Tom Huening
Encyclopedia
Thomas Richard Huening is an American author, politician, and businessman from San Mateo County, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area
. In his public service role he is known for his fiscal responsibility and his forward-thinking policy initiatives, such as his authorship of California's anti-gerrymandering Proposition 119 on June 1990 ballot, creation of the Garfield Charter School, and his advocacy to extend public transportation from San Francisco into San Mateo County, for which he authored San Mateo County ballot Measure K (BART to San Francisco Airport) and Measure A (Countywide Transportation Expenditure Plan). A published poet, his latest work Spiritual Choices is non-fiction prose dealing with spirituality.
, Illinois
, the second of twelve children of Clarence Edward Huening and Hermina Ann Huening (née Huberts). With his first wife Kathleen Bernice Hynes he is the father of four daughters, all of whom live in the Bay Area.
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
. In his public service role he is known for his fiscal responsibility and his forward-thinking policy initiatives, such as his authorship of California's anti-gerrymandering Proposition 119 on June 1990 ballot, creation of the Garfield Charter School, and his advocacy to extend public transportation from San Francisco into San Mateo County, for which he authored San Mateo County ballot Measure K (BART to San Francisco Airport) and Measure A (Countywide Transportation Expenditure Plan). A published poet, his latest work Spiritual Choices is non-fiction prose dealing with spirituality.
Family
Huening was born in ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, the second of twelve children of Clarence Edward Huening and Hermina Ann Huening (née Huberts). With his first wife Kathleen Bernice Hynes he is the father of four daughters, all of whom live in the Bay Area.
Education
- Bachelor of Arts degree in 1965 from DePaul UniversityDePaul UniversityDePaul University is a private institution of higher education and research in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by the Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from the 17th century French priest Saint Vincent de Paul...
, Chicago, in Speech, Public Speaking, and Persuasion. - Bachelor of Laws, La Salle Extension UniversityLa Salle Extension UniversityLa Salle Extension University , also styled as LaSalle Extension University, was a nationally accredited private university based in Chicago, Illinois. Although the school offered resident educational programs in classes and seminars their primary mode of delivery was by way of distance learning...
, Chicago, subsequently passing the California Bar exam. - MBA, Pepperdine UniversityPepperdine UniversityPepperdine University is an independent, private, medium-sized university affiliated with the Churches of Christ. The university's campus overlooking the Pacific Ocean in unincorporated Los Angeles County, California, United States, near Malibu, is the location for Seaver College, the School of...
. - passed California's Certified Public Accountant exam in 2003.
Early career experience
- 1965-1970: jet fighter pilot in the US NavyUnited States NavyThe United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
, serving in VietnamVietnamVietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
, and flying the F-8 Crusader, UC-45J Navigator, S-2 Tracker (co-pilot), A-7 Corsair, and A-4 Skyhawk. - 1970-1987: commercial pilot for TWATrans World AirlinesTrans World Airlines was an American airline that existed from 1925 until it was bought out by and merged with American Airlines in 2001. It was a major domestic airline in the United States and the main U.S.-based competitor of Pan American World Airways on intercontinental routes from 1946...
, for which he flew as pilot/flight engineer the Convair 880Convair 880The Convair 880 was a narrow-body jet airliner produced by the Convair division of General Dynamics. It was designed to compete with the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8 by being smaller and faster, a niche that failed to create demand...
, Boeing 707Boeing 707The Boeing 707 is a four-engine narrow-body commercial passenger jet airliner developed by Boeing in the early 1950s. Its name is most commonly pronounced as "Seven Oh Seven". The first airline to operate the 707 was Pan American World Airways, inaugurating the type's first commercial flight on...
, and Boeing 727Boeing 727The Boeing 727 is a mid-size, narrow-body, three-engine, T-tailed commercial jet airliner, manufactured by Boeing. The Boeing 727 first flew in 1963, and for over a decade more were built per year than any other jet airliner. When production ended in 1984 a total of 1,832 aircraft had been produced...
. - 1970-1976: vice-president, Coldwell Banker Commercial Real Estate in San JoseSan Jose, CaliforniaSan Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...
, SacramentoSacramento, CaliforniaSacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
, and San Francisco, California.
San Mateo County public service
- elected trustee of San Mateo County Community College DistrictSan Mateo County Community College DistrictThe San Mateo County Community College District consists of three colleges in California; College of San Mateo in San Mateo, Cañada College in Redwood City, and Skyline College in San Bruno...
in 1981, serving till 1986. - elected to the San Mateo County Board of SupervisorsSan Mateo County Board of SupervisorsThe San Mateo County Board of Supervisors is the five-member elected body that supervises the operation of San Mateo County, California. Board members represent one of five districts of roughly equal population within the county, but are elected at-large by all county voters...
, serving 1987 through 1998. - elected in 1998 as the San Mateo County Controller; reelected in 2002, 2006, and 2010.
Other public service
- in 1992 Huening was the Republican candidate for US Congress in California's 14th District. As part of his campaign, he organized the Omaha Summit, a post-election gathering of reform-minded freshman Representatives to the US House. Despite losing to Democrat Anna EshooAnna EshooAnna Georges Eshoo is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1993. She is a member of the Democratic Party. The district, which includes part of Silicon Valley, includes the cities of Redwood City, Sunnyvale, Mountain View and Palo Alto...
, who still holds this seat, he attended the event held in Omaha, NebraskaOmaha, NebraskaOmaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River...
, on November 30, 1992. - created and served on Board of Directors of Garfield Charter School (California charter school #49).
Business experience
- 1977 to the present: runs Huening Investment Corp., a commercial real estate development firm in the Bay Area
Author
- Spiritual Choices (published 2006, reissued 2008 as Spiritual Choices: Putting the HERE in Hereafter), a nonfiction work examining what the world's major religions have to offer to the spiritually minded.
- editor of and contributor to "Unicorn: A Contemporary Journal", published by the College of San MateoCollege of San MateoCollege of San Mateo is a community college in San Mateo, California. It is part of the San Mateo County Community College District....
. - regular contributor of political op-ed articles.