PIERCE COUNTY, Wash. Pierce County voters will decide in the Nov. 3 election whether the county sheriff should once again be an appointed position, the most high-profile of seven proposed charter amendments on the ballot, according to Gig Harbor Now.
Charter Amendment 53 would have the county executive select the county's chief law enforcement officer, subject to county council approval. The proposal came from this year's 21-member Charter Review Commission, which voted 12-9 to send it to voters. Pierce is one of seven charter counties in Washington, and its charter requires a citizen board to review the document every 10 years.
The county has been here before. When voters approved the original charter in 1980, following an organized-crime scandal involving former Sheriff George Janovich of Gig Harbor, they made the sheriff an appointed position. A 2006 commission proposed, and voters ratified, a return to an elected sheriff. Today, King is the only one of Washington's 39 counties with an appointed sheriff.
Supporters argue appointment would increase accountability because the executive and council could remove a sheriff immediately rather than waiting for the next election. They also say it would widen the candidate pool beyond Pierce County voters. "We did it for 26 years and it was a really good example," said Nathe Lawver of Tacoma, one of the authors of the pro-amendment statement in the voters guide, pointing to the last appointed sheriff, Paul Pastor, who holds a doctorate from Princeton.
Opponents say accountability belongs with voters. Electing the sheriff "brings accountability to the voter, rather than concentrating accountability and control in the council and the executive," said Kristen Wynne, founder and chair of the Tacoma Business Council, during an Oct. 14 League of Women Voters of Tacoma-Pierce County forum.
Former County Executive Bruce Dammeier, former Sheriff Paul Pastor and former Auditor Brian Sonntag wrote the opposition statement for the voters guide, saying the sheriff "should remain independent so law enforcement decisions are based on the law, public safety, and the needs of our community," not political pressure.
The amendment would also remove the incumbent effective Jan. 1, 2027. Sheriff Keith Swank has framed the measure as an effort to oust him, telling the commission in March testimony that some members "want to cancel me. How very undemocratic." Swank has had a turbulent term, drawing criticism for social media posts, facing accusations of threatening lawmakers and becoming the subject of complaints to the state Criminal Justice Commission, Gig Harbor Now reported.
Derek Young, a former Pierce County and Gig Harbor councilman who now leads the Washington Association of Counties, said an appointed sheriff "wouldn't be out of the norm for Pierce County" among its peer counties, though his organization takes no position. Lyle Quasim, chair of the Black Collective in Tacoma, noted the county has lost more than $4 million in law enforcement-related lawsuits over five years and said both models can work.