PORT ANGELES — Clallam County Commissioner Mike Doherty already has defeated a Poole in an election for county commissioner.
He defeated Verl Poole 34 years ago.
Next up for the incumbent: Poole’s son.
Doherty, a Democrat from Port Angeles, is being challenged in the Aug. 17 primary for District 3 commissioner by Republicans Robin Poole, 60, of Beaver and Bill Peach, 54, of Forks.
Doherty, 67, defeated the late Verl Poole — also a Republican — by more than 2-1 in 1976 to fill D.J. Caulkins’ unexpired term.
Father’s opponent
Robin Poole, a UPS truck driver, said Monday he didn’t recall that Doherty was his father’s opponent.
Robin was 27 when Doherty defeated Verl, a Navy veteran and West End entrepreneur, by 11,496 to 5,072.
“Did he really?” Robin Poole responded Monday when told of his father’s candidacy.
“It would be nice to be more successful in that capacity than my father.”
Doherty lost his re-election bid in 1978 to Democrat Earl Kennedy, who lost in the general election to Republican Harry Lydiard.
Now Doherty is a three-term incumbent with successful runs in 1998, 2002 and 2006.
He, Peach and Poole will square off in the Aug. 17 primary. Ballots will be mailed out to voters on July 28 in the all-mail election.
Only District 3 voters are eligible to vote in the primary. The district has 20 precincts, including eight in west Port Angeles.
As of Monday, there were 12,096 active voters in District 3 and 45,533 in Clallam County.
The top two vote-getters — regardless of party affiliation — will advance from the primary to the Nov. 2 general election.
Voting in the general election is countywide.
Doherty was 33 when he was appointed commissioner by then-Gov. Dan Evans in February 1976 after Caulkins and Sequim District 1 Democratic Commissioner William Knapman were removed in a recall election.
Former Republican District 3 Commissioner Lawrence Gaydeski, 79, who was elected in 1982, 1986 and 1990, said Monday from his home in Forks the commissioners were recalled “over something that allegedly wasn’t legal.”
“It was kind of a trumped-up deal, to be honest with you,” Gaydeski said.
The commissioners back then “definitely were not guilty of any crimes,” Doherty said.
“They were loose with some procedures that were slowly coming of age during that period. Times were changing, and people were expecting a little more open government.”
‘Don’t dwell on past’
Doherty shrugged off the coincidence of running first against Poole, the father, and now Poole, the son.
“I don’t dwell on the past,” he said. “I tend not to be too nostalgic, except for old houses and old buildings.”
Doherty said he remembers the Navy veteran as a “concerned citizen.”
“At Forks chamber meetings, he would have questions that not only showed he was interested but that he had done his homework,” Doherty said.
“We would have good discussions.”
Robin Poole said he shares his father’s conservative politics, with property rights, logging restrictions and land-use regulation his primary concerns — though his father was “a lot more of a political creature than I am,” he said.
Poole was more liberal when he was younger, he added.
“As people get older, they want to conserve what they’ve got and maintain the status quo,” Poole said.
Robin Poole “is probably an awful lot like his dad,” said Carrol Lunsford of Forks, who said he and Verl Poole were best friends.
Peach, the Quileute tribe’s executive director for the last year and a former Rayonier Inc. regional manager, also was unaware of the Doherty-Poole quirk.
Need to be proactive
But Peach’s philosophy might fit right beside Verl Poole’s take on things.
Peach said the commissioners have lacked a “proactive approach” to implementing the Olympic Experimental Forest Plan, delaying timber harvesting that could increase revenue to the county and jobs for its residents.
Doherty said the commissioners are not dragging their feet.
“We are looking at ways to harvest generally but with other ideas on employment in the woods, recognizing biomass energy and utilization of smaller logs,” Doherty said.
“The deadline for comments is yet to come,” he said Monday. “We’ve got three weeks to go.”
The comment period on the harvest plan ends July 15, Doherty said.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.