By Elisabeth Sherwin/Enterprise staff writer
Monday, March 13, 2006

Matt Rexroad, 37, is the mayor of Woodland who decided to run for supervisor because his city was not being represented on the Board of Supervisors.

“Davis has two supervisors (Helen Thomson and Mariko Yamada),” Rexroad said. “I want Woodland to at least have one.”

Rexroad is more sophisticated politically than either challenger Brenda Cedarblade or incumbent Frank Sieferman Jr. Rexroad is an attorney who has worked at the state Capitol and runs a political/public relations office, Meridian Pacific, in Sacramento.

He also is a former Marine who served in Iraq. Rexroad believes in getting out in front of problems and finding solutions. He has berated Sieferman in his online blog for not being a leader.

Rexroad’s blog is considered a must-read by all political junkies in Yolo County and many in Sacramento. In it, he takes on all subjects. “I know that every week (blog readership) is growing by 10 percent to 15 percent,” he said. “I get about 3,000 hits a day.”

Rexroad says the city of Woodland is better run than the county.

Specifically, he says the county should have forged a lead on the Cache Creek flooding problem years ago and should be much more transparent about plans to acquire and run Conaway Ranch.

“The county has to step up and get something done (about flooding),” he said. “That’s one reason I’m running for supervisor — because nothing has been done.

“We have a potential flooding problem and a paper problem because we’re paying millions of dollars in flood insurance,” Rexroad said last week. “I can’t point to a preferred solution — we had one, a flood wall, that was taken off table and we are now going through a process with Water Resources Association.”

Regarding the county’s purchase of the Conaway Ranch, Rexroad says he opposed the purchase by the use of eminent domain — the force of government — but admits he might have gone along with county to buy the property if there had been a willing seller.

“But now the county’s silence on the matter is indefensible,” he said. “Now they should negotiate for a deal on water rights and our supervisor (Sieferman) isn’t at the table.”

The Conaway Ranch negotiating team is made up of Supervisors Mike McGowan of West Sacramento and Thomson of Davis.

“I believe I could cut a deal on Conaway Ranch in a week, maybe less,” Rexroad said. But he also said he doesn’t want to make the Conaway Ranch the key issue in the June 6 election campaign.

“The goals of Conaway Ranch are admirable — who doesn’t want to protect water rights? But two years of complete silence by Supervisor Sieferman is unacceptable. It’s not option. You have an obligation to stand there and answer questions from the people you work for.

“I’m very reluctant to make the Conaway Ranch a key issue in the campaign because that’s not the reason I’m running,” Rexroad added. “However, by January 2007 it will be important that I be on board because someone will have to deal with management of that asset and I’d be the most qualified person to do it.”

Rexroad has the biggest war chest of the three people running — he has raised just under $100,000 since last summer. Sieferman has raised about $40,000 and Cedarblade said she intends to lend herself $5,000 for her campaign.

Another issue close to Rexroad’s heart, and one he talked about the night he was elected to the Woodland City Council in 2002, is the creation of an urban limit line surrounding the city of Woodland.

Rexroad believes in this so strongly that he spent $30,000 of his campaign funds gathering signatures and making sure the language appearing on the June ballot will be legally defensible. In June, Woodland voters will be asked to vote on whether a line should be drawn around Woodland to preserve ag land and limit development.

Cedarblade said she needs more information about the proposed urban limit line before she can support it or oppose it.

Sieferman said he is neutral on the matter.

“It’s a city issue,” he said.

Rexroad was raised in Woodland. He earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s in public administration from the University of Southern California and earned his law degree from McGeorge School of Law.

“I have an extremely diverse group of supporters who came out early to support me, including Dudley Holman, Tom Stallard, Dave Flory, Cirenio Rodriguez, Twyla Thompson and Lynnel Pollock,” he said.

About his opponents, Rexroad says: “Frank seems to be a nice person but I don’t know what he’s done in office, what he’s been a leader on. I’ve asked that question to dozens of people and no one can answer it.

“And I don’t know what Brenda Cedarblade is for. I know what she’s against,” he said.

— Reach Elisabeth Sherwin at gizmo@dcn.org