Greetings from What is California? HQ, where this week we welcome Rep. Jackie Speier to the show. She is the U.S. Congresswoman representing California’s 14th District, which encompasses South San Francisco and most of San Mateo County in the South Bay. Rep. Speier has held that seat since 2008. Prior to that, she worked in Sacramento as a state legislator representing roughly the same region over 18 years, first in the State Assembly and then in the State Senate.
Today, Rep. Speier is wrapping up her seventh and final term in Congress—the culmination of more than 40 years in public service. The minute I heard that Jackie Speier was not running for reelection in 2022, I knew immediately: I’ve got to invite her on What is California?! I mean, what a career!
I thought this would be a great time to talk about her early days working with her mentor, Congressman Leo Ryan, and the arc of her work and her ups and downs as a leader in California.
I really loved hearing from the Congresswoman about why it’s important to not wait for your shot to do the work you want to do as well as the necessity of turning California’s leadership over to the next generation. Rep. Speier was candid about that subject and others, including the vitriol and gridlock that has thwarted progress in Washington, D.C., and the tragedies that bookend her career—surviving an ambush by gunmen in Jonestown in 1978 (an attack that killed Rep. Ryan) as well as the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Rep. Speier is a survivor in the most literal sense of the word, and I was honored that she made time to join me to discuss her story, her work, and of course, her takes on the people and places and phenomena that make California unique to her.
Thanks for listening! Keep your eye on the bear! 🐻 ❤️
Episode Notes
Jackie Speier is the representative for California’s 14th Congressional District.
I really played by a set of rules that you served on the Board of Supervisors and then you ran for the Legislature and then you ran for Congress. I really came to Congress too late in my political career. I was 57 years old when I got elected to Congress. It’s based on seniority, so it takes forever to get to a position of authority, and everything is run through the chairs of committees. I had the luxury in the State Legislature where I served for 18 years and had 300 bills become law. It’s a record that will probably never be broken. [But] I think that waiting my turn was something I wouldn’t recommend other people do.
Notes and references from this episode:
Congresswoman Jackie Speier - CA-14 - home page
“Rep. Jackie Speier will retire after her term ends,” by A Martinez, NPR,
Congressman Leo Ryan biography - American Experience, PBS
Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple - documentary by Stanley Nelson
“Bob Swanson: The Toughest CEO in Silicon Valley,” by Robert Ristelheuber, EDN
“Gordon Moore Is the Nerdy Moses of Silicon Valley,” by J.P. O’Malley, The Daily Beast
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Produced, hosted and edited by Stu VanAirsdale
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