To the editor:

The pump project: In 2004, Diking District 1 Commissioner Raymond E. Gabelein agreed to assume responsibility on behalf of Diking District 1 for drainage of the entire 5,000-acre Useless Bay drainage basin. By accepting this responsibility, Diking District 1 which totals 746 acres, thus committed its property owners to a project that handles drainage for 4,234 acres outside its district. The associated cost for this drainage project totals over $900,000 to date.

The motive: Commissioner Gabelein owns or controls the largest amount of low level land in the drainage basin. In 2008, while he was a commissioner, Diking District 1 gave him three easements for this land to enhance its value. These easements were required by the Whidbey Camano Land Trust which then gave him $600,000. Once he started pumping, he placed these wetlands up for sale at a price of $649,000.

The court: The pump project was done in secret without public hearings. Commissioner Gabelein tried to push 90 percent of the cost onto the property owners along Sunlight Beach Road. There was no evidence these properties were “benefited.”  Judge Vickie I. Churchill of the Superior Court of Island County entered a final judgement against Diking District 1 and ruled the assessments for 2009, 2010, and 2011 were illegal and, therefore, froze the funds. Commissioner Gabelein complained that she was biased and prejudiced. He appealed to the Washington State Court of Appeals to release the funds but the court agreed with Judge Churchill’s ruling and will not release the money.

Conclusion: Diking District 1 is now delinquent in paying its loan to Whidbey Island Bank and does not have the money to cover its costs. We cannot afford to have commissioner Gabelein re-elected for another six years to continue the illegal use of his authority as a commissioner.

ROBERT WINQUIST

Clinton