PORT ANGELES — Democratic incumbent Mike Doherty defended himself against two Republican Clallam County commissioner District 3 candidates at a voters forum this week.
They said he was out of touch with North Olympic Peninsula voters. Doherty depicted himself as a hard worker who regularly visits West End District 3 and sits on numerous regional and statewide boards that hash out budget, natural resource and other issues for his constituents.
Running against Doherty, 67, of Port Angeles, are UPS driver Robin Poole, 61, of Beaver, and Quileute tribe Executive Director Bill Peach, 54, of Forks.
The hour-long forum Monday evening at the Port Angeles City Council chambers at city hall was hosted by the League of Women Voters of Clallam County and observed by an audience of about 100. Questions for candidates were submitted by the audience.
Ballots for the Aug. 17 primary — an all-mail-ballot election — will be mailed today.
About 12,000 District 3 residents will vote for county commissioner in the primary.
A third live in Port Angeles and the community of Black Diamond next to the city limit, the rest are on the West End, including Forks, Sekiu, Clallam Bay, and Neah Bay.
The top two vote-getters regardless of party affiliation move on to the Nov. 2 general election, which is countywide with a pool of more than 45,000 voters.
Peach: Key issue
“I believe this election comes down to one key issue,” Peach said in opening remarks at the forum, hosted by the League of Women Voters of Clallam County in the Port Angeles City Council chambers.
That issue, according to Peach, is “whether or not you want to vote for someone who represents your values or represents the values of people who do not represent the people who live in Clallam County.”
Peach said after the forum that he meant that Doherty “votes the party line” — meaning the Democratic Party — “at the expense of people who live in the county.”
“Where do I learn that?” Doherty responded Tuesday. “I don’t know of any party line that goes out to county commissioners.”
Poole criticized Doherty for supporting land purchases in Clallam County by Olympic National Park, which Doherty said the commissioners have done under “willing seller, willing buyer” situations, as is the park’s policy for land purchases.
“In the West End, we have a resource-driven economy,” Poole said.
“There’s no sense to having a bigger park. We need an economic base.”
Watershed planning
Concerning Water Resources Inventory Area 19, which is the Lyre-Hoko watershed, Peach said he objected to the process that was established to run watershed planning meetings.
He said the state Department of Ecology needs to be held accountable for the stalled WRIA 19 process.
In June, the writers of a draft plan for the area reached an impasse that may mean the state Department of Ecology will take over the process.
“What happened with WRIA 19 is indicative of a single view, a single priority,” Peach said at the forum.
“The department needs to be changed. It’s in disarray.”
Salmon habitat
Poole called the science that drives salmon-habitat restoration “highly debatable” and said hatcheries are not being used to full capacity.
“We don’t have water issues on the West End,” he said.
“We’ve got to stop using blanket solutions for everything.”
Doherty defended the planning process, saying courts had determined that there has to be water for fish, “so the instream rule is very contentious,” Doherty said.
Instream flow levels are defined as “stream flows needed to protect and preserve instream resources and values, such as fish, wildlife and recreation,” according to Ecology.
Doherty said the WRIA 19 draft plan was built from the “bottom up” and that a compromise is still possible.
“If we don’t do it, the state will do it,” he said.
Other highlights of the forum, recounted in the order in which the candidates answered questions posed by the audience:
• Why run, and key issues:
Doherty: “I feel there is an obligation to give back,” he said.
The board of three county commissioners has been fiscally responsible, having built up reserves to weather the poor economy, unlike many other county governments, he said.
He touted the Elwha Bridge project as being “on time and on budget.”
Peach: “I listen, engage and execute,” he said.
A Rayonier Inc. regional manager for nearly three decades before he left the company, “I make things happen,” he said.
The issues he would address as a county commissioner “begin with property rights, job retention and prudent fiscal responsibility,” he said.
Poole: He described himself as a political “neophyte” but pledged to fully research issues and apply “a working class, common-sense approach.”
“We have to start at the county level and start pushing back and make this government accountable to us and not us to them,” he said, adding citizens can’t “lose the battle to big government.”
• Budget cuts, and where health care fits:
Peach: “We shouldn’t be looking at budget cuts that don’t support job retention,” he said, adding that he feels forest land has not been fully utililized.
The county government retirement program is “in serious trouble,” he said.
Poole: Each department in county government should be examined, and functions prioritized, but he added that he did not know much about the county budget.
“We’ve got a lot of welfare-type programs that help people,” he said, calling them “an expensive proposition.”
“We can’t be giving these services away for free.”
Doherty: The county is trying to do more in special services, he said.
“We’ve protected the public health and services,” he said, adding the commissioners may eventually have to make major budget cuts.
• Fostering cooperation among varied interests:
Poole: Calling himself a “people person,” Poole said he “would have to form groups of like-minded people to form a base so we can have some kind of action going on.”
Doherty: He said he has built up trusting relationships with people throughout the county.
He cited his chairmanship of the Clallam Transit board and being named by Gov. Chris Gregoire to the 32-member Governor’s Committee on Transforming Washington’s Budget.
“Leaders trust leaders to do some jobs for them,” he said. “I’ve built that relationship.”
Peach: He said he has a history of collaborating with county commissioners for the last 12 years, and that when he head the county Economic Development Council, he “pushed pretty hard” to get Westport Shipyard to come to Port Angeles, for which Doherty also took credit.
“You establish trust through a process of collaboration and leadership,” Peach said.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
