(October 20, 2010) Democratic strategist and CNN commentator Donna Brazile is the confirmed guest speaker for the California Chamber of Commerce Public Affairs Council Retreat November 10–12 in Riverside.

With California at a crossroads, the post-election retreat will ask several questions: Can we continue to be the land of opportunity? Are California’s challenges insurmountable? Can our Legislature meet these challenges or is California's political system truly broken? What reforms will it take to fix California government?  Can the business community make a difference?

The annual fall retreat will provide attendees with the critically important knowledge needed to make tough policy and political decisions in 2011 and beyond.

Donna Brazile

Donna Brazile

Donna Brazile is an adjunct professor, author, syndicated columnist, television political commentator, vice chair of voter registration and participation at the Democratic National Committee (DNC), and former chair of the DNC’s Voting Rights Institute.

A New Orleans native, Brazile began her political career at the age of nine when she worked to elect a city council candidate who had promised to build a playground in her neighborhood; the candidate won, the swing sets were installed, and a lifelong passion for political progress was ignited. Four decades and innumerable state and local campaigns later, Brazile has worked on every presidential campaign from 1976 through 2000, when she served as campaign manager for former Vice President Al Gore, becoming the first African American woman to manage a presidential campaign.

Author of the best-selling memoir Cooking with Grease: Stirring the Pots in American Politics, Brazile is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University, a syndicated newspaper columnist for United Media, a columnist for Ms. Magazine and O, The Oprah Magazine, and an on-air contributor to CNN and ABC, where she regularly appears on “This Week with Christiane Amanpour.”

In August 2009, O, The Oprah Magazine chose Brazile as one of its 20 “remarkable visionaries” for the magazine’s first-ever O Power List. In addition, she was named among the 100 Most Powerful Women by Washingtonian magazine, Top 50 Women in America by Essence magazine, and received the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s highest award for political achievement. A former member of the board of directors of the Louisiana Recovery Authority, responsible for leading the state’s rebuilding process in the aftermath of two catastrophic hurricanes, Brazile has received honorary doctorates from Louisiana State University and Xavier University of Louisiana, the only historically Black, Catholic institution of higher education in the United States.

Brazile is founder and managing director of Brazile & Associates LLC, a general consulting, grassroots advocacy and training firm based in Washington, D.C.

Retreat Agenda

A tentative retreat agenda is as follows:

Wednesday, November 10

• Cocktail Reception with Riverside Mayor Ronald Loveridge and Special Guest (California Attorney General-elect invited.)

Thursday, November 11

• Continental Breakfast and Registration
• Welcome and Conference Overview 
• Insider’s Perspective: Polling and Research Presentation on Reforming California
• 2012 Mid Term Presidential Election
• Policy Review – Job Killers and Job Creators
• Luncheon with Special Guest Speaker
• Fun, Games, Reception and Dinner at the Auto Club Speedway, Fontana (event sponsor) with Special Guest Speaker

Friday, November 12

• Breakfast Buffet - Special Guest Donna Brazile, Veteran Democratic political strategist, author, syndicated columnist, television political commentator, vice chair of voter registration and participation at the Democratic National Committee (DNC), and former chair of the DNC’s Voting Rights Institute.
• California Business Community and Political Partners
• 2010 Legislative Elections
• 2010 Initiatives Update:  Major Threats to the Business Community

Registration

To register now for the Public Affairs Council Retreat, visit www.regonline.com/PAC_Retreat_2010

See related top stories at www.calchamber.com/PublicAffairs.