Unless he produces convincing evidence, a Joyce 19-year-old will be disqualified from taking a seat on the Clallam Conservation District board of supervisors.
He outpolled the Sequim incumbent in the Feb. 18 election by a 2-1 margin.
In a set of circumstances unheard of in the state Conservation Commission’s history — it turned 70 Tuesday — the commission said Mike Wiley Jr. was neither a landowner nor a farm operator as required by state law to fill the position.
The Peninsula College student was notified in a March 4 letter from commission Executive Director Mark Clark.
More information
Wiley must provide the commission with more information by 5 p.m. March 31 for the commission’s final decision May 21, or incumbent Don Hatler, 72, will automatically win, Clark said.
Under state law, conservation district supervisors serve three-year terms until they are replaced, commission elections coordinator Tom Salzer said Tuesday.
Wiley did not return two calls for comment Tuesday about the March 4 letter.
Wiley indicated he would send more information “but didn’t indicate to me what that might be,” Salzer said.
But critics of his victory have focused on how he won, not whether he was qualified to serve.
Those concerns may spark changes to a conservation district election process that currently generates minuscule voter participation and makes it easier for write-in candidates to win.
Changes in electing those boards could include mailing ballots to registered voters or requiring write-in candidates to notify election officials of candidacies a day before elections, as required of other electoral candidates, Clark said Tuesday.
Conservation district boards approve funding for natural resource conservation projects, encourage environmentally friendly farming practices and monitor waterways.
Clallam district board members are managing a 2009 budget of $2.1 million.
But Wiley’s victory generated more than a dozen calls overwhelmingly critical of the quiet write-in campaign he employed to defeat Hatler, said Salzer and Clallam Conservation District Manager Joe Holtrop.
Three years ago, Hatler defeated incumbent Steve Marble, 620-127.
As a new board member, Hatler earned a statewide Conservation Commission award.
After Wiley beat Hatler 114-60, Wiley said Clallam County Republican Party Chairman Dick Pilling and Port Angeles resident Kaj Ahlburg had encouraged him to run.
Pilling said at the time that Wiley appeared interested in politics and conservation and had impressive self-confidence.
Unannounced effort
Wiley decided to run a week before the election.
He never announced his candidacy.
Voters learned he was running through e-mails and word of mouth, he said.
Wiley did not know his opponent’s identity until he voted, and he had not expected to win, he said.
Hatler did not know he had an opponent until he lost the election, Hatler said.
Each county conservation district board statewide includes two members appointed by the Conservation Commission and three elected countywide.
Farmer or landowner
One appointed member and two elected members must be landowners or operators of farms, according to state law.
Elected Clallam Conservation District member Joe Murray is a farm operator, and elected member Marilyn Pollock is neither a farm operator nor a landowner, meaning the person who holds Hatler’s seat has to be one or the other, Clark said.
The Conservation Commission will discuss the election at its regular meeting at 8:30 a.m. Thursday at the Department of Ecology building, 300 Desmond Dr. SE, Lacey.
The commission will announce Hatler is the official winner May 21 at Oxford Suites — unless Wiley can prove in 13 days that he owns property or operates a farm, Clark said in his letter.
Wiley lives with his parents, who own the property on which they live.
He said after his election that he has a home hobby garden of about 100 square feet where he grows potatoes, carrots and brussels sprouts for his family.
He also has about a dozen chickens and sells the extra eggs.
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Staff writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
