PORT ANGELES — The five candidates for one seat on the Clallam County Board of Commissioners gathered for a forum, and clear differences among the candidates came out to the standing-room-only audience.
The forum for Commissioner District 2 — mainly central Clallam County including most of Port Angeles — was organized by the League of Women Voters and included incumbent Mike Chapman and challengers Dale Holiday, Patti Morris, Maggie Roth and Sandra Long.
The five are vying in the Aug. 7 primary, for which ballots in the all-mail election will be distributed starting July 18. The top two vote-getters will vie in the Nov. 6 general election.
Chapman, an independent who has served three terms four-year terms as county commissioner, said Clallam County is in good shape under its current three commissioners, and there is no reason to change the membership.
“Good government is not partisan,” said Chapman, 48, a former Republican who became an independent in 2008.
The county is debt-free, he said, and escaped the worst of the fiscal crisis by living within its means despite a multimillion-dollar loss in investment income. It continues to provide essential services, he said.
“None of your tax dollars goes to debt,” Chapman said. “The county has kept your roads well-maintained, kept roads plowed and rebuilt.”
When asked why he has chosen to not disclose campaign finances with a weekly report, Chapman said he was almost entirely funding his campaign on his own but recently received a $100 donation.
Chapman said other than that, there was nothing to disclose — but he is willing to talk to anyone about it.
“I don’t have a fancy website. I have a phone. Call me,” he said.
Long, who identified herself as an independent, said she frequently has reported her campaign finances, and her supporters seem to be proud to have their names associated with her.
She said she is qualified for the position because she has been overseeing what the county does with federal funds from the other side.
“I’m the one the feds pay to see if they are doing these projects properly,” said Long, who has served on the board of United Way of Clallam County, the county mental health board and the dispute resolution center board.
Long said she agreed with the county’s position on water rights on the Dungeness River.
“Commissioners must represent their constituents to the Department of Ecology,” she said.
Regarding education, Long said the best way to support schools is to support the Port Angeles Education Foundation and related organizations.
The role of county commissioners is to listen to the community, department heads and the state, to guide their actions, Long said.
Roth, 57, who identified herself as a Republican, said that economic improvements in the county are necessary and that she supported the Port of Port Angeles’ $50 million application for a grant to expand composites manufacturing in the county.
She said she would support adding nighttime commissioners meetings with the public and meetings in the West End to help more residents take part in the political process.
When asked about the Nippon Paper Industries USA biomass cogeneration project at the paper mill in Port Angeles, Roth said, “I support biomass.”
“I’d rather have it burned in there than out in the woods,” she said.
Holiday, who identified herself as a Democrat, said she supports local family and organic farms as a consumer who eats locally grown organic foods and as a “gym rat” who values good health.
She said there is currently a lot of exciting things happening in the county, including composites manufacturing, research and development, and possible future energy projects.
The county’s biggest problem is communication with the public, she said.
Holiday also was asked from the audience why she was not taking part in the mini-campaign finance reports and told the audience that she was running a low-funding, frugal campaign.
Morris, who identified herself as a Democrat, said she would be a proactive commissioner, working every day with community organizations such that help keep the community going.
“If not for those organizations, Clallam County would be a very poor county, indeed,” she said.
Morris said she believes the county needs to hold monthly meetings to sum up for the community what is happening in the county, to improve communications between the county and its citizens.
The county also has to find a funding mechanism to help education in some way, Morris said.
“It’s appalling to see. Schools don’t have the tools they need to do the job,” she said.
Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
