Ron Briggs]
My dad lost his nine month battle with cancer early yesterday morning.
We had many adventures together, some good and others, oh well.
In 1977 and 1978 we traveled the state for interviews, debates and appearances. Dad was the sole proponent for what is today California Death Penalty which has withstood many court challenges and two failed initiatives seeking to abolish his death penalty.
We worked hard and successfully on the Jarvis – Gann – Briggs initiative otherwise known as Prop 13 and like the death penalty Prop 13 stands today as it was approved by voters.
Dad wrote the states first no smoking Clean indoor air act; he created and funded Chino Hills State Park; the hamburger legislation saying to call it a hamburger it must be one hundred pure beef; he created Caltrans District 11 that separated Orange County from Los Angeles…. this has brought billions of dollars to Orange County and if none of tis was enough for a 15 year member of the Assembly and Senate there is Prop 6 for which many in the state measure him by.
To understand Prop 6 you must understand the man. He spent several years in and out of foster homes as a young latchkey child while his single mom worked two waitressing jobs.
He was brought up as a Southern Baptist, very Southern Baptist, he converted to Catholicism in 1951 to marry mom in the Church where he became a Knight of Columbus member.
His belief system was ultra conservative. His Political mentor was Walter Knott who founded “Knotts Berry Farm”. Mr Knott was a member of the John Birch Society and those guys were radical conservatives. Dad leaned on Mr Knott for direction.
Dad and Carl Karcher were exceptional friends… Mr Karcher pushed a hot dog cart downtown Los Angeles then opened a restaurant in Anaheim, then opened three Carl’s Jr’s and then he went public. Mr Karcher was a profoundly deep Christian man of faith.
These two men shaped dads political path.
If passed, the 1978 Proposition 6 would have empowered local school boards the authority to fire any avowed homosexual employee.
This proposition was dead center of dads faith wheelhouse.
We traveled the state as dad debated or was interviewed by, well, a lot of people including Harvey Milk. Harvey was dads counter part…Harvey deeply felt Prop 6 affected his community in the most extreme way. And therein laid the debates.
I could write a book on Prop 6 and the 1978 campaign cycle….. so many people… I got to meet and take care of a Chronicle reporter Randy Shilts who wrote “The Band Played On” which chronicled the aids crisis… Randy was embedded with our campaign for a week and it was my extreme honor to have known Randy who succumbed years later from aids.
In 1978 dad was 2 and 1.
Decades later he confided that in retrospect Prop 6 was not a good idea. But I told him it did good…as bad as it was there was good in the end.
When I decided to become a death penalty abolitionist in 2008 I began to partner with many of those in the LGBT community. and found many were grateful for Prop 6 because it: woke up; coalesced; and galvanized the LGBT community. In any event, for me, 1978 was an “E” ticket to California politics.
In June of 1978 the FBI made dad aware of a plot to assassinate him. Apparently two agents were undercover with a radical group of the Weather Underground. Five members of tge Prarie Fire Undergound sect were arrested in August of 1978 and sent to federal prison for 15 years each for their plot to place a bomb in dads District Office.
A funny story…. part of my 14 hour course of precautions, recognition and evasion of bombs, bad guys and the such… I was instructed to routinely place scotch tape on car doors, trunk and hood. One day going to Ontario I noticed both hood tapes flapping in the 80 mph wind. I showed it to Sgt Frank Mendosa of the California State Police who instructed me to get to a gas station … at the station Frank grabs dad and at a trot they go to the back of the station… once their I told the attendant to fill it up and check the oil then a made a bee line to the nearest concrete wall. No explosion but we were spooked. Dads Senate staffers stopped traveling with us because we always made them bring the cars around….oh well!
With two years left on his term only Dad could retire in 1981 from the Senate to become a lobbyist for about 12 years and for a few short years in 1989 thru 2001 we owned and operated Channel 29 in Sacramento.
He spent his retirement with mom in Zephyr Cove and Henderson Nevada and finally returned home to Placerville around 2010.
And the grand kids…. always the grandkids.
Hands down there are more good stories than bad.
He was one of a kind and shall miss him for the remainder of my life.
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