't hurt that Bates was a starting player on the last Cal football team to play in the Rose Bowl, way back in 1959. Recently, Bates did a little switch-a-roo with his wife by successfully running for mayor of Berkeley against Shirley Dean who took the seat from Hancock when she left for the Clinton post. So Bates, once the 14th District Assemblyman, is now Berkeley mayor. And his wife, Hancock, once Berkeley mayor, is now the 14th District Assemblywoman. In politics, anything is possible. Anyhow, the San Francisco Chronicle ran an article today (link here) about Hancock's new weblog, intended to be a forum for constituents to sound off on certain issues of local concern. The first topic being discussed is the hotly debated proposal for the first Indian gaming casino in the state to be located in an urban center, smack dab in the heart of her legislative district.