State lands commissioner faces tight election race
JOHN DODGE; The Olympian
Published: October 17th, 2008 12:58 AM | Updated: October 17th, 2008 02:16 AM
State Lands Commissioner Doug Sutherland is in a fight for his political life.
The two-term Republican faces a stiff challenge from Democrat Peter Goldmark, an Okanogan rancher who also served as director of the state Department of Agriculture for four months in 1993 under former Gov. Mike Lowry.
Goldmark, 62, returned to his wheat and cattle ranch 15 years ago, citing family reasons. Now he’s running a no-holds-barred campaign to return to Olympia, buoyed by the August primary – he finished just two percentage points behind Sutherland.
Backed by environmental groups, labor and tribes, Goldmark levels a number of charges at Sutherland, 71, a moderate Republican and fixture in Pierce County and state politics for 28 years.
Goldmark portrays Sutherland as too cozy with the timber industry he regulates as chief of the state Department of Natural Resources. He faults Sutherland for what he calls lack of oversight on timber harvesting in rural Lewis County that contributed to devastating landslides and floods.
“He’s not protecting the interests of the public,” Goldmark said.
Sutherland dismisses Goldmark’s charges as born out of desperation by a challenger with no proven track record for overseeing a complex state agency.
“That’s what he does – he makes claims and tries to put me on the defensive,” Sutherland said. “I’ve got 30 to 40 years of experience managing large organizations and agencies – he has four months.”
A look at campaign finances shows that Sutherland’s war chest is built on money from the timber industry and, to a lesser extent, commercial shellfish growers and other business interests.
Forest activists who support Goldmark believe he’ll do a better job of using science – he has a doctorate in molecular biology – to drive decisions on how best to manage 5.6 million acres of state-owned lands and regulate private forestlands.
“It wasn’t all Mother Nature that caused the December storm damage,” said Nina Carter, an Olympia resident who’s donated $250 to the Goldmark campaign. Carter, executive director of the state office of the National Audubon Society, said her political position is her own, not her employer’s.
“Goldmark would do a better job of enforcing the existing environmental laws,” Carter said. “He’ll ask the hard questions and make decisions with the scientific evidence to back them up.”
Dan Silver, an Olympia environmental consultant who’s contributed $300 to the Goldmark campaign, agreed.
“I think Goldmark would be more assertive with the timber regulations already on the books,” Silver said. “I’m looking for a more active, assertive, dynamic agency,” Silver said.
Sutherland does a good job of balancing what’s good for the environment and the regulatory certainty needed by the timber industry to survive volatile economic times, said Cort Stanley, president of Port Blakely Tree Farms, a Tumwater-based timber company and $2,000 contributor to the Sutherland re-election bid.
“He’s put high-quality people in positions of authority in that state agency,” Stanley said. “I think he’s done a remarkable job.”
Commercial shellfish growers appreciated Sutherland’s help last year, securing $33 million in federal and state funds paid to treaty tribes to relinquish their treaty rights to harvest on Puget Sound commercial shellfish beds, said Bill Dewey, a Taylor Shellfish Co. employee and $1,000 contributor to the Sutherland campaign.
“He’s been a fair manager of the state aquatic lands,” Dewey said.
Goldmark disagreed, saying it took DNR eight years to respond to complaints that the Shelton-based Taylor firm was growing clams and oysters on state-owned tidelands in Totten Inlet without a lease, a situation Taylor officials said was an honest mistake.
Sutherland cites unfinished business and good health as reasons why he’s seeking four more years as lands commissioner, a job that pays $121,618 a year.
Sutherland said he wants to complete a habitat conservation plan for state aquatic lands; complete additional land exchanges to boost revenues for state land trust beneficiaries, including public schools, and improve public access and recreation opportunities on state lands.
Recent accomplishments of the agency, which earned $190.3 million from land leases and timber sales in 2008, include removal of derelict vessels and creosote-contaminated pilings from Puget Sound and support of wind-farm construction on state-owned agricultural lands, Sutherland said.
“We still have a lot of work left to do,” he said.
Goldmark said his 35 years as a land manager and wildland firefighter in Eastern Washington, along with his science background, would serve him well in the lands commissioner post.
“I’m not a career bureaucrat,” he said. “My administration would be straightforward and transparent. These are the public’s lands, not DNR lands.”
COMMISSIONER OF PUBLIC LANDS
Peter Goldmark
Party: Democrat
Residence: Okanogan
Campaign contact: 206-447-4169
E-mail: info@ votepetergoldmark.com
Web site:
www.petergoldmark.com
Occupation: Rancher and scientist
Doug Sutherland
Party: Republican
Residence: Olympia
Campaign contact: 360-628-8372
E-mail: doug@ dougsutherland.org
Web site:
www.dougsutherland.org
Occupation: Commissioner of Public Lands
He's endorsed by Cantwell and Murray. :shhh: He also cites his 'experience' as Agriculture Secretary...but doesn't tell you he only held the position for 4 months. :dunce:
