Rotary Club of Oakland Civic Thursday Meeting January 13, 2022

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Past President Ces Butner took the helm for the Club’s 5,370th Civic Thursday meeting in place of President Dudley Thompson who was called away to civic jury duties.

Jason Wizelman gave us not just one thought for the day but several precious aphorisms from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: only light can dispel darkness; only love can banish hate; threat to justice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere; the time is always right to do right; and what are you doing for others?

Just as Past President & District Governor Ed Jellen bemoaned the absence of guests, Sandeepa Nayak chimed in to say that Pello Walker had joined us, and Ces noted that Dianne Dorn, Past President of the San Leandro Club, was also among the virtual attendees.

Pres. Ces then turned the “mic” over to Nancy Williams, whose advertising firm, Money Pages of Oakland, sponsored today’s meeting. Nancy informed us that Money Pages is a full-service ad agency recently ranked #1 in the marketing field by a major advertising trade journal. The company handles both direct mail and digital advertising, and it has a team that will manage your social media marketing. 'Money Pages’ client list includes the Oakland A’s, the Oakland Ballet, the Oakland Marathon, and several Club members, including Derreck Johnson (Home of Chicken & Waffles), Jesse Schmidt (TNT Strength), and Ruth Stroup.

Past President David Stein introduced new member Dawnn Hills of the DMH Insurance Group. She has an impressive collection of Monopoly games. David Kersten introduced new member Clive Worsley, the new Director of the Junior Center of Art and Science. Clive was previously with Cal Shakes and, though you wouldn’t guess it from his accent, is a native of Glasgow, Scotland.

Business Development Committee: Jesse Schmidt, Chair of the Business Development Committee, announced that the Committee is filling out the schedule of Thursday Meeting Sponsors for the first six months of 2022. Sign up to be a sponsor. There’s no better way to broadcast your brand to the Club! Jesse ended by reciting a quote from novelist Howard Zinn about the importance of both optimism and good acts when in the midst of a prolonged crisis.


Past President David Stein introduced our speaker Roy Neel, a distinguished Professor of Political Science at Vanderbilt University. David noted that Prof. Neel has had major responsibilities in the political realm, including roles in the Clinton Administration, management of Al Gore’s 2000 Presidential campaign, and recent Presidential transitions, including the controversial “hanging chad” debacle that plagued the 2000 election. He is also the author of a novel called The Electors, which addresses the pitfalls of the existing Electoral College system. These were his observations:

1) The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled a state can enact a law that binds an elector to vote for the Presidential candidate to whom he is pledged under state law.

2) On Jan. 6, 2021, there was an overt attempt by certain members of Congress to challenge the certified votes of several states’ slates of Electors.

3) If no candidate receives the requisite 270 Electoral College votes, the subsequent vote in the House is highly undemocratic.

4) It would take a constitutional amendment to eliminate the one-vote-for-each-state rule. However, due to the high vote thresholds for such an amendment, it is highly unlikely that it could pass over the opposition of the small states and their Republican Congressmen.

5) Some Democratic states, including California, have entered into a compact that purports to minimize the risk of a Presidential election being decided in the House due to any candidate failing to garner 270 or more Electoral College votes.

6) Another major problem with the current system is the language in the Constitution allows each state to govern the state’s process for conducting Presidential (and other federal) elections.

7) In response to questions from “the floor”, Prof. Neel said: A) He disagrees with commentator David Brooks’ assertion that studies have shown that state voting restrictions have no impact on actual voting.

President for the Day Ces adjourned the meeting at 1:31 p.m

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