PORT ANGELES — Appointed Port of Port Angeles Commissioner Paul McHugh’s political career suffered an abrupt setback Tuesday.
After serving as a port commissioner since January 2012, McHugh garnered just 15.48 percent of the primary election vote and failed to advance to the general election, bested by port employee Colleen McAleer and businessman Del DelaBarre.
McHugh, a former member of the Sequim City Council and Clallam County Planning Commission, did not return repeated calls for comment Tuesday night and Wednesday on the election results.
He has no record of campaign contributions or expenditures in state Public Disclosure Commission records.
McHugh’s dismal showing came in the wake of his support of a contract for former Port Executive Director Jeff Robb.
It pays Robb the same salary for working the far lesser position of director of environmental affairs, without personnel supervision responsibilities, and allows Robb to retire in July 2014 so he can receive full state retirement benefits.
In late 2011, Port Commissioners Jim Hallett and John Calhoun selected McHugh from a field of 12 candidates to fill current Clallam County Commissioner Jim McEntire’s unexpired term.
“I thought [McHugh] was the best qualified of the candidates,” Calhoun said Wednesday.
Calhoun and Hallett said Wednesday they were reluctant to discuss Tuesday’s election results but offered some general observations.
“It’s part of the public process,” Calhoun said, adding that he has received personal letters and emails from constituents upset over recent events at the port.
“I don’t think it’s the first time disgruntled citizens have said they ought to throw the bums out.”
Calhoun and McHugh voted June 24 for Robb’s contract — the same day Robb resigned his executive director position citing health reasons.
Hallett cast the dissenting vote, disputing Robb’s contention that the commissioners had “agreed to the contract before they even voted on it.
Calhoun later said it was a “mistake” for Robb to have used the word “agreed,” while McHugh said Robb “misspoke.”
“I have been an advocate of open, honest and transparent government, and some actions the port has taken this year have run counter to that,” Hallett said.
“I believe the public also wants open, honest and transparent government, and I think they voted accordingly.”
Calhoun said he had not spoken with McHugh, a retired Realtor who lives in Sequim, about the results but said he “had a feeling” McHugh would be comfortable with the primary election outcome regardless of the results.
“It was just his body language and so forth,” Calhoun said. “I just got that impression.”
Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
