John Garamendi in an exclusive interview with EuskoSare: "There is a culture of education and advancement within the Basque community"

John Garamendi had previously been the California State Insurance Commissioner from 2003-2007, having previously been the first occupant of that office from 1991-1995. He was the U.S. Deputy Secretary of the Interior from 1995-1998. Mr. Garamendi is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley and Harvard Business School, earning an MBA. A former Academic All-American football player and champion wrestler, he later volunteered and served in the Peace Corps in Ethiopia with his wife, Patti. They have six grown children and nine grandchildren.

EuskoSare had the opportunity to speak with him at the State Capitol, where we found him eager to speak about the Basque world and the effect that being Basque has had on his life.

I understand your grandfather was Basque. Where did he come from and when?

Both my grandfather and grandmother were Basque. My grandfather came to America in 1906 and my grandmother came in 1908. My grandfather came to Nevada where he was put to work as a sheepherder, but he didn’t like sheep and sheep didn’t like him. So he left that and wound up in Utah where he met my grandmother. They met at a Basque boarding house in Probo, Utah. My grandmother was from Ondarroa and my grandfather was from Lekeitio. Families are still in that area. My grandfather’s family are in Lekeitio, Bilbao, and Madrid. My grandmother’s side was the Osa family. Her brother was the European heavy weight champion in the 1930’s and he later went on to run a shrimp shipping operation that traveled around the world looking for shrimp. That family is still in the area also.

My grandparents migrated to California where they ran a Basque hotel in Stockton, California. They were there from 1918 until 1920 when there was an epidemic of typhoid fever and my father’s sister died of that. My grandmother thought this was a bad town and they went onto Calexico, down in the Imperial Valley and went into farming for a while. When that didn’t work they went back to Nevada. My father attended most of his grammar school and high school in Ely, Nevada and then went onto the University of Nevada where he met my mother.

Did your grandparents speak Basque?

Yes, they did. My father’s first language was Basque. He was born in Bingham Canyon, west of Salt Lake City. His first language was Basque, second language was Spanish, and his third language was English. My grandparents spoke Basque with my father as he was growing up, but we are pretty well convinced that my father was heavily criticized as a young kid in school for not knowing English. Not unusual for that period, but very common in the 1950’s and 60’s. So, he refused to teach us Basque and Spanish although he spoke it with his parents and friends.

I've heard that you were raised on a ranch. Can you tell us more about that?

I was born on the family cattle ranch. My mother is Irish-Italian and her Irish grandparents came from New England to California in 1860. They had migrated earlier from Ireland to work in the cotton mills. They got into mining and eventually into ranching. The cattle ranch which I was raised at belonged to my mother’s family and is located in Chili Gulch, a place 2 miles south of Mokelumne Hill, a gold mining region of California. That is were I was raised along with six other siblings. My father took over the operation of the cattle ranch and ran that ranch until he died in 1992. The family runs the cattle ranch and is currently being operated by my brother. My mother is still alive and so she is the matriarch. 30 years ago, Patti and I purchased our own ranch nearby, about 5 miles from the family ranch. We’ve operated that ranch, called "Paloma" for the last 30 years.

How has being Basque influenced your life? Do you feel that your Basque heritage is an important component of your identity?

Yes, it has been. From our earliest years our parents would take us back to Ely when were young kids. Occasionally we would go during the festival season so we could attend the festival there in Ely and Elko. There was always an interchange with his uncles, aunts, and cousins. We were always meeting every few years at one place or another. We were always participating in those family events which were on my father’s side oriented on the Basque culture. And of course my grandparents who were very much alive up until I was in my mid 20’s would always be talking about the Basque Country.

What spurred your interest in politics?

Tell me what Basque is not a politician? At least they are willing to talk a lot. My dad was very active in politics in Calaveras County, the school board, democratic politics and the like. He lost a bet on the Eisenhower election and wound up walking from one community of Mokelumne Hill to San Andreas barefoot for eight miles. That was the last time he made a bet on a political campaign. So he was involved. With Patti and I, it was basically the Peace Corps. After the Peace Corps, we came back to America during the Vietnam War, and with racial disturbances and the like, we decided we had to get involved. So we got involved.

What do you enjoy most about being Lieutenant Governor?

I am just having a ball. I am having so much fun because I am dealing with issues that I really care about: education, higher education, research at the universities, and lots of international activities. We are also involved in major activities under climate change and healthcare. We just did a piece on ocean protection as there are a lot of ocean habitat issues. These are the issues that we are involved with right now, and those will change over time.

Tell us about your Annual Basque Barbeque.

When I ran for office in 1974, we had the first annual Basque barbeque as a thank you party for the staff of volunteers. That was the first of now 30. We are about to have our 30th annual Basque barbeque at our ranch coming up on May 19th. In the past, the Chino Basque dancers have performed several times as well as a group out of the valley, from Los Banos. This year the kids want it to be a “green” party, and so talking about climate change we are going to be doing a Basque barbeque with an environmental green tint to it.

Do you think Basques are adequately projecting themselves in a positive way in this state and country?

I think they are in the state and in the United States with the annual festivals and the various clubs such as the South San Francisco Basque Cultural Center and the like. In that sense they most definitely are.

What message would you like to send to California Basques?

The thing that I find most interesting is that the Basques here in California tend to maintain a cultural identity and a language identity even though they may not speak the language, as I don’t, but they maintain that identity. They love to get together, share stories, about their successes, failures and maintain that cultural uniqueness and I like that part of it. There is a great deal of pride and a great deal of success. There is also a great desire for education. For example, you are a first generation Basque and you decided to go onto college and I suspect your parents pushed you hard to go which is not unusual with Basques. There is a culture of education and advancement within the Basque community and I see it throughout the community, whether its in Chino, the Central Valley, or in San Francisco. It’s a desire to achieve and to improve and I find that to be very positive.

Do you follow Basque politics?

A little. I am not intimately involved or following but I do try to keep track of what is happening. ETA is something that I pay attention to as a problem. I have been following the ceasefire or accommodation that was made and the recent breaking of that accommodation.

You recently met some representatives of the Basque Government in South San Francisco. Was that your first encounter with the Basque Government?

No. Before I left for Washington in 1995, in the early 1990’s, there were many delegations that came through here. Economic delegations from the Basque Government came and I met with them. I worked with them, suggested that they talk to this group or that group on various kinds of projects that they were interested, some of which were useful here in California and had economic opportunities. So I tried to connect people as best as I could. Now that I am on this job it’s beginning once again. Part of the task of the Lieutenant Governor is international and representational, representing the state of California with various delegations. So I suspect that I’ll spend some time with the Basque delegations from the Basque Government.

The SPRI (Basque Trade Commission) currently has an office in Chicago and the Basque Government is currently opening an office in New York to further boost business relationships. Do you think it is possible to establish strong business relationships between the US and the Basque Country?

Absolutely, and it already exists. I know that it exists in tourism. Everybody wants to go to Bilbao and see the museum. There are also many different industrial activities. I was working on this in the early 90’s when I was passing information back and forth. The EuskoSare website is an excellent way of doing that. People will look at the website for this information. It’s a very efficient way and in fact, we are looking at some sort of website at the state level to provide people with the opportunity to interact with California based industries, businesses, tourism, and so forth. It can be a very powerful tool and a way for people and businesses to meet up.

Do you think a Basque lobby could exist in the US, either at a political or economic level?

I think you have to decide what the purpose is. If the purpose is to deal with the politics of Spain, I think it would not be so great. If there’s an interest associated with a specific activity, such as education, then yes. Clearly there is already a Basque lobby in the dairy industry, it’s not called that, but it’s the dairy industry and it’s dominated by the Basques and Portuguese in California. So there is that kind of economic lobby going on. If there is one specifically for lobbying for the Basque culture, it’s probably going to be around a specific economic issue or educational issue. Things of that sort.

You are familiar with EuskoSare’s initiative. What are your thoughts on that?

I think it’s a great idea. Those networks , that communication, that sense of heritage and pride. Heritage is very important to people. It is important to know who you are and where you come from and to take pride in it. A network keeps people in touch around the world. I think it is going to have some very positive benefits, not the least of which will be economic benefits, and I am sure there will be cultural and tourism. Your network is going to connect people.

In your opinion, what should EuskoSare do for the Basques of the US?

First of all, just as a network, communication tool as well as a calendar of events that are going on. Also, there is a considerable amount of research and studies going on at the University of Nevada, Reno and other places that can provide a link to those studies that people might find of interest. There is a lot of history and art, and I think that you can use the network or website to identify history pieces that are written here or there, wherever it may be. For example, the Laxalt books on the shephards in the Tahoe region is very interesting, who would know about that? I think the network can provide access to writings and to art. There are very famous Basque artists and sculptors. More and more information is finding its way in the World Wide Web. It gives aspiring artists, poets, and writers an opportunity to display and get their work out into the public.

You have made Basques very proud. What will happen to the Lieutenant Governor of California in the future? Being in such an important US state, do you see yourself in the White House in the future?

Well, no. I would see myself as Governor of California. And beyond that, I don’t think so.

More information:

Gallery of Photos

John Garamendi's Official Website

John Garamendi's Campaign Website