Fun fact: Jim Jones was a DEMOCRAT crony in San Franshitsco.
But don't take my word for it:
Jones had built his ministry into a force in San Francisco with a program of helping the young, elderly and destitute. Supporters, including powerful officials, defended him against allegations that he was abusing followers.
Before he became infamous for leading 913 people to their deaths in the Guyanese jungle, the Rev. Jim Jones was the darling of San Francisco's liberal establishment -- a man who could spread the wealth to all the fashionable charities and, at a moment's notice, marshal thousands of followers for a good cause.
Jones was a minister of the Disciples of Christ, but in San Francisco he was best known as the suave if slightly sinister leader of Peoples Temple, a flock of perhaps 8,000 people, mostly poor and mostly black, who appeared to do everything Jones told them to do.
With these willing workers, Jones made himself the perfect gift for the liberal machine of U.S. Representatives Phillip and John Burton, Assemblyman Willie Brown and Mayor George Moscone, which was trying to consolidate its hold on San Francisco politics.
"There wasn't anything magical about Jim's power," Timothy Stoen, who spent nearly seven years in Peoples Temple as Jones' attorney, said the other day.
"It was raw politics. He was able to deliver what politicians want, which is power. And how do you get power? By votes. And how do you get votes? With people. Jim Jones could produce 3,000 people at a political event."
https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Jones-Captivated-S-F-s-Liberal-Elite-They-were-2979186.php
