News & Views

California State Assemblywoman Grace Napolitano, a 1994 graduate of the Flemming Fellows Leadership Institute, won the Democratic nomination in an open Congressional primary in U.S. District 34. Napolitano will face Republican Ed Perez in November.

The Urban Institute recently released Getting the Government We Deserve. This new book outlines strategies for re-engaging the public in the political process and for making government more responsive to constituent needs.

Californians defeated the so-called payroll protection ballot measure, Proposition 226, which was actually intended to limit unions’ ability to use dues for political purposes.

The Japan Society is soliciting nominations and applications for its 1999 Local Government and Public Policy Fellowship. The Fellowship, a two-month individualized residency in Japan, provides participants with the opportunity to develop lasting contacts and contribute to a deeper working knowledge of Japan in the U.S. Applicants should be mid-career U.S. citizens in government or non-governmental organizations with direct involvement in policy development, formulation and enactment. The nomination deadline is September 30, 1998, and the application deadline is October 31, 1998. For more information, contact Ruri Kawashima, U.S.-Japan Program Director, at 212-715-1224 or Kristine Minami at 212-715-1222, or email [email protected]

The Housing Assistance Council, committed to building communities throughout the rural U.S., will hold its 1998 conference at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, DC, December 10-12. For more information, contact Heidi Jones at 202-842-8600 or [email protected].