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 California: First District Rep. Frank D. Riggs (R) As of November 1998
The North Coast of California is unlike any other place in America. It is the only part of the Lower 48 states first settled by Russians, who built Fort Ross in 1812; they sold it in 1841 to a Swiss named John Augustus Sutter, whose discovery of gold near Sacramento started the Gold Rush eight years later. It is the only part of the world with large numbers of redwood trees, shooting up in the moist and drizzly air hundreds of feet towards the sky. It is wet country, and for years it has been one of America's prime lumbering areas: Eureka and smaller lumber towns are filled with filigreed Victorian houses and old lumber mills, saloons and waterfront hotels. It has moved on to other crops: in sunny valleys sealed off the from Coast Range ridges grow some of the nation's premium wine grapes, and Mendocino County has been known from the late 1960s for its premier marijuana fields. Twenty years ago, there were only 20 wineries in Napa Valley; today there are more than 200, with another 100 just west of the ridges in Sonoma County. These valleys were some of California's earliest literary haunts: Robert Louis Stevenson took his honeymoon near Calistoga in Napa, and Jack London owned a giant house in Sonoma which mysteriously burned down in 1913. California's 1st Congressional District consists of most of the North Coast (though just missing Fort Ross), plus much of the wine-growing area inland and just a bit of the vast Central Valley interior. The North Coast lumbering area from Mendocino on north, once filled with rough-hewn working men, was historically Democratic country, but it backlashed toward the Republicans on cultural issues. As veterans of the counterculture settled in Mendocino County and along the coast, it has moved toward the cultural left. In neighboring Humboldt County, voters in the town of Arcata turned control of the city council to a Green Party majority. Inland, the wine-growing country around Healdsburg and in Napa County is politically more conservative, with neither the blue-collar tradition nor the counterculture past of the coast, though there is often partisan competition. The district's inland portion is around Fairfield, home of Travis Air Force Base. The mix of different economies and cultures, of generations with sharply different experiences and outlooks, makes this one of California's politically most unstable districts, and it has changed partisan hands in three of the last four elections. The congressman from the 1st District is Frank Riggs, a Republican first elected in 1990, defeated in 1992, then elected again in 1994 and 1996. Riggs's background is in law enforcement; he was an MP in the Army and worked for the Santa Barbara and Healdsburg police departments and the Sonoma County sheriff's office. In 1983 he went into real estate in fast-growing Sonoma County and served several years on school boards. In 1990 he ran for Congress, targeting Democrat Doug Bosco, who tended to favor the growth forces in the Redwood Empire more than the Sonoma County enviros. Bosco was also opposed on the left by a Peace & Freedom candidate who took 15% of the vote, and Riggs won 43%-42%. He quickly won attention, first when he reneged on his pledge not to take the "obscene" congressional pay raise and voted against the Gulf war resolution, then as one of the freshman Republican Gang of Seven who insisted on disclosure of the names of House bank check-bouncers. But Riggs then discovered that he had three overdrafts himself. In 1992 Riggs lost the seat to as different a Democrat as can be imagined. Dan Hamburg moved from Stanford to Mendocino County, founded an "alternative school," served as a supervisor favoring "managed growth," taught Chinese culture and language to foreigners in China. "[Riggs] was a narc. I favor growing your own," Hamburg said; indeed he favored legalization of marijuana. With help from rock stars, Hamburg nearly outraised the incumbent and won 48%-45% in a district Bill Clinton was carrying 46%-29%. Hamburg made an ultraliberal record in the House, which helped him raise money again; he beat Bosco in the June primary, but by only 62%-38%, then lost to Riggs in November by 53%-47% -- the only absolute majority for anyone in this culturally fractured district since 1988. In the House again, Riggs voted for the Contract with America, but broke with the Republican leadership on protecting unionized mass transit workers, Davis-Bacon repeal and the minimum wage. He pushed the timber salvage law, allowing more logging, and from his seat on Appropriations pushed for the $211 million veterans' hospital at Travis Air Force Base, $60 million more for infrastructure improvement to Travis, $15 million for Humboldt Harbor and $22 million for water development projects. But he failed in attempts to lift endangered species protection from a tract around but not including Headwaters Grove. And Senator Christopher Bond's attacks on the veterans' hospital held up funding at least until 1998. Despite his pro-labor votes, Riggs was targeted by the AFL-CIO and several Democrats vied to run against him. Feminist groups raised money for Monica Marvin of Napa County. But she was outspent by Michela Alioto, 28-year-old granddaughter of former San Francisco Mayor Joseph Alioto and a policy adviser (briefing book compiler, opponents said) of Vice President Al Gore. Alioto, paralyzed at 13 in a ski lift accident, bought a $600,000 house in the Napa Valley a week before filing deadline and eventually spent nearly $600,000 of her own money. She won the March primary 40%-33% over Marvin, and seconded Gore's nomination at the Democratic convention in August. She vowed to "take on Newt Gingrich" and attacked Riggs's support of Medicare "cuts." She was hailed in People magazine and attracted campaign visits from Hillary Rodham Clinton and Al and Tipper Gore. But as a candidate she had her deficiencies. In debates she mispronounced town names and mixed up local issues. For all her wealth, she was subject to tax liens for nonpayment of state income taxes. Her campaign staff and family members impersonated a TV news reporter and forged TV station stationery to get hold of Riggs campaign documents. Riggs's campaign was controversial as well. He was attacked for distributing a Human Events story comparing Alioto's family to Benito Mussolini's. And a TV ad in which he cited the murder of Polly Klaas and pictured her murderer (to highlight Alioto's opposition to capital punishment) drew protests from Klaas's father. But Alioto's weakness as a candidate prompted most area newspapers to endorse Riggs. Even as Bill Clinton was carrying the 1st 48%-35%, Riggs carried every county but Mendocino and won 50%-43%. In January 1997 Riggs left Appropriations to chair the education subcommittee with jurisdiction of K-12, special education, school lunches, Head Start and education technology; it is supposed to reauthorize special education and juvenile justice laws. He also has a seat on Transportation and Infrastructure, from which he can help Travis, Eureka Harbor and U.S. 101 in Sonoma County. But the character of the district, and the circumstances of his 1996 victory, almost guaranteed him serious opposition in 1998. Riggs suffered heavy criticism when he defended Humboldt County sheriff's deputies who used pepper spray to control rowdy environmental protesters who stormed into his district office in November 1997. In January 1998 Riggs filed for the Republican nomination to Barbara Boxer's senate seat, less than a week after San Diego Mayor Susan Golding withdrew from the race. He hired political consultant Ed Rollins as his chief campaign strategist and will face state Treasurer Matt Fong and millionaire businessman Darrell Issa in the Republican primary. Meanwhile, popular Democratic state Senator Mike Thompson, a Vietnam veteran who was courted by party leaders, announced in April he would run for Riggs' seat. Republican party leaders were left searching for a viable candidate to take on Thompson in the 1st District.
Update: November 1998
The People: Pop. 1990: 572,870; 33% rural; 13% age 65+; 79% White; 4% Black; 3% Asian; 2% Amer. Indian; 11% Hispanic origin. Households: 58% married couple families; 27% married couple fams. w. children; 52% college educ.; median household income: $30,943; per capita income: $14,298; median gross rent: $512; median house value: $136,200.
Rep. Frank D. Riggs (R) Elected 1994; b. Sept. 5, 1950, Louisville, KY; home, Windsor; Golden Gate U., B.A. 1980; Episcopalian; married (Cathy). Career: Army, 1972-75; Police officer & Deputy Sheriff, Sonoma Cnty, 1976-83; Owner, Duncan Enterprises, 1985-present; Vice Pres. & Gen. Mr., Learning Tools Educ. Software Co., 1993-94. DC Office: 1714 LHOB 20515, 202-225-3311; Fax: 202-225-3403; e-mail: repriggs@hr.house.gov. District Offices: Eureka, 707-441-8701; Napa, 707-254-7308. Committees: Education & The Workforce (14th of 25 R): Early Childhood, Youth & Families (Chmn.); Postsecondary Education, Training & Life-Long Learning. Transportation & Infrastructure (23rd of 40 R): Surface Transportation; Water Resources & Environment.
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