FORKS — Candidates for the West End seat on the Clallam County commission sparred over the idea of national park expansion and budget cuts Wednesday.
Robin Poole, 61, a Beaver Republican, and Mike Doherty, 67, a three-term incumbent Democrat from Port Angeles, debated at a Forks Chamber of Commerce luncheon at JT Sweet Stuffs attended by about 40 people.
The two are seeking a seat for the district that extends from west Port Angeles through the West End of Clallam County.
Ballots for the Nov. 2 general election are to be mailed to voters on Wednesday.
Poole criticized Doherty for supporting any effort to expand the Olympic National Park boundaries.
“The park is already 1,400-square miles,” Poole said. “It is already half again as big as Rhode Island. It is big enough.
His criticism stemmed from the three Clallam County commissioners, including Doherty, signing a letter on Feb. 17 in support of the Wild Olympics Campaign to protect rivers by expanding wilderness designation.
A coalition of several organizations throughout the state are developing a draft proposal that, among other things, would add selected acreage to that which the park could buy if it had a willing seller.
The draft plan, once proposed, would have to be approved by Congress to be put into effect.
“If implemented, this would have severe commercial impacts on our timber resources,” Poole said.
“Large tracts of land would be taken out of the tax base, and make us, the taxpayers, make up the difference.”
Doherty said that he had voiced support only for certain aspects of the proposal under development, including situations in which there was a willing seller and in cases where the natural resources — such as timber and rivers — could be made more productive through the transfer.
“It can benefit both parties if there is a willing seller of some lands that aren’t as productive, or maybe they can change for some lands that can be harvested immediately,” Doherty said.
“It is also a very small group of people who are advocating for this right now.
“It isn’t as imminent as some people might think it is.”
Poole said he didn’t believe that the people asked to sell would be willing sellers.
“When we talk about willing sellers, willing buyers, what happens is they take a piece of land and put so many regulatory restrictions on it that a person can’t use the land, so they figure if they can’t use it, they might as well sell it.
“That is a form of coercion.
Budget matters
Doherty said good fiscal management had resulted in county financial reserves.
“You talk to other counties and they are jealous of Clallam,” Doherty said.
“They can’t go after some of these federal and state grants because they don’t have a match. We do. So because of that, we are able to get federal or state money to pay half, or sometimes more” of project costs, he said.
Poole criticized Doherty for considering 3 percent across-the-board cuts to the 2011 budget.
“Surely not everything in the budget is an essential service,” Poole said.
“Arbitrarily saying 3 percent cuts does not reward the good departments because we can’t differentiate between the ones that are good and the ones that are not doing their jobs effectively.”
Said Doherty: “We didn’t just fixate on one solution, as he suggests.
“We looked at about seven different solutions, and then after conversations with the department heads, we had them help decide what would be most beneficial to them.
“Robin previously said at the [Port Angeles Business Association] meeting that he didn’t understand the budget, and I’d say that maybe he still doesn’t.”
__________
Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
