Area needs a political insiderfor Assembly

California's 1st Assembly District looks a lot like its 1st Congressional District: long and lean, stretching from Del Norte County practically to the outskirts of the Bay Area.

It's only one of the strangely drawn Assembly districts on a crazy quilt map generally designed to preserve the power of incumbents. Proposition 11 on the Nov. 4 ballot seeks to change that by putting the responsibility of redistricting in the hands of a commission split between Democrats and Republicans. They would supposedly be required to ignore political ramifications and instead create compact districts that maintain communities of interest and neighborhoods.

Even if that worked — and some people say when you look at the details Proposition 11 represents just more partisan politics — it wouldn't change much about Del Norte County's representation in Sacramento. You could redraw a district that was shaped more like a square, taking in all of far-Northern California, but you can't change the fact that we'll always be a small part of a geographically huge district because of our sparse population.

We'll never get anything done at the Capitol by outvoting the rest of California. And yet many of our public services are reliant on state funds. Thus it behooves us to elect legislators who know the system and work within it to extract our fair share of resources. We simply don't have the luxury of choosing outsiders looking to shake things up (if shaking things up appeals to you, find some challengers to support in the races for City Council and Harbor Commission).

That is why voters have an easy choice in the Nov. 4 race between Democrat Wesley Chesbro, who formerly served for eight years in the state Senate, and Republican Jim Pell, a political newcomer.

Both men live in Eureka, so at least we're not faced with the prospect of a legislator who knows nothing about the far-North Coast.

A Humboldt State graduate, Chesbro founded Eureka's first recycling center in 1971, was elected to the Arcata City Council in 1974 and served as Humboldt County supervisor from 1980 to 1991. He spent eight years in the state Senate before he was termed out in 2006. Since then he was appointed to two state boards: the Mental Health Oversight and Accountability Commission, and the Integrated Waste Management Board, which regulates solid waste facilities.

Pell, a five-year resident of Eureka, has worked as a deputy sheriff in Santa Clara County and also has worked in sales and as a programmer.

Chesbro has a record of effectively representing the North Coast in Sacramento. He put forth his perspective succinctly in a recent interview with The Triplicate:

"What Crescent City needs is protection of the local infrastructure because political power is in urban hands," Chesbro said. "I want to focus on health care, on public education. We need to protect hospitals, and rural schools need help."

Pell told The Triplicate he wants to reform state government, switching its focus from social programs to infrastructure.

"We need to improve roads, highways, power and water," Pell said. "We need better airports, wet ports, railroads and communication links."

The fact is, however, that an economically challenged area such as Del Norte County needs help from the state in many areas, including those social programs. When legislators reconvene to wrestle with an increasingly difficult state budget situation, Wesley Chesbro is far more likely to ensure that we get that assistance.

The Triplicate endorses Chesbro for the state Assembly.