California is a facing a monumental budget deficit and Gov. Jerry Brown is facing an uphill battle in convincing voters to support new, albeit, temporary tax increases. History can often offer insights into the present and that’s exactly what is in store at a special presentation at the Lafayette Library and Learning Center on Tuesday, May 22, from 6:30-7:30 p.m. Admission is free. RSVP: by phone: 925-283-6513 x 101 or email reserve@LLLCF.org
Ethan Rarick, journalist, author, and director of the UC Berkeley Robert T. Matsui Center for Politics and Public Service at the Institute of Governmental Studies will shares the story of extraordinary 2010 gubernatorial campaign that returned Brown to office. Rarick promises to unveil backroom strategies, outrageous scandals, and astonishing amounts of money (remember all those Meg Whitman ads?) that went into the race. Rarick will tell the tale through the words of the campaign managers who made the decisions, the political pros who followed the action, the pollsters who tracked voter moods, the journalists who wrote about it all, and the scholars who studied the outcome.
An engaging dialogue will certainly ensue as questions about the implications for understanding the up-coming election cycle will be front and center.
