By Calbuzzer Gale Kaufman
PARIS – Willie Brown invited 120 of his closest friends to join him in the City of Lights to celebrate his 75th birthday and we all toasted Mr. Speaker last night while sailing the Seine on a private yacht. Dining fine and sipping wine, at 10 p.m. we passed the Eiffel Tower, whose lights obligingly blinked on and off for us.
Willie looked great in a khaki baseball cap with his signature stitched on – we all got a copy, of course – and a matching khaki coat, surrounded by family and friends, as always drinking and partying until the wee hours.
When Steve and I arrived yesterday, folks told us the weather has been horrible but it cleared up for the big bash. It made me think of how the sun burst through a storm just in time for Willie’s GOTV to crank in his first mayor’s race. Da Mayor, of course, claimed it was divine intervention.
On the yacht, any number of us remarked how nice it will be to just make it to 75, let alone celebrate it in “Willie Brown style.” Tomorrow: drinks with the mayor of Paris. Laissez les bons temps rouler.
Gale Kaufman is a Democratic consultant in Sacramento
