Candidate for
Commissioner; San Mateo County Harbor District; 2 Year Term

Will Holsinger is a second-generation native of the Peninsula. His maternal grandfather, Thomas Meredith, came from a Kansas horse family, settling in San Francisco in the 1910s, where he operated a riding school and stables before moving to San Mateo in the late 1930s. Will's nickname came from Will Rogers, a friend of his grandfather.

Will's mother was an active horsewoman, playing polo in Golden Gate Park and competing in rodeos throughout the Bay Area. She moved to West Marin in the early 1960s, and took up commercial fishing several years later. She co-owned and operated a commercial fishing boat in the Farallones fishery until the boat was lost in a storm. Will learned about commercial fishing as a teenager, when he crewed with his mother's friends.

Will Holsinger also has a long personal and family history of community service. His father, the late G.W. "Joe" Holsinger, was active in local, state and national politics for many years, starting as a co-founder and first president of the San Francisco Young Democrats. When he retired, Joe Holsinger was a state deputy superintendent of schools.

Will Holsinger has watched Pillar Point Harbor develop over the years, frequenting the area as a boy since before the first breakwater was built. For several years as an adolescent, he lived in rural West Marin; for a time in Inverness, a small town on Tomales Bay, population 400 (in Winter) and in Olema, population 30. He understands the value of a rural living experience. Will is a product of local public schools, including Calvin Coolidge Elementary in Burlingame, Mills High School in Millbrae, and the College of San Mateo.

Will Holsinger has been a resident of San Mateo County for most of his life (continuously since 1978). He has sailed throughout the Bay and maintained a small sailboat at Oyster Point Harbor in the early 1980s, before restoring and selling it.

Between undergraduate and graduate school, Will Holsinger worked for the late Leo J. Ryan as a staff assistant in Washington, D.C. After graduate school, he returned to work for Congressman Ryan, serving as a special investigator before Ryan's fatal trip to Guyana in November 1978.

Will went on to be elected to the San Mateo County Democratic Central Committee in 1980, later becoming the chairperson. He was also active as a member of the Democratic Party executive committee for several years. In the mid 1980s, Will Holsinger turned from partisan politics and refocused his attention on non-partisan, community service. He was an early supporter of SamCAPP (San Mateo County Child Abuse Prevention Program) and was one of the first volunteer attorneys for the Battered Women's Shelter of San Mateo County. He went on to serve on the board of directors of Women's Recovery Association of San Mateo County and Project Ninety, two of the preeminent residential drug and alcohol treatment programs in San Mateo County.

In addition to his current service as a Commissioner for the Harbor District, he is a certified hospice volunteer, working through Mission Hospice and Home Care of San Mateo. Other non-partisan community activities and organizations in which Will has participated include the San Mateo Personnel Board and the San Mateo Citizens Advisory Committee for the Phase II development of Bay Meadows.

Will Holsinger is a member of the San Mateo Chamber of Commerce and was a 2001 graduate of the San Mateo Chamber of Commerce Leadership Program. He was a member of the Burlingame Rotary Club from 1999 to 2013. Will Holsinger has also served as a board member on the Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County and has been a judge Pro Tem and arbitrator for the San Mateo County Courts for many years. After 9/11, he developed and organized a program known as Unity in the Light for a one year anniversary vigil, in which seven Burlingame churches, including his own, Our Lady of Angels, City Hall and a local retirement facility joined together to light up their facilities with an estimated 2,000 hand-decorated sand candles with the names of family, local and national heroes, carrying messages of faith and hope for the future. Thousands of people participated in this event.

Will Holsinger has been practicing law since 1979, now serving as personal legal counsel to individuals, professionals and businesses. He has lectured on employment law, premises liability and in other areas of specialized legal practice. He is an experienced litigator and advocate, representing clients in court and jury trials, administrative hearings and in arbitration.

Will Holsinger is uniquely qualified to serve as a Commissioner for the Harbor District. He understands and supports the fishing industry. He supports the Ferry service and understands land use planning. He believes that the direct sale of fish to the public at the Pillar Point Harbor should be permanent and supports the District's plan for paying off the remaining $5.8 million in debt to the State ahead of schedule.

Will Holsinger believes that the Ferry service is one part of a long-term solution for the overcrowding of the Bay Area's freeways, while at the same time insisting that the local boater's not be overlooked. Both harbors should be a resource for the entire county.