In honor of Father’s Day, Dean Hallberg joins the podcast this week to talk about whether or not raising a family takes a village. We talk about his work in local politics and civic engagement and how both relate to creating strong families. We also look at the importance of getting involved in politics on the local level to help institutions thrive in your community—when there isn’t much financial payoff, is the time and effort worth it?
Dean Hallberg spent years in public service in the state of California. He served as Mayor and Councilman in the City of Hollister and President of the American Heart Association, San Benito Division. He also was the governor-appointed Chair of the Area VII Board on Development Disabilities, Commissioner of the Hollister Parks and Recreation Commission, Member of the California Council on Criminal Justice, and Principal at Calvary Christian School.
TRANSCRIPT
Beverly Hallberg:
And welcome to She Thinks, a podcast where you’re allowed to think for yourself. I’m your host Beverly Hallberg, and on today’s Father’s Day episode, it’s a very special one for me. My dad joins us to talk about whether or not raising a family takes a village. We’re going to get into his work in local politics and civic engagement and how that relates to thriving families and society. We’re also going to look at the importance of getting involved in politics on the local level to help institutions thrive in your community when there isn’t much financial payoff. Is the time and effort worth it?
Well, a little bit more about my dad before we bring him on. Dean Hallberg spent years in public service in the state of California. He served as mayor and councilman in the city of Hollister and president of the American Heart Association in the San Benito County Division. He also was the governor appointed chair of the Area 7 Board on Development Disabilities, commissioner of the Hollister Parks and Recreation Commission, member of the California Council on Criminal Justice and was principal at Calvary Christian School. And one of your last appointments, dad, is you were actually pastor at Calvary Baptist Church. You are in retirement currently. How is retirement treating you?
Dean Hallberg:
Retirement’s treating me well. I’m not so sure I’m treating retirement well, but I’m enjoying being retired.
Beverly Hallberg:
Well, good. Well, I was so thankful that you came on this program. One of the things I want our listeners to know is one of the reasons why I got into anything related to politics and anything related to journalism happen to do with you. It’s one of the things that we have in common is our love of news and our love of politics. Where did that love come from for you?
Dean Hallberg:
It probably started at an early age. I had the privilege of being raised in a pastor’s home. My dad had been a World War II fighter pilot, and during one mission, he gave himself to the Lord to do whatever the Lord wanted him to do and he became a pastor. So growing up, he was my pastor, my father, and he instilled in me a love for our country and a sense of patriotism. Even as a little guy, if you would’ve asked me at age 10 what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would’ve said lawyer or President of the United States. Well, I soon found out I wasn’t smart enough to be a lawyer, but I’m not sure that’s disqualifying though for presidency of the United States.
Beverly Hallberg:
When did you realize that the presidency of the United States was not a feasible thing, that wasn’t going to be your path?
Dean Hallberg:
I’m not sure when that happened. There were several heartbreaks for me as a child. The day my dad told me that I should stop expecting to play short stop for the San Francisco Giants. That was crushing. And then to realize I wasn’t smart enough to be a lawyer, that was a let-down, and then to realize I probably would not be able to be the president of the United States. So I had a childhood of disappointments for that said.
Beverly Hallberg:
Now notice he didn’t say you weren’t smart enough to be president, which that’s a lot about politicians these days.
Dean Hallberg:
I’m not sure if smarts are a prerequisite for presidents.
Beverly Hallberg:
But one of the reasons, in addition to sharing with our listeners how wonderful you are, one of the reasons I wanted to talk about this with you is I have been thinking about this whole idea that we heard from Hillary Clinton quite a few years ago, and this idea that it takes a village. So she had a book that came out in 1996 saying it takes a village. And of course I always shunned that said, “No, we don’t need a government run village,” and I still agree with that sentiment. We don’t need a government run village. But as I got older and saw how our institutions were crumbling around the country, I realized actually I was raised in a village. I had a strong faith community. We were involved… I was involved in girls fast pitch softball, we were always doing things. I was in 4-H, all these different things and that it really does take a village. Did you always have this strong sense of being part of the community in civic engagement as well as faith engagement?
Dean Hallberg:
Yes, and I think once again, I need to contribute this to my dad. He was involved locally in a number of things involving politics. I remember him taking me with him to Montana State Republican Convention. I must have been maybe 16 at the time. And I was always aware of what was going on in politics and always wanting to be involved. I still remember way back in 1960, our 5th grade classroom there in Livermore, California. Our 5th grade teacher, this was during the presidential campaigns of Kennedy and Nixon, she wanted to know if there was anyone in the class that’d like to come up and promote their candidates. Well, we were in a Catholic area. All the kids were promoting John F. Kennedy and I got up there. I was the only kid in the whole classroom that spoke up for Richard Nixon. I don’t know how well or how firm of a grasp I had on the issues of that day, but I just remember I was standing up all by myself to endorse Richard Nixon for president.
Beverly Hallberg:
Do you think that that mentality of being okay to go against majority opinion was something that was just always ingrained in you? I actually think it’s a really good character trait to be okay to stand up for something you believe in, even if nobody else does. Did it bother you at all that nobody else was supporting Richard Nixon in your class?
Dean Hallberg:
Yes and no. I did have that boldness, but I also had a desire. I want people to like me and to be by yourself, “Oh man, nobody’s going to like me after this,” but I just sucked it up and put in a good word for Richard Nixon that day.
Beverly Hallberg:
And I want to now go to just your time in city council in Hollister, California, which is where I grew up. You were there for years and you were mayor for a couple of terms. What made you want to get involved in city council? And when you think about city council’s local politics, how important are those decisions that city councils make for the community?
Dean Hallberg:
I’m not sure who said it, but they said all politics is local. And if you look at your national politicians, almost all of them began on a local level, either in city councils or school boards. And I was just interested in those. I was appointed to the Parks and Recreation Commission, and from there I just had a real interest in the planning of the city growth and being involved locally. And so I ran for office, oh my 1980 probably, and I served for eight years on the city council. Two of those years served as mayor and the experience was invaluable and I don’t regret it a bit.
Beverly Hallberg:
What were some of the most important things that you think were accomplished during your time on the city council?
Dean Hallberg:
Well, I noticed on this local level, our positions were nonpartisan positions. I think people knew I was a strong Republican. I was a member of the local Republican Central Committee, but when it comes to potholes in the middle of the street, those are probably not Republican versus Democrat issues. And I know my closest friend on the city council was a liberal Democrat, but on the local issues we had to work together.
Beverly Hallberg:
Was it hard to work together with someone who you knew had a different political ideology than you? Because we talk about people being so polarized today. Did you feel the same polarization years ago?
Dean Hallberg:
Not in a partisan way. There was definitely polarization, but it wasn’t Republican versus Democrat, it was other issues locally. So no, at that level we were working together both Democrats and Republicans for our community, for our county.
Beverly Hallberg:
One of probably the most impressionable times that I remember when you were serving, you were mayor during this time, and that’s when it was the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. And so that is the earthquake, some refer to it as the Bay Bridge World Series earthquake. You had the A’s versus the Giants and the earthquake happened during the game. I remember we were at the San Jose airport when it hit, not knowing if we were going to have a house standing when we came home, but you spent about a week working on all the buildings that were destroyed downtown, and even the governor came down because we had so much destruction. Did you ever expect yourself as mayor to be involved in something like that and what was that experience like?
Dean Hallberg:
It was exciting. I had an ABC News team covering me all day long. My undergrad degree in college was radio television broadcasting. So to me this was, “Wow.” Now it is heartbreaking for the city, but I found it exciting. I jokingly tell people that’s about three weeks before my term ended and I tell people that I literally left my city in shambles at the end of my term.
Beverly Hallberg:
Yeah, it was a crazy, crazy time. I want to go back to this whole idea of it takes a village. We are seen in what we hear is that so many local institutions, institutions in general are crumbling. When you think about the institutions that you were part of and of course being a pastor, being a principal at a Christian school, that was a big part of it. How important are institutions in raising of children?
Dean Hallberg:
Beverly Hallberg:
I don’t remember if I’ve… I probably have shared this story with you, but it’s been a very long time. I still remember when you ran for school board, that is one of the elections you lost. Hopefully that’s not painful still to this day. But I remember painting signs. We did a lot and going door to door, and I think I was around eight years old when you ran for school board.
Dean Hallberg:
That would’ve been right.
Beverly Hallberg:
Somewhere around there. And I remember one person who opened their door and I was chatting with her and she did not like you, and she had a lot to say about you. And I remember saying, “That’s my dad,” and started crying and she didn’t know what to do. So that’s just a little tip for people. Take your kids out go door to door because if somebody says something negative, they can say, “That’s my dad,” and maybe they’ll at least feel poorly badly about saying something really negative about one’s father.
Dean Hallberg:
I’m sure there were plenty of people that felt the same way, but we somehow survived that, and the deep pain is starting to go away.
Beverly Hallberg:
Good. I’m glad you don’t regret this conversation because I brought that up. I want to talk about another aspect of this. So this requires a lot of time. You started listing, we didn’t even list all of the different community organizations that you were part of. This is a lot of time and it’s not a lot of money, is it?
Dean Hallberg:
The salary for city councilman was $300 a month. And I remember one week I figured out all the hours I put in and I figured I was getting paid about 52 cents an hour at that rate. So no, you don’t do it for the money. But again, even the many hours spent I felt were very profitable to me and hopefully for the community because I had love for our community and I had a desire to share my talents with Hollister.
Beverly Hallberg:
And one of the things I’ve thought over the years is that, yes, national politics, it gets the media attention, but where real change happens is on the local level, that’s where you can make a great impact. Do you still believe that to this day? Going from this idea of I want to be president of the United States to then being mayor and on city council, it’s those local decisions that really impact people.
Dean Hallberg:
Not only that, but it’s the local involvement that is a great training ground. If you’re wanting to go on to national politics, you need to know how to deal with the unhappy voter, how to promote an idea that may not be popular at the time. And you learn these lessons sometimes the hard way there at the local level. But like I said, the comment, all politics are local, that is where so many foundational activities and policies take place.
Beverly Hallberg:
Any tips on how you handled those disgruntled voters who were very vocal? What was your approach to that?
Dean Hallberg:
I tried to remember that I was a Christian and my responses should be Christ-like in that I had one fellow of the local newspaper, a columnist, I was his favorite target. And week after week after week, he would be ripping me for something. Now, he was always wrong. I was always right.
But whenever I would meet him downtown, we would shake hands and there was no animosity in those situations. I remember right after the earthquake, downtown was in shambles and one of the shopkeepers was furious that the building department wouldn’t let her enter her building because it was such a dangerous situation. Well, she took her frustrations out on me, and I still remember she had her finger in my face and wouldn’t you know it, the newspaper photographer had to be right there. And so there on the front page of our local paper was this lady, finger in my face and just ripping me apart. And I knew I had to be calm. Boy, that was hard. But you learn those lessons on the local level and hopefully those who were in opposition to me on whatever the issues were, will respect me in the way I responded. I tried to be calm and reasonable.
Beverly Hallberg:
Well, final question for you before we go. If somebody is interested in local politics, any advice that you would give to them?
Dean Hallberg:
Sure. I would check either with their local political committees. Hopefully that’s the Republican Central Committee. Start volunteering there and then you see other opportunities of service and you just build up that way as far as getting a resume of local involvement. And that’s how I started.
Beverly Hallberg:
Well dad, thank you so much for sharing your background, your experience and wisdom for others. I appreciate all that you did in the community and I appreciate you’re my dad. So happy early Father’s Day dad. I will see you on Sunday, but thank you for joining She Thinks.
Dean Hallberg:
Thank you Beverly.
Beverly Hallberg:
And thank you all for joining us. Before you go, remember Independent Women’s Forum does want you to generously support us. We do rely on that investment and IWF fuels our efforts to enhance freedom, opportunity, and wellbeing for all Americans. So please consider making a small donation to IWF by visiting iwf.org/donate. That’s iwf.org/donate. Lastly, if you enjoyed this episode of She Thinks, do leave us a rating or a review. It does help and would love it if you share this episode so your friends can know where they can find more She Thinks. From all of us here at IWF, thanks for watching.
