Three challenge Brown for Sonoma Valley supervisor

Brown seeks third full term on Board of Supervisors

Not in a quarter-century has an incumbent Sonoma County supervisor been unseated, which is why the race for the Sonoma Valley seat held by Valerie Brown since 2002 is taking a back seat in the June 3 primary.

With 12 candidates running for open seats in the west and central county districts, the three people challenging Brown have a disadvantage in gaining public attention.

All three are running underfunded campaigns in comparison with Brown, whose main goal is gaining a majority of votes in June and avoiding a runoff in November.

“I am running a full-bore campaign, walking precincts and raising money,” she said. “We have at least six candidate forums in the next six weeks, so voters should know us pretty well by Election Day.”

Her challengers are:

Will Pier, a teacher and ecologist with the Sonoma Ecology Center.

David Reber, a home builder and former member of the Sonoma Valley Unified School Board.

Lawrence Wiesner, an accountant and four-time Republican Party candidate for Congress or the state Senate.

All of the candidates are sporting Web sites this election. For voters who can’t make it to any of the half-dozen community forums, Reber’s site offers YouTube video of recent forums that primarily focus on what he has to say.

Pier, Reber and Wiesner all say Brown has lost touch with local concerns and that she seldom listens to local voters.

Reber says she has failed to block the closing of mental health and medical facilities, failed to address the worsening condition of county roads and is allowing the Sheriff’s Department to be underfunded.

“My campaign slogan is putting the 1st District first,” Reber said.

Wiesner, who is a longtime activist in the Sonoma County Pro-Life Council and is president of the Lake County Passion Play, said Brown hasn’t done enough about stopping unfunded liabilities from threatening the county budget and hasn’t done enough to prevent use of eminent domain to take private property.

“She’s been there a long time, so people should look at her record and figure that we need to do something different,” Wiesner said. “She is in the back pocket of special interests. We need somebody more even-handed, more accessible.”

Pier comes at Brown from a different angle, saying she she’s too conservative and lacks a long-term vision for the county.

He said she’s not supportive enough of efforts to promote sustainable agriculture, prevent waste from being transported out of county and retain health care services in the face of budget cuts. He said he’d have the county take back the former Community Hospital from Sutter Health.

“I am running for 1st District supervisor to answer the urgent need for long-term management plans for sustainability,” Pier said. “Our economy can not be separated from the environment. I will lead the Board of Supervisors to make comprehensive, long-range plans for water resources, health care and transportation.”

Brown’s response is that local voters “get an incredible value added” deal from her because of her contacts in federal and state government, as well as her ascendancy to the presidency in 2009 of the National Association of Counties. From that position, she said she will be in the forefront of health care changes.

“I feel that I have built relationships that allow me to maneuver within the federal and state system,” said Brown, who represented the eastern flank of Sonoma County in the state Legislature from 1992-1998.

“I hear people say they want Sonoma Mountain Road fixed and sidewalks along Highway 12, both of which are on track to happen while I intend to be in office,” she said.

Brown was appointed supervisor in 2002, following the resignation of Mike Cale. She won more than two-thirds of the vote in the November 2002 election and captured more than 70 percent of the vote in 2004.

The 1st District covers Sonoma Valley, Oakmont, Bennett Valley, Rincon Valley, Sonoma, Kenwood, Glen Ellen and the Springs areas. It is bounded by Franz Valley School Road on the north, the Napa County line on the east, San Pablo Pay on the south and Petaluma Hill, Brush Creek and Riebli roads on the west.