Huffman best choice for Congress

Voters should show up on Nov. 8 and vote for Jared Huffman for Congress.|

Across the country, many disaffected voters this November will be seeking a change in their representatives.

But the 2nd Congressional District, stretching from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Oregon border and taking in all of Petaluma, has been safe territory for its representative of the past four years, Congressman Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael.

Amid the partisan gridlock that has paralyzed Washington, Huffman has been able to make some breakthroughs, preserving coastal lands and sponsoring legislation to respond to the drought. He has a role on a key transportation committee, and he is well-positioned to help find federal funding for projects like widening Highway 101 and the SMART commuter train.

His efforts to bring together stakeholders along the North Coast’s waterways, including the silt-choked Petaluma River, are bearing fruit as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers moves forward with a pilot program that could lead to funding for river dredging.

In the Nov. 8 election, voters should support Huffman.

His work is not finished, and we would like him to return to Washington so that he can continue to look after Petaluma’s interests at the federal level. Foremost among those is ensuring that an Indian casino is not built on tribal land outside of Petaluma.

Huffman’s work with the Lytton Rancheria tribe and the community of Windsor produced a deal that would prevent a casino from being built, though some Windsor residents feel it did not go far enough to protect their town from development.

If the Dry Creek tribe decides to take its land south of Petaluma into federal trust, we hope that Huffman can broker a similar deal to prevent the kind of development that Petalumans don’t want.

Huffman certainly could do more to solve one of the biggest issues for Petaluma residents - widening Highway 101 from Petaluma to Novato - and we hope he continues his work on that effort.

Huffman’s challenger, Republican Dale Mensing, a grocery store cashier from Redway, seems uninterested in communicating a clear message or explaining why he is running for office.

While the race is not competitive, voters should still show up on Nov. 8 and vote for Jared Huffman for Congress.

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