A capacity crowd of 200 packed the Sequim Prairie Grange Thursday night for the Calico Cat Club’s candidate conversation, leaving others outside as doors closed early. Challenger Jake Seegers repeatedly cited local data and common-sense alternatives while Commissioner Mike French defended existing programs, higher fees, and new taxes. Voters now face a clear choice: change, or four more years of the same approach.
A Packed Grange and a Clear Choice
The Calico Cat Club’s Candidate Conversation drew a standing-room-only crowd to the Sequim Prairie Grange on Thursday evening. Organizers admitted 200 people before closing the doors, leaving others waiting outside.
A technical glitch prevented a live stream, but the full recording is available on YouTube.
Two Different Opening Messages
Both candidates kept opening remarks brief. French highlighted his local roots, small-business background, and desire for housing and jobs across the income spectrum. Seegers, who moved to the peninsula 7 years ago to raise his family, said he is running to restore public safety, economic growth, fiscal responsibility, affordability, and trust in local government through common-sense leadership.
Respect for Public Comment—in the Room and Online
Public comment drew a sharp contrast. French said he values public input and models respect after 8½ years in office (12:00). Yet as chair of the Board of Health, he previously posted on Facebook that it was “incredible” the public “really think their nonsense should be convincing. Like, if the Board of Health had had a public hearing and let them voice their positions, the decision would have been different?”
The statements undercut his claim of respect for those who take time to participate.
Public Safety, Overdoses, and Who Pays the Bill
On public safety and drugs, Seegers cited specific county numbers: overdose deaths rose more than 500 percent from 2018 to 2024, far outpacing state and national increases, and remain more than 200 percent higher despite a recent dip (31:31). He argued current harm-reduction practices enable rather than reduce harm, pointing to 12,000 encounters versus only 27 inpatient assessments (16:21 and 1:11:00).
Seegers called for returning to one-for-one syringe exchange plus Narcan, prioritizing detox and inpatient treatment, ending outdoor living on public land, and measuring outcomes such as recovery and self-sufficiency instead of inputs like pipes and syringes distributed. (42:05).
French described harm reduction as the “practical” approach backed by evidence and pointed to investments in treatment plus upcoming Port Angeles police officers paid for by a new sales tax. He said the county should consider a similar tax increase (17:00 and 40:51). Seegers argued the opposite: prioritize public safety by reducing the $33 million law-and-justice burden through enforcement and treatment that actually moves people off the street, rather than asking taxpayers for more (1:16:36, 1:56:25).
French observed that addiction causes people to do things they would never otherwise do (1:47:12). He nevertheless supports a county program that provides shower vouchers to active drug users who are homeless so they can use the William Shore Pool, a family facility.
Tariffs, the Forks Mill, and a Record of Competence
French denied that the Riverside Forest Products, a Canadian-owned mill soon to open in Forks, was driven by tariffs, attributing it to the company’s internal decisions (46:50). However, Peninsula Daily News previously reported Clallam County Economic Development Council Executive Director Colleen McAleer telling commissioners the company faced “tariff issues and supply issues” and that locating in Forks was of benefit for those reasons.
French said the public is “yearning for competence” (46:22). That line resonated with attendees familiar with his record. He served on the William Shore Pool board during a period when the executive director was found to have taken tens of thousands in public dollars; the State Auditor cited a lack of basic financial controls. French also declined grant funding that would have allowed Towne Road to be surfaced at no cost to the county, resulting in a $1.5 million bill for local taxpayers.
Housing Promises Versus Delivery
French cited Habitat for Humanity’s veterans project as a code-enforcement success story that transferred blighted private property to an NGO for affordable housing (59:01). At a Port Angeles debate last month, he described the process more bluntly:
“When I was on the city council, I advocated for the city to take a more active role in blighted properties. That resulted in the city attempting to forcibly acquire a property on Fairmount Avenue. That, us making the push, you know, saying ‘we’re going to take this property from you through legal means because you have failed in these ways,’ that motivated the property owner to sell to Habitat for Humanity. It’s now a fourplex that’s going to be veterans’ housing… when markets don’t have an answer for it, the public sector does, sometimes, have the ability to step in and say ‘hey, this is how we’re going to get it done.’ Those are the tools that I have experience using and I think that we should continue to use.”
That is the model French is proud of: government pressure to “motivate” a private owner to sell to an NGO, with seizure held out as the next step. Code enforcement and, in some cases, the health officer already have tools to address problem properties without elected officials deciding whose investment should be taken and handed to a favored nonprofit.
Habitat purchased the main Fairmount Avenue lot in February 2022 after a November 2021 bid. An adjacent lot followed in November 2023. Groundbreaking was expected in early 2024. Four years after the first purchase, the four-unit Ketchum Veteran Cottages still are not complete. That is the timeline French calls success: slower delivery than the private market, after government leaned on a property owner to sell.
In other words, Mike French believes in property rights, as long as you are using property according to his standards.
Grants, Tribes, and Public Lands
On the Recompete grant, Seegers noted that 25 percent of the funding ($8.2 million of $35 million) is directed to 5 percent of the population in the tribes and asked why local small businesses could not have received similar help, such as a hydroseeding truck (1:02:30). French offered no rebuttal.
Asked about transferring the Dungeness Wildlife Refuge into tribal trust, French said he could not comment without seeing draft legislation (1:31:42). Seegers answered immediately: “I don’t need to see the legislation. It’s an easy answer. I don’t support it” (1:32:44). Seegers also noted that, “the Jamestown tribe already owns the refuges. We all do. It’s for all of us. Leave it that way.”
Ideology, Canvassers, and What Happened Outside the Door
French repeatedly accused Seegers of approaching issues from an “ideological” perspective while describing himself as practical (35:18). Seegers repeatedly cited county-specific data and conversion rates. French, running as a Democrat, has relied on Indivisible—an organization known for ideological messaging—to produce stickers and conduct neighborhood canvassing. Indivisible’s local effort is backed by the League of Women Voters.
Indivisible members attended the event and attempted to steer discussion toward the 2020 federal election and national topics rather than county issues. One questioner asked both candidates whether they believed the 2020 election was stolen (1:49:25). Another asked about personal contributions to the Heritage Foundation or Project 2025-aligned groups (1:42:00). Seegers declined to answer questions he viewed as intended to divide the county along party lines (1:51:03).
French did not condemn the Indivisible “Handmaidens”, who lined the Grange entrance wearing masks and holding signs such as “Beware of MAGA posing as independent” and “Keep Texas $ out of Clallam County.”
The “Shotgun Sermon” and Free Speech
French, who has described himself as a free-speech absolutist, demanded an apology from Seegers over a 2024 church talk widely circulated as the “skunk sermon” or “shotgun sermon.” Seegers explained it was a metaphor for voting and civic engagement, not a call to violence (50:14). French returned to the clip multiple times rather than staying on current local topics.
French called on everyone to condemn violent rhetoric and said public officials should calm the temperature rather than divide people (48:05). He has not applied that standard to stickers comparing Seegers to Charlie Kirk or to blood-stained signs comparing his opponent to Trump.
While French and Indivisible spent much of the night circling a 2024 church video, no one asked French about his past support for property destruction in the name of societal change.
The focus stayed on Seegers’ metaphor rather than on whether the incumbent’s own record matches the civility and respect for property he claimed on stage.
Church, State, and a $118,000 Parking Deal
Asked about separation of church and state, French said he believes in it as a longstanding American ideal (1:24:05). That principle looks different in county contracting. French approved a county contract sending more than $118,000 to Sequim’s Trinity United Methodist Church for a “safe parking” program that covers just three parking spaces—nearly $40,000 per space.
The church then pays OlyCAP, the NGO whose board French sits on. The arrangement moves taxpayer money through a church and to a favored NGO, outside public view. Voters can decide whether that matches the separation of church and state French described on stage.
Change or More of the Same
The evening repeatedly returned to a single question for voters: do they want change or more of the same? Seegers argued that current approaches have made Clallam County a destination for homelessness and substance-abuse problems while raising fees and taxes. French pointed to incremental investments and collaboration. The recording lets residents judge the contrast for themselves.
Stay Engaged: Westbay Development
Westbay developer Casey Roloff and the Seabrook team are asking residents to show up at the Sequim Planning Commission meeting on Tuesday, September 1 at 5:30 p.m. in the Sequim City Council chambers. The proposed 600-home development near John Wayne Marina has drawn sharp debate over water supply, ecological impacts, and large-scale building in a rural part of Sequim. Whatever side you are on, consider attending so you can hear the facts firsthand and stay involved.
The 'skunk video' issue still doesn't sit right with me. Seegers explicitly addresses the context of the 'Shotgun Sermon' on his website, and the debate missed a major opportunity to clarify this: my understanding is that these remarks were made during the church's announcement period, not as part of an actual sermon.
If that’s true, Seegers is absolutely right to frame this as a freedom of speech issue. It also makes French’s demand for an apology seem deeply contradictory, especially coming from someone who claims to be a free-speech absolutist.
That audience question was clearly designed as a 'gotcha' about the separation of church and state. But if we acknowledge the actual context—community announcements rather than formal pastoral instruction—both candidates should theoretically be on the exact same side of the underlying principles here: protecting free speech and maintaining the separation of church and state.
Am I missing something here?
Thank you for this roundup, Jeff! Stark differences in both philosophy and approach have been highlighted. The key for implementing change in this election will be in voter turnout. If you support Jake and the change he represents, it is incumbent upon you to remind friends and neighbors how important each and every vote is, and to encourage them to cast their ballot rather than sit on the sidelines.