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Obituaries

Obituary: Remembering Former State Senator Nick Petris

Former San Leandro City Councilwoman Surlene Grant, who got her first major league exposure to politics in his Sacramento office, recalls him as a mentor and exemplar.

 

Former California Senator Nicolas Petris died on March 20.  He lived a rich life and left a far-reaching legacy, influencing people and championing causes in ways he probably never imagined.

I should know. I am one of those people.

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Laws to protect the environment, the bay, the mentally ill and immigrants are among a long list of his accomplishments during 37 years in the Legislature.

Senator Petris was the first politician for whom I ever worked.  I was 26: impressionable and doe-eyed, naïve and innocent.

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I got to his office through the prestigious Senate Fellows Program. I was granted a competitive and highly sought-after position in the Senator’s Sacramento Capitol office.

Being placed in Senator Petris’ office made you part of the staff – with business cards and all – and you had to work. Because of my journalism education, I was assigned some media tasks, lots of letter writing but also legislation to carry through the entire process from concept and creation to the Governor’s Office for signature and implementation (or not).

I worked on legislation:

  • benefiting farmworkers in the field;
  • stopping the hunting and killing of mountain lions (that at the time seemed to be taking over the mountains);
  • advocating for poor people’s housing (oh, in retrospect, I guess now I know where that position stemmed from in my own work);
  • maneuvering  anti-tobacco legislation ( just think, a story I can tell is when I took on the powerful tobacco lobby. I lost but I gained some major skills); and
  • successfully changed  Cal-OSHA to protect graduate  students working in laboratories.

Senator Petris is among the most influential people in my career path. 

Besides politics, I learned the art of management from the Senator.  He would walk into the office every morning and make the rounds to everyone’s desk, even lowly me, the Senate Fellow.

“Good morning” . . .”How are you?” and in some cases, given the news of the day, he’d give hugs when needed.

This was more than 25 years ago; someone would probably sue him today. But then, and more importantly in his paternal spirit, it was appropriate and sometimes needed).

I was in his office the morning the Space Shuttle Challenger came apart. A hug was needed.

His morning personal greeting was his way of checking in on his team before we had to hit the court. This was at once our line up, our pep talk and our charge.

Years later, when I worked in an office and managed people, I did the same thing. I checked in with people individually.  I dare say, all of them think I was a good boss.  I learned from Senator Petris. 

After his morning greeting, he would go into his office and start working. The days were long, often fast and always demanding. 

Senator Petris was the kind of politician who you always knew on what side of an issue he was going to fall. It wasn’t about party position as much as moral position.

Who benefitted? Who sacrificed?  He did his best to make sure the voiceless had a voice, the homeless had housing, and immigrants had rights.

There are those who said I served my elected position well; I should have, I learned from Senator Petris.

These are the memories I have in this moment. I have a scrapbook in storage with other memories. He gave of time and service in a way that paid it forward, and I hope in doing my work  I am doing him honor by giving back some of what he gave me.

Who mentored you in your profession or calling? Want to share a recollection below?

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