At 90, California political icon Willie Brown still dominates every room he enters

BY JAMES RICHARDSON | CALMATTERS OPINION (CALMATTERS) – Willie Brown Jr., one of the most flamboyant and powerful politicians California has ever known, was delivered into this world by a midwife in his grandmother’s drafty, white clapboard house in segregated Mineola, Texas.  Next week, he will turn 90 years old. Brown still dominates every room he enters with his smarts and swagger. His advice – and connections – are still sought by friends and even former adversaries. Brown became the most powerful Black politician in the country in the 1980s and ’90s as California Assembly speaker, serving a record 14 years. After he termed out, he was then elected mayor of San Francisco for eight years. “I’d still be a speaker without term limits,” Brown proclaimed to laughs at his recent induction to the California Hall of Fame. When I was a reporter for The Sacramento Bee, I wrote a 500-page independent biography of Brown, but we hadn’t talked much since he left office as mayor 20 years ago. Recently, we sat down at a corner table for lunch at Sam’s Grill in San Francisco. Brown took his usual seat facing the door where he could see who was coming...