During the mid and late 1970's, Brown was politically associated with [[Jim Jones]] and the [[Peoples Temple]]. He introduced [[Jim Jones]] to [[George Moscone]] in 1975.<ref>Tim Reiterman (1982) "Raven: The Untold Story of Reverend Jim Jones and His People" ISBN 0-525-24136-1 page 266</ref> The Peoples Temple's door-to-door operation and votes helped Moscone win election by 4,000 votes in the same year.<ref>[http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/jonestown/filmmore/pt.html ''Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple'']. PBS.org.</ref> In September of 1976, Willie Brown served as master of ceremonies at a large testimonial dinner for Jones where he introduced Jones as a "combination of [[Martin Luther King]], [[Angela Davis]], [[Albert Einstein]], ...[[Chairman Mao]]."<ref>Layton, Deborah. ''[[Seductive Poison]]''. Anchor, 1999. ISBN 0-3854-8984-6. p. 105.</ref><ref>Tim Reiterman (1982) "Raven: The Untold Story of Reverend Jim Jones and His People" ISBN 0-525-24136-1 page 308</ref> By mid-1977, Brown had visited the Temple perhaps a dozen times, some by invitation and some on his own.<ref>Nancy Dooley & Tim Reiterman, "Jim Jones: Power Broker", San Francisco Examiner, August 7, 1977</ref> Brown was planning a fundraising dinner for the Temple that was to be held on [[December 2]], [[1978]] after Congressman [[Leo Ryan]] announced that he would investigate [[Jonestown]].<ref>{{cite book | last=Richardson | first=James | url=http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft0m3nb07q | title=Willie Brown: A Biography | location=Berkeley | publisher=University of California Press | year=1997 | isbn=0585249857}}</ref> The Peoples Temple committed mass suicide in 1978. Brown later said "If we knew then he was mad, clearly we wouldn't have appeared with him."<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.culteducation.com/jonestown.html | title=The Jonestown Massacre | author=Rick Ross | publisher=''Cult Education and Recovery'' | date=2000-02 | accessdate=2008-05-18}}</ref>