In the 1970s, a young bicyclist named Wes Chesbro paused to look over a spectacular bluff where Highway 1 descends to the Navarro River.
Chesbro was riding from the Oregon border to the Golden Gate Bridge as part of a coastal preservation initiative of the time and he never forgot that spot.
Last Thursday, State Sen. Chesbro told a gathering of county Democrats that helping preserve that view would have alone been worth his time in the state house.
“When I look out over the ocean, it”s great to think that future generations will also be able to enjoy that view, that experience,” he said.
Although he was hooted by the raucous crowd when he recalled that the Mendocino Coast of the 1970s wasn”t quite as friendly to the bicycling activist as Humboldt and Del Norte counties had been, he was cheered a few seconds later as he described efforts to fight offshore oil drilling and those that led to the preservation of Big River State Park and the Coastal Trail process.
The Mendocino County Democratic Central Committee held a fund-raiser at Silver”s at the Wharf last Thursday night to celebrate, honor and roast Chesbro, who is leaving the senate at the end of the year because of term limits. It was the second of two events, the first in Ukiah, for Democrats to bestow the award of North Coast Democrat of the Year on Chesbro.
Happy Mendocino County Democrats were slapping backs, teasing each other and getting loud. They were energized and enriched for the 2008 campaign season.
While the departure of Chesbro was lamented, Democrats couldn”t help from being overjoyed about victories from the Fort Bragg City Council to the takeover of the U.S. Senate. There were toasts to Barbara Boxer, Nancy Pelosi, new Fort Bragg Mayor Doug Hammerstrom, former Mayor Dave Turner, elected council members Meg Courtney and Dan Gjerde, and the end of term limits. Everybody had a big laugh when they realized they had almost forgotten to toast Chesbro himself.
Democrats also praised and endorsed attorney Meredith Lintott, whose district attorney election race with the late Norm Vroman was sealed due to a legal challenge. Lintott thanked the group and got a big cheer.
While Fifth District Supervisor David Colfax praised Chesbro as the best senator Mendocino County could have had, he passed along the one downer for Democrats lately, the loss of Hal Wagenet to John Pinches for Third District supervisor.
Although city council and supervisorial races are non-partisan, Wagenet was prominent at Democratic events. Some observers see a 3-2 board split with Democrats and the coast on the short side of the partisan divide. Colfax alluded to this, saying Democrats should not only get behind re-election of Fourth District Supervisor Kendall Smith, they should find good candidates in “other supervisorial districts that will remain nameless.”
Inland supervisors Jim Wattenburger and Michael Delbar face election in 2008, along with Smith.
Chesbro said he will take two years off, then run for the Assembly seat now held by Patty Berg, who will hit her term limit in 2008. He said he is still mulling over what he will do for employment, and although close, he is not ready to announce that just yet.
A highlight of the evening was when Smith revealed she had gone to school with Chesbro in South Pasadena. She produced a school photo of a much hippier Wes, sporting a cool glower, further entertaining the jovial crowd.
More than 60 people turned out and paid at least $50 a plate to honor the senator. Both coastal county supervisors were there along with four members of the Fort Bragg City Council, Judge-elect Clay Brennan along with many “formers” including former supervisor Norm de Vall, former State Sen. Frank Petersen and a table full of Petersens from law and real estate. A microphone was passed around the room for a half-hour while Democratic leaders lauded Wes.
De Vall interviewed Chesbro on radio station KZYX the next day and recalled being surprised at the answer Chesbro gave to his question, “Do lobbyists give you money to support you or sway you?”
“His answer, as I heard it, was, Well it depends who you are. There are some legislators who are less swayed, some who are more.” He then told of a supporter who had donated to his campaign to sit on the Arcata City Council and wanted his support on a street vending ordinance. Chesbro voted against him,” de Vall said.
Chesbro still lives in Arcata where he attended Humboldt State University. He served on the Arcata City Council and Humboldt County Board of Supervisors and won his state Senate seat in 1998, rising quickly to powerful positions, including four years as chairman of the budget committee. There, he was able to help steer funding to favorite areas, which include fighting for equality and funding for the developmentally disabled, funding for mental health, public schools, rural health care, ocean protection, recycling, the California Coastal Trail, park creation and the wine and fishing industries.
The rowdy evening even included jokes about the dead, how nobody was surprised that the political power of Norm Vroman extended beyond the grave, and, from Jim Mastin, a “quote” from Anderson Valley Advertiser”s Bruce Anderson insulting Chesbro in high and dense prose. Mastin is chairman of the Mendocino County Democratic Central Committee.
Chesbro said the first time he experienced Mendocino County was on trips between Humboldt and San Francisco in his Volkswagen bus. He earned his bachelor”s degree from San Francisco State University.
But the first time Chesbro really saw Mendocino County in all its beauty was in the 1970s on that bike ride.
He praised efforts to work locally on supervisorial and council campaigns as important and said he would be involved in his own rural community.
Although his term is technically up at the end of the year, the Senate has adjourned for 2006.
“I”m enjoying the first two days of my freedom. I will take a break, and I”m looking forward to coming back,” he said.
Mendocino Coast Democrats even got to participate directly in the fun of the national trouncing of the Grand Old Party in November, dinner attendees heard. With the local Democrat, Mike Thompson, of St. Helena, a shoo-in once again, locals decided to throw money and volunteer energy behind Democrat Jerry McNerney in his race against Richard Pombo in the Central Valley, activist Rachel Binah told the group. McNerney got labor and money from Mendocino County Democrats and upset Pombo.
Pombo was the neo-Con perhaps most despised by environmentalists for using his position as chairman of the natural resources committee to promote offshore oil drilling and other development.
Steve Antler of Fort Bragg, who is secretary of the Central Committee and president of the Mendocino Coast Democratic Club, said Democrats must grow, not gloat.
“It”s great to see you all here, but let”s remember that tomorrow and the next day and next month we have to keep working, to stay involved and to keep the pressure on these people that we have elected,” Antler said.
“It”s an endless cycle. [Chesbro”s] been a great senator for us, but now we are looking forward to him being in the Assembly.
“We have to push the people we have elected. It is not enough to elect people, we have to keep pushing them and asking them about health care and Iraq,” Antler said.
