Readers may recall our hearty endorsement of Arnie Riebli for a seat on the Sonoma Valley Health Care District board in 2006, when he ran in a contested election. At that time we wished we could vote for him twice because we thought he brought to the board, in a way the other candidates did not, the practicality and outside perspective needed at that contentious time.
In that, we were not disappointed. Riebli provided the skepticism and perspective we hoped he would, and the present, positive state of affairs at the hospital is in some way the result of his involvement, and we are appreciative.
We are disappointed, though, by Riebli’s resignation; he had asked voters to elect him to a four-year term, and fulfilling that term is part of the responsibility he sought. As with Sarah Palin’s surprise resignation about the same time from her four-year term as Governor of Alaska – a term running concurrently with Riebli’s here in Sonoma – supporters cannot help feeling a little disappointment. We would have liked to see Riebli finish his term and maybe even stay on for a second.
Nevertheless, we’re pleased to have had Riebli once. We still consider him a model for citizen leadership. Here is a man successful in private business who stepped forward to give of himself for a limited period of time. Not to serve any interest of his own but to serve the interests of his community. We applaud that selfless community spirit – the same spirit we see in individuals on the school board, on the water board and on the boards of the many nonprofits here in Sonoma Valley. These people, our neighbors, have nothing direct to gain for themselves; their motivation is selfless public service, with little interest in public attention.
And – this is key – such individuals elected to government positions return to their private lives when their period of service is up. Government leadership should be a service, not a job.
So we salute Riebli, we hope that finding a replacement is not a large distraction for the rest of the board and we look forward to a competitive election campaign in 2010 for this influential position.
Chavoya Airport
We had to chuckle at the recent inclination of the Sonoma City Council to honor a longtime employee of the city by placing a plaque in Sonoma Plaza. We find that humorous because the employee, Dave Chavoya, reportedly had worked hard to preserve the Plaza free from just such plaques.
We were reminded of the similar chuckle we enjoyed when the major airport in Washington, D.C. was named after President Ronald Reagan, as it was he who had taken a strong stand against the union of air traffic controllers, even when they went out on strike.
It’s healthy, really. Both personally, being able to see the humor in such matters, and socially, having some tension between the city council and its community service and environment commission over this issue. Good government strikes a balance of its power against public interest and individual rights, and maintaining that balance should involve ongoing discussion among the various interests. Again, that’s why we appreciated Riebli’s involvement in hospital matters.
Humor, irony, perspective. Conflict, engagement, involvement. Whatever words we use, those are, in our view, indicators of health.
