To coin a well-used workplace phrase, William Payne is a self-starter.

By age 20, he had his own construction company with 15 employees.

“I learned how to lead early,” Payne says.

A Marine Corps veteran and founding owner of a computer consulting firm, Payne made what some might call a major shift in careers at the age of 43, pursuing the law.

“I’d always wanted to be a lawyer, it was always in the back of my mind,” Payne says.

More than a decade later, Payne, a Republican, is seeking election to the position of Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney — a position he was appointed to in January by county commissioners.

Payne succeeded former county Prosecuting Attorney Deb Kelly, who retired in December with one year left on her four-year term.

A product of the West Texas farming and ranching community, Payne had his hands in those fields and construction before he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. After retiring from the Marine Corps as a captain, Payne returned to Texas and began working in the computer field, starting a computer consulting company that grew to four employees in two years. He then sold and merged his company with a 120-employee telecommunications consulting firm, watching his division grow to 18 employees specializing in providing data communications and consulting services.

Payne graduated from Wayland Baptist University with a bachelor’s degree and master’s in business administration.

But it was a change in scenery and opportunity that gave Payne a chance to pursue a lifelong ambition. He and his wife, Pamela, moved to Wyoming as Pamela — now a nurse practitioner at the Jamestown Family Health Clinic in Sequim — pursued a degree in nursing school.

He received his law degree from the University of Wyoming’s College of Law.

Payne has practiced general civil law in Wyoming and Washington. He practiced criminal law as a criminal defense attorney, an Assistant County Attorney in Wyoming and Deputy Clallam County Prosecutor.

Most recently, his practice was as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Washington supporting the Washington Department of Health and Human Services protecting children from abuse and neglect.

In all, Payne notes, he’s had nine years of experience in criminal law “on one side or the other.”

When it came time for Clallam County commissioners to pick Kelly’s successor, Payne got the nod.

“The commissioners picked the one with leadership and management skills to get the job done,” Payne says. Since then, he’s had two primary goals to improve the department: start prosecuting felony drug crimes and using drug court more than in previous years.

Payne says the county has seen about 40 of the 90 cases of federal drug possession crimes revert to drug court. “Now we do (drug court) right away, at arraignment,” Payne says.

With a 40- to 60-percent drug court success rate, he says, that will start paying dividends for not only the county but cities, which were handling many drug court cases Clallam County should be dealing with.

Third, Payne says, he’s asked his department to have sharper charging standards.

“What I’m hearing from law enforcement and communities is, it’s working,” Payne says.

The top priority of the county prosecutor is, Payne adds, to handle crimes against people, be it domestic violence, homicides or assaults.

“I know how to do this job (and) I can do it well,” he says.

Payne serves as the president of the board of the Clallam/Jefferson County Pro Bono Lawyers and is a member of the Port Angeles Rotary Club. He was a member of the Port Angeles Public Safety Advisory Commission and Sheriff’s Citizen Advisory Board. He served as the president of the Clallam County Bar Association in 2010 .

He and his wife have two adult daughters and 14-year-old twins who attend Sequim Middle School.

“This is our home; we’re involved in the community,” Payne says.