PORT ANGELES — Incumbent John Calhoun has raised $9,699 against challenger Brad Collins’ $3,500 in his bid to keep his Port of Port Angeles seat, an amount that far outdistances the war chests of 33 other Clallam County candidates running for office in Tuesday’s general election.
The port race for Position 3 is the only countywide election among 17 seats up for grabs. Ballots were mailed out Oct. 14 and must be postmarked or returned by 8 p.m. Tuesday.
The port commission president, who has served for six years, said that he has to run as if he were an underdog.
“I’ve got an uphill battle,” said Calhoun, 65, a Forks resident who is the director of the University of Washington Olympic Natural Resources Center, College of the Environment.
He said Collins, the former city of Port Angeles community development director and a current deputy director at Serenity House of Clallam County, has the advantage in name recognition.
“Brad has a big advantage over me,” Calhoun said.
“He’s well-known in Port Angeles. I’m really running as an underdog and an outsider.”
Collins said that Calhoun has name recognition by being the incumbent and by frequently having his name in the news as a port commissioner.
Calhoun has spent more than $5,000 of his own money in the campaign, according to public records filed with the state Public Disclosure Commission.
Because Calhoun has raised more than $5,000, he must report all contributions and expenditures to the PDC.
Collins contributions
Collins’ election contributions include $1,600 of his own money.
Because his war chest is less than $5,000, the state does not require him to file contribution or expenditure reports with the PDC, except for individual contributions of $500 or more.
He must report those larger contributions, and must make his records available to the public eight days before the election, PDC spokeswoman Lori Anderson said.
Collins, 61, is deputy director of resource development and capital projects for Serenity House of Clallam County.
His campaign director is Kathy Wahto, Serenity House executive director.
Calhoun’s contributions include $100 each from former port executive directors Clyde Boddy and Chris Anderson of Port Angeles, and $350 from former port Executive Director Jerry Hendricks of Port Angeles.
His largest contribution is $650 from Forks logging company owner Ken Bechtold.
He and Collins each also received $250 each from the Sequim Association of Realtors.
Collins’ contributors include Len Beil, a former port commissioner who gave Collins’ campaign $266.39.
No solicitations
Collins said that he has not solicited contributions, but that his opponent has.
Collins said Calhoun took contributions from donors with a “vested interest” in the port over the last 20 years.
Calhoun has solicited contributions from the timber industry, which he works in and is familiar with, he said.
“I’m proud to have a broad, deep base of people who support me enough to make contributions to my campaign,” Calhoun said. “I’m not backing off that.”
Collins also said Calhoun “changed his mind” about not spending more than $5,000 after the two discussed election spending early on in the campaign, adding that he kept his own pledge to run a “low-key” campaign.
That’s not how Calhoun remembered it.
“That’s over-descrbing it, to call it an agreement,” Calhoun said.
“[Collins] said he wasn’t going to spend over $5,000, and I said I didn’t think I was going to either. Then I did the budget for the campaign, and got the cost down and it was obvious to me that it would cost more than $5,000 to do what I wanted to do.”
Calhoun also suggested Collins’ campaign was low-key because he had no other choice.
“That’s what I’d say if I couldn’t raise the money as well,” Calhoun said.
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Staff writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
