UPDATE, 4:22 p.m.: Supervisor Bass responded to some Outpost questions via email, explaining why she chose Newman and referring to another candidate — a woman! — she considered before discovering she lives just over the border in the Third District. (She doesn’t specifically identify the woman.)

Her statements are below:

I have worked on several issues and committees with Mike Newman and while I don’t always agree with him I believe he studies the issues and makes his decisions based on the available information as well as what he believes is best for the community. He understands the constantly evolving nature of the cannabis industry which I believe is important for this position as I am sure it will make up a bulk of the work that needs to be done. Through his experience as a city council member he possesses a degree of knowledge surrounding issues he will be facing as a planning commissioner.

Each Supervisor has the opportunity to choose a planning commissioner who represents their district. It is not the same process as choosing an at-large commissioner. Besides depth of knowledge and commitment to do the job, it is important, at least for me, to have a good working relationship with whomever I chose.

While I heard that some others may have been interested in the appointment I was only officially contacted by one other person. She was amazing, but after further research it happened that she is not actually in the 4th district but just across the boundary line. I have encouraged her to consider applying in the future when an at-large appointment may be available.

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Original post:

Mike Newman is returning to the local political stage, joining a half-dozen other middle-aged white men on the Humboldt County Planning Commission.

At Tuesday’s meeting of the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors, Fourth District Supervisor Virginia Bass is scheduled to select Newman, a local insurance broker and former Eureka City Councilmember, as her appointee to the volunteer commission, which makes decisions and policy recommendations on land use issues in the county’s unincorporated areas.

Newman will take possession of the seat recently vacated by Bass’s prior appointee, Kevin McKenny, a local construction company owner who resigned in May after being cited for violating state and federal environmental laws on a Eureka parcel he owns. That means Newman will serve out the remainder of McKenny’s term, which expires in just over five months, on January 31, 2019, after which — logic dictates — Bass will likely reappoint him to a full four-year term. (A text to Bass this morning was not returned by publishing time.)

Newman was elected to the Eureka City Council in 2010 alongside Marian Brady and the late Lance Madsen, a conservative insurgency that changed the balance of power in the city. Newman defeated the more liberal candidates Ron Kuhnel and Xandra Manns with a campaign positioning himself as a “New Man” for the job (get it?) and a voice for small business.

The new council majority quickly sparked controversy by reversing a prior council decision to purchase the former Jefferson Elementary School campus with redevelopment funds. This reversal angered a group of neighborhood activists called the Westside Community Group, though things worked out fine in the end; members of the group raised the funds to purchase the site themselves and have since come a long way in transforming the campus into a park and neighborhood community center.

Newman went on to develop a reputation as a diligent council member, someone who did his homework and responded to constituent concerns. He ruffled some more feathers in 2013 when, filling in for Eureka Mayor Frank Jager, he helped to revoke the appointment of then-Arcata City Councilmember Alex Stillman to the board of the North Coast Railroad Authority, replacing her with Fortuna Mayor Doug Strehl in one of the strangest public meetings this reporter has ever attended. (It sparked allegations of Brown Act violations and prompted a sort-of apology from the City.)

In 2014 Newman lost his re-election bid in an incredibly close race with Kim Bergel.

He and Bass have long run in the same social and political circles alongside allies such as Brady, Jager, former Eureka Councilmember Melinda Ciarabellini and former/current Eureka City Council candidate Joe Bonino.

On his application, which was signed on Saturday [click here for the pdf], Newman cites his experience as an insurance agent, business owner, youth sports coach and Scout leader as well as his service on various local boards including those for the Humboldt Waste Management Authority, the Redwood Region Economic Development Commission and the Eureka Housing Advisory Board. 

In his statement of interest Newman writes (in all-caps):

GOVERNMENT NEEDS TO BE SIMPLIFIED … LESS BUREAUCRACY. THE CITY OF EUREKA + OTHER MUNICIPALITIES, TOGETHER WITH THE COUNTY NEEDS TO BE SENDING THE MESSAGE THAT WE WANT BUSINESS HERE, NOT BY REQUIRING MORE LAWS + ORDINANCES + PAPERWORK, BUT BY STRAIGHTENING THE WAY USING SMART GROWTH + OTHER SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT TECHNIQUES.