Gayle McLaughlin, progressive mayor of Richmond, brings her message to Sonoma

For a dyed-in-the-wool radical, Gayle McLaughlin presents as a kindly woman in her 60s, with gently waved hair, wire-rim glasses and a sparkle in her eyes, like a favorite aunt. Yet McLaughlin has been an active participant in anti-war marches against American intervention in Vietnam and Central America (a decade later), as well as the on-going racism and sexism culture wars at home.

“I think that’s who I am for sure,” said McLaughlin in a phone call with the Index-Tribune. “I don’t think you should become some robot and just have some talking points.”

But the message she carries, what she calls “The Richmond Story,” is one of citizen power – taking control of government one city council at a time.

And McLaughlin is bringing that message to the Sonoma Community Center on Sunday, Jan. 27 at 3 p.m., in an event titled “Winning Richmond,” hosted by the Praxis Peace Institute.

McLaughlin’s so-called “Richmond story” reached its climax when she served as mayor for eight years in nearby Richmond, a town dominated both in landscape and economy by a multi-billion-dollar oil company, Chevron.

“Richmond really was and is a wonderful diverse city. It reminded me of Chicago, of course much smaller,” said the former 66-year-old Midwesterner, who moved to Richmond about 20 years ago.

“All the problems that cities and urban environments have was something I was familiar with. I wanted to make a difference and do what I could to help my community.”

It was an effort that largely succeeded. She was elected mayor – Richmond has a seven-member city council, with the mayor elected separately – in 2006, and again in 2010. For 10 years she led what became the Richmond Progressive Alliance to a “super-majority” on the city council, which enabled the Contra Costa County city to raise the hourly minimum wage to $12.50, and then to $15; reduce homicide by 75 percent; arrest police misconduct by restructuring the department; and pass the first rent control law in 30 years, among other progressive accomplishments.

They also managed to hit up Chevron for millions in higher business fees to the city, and passed ordinances that decreased toxic pollution from its refinery.

“We really addressed the root causes of our problems, and we made a phenomenal change. We made a transformation,” she said proudly.

The Richmond Progressive Alliance was the anchor for those social changes. While it is not aligned with any political party (“I’m registered NPP, no party preference,” McLaughlin said more than once), refuses corporate support, opposes racial profiling and openly supports progressive issues, it draws members from the Democratic party, Democratic Socialists, Greens and Bernie Sanders’ enthusiasts.

They were initially focused on electing candidates to city councils – the lowest rung in the political ladder, but in some ways the most important. As the old pols like to say, all politics is local.

Naturally their accomplishments didn’t come easy, and they didn’t please everyone. The RPA came out of what might be called the Obama era; since then, their influence has been reduced. The current mayor of Richmond – McLaughlin termed out after eight years, though she was then elected to the city council – is Tom Butt.

“He’s very much a system-oriented person,” she said, spelling out his last name deliberately. “He is one of those more go-along-with-the-market types. He really hates the RPA because we do buck the system. He’s been a real thorn in our side.”

Afterward McLaughlin didn’t lay low, but ran for lieutenant governor in 2016. Though she didn’t make it past the primary, she recognized that her campaign had generated a network of progressive endorsements statewide, from organizations “able to address statewide issues that cannot be addressed at a local level” – a momentum that has coalesced in the new California Progressive Alliance, or CPA.

It almost sounds like that was the plan all along.

“The Richmond Story is really a story of a small group of activists that started out in our city coming together wanting to make our city better,” she said simply. “Our slogan was, ‘A better Richmond is possible.’

And taking the story on the road, so to speak, has worked. “People were just aching for a positive story, for an upbeat, inspiring story. That’s what the Richmond story is.”

Recently a number of local progressive alliances based on the Richmond model have emerged in California – in Sacramento, in the San Jose area, in San Diego down south and even in Napa next door.

She thinks Sonoma is ready for one, too.

“I think we need both,” said McLaughlin firmly. “We need that local work. That’s essential when you build relationships with your neighbors, your friends, your coworkers at a local level, to get people elected.”

With her new book, “Winning Richmond: How a Progressive Alliance Won City Hall,” she’s bringing the Richmond Story to a wider audience, speaking throughout the state in hopes of cementing the new CPA as a state force to be reckoned with.

Naturally, she’s now the CPA’s interim chair, at least until the founding convention in March, in San Louis Obispo. There, she’ll put her name up to become the official chair of the California Progressive Alliance – naturally.

Contact Christian at christian.kallen@sonomanews.com.