United States Congressman Mike Thompson was met with much
fanfare on Monday at The Healdsburg School, arriving to find notes
and signs all over campus welcoming him.
Thompson toured classrooms and spoke with students before
speaking in front of the school’s student body of 110. There he
spoke about his job, about challenges the nation now faces and even
some on working with President Barack Obama.
On the biggest issues faced by the district and the nation at
large: “Financial, tops, putting people to work, global climate
change, fixing health care,” he said, listing off his concerns. “In
the wine industry, the excise tax. Water concerns in our part of
the state. There’s no shortage of major challenges we face. We
rally and face those challenges and come out OK.”
Thompson, 59, is a member of the Democratic Party and represents
California’s 1st congressional district, which includes part of
Sonoma County and Yolo counties as well as Napa, Lake, Mendocino,
Humboldt and Del Norte counties. Elected to Congress in 1998,
Thompson is a former state senator and Vietnam veteran. He sits on
the Ways and Means Committee and the Committee on Intelligence.
Thompson spends most of his time in Washington D.C. but often
visits community groups and takes tours of public and private
facilities back home. He also lends his staff in Washington to
visiting schools from California, including The Healdsburg
School.
“I left a thank you note on his desk in DC,” said Sandi
Passalacqua, explaining how Thompson’s visit to the school came to
be. “He’s been instrumental in supporting our trips to the Capitol
and asking his aides to take us on tours.”
Passalacqua said the congressman’s visit furthers the school’s
mission of promoting service in the community’s youth. “It brings a
reality of public service for them in a most meaningful way,” she
said. “Social responsibility is one of the pillars of The
Healdsburg School.”
Passalacqua wants her students to get involved with the world
around them and become aware of city, state and federal politics.
“When you have a public official actually come, it’s inspiring to
them,” she said.
Of all the classes Thompson visited, it was the first graders
who were the most inquisitive. They asked him about his job, the
White House and the president.
“He’s very, very smart, and he cares a lot about people in this
country,” Thompson said of the President.
On the White House: “I don’t hang out there,” he said. “I
probably go there once a month.”
“Cool,” replied a group of first graders.
Thompson spoke of the Wine Caucus’s upcoming auction to raise
money for earthquake victims in Haiti, about Christmas parties and
summer barbecues at the White House and his many flights from
Dulles Airport in Washington back to California.
He also spoke to life as an elected official. “Every two years I
have to go before the voters and ask them to send me back,” he
said. Thompson, who again faces reelected in 2010, garnered nearly
62 percent of the vote in 1998.
