Stephens & SF politics

If you want a quick, close-up view of California politics, listen for a minute.

I had a close-up view of San Francisco politics just because of the nature of my job there and the size of the school (18,000 students).

San Francisco is a duplicate of Sacramento politics.

I thoroughly enjoyed escorting university VPs to fund-raisers and either met these politicians or observed them up-close. I won’t mention names. Other patrol officers hated that aspect of the job. Sometimes, I was called direct to do an escort.

This is how it works for aspiring politicians: (1) you say all the right things and take all the correct positions; (2) you look fairly decent, you are groomed and well-dressed, etcetera; (3) you abandon all your principles for the party, if you had any to begin with; (4) if you are religious, and very few are, you give up truth (the few self-proclaimed Catholics in the party do that); (5) your education is approved; (6) you saddle up with other aspirants and tend to them only; and (7) you sublimate your true self and take on the accepted persona.

If you do all these things, your wealth and power will grow.

The school’s president/owner was one lovely boss. Somehow, she cleverly trod a path through the politics and stayed focused on school goals. She sent her son to one Catholic school from kindergarten through 12th grade, and they shielded him from all the chaos.

The university itself was a marvel.
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