Conflict of interest

Public money is shuffled to NGOs to do what the commissioners can't

Our county leaders aren’t allowed to favor certain residents based on their skin pigmentation, genetic makeup, or DNA. Not only would that violate their oath to “faithfully and impartially discharge the duties” of their office, but it would be racist. However, what the government is unable to do, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) can, and that may be why county leaders give them your hard-earned tax money.

This week, the Commissioners’ Boardroom erupted in applause when it was announced that the Recompete Pilot Program — a federal program that awards tax dollars to economically depressed regions — decided that Clallam and Jefferson Counties deserve $35 million for being among the top six most economically depressed regions in the US. Our floundering economy competed with other finalists like Appalachian Kentucky and Birmingham, Alabama.

It wasn’t the $50 million Commissioner Mike French and his committee had hoped for, but knowing that 6% goes to administrative costs means that $2,100,000 can create at least a few bureaucratic jobs.

Preliminary plans call for Peninsula College to receive 14% of the grant. Part of the college’s vision is to convert its welding program into a mobile classroom that can travel to remote communities like Quilcene or Sekiu so students can learn a trade without traveling to the Port Angeles campus. Adding tradespeople to our workforce is desperately needed in the region, and welding is such a versatile trade that it could boost local marine, construction, and automotive industries.

The best part is that Peninsula College is open to everyone. Whether you're a 16-year-old in the Running Start program or an unemployed millworker learning a new trade, Peninsula College does not discriminate.

This figure was based on the anticipated $50 million award. The $35 million award equates to $4.9 million.

Compare that amount to the larger 17% slated to go to the North Olympic Development Council (NODC). Adjusted for the new figure, that would be $5.95 million, or over a million more than the college would receive. On its surface, this seems like a sound investment because the NODC’s mission is to “empower the North Olympic Peninsula to pursue and invest in its own economic and environmental destiny.”

While their mission statement doesn’t exclude anyone, the NODC’s plans for the grant money do.

The portion awarded to the NODC will go to sovereign nations to “deepen relationships and begin to repair harms.”

About 3,000 tribal members live in Clallam and Jefferson Counties, and that $5.95 million equates to just under $2,000 per tribal citizen. That leaves about $267 for every other resident in the two counties, including the 193 soon-to-be unemployed McKinley Paper Millworkers.

A growing list of local businesses has either called it quits, announced their closing date, or recently scaled back. Yet our county leaders have decided that prosperity will be achieved by giving roughly 3% of our two-county population 18% of the grant money. “Equality” has been redefined.

A closer look at the NODC

When agencies submitted their proposals showing how the grant money would be used, public organizations like Peninsula College provided a line-by-line accounting of perspective funds. The NODC provided no information but said the money would be used to train and hire grant writers for tribal communities (hopefully, to get grant money to hire yet more grant writers, which could be used to hire more grant writers…)

The NODC is not a public agency and, therefore, has no obligation to disclose the use of taxpayer money. In March, one concerned resident reached out to the organization with questions about the use of taxpayer funds, which was answered by Executive Director Karen Affeld who wrote, “NODC is a private nonprofit corporation with 501c3 status and as such is not subject to the Public Records Act or FOIA [Freedom of Information Act].”

The NODC is a paying member of ICLEI (International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives), a German NGO that, in exchange for paid membership, promotes the ideology that human relationships are to be categorized into “colonized” and “colonizers” and that “new relationships of power” must be created “through reparations.” The NODC’s ties to ICLEI and their promotion of bringing migrants, refugees, and homeless populations to Sequim were exposed in a previous article, “Commissioner gets fact-checked.”

ICLEI offers glossary definitions to paying members, like the NODC. “The colonizer/colonized relationship is by nature an unequal one that benefits the colonizer at the expense of the colonized.”

During a workshop planned by the North Olympic Land Trust to “understand Climate Change Resiliency findings,” the NODC was tasked with assisting in confiscating private beachfront property while ensuring it “is not paying full price for parcels.” The workshop concluded that the land grabbing and eviction of coastal residents could be achieved by updating the Comprehensive Plan, which Clallam County is doing this year. This was recently uncovered in an article titled “Climate change of address.”

When Commissioner Mike French awards $5.95 million to the NODC, he needs only to turn to his left and hand it to the NODC president, fellow Clallam County Commissioner Mark Ozias.

From the NODC website.

Farming out policymaking to NGOs

Commissioners Ozias and French take taxpayer money and funnel it to the corporation headed by President Ozias, the NODC, which is able to draft and influence Comprehensive Plan changes without any input from or visibility to the public. President Ozias is then able to send those recommendations back to county government, where Commissioner Ozias is able to vote on and enact the policy that his institution has drafted.

The conflict of interest is glaringly obvious. However, it’s a clever way to fund, draft, and enact policy without getting local government’s hands dirty.

The trend of funding NGOs to do what the county cannot is growing in popularity:

• The commissioners enacted a property tax called “conservation futures,” which funnels money to an NGO called North Olympic Land Trust. This NGO, a partner in the Towne Road Levee Setback Project, claimed to be unaware that the Jamestown Tribe intended to close Towne Road to the public, but its Board President is the Jamestown Tribe’s Transportation Manager who lobbied heavily for the road’s continued closure. In short, the County couldn’t close Towne Road, but it taxed residents and paid an NGO that had a role in the road’s closure. This was published in the article “North Olympic Land (dis)Trust.”

• Commissioner French favors raising the county sales tax to support “culture and heritage.” He suggested children could learn to fish if the funds were given to the North Olympic Salmon Coalition — an NGO Vice-chaired by Jamestown Tribe’s Natural Resources Director Hansi Hals, who worked with the county to blame the Tribe’s deliberate breach of the Dungeness River dike on the Army Corps of Engineers. Once tax dollars are handed over to the Salmon Coalition (an NGO led by special interests), all visibility to the public disappears.

• When Commissioner Ozias halted the completion of Towne Road, grant money was suddenly unallocated and funneled to the corporation and sovereign nation that funded 53% of his last campaign — the Jamestown Tribe. Attempts to learn about the project’s defunding and use of taxpayer funds have been met with responses from the Jamestown Tribe such as, “We do not take on these types of requests” and “Note that current work is our highest priority, and we’ll be unable to respond further.” When the County hands money and decision-making to special interests, transparency and accountability vaporizes.

• County employee Cheryl Baumann works for the Department of Community Development, which is tasked with managing the completion of Towne Road and reviewing permits requested by county businesses. Baumann is also the manager of an NGO called “North Olympic Lead Entity for Salmon.” Emails published in the article “Fractured Government” revealed that she used her role in the courthouse to actively work against projects led by her department. She also collaborated with the Jamestown Tribe to defeat a small family business that was awaiting permit approval from her department. Baumann is another example of Clallam County working with NGOs to influence policy without transparency or public input.

• The Jamestown Tribe instructed the County to install a costly stormwater mitigation technology for Towne Road that exceeded State standards, and they demanded that the County pay for it. Rather than meet with County leaders in the courthouse where the public could observe their representatives, Commissioners Ozias, French, and DCD Director Bruce Emery traveled to Blyn, where a closed-door meeting was held on a sovereign nation’s land. The Jamestown Tribe is essentially an NGO with tremendous local influence and power that can guide and manipulate local policy without public input or visibility.

Ethics

When there is no transparency, there is no accountability. The abuse of power we see in Clallam County likely would not be tolerated in a county with a Code of Ethics for elected officials. Commissioners rewrote the county’s code and stripped it of any power, which means there are no longer any penalties or enforcement for commissioners’ abhorrent behavior as long as laws are not broken.

In other words, once elected, our officials are accountable to no one, and constituents have no option but to wait for the ballot box in four years.

This lack of accountability has allowed Commissioner Ozias to shut down a small family business he didn’t want operating near his primary residence. It has also emboldened him to halt a $20-million infrastructure project based on fictitious petitions. It may have also inspired Commissioner Ozias to promise that a private project would be paid for with $125,000 in public funds. Without a Code of Ethics, there are no consequences.

Creating a Code of Ethics for elected officials could be an option for county residents. The Charter Review Commission, elected this November, will spend 2025 listening to constituents and determining whether any changes should be made to the Charter (the “Charter” is like a county constitution).

Port Angeles Business Association recently held a forum where District #1 (Sequim area) Charter Review Commission candidates Jeff Tozzer, Susan Fisch, Bill Benedict, Tom Ash, and Jim Stoffer debated upcoming priorities for next year’s Charter Review. Some candidates favor creating a Code of Ethics; others feel it is unnecessary and that Washington State’s laws are sufficient. The debate, posted on the Port Angeles Business Association’s Facebook page, can be viewed here.

Sixty years after the Civil Rights movement, our county leaders and the NODC believe giving preferential treatment to residents based on race, DNA, and genetics is the path to this county’s well-being. While our elected leaders take an oath to serve all constituents “faithfully and impartially,” it’s important to understand that some groups are more faithful and impartial than others.