"Hidden" Conservation Election: Interviews with the 2 Candidates"It's nice to put one in the win column" Attributed to Luke Esser, Chair WA GOP, at the "hidden" King Conservation District (KCD) election, Renton polling place, 2/13/07*. Esser's choice for KCD Supervisor, Matt Livengood, the current District Chair, received 768 votes. Max Prinsen, a past District Chair, received 327. Read below for interviews with Livengood and Prinsen.
Washington State Conservation District elections are like none other. As per RCW 29A.04.330, it is the intent of the state legislature that elections of conservation district supervisors "not be conducted under the general election laws". And they aren't. No voters pamphlets are mailed in advance. There are no absentee ballots, no provisional ballots. During the last election there were seven polling places in the entire county -- only one of them in Seattle. Year after year, voter participation in these elections reflects their undeserved obscurity. This year, less than one-tenth** of one percent of people eligible to vote in King County participated (1,095 voters out of 1,373,786 = .000797% *). Tiny as that percentage is, however, if Andy McDonald at Sound Politics correctly understood his conversation with Geoff Reed of the KCD, that's ten times greater than the number who voted in 2004. That year, McDonald reported, only about 100 people voted in the KCD election.
A Polarized Election
This is not partisan work. Yet this year's election was championed as a cause by a partisan coalition. The Republican Party and the Citizen's Alliance for Property Rights (CAPR) teamed up to support incumbent Supervisor, Matt Livengood. Last year, both of these groups had aligned with developers on Initiative 933, an initiative that challenged government's ability to regulate land use on private property. In support of Livengood, these groups used I-933-type rhetoric.
One of those groups mailed 5,000 postcards to constituents in support of Livengood. Pro-Livengood announcements were made on listservs, web pages, and blogs. According to an email message sent to the property rights listserv by Steve Hammond, the fire and brimstone preacher from Enumclaw who was once my King County Councilmember, KIRO host Kirby Wilbur also talked it up. The right-wing blog, Sound Politics urged its readers on Feb 8: "Elect property rights candidate: Your vote for Matt is critical! Matt supports voluntary conservation, true land stewardship, farmers and your property rights."
I was told by friends voting at two different locations that they stood in line surrounded by people holding the property-rights postcards. One friend, who overheard Luke Esser's comment, quoted above, told me that a group of five to seven people had carpooled in to vote together and stood in line, holding the same cards. Steve Hammond's email also notes the effectiveness of this organizing: "Got a call from someone who voted in downtown Seattle. A voter said, `It's terrible. Some property rights group on the Eastside is turning out lots of voters.' Congratulations to Matt, CAPR and all who helped."
In this tiny election, such focused organizing among a passionate interest group did the job. Despite a couple of last-minute posts on progressive blogs and a flurry of emails in the last few days on a couple of progressive listservs, the candidate championed by property rights advocates won, 768 to 327. The general public remained unaware that the election had even been held.
RCW 89.08, the authorizing legislation for the districts, declares that the lands of the state of Washington are among the basic assets of the state and that the purpose of the districts is to encourage land-use practices that protect this asset. After this election, many people wondered whether if we had just elected someone, through a nearly invisible process, who was philosophically opposed to the regulations he was charged to support. I decided to call both candidates.
Conversation with Matt Livengood
I also mentioned that I'd read of the Blickle-Livengood horse farm, which he and his wife, Alayne Blickle, own. Blickle is the founder of Horses for Clean Water, and the farm is run according to environmentally sensitive principles. Livengood noted that they operate the farm according to a Conservation District farm plan.
His environmental stewardship was reassuring to me, I said. But did he believe only in voluntary conservation? And did he see individual property rights as superior to all others? Would he consider his win to be a loss for supporters of environmental regulations?
Balancing Environmental Protection and the Economic Interests of Property Owners
'I understand these positions. I am aware of and sensitive to concerns over environmental regulations. Some regulations, if applied as hard-and-fast rules without consideration of the impacts on individuals, particularly in agriculture, reduce people's ability to use their their land. But I don't support letting anyone do anything they want on their property regardless of the impact on other people. There is a need for environmental regulations. There is a need for government to set standards. We can look at how laws are implemented, how they affect individuals. Are there mitigations that would achieve the intent of the environmental regulations and minimize interference with the economic interests of a property owner?
Livengood outlined some of the types of projects that people can seek District help with. A community group might want to daylight a section of a creek. A property owner might want to restore a section of natural shoreline. Livestock owners with wetlands on their properties might want consultation or assistance in meeting regulatory requirements. Adapting a farm plan through the District allows best management practices to be customized for a property. In the context of a farm plan that preserves the environmental protections intended under the law, legal requirements might be loosened. For example, the size of a buffer on a creek or wetlands might be negotiated with the County through the District
A "Third Way" for Conservation Policy?
We don't have an enforcement role, Livengood said. We're not prohibited from acting on an obvious violation, but we're not required to. That's not our job. If someone put up a structure without a permit, we wouldn't know. We wouldn't ask the question. When we're working with folks, we're in a liaison role, we're trying to help them comply. This is an essential function.
Matt Livengood, struck me as a reasonable person, passionate about his work with the District, and committed to good environmental practices. The trust that people in the property rights movement have for him is likely to be an asset at a time when one of our major environmental challenges is getting beyond an us-against-them public sentiment. But was I missing anything? Was there anything about this election that I hadn't learned from Mr. Livengood? As a due diligence follow-up, I called Max Prinsen.
Conversation with Max Prinsen
I explained to Mr. Prinsen at the start of our conversation that I had been concerned about the polarized nature of the election and that talking with Matt Livengood had reassured me. But was I missing anything? Why had he challenged Livengood in the first place?
Why Prinsen ran.
Prior to this election, there had been a vacancy on the board for an appointed position. Prinsen had applied for that but a different applicant was chosen. His intent was not to displace any particular board member, but simply to keep trying, by appointment or election, to get back onto the board.
King Conservation District is unique We cannot control or anticipate all outcomes, but we most certainly can look at recent events and say that we need some method to help accommodate and make reasonable accommodations to help in these instances. Many of these rules that are affecting these individuals are not rules by King County, but are state and federal rules that need us working together as partners to make changes to. King Conservation District, King County, Washington Conservation Commission and the Watershed Forums (Water Resource Inventory Areas 7,8, and 9,) plus the affected cities, should all have a united voice.
There is also a great need in King County, particularly in smaller cities, Prinsen noted, for the kind of technical and grant assistance that the Conservation District provides. We have 32 cities in King County, he said. When you look at a little city like Black Diamond, you realize that, when it wants to do something, it's going to have challenges with staffing and funding. That's where the District is needed.
Optimizing limited resources through partnerships
While District Chair, Prinsen was instrumental in increasing the base funding for the District from a $5 per parcel assessment to its current $10. The assessment had been at $5 "forever", Prinsen said. Over the years its value had steadily decreased while the need for District services was increasing. Prinsen led an effort on the District board to work with Washington's legislature to increase the assessment. Then they worked with the County to define how that funding would be apportioned. Previously, only $1 out of $5 had been available to the District after fixed costs like the salmon recovery programs. It took some negotiating, but the District was able to secure $3 out of that $10 (rather than simply a doubling of the initial $1) in order to work with property owners and organizations on individual projects as the need arises.
A clear and responsible method for investing in protection of state land
Luke Esser was right
To really make this election a win, however, I think we need to heed its lesson -- that the public does not know enough about the Conservation Districts, what their potential is, and what is at stake for us.
The law that sets the terms of these elections and the funding and duties of these positions is at RCW 89.08. Why shouldn't these elections be held at the same time as other local and county elections? I'd be interested to know what is behind the legislative intent statement in RCW 29A.04.330 that they should be exempted from regular election requirements.
Secret elections for this important position may have worked well before the intense economic, development, population, and climate pressures we see now. That is no longer the case. First, although the Republican Party and the property rights group had every right to campaign for this election, it is simply unfair for an election to be structured in a way that makes it so vulnerable to domination by such a small group of "people in the know".
More importantly, the approach of the Conservation Districts, which rewards stewardship more than it punishes non-compliance, which accounts for the unique qualities of each place and property, and which respects most people's ability to understand and invest in the long-term environmental value of land, this should be expanded and promoted, not hidden. This is an approach that can help us get beyond our land use battles and onto common ground in this state.
Notes Also see Conversation with Rose Ehart. This Washblog story from last May details the experience of Pierce County Conservation District Supervisor, Rose Ehart, who signed up her own constituency - 220 of her neighbors - and campaigned a 20-year incumbent out of office, 122 to 62. Peter Callahan of the Tacoma News Tribute covered that election: In this election; it's easy to win but hard to vote
*Esser's remark was repeated to me by a trusted friend who was at the polling place at the same time and didn't want to be identified for this story.
*The number of registered voters in King County was obtained from King County Elections by telephone between 2/13/07 and 2/16/07 **Math error corrected here -- previously off by 2 decimals.
"Hidden" Conservation Election: Interviews with the 2 Candidates | 6 comments (6 topical)
"Hidden" Conservation Election: Interviews with the 2 Candidates | 6 comments (6 topical)
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By Lurleen (0 comments) Related Links+ RCW 29A.04.330+ his conversation with Geoff Reed of the KCD + funded with approximately $5.8 million per year + Citizen's Alliance for Property Rights + Elect property rights candidate + RCW 89.08 + Blickle-Li vengood horse farm + Horses for Clean Water + farm plan + S.H.A.D.O. W + partner page + Nearly 70 varieties of birds + Hmong farmers in the Snoqualmie Valley + Washington Conservation Commission + 7 + 8 + 9 + RCW 89.08 [2] + RCW 29A.04.330 [2] + Conversati on with Rose Ehart + In this election; it's easy to win but hard to vote + More on Environmental issues + Also by noemie maxwell Washblog RSS FeedsPolitical ContactsLocal MediaCoastal/Grays HarborAberdeen Daily World Chinook Observer Montesano Vidette Pacific County Press Willapa Harbor Herald KXRO 1320 AM Olympic Peninsula Peninsula Daily News Bremerton Sun Bremerton Chronicle Gig Harbor Gateway Port Orchard Independent Port Townsend Leader North Kitsap Herald Squim Gazette Central Kitsap Reporter Business Examiner KONP 1450 AM Sound and Islands Anacortes American Bainbridge Review Voice Of Bainbridge San Juan Journal The Islands' Sounder Whidbey NewsTimes South Whidbey Record Stanwood/Camano News Vashon Beachcomber Voice Of Vashon KLKI 1340 AM North Puget Sound Bellingham Herald The Northern Light Everett Herald Skagit Valley Herald Lynden Tribune The Enterprise Snohomish County Tribune Snohomish County Business Journal The Monroe Monitor The Edmonds Beacon KGMI 790 AM KELA 1470 AM KRKO 1380 AM Central Puget Sound King County Journal Issaquah Press Mukilteo Beacon Voice of the Valley Federal Way Mirror Bothell/Kenmore Reporter Kirkland courier Mercer Island Reporter Woodinville Weekly Greater Seattle Seattle PI Seattle Times KOMO TV 4 KIRO TV 7 KING 5 TV KTBW TV 22 KCTS 9 UW Daily The Stranger Seattle Weekly Capitol Hill Times Madison Park Times Seattle Journal of Commerce NW Asian Weekly West Seattle Herald North Seattle Herald-Outlook South Seattle Star Magnolia News Beacon Hill News KIRO 710 AM KOMO AM 1000 KEXP 90.3 FM KUOW 94.9 FM KVI 570 AM South Puget Sound The Columbian Longview Daily News Nisqually Valley News Lewis County News The Reflector Eatonville Dispatch Tacoma News Tribune Tacoma Weekly Puyallup Herald Enumclaw Courier-Herald The Olympian KAOS 89.3 FM KCPQ 13 KOWA FM 106.5 UPN 11 Cascade/Okanogan Ellensburg Daily Record Levenworth Echo Cle Elum Tribune Snoqualmie Valley Record Methow Valley News Lake Chelan Mirror Omak chronicle The Newport Miner Spokane/Palouse The Spokesman-Review KREM 2 TV Spokane KXLY News 4 Spokane KHQ 6 Spokane KSPS Spokane Statesman-Examiner Othello Outlook Cheney Free Press Camas PostRecord The South County sun White Salmon Enterprise Palouse Boomerang Columbia Basin Herald Grand Coulee Star Walla Walla Union-Bulletin Yakima Herald-Republic KIMA 29 Yakima KAPP TV 35 Yakima KYVE Yakima Wenatchee World Tri-City Herald TVEW TV 42 Tri-cities KTNW Richland KEPR 19 Pasco Daily Sun News Prosser Record-Bulletin KTCR 1340 AM KWSU Pullman Moscow-Pullman Daily News |