County Executive Dave Somers’ surprise decision to hire former Sheriff Ty Trenary to a high-paying, made-up position as “senior policy analyst” is a slap in the face to all Snohomish County voters who wanted a change in direction of the sheriff’s office (“Fortney decries hire of ex-sheriff as ‘political payback,’” The Herald, Feb. 11).
The voice of the voters should have been loud and clear last election that citizens were sick of local government’s failed polices turning a blind eye to prolific offenders. Voters were tired of Trenary spending all his time micromanaging his deputies, rather than protecting the tax-paying public. But Somers, who cannot seem to read the direction of the political wind, has decided to willfully discard the will of the people and bring back his political buddy; the architect of most of those failed policies, and give him leverage over the new sheriff’s department.
This smacks of political cronyism at its worst. If Somers has an extra $148,000 (of our money) lying around, couldn’t that be better spent somewhere else? Like hiring another deputy or two to help clean up the mess Trenary left behind?
Michael Neeley
Everett
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