Wrong, smart guy. California's Task Force To Promote Self-Esteem and Personal and Social Responsibility sprang from the forehead of Democratic assemblyman John Vasconcellos, 54, of Santa Clara; a bill was signed into law last September by Republican Governor George Deukmejian, giving the task force a three-year budget of $735,000. Its members were announced about the time Boopsie got her appointment. Vasconcellos is not amused that Trudeau has inducted Boopsie into his outfit. "Self-esteem is implicated as the causal factor in six major social problems," he says, "including crime, drug abuse, child abuse and chronic welfare dependency. Ideally this task force will let people know where to go for help and how to begin practicing truly nurturing self-esteem."
Perhaps wellness is in the eye of the beholder, because Vasconcellos' plan has stirred negative vibes in a lot of persons besides Trudeau. "The taxpayers had the right to hope that such silliness left the state with Governor Moonbeam [Jerry Brown]," says Republican assemblyman Gil Ferguson. San Francisco Examiner columnist Guy Wright moaned, "As if they needed to reinforce Sacramento's credentials as the kook capital of the world.... The legislature's willingness to underwrite screwball ideas like this makes it difficult for a Californian to keep his self-esteem." In fact the unsalaried appointees are an eclectic mix of the traditional and the new. They include a retired cop, psychologists, an Evangelical, an artist, a man who runs self-esteem seminars and state school superintendent Bill Honig.
None of the brickbats have dented the self-image of Vasconcellos, who went to college and law school at the University of Santa Clara and has embraced the human potential movement since he was elected in 1966. He has personally used counseling, encounter groups, seminars at the Esalen Institute and bioenergetics, which teaches awareness through body movements. In 1984 heart bypass surgery led him to study stress management with psychotherapist Emmett Miller, a task force member. "I'm disappointed when people seek to dismiss what I do by linking me up with Jerry Brown and hot tubs and Charles Manson," he says. "My hunch is that self-esteem is very threatening to cynics. But a lot of people are very excited. We've had more applications for this task force than any other."
Actually, Vasconcellos believes, cynics like Trudeau may be helping the cause. "Our goal was to elevate the issue of self-esteem to public awareness within California in three years," he says. "Trudeau's done that nationally for us in three weeks." Boopsie must be proud.
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
