Recently The Herald ran an article (“Fortney: Group pushing to defund police is behind recall,” The Herald, Sept. 12) highlighting Sheriff Adam Fortney’s silly comments about those who are seeking to recall him.
He said that those pushing to defund law enforcement agencies are behind the recall effort. So where is his proof? Even if that is the case, that would be like saying that those who are backing this recall effort are from a particular religious group or political party. That is totally irrelevant to the issues at hand. Namely the principal reason for the recall stated on the petition is his Facebook post on April 21 and then in his April 22 press conference in which said, that he would not enforce Gov. Jay Inslee’s “Stay Home-Stay Health” emergency proclamation because in his view it is “unconstitutional.”
That might be his personal view, but refusing the Governor’s order violates his statutory duties under Washington state law. Questions of whether this order violates the state constitution need to be taken up with the state Supreme Court and are not up to a county sheriff to decide. As to the other officers Fortney mentions, they were dismissed by the previous sheriff for misconduct including the excessive use of force which resulted in the shooting death of a citizen. Fortney reinstated them and, naturally, they backed his election campaign.
This is just Fortney’s attempt to distract from the issue of whether he failed to perform his duties as an elective public officer. This is not about supporting the police. Don’t be fooled!
Howard Lazzarini
Everett
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