Monday, April 7, 2014

Anna Pichnarcik

Sacramento; a town lined with trees, skyscrapers on one block, and Victorian houses on the other, all centered around the capital. Our first exposure to somewhat of the political caliber occurred when we first had the chance to pick the brain of Assemblyman Das Williams—Santa Barbara native and a former student of Dr. Eskandari. My peers and I had the chance to glean information about our policies for our research paper from Williams, who spent a generous amount of time talking to each student regarding their policies. The next days activities gave us a better understanding on how the assembly works. After a private tour of the State Capital building and a quick picture with Das Williams, we managed to push our way through a crowd of people for an Assembly meeting. The portion of the meeting we saw was revolved around passing AJR-35, a bill dedicating a week of remembrance for the Armenian Genocide. This gave valuable insight into how the assembly works in which textbooks cannot provide. Later, we met with political strategist David Townsend, who has an 83% success rate in his political campaigns. He gave us an honest glance into how campaigns are won. The “three M’s,” message, messenger and money were the most pertinent aspects in order to win a campaign. Although, money may seem the most imperative, Townsend made it clear that if you have a good message and a good messenger, that will always triumph over money. Townsend’s extremely informal demeanor and ‘tell it like it is’ attitude allowed for an intriguing and informative conversation. Although, majority of us had wished the conversation could have gone on for hours, we eventually had to part ways. We then headed to the Assembly Chamber to meet Chief Clerk E. Dotson Wilson. Unfortunately, Wilson was called away last minute so his Assistant Chief Clerk stepped in for him. He led us through the legislative process in passing a bill and informed us on the inner workings of the relations between the 80 Assemblymen that gather in that chamber. Although, this was a long day, it led me to implore the idea of holding a position in California State legislature. This day truly was one to remember, however, some of the most memorable moments I have had was with the other students in this program. This experience has opened my eyes to a whole new world.