[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 21 (Tuesday, February 3, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E183-E184]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              HONORING THE WORK OF SUPERVISOR MIKE REILLY

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. MIKE THOMPSON

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 3, 2009

  Mr. THOMPSON of California. Madam Speaker, I rise today along with my 
colleague, Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey, to honor one of our districts' 
most hard-working public servants, Mike Reilly of Forestville, 
California, who has recently retired from the Sonoma County Board of 
Supervisors.
  For twelve years as County Supervisor, Mike represented Sonoma 
County's 5th District, a vast rambling, and fantastically beautiful 
place that encompasses the entire 53 miles of Sonoma County's coast, 
redwood forests, vineyards, the Russian River, and the

[[Page E184]]

western edge of our largest city, Santa Rosa. Known as ``West County,'' 
the 5th District is Sonoma County's most progressive with a vibrant and 
diverse population of ethnicity, sexual orientation and economic 
backgrounds. Mike Reilly, with his intelligence, people skills and 
encyclopedic knowledge of politics represented every one of his 
constituencies.
  Mike is a Bay Area native born on May 27, 1944 in San Mateo, 
California. Always interested in politics, his first office was senior 
class president at Hayward High and later, student body president at 
Chabot College. Mike was an Army volunteer and served two years in 
Okinawa. The young veteran returned to the Bay Area after completing 
his tour of duty and began working as a youth counselor. He became one 
of the founders and eventually Executive Director of the Hayward-based 
Project Eden, a non-profit organization that offered drug counseling to 
the city's ``street kids.''
  In 1977, Mike moved to Sonoma County to begin working for the 
county's drug and alcohol program, again as a counselor to youth. Mike 
settled in Forestville and soon became active in west county politics, 
no doubt influenced by his neighbor, Ernie Carpenter, who became the 
5th District Supervisor in 1978.
  From 1981 to 1985, Mike served as Administrative Assistant to state 
Assemblyman Dan Hauser, whose 1st District ran from Sonoma County to 
the Oregon border. During his tenure with Hauser, Mike was a key player 
in the designation of the Lost Coast Sinkyone Wilderness Area for 
public use, drafting initial legislation banning oil and gas 
development in Northern California state waters, the restoration of the 
Point Arena Pier, and regional issues pertaining to fishing and timber 
extraction.
  In 1986 Mike Reilly became Executive Director of West County 
Community Services, a non-profit that grew from a 70's era all 
volunteer ``River Switchboard,'' to an organization offering a variety 
of services for people of all ages. Under Mike's leadership, West 
County Community Services developed an excellent drug and alcohol abuse 
programs, led in the establishment of the Russian River Senior Center 
and the Sebastopol Teen Center and opened a homeless shelter. For 
thirteen years, Mike also served as a trustee for the Forestville 
Elementary School District and the West County High School District.
  When Supervisor Carpenter announced his retirement from public office 
in 1995, Mike Reilly embarked on a grueling eighteen month campaign to 
successfully succeed him. Mike's hard fought campaign and subsequent 
service allowed him to coast to two unopposed re-election victories in 
the years ahead. These were not years without challenges, however, 
including huge floods on the lower Russian River in 1997 and 1999, 
years of underfunded services in rural areas and the heavily urbanized 
Roseland area in the district, and a sometimes lonely role as an 
environmental advocate on the Board of Supervisors.
  Despite these difficulties Mike was able to forge agreements that led 
to county support of home elevation program on the flood prone Russian 
River, the formation of the Russian River Redevelopment District, and 
ordinances regulating forest conversions and vineyard grading, as well 
as untangling hundreds of county problems for his constituents. Mike 
was also a powerful presence on the County's Open Space and 
Agricultural Preservation District, and instrumental in protecting 
thousands of acres of land under county ownership or conservation 
easements.
  During the same 12 years, Mike also served on the California Coastal 
Commission, including two years as the Commission's Chair. He has been 
recognized by statewide environmental groups as having the strongest 
conservation record of any of the publically elected members of the 
Commission.
  I would also note that Mike Reilly is a key player in moving forward 
the Gulf of the Farallones and Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuaries 
Boundary Modification and Protection Act, a bill that would provide 
permanent protection for the entire Sonoma Coast. Mike led successful 
efforts to endorse the bill by both the Sonoma County Board of 
Supervisors and the California Coastal Commission. With our new 
Administration these efforts will result in passage.
  This year Mike is celebrating another 12-year anniversary, his 
marriage to Judi, which took place on January 25, 1997, in a home in 
Guerneville in the midst of a flood emergency. Mike and Judi, their 
three daughters, Kimberly, Sheri and Kelly, as well as Kelly's husband 
Stewart and their son, Stetson, and Sheri's fiance, Will, make up a 
loving and supportive family with great political energy and 
philosophies.
  Although Mike has retired from the Board of Supervisors, we will not 
let him leave us. He continues to serve as a board member of Coastwalk, 
California's unique coastal education program and on New Ways to Work, 
a national non-profit that is finding ways to train youth for the new 
economy. Knowing of Mike's energy, his intelligence and his savvy, his 
can-do attitude, we expect that although Mike will be able to play more 
golf now, he will continue to exert his powerful and positive influence 
on our community and our world.

                          ____________________