How many Government Officials attend the Bohemian Club.?

Question

How many Government Officials attend the Bohemian Club.?

Answer 1

An official guest list for Bohemian Grove's 2008 midsummer encampment along with a map of the Grove's facilities has been obtained by a San Francisco based action group who held protests and information drives outside the entrance to the elite summer retreat.

The list reveals that amongst the hundreds of corporate representatives, government officials and banking elites, guests also included former president George H.W. Bush, David Rockefeller, Henry Kissinger, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell, as well as several former directors of the CIA, including James Woolsey.

Answer 2

All of the former Presidents and many high officials (as stated in Answer #1) have been invited to join The Bohemian Club as Honorary Members, thereby not having to wait the requisite 20 or 25 year  'waiting period' after a 'regular' person has to wait, which includes being nominated by a present member for initiation. One of the reasons for the waiting period is to 'follow' the nominee/applicant's life, making sure that that person has no scandals or other distasteful character flaws which would bring dishonor to The Club. And it will occasionally happen that a member is booted because of a scandal after being initiated, but it is rare.

Originally started as  a club populated by writers and artists, the membership roles have expanded to include people of all backgrounds, but one of their commonalities is money: there is a very steep (= $$$) Initiation Fee, as well as ongoing annual fees and User Fees, such as when members and their invited guests attend the Summer Weekend and other events, both at The Grove as well as at The Club in downtown San Francisco.

The Grove itself is a stunningly beautiful large acreage of old-growth redwood trees sited along the Russian River near Guerneville, north of San Francisco. The members have organized themselves into sub-groups called Camps; each Camp is made up of a series of buildings and/or tents. Most of the camps have a building housing a kitchen and bar, as well as buildings (or tents) for sleeping. many of the camps have deck areas where members (and their guests) meet for discussions, cocktails, general schmoozing and meals. Members of a Camp pay for the maintenance, repair, upkeep and any additions to their particular camp, but they are not allowed to do the work themselves. There is an on-site crew which performs all of those functions, and it ain't cheap. I know of one Camp that wanted to expand their deck; what had been, say, a 20' by 20' deck was about tripled in size... for $100,000 .. and all wood used is redwood, harvested from fallen trees on The Property.

The summer weekend fee includes a prepaid breakfast and dinner; members can either reserve a table for lunch, but many Camps have lunches on their deck. There's a LOT of alcohol (usually) and cigar-smoking going on. But some of the salient features of time spent at The Grove includes the prohibition of cell phones, cameras, video recorders, amplified music and NO business talk (although that would be hard to prove that it doesn't take place). There are some pay phones on the grounds for members to use and they are often quite busy.

A few more odd features: women are NOT allowed on the grounds except for waitresses (and only because of a lawsuit), and female guests on Family Day ... no female is allowed to spend the night in The Grove. However, there is rumored to be an active 'liaison' scenario called 'going across the bridge' or 'going to town' in which some male members leave The Grove at night to enjoy some female companionship with eager local women ... but *cough* that's just a rumor ...

One thing that's NOT a rumor is odd, but understandable given the grown-up-boy mentality is this: because women are not allowed, when members feel the need to pee and they're not near a bathroom, it is normal and accepted practice to 'whip it out' and pee against any of the many giant redwoods; after a meal, it is not unusual to see anywhere from one to a dozen men standing at the base of a redwood, whizzing away. Ah, boys and their 'toys.'

I've been to The Grove and I must say that it's beautiful. I can only imagine that local developers have been drooling for years over being able to get their hands on that property. But with the financial heavyweights who are members, the chances of The Bo's leaving or selling that property are nil.