Calif. Lumberman mixes politics with sawdust

Home Channel News, Jan 10, 2000 by Brae Canlen

ESCONDIDO, CALIF. -- Mark Wyland has been spending much of his time on the phone these days, asking people for money. Some of the toughest calls are to other building material dealers who don't know that the lumberman is running for the California State Assembly. Some of them ask Wyland, a co-owner of Pine Tree Lumber, the obvious question: "Why in the world are you doing this?"

Wyland's answer is simple: "We need more businesspeople in [political] office," he says. "We complain about what the government does to us, but we don't do anything about it."

What the government does, at least in California according to Wyland, is bulldoze business interests. Current legislators don't understand the ramifications of mechanics' liens, labor law, workers' compensation and unfair competition regulations, he insists. And don't get Wyland started on sales tax and tort reform. What he needs to concentrate on now is building a war chest.

Wyland filed his official candidacy papers on Dec. 9, but his campaign actually started last fall when he set up a makeshift office at the far end of his family's 10-acre lumberyard. Pine Tree Lumber, founded in 1945 by Wyland's grandfather, has a second location in Fallbrook and sales offices in San Diego and Vista. Now 54, Wyland has worked full time in the family's business since he was 25. He has done everything from building loads to counter sales, and his current job -- secretary, treasurer and operations manager -- will be filled by staff and other family members while he delivers talks to groups such as the San Diego Board of Realtors and the Escondido Republican Women Federated.

Wyland, a Republican, is running for a two-year state assembly seat in the 74th District, which covers the north portion of San Diego County. His biggest challenge will be the March 7 Republican primary, where he's running against an attorney, an insurance agent, a pharmacist, a police detective and a former radio talk show host. The winner of the primary will be the odds-on favorite for the assembly seat in this heavily Republican district.

In terms of campaign funds, Wyland says that he is far ahead of the other candidates. His fundraising goal is $400,000, and through late November he had amassed $277,339. Wyland lent his campaign $200,000, and the rest came from a variety of sources. Building industry contributors include Georgia-Pacific, California Cascade, Meek's The Builders Choice, Ganahl Lumber, Moss Lumber, Imperial Valley Lumber and Los Banos Lumber. Pine Tree's main competitors, Dixieline Lumber and Home Centers, even kicked in some money.

Wyland says he is ready to "carry the water" of all business owners to the state assembly in Sacramento, Calif. Drawing on his own experience, Wyland explains how state legislation can adversely affect lumberyard operations. Recent changes to the overtime regulations have wreaked havoc on his truck drivers' work schedules, he says. Proposed restrictions to the mechanics' lien laws will hamstring many building material dealers saddled with bad debts, according to Wyland. As a dealer, he also has grappled with frivolous lawsuits, workers compensation claims and California's complex sales tax code.

"I'm not suggesting that we don't have rules," says Wyland, who thinks the federal government's case against Microsoft is "right on." What Wyland objects to, he says, is "overregulation, or just plain stupid regulations." If elected to office, Wyland promises to knock some sense into the state government. But first he has make a few hundred fundraising calls from his new campaign office, which Wyland moved into in November. The buzz from the lumberyard's planer had been drowning out his phone conversations, he says.