||| FROM JONATHAN WHITE and DONNA LASLO |||
Donna, Matthew, and I chose to vote for Rick Hughes for many reasons, including the fact that he always takes the moral high ground. For instance, he has long supported Democratic candidates, but chooses not to confine himself to any single party’s platform. Why is this important? Because our county charter calls for the council position to be nonpartisan.
Rick chooses to unify people rather than divide them and he has accomplished a great deal for our islands, including but not limited to:
- Revoking a third of the vacation rental permits.
- Facilitated 2.5 million to OPAL in the form of REET and permit fee waivers.
- Responsible for the placement of solar Megawatt power on County buildings.
- Persuaded the Washington State Association of Counties to make more funding for the ferry system the number one legislative priority.
- Persuaded DOT and WA Ferries to pay for the majority of the Park and Ride at the Orcas Ferry Landing.
- Worked with the Deer Harbor community to replace a critical bridge.
- Worked with Rick Larsen to secure 5.5 million in federal funding for moving the Cattle Point road away from the eroding bluff.
- Appointed to the Joint Transportation Committee advisory panel, representing all counties, to help develop the next transportation funding package for affordable housing.
- Placed the real estate excise tax on the ballot which was overwhelmingly approved by voters to help fund affordable housing.
- 1 Worked with the Department of Natural Resources to help acquire Lopez Hill and Odlin South (a 103-acre addition to the county park) on Lopez Island so that both areas can remain public lands.
- Worked with the Port Authority and the Land Bank and Park and Rec. to move and build a new dog park on Orcas Island.
- Earned the “Leadership Award” for the “extraordinary effort in establishing new collaborative partnerships with other counties.
- Improved Emergency Management Communication. Facilitated the placement of 26 poles across the country for 911 emergency management.
- Secured the funding to build the new Exchange building.
- Brickworks Founding AG Guild member on San Juan Island. Supported the efforts of the AG Guild, which helps provide reduced rentals to nonprofits in the community.
These are just a few of the things Rick Hughes has accomplished for ALL of the San Juan Islands. He and his whole family have sacrificed to serve our communities. Because of that he deserves a last term to finish the great work he’s started.
**If you are reading theOrcasonian for free, thank your fellow islanders. If you would like to support theOrcasonian CLICK HERE to set your modestly-priced, voluntary subscription. Otherwise, no worries; we’re happy to share with you.**
“Nonpartisan Rick Hughes chooses to unify not divide” Hmmmmm… that’s not been my observation.
There’s been a lot of negative talk recently in regards to the the Democratic party having endorsed Cindy Wolf… the inference being that doing so makes her appear as if she’s politically biased. This seems to overshadow the reality that Rick Hughes was also endorsed by the local Republican party. If Cindy is guilty of being politically biased simply because she was endorsed by a political party… then where does that leave Rick?
You use the phrasing “moral high ground, and give the example of Rick having “long supported Democratic candidates, but chooses not to confine himself to any single party’s platform,” and then you go on to say that this is important “because our county charter calls for the council position to be nonpartisan.” I assume that by stating this you’re somehow trying to justify Rick’s having been endorsed by the Republican Party, and are articulating that his being endorsed by the Republican Party doesn’t somehow mean that he’s politically biased in one direction or another, (please correct me if I am wrong). If this is a correct assumption I’ll go along with that. I mean, just because he was endorsed by the Republican Party doesn’t mean that he doesn’t also support Democrats. If this is true then I might point out at this time, (in all fairness), that just because Cindy Wolf was endorsed by the Democratic party does not mean that she’s incapable of, or might be unwilling to support the positions of Republicans… does it?
BTW, can you show me in the charter where it says that candidates running for SJCC cannot be endorsed by a political party? If you can’t then it’s time to put this cheap shot to rest. If you can… then both the respective Democratic, and Republican parties should be held accountable.
Getting back to, “Rick Hughes chooses to unify not divide,” let me tell you about the first County Council meeting in January following Rick’s turn to chair the council. This was the meeting deemed the annual retreat. Though still an official meeting it had a casual tone, and I guess that the staff in attendance didn’t realize that the microphone was on. During the discussion regarding vacation rentals the discussion turned towards both the Orcas Vacation Rental Work Group, and members of the public who had been publicly expressing their concerns regarding the county’s handling of the vacation rental issue. During this discussion I was utterly astounded to hear these groups several times referred to in an extremely negative manner by SJC staff. Among other things, they were referred to as, “the Eastsound anti-growth crowd”, and “They’re nothing but a bunch of environmentalists”. I might suggest that in light of the sentiment shown towards those of us that have expressed that we want something better for our community than what is currently being proposed, that the “division” often referred to in SJC politics starts from the top down. This makes it painfully obvious that some of our elected officials have both a public and a private position on issues of local importance, and it makes many of us feel that our voices have been falling on deaf ears. This is absolutely unacceptable. Referring to citizens exercising their right to voice their opinions and participate in local government as “a bunch of environmentalists” is a cheap shot. This is no different than someone throwing out the word “Socialist” in an attempt to undermine a group’s credibility, and the reference shows general disregard towards environmentalism in general. The citizens of SJC certainly deserve better than this.
1. Revoking a third of the vacation rental permits.
You make it sound as if revoking the many out of compliance vacation rental permits (some of which have been delinquent for three years), are a significant achievement. First realize that these non-compliant permits are still on the books… the county gave them until the end of the year to come into compliance, (in other words although they had already been delinquent for years, SJC gave them another year). In reality the eventual revocation of these long-expired permits do not represent anything other than the county’s long-term failure to adequately maintain an accurate inventory of the number of vacation rentals that they have, and having a way to deal with them, (i.e. enforcement). The Vacation Rental Working Group, and other individuals in the community have been voicing their concerns regarding the lack of oversight and enforcement in this arena… some have been doing so for years. Putting this in it’s proper perspective all I can say is that, “This is not a major accomplishment… and that it’s about time you did your job”.
Did you know that the Vacation Rental Work Group’s vacation rental moratorium petition has almost 3,000 signatures on it? One would think that if Rick Hughes is really serious about listening to the people… that it would be difficult for him to not hear that one.
Whether an official aligns him- or herself with a party or not, the quality of priority is the commitment to cooperate for the greatest benefit to the people. Elections, terms in office, and progress are iterative as long as we uphold neutral principles of government. Liberal society is neither left nor right.