About Skip Thomson

Fast Facts

Skip is the son of a military family—his father was an Air Force Master Sergeant and his mother was a Navy Lt. Commander. Skip grew up on Air Force bases around the world, including Morocco, Turkey and Brazil.

He graduated from Fairfield High School in 1968 and enlisted in the Army serving as an intelligence officer/interpreter in Southeast Asia. Upon leaving the Army, he earned an AA degree from Solano Community College and later a degree in international relations with a minor in Spanish from UC Davis.

In 1976 Skip married his high school sweetheart, Gail Woods. Gail and Skip have two sons, Loren and Brandon. Loren is a graduate of Fresno State and is now a deputy sheriff for the Solano County Sheriff's Department. He was a first lieutenant in the California Infantry National Guard and served a tour of duty in Iraq. Brandon is a fulltime student at Solano Community College. He is working at Green Tree Golf Course in Vacaville while continuing his education.

While Skip worked his way through college, he held a variety of positions including a stint as a correctional officer for the Solano County Sheriff's Office. He then joined the Solano County Assessor/Recorder's Office, where he worked for 16 years until he was elected County Supervisor in 1992. Skip was re-elected in 1996 and again in 2000.

County Positions

From the time he first ran for county supervisor, Skip supported Proposition A which directed growth into city limits. Also during his tenure as a county supervisor, he actively played a role in protecting Travis Air Force Base and in revamping the County's Child Protective Services Division.

In 2003 he decided to seek election to the Solano County Assessor/ Recorder's Office since the department had long been criticized as being slow and inefficient. Skip won the election and although there was quite a backlog of problems, many observers noted that the inefficiencies were fixed “almost overnight” when he took over the office.

Skip hired Marc Tonnesen to be the Assistant Assessor, and when Skip decided to retire after serving three years as Assessor/Recorder, Marc Tonnesen was appointed and subsequently elected as Assessor/Recorder.

New campaign for County Supervisor

"Another familiar face in Solano County politics will toss his hat in the ring to seek election to the Solano County Board of Supervisors. Skip Thomson, who held the 5th District seat on the board from 1992 to 2002, will formally announce his candidacy for the post Wednesday, according to a media advisory sent to local news outlets Monday.

Thomson will challenge incumbent Mike Reagan in California's primary in June."

January 22, 2008 - The Reporter