Until the day she left the United States Senate in January 2017, Barbara Boxer has been a forceful advocate for families, children, consumers the environment and her state of California.
Boxer served 24 years in the Senate, 10 years in the House, and 6 years on the Marin County Board of Supervisors.
A national leader on environmental protection, Senator Boxer worked to secure more than 1 million acres of wilderness to protect California’s natural heritage.
Her service in the Senate included Chairing the Environment and Public Works Committee where she focused on...
David Michael Howard (1948–2012) was a top political strategist in Sacramento with more than 35 years of experience in political advocacy, community organizing, and election campaigns. He was an expert in the nuts and bolts of winning at the ballot box, including polling, fundraising, messaging, and voter turnout. From 2000 up until his unexpected death on July 21, 2012, Dave was the political affairs director of the California Association of Realtors where he managed the association’s federal, state, and local political action committee operations. He also served as the co-editor of the...
Having earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in psychology from Stanford University and his doctorate from the University of California at Berkeley, John William Gardner launched a truly exceptional career in public service. He ultimately served under six presidents, most prominently as Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare under President Lyndon Baines Johnson between 1965 and 1968.
As Secretary of HEW, Gardner successfully implemented a wide range of Great Society programs targeting the elimination of poverty and racial injustice. He upheld the Civil Rights Act of 1964...
Michael Synar was an eight-term Democratic Congressman from the Second District in northeast Oklahoma. He served in the House of Representatives from 1979 to 1995. He was born in 1950 in Vinita, Oklahoma, received his bachelor's degree from the University of Oklahoma in 1972, received an M.A. from Northwestern University in 1974, and received an LL.B. degree from the University of Oklahoma Law Center in 1977.
During his time in the House, Representative Synar championed many causes, including firearm sales waiting-period laws, increasing fees on ranchers who leased federal land for...
Robert T. Matsui Center for Politics and Public Service
Robert T. Matsui served in the United States House of Representatives for more than a quarter-century, building a reputation for bipartisanship and substantive policy achievement.
Matsui's political career began in 1971 when he won a seat on the Sacramento City Council. After six years on the Council, Matsui was elected by his fellow council members to serve as Vice-Mayor. In 1978, Matsui was first elected to Congress to represent California’s Fifth District and was subsequently re-elected 13 times, winning his last election in November of 2004 with 71.4 percent of the vote. He...
William “Bill” Arthur Brandt, Jr. passed away on May 28th at the age of 73, surrounded by family. Bill was born in Chicago, Illinois on September 5th, 1949, to William Sr. and Joan Brandt. Always on the move, he considered himself a man of many homes, and loved the nomadic lifestyle his work required as he grew his company, Development Specialists, Inc. (DSI) into a leading corporate restructuring consultancy with offices around the country.
An accomplished athlete, he was an alternate to the 1964 Olympic...