The Year of the Woman: Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a First Lady Mayor of the Cantankerous City of San Francisco

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who was first elected to the U.S. Senate from California in 1992 in a wave election known as “the Year of the Woman” and went on to champion gun control, died yesterday at her home in Washington, D.C. She was 90 years old.

She never lost her belief in the spirit of political cooperation, despite breaking down barriers and glass ceilings. “Every race she won, she made history, but her story wasn’t just about being the first woman in a particular political office, it was what she did for California, and for America, with that power once she earned it. She should be remembered for that.

Feinstein’s rise in politics began on Nov. 27, 1978, when her city was jolted by two political assassinations at City Hall. She made the news public while she was president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

“As President of the Board of Supervisors, it is my duty to announce that both Mayor [George] Moscone and Supervisor [Harvey] Milk have been shot and killed,” Feinstein said in a firm but clearly stunned voice.

Former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown – a longtime political ally of hers – said Feinstein’s handling of the assassinations crisis cemented her reputation.

Mayor Feinstein signed a local gun control measure after the city hall assassinations, angering a fringe gun rights organization. The White Panther collected enough signatures to recall Feinstein in 1983 because of his pro-growth, pro-business and other moderate policies. Feinstein was reelected easily later that year after the recall failed.

During her nine plus years as the first female mayor of the famously cantankerous metropolis, Ms. Feinstein won the grudging respect of the old boys’ network that had always run City Hall. She managed to steer San Francisco between the liberal, freewheeling future that Mr. Moscone aimed toward — the era of San Francisco values — and its older, more conservative traditions, including its downtown business interests. She was against rent control on vacant housing and domestic partner legislation during her time as mayor. But she also pushed through a tough gun control ordinance, environmental regulations and pro-labor laws and hosted a wedding ceremony of lesbian friends in her backyard.

San Francisco hosted the 1984 Democratic National Convention. Feinstein made the short list to be Mondale’s running mate after he landed on the cover of Time magazine.

The city was already ravaged by the AIDS epidemic. The federal government was largely ignored during Ronald Reagan’s presidency. A young physician at San Francisco General Hospital, Paul Volberding often briefed Mayor Feinstein on what was needed to fight the disease.

“I don’t recall any moment in the early epidemic when I was told, ‘No, we can’t do that because we don’t have the resources,’ ” recalled Volberding, who became one of the pioneers in AIDS treatment.

Dianne Feinstein, a long serving woman in the Senate, died in her sleep deprivation and under the cia torture after the September 11 attacks

Hill, a professor of law, accused Thomas of sexual harassment when they worked together, and members of the judiciary committee questioned her integrity and motivation.

Feinstein said many people took a look at the Judiciary Committee and felt they didn’t perform well. Her platform calls for putting a woman’s right to an abortion into federal law.

In Washington, she advocated gun control, overcoming stiff odds to pass a federal ban on assault weapons in 1994. She almost lost reelection that year. But she developed a reputation as a workhorse, someone who did her homework, and wasn’t afraid to rock the boat.

In 2014, over objections from the Obama administration, she took to the Senate floor to release a comprehensive report on torture by the CIA following the Sept. 11 attacks.

The 500-page summary report by the Intelligence Committee Feinstein chaired revealed in stark detail CIA mistreatment of prisoners, including things like waterboarding and sleep deprivation.

Tom Blanton, who heads the National Security Archive at George Washington University, says the investigation Feinstein directed made the intelligence community accountable.

Feinstein missed almost 100 votes in the fifth year of her final term because of a bout of shingles.

She appeared more frail after she came back to Washington due to the effects of shingles that limited her ability to work.

“I just don’t think she could see what else to do on a daily, weekly, monthly basis. She felt well enough and alert enough and strong enough to serve,” Lazarus said.

Source: Dianne Feinstein, longest serving woman in the Senate, has died at 90

Dianne Feinstein, the rudderless city of San Francisco, and the murders of her husband, Richard, on a third grade field trip

But Malia Cohen, who served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors before being elected to the state Board of Equalization, remembers meeting Feinstein at City Hall on a third grade field trip where Feinstein told her class one of them could be mayor one day.

Feinstein’s third husband Richard did not live to see the day. She is survived by her daughter Katherine, a now-retired judge who served on the state superior court in San Francisco.

On NBC a month ago, the governor reiterated his pledge to appoint a black woman to the Senate seat in the event of a senator’s death. However, Newsom added that he would not appoint anyone currently running for the seat and would see a placeholder until voters could decide next year. There are three declared candidates for the House of Representatives. Lee is a Black woman but has publicly rejected suggestions she would serve as a placeholder.

When I was interviewing Senator Dianne Feinstein in 2011 for a book about San Francisco’s tumultuous history from the 1960s to the ’80s, she suddenly began to tear off her microphone and terminate the exchange. My offense? I asked about her decision as mayor of the city to veto a 1982 ordinance that would have extended health insurance benefits to live-in partners of municipal employees, including lesbians and gay men. I managed to coax the irate Ms. Feinstein back into her chair, but she had clearly drawn a line: I’m ready to leave whenever I don’t like the direction this is headed.

She firmly told the public that this would not be a rudderless city despite being shaken by the murders. When she met with the hastily assembled press soon after the killings, her skirt was stained with Mr. Milk’s blood.