Herger decides 13 terms is enough in Congress

Saying he wanted to spend more time with his family, U.S. Rep. Wally Herger announced Tuesday he won't seek another term in the U.S. House of Representatives, capping more than three decades of elective office.

Herger, R-Chico, said he had decided after much discussion in recent months with his family that seeking another two-year term was less desirable than spending time with his nine children and 11 — soon to be 12 — grandchildren.

"It is a humbling experience," said Herger, 66, who was elected to the House in 1986. "I still have the same fire in the belly, I think, that I had when I was first elected, but there comes a time when you want to spend more time with your family."

Slideshow: Herger's political career

The retirement, long rumored in political circles, opens up a California congressional seat based in a mostly rural, conservative part of Northern California. Redistricting last year moved the lines for Herger's 3rd Congressional District out of his original home in Sutter County.

Allan Hoffenblum, a political expert who tracks state races in his California Target Book publication, said Herger may have decided his political landscape had changed too much.

"He's in a new district, facing a primary battle," Hoffenblum said.

But Herger said redistricting didn't play a factor, pointing out he didn't represent Sutter County during the 1990s either.

"This new district is very similar to that one," he said.

He also said his health was good, adding he plans to stay politically involved in retirement in addition to spending more time with his family and working on his family's agricultural operations in Rio Oso.

While in Congress, Herger said, he was proud of having worked with U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein on the 1998 Quincy Library Group Forest Recovery Act, which he said helped create more sensible stewardship of federal forest lands.

Sutter County Supervisor James Gallagher, who attended Herger's press conference in Chico, said the congressman also should get credit for helping improve Yuba-Sutter flood protection and keeping Beale Air Force Base open during a series of federal military base closings.

Herger said he was disappointed he'll probably leave without seeing a balanced federal budget, and he is hopeful in his last year he can continue to help push down federal spending.

"Realistically, it's tough to pass anything in a presidential election year," he said.

Herger, who was born into a three-generation Swiss farming family in Sutter County, was first elected to public office as an East Nicolaus School District board member in 1976.

Robert Gallagher, a former Sutter County supervisor who has known Herger for decades, recalled Herger telling him he would run for Assembly in 1979 after a school board meeting.

"I said, 'What? No one knows you, Wally,'" said Robert Gallagher, grandfather to James Gallagher. "He told me, 'They will.'

"And 16 months later, he was in the Assembly."

Herger served three terms in Sacramento before running for the House in 1986 when the Republican incumbent, Eugene Chappie, said he was stepping down because of declining health.

Once elected, Herger rarely had a serious opponent, winning 12 more terms against mostly token Democratic opposition. He was noted in Congress for helping pass welfare reform in 1996.

After the Republican takeover of the House last year, Herger became chairman of the House Ways and Means subcommittee for health and medical issues, putting him in a key position to oppose President Barack Obama's health care reform plan.

He also came under fire in 2009, after a speaker at a Herger town hall meeting in Redding described himself as a "proud right-wing terrorist," and Herger subsequently praised the man as a patriot. The comment led to Herger getting an unlikely national spotlight on cable news programs.

Critics often described Herger as a back-bench politician who was happy to vote however the Republican Party wanted, but Herger said Tuesday he saw it differently.

"I'd like to think the party voted the way I voted," he said. "In my experience, people who run for Congress on both sides have strong beliefs, and those beliefs usually come out when they vote."

Robert Gallagher said consistency, more than anything, has marked Herger's time in office.

"He never had his campaign any different," Robert Gallagher said. "It's good common sense, good thinking. He's stayed right online."

CONTACT Ben van der Meer at bvandermeer@appealdemocrat.com or 749-4786. Find him on Facebook at /ADbvandermeer or on Twitter at @ADbvandermeer.