News

Sonoma County candidate Maddy Hirshfield featured in Bay Area Reporter

From the Bay Area Reporter: 

Madlyn "Maddy " Hirshfield is looking to make Sonoma County history with her bid for a supervisorial seat. The out lesbian is running to represent Sonoma County's sprawling 5th District, which includes the gay resort town of Guerneville as well as parts of Santa Rosa in the east and Bodega Bay and Sea Ranch along the coast to the north.

Were she to be elected, Hirshfield, 56, would be the first openly gay person to serve on the board and the highest ranking out politician in the county.

With 2,125 gay and lesbian couples, Sonoma County has the second highest percentage of same-sex households, second only to San Francisco County, in the state according to the Web site www.gaydemographics.org. Based on 2000 census figures, the site also shows that Guerneville has the highest concentration of same-sex households, at about 18 percent, in the state and the second highest in the nation.

"Considering that kind of demographic, it is about time we had somebody on the Board of Supervisors who can really support all the people," said Hirshfield, who has worked as the senior field representative for 1st District state Assemblywoman Patty Berg since 2002.

It is Hirshfield's second go at the county seat. She first ran for supervisor in 1996, and while she lost that race, it propelled her into a political career. Prior to the election, Hirshfield had a 20-year career in health care as a registered occupational therapist.

"I didn't do well. I did okay; I held my own," recalled Hirshfield. "It kind of catapulted me to a whole new level of activism and political involvement in the community."

Over the last 11 years, Hirshfield has built up an impressive resume working on progressive issues in the North Bay as well as holding leadership posts in the Democratic Party. A former appointee to the Sonoma County Commission on Human Rights, Hirshfield managed the county's effort in 2000 to defeat the anti-gay Proposition 22, which defined marriage as solely between a man and a woman. While the measure passed statewide, Sonoma voters rejected it by one of the widest margins of any county, noted Hirshfield.

The Forestville resident has served as chairwoman of the Sonoma County Democratic Party, vice chair of the 6th District Caucus, and as a delegate to the California Democratic Party, where she served on its resolutions committee.

"I feel like I have done a lot of work and am ready to take this on. I entered the race as a much more viable candidate than I did the first time," she said.

Supervisor Mike Reilly announced last spring he would not seek re-election, and so far, five candidates have jumped in to the race for the open seat. More could follow suit before the March 12 filing deadline to run in the June election.

With so many contenders, none of the candidates are expected to win the seat outright this summer. It is likely the top two vote getters will square off in a November runoff election. Hirshfield said she is confident she will make it to the runoff.

"Because there are so many candidates running in a pretty progressive, true blue district, it becomes difficult to distinguish yourself," she said. "I am the only candidate with a background in health care; I have a long history with labor and working families, and I have spent the last five years with Berg advocating at the state level. Nobody can compete with that background."

So far Hirshfield has raised nearly $50,000 for her race and has picked up a wide array of endorsements from local and state officials. She will likely need to raise more than $100,000 to compete, as candidate Jim Maresca, a retired technology company executive, loaned his campaign that amount last fall and has pledged to spend as much of his own money as it takes to win.

Hirshfield said while "it is hard to compete with that" she was banking on the fact she is well known in the district and has a lot of supporters donating to her campaign.

Compared to the other contenders' finance statements last fall, "I had the most grassroots money," Hirshfield noted. "We plan on raising enough money to be viable."

Last month she won the endorsement of the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, allowing her to tap into the group's national donor network. Out lesbian state Senators Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica) and Carole Migden (D-San Francisco), as well as openly gay state Assemblyman Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), are also supporting Hirshfield.

"I'm very excited about the support I m receiving from leaders in the fight for equality locally, across California and the nation," Hirshfield said. "It's incredibly gratifying that my years of work in support of equality are being recognized and honored in this way."

A Prius driver, Hirshfield is focusing on a number of environmental issues to woo voters to her campaign. She advocates helping homeowners install solar panels; banning the use of petroleum-based plastic bags countywide; and reuse of wastewater to help alleviate the county's growing water demands.

"It is a finite resource. We are not going to do it with conservation alone. We have to factor in that recycle issue," she said. "I want to see us move to zero discharge in the [Russian] river. We should not be discharging into the river. It is crazy we flush potable water down our toilets; maybe we can use gray water there."

With the candidates all sounding similar themes, the race could pivot on personal attacks. Early on in the campaign last summer, Hirshfield had to contend with a whisper campaign spreading false rumors that she did not reside in the district.

Her partner, Janet Orchard, is a city councilwoman in Cotati, about 20 minutes from Forestville. The couple met three years ago, and for a time, Hirshfield lived with Orchard. Prior to the move, Hirshfield had spent 15 years living in Sebastopol, which is part of the 5th District.

Cotati lies outside the supervisorial district, so Hirshfield moved to Forestville last year in order to run for supervisor.

"That is not to say I don't spend time with my partner. We spend weekends together," she said.

Talk about her residency grew louder after the controversy surrounding San Francisco Supervisor Ed Jew, who is fighting charges he lived outside his district when he ran for office in 2006, dominated local news coverage last May and June.

"I live in the district. I had moved out for about nine months," said Hirshfield.

Eventually, the questions blew over and Hirshfield turned the episode into a punch line.

"My favorite line is the only thing Ed Jew and I have in common is I am one," she joked.

Visit Hirshfield's Victory page to learn more about her or make a contribution.