Soap Lake woman challenges PUD president

Hanford-Wiley entry means primary set for Sept. 14

Kathy Hanford-Wiley tracks her interest in the Grant County PUD to the approved rate increases of 2002.

She was unhappy that people on fixed incomes would see their expenses go up, so she started attending commissioners' business meetings, taking notes and speaking up.

Now Hanford-Wiley is taking it one step further: She's challenging Commission President Tom Flint for position A of the five-member board of commissioners.

Flint is seeking his second four-year term.

Hanford-Wiley's entry into the race means a primary election will be held on Sept. 14. George irrigator Larry Williamson announced his bid for the same spot last month.

Hanford-Wiley, who is from Soap Lake, is a familiar face at commission meetings, where she has often questioned commission decisions on spending and the Zipp fiber-optics network.

She has a fiber hook up at home and does not oppose the system, but she said it should not come at the expense of the rest of the PUD.

"I believe that fiber should not cause a rate increase to the ratepayers of the county," she said.

While attending commission meetings, Hanford-Wiley said she was motivated to run for office by something she felt was missing.

"It's what I didn't see — consideration of the ratepayer," she said. She added that she only heard two commissioners — Bill Bjork and Randy Allred — question who would write the check for PUD expenses.

"All five of them should be questioning that," she said.

Relicensing is the most important issue facing the PUD, Hanford-Wiley said, but she feels her role as a commissioner, if elected, would be to support the current efforts.

"They've put a lot of their effort and consideration into it. I think they've done a good job," she said.

Hanford-Wiley has never before run for public office. She is currently a national officer with the Disabled American Veterans Auxiliary and volunteered with the Walla Walla Veteran's Administration Center for 10 years.

She is also a member of the Rebeccas, which is affiliated with the service group the Independent Order of Oddfellows.

The daughter of an orchardist, Hanford-Wiley briefly ran her father's orchard in Entiat. She has worked as an administrative assistant for Viacom Cable in Seattle for five years and a bookkeeper at Willow Drive Nursery on Dodson Road for 13 years.

Her husband, Harold Wiley, has worked at the PUD for 26 years.

Hanford-Wiley attended business school in Seattle and has attended classes at both Big Bend Community College and Eastern Washington University.