PORT ANGELES — A candidate forum that focused on three Clallam County races was marked by sharp differences during the face-off between county commissioner candidates Mike Doherty and Robin Poole.
The two-hour Clallam County League of Women Voters forum at the county courthouse Monday night also featured debates between incumbent Treasurer Judy Scott and challenger Selinda Barkhuis, and incumbent Director of Community Development John Miller and challenger Sheila Roark Miller.
Ballots for the Nov. 2 general election are to be mailed to voters Wednesday, Oct. 13.
In the final face-off of the evening, the audience asked questions of both Poole, 61, a Beaver Republican, then Doherty, 67, the three-term incumbent Democrat from Port Angeles who seeks the seat for the district that extends from west Port Angeles through the West End.
The candidates were asked if the new Elwha River bridge was “a big waste of money.”
Poole said it was a waste, while Doherty lauded the $19.7 million span for its seismic strength and said it was funded with little local money.
Poole made critical comments about the Harbor-Works Development Authority as failing “to help us achieve anything except to spend large amounts of money.”
Doherty responded that the county had no participation in Harbor-Works’ effort to purchase and develop the abandoned Rayonier pulp mill site in Port Angeles.
Asked what experience each had in devising budgets, Doherty said he has “three terms of experience” doing just that, while Poole said he has “never run a large business like this” and would rely on department heads and County Administrator Jim Jones, who “basically runs the whole budget.”
Poole also criticized the presentation of the county budget on the county’s website, www.clallam.net, saying it offered little by way of specifics and pledgingincreased “transparency” if elected.
Asked what specific votes of Doherty’s that Poole objected to and why, Poole paused, then said, “No comment.”
Doherty responded, “I’m very proud of my votes.”
Development director
Sheila Roark Miller, 51, a county code compliance officer and deputy fire marshal, suggested she would be unlike John Miller, her boss — and no relation to her — asserting she would be “free from special interests” if elected to the nonpartisan position.
She “would take no special interest in whether you are a Democrat or a Republican,” she said.
John Miller responded that “it’s no secret I’m an active Democrat” but emphasized that he would not give unfair advantage to citizens based on party preference.
Roark Miller said she “fought” to get $126,000 in overcharged department permit fees returned to permit applicants.
John Miller responded that the overcharge was caused by a mistake in an Excel spreadsheet.
“For my opponent to claim that she is responsible for [having the fees returned] is not true,” he said. “She did bring it to my attention.”
John Miller admitted he “underestimated” the reaction to a proposal he has favored that would require building permits for 400-square-foot structures, which Roark Miller has hammered him on.
Buildings of 400 square feet or less do not require permits, and John Miller has favored lowering the exemption to 200 square feet.
Roark Miller, asked about her opposition to the removal of the Elwha River dams beginning in September 2011, said she would have no problem working with Olympic National Park and the Elwha tribe on the project.
John Miller said he came to the North Olympic Peninsula in the early 1990s to be part of the river restoration project when he became executive director of the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe.
County treasurer
As she has in the past, challenger Barkhuis, 48, a licensed attorney and county DCD planner, took incumbent Scott, 59, to task for failing to discover the theft of what the state Auditor’s Office has said was $617,467 in real estate excise taxes between February 2004 and May 2009.
Barkhuis said Scott had a “fiduciary responsibility” to more closely monitor the actions of former office cashier Catherine Betts, who has pleaded not guilty to first-degree theft in the embezzlement, and that Scott should have seen red flags in the record-keeping process and the office’s Excel spreadsheet program.
Scott defended her own actions as fiscally responsible. She said she did everything she could in fulfilling her responsibilities, given the office’s computer system at the time and Betts’ alleged manipulation of office procedures, and that once the theft was discovered, did everything she could to recover the stolen funds.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
