Virginia Bass re-election announcement

In about a hour and a half on this rainy Friday and typical Humboldt winter day, my friend Virginia will announce her re-election as 4th District Supervisor. I am proud to have Virginia represent me and even prouder to have her as a friend. Of all the campaigns, I have worked on, she is the only person that has and will always have my loyalty and trust 100%.

At noon, , over 100 people showed up to support Virginia. Crowd grew to approximately 120 in a few minutes.

Rex Bohn spoke about her lifelong commitment to Eureka, knowing her since she was 12. Frank Jager mentioned her as a mother and business woman. Melinda Ciarabellini spoke about her winning the last election and that "she knows how to get things done."

All the elected officials on her endorser list were there, some of her county staff,  SBDC staff, a diverse crowd that included Carole Beaton, Betty Chinn, Eric Hollenback, Uri Driscoll, John Ford, Lora Canzoneri, and many key business people. Seeing the business community, the community leaders and people from different political walks of life speaks to Virginia's appeal to the district she represents and her reach into areas of the county beyond her district.

I know Ryan Sundberg would have been there but he is out of the office due to personal reasons. Elan, Maggie and Allan all took the time out of their busy lunch hour to attend.

Virginia began her speech with, "Six times I've stood before you asking for your support of me and trust in me as an elected leader for our community. For some of you, today might be the first time we've shared this experience. For other's you've been here with me since my very first announcement in 2000."

 For most of her speech, I was walking among the crowd asking for endorsements. Every single person who I asked, which was most of the crowd signed, some even asking for the endorsement sheet.

Jimmy Smith said it best, before he introduced Virginia:

 Virginia cares and about she cares about individuals.