One of the toughest things about politics is that it’s so hard to know when it’s time to go.
State Sen. Pat Wiggins of Santa Rosa got the message Sunday and decided to jump before she was pushed, announcing to surprised supporters that she would not run for re-election next year.
The decision was so sudden that Wiggins announced it at a fund-raiser that was supposed to raise money for her re-election. Although Democratic legislators were quick to publicly thank Wiggins for her years of service to the state, they likely breathed deeps sighs of relief at the news.
The announcement came just days after a devastating piece in Friday’s Santa Rosa Press-Democrat suggested that Wiggins “is suffering from a serious and potentially career-ending mental decline.”
The story focused on the problems the 69-year-old Santa Rosa woman had handling the most basic parts of her daily life in the Legislature, such as chairing a committee hearing, meeting with constituents or even chatting with reporters in the hallway.
The problems are nothing new. What had been the quiet concerns of people close to Wiggins erupted into the open last year when the senator broke up a committee hearing on global warming by interrupting a Sacramento pastor who was quietly testifying and telling him that “your arguments are bullshit.”
Other committee members quickly smoothed over the incident, but it was too late. A clip of Wiggins was posted on YouTube, bringing talk about Wiggins “eccentric” behavior out into the open.
Her staff, which has worked desperately to assist and protect her, had refused to respond to any health questions, beyond saying that Wiggins had no medical problems that would stop her from doing her job or running for re-election.
Nothing was coming from Wiggins, who hasn’t been giving interviews. But while her Democratic colleagues were quick with praise Sunday night, their silence in the days before spoke volumes. Instead of brushing off the concerns about Wiggins’ behavior and defending the senator, most had simply been saying “no comment.”
But former Assemblywoman Patty Berg, a friend of Wiggins and an expert on aging issues, told the Eureka Times-Standard Friday that “it appears that there is something medical going on … I’m just really concerned about Pat.”
Wiggins isn’t the first legislator who has found it tough to step off the stage. When Pomona Assemblywoman Nell Soto’s final term in office expired last January, she had been absent from the Legislature for nearly her entire two-year term because of illness. She died in February at the age of 82.
It’s no different on the national level. Since Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy was diagnosed with a deadly form of brain cancer in May 2008, he has returned to Washington and the Senate only on rare occasions. But Kennedy still holds his Senate seat and his staff keeps up the fiction that he’s still deeply involved in government affairs.
But the senator wasn’t there to vote on Sonia Sotomayor’s landmark confirmation to the Supreme Court and he wasn’t seen at the funeral of his sister, Eunice Shriver.
People around the president are wondering whether Kennedy is strong enough for Obama to visit him even briefly at the family home this month. And last week Kennedy sent notes to Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and state legislative leaders, asking them to change state law to allow a speedy appointment to fill a vacant Senate seat. Those aren’t signs that anyone, most especially Kennedy, is expecting him to return to his D.C. office.
Moving up the political ladder is a tough slog for anyone. And once you’re there, it’s human nature to want to stay.
Cynics insist that a lust for wealth and power is why people run for office, but most politicians sincerely want to help make a better world and have strong enough egos to be convinced that they can do that job better than anyone else.
As a Santa Rosa councilwoman, an assemblywoman and a state senator, Wiggins has been at the center of North Coast politics and important California issues for years. She’s fought the good fight and undoubtedly she – and her staff – were convinced she could keep battling for her issues and her sprawling district, even through a run for re-election.
But the flurry of stories and the increasingly outspoken concern of friends and political allies made it clear that Wiggins had to decide — right now — whether fighting to hang on to her Senate seat was the best thing not only for her, but also for the people who had supported her for so many years.
Friends and colleagues both inside and outside Sacramento likely worked to convince Wiggins that it was time for her to make a dignified exit on her own terms. But ultimately it was a decision only Wiggins could make.
And in the end, she made the right one.