Inaugural Dinner featuring Karl Rove

Former White House insider Karl Rove will speak about President Barack Obama’s “growing political challenges and the nation’s longing for conservative principles” in addressing the inaugural event of the San Francisco Bay Committee for Heritage next Thursday, Sept. 24 at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in San Francisco.

The press release that went out today says the 7 p.m. dinner, following a 6 p.m. reception, already is sold out.

Rove was President George W. Bush’s deputy chief of staff and senior adviser from 2001 to 2007; seen by many as the architect of Bush’s election victories and political machinations, Rove now contributes to the Fox News Channel and writes columns for the Wall Street Journal and Newsweek. Some progressives have tagged him as a war criminal, and one protestor tried to “arrest” him at a San Francisco appearance last October. If there’s not a slew of ‘em on the sidewalk outside that hotel next Thursday night, I’ll eat my hat.

The press release describes the committee as “a group of business and civic leaders in northern California who support the conservative public policy research of The Heritage Foundation, the leading Washington think tank.” It’s chaired by Seligman Investments Portfolio Manager Paul Wick, and is one of a dozen such Heritage-affiliated groups that has sprung up across the nation. Basic American Foods Chairman William J. “Jerry” Hume of San Francisco; Teranetics CEO Nersi Nazari of Atherton; and former U.S. Ambassador to France Howard Leach of San Francisco are listed as honorary chairmen.