Armchair political analysts can have a field day with the Napa County Board of Supervisors' picks for a 21-person steering committee to help guide the Napa County general plan update.

Chosen last week, the group includes environmentalists and property rights advocates, grapegrowers and businessmen, a few women and a large contingent from Upvalley. Activists who have clashed on key land use issues, several of the usual political suspects and a few political newcomers will share a table when the group holds its first meeting July 27 in what may be a three-year effort to advise officials on the document that will set the tone for county governance.

Supervisors on Tuesday chose from more than 80 applicants, filling the slots with friends, political supporters and people who share their views and land use and other issues. Supervisor Mark Luce called the steering committee "balanced" and said he took a whole host of factors into consideration before making his appointments. He also kept an eye on what his colleagues were doing as the supervisors went one by one, first in order of district and then alphabetical order, to make their picks.

He said he didn't name any newcomers. "I selected people I know have been involved in the process, people who will be fully engaged with a whole heart."

Luce said he thinks the committee membership is well distributed to cover various interests. While he appointed leading property rights advocate George Bachich, Luce said he was glad to see Berryessa-area environmentalist Carol Kunze named by Supervisor Diane Dillon.

Bachich is president of the Napa Valley Land Stewards Alliance, which worked to defeat stream setback measures O and P last year. He owns and operates a commercial building firm and has served as a bank loan officer and an aircraft mechanic.

Luce said his other appointments are able to work from the middle ground. His selection Carole Meredith is a Mt. Veeder property owner, a retired professor of viticulture at UC Davis and self-described avid bird watcher with a strong interest in native plants. Her husband, Steve Lagier, was listed as one Bachich's references. Debra Blodgett is the executive director of the Winegrowers of Napa County, an advocacy group that includes many of the valley's largest grower-vintner operations as well as smaller operations. Luce also selected Michael Haley, like Bachich a member of the Land Stewards. Called an "an engaged communicator" by Luce, Haley is a grape grower and maintains the Napablogger Web site. He is a retired marriage, family and child counselor.

Dillon acknowledged that her appointments were tilted toward a land preservationist point of view, but said she did that to balance her fellow board members' selections.

"I was looking for overall balance and representation," Dillon said. "The most difficult decision was the last one."

Her final appointment was Kunze, chair of the Napa Sierra Club and an environmental activist at Lake Berryessa. "I was looking at who was not represented," said Dillon, who added the final product looks good. "It looks like a lot of very energetic folks who will hopefully come together on the issues."

Dillon also tapped Guy Kay, a longtime planning commissioner, retired Beringer executive and current member of the Local Agency Formation Commission; Peter McCrea, retired Chevron executive who operates a winery and who, Dillon said, has proven himself as a person who gets things done in the Upvalley community; and Napa County Farm Bureau member and Berryessa area rancher Tom Gamble.

Supervisor Brad Wagenknecht used a unique method for narrowing his choices. "I had sort of a happy hour and invited (applicants from District One) to come over to my house," he said.

It gave him a chance to get to know them better, and he was able to pick all four people from the diverse areas of the district, including Carneros, Congress Valley and Napa's Old Town.

Wagenknecht said he was glad he could nominate two of the committee's six women. "I didn't want it to be just the good old boys," he said. Wagenknecht's appointments include retired teacher Mary Ellen Boyet; vintner-grower and Farm Bureau president Jon-Mark Chappellet; planning consultant Beth Painter; and retired surgeon Jeff Reichel.

Supervisors did not have to choose from within their districts, and Dillon's District 3 came out with the most representation, nine of 21. All supervisors except Wagenknecht picked at least one person from the mostly Upvalley area. Districts 4 and 5, represented by Supervisors Bill Dodd and Harold Moskowite, respectively, have only two steering committee members each. Moskowite said the general plan doesn't really need all this attention. "It's not broken, so we don't need to fix it, but the state makes it complicated," he said. Mentioning the state's insistence that counties meet housing and other regulations, he said, "You can't stand in front of a freight train and hope to stop it."

Moskowite said he gave preference to those candidates who came to see him. "If they showed interest, they'd probably do a good job," he said. There were 10 applicants from District 5. Moskowite selected Stephen Cuddy, an architect with experience in Napa city planning issues, and Realtor Brad Simpkins.

His other picks were Stuart Smith, a District 3 grapegrower, longtime Farm Bureau member and property rights advocate who helped rally against the stream setback ordinances; and Duane Wall, a resident of Mark Luce's District 2 who is a longtime member of an early Napa Valley family and a manufacturer of wine barrels.

Moskowite says he is not too concerned about the balance of the committee, saying it "goes from one extreme to the other. Staff will be running it. (The committee) will be a rubber stamp for the staff."

Supervisor Bill Dodd expressed concern that some members of the steering committee represent extreme viewpoints, so he said he steered for the middle of the road. "None of them are from stakeholder groups," Dodd said of his four choices, all of whom come from the business world. "I had a lot of good people to choose from."

Like his colleagues, Dodd said he was watching carefully the choices made by other supervisors, especially in the last round.

He said he changed his last pick to Bob Torres of Trinchero Family Estates, surprised he hadn't been tapped by another board member. Dodd said Torres not only has extensive community involvement but brings wine industry experience and a knowledge of the south county industrial area.

Dodd's other appointees include Jim Hendrickson, who supported Dodd's re-election effort last year and who Dodd said has worked behind the scenes on a lot of issues.

Dodd also tapped Conrad Hewitt, a board member for several public companies, a former state superintendent of banking and a commissioner for the Department of Financial Institutions; and Tom Andrews, who heads a local construction firm and serves with Dodd on the board for Napa Community Bank.

The 21st member of the committee is Carole Poole, St. Helena's planning director. She was chosen by Napa County Chief Executive Nancy Watt to represent the interests of the five cities in the county.

Dodd has hopes the committee will move through a series of potentially contentious issues without creating the acrimony that has marred other groups such as the Watershed Task Force.

Actions taken by the steering committee must receive a two-thirds vote in order to send a recommendation on to supervisors. Wagenknecht called that, "a good setup. You have to get someone from the other side of the aisle" to pass a motion.

Wagenknecht said he hopes Jim Hickey, the county's former planning director who presided over the last major general plan update, will give a presentation to the committee. Hickey bowed out of contention for a committee appointment at the last minute.

Luce said he hopes the controversial issues such as changing parcel size or major changes in property rights policies can be quickly set aside, since the board is not likely to adopt them anyway. "I hope they can work on more of a middle ground."