Eight years after last leaving office, and 50 miles north of his home base, Willie Brown's star still shines bright.
More than 450 people packed Santa Rosa Junior College's Bertolini Center on Wednesday to hear the former mayor of San Francisco and longest-serving Assembly speaker in state history speak as part of SRJC's celebration of Black History Month.
"I'm still going to call him the mayor because I think he's the best mayor San Francisco has had in a long time," said Frank Ergas, a returning student, who arrived 20 minutes early.
Brown met the expectations with his trademark mix of cockiness and self-effacement, seriousness and humor as he traced his path from growing up in segregated Texas to getting a personal call from President-elect Barack Obama.
Many in the crowd seemed to alternate between out-loud laughing and nodding in solemn agreement.
"Tell me what black person do you know who's been indicted for insider trading?" Brown asked, exemplifying his light touch for heavy subjects like white-collar racism. "You don't think's it's because we're more moral, do you?"
After decades in office, Brown is less loved by some who remember him as a back-room dealer, but on Wednesday, there was scant evidence of such criticism.
The event also served as a reunion with one of his many prot??, Frank Chong, the new president of SRJC, who worked for then-Speaker Brown from 1987 to 1991.
The two met when Brown spoke at Harvard University where Chong was wrapping up a master's degree in public administration.
Chong, a UC Berkeley graduate, had wanted to watch basketball rather than see a politician he knew little about. But he was so impressed by Brown's speech he elbowed his way to an introduction.
Six months later, he was in Brown's San Francisco law office for an interview. Brown kept him waiting for two hours before walking out next to Eldridge Cleaver, a former leader of the Black Panther Party.
Brown hired Chong on the spot as a special assistant.
"He gave people great titles because he paid them very little," Chong joked.
The experience gave Chong lessons in how politics really gets done. At the time, the University of California was looking for ways to limit Asian enrollment, in part by raising verbal SAT scores, Chong said.
Brown stressed the need for Asians to bring their voice to the debate, advice that led Chong to co-found Asian Pacific Americans in Higher Education, now a national nonprofit organization.
Brown's help, Chong said, was typical of his long career shepherding groups without a voice, from blacks to gays to AIDS patients.
He also credited Brown for helping imbue in him the belief that as a minority he had to be better than others to get ahead.
As mayor, Brown later appointed Chong to the San Francisco School Board.
The two aren't in frequent contact now, Chong said. In fact, Brown's visit was planned in advance of Chong's arrival.
But Brown has followed his career, sending him congratulations when Obama appointed him as deputy assistant secretary for community colleges, his job prior to coming to SRJC.
"If it wasn't for Willie Brown, I wouldn't be here today," Chong said.
To end the event, Chong handed his mentor several gifts, including an SRJC sweatshirt, quipping that since Brown was no longer elected, he didn't have to report the largesse.
"I didn't report it when I was elected," Brown replied.
UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy: