Like the redwoods it is known for, the 2nd Assembly District is the tallest of California's legislative districts, encompassing all of Del Norte, Humboldt, Mendocino and Trinity counties and about 40 percent of Sonoma County — most of its northern half.
Since redistricting took effect in 2012, it has been the home district of Democrat Wesley Chesbro of Arcata.
But Chesbro, who also served eight years in the state Senate representing the equally sprawling 2nd District, is now facing the end of his service due to term limits.
Thankfully, voters have a couple of strong candidates from which to choose a successor. Of the four running for this seat in the June 3 primary, our recommendation goes to John Lowry.
As the former executive director of Santa Rosa-based Burbank Housing Corp., Lowry has an unmatched understanding of the issues surrounding housing, development and planning in California. As manager of Burbank's operations for 15 years, Lowry oversaw a major expansion of its inventory, which now includes more than 3,500 affordable housing units. In addition, his experience brought him in close working contact with government leaders at the federal, state and local levels.
His practical expertise would be of particular value in helping governments bridge the funding gap left by the abolition of redevelopment agencies, a void that has limited the ability of public agencies to address housing and infrastructure needs.
Lowry's chief opponent is Jim Wood, a Healdsburg dentist and member of the City Council since 2006 and is currently serving his second term as mayor. Wood has served the city with distinction in a number of areas, including, most recently, in an urgent action to make reclaimed water from the city's treatment plant available to local vineyard owners and farmers as a way to help them combat the drought. He also was a co-founder of the Healdsburg Green City Committee, a group assisting in establishing energy-efficient and sustainable practices in buildings.
But the breadth of his experience and knowledge of the Legislature doesn't compare to that of Lowry. In addition, we were troubled by Wood's response to our questions and concerns about the state being some $218 billion behind in meeting retirement obligations to public employees. He offered few constructive solutions or analysis of how state and local governments got into the pension crisis in the first place.
When pressed, Wood responded, "If we had not had a catastrophic meltdown of the stock market, we probably wouldn't be having this conversation." This not only ignores pre-recession concerns about the long-term risk posed by enhanced benefits, it runs contrary to the simple idea that California needs to ensure what happened some 12 years ago when the problem began doesn't happen again.
We are further discouraged by Wood's decision to be one of four Sonoma County elected officials to sign a letter encouraging San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed to drop his efforts for a statewide pension-relief ballot measure.
They got their wish, at least for now. But we don't see hoping for a surging stock market as a solution. Lowry doesn't either, as he supports the Reed initiative and, while supporting the need to provide employees with fair retirement packages, believes that California "can no longer act as the sole insurer for the performance of pension investment funds." He's right.
Other candidates in this race include Republican Matt Heath, a Santa Rosa meat distributor who is articulate and passionate about government but comes with little experience beyond a short term on a west county school board. Pamela Elizondo of Laytonville is making her 10th bid for state or federal office, once again as a Green Party candidate.
In the 2nd Assembly District, The Press Democrat recommends Democrat John Lowry.
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