Supervisor flourishes in political center
Mom a Democrat, Dad a Republican, Valerie Brown migrates to midpoint
As a girl, Valerie Brown sold lemonade to her dad's buddies who came to the wilds of Missouri to hunt and fish. Most of the guys were conservative Republicans like her father, who worked in the Navy; they relished her lemonade, and she sold plenty. Years later when Brown decided to run for city council in the town of Sonoma, her mother's stance as a lifelong Democrat prevailed: Brown registered as a Democrat. She had learned as a child to skillfully bridge between two brands of politics. "I was born into being a centrist," Brown says. "Politics were always a tussle in my family. I'm a moderate and a business proponent."
Brown served two years in Sonoma city politics followed by six years in the California Assembly. After returning from state to local politics, she has been a Sonoma County supervisor since 2002, and is now chairperson of the five-member board that oversees an annual budget of nearly $1.2 billion.
Brown never planned a life in politics; her career unfolded serendipitously. Her father's guiding principle steered her: Love your job. "I have had a lot of changes in my jobs," Brown says, "but the thread that runs through them is working with and engaging people, being challenged by solving problems."
When Brown graduated from high school in 1968, she and other women typically glimpsed only two career options other than being a mother: teacher or nurse. "I fainted at the sight of blood," she says. She completed a bachelor's degree in secondary education. Then in the 1970s women began to push into myriad work realms that had been the province of men. Brown gravitated toward psychology, counseling students at a school in Los Angeles. "If you could support their strengths, they developed the self-esteem to overcome their weaknesses," she recalls. She went back to school to earn a master's degree in psychology and counseling.
In 1984 after her daughter graduated from high school, Brown moved to Sonoma. Through several volunteer positions she connected with community leaders. By 1989 she became president of the chamber of commerce. A group of business leaders suggested that she run for city council. Mulling the option, Brown traveled to Missouri for the holidays and found herself in a library thumbing through a tattered book entitled, "Getting Her Elected."
"I put together about 20 people" to help with campaign tasks, she recalls. "It was anxiety-provoking waiting for the paper to drop the morning after the election." Not only did she win, she garnered more votes than eight other candidates.
"I learned incredibly difficult lessons about being politically savvy, not getting too far out on issues where I wanted to solve problems."
"They decided I should be mayor," she says. laughing. "There's nothing like being thrown with both feet and all your body into very cold water. I learned incredibly difficult lessons about being politically savvy, not getting too far out on issues where I wanted to solve problems but needed all the people at the table."
People who come down strongly on one side or another may distance themselves from a solution, according to Brown. "Listen to both sides," she says. "Be willing to stand up to criticism. If I can sleep because I've done the right thing, I'm comfortable."
"I like change," Brown says. "Don't get ensconced in a path or pattern. Be less defined about your ideology and more willing to participate in an outcome with openness. The outcome will be one that everybody supports, not just you. For those who mandate reform, nothing happens. It gets sabotaged. Democracy is hell, but it works."
"Mediocrity has become the norm in government. It's easy to shine over that."
Brown has no desire to return to state politics. "I was incredibly fortunate to have been part of the peak of intelligence in the capital," she recalls. "The best of the best were there before term limits in 1994. I got great direction and background. Mediocrity has become the norm in government. It's easy to shine over that."
She considered the Legislature to be a phenomenal university where she could refine her knowledge in nearly any field. "When I asked to be briefed, they would bring me the author of the book," she says. "How much better could it get?"
Brown served as president of the National Organization of Counties, which gave her contact with government leaders nationwide. "When elected people stay close to their base, they get isolated in their thinking," she says. "Folks in California don't understand what happened in this last election. The Midwest feels differently" than many Californians.
Ardent environmentalists sometimes challenge her positions. A tomboy in her early life, she loves the outdoors. "I'm hugely invested in climate protection," Brown says. "If pathways had been open to women when I was that age, I might have chosen to work with Fish and Game. Those occupations weren't open to women. Breaking that glass ceiling was impossible."
Running a county as large as Sonoma County demands most of her time and attention. "This work is wonderfully challenging, new every day," Brown says. "It's very rich. I don't have a life. This is my life."
—James Dunn
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