Welcome to Barkhuis.com

As your County Treasurer, I developed new internal controls and successfully turned over your $99.5 million in taxpayer reserve funds to my successor, restoring trust to the Treasurer’s office. As your Prosecuting Attorney, I promise to likewise restore trust to the Prosecutor’s office.

To protect your rights, I will remain true to my oath of office, my oath as an attorney, and my oath as a naturalized citizen to support and defend constitutional and statutory rule of law, and I will recruit deputies to provide professional, conflict-free, and above-board advice and representation to your other county public servants.

To reduce your property tax burden, I will review the Prosecutor’s budget for savings and aggressively pursue collection of all amounts due under the County’s interlocal and franchise contracts. I will work collaboratively, but firmly, with the Board of County Commissioners and their new County Administrator to review the County’s administration of its policies, the County’s management of its personnel, and the County’s relationship with the Washington Counties Risk Pool.

And to protect the public safety, I will carry my own case load and prosecute offenses against the most vulnerable among us from the first day on the job.

“I promise to restore trust to the Prosecutor’s Office.”

Elected Experience: Clallam County Treasurer (Jan 2011-Dec 2017); Charter Review Commissioner (2015).

Other Professional Experience: Certified mediator since 1993; licensed to practice law since 1994 (WSBA 24139); lawyer in private practice specializing in family and criminal defense law (1995-2002); Senior planner with Clallam County Department of Community Development (2003-2010).

Education: University of Washington law degree (1994); University of Washington masters degree (1990, recipient NASA Space Grant Fellowship); Grand Canyon University bachelors degree (1989, chemistry).

Community service: Pro Bono Publico (“for the public good”) Award from Clallam-Jefferson Pro Bono Lawyers (2012); Distinguished Service Award from Clallam County Pro Bono Lawyers (1996); President Clallam County Bar Association (2000, 2019).

Accomplishments as Treasurer:  

• Immediately on taking office, I developed new security measures as well as internal controls and accounting procedures.
• I managed budgeted expenditures of about $1 million per year with minimal  increases in operation expenses and staffing.
• I chaired quarterly county finance committee meetings and moved them from the treasurer’s conference room to the board of county commissioners boardroom so that they could be live-streamed and recorded to improve transparency and accountability.
• I developed and published the annual Tax and Timber Report to reduce the serious misinformation that was circulating regarding the county’s finances.
• I steadfastly defended your rights as taxpayers, so much so that Mark Nichols himself referred to me as “an ardent champion” of taxpayer rights.
• And I successfully turned over $99.5 million in reserve funds when I vacated the office.

In contrast, consider the “accomplishments” of incumbent Mark Nichols:

• Nichols was a defendant in an age and gender discrimination case that alleged he treated women in the Prosecutor’s Office in a hostile, demeaning and condescending manner that was settled at a cost to the taxpayers of at least $1.6 million plus attorney’s fees.
• Nichols was the legal adviser to OPNET in a civil forfeiture case where the trial judge found reckless disregard of the truth and governmental mismanagement costing the taxpayers at least $300,000 in attorney’s fees and fines.
• Nichols was a defendant in the Lange public records case that alleged he and his deputies repeatedly and wrongfully withheld large amounts of public records that were relevant to Mr. Lange’s nuisance land use case against his neighbor.  Violating some very basic rules, defendant Mark Nichols and his deputies settled not only the public records case, but also Mr. Lange’s civil case against his neighbor, obviously to prevent that case going forward to trial and outing Mark Nichols’ complete disregard for the rule of law.  All of which at a cost to county taxpayers of well over $500,000 in reserve funds plus attorney’s fees.
• And Nichols is currently the defendant in a sexual harassment case (the trial for which he managed to get postponed until after the election)  in which he has admitted that he spent many (taxpayer funded) hours a day for months at a time pursuing his married office manager while in the courthouse and on the job, at a cost to the taxpayers of  how much more?

Choose carefully.  Your taxpayer dollars and your rights depend on it!

Thank you for your vote!

And please consider donating to my campaign!