Clinton stars at gala benefit Clinton stars at gala benefit (February 27, 2004)

Proceeds go toward local battered women's group

By Julie O'Shea

Los Altos Hills rolled out the red carpet for a few political heavyweights -- former President Bill Clinton, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown -- during a fund-raising dinner Sunday to benefit Mountain View's Support Network for Battered Women.

The star-studded gala, which saw actor John Cusack mingling and shaking hands with delighted partygoers, was hosted by Stree: Global Investments in Women, a Palo Alto-based nonprofit dedicated to ending violence against women and girls.

Sunday night's dinner and auction kicked off a year-long fund-raising campaign for domestic violence victims, and organizers say they hope to bring in $1 million by the start of 2005. A final total of funds raised at last weekend's event was not available at press time.

"Domestic violence is a disease that effects our entire planet," Stree founder Malini Alles told the crowd of nearly 200 seated inside the tented dining area, blossoming with purple, white and pink orchids. "Every day four women die in this country because of domestic violence. Around the world, four million women are battered every year.

"Let me put a face to these statistics -- my face," said Alles, dressed in an elegant white ball gown with a sparkling jeweled necklace.

Ironically, it was her alcoholic, abusive father, who, Alles said, helped give her the strength to stand up and say enough is enough.

"He caused me pain, but he gave me the vision to think big," she said, "Were it not for him, I wouldn't be standing here tonight, fighting for women's rights."

Alles urged her guests to find a way to start fixing the problem at home, by helping local shelters, like the Support Network for Battered Women, set up programs to help abused women get back on their feet.

"I feel like the proverbial fifth wheel," said Clinton, taking the stage to wild applause. "Everything that needed to be said has been said."

Clinton, a longtime friend of Alles who signed the Violence Against Women Act shortly before leaving office in 2000, was careful not to offer any definitive opinions of the Bush administration, except to argue that the current president's tax policy may not be without its consequences.

While taxpayers may find themselves with more cash in their wallets, Clinton said, local governments will be the ones forced to scale back on services people depend on. And those in the philanthropy community fear that these tax cuts, coupled with the bad economy, may cause charitable donations to plummet.

"When the economy is bad, domestic violence goes up," Clinton said. "This is a big issue today." Finding a solution, he added, "is a noble cause. I know about it personally, too.

"I, too, grew up in a home with a lot of domestic violence."

Earlier in the evening, actor and songwriter Paul Hipp, scheduled after Tracy Chapman unexpectedly cancelled, made no apologies for his newly penned ballad, "There's a Lunatic in the House Next Door," which unabashedly took aim at George W. Bush.

"A lunatic moved into the house next door/And now the whole neighborhood's gone to hell," Hipp sung, his melody drowned out by the crowd's laughter. "We've got to get him out on moving day."

This performance, Hipp noted before taking his seat, was "fair and completely unbiased reporting from this songwriter."

Later, Clinton quipped to the guitarist, "I couldn't give a political speech half as good as your song."

E-mail Julie O'Shea at joshea@mv-voice.com

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