Why should our Governor, Congressman, State Senator and Assemblymember help us when we did not support them? This is the question I asked in my last column to local voters who did not support the Democratic candidates that ultimately won in the general election.This week I will answer that question. These people genuinely care about the needs of our county. We should recognize their sincere efforts to help and continue to work with them as partners.Governor Newsom was instrumental in fostering a negotiated agreement between PacifiCorp, the Karuk Tribe, Yurok Tribe, California, Oregon, conservation groups and commercial fishing groups for the removal of four dams on the Klamath River. Final approval was just secured to start dam removal in 2023 which will restore the salmon fishery that so many rely on.#placement_573654_0_i{width:100%;max-width:550px;margin:0 auto;}var rnd = window.rnd || Math.floor(Math.random()*10e6);var pid573654 = window.pid573654 || rnd;var plc573654 = window.plc573654 || 0;var abkw = window.abkw || '';var absrc = 'https://ads.empowerlocal.co/adserve/;ID=181918;size=0x0;setID=573654;type=js;sw='+screen.width+';sh='+screen.height+';spr='+window.devicePixelRatio+';kw='+abkw+';pid='+pid573654+';place='+(plc573654++)+';rnd='+rnd+';click=CLICK_MACRO_PLACEHOLDER';var _absrc = absrc.split("type=js"); absrc = _absrc[0] + 'type=js;referrer=' + encodeURIComponent(document.location.href) + _absrc[1];document.write('');Congressman Huffman has been persistent in helping to find funding for Last Chance Grade and harbor dredging. Assemblymember Wood has used his experience to advocate for policies that will reduce the cost and improve the quality of rural healthcare.Last Thursday (11/17), I attended an event at the Del Norte High School where our State Senator Mike McGuire announced that he had secured an appropriation of $2.5 million to jumpstart the design and construction of a local performing arts center.This progress was made possible due to a partnership with the Del Norte Unified School District and a new non-profit called Partnership for the Performing Arts. The performing arts center will be a 1000 seat facility that will provide multiple benefits to our community, including economic development.The Del Norte Center for the Performing Arts will first and foremost be dedicated to supporting arts education curriculum. Local music, dance, theater and fine arts students will benefit from an on-campus professionally designed auditorium for performances.The Center will also provide a local venue for professional performing artists as well as showcasing local and regional talent. Regional businesses will benefit from increased economic activity that comes with performances, conferences and special events. This building will also serve as an emergency evacuation center that is outside the tsunami danger zone.This project was initiated by Nick and Lisa Rail. Nick learned his love of music at local schools and went on to start a successful music retail business which provided instruments to schools and families across southern California. After Nick and Lisa sold their business, they committed the entire proceeds to support performing arts in public education.The Rails committed the first million dollars to get the fund started to build the performing arts center. Since then there has been another $1 million dollars in additional pledges. The school district has committed the land to build it on. This partnership between a non-profit group and a government agency is a good model for how take on a large scale project and follow it through to completion.This brings us back to Senator Mike McGuire. Think about how phenomenal it is that our Senator has the juice to allocate $2.5 million from the State general fund for a Del Norte County project. This year Senator McGuire was named Senate Majority Leader. This makes him the second highest ranking member of the State Senate.Reelecting Senator McGuire was the obvious best choice for our community. He not only has experience but also seniority to better assist his constituents. Senator McGuire has shown that he cares about our community, even those of us who did not vote for him.This is why term limits are not beneficial. Just as an elected official is gaining the experience to be most effective, they are termed out. This will be Senator McGuire’s last term and then we will lose him.But there is more…On November 1st, State Senator Mike McGuire unveiled a $10 million investment to develop a 30,000 square-foot warehouse into a state-of-the-art health care educational hub through a partnership with Cal Poly Humboldt and College of the Redwoods.Senator McGuire described this modern learning lab in a story by the Lost Coast Journal (11/1/22):“It will be the epicenter for training North Coast health care leaders and the workforce of tomorrow. This health care education hub will house amazing health care labs, classrooms, as well as conference rooms all specially designed to train not just nurses but respiratory therapists, radiology techs, psychiatric techs and more.”A project that improves rural health care services and provides employment training is another good example of how partnerships make progress happen.These partnerships give me hope that our community can continue to grow in a healthy way.Kevin Hendrick is the Chair of the Del Norte County Democratic Central Committee - dndems@gmail.com googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('ad-1515727'); });