PORT ANGELES — Hinting at a possible future run for District 1 county commissioner, Sequim Mayor Walt Schubert took a shot Monday at incumbent Commissioner Steve Tharinger, saying representation on the East End is lacking.
“At the county level, I am not happy with the leadership,” Schubert said after Port Angeles City Councilwoman Karen Rogers asked him about future political aspirations during a Chamber of Commerce luncheon meeting.
“I don’t think we have good representation on the East End,” Schubert said.
After the luncheon, the mayor told Peninsula Daily News that he believed “the only thing represented well on the East End are special interests.”
Tharinger, D-Dungeness, is a member of the region’s Salmon Recovery Fund board, primarily dedicated to funding salmon restoration projects such as that on Jimmycomelately Creek in Blyn.
Schubert made his remarks Monday while speaking to about 75 attending the weekly chamber luncheon, this time held at The Tempest youth center because its regular meeting place, the Port Angeles CrabHouse Restaurant, was booked for a conference.
Another council term
The mayor said he is also considering running for another term on the Sequim City Council next year — “if I think I can make the biggest difference in the city of Sequim.”
Schubert contends that Sequim City Hall has “an adversarial relationship” with Clallam County that dates back to when the city asked the county for Opportunity Fund grant money to help it extend a reuse water line to the proposed Gierin Creek Golf Course east of Sequim.
Following Monday’s luncheon, Tharinger — who was in the audience for the chamber meeting — voiced concern about Schubert’s comments.
“I think he’s got a perception problem,” the two-term commissioner said.
“I’m disappointed that Walt has that feeling.”
Tharinger explained that the county did not want to give Sequim the Opportunity Fund grant dollars outright because it wanted “revolving dollars to remain in the fund.”