Write-in candidate Mike Wiley Jr. of Joyce outpolled incumbent Don Hatler of Sequim in the Feb. 19 Clallam Conservation District election, but the state Conservation Commission on Thursday seated Hatler instead.
The commission unanimously accepted a staff recommendation, a state Attorney General’s Office analysis and a Clallam Conservation District board of supervisors’ decision certifying Hatler as the winner of the three-year voluntary position.
The commission declared Hatler the winner as part of action certifying 47 conservation district elections held throughout Washington state from January through March.
Wiley, 19, did not return repeated calls for comment Thursday afternoon.
But supporter Dick Pilling of Port Angeles, who urged Wiley to run, called the commission “an unelected cabal of bureaucrats.”
“Are we going to contest it? Democrats do that,” said Pilling, chairman of the Clallam County Republican Party.
“Am I going to whine and complain? I don’t think so. But I am going to make it my business to pay close attention to the conservation board.”
During its two-hour discussion of conservation district elections, the commission did not utter either candidate’s name, said Hatler, 72, and commission Executive Director Mark Clark.
Nor did the commission specifically discuss the Clallam election.
But commission members were given a staff handout that cited the Clallam district supervisors’ unanimous May 12 decision – a vote taken minus Hatler, who abstained — that declared Wiley ineligible for the position and asserted that he was neither a landowner nor a farm operator on the day of the election.
That made Hatler, 72, the “unofficial winner” as the candidate with the next highest number of votes, according to the memo.
Attended meeting
Hatler and conservation district Manager Joe Holtrop were the only Clallam County residents who attended the daylong meeting in Silverdale.
“To tell you the truth, I’m relieved to get this thing behind us, because we’ve got other important things to work on in the conservation district in budgeting and other issues,” said Hatler, a landowner.
“I hope Wiley has the time and energy and will become an associate supervisor. There are a lot of things he could help with. The door is wide open.”
As a write-in, Wiley, a Peninsula College student, defeated Hatler 107-60, but never publicly announced his candidacy.
Pilling insisted Wiley is a farmer who harvests eggs and wood, and that Wiley is a landowner by virtue of being deeded 1 percent of his parents’ property.
“It is not wrong for a young man to challenge a group of older people,” Pilling said.
“It is not wrong for a conservative to seek a seat on the conservation board. It is not wrong for a Republican to contest a seat on a board held solely by Democrats,” he added.
“It is most assuredly wrong to overturn a legally held election.”
The issues surrounding the election may have a long-lasting impact on conservation districts statewide, Clark said.
Those issues were “significant” factors in spurring the commission to set up a subcommittee to study the conservation district election process statewide and report back to the commission with findings at the board’s July meeting, Clark said.
The subcommittee will review rules surrounding write-in candidacies, ways to broaden participation in district elections and steps employed to appoint district supervisors, Clark said.
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Staff writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
