Claremont mayor and local attorney Paul Held ’72 enjoys public service. “You have to get something out of it,” he says. “You’re brought up to think it’s important.”

Held spent a dozen years on the local school board after parents approached him to represent their interests. The position required fewer personal sacrifices than other levels of public service, with most commitments scheduled for evenings and the occasional Saturday. But when Held made the transition to city council leader five years ago, the commitment increased, with daily office hours at City Hall and as many as 15 meetings a week.

“It can be a 25-hour-per-week job, with day and evening events—many ceremonial,” he said. The pay is about $400 a month. “You don’t do it for the money,” he says. “You do it because you enjoy it, and because you get a lot out of it.”

Held hasn’t considered moving to a different level of service. “I respect the David Dreiers of the world immensely,” the mayor said. “But I don’t think I could do what he does. I don’t enjoy fund-raising, and wouldn’t care for the constant campaigning.”

Held expresses a joy about holding public office that some officials are more hesitant to express. “I would urge anyone to go for public office, at least local office. It’s enjoyable, and you get a lot of satisfaction.”

While Held may not envy the David Dreiers of the world, Dreier ’75 is the first to say how much he loves his life. Dreier, a descendant of Robert E. Lee, was encouraged early in life to enter public service by his father, the late H. Edward Dreier Jr. ’52.

For the younger Dreier, the road to political victory was short. A 1975 cum laude graduate, Dreier was working in the College’s development department and living in Phillips Hall when he won his party’s nomination at 25. Although he lost the election, Dreier later upset a three-term Democrat in 1980 to become the youngest congressman in the Western states.

In 1999, Dreier became the first Californian to chair the House Rules Committee, and last year was elected to preside over the state’s Republican congressional delegation. Dreier says he has no interest in state-level government, nor any plans to pursue the United States Senate. “With my seniority, it’s better for California for me to stay in this position than to be a freshman senator,” he says. And while living a public life is admittedly “tough,” Dreier doesn’t describe it as a sacrifice. He enjoys his work, and says leadership satisfies his intrigue with politics and government, and his desire to influence the direction of the nation.

After more than 20 years in Congress, Dreier says his priority now, aside from enthusiastically tackling the public policy issues of the day, is to encourage others toward lives of service. A believer in the Madisonian spirit of representative government, he follows Burke’s philosophy that “your representative owes you not only his industry, but his judgment, as well.”

Tuesday, March 5, the day he became the Republican nominee for California insurance commissioner, was a great day for Gary Mendoza ’77.

Mendoza, who served as commissioner of corporations under Gov. Pete Wilson, credits his wife and two teenage sons for making the necessary sacrifices of time and money during his race. Having studied economics at CMC and enrolled at Yale for graduate studies, Mendoza exudes confidence in his abilities and speaks proudly of his public service background under the previous administration. His success arguably helped bridge party lines. “Consumer protection,” Mendoza says, “is not a partisan issue.”

Mendoza views his potential new job as an opportunity to become a leader in his party, and looks forward to involving traditionally underrepresented communities. “I think I can help broaden our base. We need to pull in Latino voters. If we can’t do that, Republicans won’t have a future in this state, they’ll only have a past.”