For the second time in a year, Supervisor Rex Bohn has outed himself as being the subject of a county investigation involving his conduct with employees, following much of the same approach to address the issue.
Most recently, the First District representative took to social media Oct. 22, sharing a picture of an email sent by County Administrative Officer Elishia Hayes the day prior to inform him that she had “become aware of workplace incidents you were involved in that may have violated the county’s Harassment and Discrimination Policy.”
Hayes continues that the county is required “to investigate reports of this nature” under the policy and state law. She also notes county’s Human Resources Director Zach O’Hanen is included in the communication “because the policy requires me to inform him of these allegations, and he is then required to investigate the report.”
What the incidents involve or how the policy may have been violated is unclear, but Hayes goes on to write: “The county also has an obligation to take steps to ensure additional violations of the harassment policy do not occur while the investigation is pending. Accordingly, I expect you to exercise heightened care and professionalism in all interactions with staff.”
She ends by advising, “Please understand that, should further concerns arise, the next step to ensure staff are afforded a safe and comfortable work environment may include restricting your access to non-public office spaces while the investigation remains pending.”
Bohn opened his comments on the post by writing, “Just to be transparent and to the ones who would leak this to their favorite blog here you go.”
“I honestly have no idea what I did,” he continues in a run-on sentence, followed by “my 72 year old trucker voice I would think but who knows” and “only thing after 15 years of commitment to Humboldt and being in Humboldt 8 decades still ⁄ it and appreciate the people I get to serve.”
Bohn signs off with, “This [is] me sharing with you, you keyboard warriors who will now attack me and know me so well. Do not expect a response, your input is appreciated. Thanks Rex.”
In a response to follow-up email from the Journal asking if he would be willing to comment further or has received any more information on the incidents referenced by Hayes, he replied: “I have not.”
Also asserting that he was trying to get ahead of a disclosure, Bohn made a similar admission back on Nov. 4 during a discussion before the board censured Supervisor Michelle Bushnell after an outside investigation found she’d acted in a hostile manner toward staff.
“This is not a process. This is a very slow death by a thousand cuts,” he said before adding, “I’m going through this myself right now, before someone leaks it out.”
According to documents released by the county at the time, Bohn had been notified the process was underway a month earlier in an email from the HR director, which included a section that requested he “refrain from discussing this investigation, including the specific allegations of misconduct against you, with anyone other than the investigator and/or your legal counsel.”
The results of the inquiry into that complaint came before the board in March as part of an item on whether to censure Bohn for his conduct — a symbolic gesture that amounts to a public reprimand by fellow supervisors and one of the few avenues outside of the ballot box for holding elected officials responsible for their conduct, especially when it comes to treatment of staff.
According to the executive summary prepared by the outside law firm Kramer Workplace Investigations, the four witnesses interviewed about the incident during a meeting with staff in June of 2025 were “undisputed” that Bohn “acted in a disrespectful and aggressive manner toward county employees, which included the use of profanity.”
The one-page, 300-word document also stated that all four were “undisputed” in the perception “that Bohn scheduled the meeting to influence the staff members to quickly take action to create a waiver or an amendment to the Tobacco Retail License Ordinance to ensure that Bohn’s friend was able to transfer all of his tobacco retail licenses when his friend sold his gas stations.”
During the meeting discussion, Bohn apologized, saying “I sincerely regret if my tone, delivery, caused anyone to feel uncomfortable or disrespected,” but also disputed some of the findings, including his relationship with the owner, while acknowledging that he did not participate in the investigation “because I just didn’t.”
In the end, Bohn was not censured, an action that requires a four-fifths approval by the board. Before the matter came before supervisors, Bushnell — who had alleged she was denied due process by a flawed system during her investigation — had already made clear she would be a no vote.
Instead, the investigation report was accepted and filed.
Before concluding the item, Supervisor Mike Wilson noted, as elected officials, the process for a complaint brought against a supervisor is different from the human resources course that would be followed for a county employee under the same circumstances.
“I really want to emphasize that if it gets this far, and especially if it’s involving employees, we are not the victim,” he said. “I just want to be very clear. We are responsible for our behavior in those situations and that is something I just want to emphasize.”
Outside of formal investigations, Bohn is no stranger to drawing criticism for his behavior.
That includes misogynistic comments he made in January of 2023 while serving as an auctioneer at the Eureka Chamber of Commerce’s annual dinner and awards gala.
When presenting a tour and dinner for eight donated by a local woman-owned restaurant, several attendees recounted to the Journal at the time, Bohn said that if the bids got high enough, the owner might “serve topless.”
While not addressing the context of why he was making a statement, Bohn read a brief prepared apology at the following board of supervisors’ meeting.
“It has been brought to my attention that this weekend I was an auctioneer at my 742nd auction — volunteer auctioneer — and said something that was inappropriate,” he said. “I want to apologize and for that acknowledge it. Thank you.”
That was not the first time his actions at a public function were deemed demeaning. At a fundraiser in March of 2019, while being told about a dinner of Mexican food going up for auction, he asked the donor if it was “so authentic that we’re going to want to steal hubcaps after we eat.”
Additionally, in October of 2023, Bohn’s decision to ignore the organizers’ stated rules and include a handgun in an basket representing Humboldt County at a Rural County Representatives of California auction was questioned by some of his fellow supervisors as they weighed whether to reappoint him to the lobbying association of more 40 California counties that advocates for rural policies. In the end, he continued in the role.
“This isn’t the first time I’ve had a gun in my basket, so the timing of this is,” Bohn said during the discussion, later implying several times that it was only an issue because he was up for re-election the next year.
“Hopefully you can find someone to run against me and use this against me,” he said.
As for the incidents Hayes refers to in her Oct. 21 email, the county did not immediately respond to requests by the Journal for additional information, including copies of any complaints filed against Bohn and clarification on the next steps in the wake of the board of supervisors’ recent decision to revamp how investigations against sitting members are handled.
While Hayes mentions O’Hanen needing to investigate, the board voted in August to make changes to the protocol for handling complaints made against supervisors, including the removal of an initial review by a three-member committee made up of senior staff: the county administrative officer, the human resources director and county counsel.
Under the approved revisions, the decision-making reins on whether an investigation should be initiated were handed over to an outside arbitrator contracted by the county, which would then conduct the probe.
Also replaced was the former provision that any ensuing sustained findings of a code violation automatically be placed as an action item before the board to consider whether to censure their colleague on the dais, who was also given an opportunity to speak to the matter.
Instead, an investigation summary will appear on the consent agenda for supervisors to simply accept and file the report, if that’s what they decide, and a member of the board would need to ask for a separate censure item to be brought forward for consideration.
During the protocol discussion, Bohn said he believed the complaint process was “used more as a weapon than as a tool and I would like to see this be used as a tool rather than a weapon.”
“Do I say inappropriate things? Hell yes. Do I say things that shouldn’t be said? But I’ve been saying them for 65 years, since I was 7 years old, so I apologize for that,” he said. “I didn’t change who I was. Am I offensive? Am I vile toward people? I don’t believe so. I think that’s been proven over and over again, but it doesn’t stop anybody from trying to create a situation. I don’t think we should be targets up here because we are servants of the community.”
Kimberly Wear (she/her) is the assistant editor at the Journal. Reach her at (707) 442-1400 ext. 105 or kim@northcoastjournal.com.
This article appears in ‘Crash Course’ A Halloween Comic by Liz Valasco and Collin Yeo.
