LACEY: Younger Tom Nelson runs for treasurer

THE OLYMPIAN | • Published March 27, 2010

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A fourth candidate has entered the race for county treasurer, and the name might ring familiar.

Tom Nelson, 37, the son of the Lacey mayor with the same name, is the first Republican to enter the race.

“I will bring my private sector financial experience to the treasurer’s office, working for all citizens with great integrity, honesty and efficiency,” Nelson said in a news release.

He is a vice president and commercial loan officer at Thurston First Bank in Olympia and earned a master’s degree in business administration at Brigham Young University. He is a 1991 graduate of North Thurston High School.

The other candidates are Noah Crocker, a state treasury program manager; Olympia city councilman Joe Hyer; and Bill Pilkey, a certified financial planner and the president of the Thurston County Taxpayers’ Association. Hyer has suspended his campaign following his marijuana-related arrest.

Crocker and Hyer are Democrats. Pilkey is running as an independent Democrat.

The candidates are running for a four-year term that begins in January.

Nelson is a member of the Lacey Rotary Club and treasurer of his homeowners association. He works as an adjunct professor teaching finance at Saint Martin’s University.

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