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As I explained to Paul Gottlieb of the Peninsula Daily News today, from my perspective I am being quite charitable in referring to Mark Nichols as a rat, considering that he threatened to sue me, arranged to have me sued, and actually sued me, all for very wrong reasons while repeatedly denying me access to legal counsel.

My perspective is, of course, also shaped by the fact that Mark Nichols was a defendant in a case that settled for $1.6 million that alleged he treated women in the Prosecutor’s Office in a hostile, demeaning and condescending manner, a defendant in a case that settled for over $500,000 that alleged he repeatedly and wrongfully withheld relevant public records for many years, and a defendant in a case currently pending that alleges he sexually harassed his office manager repeatedly during his first two years in elected office.

It should further be noted that there are plenty of people who like rats and keep them as pets.

Elect Selinda Barkhuis Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney

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).

Please send donations to “Barkhuis for Prosecutor”
P. O. Box 3194, Port Angeles, WA 98362 

Thank you for your vote and thank you for your support!

In 2010, I ran for the office of Clallam County Treasurer claiming that I could smell a rat in promising that I would not lose taxpayer funds.  And boy, during the seven years I served as County Treasurer, I smelled me some rats! Publicly funded rats no less, running amok with Clallam County taxpayer reserve funds at the distinct expense of public duties and taxpayer rights.

But it turns out that, even though the County Treasurer is statutorily tasked with controlling courthouse rats “according to law,” the Office of County Treasurer does not come with any rat control.

So who to call? Everybody I called pointed me to the Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney, even though I specifically identified him as one of the rats.

The Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney is not just any courthouse rat of course. His position makes him a particularly powerful rat. And his family makes him a particularly well-funded one to boot.

Be that as it may, the fact of the matter is that this election provides a once-in-a-four-year opportunity to call Mark Nichols out for being the courthouse rat that he is.

Yes, my issues with Mark Nichols and his cabal are still very raw and personal. But perhaps that is exactly the sort of motivation it takes to assume the insane challenge of running against such a powerful and well-funded incumbent.

What it ultimately comes down to, however, is that both me and Mark Nichols are, to a large extent, known quantities in Clallam County.

I stand on my record, which includes more than 5 years of an active courtroom practice as a lawyer in private practice and 7 years as twice-elected Clallam County Treasurer.

No doubt Mark Nichols will stand on his record.

I believe that the Clallam County taxpayers deserve better for their tax dollars than Mark Nichols.

I believe that I can do better as Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney than Mark Nichols.

Please elect Selinda Barkhuis Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney!

As your Prosecuting Attorney, I promise to:

1. Restore competence and professionalism to the office of Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney.
2. Hold true to my oath of office, my oath as an attorney, and my oath as naturalized citizen to support and defend constitutional and statutory rule of law (rather than, for example, support and defend administrative “loopholes” that eradicate $1.3 million in public duties and taxpayer rights).
3. Let go of prosecutor deputies Alvarez, Wendt, and Kamerrer due to irrevocable conflicts of interest.
4. Recruit prosecutor deputies to provide professional, conflict-free, and above-board attorney-client advice and representation.
5. Work with the Board of County Commissioners and their new County Administrator to review the County’s administration of its policies.
6. Work with the Board of County Commissioners and their Risk Pool Manager to review the County’s ever-growing internal “risk pool.”
7. Review the County’s relationship with the Washington Counties Risk Pool.
8. Review the Prosecuting Attorney’s handling of criminal cases.
9. Carry my own case load.
10. And aggressively pursue collection of amounts due to the County, not only under law but also under various contracts.

Come back for more…

In the meantime, thank you for your support and thank you for your vote!

Selinda Barkhuis
P. O. Box 3194
Port Angeles, WA  98362

Now showing at Port Townsend Rose Theatre

From the PortOCall…

Reading the story and seeing the picture at http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/news/public-forum-on-sexual-abuse-among-young-conducted-in-sequim left me feeling quite pained, with Clallam County Prosecutor Mark Nichols, sitting next to Chair of the Board of County Commissioners Mark Ozias, weighing in on the subjects of “consent” and “voice” when, from my perspective, and as I have formally informed the Board of County Commissioners (“BOCC”), Prosecutor Nichols played an integral role in subverting my consent, silencing my voice, and otherwise bullying me out of office of duly elected Clallam County Treasurer.

Intimidation and silencing by the more powerful is not limited to the extortion of sexual contact among the young, as was the subject of that particular forum.

Indeed, I have (copies of) the public records that tell the story of how intimidation and silencing by the more powerful extends to the extortion of public powers and funds inside the walls of the Clallam County courthouse.

On December 15, 2017, I turned over to my chief deputy the $99.5 million in liquid and safe public funds that were under my personal duty to safekeep “until disbursed according to law,” so that I could vacate the position of County Treasurer and thus divorce myself, legally and financially, from the highly abusive and toxic “shut up and do as you are told or else…!” relationship I found myself trapped in vis a vis Prosecutor Mark Nichols (and his ever-growing stable of deputies and “risk pool” lawyers), County Administrator Jim Jones, Commissioner Bill Peach, and public syphon Jim McEntire.

Now that I have freed myself, I likewise intend to “take the shadows away,” in my case as to what’s been happening inside the Clallam County courthouse, and finish my previous attempts at whistle blowing to the taxpayers and voters who paid my salary for fourteen years and elected me into office three times, specifically addressing for that matter the very issue of how Clallam County “deals” with the “consent” and “voices” of some of its duly elected officials.

In the meantime, see (under Confidential… at Barkhuis.com) my December 4, 2017 work session item to the Clallam County Commissioners, entitled My Public Records, in which I request the following:

1. For the BOCC to ensure the continued integrity and public availability of all public records left behind by Selinda Barkhuis.
2. For the BOCC to make available to Selinda Barkhuis, in unredacted format, all public records relating to Washington Counties Risk Pool Claim No. 2014059824 and/or relating to the county’s February 22, 2016 contract with Dale Kamerrer.
3. For the BOCC to cease employing, supporting, defending, and indemnifying public officials who abuse their authority.

Stay tuned for more…