Out-the-door actions by Sutherland look bad

It’s very possible that two actions by defeated state Lands Commissioner Doug Sutherland were not really lovely parting gifts to big campaign contributors. And it’s possible that he really didn’t mean to stick it to environmentalists who had opposed his re-election.

It just looks that way.

Since he lost to Democrat Peter Goldmark on Nov. 4, Sutherland has made two big decisions that benefit contributors and anger those who opposed him.

 • He decided to allow one contributor, Taylor Shellfish, to harvest geoducks it had illegally planted on state lands in Totten Inlet – geoducks estimated to be worth anywhere from $3 million to $9 million. The public comment period on the decision initially ended Monday but has been extended through Thursday.

 • Sutherland awarded a lease of state tidelands off Maury Island to Glacier Northwest, which contributed $52,800 directly and indirectly to his re-election campaign. Glacier needs the lease so that it can build a 305-foot loading dock, allowing it to significantly expand its sand and gravel mine on the island.

Environmentalists – who gave heavily to Goldmark – have fought the Glacier Northwest lease for years, claiming that gravel spilled from the dock would damage the marine environment, including eelgrass beds. And shoreline property owners who opposed Taylor Shellfish’s geoduck aquaculture also contributed to Sutherland’s opponent.

So it’s easy to see why Goldmark and his supporters are crying foul. Although Sutherland’s department denies anything untoward is going on, his actions look suspiciously like vindictive, 11th-hour pokes in the eye to those who helped defeat him.

We hope that isn’t the case. This newspaper endorsed Sutherland for re-election. We admired his record as lands commissioner and, before that, as Pierce County executive. But it’s too easy to see these two decisions as nosegays bestowed on contributors and stink bombs lobbed at his opponents.