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Doug Ericksen

Doug Ericksen seeks a new role in county government

By Tim Johnson · Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Doug Ericksen has always finished strong in Whatcom County politics. In his last election, as he moved over from the state House of Representatives to the state Senate, the Republican pulled in nearly 60 percent of the vote. Likely Ericksen will perform similarly in the August primary for county executive and beyond.

“What distinguishes me in this race is I am the only candidate saying ‘Let’s not raise taxes unless it goes to a vote of the public,’” he notes. “Until someone else is willing to do that, I’m comfortable saying I am the only conservative in this race.”

Born the youngest of three sons to a Lutheran minister’s family, Ericksen attended Lowell Elementary, Fairhaven Middle School, and Sehome High School in Bellingham. He graduated with a degree in government from Cornell University and tuned that into master’s work in environmental policy at Western Washington University. He was elected to the Legislature in 1998 after he helped campaign to place Republican Sen. Ann Anderson into the seat he now holds.

In the state House, he held key committee assignments in higher education, transportation and economic development. In the latter roles, he worked on rail transportation issues. His real gifts came to light in positions of Republican leadership, where he he served as floor leader and deputy leader of his caucus.

“Once you’ve decided how big the sandbox is in terms of revenues, then you can go about setting the priorities of government,” he says. “I’ve had to make those tough decisions in the Legislature, to stand up against special interest groups—no matter what they represent—being tested by fire, if you will, in the pressure cooker of limited financial resources. There are major decisions that have to be made on big issues.

“I am trying to lay out a clear pathway for how you can transition a limited government, conservative ideology into better service production to give people what they really want.”

Cascadia Weekly: What are the challenges the county faces that you will address as county executive?

Doug Ericksen: I think as a community we’ve gone through a period of anger and frustration about county government, which you saw in some of the county secession movement and other activities a decade ago. And I think Pete Kremen in that position was a good choice in that period to heal and move forward. You had a healing process, but I also think there has been some deferred decision-making. People no longer want to form their own county, but then we do have to move on and make some decisions moving forward.

We’ve deferred decisions on water rights, mining gravel from the rivers, the jail, Bellingham Bay redevelopment, how you deal with critical areas and long-range planning, how to make the permitting office more friendly to small landowners. So there are a lot of things to be accomplished, and why I am running is I have a specific series of things I want to do.

I believe Whatcom County is still small enough that a county executive can roll up his sleeves on a series of issues—not every issue—and be directly involved with negotiations with issues.

CW: Let’s see if we can unpack some of those issues. First, though, in your view what role does the county executive play with the council?

DE: There are four county executive counties in the state of Washington. Whatcom is the only one that has a part-time council matched against the executive branch, so—really—it is very similar to the structure of the state Legislature. A good manager in that structure is specific in what he wants to get accomplished, you go in and negotiate directly on those big issues and do not try to micromanage.

Additionally, in my legislative career, I’ve managed members. As transportation chair, as House floor leader and deputy leader, I’ve managed issues for the caucus. It is really the same situation, where you are guiding personalities, giving people the opportunities to win, and finding ways to help show legislators the path to how they can be successful. That’s my goal, as executive, on key issues.

CW: You’ve identified your number-one task as county executive as jobs, job creation and the economy. What can county government do to improve the job forecast and economy?

DE: Obviously, we ride up and down on national trends. You have to make the most of what you have.

I think people are looking for stability and certainty on the three big issues, which are taxation, regulation and litigation. If you give certainty in those areas, that does a lot for job stabilization, whether it is with Alcoa, Conoco, BP, or smaller businesses. If businesses live up to their commitments, then you work with them to see their goals accomplished.

CW: You have a record of strong support for heavy industry at Cherry Point. Let’s talk about the role of heavy industry there, and your views on the proposed coal export terminal.

DE: Cherry Point is the cash cow for Whatcom County. You look at the amount of money in terms of tax dollars and contributions and charities generated out there, it is a phenomenal resource. The area is zoned for heavy industry, and it has been zoned that way for a long time.

We have an application to build a bulk export pier. I would prefer to see a utilization of that land that is manufacturing in nature, so we create manufacturing jobs—welders, machinists—but that is not the proposal on the table. It’s for an export facility with a pier.

So I support that proposal, provided SSA Marine lives up to the commitments they’re making for environmental protections—covered conveyor belts, covered transfer stations. We will have to look at the studies on coal dust coming from trains, whether that is or is not an issue, before we can move forward. But if SSA lives up to what they’re saying, I support the project because it is crucial to job generation in Whatcom County.

It will generate a large tax base for us that we can utilize to build the community we want.

CW: Are you concerned about the impacts of increased rail freight and coal trains through Whatcom County?

DE: One thing being discussed is that other existing facilities, such as at Tsawwassen, are looking to see what’s happening here. If a facility does not go through here, then those facilities may expand, so you’d have increased trains coming through here regardless. How many trains currently going up to Tsawwassen would this project intercept, is that a positive for Blaine?

There are concerns, yes. But you will have rail traffic, and you will have an increase in coal train traffic. The question is how do we work with BNSF and SSA Marine to accomplish our goals? How do we get to work on grade separations through Bellingham, which will be key for waterfront redevelopment.

CW: What role will the county executive play in moving this process forward? Is the executive a facilitator, or a champion of the vision moving forward?

DE: The county executive is a champion of goals. The executive works with council to see those goals accomplished.

You come into any project with a set amount of resources. If you have, for example, a $500-$700 million project at Cherry Point, with that comes certain mitigation that needs to occur and certain investments that need to be made back into the community.

If the county executive assumes a hostile position vis-a-vis the project and raises legal challenges and other obstacles, that obviously limits the amount of money they have to reinvest into mitigation and improvements we would like to see made in the community.

Once we get to an agreement that they will meet environmental standards and live up to what they say they are going to do, you become a champion to work with them to get it done. Much like we did with the refineries at Cherry Point, you need a champion to get it done. I am convinced it we didn’t have those industrial jobs there, we’d be a much poorer community for that.

CW: Let’s talk about another of the county’s largest employers, agriculture. What’s necessary to keep that vibrant in Whatcom County?

DE: We talk about the individual farm, which is important, but—getting back to those national pressures, again—if you look at the number of cows in the local dairy industry, for example, we haven’t seen a decline in the numbers of cows. That’s holding steady, even if the number of individual farms is in decline. But what these farming industries need is to make a profit and so, again, they need certainty in taxation, regulation and litigation.

Separating out the dairy folks from the berry folks, the dairy folks have a stock watering exemption in the state Legislature currently that allows them to water without a water right. The berry folks are not so fortunate. What they need, and a focus of my administration, will be to negotiate a long-term water deal for them so they have that certainty.

Zoning, that is also an issue, to help limit noncompatible uses next to farms. I believe in that.

The Growth Management Act isn’t really working right now because people want to buy a house with a yard. They’re being forced out into the county. So if you can build from the edges of cities in, build communities people want to live in, you relieve the pressure on people to move into those rural areas.

CW: The county is currently out of compliance with state goals related to growth. Should the county work to get into compliance with state goals, or are there other things more important?

DE: We do need to plan. What was originally proposed under GMA was counties would plan for the future, but it would be a bottom-up planning process not a top-down planning process. So I believe the county should continue the path of trying to retain as much local control as possible.

We need to be aware of the goals of GMA, and do our best to comply, but our county council members should have the ability to plan for the future of Whatcom County as they see fit.

You know, GMA has led to negative outcomes—as I mentioned, people having to move into rural areas because they cannot purchase the homes they want in urban areas. You can look at the Fairhaven Highlands project, where people did not want the infill in their neighborhood. Converting lots into multifamily and rental units in established neighborhoods is a very difficult thing to accomplish.

One thing we’ve joked about over the years is GMA is about ruining Washington one neighborhood at a time, as planners try to force the kinds of growth people do not want into their neighborhood.

We need to make it work—GMA is not going away—but the question is how do we make it work in order to build the community we want, not one the state growth board say we have to build.

CW: You mentioned gravel mining in the county streams and rivers. This is a fierce debate that seems to’ve died down, and now is coming to life again. What’s driving that?

DE: This is one of those issues where, at the county level, we’ve not seen the kind of leadership necessary coming forward. So if it seems to’ve died down, it was because it was not made a priority.

Any time you have a managed system like our river beds, you have to have a plan for managing them. We’re not talking about dredging or scalping the beds at low water, but just good management practices. We put the dikes in to keep rivers in their beds. Now we have to go in and manage the beds inside of them.

CW: You believe there is a flooding hazard on the horizon if gravel in those beds is not mined and removed?

DE: I think we’re already seeing a flooding hazard.

People want to preserve farmland—those programs don’t do any good if the topsoils have been washed away down to Marietta and into the delta. Not every farm is at risk, but a large number of them are. Removing gravel doesn’t eliminate flooding—but it can help manage it so that small floods don’t become large floods, and perhaps small floods never occur.

CW: On the topic of water resources, what are your views concerning Lake Whatcom?

DE: Everything needs to be on the table and viewed as a cost-benefit analysis.

We need to have look at stormwater and sewers. I know there is a fear increased sewer systems will induce growth and we’ll see more growth in the watershed—we’ve got to control that. That fear cannot be a reason for not doing the right thing. I think there is much more we can be doing to control stormwater entering the lake, which is the biggest factor affecting water quality.

I am not convinced we get the best cost-benefit from converting 9,000 acres from Dept. of Natural Resources ownership and management to county ownership and management. You take something that is an asset, that generates dollars, and concert it into a cost liability for the county and school district.

CW: You do not support the Reconveyance?

DE: I have not seen the data yet that shows me I get x amount of water filtration benefit if I keep the land under DNR managment versus y benefit under county management. What’s my percentage of net benefit from the conversion versus net negatives of converting it to campsites and park uses, people driving into that area for recreational uses?

We have spent a huge amount of resources on the landscape management plan for Lake Whatcom, where we have put in place entirely different regulations for timber harvests.

CW: What about Bellingham’s other waterfront? The county has chosen a reduced role in decisions related to the redevelopment of the Georgia-Pacific site. What will be your direction?

DE: The county should play a much larger role.

The county was hesitant to get involved in some of the tax-increment financing aspects of waterfront redevelopment, which I can understand. But there are other ways the county can put dollars into Bellingham’s waterfront using available economic development funds. I think if you look at the EDI funds, I think money is being wasted on studied and on non-productive uses. I believe county EDI funds should be used for capital construction projects and things that will produce jobs in the future.

More than that, the county needs to show leadership in helping get that redevelopment accomplished, to build a joint game plan to help prioritize projects and funding.

CW: On the issue of capital facilities, what are your thoughts on the jail? Have you a sense of how large a right-sized jail facility should be?

DE: My view is you’d start somewhere around the 500-600 bed range. Just to handle the people who are already in jail, you’d need at least that number.

My vision for the jail is out by the airport somewhere, probably close to I-5, and leave space around it open so that you can relocate existing facilities nearby. You could move the county’s central shop nearby, planning and development services in the long term. In terms of cost-benefit analysis, I think that larger planning would cost out.

Is it a land-use decision? To a certain degree, but I think it is more of a public safety and cost decision, long term. And I think we have to be realistic that you’re never going to be able to site a jail in an existing neighborhood or near a school, particularly the size of facility we’re talking about. So I think we are already pretty limited on the types of property and locations available.

CW: Staying on the topic of public safety, do you support continued unified emergency medical services in Whatcom County?

DE: Four considerations on that: First, we need to be focused in on providing the best quality service we can get at the best cost. Second, the system we have in place right now is not broken—if you pick up a phone and call for response, You are going to get an above average quality of response with a below average response time, no matter where you are in the county. Third, we need to step back from brinksmanship politics that says we are going to divide the system, blow it up, because we have time to get it right. The system is not crumbling. We need to step back and return to assumption number one and continue to create the most cost-effective system we can with the highest quality.

Finally, in terms of restructuring, I believe we can have a system where I can receive my advanced life support service from the provider who is closest. I would like to see the crews in Ferndale, for example, maintain their own call centers. And I would like to see a training system that allows every EMS provider to participate, not just members of [Bellingham Fire District] Local 106. They can be the lead entity, but other districts can retain their own identity and participate in that manner.

I think we can work with the union on this, and get back to the cost drivers, which is what the County Council really needs to focus on.

CW: Pushing a bit further on delivery of social services, you refused to answer a question posed at a recent forum on public positions you have taken on issues like gay rights, women’s rights and women’s reproductive freedoms. Perhaps the question was blunt, but the question remains of how these positions will influence your approach to county government.

DE: If a person asks a respectful question that’s not a setup, I’ll give them a full answer. But I believe the question was phrased as a “When did you stop kicking your dog” question. So I won’t answer a question that begins with a premise I believe is faulty or invalid.

What’s my view on abortion? What’s my view on the Defense of Marriage Act? The key issue is, how do my views there affect my role in county government and the county executive’s office? And the answer, obviously, is it doesn’t.

Obviously, over the years I have been supported by Human Life of Washington, so I am a pro-life person. That’s my view. As county executive, will I be voting in favor of Supreme Court justices to overturn constitutional issues? No, of course not.

As a legislator, I have always supported the Defense of Marriage Act. My record is clear.

When it comes to other issues in Olympia, I was very much against legislation that would have an impact on how our local school districts teach sexual education. I believe as a legislator, it is up to our local school districts to decide that as opposed to a mandate out of Olympia. We don’t have a statewide curriculum for math, but certain groups insist that we have one for sex-ed. I favor local control.

So I think those are important issues to me personally, they are “values” questions that describe the kind of person I am, but as county executive you must represent everybody. It is a diverse community.

CW: You’re not a fan of taxation. How will the county go about financing and paying for various projects?

DE: I believe—and I think I am the only one who is running for this position who believes this—that all tax increases need to go to a vote of the public. I will exercise veto power to make sure that happens. Of course, if the council decides they want to override that veto, they have that option through a supermajority.

But once you make that determination that you will not raise taxes, you go through your priorities of government process, your priority-based budgeting, to figure out hat must be done and how you’ll go about doing it. If you’re unable to do that, then you need to go out to the public in order to make your case that you need additional revenues. But I think if we do our job correctly, we won’t have to.

CW: Do you support the creation of a citizen’s panel to study the salaries of elected officials?

DE: Not only to study them, to set them.

CW: Would you accept a pay cut as county executive in the event they decided that position was paid too much?

DE: Yes. One thing that is important is to lead by example.

At the state level, salaries can only go up, not down. So I think we’ll have to look at our charter to make sure the commission has a flexibility to set salaries the state does not have.

CW: How do you respond to criticism that you will be a partisan force in county leadership?

DE: I believe, fundamentally, the way you approach issues is by creating opportunities for people to win.

“Conservative” and “liberal” are labels, and I don’t think anyone fits neatly into an all-conservative or all-liberal framework. When candidates meet at public forums, I am often surprised by how much agreement there is. That’s an important piece in what it takes to build a community.

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