Opinion by Samuel Strait – May 23, 2022 A couple of days ago, I stopped to chat with my neighbor where I learned of a recent development in his world, the loss of a faithful friend, his dog Dahli. Everett had rescued Dahli many years before as a stray and nursed her back to health to become his constant companion for many years. In the course of the conversation I received a copy of the local paper, the Triplicate, where Dahli had been eulogized in the pages of the paper. Later following my visit with my neighbor I happened to read a guest column by Kevin Hendrick, "When women succeed, America succeeds" (Triplicate May 13, 2022). Over the years, Mr. Hendrick, Chair of the local Democrat Party, can be found voicing the Liberal/Progressive line to all that will listen, so his column and its title made me pause to read his slant on the topic and learn what lingual gymnastics Mr. Hendrick would employ on the topic to explain the title of the piece. Granted Mr. Hendrick is sold on the notion that everything can be solved in his one size fits all world if everyone would think the way he does, no exceptions. Unfortunately, he fails to recognize that we are all humans, each one of us different, often in too many ways to count. This makes his political philosophy dead on arrival. Speaking of genders, men very often are not always the best arbiter of success, particularly in the political realm, yet to conclude that more women will change that dynamic and automatically produce that sought after success is somewhat suspect. Drawing on the historical perspective of an America long dominated by men, Mr. Hendrick seems incapable of recognizing that times have changed and women have taken a much more active role in all sorts of areas previously dominated by their male counter parts. For some reason, perhaps unrecognized by Mr. Hendrick, things have not exactly gone swimmingly when women are in charge. Here in this County for a number of years, women held a majority of Board of Supervisor seats with no visible panacea in sight. Horror of horrors, might I suggest that with males, it might just be the quality of their individual skills that equate to success or failure of leadership, and the same could be possible for women? No disrespect intended for I was raised in a family where the adult female, my mother, was much better equipped to assume the leadership role, yet having three sisters I have found that this is not always the case. Mr. Hendrick goes on to wax elegant about our two current female Supervisors, and anoints them with all sorts of superpowers, that they have yet to live up to. Supervisor Valerie Starkey does indeed "get around" and appears to be adequately resourceful enough to do a credible job. Yet, as a life time employee of a bureaucratic nature, she retains the blindness to bureaucrats as the answer to all issues to be addressed. She does ask questions, but they are too often irrelevant or not the right ones to be able to make a truly informed decision. She fails to understand the concept that too much government can be worse than too little. As much as Mr. Hendrick would like to apply labels of bias and disrespect to both women from the current males on the Board, it is clearly to great of a reach on his part. The newly appointed Supervisor Masten may have "years" of commitment to public service, she is but a "rookie" at this level of service. Thus far, her instincts have led her into making several stumbles in the course of her contributions to meetings and her "experience" has not been up to the task. The complaint by Hendrick that she may have hit the "bureaucratic wall" because she was a "woman" or even a "Yurok" is ludicrous and should not be taken seriously. Mr. Hendrick seems to think this is the 1880's or maybe 1920. Supervisor 2nd District, Valerie Starkey Personally, I think that if Supervisor Starkey were to think less as a Democrat and more of as a citizen of Del Norte County, she would be better served as a supervisor. Having served in government for a long period, it is unlikely she will be able to contort herself into believing that the local bureaucracy is first and foremost self serving. Most simply cannot help themselves, no disrespect intended. Supervisor 5th District Susan Masten As to Supervisor Masten, it is not from the standpoint that she is a woman, an American, a Californian, a Del Norter, or even a Yurok that is problematic, it looks like lack of skill is her largest problem not that a strong dose of reality won't help, Her public face thus far seems to be separate from her private face, making it hard to evaluate her ability to learn from her mistakes. There will be time to evaluate that ability to be an effective leader in the ensuing months, but she is off to a poor start, however Mr. Hendrick wishes to cast his perceived biases along her "bureaucratic wall". In the end, America, and even our part of the world, will be successful if and only if who ever leads has the necessary skills to be an effective leader, Woman or Man.