Dan Driscoll
My neighbor Dan Driscoll called yesterday and, in twenty minutes, he touched on more hot-button county topics than you could shake the proverbial stick at. Fireworks, law enforcement, shoreline management, the freedom of information act, historic preservation, transparency in public meetings — you name it and it came rolling into the conversation.
He called to thank me for asking him some questions he couldn’t answer about fireworks. That was Monday — less than a week ago. Since then he’s “done his homework,” as they say. He’s talked to people on all sides of the subject; he’s looked into laws and regulations; he’s caught up with the Peninsula’s history on the issues involved; and, best of all, he’s working on a plan! It won’t necessarily be “the” answer to this very complex problem, but a first step toward some sort of change. Something do-able. It was SO refreshing to hear about what might be possible instead of all the reasons we’re stuck with the status quo!
It’s A Sign!
In case you haven’t heard, Dan is running for Pacific County Commissioner. As far as I know, it’s his first involvement in politics. But his knowledge of how this county works (and doesn’t work) is far-reaching. If you’ve been a resident here for very long, you are aware of Dan’s legal battles with Pacific County and its well-entrenched “old-boy” mentality. It took Dan two or three years, but he eventually won his suit. It set back his business and his efforts to restore the historic cannery in which his Oysterville Sea Farms is headquartered. And it probably put him tens of thousands of dollars in debt.
On the plus side, though, is that Dan has had a good look around the underbelly (if counties have bellies) and knows where the bodies are buried. (Yuck! Terrible metaphors but, in my mind, totally appropriate.) And, in addition to attending to the arduous work of re-building his business, he wants to be part of making some changes — changes that should, ultimately, make a big difference to all of us.
“Oysterville Sea Farms” Painting by Pat Fagerland
This is a hell of a time to break into politics — zoom meetings and telephone conversations and social media contacts don’t take the place of public get-togethers and face-to-face, in-person discussions. But if anyone can make that work, I think Dan can.
I hope that people with questions and concerns and pertinent information about county concerns will reach out to him. Whether or not you are in his District and can vote for him in November, with only three commissioners in the county, the actions of each one affect us all. If you aren’t able to vote for Dan, tell someone who can. But, don’t take my word for it. Talk to him, yourself. He’s very approachable! And, besides that, he’s a nice guy and worth knowing.
It all reminds me of something I wrote on this site back in 2017. The blog title was “You just can’t make this stuff up!” and, among other weird law-and-order situations in Pacific County, I wrote this: And here I thought it was pretty crazy, back in 1985, when Mayor Fred Rutherford fired all the policemen (or maybe it was ‘almost’ all) in Long Beach. I can’t remember the details except that we got a call at Ocean Park School where I was then teaching that “Everything is under control. Fred is marching down the center of Pacific Avenue wearing his six shooters and the town is pretty quiet.” Just like Yosemite Sam! Perhaps you remember that? It doesn’t seem nearly so strange in the light of more recent law-and-order events in the county.
