Olympia’s majority Democrats showed again this year how their priorities are way off when it comes to the safety of the public.
The bills they rejected include two I had introduced that are aimed at protecting children. One would have held adults accountable for hurting young kids by exposing them to fentanyl or similar opioids. The second was to address the overcrowding that is endangering older children in custody at state juvenile offender facilities, like Green Hill School in Chehalis.
Instead of making laws that would deal with known safety issues, legislative Democrats came up with a highly controversial dictate about who gets to enforce the law, which runs over voters in the process.
The result was Senate Bill 5974, the anti-sheriff law. It was supported by every Democratic state senator and nearly all Democrats in the state House.
Supporters claim it’s about modernizing state law regarding the duties of county sheriffs. A closer look at the policy makes it seem more like a throwback to the anti-police policies had Democrats pushed through in 2021, like the criminal-friendly restrictions on pursuits of suspected criminals.
The number-one problem is that the new law gives the state Criminal Justice Training Commission (CJTC), made up of political appointees, the power to essentially invalidate the election of a sheriff.
Until now, only voters could remove a sheriff from office. It happened most recently in our state in 2021. Why that happened is less important today than the fact that it happened the right way: The people of Benton County simply decided their sheriff didn’t meet their standards and used their authority to recall him through a special election.
Now, because of Democrats, the state can infringe on that local control. If a sheriff is decertified by the CJTC, the office becomes vacant. The county’s voters get no say in the matter. That’s fundamentally undemocratic. Since Gov. Bob Ferguson signed the bill into law April 1, several lawsuits have been filed on the grounds that sections of it are unconstitutional as well.
When we debated SB 5974 at the Capitol, legislative Democrats couldn’t offer a persuasive argument about why they suddenly don’t trust voters and believe the state also should have a say in who serves as a county sheriff.
They failed to explain why the law should be updated regarding sheriffs but not other elected positions. Also, no one offered any facts to suggest counties in our state had elected unqualified candidates as sheriffs.
A closer look at SB 5974 offers a few clues about its true intent. An example is how it orders sheriffs to uphold the United States constitution but to “uphold and enforce” the Washington constitution and state laws.
That doesn’t line up with the oath legislators take, to support both constitutions and Washington state laws equally, in which case Olympia Democrats are putting sheriffs in a no-win situation.
There’s also some unusually specific language about the use of volunteers, youth cadets, specially commissioned officers, and dogs.
All of this seems aimed at sheriffs in our state whose provocative public statements or old-school style of law enforcement have upset certain legislators or special interests.
Two days after Governor Ferguson signed the anti-sheriff bill, a leading Democratic senator pulled the curtain back a little on why it was such a high priority for his side.
In an email to residents of his downtown Seattle legislative district, he listed SB 5974 among several bills passed this year “that will help protect our state from federal overreach.”
“It will now be clear that a sheriff’s duty, first and foremost, is to uphold the Constitution and the laws of Washington state,” he wrote, specifically mentioning the controversial Keep Washington Working Act, which functions as a sanctuary-state policy.
The implication for sheriffs seems clear: if you challenge our policies, the state can go over the heads of your county voters and remove you from office.
It proves that this is an ideological law aimed at satisfying the supporters’ political base while undermining voter rights, the constitution and ultimately public safety.
As Benton County proved just five years ago, voters are perfectly capable of removing a sheriff without outside meddling. Local problem, local control, local solution. That’s how it should be.
Instead, Democrats have taken another step toward centralizing control over law enforcement in our state, and they have the audacity to defend their own overreach by pointing to the federal government.
The attitude at the Capitol needs to change. Instead of partisan targeting of those entrusted to enforce our laws, let’s fix the laws and get at the real issues that threaten the safety of our communities, families and children. That’s how our state does better.
Sen. John Braun (R-Centralia)
Senator John Braun was first elected to the Washington State Senate in 2012 to represent Southwest Washington’s 20th Legislative District, which includes most of Cowlitz and Lewis counties along with parts of Clark and Thurston.
John is leader of the Senate Republican Caucus and a member of the Senate Ways & Means Committee, the Labor & Commerce Committee, and the Housing Committee.
Prior to his business career, John served on active duty in the U.S. Navy. He holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Washington and master’s degrees in business administration and manufacturing engineering from the University of Michigan.
He and his family reside on a small farm in rural Lewis County, outside Centralia.
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Author: Lynnwood Times Contributor
