Clallam County's clandestine culture coup

Tax scheme exposes broken promises and backroom politics

A leaked email reveals a secret plan by county commissioners and special interests to pass a new arts tax—without a public vote. This tax could siphon taxpayer dollars to state-run organizations and redefine our cultural legacy, while long-standing traditions like the County Fair face budget cuts. Are the commissioners prioritizing elite agendas over the voices of the people?

A new tax is coming—and you won’t get to vote on it.

Behind closed doors, Clallam County commissioners and well-connected arts executives are quietly orchestrating a plan to impose a new "Culture Access Tax" without a public vote. Leaked emails reveal a coordinated campaign by special interests to pack commissioner meetings with handpicked supporters while marginalizing dissenters and dodging meaningful public engagement.

The deception isn’t just in how this tax is being pushed—it’s in what it reveals: that the county’s own mission statement has become little more than lip service.

The quiet campaign to bypass the public

An email from David Herbelin, Executive Director of Olympic Theater Arts in Sequim, lays out the strategy in stark terms:

“Once this topic comes back up on the Commissioners’ table, they expect the vocal minority to protest its adoption during the public comment portion of the weekly Commissioner’s Board Meetings. A Commissioner requested that we have 2-3 people present to make public comments in support of the initiative at each of these meetings starting March 25th until the [sic] finally gets voted on up to six weeks later.”

But the email doesn’t start there. It begins with a plea from Herbelin last month to “undisclosed recipients“:

“After a long campaign, we are expecting some positive forward movement happening next week. The Commissioners will be bringing the topic back up for discussion at their weekly Work Session on Monday, March 24th. If those Commissioners whom I’ve spoken with maintain the support they have offered me, we may be in the final stretch of this new initiative becoming a reality.”

Herbelin wasn’t writing to the public. He was emailing a group of “undisclosed recipients” asking for help swaying public meetings—before the public even knew the tax was back on the table.

One of those recipients was Bruce Skinner, head of the Washington Festivals and Events Association and a board member of both Field Arts & Events Hall and the Port Angeles Symphony Orchestra—organizations that would directly benefit from the tax.

Skinner’s response?

“David, per our conversation, I’m in Cle Elum for a conference with a lot of PA people. I’m going to get them to sign up for future commissioner meetings. Do you have any bullet points that you can send me?”

Herbelin had several bullet points but noted that, while he would attend meetings, he would speak at only one or two.

“We need to combat anything that is said against the issue. Some of it may be listening to the negative public comments and counter-argue them.”

In other words: orchestrated support. Manufactured consent. A carefully scripted public process to make it look like a community-wide groundswell—when really, it’s a whisper campaign by elites.

Redefining heritage

This isn’t about access to the arts. It’s about who gets to define what culture is in Clallam County. Commissioner Mike French has said he sees taxpayer funds being transferred to the North Olympic Salmon Coalition to teach kids how to fish.

When the commissioners introduced this tax last year, it was under the guise of supporting “art and drama therapy in jails.” Now, the same initiative has morphed into a $2 million annual program to be managed by an Olympia-based NGO, ArtsWA, which will skim $160,000 right off the top in administrative fees— that’s big money being sucked out of our economically fragile county.

Advocates say art therapy helps prison inmates process trauma.

The adoption of this new tax will occur through “councilmanic adoption"— a phrase meaning “passing a tax without asking voters.”

Why the rush? Perhaps because voters might not agree with the commissioners' vision of heritage—one that excludes the County Fair and our parks, which are facing the budget axe due to commissioner mismanagement. That fair has been a pillar of local identity for over a century. If the government is cutting that while imposing a new tax to fund handpicked cultural projects, what they're really saying is this: we decide what matters now.

The misleading GDP game

Commissioners Mike French and Mark Ozias are the leading voices pushing this new tax. Commissioner Ozias’ argument hinges on a dramatic statistic: “Arts comprise a larger percentage of our country’s GDP than any other sector except for retail.”

But there’s a catch. That claim draws on national data from Americans for the Arts and other sources that, while highlighting the arts’ economic footprint, conflate nonprofit cultural organizations with broader creative industries like film studios (think Universal Pictures), commercial graphic design firms (like companies that design logos for famous brands), and digital media companies (like Comcast). It also includes indirect spending—restaurant meals, lodging, and parking by arts patrons—as part of the “arts economy.”

“I was interested to learn that Arts comprise a larger percentage of our country’s GDP than any other sector except for retail. So, that’s more than building, more than construction, more than transportation, etcetera. Arts are responsible for 4.31% of the country’s GDP. They are a net-generating industry, and there was a lot of reinforcement that local government is where support for the arts needs to happen. That it should not be left to chance.” — Commissioner Ozias

The truth is more complicated. While it’s accurate that the arts contribute roughly 4.3% to the national GDP, that figure reflects a nationwide ecosystem that includes thriving urban centers and profitable commercial enterprises—not just small-town nonprofits.

Which raises a key question: If the arts are generating billions nationally, why do local nonprofits in Clallam County require public subsidies through a new tax? In a county with far lower economic health than places like King County or Olympia, where similar taxes exist, should we really assume this model fits? If the arts are booming, why not let them stand on their own?

The hypocrisy of the mission statement

Which commissioner requested that Herbelin have 2-3 people make public comments each week? It’s hard to say—Commissioner Mike French initially introduced the idea, Commissioner Mark Ozias recently announced his support for imposing the tax without a vote of the people, and Commissioner Randy Johnson is against the tax increase.

The Clallam County Commissioners' own mission statement promises the following:

1. Putting the translated desires of our residents into action through effective communication

2. Providing comprehensive and exemplary public service levels in a prompt responsive manner

3. Maximizing and enhancing our environmental resources for sustainability and legacy expectations

4. Celebrating the diversity and inclusiveness of our residents’ contributions to our quality of life

But here’s what they’re actually doing:

• Sneaking a tax through without a public vote

• Letting lobbyists write the talking points while ignoring regular residents

• Sending taxpayer money out of the county to Olympia-based administrators

• Sacrificing long-standing traditions like the County Fair in favor of elite-driven cultural programs

This isn’t community engagement—it’s community exclusion. It’s not preservation of legacy—it’s the erasure of it. When public service becomes a conduit for special interests, and when communication becomes backroom emails between insiders, the people lose faith—and rightfully so.

The bottom line

The commissioners aren’t just failing to live up to their mission—they’re actively working against it. They’re handing over our cultural future to state-run organizations and unelected bureaucrats, and doing it all behind closed doors.

The Culture Access Tax isn’t just a bad idea—it’s a betrayal. Not just of fiscal responsibility, but of the democratic process. Not just of heritage, but of community trust.

Before they take another dollar from us, maybe they should start listening to us.

“Many have expressed belief that this work has taken place in private, without informing the public. One core belief I have as an elected official is that local government only works when citizens participate. It troubles me greatly to think that so many feel they have been left out of the process.” — Commissioner Ozias, Facebook, August 2019

“I will prioritize robust public engagement,” promised Mike French during his campaign for County Commissioner.