North Coast People’s Alliance Endorses Michael McKaskle for Humboldt County Supervisor in Letter to the Editor

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Michael McKaskle

Michael McKaskle

At its January 18 general meeting, the North Coast People’s Alliance voted unanimously to endorse Michael McKaskle for Humboldt County Supervisor.

McKaskle, who is running for District 2 against incumbent Estelle Fennell, has a long history of civic involvement in Southern Humboldt, having served on the Redway Community Services District board for 6 years and as chair of the Redwood Region Economic Development Commission. One of his primary issues is preparation for the effects of climate change, which is one of the reasons he decided to run for Board of Supervisors. “I jumped in at the last minute in large part because I felt the environment was not enough of an issue. We need to plan for sea level rise. We need a more localized economy,” said McKaskle. “We need walkable towns and a world class trail network between them, and through our world class scenery. Much of this is land use regulation, that is what we do as County Supervisors and we can do better.”

In addition to meeting the challenges posed by climate change and sea level rise, as a Supervisor McKaskle would work to create officially sanctioned, sanitary campgrounds for houseless people. This, along with his support of public banking and renewable energy micro-grids, is why NCPA members voted to put their support behind him.

The North Coast People’s Alliance organizes for social justice, economic justice and environmental justice, with an emphasis on empowering everyday people to get involved in local politics and civic affairs. We believe that politics means much more than just voting and that our everyday actions can be political statements. We are striving for a just and truly democratic society where everyone’s voices are heard.

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a
Guest
a
4 years ago

ANYONE EXCEPT Estelle [EDIT]!!!

Bernie Supporter
Guest
4 years ago
Reply to  a

I agree Estelle is corrupt but so is this North Coast Peoples’ Alliance. I went to one of their meetings and only 6 people were allowed to vote. Their membership is a handful of political hacks who live off public grants. They often back a candidate for spoiler purposes. They really want Estelle to win knowing this guy has no chance. The game is to split the vote between the challengers so Estelle wins again and again. The grants keep coming that way.

Dave Kirby
Guest
Dave Kirby
4 years ago

Who the hell are the north coast peoples alliance? Another lefty elitists bunch from north county? Do they count dogs, cats and parakeets in their membership numbers? I’m backing Estelle. There’s too much she’s involved in that makes a difference. We don’t need to train any newbies.

yesmeagain
Guest
yesmeagain
4 years ago
Reply to  Dave Kirby

McKaskle is not an incumbent supervisor but he’s certainly not a “newbie.” Not to the SoHum community and not as a public servant. He’s been involved in local government for many years, as a director and former chairperson of RCSD; and he stepped up to fill RCSD’s seat on the Redwood Region Economic Development Commission, the only seat on this commission south of Rio Dell. And he was elected chair of RREDC, meaning that representatives of local boards and city councils from everywhere in the county know and apparently appreciate McKaskle’s leadership.
You may disagree with his positions if you wish, but calling him a newbie is just ignorant. All incumbents were newbies before they were elected, by your definition, Dave.
And — “lefty elitist bunch from the north country… [who] [presumably] count dogs, cats and parakeets in their membership numbers…?” I really expect that if you’re going to criticize a candidate, you’d come up with something more intelligent that a bunch of wild insults.

Yeah,sure
Guest
Yeah,sure
4 years ago
Reply to  Dave Kirby

Wow Dave, don’t let your undying devotion to Estelle make you say dumb things. Estelle is far from perfect, by the way.

We the corparation,by the corporation, in corruption we stand
Guest
We the corparation,by the corporation, in corruption we stand
4 years ago

Estelle thinks she’s above the law!!!! Violating the constitution, the California constitution and snubbing the unanimous supreme court’s ruling on aggregious fines .shes Treasonous to our country and Treasonous to the majority of her constituents

WTF
Guest
WTF
4 years ago

This guy was against the Wind Project!! A bunch of idiots this so called alliance.

Lives on Moms allowance
Guest
Lives on Moms allowance
4 years ago

Remember the North Coast People’s alliance is a group out of arcata not in the 2nd District, they also endorsed and waxed poetic about Allen McCloskey , who was running early on against Rex Bohn until mccloskey’s campaign went down in flames due to the lost Coast Outpost doing an expose on his embezzlement charges, his pathological lying , even while under oath, he stole funds from the Pomo Indians and bought a taco truck. ALL this was known to the North Coast PA and they DIDNT CARE. Still are silent to this day.
Mccaskle has no work history and has no support in southern Humboldt because he’s pretty well known for his nasty tantrums.

Swine
Guest
Swine
4 years ago

Id say bushnell is way more nasty than mckasklrle. [edit]

Anonymous 9
Guest
Anonymous 9
4 years ago
Reply to  Swine

Bushnell used to be my bus driver and she was definitely the meanest bus driver I’ve ever had. And a lot of local business owners definitely don’t like interacting with her. I’m not sure if her bus driving experience really matters but the fact that she has a hard time interacting with other business owners doesn’t bode well for her ability to be a supervisor.

Shawn Cherry
Guest
Shawn Cherry
4 years ago

Estelle has done nothing she’s promised other than push through her friends legal weed permits. I don’t care what you say or think. She’s also a liar. Straight up! And come back with any comments you wish, I wont waste my time reading them. Especially people who dont have enough balls to post under their real name.

Embarrassing
Guest
Embarrassing
4 years ago

“We need to plan for sea level rise said McKaskle. “We need walkable towns” ….”create officially sanctioned, sanitary campgrounds for houseless people……..” is why NCPA members voted to put their support behind him.

Jesus Christ has the NCPA and this dude been living in a vacuum or maybe on another planet?
There is already a climate action plan that the board of Supervisors directed the staff to work on including a plan dealing with sea level rise, esp. on the corridor. They gave an in Depth presentation on it twice already at the Board but NONE of these people are remotely aware .
The board already adopted the new “homeless house less ” solutions plan that also includes not just campgrounds but looking at surplus federal properties. Also, safe overnight parking.
There are several “walk ability “studies already done or in the works , even in the 2nd District., in Redway and Garberville.
These people are So out to lunch and so Ill informed. They want to be involved in politics but they put such little time , effort or care into really informing themselves . I am embarrassed for them.

Jesus, Chris
Guest
Jesus, Chris
4 years ago

We don’t like Estelle or Rex, but, they are prepared, have backers, and both can produce credible lists of “accomplishments”… The last minute candidates may have decided that they want the job, but it should be noted that in a race, whatever kind of race it is, some preparation is necessary…

Mr McKaskle has a few thoughts, and I like the idea of assigning safe camps to the homeless, like, somewhere out past Cedarville, on the BLM Desert lands, in Nevada, but in the end, a competent, high-performance Supervisor, should have some applicable experience! An infantile infatuation with the idea of being supervisor is not enough, and the citizens are advised to elect someone who will not need a huge amount of on-the-job training…

Think of this election like an interview for a $100,000/year job! Is Mr McKaskle the best applicant?

Mr.A
Guest
Mr.A
4 years ago

Sadly, I am unable to vote for any of the 2nd District candidates. I hope we get better candidates in the next election cycle.

Yeah,sure
Guest
Yeah,sure
4 years ago
Reply to  Mr.A

I agree totally. I can’t get behind any of them.

Dave Kirby
Guest
Dave Kirby
4 years ago

Back when I was running for a spot on a local board of directors I recieved a questionnaire from an outfit up north with a number of questions I was to answer if I wanted their support. I had served on a number of boards and committees and had spent 4 years as a planning commissioner. Not one question was concerned with my experience. It was more about my embrace of the local party line. We need to get real.

Anonymous 9
Guest
Anonymous 9
4 years ago

The thing I like most about Mr. Mckaskle is his proposal to allow all parcels to grow 99 cbd plants as a principally permitted use. I think that could really help out with our declining tax revenues caused by Estelle and Bohns campaign of terror.

False promises
Guest
False promises
4 years ago
Reply to  Anonymous 9

This is yet ANOTHER example of these lame candidates being completely uninformed, misinformed and unqualified to even be running for office.
There is NO WAY that makskle , or anybody, including the Supervisor, is going to enable anybody to grow 99 plants without any strings attached. Why? STATE LAW , water Board, dept. Of fish and wild life …..all counties issuing any commercial cannabis permits are bound by STATE LAW, and cannabis ,wether it’s THC or CBD , Are grown exactly the same way and will always have to meet same environmental requirements .
The only way to change that is to go to Sacramento and ask legislators to undo the state regs.

Cmon 2020 elections
Guest
Cmon 2020 elections
4 years ago

Sean devries will be our best bet in the state and county great cannabis theft and extortion campaign!!!!!

Jacob
Guest
Jacob
4 years ago

Could someone please explain to embarrassing that federal land is our land, not the governments. It’s not the governments to give away!

tweaker heaven
Guest
tweaker heaven
4 years ago
Reply to  Jacob

If Michelle Bushnell refuses to take responsibility and take care of and clear out her own drug infested tweekers living on her many properties, there’s no way Anyone takes her seriously regarding finding solutions to the homeless/tweakers problem in our community.
The local firefighters are fed up with her and her lip service. [edit]

Laura hall
Guest
Laura hall
4 years ago

Awesome to hear someone working with the homeless and not against them. Its not going to go away and clearly the need is here.

Brian D Roberts
Guest
Brian D Roberts
4 years ago

The 2nd District is a hot mess.

Not one person seems qualified running for the 2nd District.
We are a district that was once the home to thousands of cannabis farms.

I am ok with helping others to some extent but let’s really focus on why we have homeless people to begin with.

Those running for supervisor keep talking about campsites for the homeless and more which are fine as a band aid but nothing more than a band aid.

Tweekers and homeless are an eyesore plus a hazard for those who live a good life. (Broken back truck window by a tweaker in day light)
Crime is associated with drug use all over Humbodlt County.

Let’s talk cannabis and stop all the crap about it.

Humboldt is world renowned for it’s sticky green buds.

The only victim in regards to Cannabis is the one being held or raided by the police.

Our current Board of Supervisors has dealt Humboldt County a huge dis favor by allowing one authoritarian department run our entire Cannabis permitting process.

Go spend one hour anyday of the week at the Building and Planning Department and see how F@#$ed up cannabis permitting is.

I have my personal issues when one department is responsible for processing applications, verification of space and issuing of a tax bill. When you want to appeal any part of that process they also have the final authority.

We went from 15,000 small homegrown farms to 2,700 applications. Why so little.

False information from building and planning in 2016 prior to the deadline. I was told my property wouldn’t get permitting because I wasn’t on AE zoned land.

I hired an expensive consultant and they filed my paper work and the county accepted my application.

How many of those 15,000 farmers got false information and couldn’t afford a consultant?

2700 applications is now under a 1,000 licensed cultivation farms. What happened?

I will skip my personal story ( but it is public record each time I mail the board of Supervisors my complaint)

Fix this problem today.

Award farmers an immediate cottage farm permit for anything under 2,000 sq ft. They all must meet environmental standards for water rights and run off. If those standards are meet then get them growing in 2020.

Humboldt county needs 10,000 growers if we want to see Homelessness tackled. These kids need jobs.

My farm has a projected need for four employees in the manufacturing department that will pay $15-$25 per hour.

Problem I am still getting permitted after applying on 12/22/2016.

Seriously I am a farm. We have zero green houses, zero grading and we grow in the ground organically.

Yep all natural plant based nutrients and plant based pesticides.

Way to go Humboldt.

We are losing the greatest economic chance we have to bring stability and jobs to our community.

Fix the cannabis permitting process and we will start fixing all the social issues we have here.

Cannabis taxes are huge. A homestead that brings in $4,500 a year in property taxes now also pays $10,000 for a small outdoor grow.

Our county is now taking in $14,500 in taxes for a property worth $250,000 in southern Humboldt.

Seriously wake up and stop the bull@#$_.

BS brian
Guest
BS brian
4 years ago

“I will skip my personal story………..”

Yes , We are all sure you definitely want to skip telling your REAL story. You are such a BULLSHITTER AND You’re a horrible neighbor and everybody out here knows about your bulls shit story that you tell the county. If you engaged in “best practices “ our neighborhood wouldn’t be visited so often by the water board and fish & game. You want to “diagnose “ why you’re having problems getting permitted? LOOK IN THE MIRROR everyone knows what you’ve been up to and you have only your greedy self to blame for the problems in your life.

Lynth
Guest
Lynth
4 years ago

As a long time acquaintance of several of the candidates, I urge everyone to continue watching their words through the campaign and see where their allegiances are if you can. Each of the candidates have biases and will represent those biases to the board of supervisors. I believe each of the candidates could lead us, but the question is, who would you follow?

An eye for an eye makes what again…? Why don’t folks look at their own weaknesses rather than tear new holes in the hopes of some folks that seem to have good intentions?

If you suspect your government is your enemy, perhaps you haven’t spoken with them. Every person I’ve ever connected with in the government is just a human who accepts certain realities and cannot understand others, like everybody else. Demonizing the Humboldt County for its Cannabis laws is not alleviating the situation.

But my real question is: where is this “other” industry Estelle promised during her campaign? What networks has she created to allow financial gain to Humboldt’s people in ways other than the highly regulated and competitive cannabis industry? Is there nothing else we can create?!?

If you want to see change, be it…

Dragonfly
Guest
Dragonfly
4 years ago

Sexist, Wonan Abuser, Stalker, and Mentally Imbalanced Nut Case! This individual has used his relationship with KMUD to justify his behavior. There is no way this individual should be elected to office when he has an extremely distorted view of reality and what is going on with society in general.

Lou Iglesias
Guest
Lou Iglesias
4 years ago

Wow, a lot of anger out there. Also some well thought out points and ideas. I suppose its safe to say that this election cycle is bringing out a lot of passion for the future direction of our district, county, state and nation. It’s important that we get involved and educate ourselves with positions that will produce positive and effective policies and the candidates who recognize these issues. Because of the stakes we face, I’m supporting our incumbent Supervisor, Estelle. She has always listened to arguments from her constituents about the views we have, and has to the best of her ability acted in our best interests. Her experience with State level representation gives us a pertinent voice where it needs to be recognized. And the manner in which she leads the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors has been of mutual respect and cooperation. An example of what we have hoped for in good governance no mater what level.

Dragonfly
Guest
Dragonfly
4 years ago
Reply to  Lou Iglesias

Really? You are obviously in the minority. Estelle promotes violence and has laid the foundation for Domestic Terrorism. Her passive aggressive Autocratic Leadership and decision making has had a direct impact on the downfall of our economy and quality of life! Her actions, conduct, and prejudices against certain subgroups demonstrate behaviors of a white supremacist!

Richard Finch
Guest
Richard Finch
4 years ago

I don’t believe anyone has addressed McKaskle’s idea of creating a “special district” to collect money to maintain So. Humboldt roads. I thought that’s one of the main reasons Measure Z (the rise in county sales tax) was passed a couple of years ago. Do you want the fees of such a special district added to your property taxes (if there are even enough votes to create such a special district)? I don’t.