It has been nearly three decades since I first met Mike Thompson, a Democrat, who has represented all or part of Sonoma Valley in Congress since he was first elected in 1998.
Eight and a half years before that, in 1990, I met Mike when he declared his candidacy to run for state senate against a three-term Republican, who was considered a shoo-in for re-election.
My father, Robert Lynch, had turned over the editorship of the Index-Tribune to me in 1989. Mike was a candidate in the first state election on which I would write an editorial.
The race was intense. I was being bombarded by letters and declarations from both candidates regarding who was, or wasn’t, running a fair campaign. Finally, I convinced both of them to have a face-to-face debate/meeting with me in the I-T office.
Mike left his incumbent opponent in the dust, outshining him in his grasp of the issues, facts and proposals currently before the state senate, and of direct relevance to Sonoma Valley in particular.
Furthermore, Mike didn’t have to rely on partisan clichés and talking points. He addressed the issues from a well-studied, common sense, pragmatic point of view. He was bright, thoughtful and articulate; a political moderate and exactly the opposite of the extreme ideologues of which we have too many in politics today.
It was an easy call. I endorsed him for state senate. I believe mine was the first newspaper endorsement he received in that first run for office. I continued to endorse him every time he has run for office for as long as I was editor.
I’m retired now and no longer in the endorsement business. And Mike easily won the primary in June and will no doubt be re-elected in November, so he doesn’t need my endorsement anyway.
But I was delighted to catch up with him recently at a special picnic at the Sangiacomo Ranch hosted by many Sonoma Valley residents, including Dottie and me.
It was a special pleasure because Dottie and I consider Mike and his wife, Jan, friends, and his demanding schedule leaves him precious little time to relax with friends.
In 2005, we stayed with Mike and Jan at their Washington D.C. apartment near the capital. It gave us an opportunity to observe, first-hand, what a few days in the life of our favorite congressman was like.
The pace Mike set quickly wore me down, and had me asking the question: “When do we get to the fun stuff?” My second question was, “Why would any sane person do this for a living?”
During our stay, Mike confessed that he loves what he does and that he still gets satisfaction from getting things done for his constituents, even if there is so much more that he’d like to do that is thwarted by the system.
These small matters can still be significant. They’re things like helping local schools get support and funding for emergency response, helping local vintners open wine markets in other states, and hundreds of other low-profile accomplishments that make life or business better for the residents of his district.
If anything, it has probably gotten harder for Mike to get even those little things done. But he keeps trying. And we keep lobbying him for an evening when he and Jan can take time off from the grind and just relax with us in Sonoma.
The recent picnic at the Sangiacomo Ranch was the next best thing.
He is still the same smart, hard-working, honest, capable, nice guy I met almost 30 years ago.
Oh, how I wish there were more people like Mike Thompson in Washington today.
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