Dianne Feinstein visited SLO on campaign trail 28 years ago: ‘Working hard for California’
U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein recently announced she will not seek reelection.
At age 89, the Democrat is the oldest sitting member of Congress and California’s longest serving senator. She was elected in 1992, defeating Republican John Seymour to fill the Senate seat vacated by Pete Wilson when he resigned to take office as governor.
During her three decades in Congress, Feinstein has served on the powerful Judiciary and Intelligence committees.
Her ability to compromise across the political aisle got difficult bills passed but at times frustrated liberal Democrats in her party.
She authored an act that banned semi-automatic assault weapons for a decade and saved lives. She also passed legislation that transformed Death Valley and Joshua Tree into National Parks.
But politics became more polarized in the latter part of her career. The fairness doctrine offering equal time to political candidates was abolished and internet platforms that value rage engagement over constructive dialog sprouted like weeds.
Television time went to politicians who could say outrageous things but never passed legislation.
Feinstein’s critics were concerned that she was out of touch with voters.
When Feinstein hugged Republican Lindsey Graham at the close of Judiciary Committee hearings, confirming Amy Coney Barrett for the Supreme Court, liberal advocates mourning the loss of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg called for the California senator to retire.
More than two years later, she’s doing just that.
Feinstein visited San Luis Obispo for a campaign fundraiser luncheon on Oct. 26, 1994, while running against Republican Michael Huffington.
That same day news broke that Huffington, a wealthy banker then married to future HuffPost co-founder Arianna Huffington, admitted he had hired an undocumented immigrant as a nanny while endorsing restrictive immigration laws.
Ann Fairbanks covered Feinstein’s visit in a Telegram-Tribune story that published the following afternoon. It talks about the senator’s accomplishments, goals and lists an amazingly affordable fund-raising lunch.
Feinstein gets warm welcome at SLO luncheon
CAMP SAN LUIS OBISPO — About 200 county Democrats welcomed Dianne Feinstein here Wednesday, greeting her “working hard for California” message with warm enthusiasm.
Gathered at the Officer’s Club for a 1 1/2-hour luncheon, the crowd applauded the senator’s listing of her anti-crime and environmental accomplishments. But they saved the most sustained applause for her comments about her Republican challenger, Michael Huffington.
“A United States Senate seat must be earned,” Feinstein said. “It cannot be bought.”
Although she’s served for 18 years in government “without a hint of scandal,” Feinstein said Huffington is spending millions “to lie about me, my character, my record and my family.”
What this “very tough campaign” boils down to, she said, is a choice between “someone who has served two years in the House and done nothing and someone who has served two years in the Senate and done something.”
“I hope you believe truly that I will represent you; I will represent this county; I will fight for families, working men and women, seniors and the young people of this great state.”
That’s what she’s been doing for the last two years, Feinstein told the crowd that included several local politicians, labor union representatives and Democratic congressional candidate Walter Capps and Assembly candidate John Ashbaugh.
County Supervisor David Blakely, who introduced Feinstein, predicted victory next month for the party.
“The reason we are going to be so successful is because Democrats really represent all three legs on the three-legged stool: Social Justice, economic opportunity and environmental enhancement.”
Among her accomplishments, Feinstein trumpeted the first-ever ban on semi-automatic assault weapons that she — one of only two women ever appointed to the Senate Judiciary Committee — helped push through the Senate.
“I have been able to deliver on another promise: to do something about violence in California,” she said.
Feinstein said she added carjacking to the list of federal death penalty crimes, sponsored legislation that toughens penalties for hate crime offenders by one-third, and worked hard for passage of the crime bill, which will put 100,000 more police officers on the nation’s streets.
On the environmental front, she said she’s fulfilled her promise to rewrite a “gridlocked” desert protection bill and move it through the Senate.
“We have delivered the largest desert wilderness bill in the history of the lower 48 states,” she said, protecting about 4 million acres of desert wilderness and creating Joshua Tree National Park, Death Valley National Park and East Mojave Preserve.
“She’s just a class act. There’s no other way to describe her,” said Elissa Maas of San Luis Obispo, who organized the luncheon.
The $18 tickets included the cost of the lunch plus a $5 donation to Feinstein’s local campaign committee, Maas said
