Okanogan County government in hands of voters - ballot offers real choices

By John Hanron, Methow Valley News

10/31/02

Okanogan County, WA - Okanogan County voters go to the polls—or the post office—next Tuesday (Nov. 5), to cast their ballots for a list of elective offices on the county, state and federal levels, and for five measures on topics ranging from transportation to unemployment insurance.

In the race for the Okanogan County sheriff position, incumbent Democrat Sheriff Mike Murray faces a challenge by Omak Police Department sergeant and Republican Frank Rogers and Libertarian Candy Gamache.

Murray has been with the sheriff’s department since 1974, and was appointed to the top spot in March 2001 when then-Sheriff Jim Weed took another job with the county. Murray survived a challenge last November by Gamache to finish out the last year of Weed’s term, but faces somewhat stiffer competition in Rogers, a 16-year veteran of the Omak Police Department.

Murray said he wants to continue to improve the department’s efforts to provide a safe environment for residents and visitors, keep the pressure on drug dealers, continue quick response times to calls, and thoroughly investigate and prepare cases that can be tried in court.

Rogers, the lead drug investigator for Omak since 1988, said he wants to crack down on the methamphet-imine problem, create a canine crime unit in the county, establish a better working relationship with other law enforcement agencies, improve morale in the sheriff’s office and improve public access to the department.

Gamache, a housewife and researcher, is running on a strong Libertarian platform that espouses private citizens’ rights above all else. She would create a force of veterans as reserve deputies that would help respond quickly to calls in any community of the county. Gamache has also said that she would hire former Graham County, Ariz., sheriff Richard Mack as her undersheriff to handle the "day-to-day" operations of the department. Mack is the author of the books, "From My Cold, Dead Fingers," and "Government, God and Freedom."

Another county race that may prove close is that of Okanogan County prosecutor.

Both candidates currently work for the prosecutor’s office and both are attracting strong support countywide.

Karl Sloan has been the criminal deputy prosecutor in Okanogan County since 1998 and has a strong background in business as well as law. He has a law degree from Seattle University and an MBA from the University of Oregon. Sloan is a member of MENSA and is president of the Okanogan County Bar Association.

Don Anderson has been the chief civil deputy prosecutor for Okanogan County for the past six years. He holds a law degree from Gonzaga University and has been a trial attorney for 20 years. Anderson currently sits on the Omak School Board.

Sloan touted his criminal prosecution experience as well as his business experience, and said he would work to make the prosecutor’s office more efficient, more effective and more helpful to citizens. He would also increase the office’s role in advising county departments in making sound decisions and avoiding litigation.

Anderson said his experience as civil deputy prosecutor has honed in him the ability to battle state and federal bureaucrats in order to help county residents defend their private property rights. He said he would work to reduce plea bargaining and work with county commissioners to oppose unfunded mandates and combat overregulation by the state and federal government.

Running for Okanogan County commissioner, District No. 3, are three people who span the ideological spectrum. All are calling for radical change in the county commission.

Republican Mary Lou Peterson, Democrat Dugan Henderson and Libertarian Lorraine Rath are all vying for a four-year term on the three-member commission.

Peterson is a Tonasket/Oroville native, Navy veteran and has been the field supervisor for the county Noxious Weed Board since 1995. She has served on the Oroville School Board for two terms and has worked with grassroots groups opposing a conservation buyout of the Loomis State Forest school trust lands, the state’s Road Maintenance and Abandonment Plans (RMAPs) and various other resource-use issues.

She said if elected she will work hard to keep state and federal regulations from having a negative impact on Okanogan County residents. Peterson will develop and promote established industries such as agriculture, timber, cattle, mining and recreation. She said her connections in Olympia can help make Okanogan County’s voice be heard at the state level.

Henderson is also an Oroville native, and has been an independent business owner doing contractual forest and maintenance work for 20 years. Henderson said he sees an entrenched narrow-minded attitude in county government that is keeping the county from progressing along with the realities of the times.

Rather than fight state and federal agencies, Henderson said, he would work with them to attain mutual goals. He supports crop diversification and marketing of Okanogan County as good place for new businesses. Henderson said breaking up the "good-ol’-boy" network will decrease employee claims against the county and make it operate more efficiently.

Lorraine Rath is originally from Eaton-ville and has made her home in Tonasket for the past 10 years. She describes herself as a "property rights advocate from the word, Go." She believes that government should stay off the backs of the people and that as long as folks don’t hurt one another, they should be free to live their lives as they please.

Rath said she has seen discrepancies in how residents are treated, and would work to assure that all are treated equally. A former business owner and rancher, Rath said people should be free to create their own jobs, but that should not be a function of county government. And there is no easy way to prosperity. "Don’t look for no white horse, ‘cause it ain’t coming."

Two candidates are looking to warm the central district seat on the board of the Okanogan County Public Utility District, replacing outgoing commissioner Jim Rowland .

Bill Miller has been working around electricity for the past 50 years, starting as an aviation electrician in the U.S. Navy and continuing as an electrical engineer in Los Angeles; Vancouver, Wash.; Boone, Iowa; and most recently as manager of the Nespelem Valley Electric Cooperative.

Miller sees his offer to join the PUD board as being public service. He said his experience with every aspect of PUD service and his familiarity with regional electric issues and challenges make him the best man for the job. He said he would donate the bulk of his $15,600 salary to a scholarship fund for county students.

David Womack has been a member of the Omak City Council for the past 15 years, is a captain and 20-year veteran of the Omak Fire Department and the manager of the meat department at Gene’s Harvest Foods. He said some of the same principles of running a department of a store can apply to running a PUD: control costs and provide the best customer service you can.

He said that while Miller knows electricity, Womack knows leadership. He cited his budgeting skills honed by his time on the city council, and said he would move to reduce expenditures by 10 percent. The PUD, he said, needs to look toward alternative sources of power so as to become less dependent of the Bonneville Power Administration.

Both candidates support construction of the Pateros-Twisp transmission line and while both said the PUD should try to sell its diesel generators, Miller suggested the units could provide other uses, such as backup power sources for remote areas of the county like the Methow.