“(People say) that this is the most brutal election we’ve ever had. … Nah, not even close,” former Sacramento State student and political author Jeff Raimundo told a packed crowd during an Author Lecture Series in the University Library Gallery on Sept. 13.
Raimundo, who co-wrote a book titled “Game Changers: Twelve Elections That Transformed California” with Steve Swatt, Susie Swatt and Rebecca LaVally, spoke about material that was covered in the book, and how policy within the state took shape.
He cited the 1934 gubernatorial election as an example of how 2016 is not a unique time in history.
Upton Sinclair, author of “The Jungle,” ran under the Democratic Party ticket against Frank Merriam. Raimundo said The Los Angeles Times campaigned against Sinclair with their coverage on the campaign.
“They included a daily box on the front page that included damning quotes attributed to Sinclair that were made up, sometimes by characters from his books, which were attributed to him,” Raimundo said.
Steve and Raimundo met each other when they were working as journalists. Steve was with KCRA, while Raimundo was with the Sacramento Bee.
After reminiscing on their time in the industry during a trip in Seattle, it lead to the group discussing that they should utilize their past experience into a group project.
“We decided we that would put together a book about what we know, or what we don’t know, but we can find out,” Raimundo said.
Steve was the primary writer, Susie worked as the researcher for the project, and Raimundo and LaValley wrote some portions and served as editors.
Initially, the group pitched the book to the University of California Press with the assumption it was guaranteed that the publisher was going to release it due to the fact that Susie was on the board for the Institute of Governmental Studies. However, the UC Press rejected the novel. It was stated in the rejection letter that there was a chance that Heyday Books would be interested.
Robin Aurelius, a board member of the CSUS Friends of the Library, said that he believes the novel should be taught by university professors.
“(The book teaches that) every epic has its issues,” Aurelius said. “What really happens is the press picks them up and blows them up without any real good definition.”
Precious Ramirez, who attended the lecture for her Sac State government class, said the reason the upcoming presidential election seems as negative as people describe is because of how media organizations have been framing their coverage.
“Rather than focusing on the good parts of each elective person, they are just tearing each other down, and they are really like are not making it any easier for the public to make a decision,” Ramirez said.”
