You know you are at a pretty amazing event when the number of United States Military personnel in 
dress uniform make up a pretty big percentage of the crowd. Well, that was the case last night when my dad and I were the guests of Gala Chairman Brad Freeman for a dinner banquet for the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library Foundation where President George Herbert Walker Bush was presented with the Foundation’s 2007 Ronald Reagan Freedom Award, with nearly a thousand guests on hand in the main ballroom of the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
Former President Bush and Nancy Reagan were both escorted into the dinner, and later onto the stage, by a pair of very sharp looking Marine Sergeants. The Master of Ceremonies was none other than Merv Griffin, a Foundation Board Member, and at one time the owner of the hotel (for a moment there were flashbacks to an old Dean Martin Roast program as Griffen tossed a barb at veteran comedian Don Rickles, who was in attendance).
There was a 
video presentation from President Bush who could not attend the gala, where he congratulated his dad on receiving this honor. The award itself was given to Bush by Nancy Reagan, after the President was given an introduction by former White House Chief of Staff and family friend Andrew Card, and after we were all treated to an amazing video montage of the life and career of George H.W. Bush.
President Bush spoke for about ten minutes, and was actually pretty funny. He had a lot of very complimentary things to say about Ronald Reagan, and in what was the most amazing display of humility, Bush actually lamented that he did not have the amazing communications skills of Reagan. He wondered aloud that if he could have connected with the American people like Reagan did, perhaps he would not have lost his re-election bid. He spoke about the wonderful relationship that the two shared, and how Reagan well he was treated by the Gipper.
The entertainment of the evening was stunningly provided by the United States Naval Academy Glee Club, who were quite impressive. There were easily over a hundred of these cadets that had flown out from Annapolis, and were amazing in their presentation.
I could try to start listing the luminaries present, but would probably manage to miss more folks than I actually mention. But there were three Governor’s present — Arnold Schwarzenegger, and former Governors Pete Wilson and Gray Davis. I saw former Attorney General Edwin Meese talking 
to the media. In the photo to the left, my dad captured me with two great Americans — Judge Jim Rogan and former Solicitor General now Pepperdine Law School Dean Kenneth Starr. We got to chat a bit with our new Insurance Commissioner, Steve Poizner, who flew down to enjoy the festivities, and it was fun talking for a time with Col. James B. Seaton III, commanding officer of the Marine Corps’ Camp Pendleton, who told me about a wreath laying ceremony in which he, along with Ed Meese, has participated in earlier in the day at the Reagan Library.
One little humorous aside — our table was located right next to that of Governor Pete Wilson, his wife Gayle and some other guests (including Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle and Riverside County District Attorney Rod Pacheco, and their wives). I had a chance to remark to Governor Wilson that he was definitely missed, that events in the State Capitol lately made him seem, in retrospect, to political right of Jesse Helms. Wilson seemed to get a kick out of my comment, and with his trademark wry smile, he told me that he was friends with Jesse Helms and that Helms was a great man.
My dad was particularly pleased that he sat next to the owners of the Jelly Belly jelly bean company from up in northern California. They were great people, and as you might expect, had plenty of Jelly Bellies to give away! Sitting next to me was an old friend, Scott Kamena. We knew each other back in College Republican days. Scott, now an successful optometrist, has thrown his had into the GOP primary for the 15th Assembly District in the East Bay Area (where Guy Houston is term-limited). He’ll be a formidable candidate for certain as he and his family have a lot of community ties in the District (his dad is the Mayor of Livermore) — and he has six-digits raised already in his campaign account (no doubt related to his retaining of Dunsmore’s firm to coordinate his fundraising efforts). He and his wife flew down for the event.
All in all, it was an amazing evening, and I know that everyone left, like I did, with an overwhelming sense of patriotism, and an appreciation for some of the greatest leaders of our country.
I do need to give a ‘shout out’ to Anne Dunsmore and to Capital Campaigns — who did much of the organizational work on the event. As one would expect from one of Anne’s events — everyone was done with style, and we got out of there right on time. Way to go!