PD Editorial Endorsement: Rebecca Hermosillo stands out for 1st District supervisor
Vacancies on the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors are few and far between.
This year, however, voters are choosing a new supervisor in the 1st District, which stretches from the eastern suburbs of Santa Rosa through Bennett Valley and Sonoma Valley to the shore of San Pablo Bay.
The last time an incumbent supervisor stepped down voluntarily was eight years ago, and there hasn’t been an open seat in the 1st District since 2012, when Susan Gorin was elected to succeed Valerie Brown.
When an opening comes along, it often sparks a political free-for-all — Gorin emerged from a field of six candidates, most of whom had solid credentials for the job.
This year, however, Rebecca Hermosillo stands out as the clear choice in the 1st District.
Hermosillo, 52, is a first-time candidate for public office, but she will bring experience in business, the nonprofit sector and government service to the Board of Supervisors.
Hermosillo, the daughter of Mexican immigrants, was born in the Sonoma Valley and grew up on the Leveroni Dairy, where her father worked milking cows. As a youngster, she worked in a market and restaurant opened by her parents. Later, she became a legal secretary, worked for a tech company and became executive director of the Valley of the Moon Teen Center. For the past 11 years, she has been on the district staff of Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena.
Gorin recruited Hermosillo to run for supervisor, and Hermosillo quickly lined up support from more than two dozen local elected officials, including all members of the Board of Supervisors and the Sonoma City Council. She also has support from both labor and business groups.
For many months, it appeared that Hermosillo might run unopposed.
However, shortly before the filing deadline for the March 5 election, Jon Mathieu of Sonoma entered the race.
Mathieu, 70, is a retired contractor, Yardbirds hardware store manager and volunteer firefighter, who grew up in Sonoma Valley. He hasn’t held office before, and while he is genial and promises to listen to constituents, he offered few proposals and demonstrated limited knowledge of county issues during a meeting with the editorial board. “We really don’t have any major problems,” Mathieu said. One of his primary goals, paying for lunches for schoolchildren, is commendable, but falls outside the county’s jurisdiction.
Hermosillo, in contrast, knowledgeably discusses housing, homelessness, water, transportation and the county’s recent struggles with hiring and making timely payments to service providers.
In an editorial board interview, she didn’t duck potentially unpopular policies, such as management of groundwater resources, which is opposed by some rural landowners. She also said Highway 37, a key commuter and commerce route across the top of the bay, probably can’t be widened and elevated above rising sea levels without instituting a toll.
County supervisor is the top rung on the local government ladder. The five-member board controls a $2.3 billion budget, supervises a workforce of 4,000 employees and manages a wide spectrum of programs — social services, land-use planning, roads, water, economic development, agriculture and more. This is a full-time job, and supervisors should have deep roots in the community and a grasp of both business and government. In the 1st District, that’s Rebecca Hermosillo.
You can send letters to the editor to letters@pressdemocrat.com.
Rebecca Hermosillo
Sonoma County Board of Supervisors
1st District supervisor
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