PORT TOWNSEND — The president of a Port Townsend-based nonprofit organization that helps students find money for college has filed his candidacy for the Port of Port Townsend commissioners seat held by Quilcene’s Herb Beck for more than 30 years.
Doug Breithaupt, 51, filed Monday at the Jefferson County Auditor’s Office elections division during the candidate filing week, saying he would bring fresh ideas and new thinking to the port commission.
“This is a major challenge for me,” said Breithaupt, who has led College Planning Network for 22 years and is widowed with four children ages 6-14.
“I have great respect for Herb Beck. He’s done marvelous things for the port, but nothing lasts forever. This is such a new time, and you need new thinking.”
Breithaupt, who attended Grant Street School, North Kitsap High School, Bellevue Community Collge and Seattle University where he earned his bachelor’s degree in history, said his children back his first attempt at public office, and he has plenty of family support.
He lists his skills as business administration, budget and finance, fund-raising, public speaking and community relations.
He returned to Port Townsend in 1986 to work and has been with the College Planning Network since then.
He was an Independent Obama delegate at the 2008 county convention and lives on Bentley Place in the former Discover Bay (Uncas) School.
Saying he has a lifelong interest in all things nautical, Breithaupt owns a sailboat that he has been trying to moor at the port’s Boat Haven for years without success. He has had to moor the boat in the Kingston, but plans to haul it out at the Boat Haven this summer for work.
“There’s just no question that the way things have gone in the past nine months has given us a chance to look at doing things differently,” Breithaupt said.
“The port is doing good things.”
A strategic plan is a step in the right direction, he said, citing the port commissioners’ efforts over the past year to build a plan with the help of local consultants and public comments.
Breithaupt said he also wants to maintain the Kah Tai Nature Park, 20 acres of which the port owns. He said he supports a land swap with the city that will give the port commercial property that can be used without spoiling the popular park.
“There has to be open discussion on both sides,” he said.
“There always is going to be a balance needed between the marine trades as represented by the port, community needs and the visitors who come here,” Breithaupt said, adding he needs to learn more before he can say more.
Breithaupt is on the Northwest Dollars for Scholars board and the Washington Scholarship Coalition Advisory Board and is a Jefferson County Recreation League basketball coach.
Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
