THE NORTH Bay-North Coast's Democratic congressman, Jared Huffman, has joined the new bipartisan "Problem Solver Caucus" in Congress. Its motto is "fixing not fighting." This is exactly what his Marin constituents sent Huffman to Washington to do.

The San Rafael resident says the monthly dialogue is important "Not because we are compromising our principles, but because we're committed to solving problems instead of just fighting about them."

The key players forming the caucus are West Virginia's Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin and Jon Huntsman, former Republican presidential candidate and Utah governor. Their goal is to have 75 House and Senate caucus members by December. Huffman is the group's 40th member.

While Huffman is a liberal and a new member of the House Progressive Caucus, it's doubtful that Lynn Woolsey, Marin and Sonoma's retired hyper-progressive congresswoman would find this pragmatic gathering her cup of tea.


Marin housing prices are going up but not fast enough to prevent the city of Belvedere from taking a bath on the sale of the home of their former city manager, George Rodericks.

It's no scandal, but when Belvedere hired Rodericks in 2005, part of the compensation package the city granted its new manager was a $400,000 housing assistance loan, payable six months after his employment with the city ended.


Well-managed Belvedere played it by the book. Rodericks' new San Rafael home was appraised at his $985,000 purchase price. He made a personal $150,000 down payment. The city's loan was properly secured as a second mortgage. All loan payments were timely made. What could go wrong?

The Great Recession hit. The house is now under water. Now that Rodericks has left his Belvedere job, the property is in escrow with a $695,000 advertised price. Rodericks loses his down payment and Belvedere will take a hit of between $150,000 and $200,000.

Other than presuming real estate had nowhere to go but up, the loss is no one's fault. It is a warning to even prudent public and private employers about the phenomena of unintended consequences. If something can go awry, it will.


Paul Chignell is a political force in the Ross Valley. He was a long-time San Anselmo councilmember and mayor and twice the unsuccessful Democratic candidate for the state Legislature against Republican Assemblyman Bill Filante. Chignell was also a player in San Francisco where he was a police captain. Many believe he should have been chief. In The City, a district police captain is effectively his bailiwick's czar. There is no Marin equivalent.

Chignell just retired from the San Francisco Police Department. Long active in the Police Officers' Association, in retirement he will be director of the association's legal defense team, defending officers facing litigation.

While the union gig is full time, it wouldn't be shocking if Chignell found time to reinvolve himself in Marin civic affairs.


The fight over excesses in public employee pensions is heating up.

Round One: Marin Citizens for Sustainable Pensions leads off with a talk by John Dickerson on Feb. 28 at 6:30 p.m. at San Rafael's Four Points Sheraton. The controversial author contends that unilateral action by Moody's, one of the nation's three major credit raters, will cost Marin governments big bucks.

Moody's will soon use a far lower 5.5 percent rate of assumed long-term investment returns when evaluating the solvency of Marin's cities, the county and specific purpose districts. Most public pensions plans assume a 7.5 percent rate of return. That 2 percent difference will affect the viability of issuing municipal bonds to finance everything from schools to bridges.

Round Two should be Marin's Public Employees Retirement Association's reply to the salvo.
