Endorsement: Bill Dodd for State Senate

Two qualified candidates, but Napa Democrat has wine-country experience|

State Senate is one of the more distant-seeming local legislative offices to the general voter. Ask the average resident of Sonoma who represents them in the 3rd District and you’ll get your share of blank stares. (It’s Lois Wolk, Democrat from Davis; she’s being termed out.) This is partly due to the redistricting which took place in 2012 that upended most district boundaries and found many communities suddenly represented by people they’d never heard of, nor voted for. It’s also because a mere 50 state Senators divvy up all of California, the most populous state in America, and its third largest in area. Let’s face it, you’re not likely to bump into your state Senator in the cereal aisle at Sonoma Market.

But Sonoma voters shouldn’t overlook the importance of who represents them in the State Senate – they pass or kill legislation that can affect our day-to-day lives. In a given year, more than 2,000 new laws can be debated among members of the state legislature. Sonoma needs a thoughtful, qualified voice in those discussions.

This Nov. 8, City of Sonoma voters will go to the polls to choose between current 4th District Assemblyman Bill Dodd and former 4th District Assemblywoman Mariko Yamada, the top two vote getters in the June 7 primary.

Yamada, 65, was termed out in 2014, after six years in the Assembly. To her, “aging and long-term care” are the most important issues facing the 3rd District which, she says, is “not ready for the coming onslaught of seniors.” We like a lot of what Yamada champions: retirement security, single-payer healthcare, GMO labeling, sustainable agriculture. But taking admirable stances only goes so far – Yamada hasn’t demonstrated to us that she’s been a highly prolific legislator, authoring about 30 bills in her six years in the Assembly. She says she isn’t interested in “playing the game” of passing a lot of bills – and there’s some truth to that description, as many lawmakers in Sacramento author easily digestible, but ultimately worthless bills simply to carve notches on their legislative headboards. Nonetheless, her few achievements in the Assembly have been worthy – a bill upgrading training for nursing home employees, for instance – but modest; there’s little evidence a Senate term would be much different.

After a dozen years on the Napa County Board of Supervisors and less than two years in the Assembly, Dodd, 60, says he’s ready to make the leap to the Senate.

We like Dodd’s energy. By representing the unincorporated Valley the past two years in the Assembly, he’s been more of a recent presence on the scene in the Sonoma Valley than his opponent. He’s taken a lead on such issues as housing, water and future of the Sonoma Developmental Center – all concerns to Valley residents both inside and outside the city limits. And his longtime Napa roots give him a deeper knowledge of “wine country” concerns – he’s versed in the type of tourist-economy issues we deal with on a daily basis in the Valley. He’s a moderate, but his platform doesn’t waiver in any extreme way from the typical Sonoma voter. He cites affordable housing, gender pay equity, education funding and the environment among his primary concerns.

Oh, and Dodd led the second, and eventually successful, push to have Berryessa Snow Mountain declared a federally protected land – he cites that as the achievement for which he’s most proud.

In the 2016 race, the 3rd District is lucky to have two qualified candidates for State Senate. But we think Dodd has the local knowledge to better represent the Sonoma Valley in Sacramento.

We recommend Bill Dodd for State Senate.

– Jason Walsh, editor

– John Burns, publisher

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