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“Clearly no debt”: Green government council candidate Isaac Reber

Isaac Reber, candidate for the Basel Cantonal Council, is not going to follow any pattern and could be good for a surprise

From Peter Knechtli

Sissach district administrator Isaac Reber is playing the Green part in the left-wing ecological spectrum's assault on the Baselbieter government majority. The 45-year-old politician does not correspond to the prototype of a Green: he is a realist, can also represent bourgeois positions and has an astonishingly refreshing sense of humor. The offensive politician has potential. He has already managed to create a small sensation at the municipal level.

We would have loved to meet Isaac in the “Isaak”. The location would have been obvious in two respects: Isaac Reber, a qualified geographer with a postgraduate degree in spatial planning at ETH, works right next door in the Basel building department. He is the managing director of the project organization “Logis Bâle”, which had the goal of creating 5,000 additional apartments within ten years. But he suggested a more discreet location near the Schifflände. On the way there, we watched him closely: dressed in elegant anthracite-colored clothing, as there was a photo shoot coming up, he strode down the Rheinsprung. Both hands in his trouser pockets and his upper body rocked forward rhythmically with each step. All that was missing was the “Brissago” in his mouth and the bull on a leash. The politician, who is resident in the Emmental municipality of Schangnau, now seemed enterprising and in a way as if he had just made a good deal.

BüZa performance record “not so good”

Now the 45-year-old father of two daughters aged 15 and 17 is joining the Baselbieter government. In the five-member executive, which is dominated by four bourgeois members of the “bourgeois cooperation” (BüZa), he sees a “leadership deficit” and a “track record that is not so good”. As an example, he cites the embarrassing performance of the executive in developing the important cantonal “master plan”, which was torn to shreds by all parties and organizations in both its first and second versions. “The canton is refusing to play its coordinating role with the municipalities,” says Reber, describing the “main conflict”: “Something has to change in the government – and it has to change massively.”

As a Green candidate with an eye on the vacant construction and environmental protection directorate, he is convinced that he would bring a fresh – and clean – wind into the government. “I am the type of person who is capable and able to negotiate with people and ultimately find solutions. And I am willing to get involved for the community.” The “offensive Green” (Reber about Reber) is far from just running as a vote collector for the three social democratic candidates in the red-green alliance: “If I run, it will only be if I seriously think I have a chance. And I will.” I see a place for green politics in the cantonal government and can imagine that the time is ripe for it.

Political color: Spring green

Reber could be a surprise candidate who should definitely not be underestimated. He has conceptual ideas and he does not give them up in discussions without a fight. His arguments are factual, his sentences are short but clearly formulated. Again and again – rather unusual for an ambitious politician – mischief and loud laughter come through when he explains his positions.

The resident of a semi-detached house on a compact 149 square meter area is neither the dogged ambitious person who develops physical symptoms when he loses, nor is he the fundamental ideologist. Rather, he sees himself, he was also able to act as a “bridge builder between the camps” in the district council's building and planning committee (“I get a good audience there”). In the dispute over a new motor vehicle testing station in Bubendorf, which the government wanted to smuggle “past parliament”, he pulled together with the SVP, FDP, CVP and SP. Reber is a Green, or perhaps more precisely: a spring Green. Often self-sufficient in the vegetable garden? “No,” he laughs, “I prefer to look at gardens.” But he buys organic produce and local produce, climbs the Sissacherfluh every week to keep fit, shares his work and housework with his wife. He doesn't own a car and uses “mobility” and still professes his passion: “If a car, then an Alfa Giulia.”

The ideas he presented have a lot in common with eco-liberal ideas. “You can't easily put me in the red-green corner,” he will have said, and later he says it even more clearly, something that would have been suspect not so long ago: “I am pro-business.” He is evidently committed to a “progressive and prosperous region.” But, he goes on to say, this also requires “a prosperous economy – but one that does not produce legacy problems, but works with the technologies of the future.” The Green candidate does not see genetic and nanotechnology as a threat, but specifies: “Those who not only know the technologies but can also deal with the risks are good.” In terms of financial policy, he “often makes conservative decisions,” because: “For me, sustainability also applies to financial policy. That means quite clearly: no debt.”

“Red-green wing of the gymnastics club”

Isaac Reber, born in Basel and raised in Sissach, is running as an outsider. But he can be expected to achieve at least a respectable result, because it would not be the first time he has caused a surprise: in 1996 he stood for the open platform “Stächpalme” as a Sissach municipal councillor – and won a seat straight away – at the expense of the SVP. As the first Green municipal councillor in the Upper Basel area, he brought the heavily deficit-ridden waste management into the black. Today, the progressive local group without a programme or structures (Reber jokingly calls it “the red-green wing of the gymnastics club”) is the strongest force in Sissach with three of seven municipal council seats and five of 15 municipal committee seats.

In 2001 he was promoted to the district council and achieved the best result of all the Baselbieter Greens in the regular elections of 2003. His track record in the district council is average. “I hardly make any advances because I don't see myself as an administrative employee,” he says after some thought when asked where he can make a difference. His impact is more evident in successful proposals in the commission and parliament. At least the district council passed his postulate for a cantonal policy that is friendly to the rainforest. An overall energy concept as a planning basis for the renovation of the Bruderholz hospital can also be traced back to his suggestions, as can the government's request to take slow traffic into account in the “spatial development” concept.

For defined contribution plans and the Canton of Northwestern Switzerland

His statements on cantonal politics are sometimes quite edgy: for example, he defies the widespread ideological norm by justifying the contribution principle for the state pension funds in a more transparent and flexible way and immediately brings a merger of the funds of both Basels into the discussion. He seems to be against a reunification of the two Basels (“that would be the situation before 1833”), but would rather be comfortable with a canton of northwest Switzerland as part of a regional reform. Regional cooperation at the foot of the Jura must “become much more active” – ​​for example in health policy: “In northwest Switzerland, one hospital could be saved through intensive coordinated cooperation.” Reber also advocates a joint university that is excellent and yet affordable. However, increased location lobbying and the acquisition of more federal funds for the region are necessary.

Reber is not satisfied with the public transport offering. He is calling for a 15-minute service in all the main valleys, and in Basel-Stadt a quantum leap in the accessibility of the city center through a ring line from Basel SBB via Sankt Johann station to Badischer Bahnhof: in the long term, the S-Bahn network should become “the backbone of sustainable settlement development.” On the question of whether the “Läufelfingerli” on rails should give way to the bus, Reber has a differentiated opinion: “I'm not going to go along with a pure cost-cutting exercise.” He only supports the switch to buses if a “full service” is offered: “Public transport services that do not represent a full replacement for private transport are unsuitable.”

“Chabis” – apolitical

Of all nine candidates for the cantonal council, Isaac Reber has the most potential for surprise. “Isi”, as his friends call him, wants to conduct his election campaign in an “easy” and fun way, “but a little serious”: Before the last district council elections, he showed a dancing bear on his website (www.isaacreber.ch). This is to take a break in the new online presence. But a favorite recipe (“that turns winter into summer”), provided by an aunt and not intended as a political program, is to continue to liven up the web presence of cantonal council candidate Isaac Reber: “Indian Chabis”.

October 30, 2006

Further links:

“I wish 'isi' a successful election”

I don't know much about Isaac Reber, but I'm happy that he's doing well in the wind. It's definitely clear that committed, unpretentious, real politicians who are capable of real visions and have practical (survival) experience are urgently needed in Lüstern. We can only hope that they don't burn him out too quickly, as some of them lack these qualities and no positive urban and political development is taking place. I wish “isi” a lot of strength and determination and a successful election.

thomas tschopppull

“Reber deserves a chance”

The Baselbiet, which has been completely dominated by the bourgeoisie to date, would actually benefit if Isaac Reber were elected to the government. Could this man of action make a difference there? Isaac Reber would deserve a chance to clear out the bourgeois stench that has been building up in Liestal for decades. Hasn't it become something like a “lifestyle” these days: you vote red/green to calm your guilty conscience and happily drive your 4×4 off-roader to the Green Party's election meeting to listen to Isaac Reber?

Eric CerfBasel

“Who is credible, not unsympathetic and unbiased?”

If one considers the activities of the representatives of the Federal Council parties as reported by the media – polemics, calls against them with SF-“Arena”, polemics, calls against the Poles, etc. – it is not at all unlikely that the non-party-affiliated voters – even the large majority – will reach the point where they reduce their choice to answering three simple questions: Who is credible, not unsympathetic and unbiased?

If you did that, just for fun, when it comes to the cantonal council candidate in Baselland, who would you vote for?

Patrick C. FriedlinBasel