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Rep. Lynn Woolsey announces her retirement in front of a crowd of family, friends and media at her Petaluma home on Monday. CHRISTOPHER CHUNG/PD
By GUY KOVNER
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Former Rep. Barbara Boxer, redistricting and the late Judge Joseph Rattigan of Santa Rosa figured in Lynn Woolsey’s first bid for Congress in 1992.
It was Boxer’s decision to run for — and win — her U.S. Senate seat that left the 6th Congressional District wide open in 1992.
The district, during Boxer’s 10-year tenure, had covered southern Sonoma and Marin counties, as well as eastern San Francisco, Daly City and a corner of Solano County.
Redistricting in the wake of the 1990 census converted the 6th District to a compact Marin-Sonoma package, with Woolsey’s Petaluma home in its midst, rather than on the northern edge.
“A perfect district for Lynn Woolsey,” Woolsey said Monday, as she announced her retirement next year after 20 years in Congress.
A lot of people wanted Woolsey, then a second-term Petaluma councilwoman, to run in 1992. Rattigan, who served as a state senator and state appeals court judge, gave her a special boost.
“Go get ‘em and you’re going to win,” Woolsey recalled Rattigan telling her. About 400 people, including Woolsey and North Coast Rep. Mike Thompson, attended his funeral in 2007.
“I won on my 55th birthday and never looked back,” Woolsey said Monday.
The initial redistricting proposal for 2012 — creating a coastal district from Marin County to the Oregon border — had nothing to do with her decision to retire, she said.
But she urged residents to write to the California Citizens Redistricting Commission objecting to the proposed coastal district, calling it a “silly configuration.”
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And, oh, by the way. I was being sarcastic about the great union bastion socialistic country Germany. That’s what you all see. I see a thriving country that values it’s middleclass and it’s workers.
WESTERN CLUEBIRD- I do love my country and the constitution. That’s why I speak up. You missed the point of course. Just because you all call yourselves patriots doesn’t mean it’s so. The obstructionism in the Congress by the rightwing, at the expense of the American economy and American middleclass and poor to support Corporate America, IS NOT PATRIOTIC.
There was a time in America where Republicans ACTUALLY SUPPORTED THE WORKING MAN AND UNIONS. Republicans were fiscally conservative but still supported the workers of America. You Republicans don’t appear to notice that those running for office aren’t the same Republicans I remember from when I was younger.
There seems to be a disconnect. Business AND workers can still thrive if there is a sharing of the wealth. It doesn’t mean that the wealthy have to give it all away. Just reward the American workers for their productivity with decent wages and benefits. THERE IS PLENTY OF MONEY. I don’t understand how you Republicans out there can be against rewarding workers as the assets they are. It’s like you don’t feel you deserve the American dream (since you are workers too). Corporate America doesn’t care about you, and our government, state and federal, has been bought off. You aren’t represented anymore.
Mockingbird said “The great Socialist union bastion country, GERMANY, is doing so much better, economically, than the Plutocratic U.S.A.”
Sounds like mockingbird should move to Germany to live out their socialist dream.
I’ll gladly contribute to a one way ticket. Let’s make room for a legal immigrant who loves and respects our country and constitution.
Ms. Woolsey is retiring, I think, for all of the obvious reasons. Many of them are in this thread.
While the areas along the immediate coast are solidly blue in the proposed district, the more inland portions poll massively red. It would be a far tougher row for her to hoe, requiring far more money than she could likely, and reliably, raise and a ton more travel to both campaign and support the proposed new district.
The electoral fight in 2012 against potential opponents in the farther reaches of the district against opponents with far better local name recognition in those areas had to have been considered.
She’s in her tenth term. That’s a good run by any account, even for an openly socialist poof such as Ms. Woolsey.
However, the country is continuing to move rightward. The president’s coat tails will almost certainly not be nearly as long as they were in 2008. And given last year’s midterm results, it’s quite possible that running in parallel with the president, outside of the ‘progressive’ enclaves of Marin and southern SoCo, would do more harm than good.
And she almost certainly would be further cemented into her role of a back bencher in a shrinking minority. That’s always a bitter pill for any politician to swallow.
I congratulate her on her many years and I can hope that the candidate who ultimately replaces her as my member of Congress will be more of a representative for all the people in the district, rather than a feckless shill for the socialist left which is, in reality, a minority even within the district. It’s just a very, very vocal minority that votes.
I suspect she retired for the obvious reasons;
She would be in the minority for the foreseeable future,with NO chance of getting anything she wants.
She would have to be in the position of opposing her “president” for his hypocritical war efforts(Libya,Yemen etc.)
And,she’s 72
A very ditsy 72
Redistricting doesn’t have anything to do with her decision to retire. It’s time for her and she’s done a good job.
This county is progressive. I, for one, will be working diligently for the next progressive candidates. I am certain that they will win. The Northcoast IS progressive and forward thinking.
If the rightwing has its way things will only get worse for the middleclass and poor, the workers and the elderly. I’m disgusted that my taxes have been going to 2 unfunded Bush wars that Obama has chosen to continue along with action in Pakistan and Libya. I’m disgusted that the rich corporations don’t pay their way for the infrastructure they need to do their business- the roads, bridges, airports, shipping ports, schools, etc.
The great Socialist union bastion country, GERMANY, is doing so much better, economically, than the Plutocratic U.S.A. Germany is busy manufacturing products exported all over the world and pay their workers a decent wage. And the people have healthcare. Yes, the people pay more in taxes but they get services in return.
I can’t wait to see how many thumbs down I get for this post.
Kim- Do you REALLY think a coastal district isn’t going to be incredibly liberal? One of Woolsey’s biggest issues has been coastal protection. Your notion (and that of everyone else on here) is absurd.
The initial redistricting proposal for 2012 — creating a coastal district from Marin County to the Oregon border — had nothing to do with her decision to retire, she said.
But she urged residents to write to the California Citizens Redistricting Commission objecting to the proposed coastal district, calling it a “silly configuration.”
What Woolsey is REALLY saying: “I can’t win an election if I actually have to go out campaigning and sell my message to others than hard core progressives/liberals.”
She was voted in over and over for 20 years! The Sheeple got exactly what they voted for.
Woolsey finally looked back and didn’t like what she saw. A changing political scene caused by failed democrat policies, high, persistent unemployment; financially broken government; spending out of control and the democrats buried in a deep minority in Congress.
Good reasons to move on. What is her legacy for the North Bay? Voting consistently for more national debt and spending that has nearly backrupted our nation.
Redistricting had nothing to do with her decision not to run for re-election and Anthony Weiner was hacked. Yeah. We believe you.
Would have been better to leave in style with truth rather than another political lie.