I have some respect for Willie. I could have some lunch and watch a ballgame with him. I absolutely could not with most of the “new age daily Kos” liberals.
Agreed! He’s like that crazy Uncle who stands for everything you oppose, but still is quite likable as a person.
Dick Mountjoy, the most conservative of the California Senate, admired Willie and was privately friendly with him.
Senator Mountjoy had several stories he liked to tell about Willie Brown. One tale involved Mountjoy himself when he moved from the Assembly to the Senate. In every previous election Willie Brown, an Assemblyman himself, had funded and supported whatever Dem candidate was running against Dick. After Mountjoy was elected to the Senate he happened to pass Willie (still in the Assembly) in a hallway. They greeted each other and then Mountjoy confided to Brown that he had a problem. Willie was instantly concerned and offered to help any way he could. Mountjoy explained to Willie that every time he had run for the Assembly he had appealed to the voters that he was being opposed by Willie Brown. Now that they were no longer both in the Assembly, Mountjoy couldn't use that appeal.
Willie Brown thought for a moment and told Mountjoy to continue using that assertion in his campaigns. According to Willie, the voters wouldn't know the difference anyway.