Plans To Make Pierce Sheriff & Auditor Appointed Positions Fail

TACOMA, WA — An effort to turn the Pierce County Sheriff and Auditor into appointed positions has failed.

At the start of the Pierce County Council's weekly meeting Tuesday night, council members quickly tabled Proposed Ordinance No. 2021-60, a proposal to ask voters if the Pierce County auditor should be appointed, rather than elected.

Proposed Ordinance No. 2021-61, regarding the sheriff's election, took longer and included comment from the public and several council members, but ultimately failed to get the necessary five-vote supermajority as council members voted 4-3 in favor of the charter proposal.

As a result, both the Pierce County Sheriff and Auditor will remain elected positions for the foreseeable future.

If either of the ordinances succeeded, their corresponding charter proposals would have been sent to voters, who would then have had the opportunity to decide if the positions should be elected or appointed. An appointed auditor or sheriff would be selected by the County Executive and then approved by the County Council.

While some critics at Tuesday's meeting called the proposal to take the positions off future ballots a "power grab" by the council, supporters argued that the intent was to make both the sheriff and auditor positions less partisan, not more.

Sponsor Jani Hitchen argued that being a sheriff is a technically demanding job, and the skills needed to do it are different from the skills required to win elections.

"I am not qualified to be sheriff, but I could have run, and I could have won," Hitchen said.

As Council Chair Derek Young explained in a Medium post discussing his stance on the issue, in 1978 Pierce County made the County Sheriff an appointed position following a massive corruption scandal. In 2006, voters reversed that decision. Hitchen says her sponsorship of the bill was driven by a desire to see if the county's opinion on the matter had changed again.

"I wanted to make sure we put it out to the voters, to see what their thoughts were," Hitchen said.

Also speaking in support of the ordinance, Councilmember Ryan Mello argued that appointing a new Pierce County Sheriff should be similar to appointing a police chief, and would help hold the position accountable.

"I don't think anyone would think the police chief of Gig Harbor should be elected," Mello said. "Our communities know these are professional, administrative positions."

Appointed positions could also be scouted from across the country, giving a much larger pool of talent to draw from, argued Young.

"[C]andidates for office must live in the jurisdiction where they’re seeking office," wrote Young. "They also have to be willing to submit themselves to the election process. When the most qualified candidates are those who have come up through the ranks, this can seem like a risky decision."

Perhaps surprisingly, another voice calling for the change has been the Auditor herself. Earlier this month, Pierce County Auditor Julie Anderson penned an op-ed for the News Tribune, arguing that the election process favors partisan extremists over professionals with technical experience.

"Pierce County voters made the county auditor a nonpartisan position in 2009," wrote Anderson. "But even so designated, the 2022 election for a new auditor will attract partisan candidates that could leave voters without uniquely qualified, nonpartisan candidates to choose from. Given how polarized our political environment has become, there is a real risk that extremists would advance to the general election ballot."

Anderson was first elected to serve as Pierce County Auditor back in 2009. Before that, she served on the Tacoma City Council.

Among those who spoke against the proposals was District 2's Hans Zeiger, who said he felt voting for sheriff was similar to voting for judges, which are also supposed to be non-partisan positions.

"It makes sense to me that we [voters] would have a direct say in the sheriff's election," Zeiger said.

Though none of the council members said his name during Tuesday's vote, the proposal could also be read as a referendum on current Pierce County Sheriff Ed Troyer.

Troyer, who was elected last November, is facing an investigation from the county and a criminal investigation from the state regarding his conduct the night of Jan. 27 — the night Troyer called a large police response on a Black newspaper delivery driver as the driver made his rounds. Troyer told 911 dispatchers that the driver threatened to kill him, but later recanted that statement when interviewed by Tacoma police following the incident.

When the Seattle Times first broke the news, Troyer was met with a wave of backlash, which some critics calling for his removal from office. But as an elected official, Pierce County has no way of removing Troyer unless he steps down. He has said he will not, and denies acting inappropriately.

An appointed sheriff could be removed by the County Executive — though notably, even had Ordinance No. 2021-61 passed the council and been approved by voters, Troyer would still have been allowed to serve out his full term through 2024.

Pierce County's failed attempt to make the sheriff an appointed position comes in contrast with neighboring King County, which in November voted in favor of a proposal to make their sheriff an appointed position.