It is time for a change!!!
Don’t you feel it. Don’t you want it. Don’t you know that now is the time for a change?
District 1 Commissioner has been a Republican for as long as I have been here, 32 years. I am a Democrat. We need a change.
We need a new more progressive approach. The same problems we were facing in the early 90’s, we are still facing today. Local Republicans like to maintain the status quo, because their special interest groups profit that way.
"If elected, I will protect those rights"
Skagit County Government has spent many millions of dollars on outside attorney fees, defending the status quo, defending the interests of those who want to develop in the rural areas.
I fought for our quality of life in the 90’s, by fighting to implement the Growth Management Act. The GMA has been good for our County. We have stopped sprawl, and have saved farmland, and have preserved much of our natural resources for the future. Yet the our local government keeps going back to court to defend their right to develop our valley.
These people cloak themselves under the cover of “property rights”, the right to do whatever I want with my property. What about the “right” of each citizen in Skagit County to enjoy the quality of life we have now without worrying about their neighbor building track homes, or dumping sewage on your property, or create a pile of garbage in your backyard.
If elected, I will protect those rights. You as a citizen will have the “right” to public hearings on any changes, a hearing that is fair, transparent, open and democratic. You will have the right to decide your destiny for your neighborhood.
My opponent, Ron Wesen, was President of the local Skagit County Chapter of the Washington Farm Bureau in 2006, the year that the Farm Bureau created and tried to pass initiative #933 in Washington, the “Property Rights” initiative. This initiative would have rolled back land regulation to pre 1996 and required government to compensate landowners if regulations lowered their property values. This same law in Oregon has shown that what actually happens is regulation stops, because government can not afford to pay. Sprawl and the loss of farmland return and so we lose control of our own destiny. Ron Wesen supported that initiative.
The same people who support Ron Wesen, are  the very same who supported Initiative 933 and the blanket 2 ½ acre zoning on South Fidalgo Island. Initiative 933 lost by a 78% to 22% vote in Skagit County. The people in Skagit County have the right to decide their own destiny. I want to sit down with all folks, and with a process that serves the interest of all citizens (not just special interests), decide what we want our County to look like in 2030. I support Ken Dahlstedt who is a farmer and represents farmers. Do we really need another farmer as Commissioner, when farmers are only 6% of the population in Skagit County?
Personally, I want a County that protects its natural resources, not just because we eat them, or make lumber from them, but also because we breathe them and smell them and cohabitate with them. I want a County that cares about its citizens, that provides the proper care for us, as in mental health and in transportation. I want a thriving business climate, because it takes money to protect what we have, and because given opportunity, people will create the jobs we need, and all kinds of wonderful things for our community. And mostly, I just want for people to say that we, as a community, are doing the best we can to protect all of this incredible quality of life for our grandchildren and their children.
Ron is just the new Don (Munks). We cannot afford to just maintain the status quo. We have a large budget shortfall and growing. We have many problems and issues that need resolution. I, Bill Turner, will work very hard to balance the budget, to seek long term solutions to the problems that keep appearing again and again, to bring cities and county together to protect us from flooding. I have worked in the Anacortes City Council and have a vision for “livable” cities.
We must come together as a community, Tribes, cities, farmers, city dwellers and build mutual respect and trust, to allow us to move forward. I believe that we can achieve what we want and need for the future, if we can build a community for the future with the foundation blocks from all the diverse people in Skagit County.
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