Speaker Series - League of Women Voters of Palo Alto

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Throughout the year, the Palo Alto League of Women Voters hosts a speaker series on topics that are of interest to our members and community. Programs are recorded and available on our YouTube channel. Scroll down to view our speaker events. Sometimes the League sponsors events with other allied organizations. This happens when the goals/mission/values of the organizations are aligned with League positions (US, California, regional and local) and support or opposition of political parties or candidates is not the organization's primary mission.

Fall Kick Off Making Democracy Work-Guest Speaker Pam Karlan: Voting Under Pressure What We Can All Do

Sunday, October 6th 2024
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm Lucie Stern Community Center Ballroom
Watch our guest speaker, Pam Karlan, share her thoughts on the various ways democracy and the right to vote are under pressure and provide suggestions on what we can all do beyond voting.

Guest Speaker Bio:
Pamela Karlan is the Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Professor of Public Interest Law and a founder and co-director of the Supreme Court Litigation Clinic at Stanford Law School. The Clinic has represented parties in more than sixty merits cases. The Clinic’s voting rights-related work includes representing the bipartisan leadership of the House Judiciary Committee in defending the Voting Rights Act, representing overseas voters in a case involving the National Voter Registration Act, representing Latino voters in vote-dilution lawsuits, and representing voters challenging Texas’s restriction of no-excuse vote by mail to voters over the age of 65. Pam has argued ten cases before the Court, including three voting rights cases.

Pam’s primary scholarship involves constitutional litigation, particularly with respect to regulation of the political process. She has published dozens of scholarly articles and is the co-author of three leading casebooks, one of them on The Law of Democracy.

Pam received her B.A., M.A., and J.D. from Yale. After clerking for U.S. District Court Judge Abraham Sofaer and Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun, she practiced law at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, focusing on employment discrimination and voting rights. Her public service includes a term as a commissioner on the California Fair Political Practices Commission, which implements and enforces the State’s campaign finance, lobbying, and conflict of interest laws. Most recently, she served as the principal deputy assistant attorney general in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice where she was the reviewer for the Division’s voting rights-related work at both the trial and appellate levels.

Pam is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Law Institute, where she serves on the ALI Council. In 2021, she received the American Bar Association’s Margaret Brent Award, given to “women lawyers who have achieved professional excellence and paved the way for other women in the legal profession.” In 2016, she was named one of the Politico 50 — a group of “thinkers, doers, and visionaries transforming American politics”; earlier in her career, the American Lawyer named her to its Public Sector 45 — a group of lawyers “actively using their law degrees to change lives.”

LWVPA Annual Meeting With Guest Speaker Palo Alto Deputy City Manager Chantal Gaines: Priority Projects & Legislation with Local Impacts

Sunday, May 19th 2024
12:30 pm - 2:30 pm Palo Alto Baylands Golf Course Conference Room

We are excited to invite all members to join our 2024 Annual Membership Meeting, the most important gathering of the League year! Light lunch is included. Members will accomplish the following objectives of the meeting:
*Approve 2024-2025 budget
*Adopt our top program emphases for 2024-2025 (Palo Alto) and for 2024-2026 (National)
*Elect new officers, directors, and a nominating committee
*Hear our guest speaker, Deputy City Manager Chantal Gaines
View the Meeting Packet

Guest Speaker Bio:
Chantal Cotton Gaines is a coach, author, and executive leader. She has over 15 years’ experience in public service for local governments across the US. Chantal knows the importance of education and lifting as you rise as she has been volunteering and giving back since around age 3 in her hometown, Flint, Michigan. She is currently the Deputy City Manager in Palo Alto, California and leads many interdepartmental efforts and the City’s race and equity work.

Among other things, she is a volunteer Advisor and Board Member for the California Youth and Government program and a long-time member of International City Management Association (ICMA) and the Municipal Management Association of Northern California (MMANC). She chose local (city) government because it is closest to the voices of the people it serves. Chantal graduated from the University of Michigan with an Accelerated Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, Master of Public Policy, and Master of Urban Planning. She has also completed certificates, including one at Stanford University.

Past Speaker Events

Watch video recordings and view photos of past speaker events by clicking on each event’s title.

Voting Under Pressure What We Can All Do - Pamela Karlan, Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Professor of Public Interest Law and a founder and co-director of the Supreme Court Litigation Clinic at Stanford Law School. October 6, 2024 Pam Karlan shares her thoughts on the various ways democracy and the right to vote are under pressure and provide suggestions on what we can all do beyond voting.

Free Speech in the Digital Age and Mass Extinction of American Journalism KQED's Rachael Myrow March 27th, 2024 American journalism is struggling to keep up and struggling to stay alive. KQED's Rachael Myrow discusses the state of journalism, the larger trend lines, as well as the challenges in the digital age.

How is Palo Alto Upgrading Our Electrical Grid for an All-Electric Future ? City of Palo Alto Utilities Director Dean Batchelor, Home Electrification experts Tom Kabat and Cooper Marcus . View the folder with presentation materials HERE.
October 19th , 2023
As we switch our homes, buildings and cars from fossil fuels to electricity, we need more electric capacity, resiliency and "smarts" in our grid. Hear City of Palo Alto Utilities (CPAU) Director Dean Batchelor discuss CPAU plans to modernize our electric grid, as well as address resident concerns about switching from gas to electric. Tom Kabat will discuss ways to save money while switching to electricity at home, and Cooper Marcus will talk about financial resources and planning to help residents electrify cost-effectively.

How is Our Department Prioritizing Service to Palo Alto Palo Alto Police Chief Andrew Binder
August 23rd, 2023
After being selected by City Manager Ed Shikada and confirmed by City Council, Andrew Binder began serving as Palo Alto’s 11th Police Chief on August 8th, 2022. Andrew’s 26 years of law enforcement experience include serving eighteen years with the City of San Jose and more than eight years in Palo Alto.

Preventing Gun Violence: What Parents Can Do To Help - LWV Palo Alto Gun Violence Prevention Committee and PTA Council presented a Parent Education Zoom webinar
April 25, 2023
Dr. Erin Holsinger, Stanford pediatrician and noted gun violence researcher; Chloe Chan, Palo Alto High School Student; Stacey Ashlund, LWVPA’s Gun Violence Prevention Committee co-chair and Moms Demand Action volunteer

Judge LaDoris Cordell Discusses Her Newly Released Book Her Honor -Winter Luncheon
December 7, 2022
Judge LaDoris Cordell

Voting Rights Film Suppressed & Sabotaged: The Right to Vote & Discussion - Fall Kick-off
October 2, 2022
Kemi Anike Oyewole, PhD student Stanford University

Affordable Electrification for Everyone
June 22, 2022
Diane Bailey, Executive Director, Menlo Spark
Bruce Hodges, Founder, Carbon Free Palo Alto
The slide decks for our speakers are here (Bailey) and here (Hodges)

Progress Report on City Priorities - LWVPA Annual Meeting
May 14, 2022
Ed Shikada, Palo Alto City Manager

The Road to Democracy Runs Through the Classroom
March 9, 2022
Susie Richardson, Facing History & Ourselves Board Member
Jennifer DiBrienza, PAUSD Board of Education

Language of Leadership (for all)
December 9, 2021
Lori Nishiura Mackenzie, Lead Strategist, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Stanford Graduate School of Business

Improving Democracy One Conversation at a Time: How Young People are Fighting for Better Politics
October 13, 2021
Manu Meel, CEO, BridgeUSA

How to Repair American Democracy
August 2, 2021
Dr. Larry Diamond, Top scholar in Democracy Studies

Power of Community - LWVPA Annual Meeting
May 15, 2021
Rev. Kaloma Smith, Leader of the University AME Zion Church Palo Alto; Chair, Palo Alto Human Relations Committee

Climate Crisis Call to Action: Think Globally/Act Locally
March 10, 2021
Christine Luong, Sustainability Manager, City of Palo Alto
Nicole Angiel, Food Systems Director, Acterra

The K-12 Opportunity Gap and Its Effect on Equal Access to Education - LWVPA Winter Luncheon
December 3, 2020
Kristen Clark, President and Executive Director, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
Genevieve Bonadies Torres, Associate Director, Educational Opportunities Project

Housing in the Bay Area: How We Got Here and What Will Bring About Change
September 2, 2020
Randy Tsuda, President and CEO, Alta Housing

The Personal and the Political: What COVID-19 Reveals and How We Might Respond
June 24, 2020
Julie Lythcott-Haims, Author, speaker, activist, and board member of Black Women’s Health Imperative, Narrative Magazine, and California College of the Arts; she serves on the advisory boards of LeanIn.Org, Sir Ken Robinson Foundation, and Baldwin For the Arts.

How is the COVID-19 Crisis Impacting American Democracy?
April 29, 2020
Didi Kuo, Associate Director, Research and Senior Research Scholar at the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law at Stanford University

Quicklink: www.lwvpaloalto.org/speaker-series