{"id":762,"date":"2026-05-07T19:11:38","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T19:11:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brucecampaign.org\/?p=762"},"modified":"2026-07-27T07:51:56","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T07:51:56","slug":"thurston-pud-commissioner-questionnaire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brucecampaign.org\/?p=762","title":{"rendered":"Thurston PUD Commissioner Questionnaire"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>What is your educational and career background, and how does this qualify you for the office of PUD Commissioner?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019ve always been curious about learning how things work and why, although traditional education has been difficult maybe because I was diagnosed with ADD in high school. Eventually, I graduated from Evergreen State College, where I thrived, with a focus in Ecology, Political Economics and Latin America Studies. But it was a long journey. Previously, I went to Virginia Commonwealth University to study journalism. Where I managed to flunk out after a year, while at the same time distinguishing myself with an award for my work on the twice a week student newspaper.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Like many working class millennials, my career path doesn\u2019t follow a straight line. My dream of being a journalist came against a tidal wave of layoffs. I kept at it with the odd byline in various publications as well as helping struggling local orgs produce their papers, like the Sierra Club and eventually the Green Pages. Plus several years learning graphic design while working at copy and print shops. These communications skills served me well for my later work for nonprofits, grassroots movements and political campaigns. While these positions rarely paid the bills, they do offer qualifications useful for taking on the role of PUD Commissioner.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019ve also worked labor jobs over the years that give me a certain differentiating qualification for PUD Commissioner. For example, I remember on 9\/11 I was digging ditches and laying irrigation pipes in Virginia. I served two years in Americorps doing environmental restoration and trail work as a Crew Member for EarthCorps and Crew Leader for Mountains to Sound Greenway. Following that I was a Site Supervisor for Colorado 14ers on their Mt. Massive trail crew. When I went to Evergreen, I worked as a student aid in the wood shop <a href=\"https:\/\/autovoid.blogspot.com\/\">and also cemented my car into the parking lot to protest climate change.<\/a> I\u2019ve built ecologically friendly houses, done roof work, been a handyman, backyard mechanic, and spent a number of years as an arborist. Now, I work as a North Thurston Public Schools Transportation Specialist, member of PSE SEIU Local 1948, as a Stagehand, member of IATSE Local 15. At the end of the day, the Thurston PUD is a small water utility with about 25 staff, having someone who knows what the actual labor is like as a PUD Commissioner is a very useful and cost saving thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\" start=\"2\">\n<li><strong>Why are you running for P.U.D. Commissioner?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Maintaining pure, protected water is the sacred duty of the PUD and it would be a great honor to be chosen for that role.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Twelve years ago, I played a tiny role in the Thurston Public Power Initiative, which would have allowed the PUD to provide electricity instead of just water. This people-powered initiative was lost when the private foreign owned electric utilities outspent our campaign by 20 times. That same 2012 ballot featured a choice for PUD Commissioner, which was won by the current incumbent who was also supported by the foreign owned power companies.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019ve learned a lot about the PUD since then and I no longer think it makes sense for the Thurston PUD to go into electricity. There are several reasons for this.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>The interest rates have gone up substantially, so bonds to build or buy would be more costly.\u00a0<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>The energy market is changing towards solar, renewables, smart grids and energy storage, which either necessitates large infrastructure projects or, conversely, very small individualized solar installations.<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>The Thurston PUD has expanded in recent years and is doing well as a water utility. Water deserves its full focus considering the challenges ahead and a prolonged fight to go into electricity right now would distract it from that work.\u00a0<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is my sincere position after great thought on the matter. Let me be clear, it\u2019s a travesty that in 2008 PSE was sold to Macquarie Group Limited, an Australian global financial services group who a decade later sold PSE to Canadian and Danish Investment Funds. It is hard to know what is going on with PSE because there are about 5 levels of shell companies holding the company. I think that it\u2019s dangerous and downright tyrannous for our electric utility to be owned by nameless foreign global asset management funds. Why people believe we should send our money out of the country, to these faceless global elites who don\u2019t care if we freeze in the dark and cold, is beyond me. I would like to see that rectified but it will ultimately have to be a statewide or federal effort. Thurston PUD going alone against these behemoths is not the solution.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Obviously, I wasn\u2019t planning to run. However, I have run campaigns before. I was even elected as a PCO once upon a time. I also know the Thurston PUD as an organization, including some of the staff and PUD Commissioner Stearns. I believed that I could do a great job, definitely better than the current incumbent. So after conferring with a handful of folks over a short couple of days, I jumped in and declared my candidacy.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\" start=\"3\">\n<li><strong>What ideas do you have to keep rates at the lowest level possible?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Keeping rates as low as possible is my natural inclination. I also think that we should look into what we charge for people who use more water than normal households. I\u2019m all about efficiency of resources, productive use of time, planning ahead for smooth operations and keeping an eye out for other revenue streams. I also want to engage youth and local community members in volunteer service.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\" start=\"4\">\n<li><strong>What is your opinion of the current and future financial viability of the P.U.D?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The PUD is doing well enough financially. I think we had a period of expansion, including new debt, that is probably slowing down. The interest rate on the debt is likely pretty good, although I\u2019d like to check up on that. We are dealing with a lot of old water systems, which means higher maintenance and replacement costs but the PUD has newer equipment like trucks. I expect the PUD to continue to do well and I am happy that the PUD also has a good amount of savings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\" start=\"5\">\n<li><strong>What innovations would you propose to improve and protect our water resources?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The PUD seems good at water testing and I would like to see if the PUD can do more water testing for other public and private water systems in Thurston County. I know they already sometimes do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\" start=\"6\">\n<li><strong>What are the greatest threats to the sustainability of our water supplies and how would you confront them?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s wild that when I moved here over 20 years ago the thought of Western Washington having water shortages seemed insane, yet today we\u2019re seeing problems starting to arise. New developments are going to have water permit problems. Wells are having to be dug deeper. Snowpacks and glaciers are receding earlier. Atmospheric rivers are starting to be a new normal. We\u2019ve got trouble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Confronting them will be tough. It\u2019ll take all of us working together. Chester Morse Reservoir, which provides Seattle much of its water, was envisioned in 1889 with the first part completed by 1901. Surely today the people of Thurston County can put our vastly more powerful resources together to come up with new solutions. There are lots of innovative solutions that use cutting edge and appropriate technology as well, from desalinization to ice stupas. We should look at them all in collaboration with the local colleges. Plus there is good old fashion conservation. Green lawns are not the way forward when it comes to water conservation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\" start=\"7\">\n<li><strong>How would you promote transparency at the P.U.D.?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The PUD is already very transparent. It has a group of volunteer citizens that currently advise it on rates. It\u2019s a small organization, with a three person publicly elected board, public meetings anyone can attend and is subject to all the normal public records requests. I\u2019d ask concerned citizens to compare the transparency of the PUD to the that of the foreign owned electric utility. If a powerful foreign corporation, that isn&#8217;t transparent hardly at all, demands burdensome transparency from public agencies that it intends to interfere with, manipulate or control, then it would be a mistake or a collusion for a publicly elected official to simply roll over. While all things deserve honesty from public officials, only the majority of things demand transparency. Sometimes the greater good demands investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\" start=\"8\">\n<li><strong>How would you ensure that P.U.D. employees are treated fairly and responsibly?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019m a worker myself. I am glad to be a member of two unions where I get treated fairly and with respect from my employer. Neither of the unions I am a part of deal with water utility workers and it\u2019s not my role to organize the workers to form a union. It is my job to make sure they are treated fairly and responsibly, as well as the customers and management. That is something I will do regardless and informed by the best practices that I have experienced by being a union worker and by my years of experience working for very good and very bad employers. Having spoken with PUD staff and Commissioners, I feel that the PUD currently treats its employees fairly and responsibly, but it can certainly always improve. One particular area I\u2019d like to help is in bringing a stronger sense of purpose to the people who work for the PUD. It\u2019s important work that matters for now and in the future. Water is life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\" start=\"9\">\n<li><strong>Do you think that the P.U.D. should assume a role in providing electricity?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">My late great dear friend <a href=\"https:\/\/powertothepublic.org\/index.php\/2020\/01\/07\/tom-nogler-the-late-great\/\">Tom Nogler<\/a> thought that having a foreign owned monopoly electric utility was untenable in a democracy made of proud independent people. He worked hard to change that. I did as well, both in 2012 and as recently as 2020 with the second attempt at a Thurston Public Power Initiative put forward by Power to the Public that I managed. Because of that, I\u2019m one of the most feared citizens of the energy company profiteers raking in the thousands or millions off their ownership or goonish support of PSE. They are an extremely powerful enemy. However, they aren\u2019t the first or the last powerful corporation that I\u2019ve made the enemy list of and their back dealing doesn\u2019t dissuade me.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Despite my intense belief that PSE should be wrestled away from its foreign owners that never should have been allowed to take them over in the first place, this PUD should not assume a role in providing electricity here. Not now, not in the near term and likely not ever. I went into details on the reasons why in a different answer but to recap: interest rates, changing energy systems and focusing on water is plenty.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019ve thought this way for a long time. Even before 2020, when I brought the Thurston Public Power Initiative back from the dead and into the hands of an effective community group with far greater experience, which Covid lockdowns destroyed. I ran the initiative here in 2020 after figuring out that a group called East King County PUD was forming to create a public power initiative there. I did it out of solidarity for them. I understood, better than they did, that they were about to get royally screwed. By running an initiative in Thurston that same year I would force the foreign corporation to divide its efforts at supplanting democracy. It seemed the right thing to do. Of the possible outcomes, the one where we both won was the least likely. The most likely scenario was both losing. However, sowing the seeds of understanding that we were sending a forever tithe via our electric bill to foreign asset management funds, was worth it to me.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Had we won though, I\u2019d have been thrilled. We\u2019d have had ten years from that point for the PUD to start selling someone electricity. My interest would\u2019ve been for the PUD to install some solar panels on their building, buy a heavy duty biodiesel generator and provide itself and its pump houses, maybe some neighbors, some electricity. At least at first. Where to go from there, who knows, but I wouldn\u2019t want to jump into a protracted legal battle with PSE for its assets right away, at least not alone. Besides, much of their assets are old junk because rather than building a cutting edge smart grid, they\u2019ve been taking our money out of the state to their foreign overlords.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\" start=\"10\">\n<li><strong>Do you think that the P.U.D. should assume a role in providing broadband internet?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Broadband was the mission of the last candidate that ran against this incumbent in 2018. While the backbone of our internet should be publicly owned rather than be held by another monopoly utility, that doesn\u2019t mean that this PUD should do it. Did you all know that Mason County has two PUDs? One focuses on water, the other on electricity. Form a new PUD to take on these other utility considerations. Or demand your city, county and state government actually make your life better by creating at least a public option against these monopoly private utilities. Don\u2019t expect this PUD Commissioner candidate to challenge COMCAST alone!\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019ll vocally support any grassroots effort for public broadband that&#8217;s organized towards the state government rather than the PUD. If it makes sense by state mandate for the PUDs to take over broadband, then, as long as the state gives the full backing necessary, I\u2019ll deliver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\" start=\"11\">\n<li><strong>What can the P.U.D. do to become more socially responsible.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The PUD is by definition socially responsible. What I think this really means is what can the PUD do to become more SERIOUS on its social responsibility. I\u2019m a very serious person. The US is in decline, the biosphere is in calamitous territory, the children are in a terrible confusion, the economy is being held together by people\u2019s imagination and we\u2019re in World War version 2.9 but people are waiting for version 3.0 to buy it! <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That is my assessment of current reality. Most candidates would rather stay in denial about what&#8217;s going on. There are personal incentives for kicking the cans down the road, we all do it to some degree, but leaders are the ones that say enough is enough. I feel very strongly that right now, we cannot afford to delay any further the concerted, difficult and tough effort needed to restore the public infrastructure of this country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As PUD Commissioner, if there is a house in Thurston County that doesn\u2019t have clean affordable water, then I believe the PUD should share some responsibility to act to fix that. Definitely a smaller responsibility than the other larger utilities here, but we should all be competing on who can do more for the greater good, efficiently, with less. If it takes me being out there crawling under the houses that are without water, attaching new sources from PUD pipes, then that&#8217;s what I&#8217;ll do. Act by example, whether most people see it or not. Eventually enough people will do the same and the job will get done.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\">I\u2019ve always been curious about learning how things work and why, although traditional education has been difficult maybe because I was diagnosed with ADD in high school. Eventually, I graduated from Evergreen State College, where <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/brucecampaign.org\/?p=762\" title=\"Thurston PUD Commissioner Questionnaire\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":737,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,122,1],"tags":[4,129,9,131,2,128,124,132],"class_list":["post-762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-commentary","category-thurston-pud","category-uncategorized","tag-bruce-wilkinson","tag-commissioner","tag-election","tag-lacey","tag-olympia","tag-pud","tag-thurston","tag-tumwater"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brucecampaign.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brucecampaign.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brucecampaign.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brucecampaign.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brucecampaign.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=762"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/brucecampaign.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/762\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":850,"href":"https:\/\/brucecampaign.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/762\/revisions\/850"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brucecampaign.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brucecampaign.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brucecampaign.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brucecampaign.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}