Bay Area Politics: Follow the Money

Join KALW & Mission Local for a deep dive looking at the people, organizations, interests, and dollars influencing local politics.
About this Event

Mission Local 's Joe Eskenazi and Kelly Waldron join KALW’s Ben Trefny to pull back the curtain on the money shaping local political life. We’ll look at campaign contributions, independent expenditures, political organizations, and the networks of influence that can be difficult for voters to see.

This program is to help Bay Area voters be better informed and more confident participants in local democracy. What should we be watching? How can ordinary people follow the money themselves? And what can campaign finance records, and the entities behind them, tell us about the state of our elections?

Come with your questions, bring your curiosity, and learn how to follow the money.

Joe Eskenazi is Managing Editor/Columnist for Mission Local. Joe was born in San Francisco, raised in the Bay Area, and attended U.C. Berkeley. He never left.
Joe was a writer and columnist for SF Weekly from 2007 to 2015, and a senior editor at San Francisco Magazine from 2015 to 2017. You may also have read his work in the Guardian (U.S. and U.K.); San Francisco Public Press; San Francisco Chronicle; San Francisco Examiner; Dallas Morning News; and elsewhere. He resides in the Excelsior with his wife and three (!) kids, 4.3 miles from his birthplace and 5,474 from hers.
The Northern California branch of the Society of Professional Journalists named Eskenazi the 2019 Journalist of the Year.

Kelly Waldron is a data reporter at Mission Local. She studied Geography at McGill University and worked at a remote sensing company in Montreal, analyzing methane data, before turning to journalism and earning a master’s degree from Columbia Journalism School.

Ben Trefny has been part of the KALW family since 2003, where he currently serves as Executive Producer. As Executive News Editor, News Director, and Interim Executive Director, he helped the news department win numerous regional and national awards for long- and short-form journalism. He also helped create numerous training programs — for teenagers, incarcerated people, and early-career journalists — and has taught hundreds of audio producers. His current work focuses on journalism, live events, and partnerships.

Come early to see Made in this Place: Bay Area Artists In Their Own Words, a new multimedia exhibition from Art is Awesome and KALW Public Media, in partnership with Ingleside Gallery, spotlighting 15 local artists. Through artwork and recorded conversations, visitors are invited to engage with local artists as neighbors, discovering the ideas, experiences, and values that shape their work.

There is a $10 - $20 sliding scale suggested donation for this event. Nobody will be turned away for lack of funds. Thank you for supporting engaged, informed community events, made by the Bay, for the Bay.

Become a KALW member today and receive your first drink on us at all 220 Montgomery events.

220 Montgomery St., San Francisco, 2 blocks from BART/MUNI
Doors open at 6:00
Program begins at 7:00
Refreshments for donation (and KALW members get their first one on the house)
The event is free with an RSVP — and you are welcome to donate what you want

Please note:

• The event space is just to the left of the main entrance to the Mills Building at 220 Montgomery Street
• We recommend taking BART/MUNI, exiting at Montgomery, and walking two blocks north
• Ride-shares can drop off and pick up directly in front of the venue
• If you drive, there are several garages within two blocks of the event location

Agenda

🕑: 06:00 PM - 07:00 PM
Doors
🕑: 07:00 PM - 08:30 PM
Bay Area Politics: Follow the Money