{"id":20584,"date":"2021-11-18T11:20:12","date_gmt":"2021-11-18T19:20:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=20584"},"modified":"2021-11-18T11:20:23","modified_gmt":"2021-11-18T19:20:23","slug":"jackie-speiers-political-career-began-after-she-survived-the-jonestown-massacre-now-shes-retiring-from-congress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2021\/11\/18\/jackie-speiers-political-career-began-after-she-survived-the-jonestown-massacre-now-shes-retiring-from-congress\/","title":{"rendered":"Jackie Speier retiring from Congress"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Tal Kopan<\/a>,\u00a0Kevin Fagan<\/a> Nov. 16, 2021 Updated: Nov. 17, 2021 (SFChronicle.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Rep.
1of4Rep. Jackie Speier poses for a portrait on Nov. 14, 2008, in San Francisco. Speier was shot five times while leaving Guyana in 1978 as part of Rep. Leo J. Ryan’s delegation to investigate Jonestown.Mike Kepka\/The Chronicle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Rep.<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Rep.<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 Rep. Jackie Speier won\u2019t seek another term in Congress, she announced Tuesday morning, capping a decades-long career in public service and creating a rare open seat in the Bay Area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The San Mateo Democrat released a video announcing her plans to retire Tuesday that began by noting that as she lay on a Guyana airstrip suffering gunshot wounds<\/a> after the Jonestown massacre, she decided to dedicate her life to public service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than 40 years later, she said, she is ready to step aside from that career that took her from being a congressional staffer, as she was in that 1978 tragedy, to a San Mateo County supervisor, a state Assembly member and state senator, and member of Congress since 2008.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a remarkable journey that has surpassed my wildest dreams,\u201d Speier said. \u201cIt\u2019s time for me to come home, time for me to be more than a weekend wife, mother and friend.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speier, 71, was working for Peninsula Rep. Leo Ryan when she traveled with him to Guyana to visit Jim Jones\u2019 Peoples Temple in what became the Jonestown massacre in November 1978. She was shot five times on the airstrip as the group tried to escape and waited 22 hours there for rescuers to arrive. Ryan and four others were killed in the shooting; about 900 of Jones\u2019 followers<\/a> also died. As Speier lay wounded, she feared the gunmen would return to kill her and other survivors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI lived, and I served,\u201d Speier reflected in her retirement announcement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

pic.twitter.com\/nEr9AnqN7A<\/a>\u2014 Jackie Speier (@RepSpeier) November 16, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Speier was homegrown for her District 14 congressional job, born in San Francisco\u2019s Sunset District and going to public schools in South San Francisco and Mercy High School in Burlingame before earning her law degree at UC Hastings College of the Law. Her typical year has her holding town halls all over her district, drawing hundreds of people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As she worked her way up the political ranks, Speier drew on her painful and powerful life experiences in her service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She became a strong advocate for women and survivors, was a vocal supporter of the #MeToo movement and used her position on the Armed Services Committee, including chairing the Military Personnel Subcommittee, to call attention to sexual assault in the military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She was also one of the first members of Congress to reveal her abortion story<\/a>, sharing the details of her second-trimester abortion in protest of states\u2019 attempts to limit access to the procedure, and revealed she experienced a sexual assault as a congressional staffer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been an extraordinary privilege and honor to represent the people of San Mateo County and San Francisco at almost every level of government for nearly four decades,\u201d Speier said in her announcement. \u201cYou\u2019ve given me latitude to fashion legislation that has truly changed the lives of thousands and thousands of people.\u201dMore for you<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said she kept her intention to retire to herself before announcing it early Tuesday, and told only House Speaker Nancy Pelosi late Monday night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI talked to her around 11 o\u2019clock, and she was stunned,\u201d Speier told The Chronicle. \u201cShe was shocked. She really \u2026 couldn\u2019t believe I was doing it. She says, \u2018You\u2019re so young!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speier laughed. \u201cI\u2019m 71,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m not so young. I still feel young, but I\u2019m not so young.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pelosi praised Speier in a statement Tuesday as \u201ca significant leader in our Country\u201d who has fought for \u201cthose who are too often denied a voice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHer courageous and values-based leadership, particularly on behalf of the women, survivors and the vulnerable, has made a difference in the lives of countless Americans and has strengthened our nation,\u201d Pelosi said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speier\u2019s decision comes among a heightened retirement watch for senior Democrats, as political omens forecast a likely loss of dozens of seats in the House and the majority. The state is also in the midst of its redistricting process<\/a>, which will redraw political boundaries for the next decade. Though much of the Bay Area, including Speier\u2019s seat, has been similar to the present-day lines in early visualizations, some longer-term lawmakers may end up with a changed district and opt to retire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speier\u2019s retirement will also trigger a rare open congressional seat in the Bay Area, which is represented by many longtime politicians, and could create a contentious battle to replace her. The last new member of the House delegation was Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Fremont, who upset an incumbent in 2016. The last delegation member to retire and create an open seat was former Rep. George Miller in 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though Speier indicated her time in public office was ending, she signaled she may continue to have a presence in the Bay Area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s also another chapter or two in my book of life, and I intend to contribute to you, the communities I love on the Peninsula and in San Francisco, and the country that has given me so much,\u201d Speier said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The outspoken critic of former President Donald Trump<\/a> who played a key role in his impeachment hearings as a member of the House Intelligence Committee, closed her message with a somber warning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs I leave, I want to convey my deepest appreciation to you and urge you to protect our precious democracy,\u201d Speier said. \u201cIt is fragile and vulnerable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Surviving Jonestown<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps the defining moment of her life will always be the horror at Jonestown in Guyana<\/a>. She and Ryan had led a delegation there to investigate the maniacal Jones\u2019 cult compound, which was filled with followers he had brought from his embattled temple in San Francisco. As she lay bleeding on a jungle tarmac, her boss dead nearby, Jones ordered at least 911 of his followers to commit suicide by drinking poison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She\u2019s utterly open to this day as she describes in person or in her 2018 autobiography \u201cUndaunted\u201d lying in the jungle with chunks of flesh shot off her body, waiting to die. But her greatest outrage in those descriptions comes when she laments the loss of the lives ended by Jones, whom she calls \u201cgrotesque.\u201d She bristles at any suggestion that they took their own lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I look back on that time all these years later, what stands out for me is that 911 (some counts vary) Americans were murdered,\u201d she told The Chronicle in 2018 on the 40th anniversary of the Nov. 18 massacre. She said she was still angry \u201cthat the local government turned a deaf ear and blind eye to what were egregious criminal activities in Peoples Temple and our national government, State Department, probably CIA, were derelict in doing their job, both in terms of protecting American citizens abroad.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She often refers to the shooting when advocating for gun control. Two of the five bullets that hit her in Guyana remain in her body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fighting for underdogs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

After a Pacific Gas and Electric Co. pipeline exploded in San Bruno in 2010, leaving eight people dead, 58 badly injured and 55 houses destroyed or severely damaged, Speier helped lead the fight <\/a>for millions of dollars in compensation for the victims and the city. She kept in touch with many of the survivors<\/a>, taking Sue Bullis \u2014 who lost her husband, son and mother-in-law in the blast \u2014 in as a volunteer at her office to help keep her mind off the tragedy and bringing Giants star pitcher Sergio Romo to visit the badly burned Joe Ruigomez, a huge Giants fan, as he fought to survive in a burn unit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speier frequently took her fights for the underdog to an experiential level. In 2014, she spent the night in a homeless shelter in Redwood City, and the year before that she spent a week eating only what she could buy using food stamps<\/a>. In 2005, as a state senator leading investigations and legislation addressing conditions in state prisons, she bunked for a night in the state women\u2019s prison in Chowchilla.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m still kind of reeling from the experience. Every member of Congress should be required to do what I did,\u201d Speier told The Chronicle after her night in the homeless shelter in 2014. \u201cIt would help us appreciate who we are talking about. We rattle off numbers, but it doesn\u2019t speak about the people themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The representative said she intends to remain involved in community affairs, and \u201cwould not rule out anything,\u201d including running for another office. But paramount for her will be spending more time with her family, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis decision (to retire) didn\u2019t come lightly,\u201d she told The Chronicle. \u201cAnd it didn\u2019t come in a short period of time. It\u2019s been something I\u2019ve been mulling over for probably four years, and it\u2019s actually quite personal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have a husband who has been retired now for a year and a half … and he\u2019s told me for some time that, you know, he wants us to be able to spend time doing things together. And, you know, we just celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary, and I realized that for 20 years, he has had a weekend wife.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was time to give him more time, more time for my kids, and hopefully grandkids and my friends \u2014 and to smell the roses a little bit,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tal Kopan is The San Francisco Chronicle\u2019s Washington correspondent. Kevin Fagan is a reporter at The Chronicle. Email:\u00a0tal.kopan@sfchronicle.com<\/a>,\u00a0kfagan@sfchronicle.com<\/a>\u00a0Twitter:\u00a0@talkopan<\/a>,\u00a0@KevinChron<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tal Kopan is the Washington Correspondent for The San Francisco Chronicle. She joined the newsroom in 2018 after covering D.C. politics, immigration policy, justice and national security, cybersecurity and other hot-button issues for CNN Politics and Politico. Kopan started her journalism career in Chicago newsrooms, where she supported local coverage on a variety of fronts, including politics, crime, sports and weather.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her work has earned multiple awards and recognition, including winning the prestigious George Polk Award with Chronicle colleagues for coverage of a COVID-19 outbreak aboard a U.S. aircraft carrier and winning a Webby Award with colleagues for a documentary podcast series on the life and career of Vice President Kamala Harris. Kopan has received other recognition from the California News Publishers Association, Atlanta Press Club, National Press Foundation, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kopan graduated with honors from the University of Chicago.<\/a>Written ByKevin Fagan<\/a>Reach Kevin on<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kevin Fagan is a longtime reporter at The San Francisco Chronicle. He specializes in enterprise news-feature writing and breaking news, taking particular pleasure in ferreting out stories others might not find – from profiling the desperate lives of homeless drug addicts to riding the rails with hobos, finding people who sleep in coffins and detailing the intricacies of hunting down serial killers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From 2003 to 2006, Kevin was the only beat reporter in the United States covering homelessness full time. He has witnessed seven prison executions and has covered many of the biggest breaking stories of our time, from the Sept. 11 terror attacks at Ground Zero and the Columbine High School massacre to Barack Obama’s election as president, the deadly Mendocino Complex, Wine Country and Ghost Ship fires and the Occupy movement. Homelessness remains a special focus of his, close to his heart as a journalist who cares passionately about the human condition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from San Jose State University and was raised in California and Nevada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"newspaper's<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"HEARST<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u00a92021 Hearst
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Tal Kopan,\u00a0Kevin Fagan Nov. 16, 2021 Updated: Nov. 17, 2021 (SFChronicle.com) WASHINGTON \u2014 Rep. Jackie Speier won\u2019t seek another term in Congress, she announced Tuesday morning, capping a decades-long career in public service and creating a rare open seat in the Bay Area. The San Mateo Democrat released a video… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20584"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20584"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20584\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20586,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20584\/revisions\/20586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}