Jackie Speier leaving Senate after 8 years

State of ego may be indicated by the photos on the walls of their public offices. In some politicos' offices, it is hard put to determine the paint color on the walls, they are so jammed with "This is me with the president, or the governor, or whomever else is more important than I."

That is not true in Speier's offices. What few photos are there are with some modest personages or where she is meeting with some constituents or speaking at some humanitarian function.

Even more telling are the framed mottos in her outer office. One is headed: "Constituents are the most important people in our office."

Another is: "Ten Commandments of 'Womanhood'." Commandment 1.: "Thou shall not be, nor try to be superwoman." Look's like she's already violated that one.

Finally, read the list of bills politicians introduced and for which they have voted. Some have not a compassionate piece of legislation or vote in the lot. Others have never met a pro-business bill for which they have ever liked or voted.

Gauged on that scale, Speier's profile reads: Humanitarian, in health care, child support enforcement, consumer rights, help for seniors, prison reform, women's rights and more.

Apparently, those bills she introduced in her 18 years in the state Legislature have been viable in the mainstream. In fact, as a Democrat, she has probably had more of her bills signed by Republican governors than any other representative around. And, in 1994, she even won a rare dual party, Republican and Democratic, nomination for the state Assembly.

As she tells it, the moment that defined her was when she lay shot five times on that tarmac in Guyana during the Jonestown massacre and mass suicide on Nov. 18, 1978. That, says she, made her realize the fragility of life and how short the time in which one may achieve one's goals. And those goals, obviously, have been solving human needs problems through the power of legislation.

Was that the defining moment or was it just revelatory? More likely, the courage was already there, in the first place, when she undertook such a dangerous mission with Congressman Leo Ryan and, which also kept her from falling apart after the needless death of her first husband Dr. Steve Sierra, at the hands of an uninsured reckless driver, leaving her on the edge of bankruptcy with two children.

She has since been happily remarried for five years to Barry Dennis.

And, what inspired her into public service?

According to her, it was participation in one of Leo Ryan's campaigns at age 16 and his later recalling her services. And, of course, John F. Kennedy's invocation of "Do for your country..." that led her into studying political science at U.C. Davis.

And, what has made Jackie so unique and so personally popular?

To get a better fix on that, it would have helped if one had attended one of her "farewell" appearances in city council chambers across her State Senate District 8. The first was at the San Mateo City Council Chambers on Nov. 2.

In such chambers, Jackie has been a political star for many years and, to the audience of citizens and district officials gathered that night, she is clearly still a star, lost no luster, still much beloved, and brought a lot of damp eyes because of the end of her career in the California Legislature.

And, a lot of broken hearts, too, because of her recent shot at another major public office, the lieutenant governor of California, having fallen just short.

In these Town Hall Meetings, she placed on view, again, that rare combination, an aura of uncompromising sincerity and the mastery of that delicate balance between a tough broad in the brutal world of political insincerity and that special compassion we have come to expect in our wives, daughters, mothers and reliable friends.

So, what about the future?

When asked what would be her next project after leaving office, she was very specific on only two points:

First, three months of nothing but be the kind of an "at home" mother her two children had been missing throughout her career.

(Loud yelp of "Hurrah!" out of her 12-year-old daughter, Stephanie).

That, of course, also gives her more time to worry about her son Jackson, 18, wandering about loose in the wilds of Stanford University without her there to guide him.

Second, she announced, in March, 2007, her book, "This is Not the Life I Ordered," will hit the book stores.

After that, she said, who knows? She has already indicated she will be active in the private sector in consumer and women's affairs and affirms an interest in becoming the chair of the state Democratic Party, but not until Al Torres quits.

Well, we have all learned, no star ever leaves the public eye willingly. Did Katherine Hepburn, Bette Davis, et al. How about Bill Clinton, and Jimmy Carter? It's in the blood.

So, auf wiedersehen, Jackie! We'll be seeing you in public office again, we're sure.