On September 17th David Johnson posted a letter to the Orcasonian newspaper titled We are entitled to hear the whole story about McViegh. I support David Johnson’s perspective that examining candidates history is important when choosing who we vote for. I support Stephanie O’Day for County Council position one. Stephanie is an attorney versed in land use regulations. She has knowledge that can only come from being a long time resident involved with our local land use regulations. I believe that’s more important for a council member than budgeting credentials relative to some place far from the San Juan Islands.
David Johnson’s perspective of examining candidates history fits another County Council race. Position 2 (Orcas Island) pits Justin Paulsen against Rick Hughes. I support Justin Paulsen as the better choice. Rick Hughes served on the county council for 8 years. In 2015 he voted to approve a Land Bank (LB) acquisition known as Zylstra Lake on San Juan Island. He neglected to abide by code requirements for an approved acquisition plan and an appraisal. Review of county property records illustrate Rick Hughes owns property which abuts 26 connected parcels of LB property totaling 1,779 acres. The following link illustrates a LB document on the impact on property taxes from LB acquisitions.
https://sjclandbank.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Calc-of-the-LB-impact-on-taxes-750K-4-1-24.pdf
In the last paragraph of this document it states “Being near conservation land boosts property values by up to 20% according to multiple analyses” Over the eight years Rick Hughes was on the county council he could have and should have either recused himself or at the least acknowledged his potential conflict of interest with his personal property holdings when voting for Land Bank acquisitions. He did neither and it’s good reason why Justin Paulsen is the better choice for county council position 2.
Ron Whalen
