Historic Times: The Leno Era

by Ken Ludden for the San Francisco Spectrum

Since cameras moved into the halls of Congress, our leaders have learned some odd, and vapid, lessons. Kennedy won the first televised presidential debate; Nixon looked tired and refused makeup. The lesson? Wear makeup! The evening news airs phrases short enough to fill small broadcasting gaps; short statements get the top spot. The lesson? Speak in sound-bites! As our national attention span evaporates into MTV jiggle-cam nano-bytes, and our national exercise program devolves to only the thumb and the remote, we face rising illiteracy rates and are falling out of step with the rest of the world. There seems to be a looming lacuna of leadership.

Enter Mark Leno. Like a breath of spring air after a winter of shut windows, Mark Leno has brought back a style of rhetoric so long missing from American politics it seems innovative. Mark Leno is a statesman, that rare breed of politician who knows his place in the potential for the future, is educated in academics as well as society’s ways, earns the trust of his constituents by understanding them rather than imitating them, and is inspired to lead because of what can be accomplished rather than vanity. When Congressman James Corman (D, Los Angeles) lost his seat in the 1981 Reagan coat-tail landslide, there was a break in the lineage of great statesmanlike leadership until now, because Mark Leno had emerged on the scene.

Assemblyman Mark Leno

Leno was asked to consider a seat on the San Francisco board of Supervisors in 1996 by Mayor Willie Brown. At the time, Leno gave it serious consideration, and after much thought and introspection, and months of waiting, Brown appointed Leslie Katz. Leno was relieved. “At the time,” he says, “I thought it was the best thing that never happened to me.” Yet the invitation spurred a new activity in community service for Leno. He volunteered to chair the capital campaign for the then newly proposed LGBT Community Center, and he raised the first few million dollars for it. He also became involved with a number of boards of directors.

Then in 1998, after Susan Leal was elected as City Treasurer, another vacancy on the Board of Supervisors needed to be filled. Mayor Brown vowed to fill it with a Latina lesbian, while in the background he again asked Leno if he would consider it. “My immediate response was no thank you,” Leno recalls, “been there, done that. But then I went home that night and fell asleep, and when I awoke the next day I literally felt the issue physically in my face, and I realized I had to give it more thought.” Leno decided to take the post; of which Brown would say he was admitting defeat in appointing Mark Leno instead of a Latina lesbian.

And so the Leno era began. His early years as a Supervisor were formative. When one enters the political world it takes a bit of time to figure out exactly what hit you. Leno made some beginner mistakes, stumbled into a few victories, fell prey to harsh judgment by a misinformed public, and cut his teeth. To work in politics is to be challenged every day. He supported giving homeless queer youth housing, a no-brainer for the heart-filled, only to find out that many in the Castro neighborhood aren’t guided by their hearts. He did his job to keep his face in the public, showing up for the mandatory photo ops only to be labeled a media whore. But in the end, he found his calling, learned to deal with critics in a most diplomatic way, fulfilled his legislative responsibilities while maintaining a public face enough to win re-election, and figured out which issues won the war while being willing to lose the occasional battle along the way. His evolution appears to be right out of the pages of Tsun Tsu’s “Art of War” and Miyamoto Musashi’s “Book of Five Rings.”

His style, having developed very quickly, stands out. When asked which leaders have inspired him, the reason quickly becomes clear. “I guess I’ve set the mark high,” he says with almost a touch of shy and humble embarrassment, “one person in history who has been, and continues to infuse my spirit, was the political work of Mahatma Gandhi. His story is almost a fantasy but in fact was reality, in that he brought the most powerful empire the world had ever seen to its knees without ever firing a shot. And it was he who gave us the concept of non-violent resistance. Martin Luther King often referred to Gandhi’s work as his inspiration. I would also place Dr. King in that category as being inspirational to my work.” In talking further of those who guide him he also mentions a name all but forgotten in today’s world – Adlai Stevenson, who was the embodiment of the perfect statesman, calling him “our party’s torch bearer”. And, of course, he mentions JFK. But he also looks to today’s leaders as well. “Speaking of a contemporary, I have enormous respect for the political and legislative work of Ted Kennedy whose legacy will be enormous as we view it in years to come. Of course he’s go a lot of victories yet ahead of him, and certainly when John Kerry becomes president, Ted Kennedy will be held in ever greater esteem.”

Leno knows John Kerry will win the election November 2. When asked why he is so certain of the outcome when everything seems so evenly split the weeks before the election, he points out that it is due to “…the visceral disgust of so many Americans across the country. People who haven’t voted in years are feeling they’ve had enough and they want their country back.”

Leno is an unapologetic liberal in a time when that word is used by Republicans as an insult. He understands that he is a blatantly gay politician, not in terms of his behavior (he is very low key, focused and diplomatic), but in terms of his politics, and that with a voting record such as his is, it will be unlikely he could successfully run for state-wide office. He is also in a political situation that when term limits force him to move on, there won’t be a seat open for which to run. And while he plans to introduce a ballot measure in 2006 that would alter the rules of term limits slightly, he realizes that he may only ever serve for ten years. This reality is perhaps a little liberating, creating a situation in which he looses nothing if he boldly stands for the things he truly believes it. But he is also of the same political generation as his friend Gavin Newsom, who, like Leno, has taken action in support of what ‘is right’ regardless if the constituent base might be angered or threatened. He is a brave man among brave men.

But for Leno it is in fact a simple thing. “I work hard to do the very best job I can,” he says, “and I love the work. So it’s not a painful effort, it’s an actual labor of love. I’m completely engaged in my work and so the present consumes me. Now that doesn’t mean that I’m not forethoughtful and doing what I can to prepare for the future.”

Case in point the ballot measure he plans on term limits. He is working with the Speaker of the Assembly on the legislation, and in discussions with other lawmakers. “It is a very worthy idea [that] would allow legislators to serve 12 years rather than the potential 6 Assembly plus 8 Senate, but in any combination of Houses. That is good public policy that I believe the voters could support. I think voters understand that as the state grows and the world grows more complex, we don’t need ever more novice people holding office in Sacramento. I respect that voters support term limits as much today as when they were passed in 1990, but I think we can improve upon it.” In fact, if this ballot measure were to pass in 2006, then his ten years of experience wouldn’t just go to waste. “But whether for me or for some future legislator,” he says, “I think it’s a shame that the experience I’ve gathered these past years should no longer be of value or use to our community or to our state.”

Winning elections is about appeal to a constituent base, governing is about compromise and building coalitions with often opposing groups. The true test of Leno’s ability as an effective lawmaker will have little to do with his style and much to do with his conviction. And here we speak of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. “We’re conceivably at a cross roads,” Leno says, “we don’t quite yet know what impact Governor Schwarzenegger will have on his fellow Republicans. If he’s successful, he could move the Republican Party’s political center. The Republican Party in California has gone far, far astray.”

Leno has been one of Schwarzenegger’s loudest critics, loud enough that the Governor must some days shudder at having to face this ‘girly-man’. “When I see hypocrisy I will call him on it. This idea that he’s some sort of political reformer is something he’d like to be but has hardly shown himself to be. And I’m talking about the mammoth amount of special interest money he’s taken and continues to raise. But he doesn’t define it as special interest because special interest money is that money which is given to his opponents.”

The fact is, however, that so far all four laws that originated from the LGBT Caucus, of which Leno is Chair, have been signed into law without any problem. And here the Governor’s past as an actor may pay off in material ways on the road to equal marriage rights for LGBT citizens. It is a matter of getting the Governor and other elected officials to acknowledge and represent the actual views of their constituents. “I can show you polls that state that 62% of California Republicans support equal protection under the law for same sex couples,” says Leno. “Twelve percent of them actually support marriage equality, and 50% support the concept of domestic partnerships. But there’s not a single Republican legislator in Sacramento today who will cast a vote for us. They are out of step with their own constituents, and are marching to a hateful and antagonistic dogma; potentially the Governor could change that.”

Leno is seen as an LGBT powerhouse, but there is much more to him than that. “I’ve become very engaged with the issue of reforming our criminal justice system in California,” he says. “We have failed results, as a result of failed policy making. I’ve come to learn this first hand as Chair of the Assembly Public Safety Committee. We have twice the national average recidivism rate in California, we have half the parole completion rate, we have half the national average parole completion rate, we’re spending billions of precious state resources to provide less public safety, and all of this because lawmakers aren’t dealing rationally with the issues around criminal justice. Too often we’re afraid of being labeled soft on crime. But other states, even states led by Republicans, are making wiser decisions than we are and producing much better results. Ninety-five percent of those in state prisons do come out, but 50% return to their community functionally illiterate, [and] 80% return with drug and alcohol problems.”

Leno will, no doubt, tackle this issue head on with concise, clear messages. He will make statements that hit the nail on the head and are easily understood, like when he said “How can allowing two adults to show their love for each other conceivably threaten marriage?” It is a sound-bite, certainly. But it comes from a clear understanding of the issues and an ability to articulate them clearly. His ability to make such a statement comes from thorough research, deep understanding, and persistent soul searching, not from a marketing advisor at work in the spin room.

“How much opportunity do I have to work on these issues?” he asks, challenging himself. “I wouldn’t want to waste a rare moment of opportunity. I’ve always trusted that for any of us, if we really are sincere and heart felt in whatever we do in life, that good will come from it. Call it good karma.”

Leno’s legacy will hopefully be borne of much more than a single decade of public service. And whatever it is in the end, civil rights will certainly be its centerpiece. “…for all the great issues I get to work on—affordable housing, renewable energy, universal health care—nothing compares with moving forward our civil rights agenda. And I’m convinced that we will be, in fact, second-class citizens in this country until our most loving committed and intimate relationships are afforded full respect and full protection under the law. And that means marriage equality. Our ability to love is our universal common humanity. None of us walking this planet share anything greater in common than our ability to love, and our desire to love another human being in an intimate and committed fashion. So I feel very privileged to be the author of the only marriage equality bill in the country. And thanks to the leadership of Gavin [Newsom] and Mabel [Teng] and Dennis Herrera and the marriages performed in Oregon, New York and Massachusetts, we are now on the lip of a national civil rights movement.

“When I reintroduce our Marriage License Nondiscrimination Act on our first day of the new session, Monday December 6, the Speaker of the California Assembly will be my joint author, giving the bill top priority in the session’s legislative work. We will have approximately 30 co-authors, and the full support of 4 statewide elected office holders: our Secretary Of State, our State Treasurer, our State Controller, and our State Insurance Commissioner. That is a powerful fact that this bill is taken seriously in Sacramento and the Speaker has himself been quoted in the LA times that ‘we will get this bill to the governor’s desk next year.’ something that would have been unimaginable twelve months ago. So we will give Arnold Schwarzenegger the opportunity to make history—he will make history by either signing the bill or vetoing the bill, and I will be working with him over the coming months to help him see how monumentally important this is and that he will be showing the leadership of Earl Warren in signing the bill.”

And so it is no wonder that the Elections Committee of Orange County gave Mark Leno the Political Service Award on October 2, 2004, or that Mark Leno went to Washington, DC to demand that President George W. Bush keep our Constitution free of discrimination. Mark Leno has become a statesman, and that is what statesmen do.

GGBA, the first LGBT
chamber of commerce.

Positive Resource Center, providing employment services and benefits counseling to the SF Bay Area HIV community.

© 1999-2006 All Rights Reserved
Web Hosting and Design by CB-Solutions.net
A Cherry Business Solutions Company