There has been no love lost between County Commissioner Candidates for District 1 Marc Doney and Nick Timm, who have been accusing one another of unethical practices during the campaign. Tensions flared again at the candidate forum at the Twisp Valley Grange Thursday night, after a question on which committee each candidate would be most interested in serving.
“I would look forward to, first and foremost, working with those that are dealing with property rights and water rights,” said Doney. “I think that as citizens of this nation, if we don’t have property rights, we’re basically not citizens. That’s a big deal to me, and I think it’s a big deal to a lot of people. It’s a big deal to our agriculture communities, so I look forward to working on that effort.”
Timm raised his paddle in rebuttal.
“I’d just like to point out that over the past three months, in coordination with the Michael Heath campaign, Marc Doney has worked to, in an attempt to strip me not only of my property rights, but also my voting rights. They were trying to get me evicted from my home. I just want that to be out there. This is reflected in the newspaper, this went to the canvassing board at the county level. So, when he says he supports property rights, this is actually what he does.”
Doney did not respond and both men continued to answer questions by forum moderator George Schneider.
Tension between Doney and Timm also came to the surface in September in Doney’s written responses to questions submitted by Methow Valley Examiner. When asked about some things he learned during his campaign, Doney wrote:
"My eyes have truly been opened, ‘cause [sic] I have learned just how “dirty” politics can actually be. From the very beginning I have purposefully run my campaign on policies & a platform. My opponent, on the other hand, has from the very beginning run a campaign based in, as I said, dirty politics. He and his supporters have verbally attacked my family, stolen thousands and thousands of dollars’ worth of my signs, filed numerous fallacious complaints with the PDC, accused me of running an illegal business with church funds and property, attempted to disparage my law enforcement career, accused me of repeatedly beating my wife, “…black and blue,” and much more. The proverbial mudslinging, as they say, has indeed become so prevalent I feel like I need to put on veritable hip-waders nearly every time I leave the house.
And either he or his supporters have even gone so far as to create fake social media accounts just so they can attempt to disparage my business AND our church through online comments and reviews, and pretend that they have either done business with me (wherein I supposedly screwed them over), or have supposedly attended our services (wherein I am asking people to worship me and running some kind of cult). It’s been absolutely ridiculous, underhanded, and outright juvenile to say the least and speaks volumes of the kind of immature character one can expect to be brought with them into Public Office."
Timm denied the allegations but chose not to respond.
Timm defeated three challenges by Okanogan County resident Naomi Peasley, who claimed Timm’s address on his voter registration is invalid. Peasley is engaged to Heath, who also filed a challenge.
Peasley and Heath claimed Timm’s address is in a commercial building unpermitted for residential use. They claimed Timm, a property developer, used this address instead of a longtime address in District 2 so that he could run for county commissioner in District 1. Candidates must reside in the district they are running in.
Timm appeared before the canvassing board Sept. 12 and said there was an apartment in the building before he purchased it. He testified that he made improvements to the space and gave a tour of his living quarters to members of the Okanogan County Republican Party, two of whom confirmed at the hearing the presence of an apartment. He also submitted pictures of his living space to the canvassing board and said he is working with the county on permitting the space for residential use. He said his renovations did not require a permit.
“It’s a fairly common thing, at least in this race, for this to come up and to my knowledge, all three candidates for District 1 were checked out to ensure we meet the requirements to hold office in District 1,” Timm wrote in an email in August. “Maybe this will even open up a conversation about property zoning within the county!”
The Canvassing Board ruled that Peasley and Heath did not have “clear, cogent and convincing” proof that Timm did not reside in the Crowder Building.
Furthermore, the canvassing board ruled that Peasley’s and Heath’s claims would not have disqualified Timm from running.
“The fact that Nick Timm residing at this address may be a code violation or that he may be living in a commercially zoned building instead of a residentially zoned building is irrelevant to our consideration. This state’s election laws recognize that a person cannot be disqualified to vote because he or she “lacks a traditional residential address.” RCW 29A.08.112.
The ruling continued, “For purposes of voter registration, an unmarked home qualifies as a non-traditional address.” RCW 29A.08.112(2)
A full interview with Timm can be found here and with Doney here.
A video of the forum with Timm and Doney can be found here.
