Is Sandi Maurer a one-issue candidate?

Answer: My conclusion is that Sandi Maurer is not a one-issue candidate. Her knowledge and interest and ideas on City issues are broad. Her passion on one issue will not, in my opinion, get in the way of her greater public service to the community.

Sandi and I are on opposite sides of the EMF issue: I have no concerns about smart meters or cell towers or other similar technology. Specifically, regarding smart water meters, I don't believe they create health risks. I support our installation of smart water meters as an important water saving tool that meets our community's long-held commitment to the environment. By contrast, Sandi has serious concerns about all technology that is in the EMF (electromagnetic field) category, and believes that this technology creates health risks for our community. She is specifically opposed to smart water meters for Sebastopol. We are diametrically opposed on this issue. 

Sandi's interests, knowledge, and ideas go way beyond the EMF issue: When I sat down with Sandi and talked to her about her plans as a future City Councilperson, I expected her to default immediately to EMF issues. Because of her passion for this one topic, I thought she would redirect the conversation to that subject at every opportunity. I also expected that because of my public and consistent disagreement with her position on EMFs, and her firmly held passion for the topic as a health issue, she would be argumentative with me and closed to productive discussions of any kind, on any topic. I was wrong, on all counts. To my surprise the majority of the conversation was about other items of interest, and in demeanor and manner she was completely open and engaged with our discussion. Yes, EMFs came up once, but that was it, and the conversation on EMFs was not heated and was not argumentative. It was simply one of many topics we covered, where she stated her position and I stated mine, and then we moved on. My take-away from that discussion, and from watching the Candidate Forum, is that Sandi's interests for the community are broad and far-reaching. I do not believe her to be a one-issue person.

She won me over, despite my hesitation: I went into my conversation with Sandi Maurer with one impression of her, a pre-conceived notion about who she would be as a leader if she were elected to City Council. I came away with a fuller, much more complete impression of a person whose core motivation is to improve our community, who is fearless and articulate and honest, who is funny and accessible and compassionate, who will do the work that is needed to get a job done correctly and efficiently, and who does not look at the world through a one-issue lens. I was completely surprised to conclude that voting for her and endorsing her felt like the right thing to do for our community's future. She won me over, and made me a supporter and a believer.