"Any means necessary to stay in power"

Immigrant's perspective on direction of county

"I've seen something similar to this," says Victor Laszlo in a slight Eastern European dialect. His accent is a clue to the first thirteen years of his life spent growing up behind the Iron Curtain before his family fled to America in 1983.  During an extended break at his work in Sequim, he described communism to someone who thought it ended when the Berlin Wall crumbled in 1989.  "You must understand that communism has three major pillars,” he explained.

Victor Laszlo isn't his real name, but movie buffs might recognize the character in Casablanca, played by Paul Henreid, who was a resistance leader fighting the Nazis.  Victor has seen the vitriol and backlash that erupts in Sequim when people speak out, and that's why he wanted to do an interview but stay anonymous. "I want people to know what communism looks like."

"The first pillar is abolishing private property; the State owns everything in communist countries." Victor explained that in pre-Soviet times, his grandfather had a successful farm. However, "the communist regime moved the farmers out of the countryside and into the cities — those ugly, grey buildings that you see in communist countries, that's where they put the farmers.  My grandfather's farm was turned into a cooperative and went from producing impressive yields to producing nothing. 

“When I read your article about that group planning to confiscate private beachfront property and not paying fair-market value for it, I was reminded of my grandfather's farm."  

Victor says in communist regimes, you must always look at who benefits from the policies.  "I saw on those maps you showed with the flooding that the Casino would be safe, but 3 Crabs would be underwater.  What's on 3 Crabs Road?  Some people live full-time down there, but if you take a drive, you'll see a lot of signs for 'vacation rentals.'  You can rent a place anywhere from $300-$600 a night and have a view of the water.  That competes directly with the Casino's new hotel.  Get rid of those rentals, and more people will stay in their hotel.  Dispossessing people of their property, against their will, for some unproven, hypothetical benefit that may or may not happen in the next 100 years, is a communist practice."

Victor says he's allergic to anything that restricts people's freedom to decide. What he loves about living in America is that you can do what you want with your private property. "If you want to live in a flood zone, with the danger of a tsunami wiping out your house someday, that's your right," says Victor. 

“Socialism is the philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy.” — Winston Churchill, 1948

"The second pillar of communism," continues Victor, "Is state-run secret police.  In East Germany, it was the Stasi. In Russia — or the Soviet Union then — it was the KGB."  In his home country, no one knew who the secret police were.  They were plain-clothed and weren't recruited. 

"When people got caught for violating communist ideals, they had a choice: go to jail or tattle. Spies weren't recruited; they were forced." 

Victor says Clallam County isn't close to doing that. Still, when he read that a sitting commissioner recruited the Prosecuting Attorney and Sheriff to investigate his opposition, he thought, “That’s how communism works. Investigations are meant to intimidate and send a message that says, don't criticize the government."

"The third pillar is that communist regimes are masters at disinformation, and it's exactly what they are doing to you."  When Victor sees Clallam County Watchdog attacked on social media or discredited by the Commissioners, he sees it as another communist tactic. "They accuse you of what they are doing — spreading disinformation."  

Victor gave one example of local government spreading disinformation about Towne Road.  "When I read and saw the deception used in the process of closing the road, it immediately triggered a question of, 'Who does it benefit if it's closed?' And 'Why don't they care about who it hurts?'" 

Victor says the Jamestown Tribe's early breaching of the dike created a problem, but with communism, you must determine who benefits from the problem.  "The Tribe breached the dike without telling anyone. They got paid the money that was supposed to finish the road, and then they tried to take the road.

“But who does it hurt? Towne Road is the safest way to evacuate if there is a cataclysmic event in Dungeness, like a tsunami or earthquake. Leaving that road closed or gated could be devastating for hundreds of people.  That's the tactic of communism or any totalitarian government, and that's what they will do. They create problems that they will benefit from, and they don’t care who gets hurt.

"First, you see who benefits. Then you see they do not care about who gets hurt. Then you see the disinformation that came out of Towne Road: The County didn't tell anyone the dike got breached early; they just closed the road. The first explanation was contaminated soil, then the cost, then the bogus petitions — none of that ended up being true. In communism, you always have to go back and ask yourself who is benefitting from the disinformation."  

"If you speak out against it," says Victor, "you're a candidate for reeducation." In his home country, government dissenters were gathered up and taken to reeducation camps.  "The reeducation here is done through the media because they can't stick you in a camp. Yet." Victor smiles as he says this. 

"The closure of a road and a mistake that cost the taxpayers millions of dollars should have been in the news.  Instead, they lie about you," he's talking about Clallam County Watchdog again.  "They attack you until you capitulate to their point of view.  They call you names."  

When asked if Victor sees other signs of communism in Clallam County, he says, "Yes. I see steps being taken toward restricting individual freedoms, which is what socialist and communist ideology always results in. I see Port Angeles trying to restrict Airbnbs so you can't rent out a room in your house.  It's your house, do what you want. With inflation and rising property taxes, people need to make ends meet, and property owners are getting creative.  They are getting priced out of their homes and being told they can't do anything to fight it.  People are being forced to leave their property, just like my family was forced to."

“The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings. The inherent virtue of Socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.” — Winston Churchill, 1945

“I’ll give you another local example,” says Victor. You have one commissioner trying to get this $50 million grant for the county because we are so economically depressed. He is planning to give 17% of that tax-funded grant to the NODC — the organization, led by the other commissioner [Commissioner Ozias] that will assist in forcing private property owners off their land.

“That will do nothing to help the economy, which is what the grant is supposed to be for. You want to see what communism does to an economy? Look at South Korea compared to North Korea. One country exports appliances, electronics, and cars all over the world. The other exports nothing but fear.”

“One commissioner sending $8.5 million to another commissioner’s organization is nothing new.” Victor says that in communism, those who are connected get preferential treatment.

“I have a friend who grew up in a beautiful old house — a mansion, really. You’ve seen pictures of these houses all over Europe, big aristocratic mansions. One of the communist members didn’t like that mansion because it blocked his view of the park, so he got the government to evict the family and demolish the house.

“Even if you don’t really own the property in communism, you can still seize property if you are part of the system. The house site got turned into a courtyard for the communist member.

“This is like that family on Towne Road. They let the commissioner put a political sign on their property, and that commissioner promised to turn a public road into their private driveway and have the taxpayers buy automatic gates for them. No one cares about the increased danger for the rest of the community not having a road.

“Not only do they not care about the individual in communism, but they will cause you harm. They kicked my friend out of his house and the excuse was that it was a symbol of the old, oppressive aristocracy from before communism. They tore down a lot of those places.

"In communism, decisions made by those in charge are always focused on how it will best improve their lives, not everyone else's, while using lies and disinformation to make it sound like they are helping everyone.  You have to remember that in my country, only 10% were card-carrying communists, but they had all the power over the rest of the 90%.

"In the U.S., we're all fighting corruption, but there are avenues to get to truth.  Like FOIA," says Victor, referencing the Freedom of Information Act, similar to the Washington Public Records Act that Clallam County Watchdog relies upon to obtain much of its supporting documents.  "We didn’t have that there. Just like the Tribe doesn’t have to share its records about public projects here."

"I have nothing against the Tribe.  They do great things, but when they are deceitful and underhanded they must be called out, just like we would with any other organization."  Victor says the piping of ditches is part of a bigger problem. 

"They say it's done to save water; that's why the government and Tribe need to monitor your well usage, too.  At the same time, an excavator is tearing up your backyard to bury a ditch to save water, and while your well is being monitored for usage, the Tribe is irrigating an 18-hole golf course during the driest part of the year.  It's not about the environment; in communism, it's about the control.  Again, you have to ask yourself who benefits from you saving water: someone irrigating a 100-acre golf course benefits when you don't use water.”

"What I have observed, especially over the past 20 years, is that the bureaucracy will use any means necessary to stay in power.  That's how they make a living.  At the core of communism is a corrupt system that financially empowers and benefits only those who run the system.  This is done without fear of consequences because they control information and justice.  Unless you can shine a light on the corruption from the lowest level to the highest executive offices, we will slowly start losing freedom and opportunity, and the last thing you lose is hope.  You feel powerless against the system, and you can't overcome it."

Victor's parents left comfortable working-class jobs in Eastern Europe. His father was jailed for six months during their escape, and his mother was interrogated by the secret police. They landed in the Los Angeles area with Victor and his brother 41 years ago because the parents wanted their kids to have opportunities. 

Victor’s father became an electrician, and his mother worked at McDonald's. Three years after arriving in America, the family bought their first home. A year later, Victor’s mom left McDonald’s to work at the school district as a translator. "We were sponsored by a church, and they were our safety net.  If my family failed, we wouldn't have received welfare — we were forced to succeed."

The parents who risked everything to give their sons a better life are no longer living, but they witnessed their American dream come true when their sons were offered opportunities. They also saw their three grandchildren — the first generation of their family to be born on American soil — start building their own American dream.

When asked what image should represent this article, Victor said: “The Berlin Wall being torn down. It’s a symbol of a failed system that people keep trying, expecting different results.”

The two quotes in the article are both from Winston Churchill and are especially meaningful to Victor.