Dan Walters: Al Rodda, a sweet man, left legacy
Posted at 01:04 AM on Tuesday, Apr. 06, 2010
RecommendIt's not often that one can describe a prominent politician as "sweet." But it's the word that comes to mind when one thinks of Al Rodda, a former state senator from Sacramento who died Saturday at age 97.
Rodda was a genuinely sweet man – modest, even diffident, in demeanor, high-minded and learned, painfully sincere – who nonetheless not only survived two decades in the rough-and-tumble ambience of Capitol politics, but rose to power.
A former teacher, Rodda championed public education as chairman of the Senate Education Committee and later the Finance Committee. He fashioned legislation that responded to the historic Serrano v. Priest decision on school finance, chaired the committee that crafted the bailout of schools and local governments after Proposition 13's passage in 1978, and wrote legislation creating a state community college chancellor's office and board of trustees.
The quintessential Rodda moment – one perfectly reflecting his all-too-rare traits – came in
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