(The Center Square) - A legal challenge has been filed against the proposal planned for the November ballot to ask Pierce County voters if they want to amend the county charter to make the office of sheriff an appointed, rather than elected, position.
Amendment 53, if passed, would also remove Pierce County Sheriff Keith Swank from office in January, two years ahead of the end of his current term.
“The people on the left on the charter review commission, their main purpose was to remove me from office because they didn't want to do it with the recall process because that wouldn't stand muster in court, because I haven't done anything wrong,” Swank said in an Aug. 24 interview with The Center Square.
Pierce County is one of a handful of counties in Washington that have a county charter, which Swank describes as a mini-constitution, that sets up the structure, powers, and rules for county government.
Every ten years, members of the Charter Review Commission, which consists of three elected representatives from each of the seven council districts, review the charter and debate and settle on amendments to put before voters.
“And they want to make the sheriff an appointed position because the current executive is a Democrat,” said Swank. “They are banking on this county being a Democrat county now, and think that if they have a Democrat executive, they'll be able to put a like-minded sheriff in place.”
Swank said during public hearings of the Charter Review Commission earlier this year, some citizens testified in support of making the sheriff an appointed position, but the majority were opposed, even if they didn’t like him.
“One guy called me a mouth breather and a knuckle dragger, but said he’d be voting against this thing because [he] wanted to vote for sheriff. Even though that guy doesn't like me, and doesn't want me to be the sheriff, we're on the same team here, right? So, I'm hoping even people who don't like me will say, 'I want the right to vote for my sheriff or against this guy if he runs again.'"
The legal challenge that aims to keep Amendment 53 off the ballot was filed last Friday against Pierce County in Thurston County Superior Court.
The plaintiffs are Hollie Rogge, a former charter commission member, Jeff Joseph, a private citizen and former precinct committee officer for the GOP, and former Washington State Auditor Brian Sonntag, who is a Democrat.
“This is not a partisan issue. It's not a partisan office. It's a question of right and wrong. And it is absolutely wrong to be able to, with a charter amendment, eliminate not just the office, but the current office holders’ term, halfway through his elected term of office. I've never heard of anything like that. I've never seen anything like that,” said Sonntag in a Wednesday interview with The Center Square.
Rogge said she joined the lawsuit because she believes the amendment is unconstitutional.
“There is no provision in the Washington State Constitution that allows for an appointment of the office of the sheriff,” Rogge told The Center Square. “They already voted in 2006 by a 66% majority to have an elected sheriff. And they voted, as recently as 2024, for Keith Swank. The voters have voted; their voice has been heard. And so I want to represent the voice of the voter, which will be taken away if this gets passed.”
Joseph echoed those concerns.
“The harm is that you’re putting a lot of people who support Keith Swank and support the voters right to elect the sheriff, to spend time, money and effort on a campaign they shouldn’t have to wage,” he said.
Their attorney Joan Mell told The Center Square she’s confident their challenge is on sound legal footing.
“The idea that home rule charter counties can have more power and authority than the state to create [their] own government, including stripping their local community from all power to elect their officials is insane,” said Mell.
If the amendment remains on the ballot and is approved, Swank, who was elected to a four-year term in November 2024, would be removed on Jan. 1 2027.
County Executive Ryan Mello would then appoint a new sheriff who would have to be confirmed by the County Council.
The original amendment 53 did not include a provision to remove Swank from office by the first of year if approved by voters.
As reported by The Center Square, Commissioner Justin Leighton, who serves District 7, which includes Gig Harbor, Key Peninsula, and parts of North Tacoma, added last minute language to terminate Swank’s four-year term early, on Jan. 1, 2027, in mid-June, just two weeks before final approval of amendments to be sent to the ballot.
“The voters I believe need a clean up or down decision," Leighton said. "In my mind this is a clean up or down vote on the idea of appointed sheriff or an elected sheriff.”
“This is the moment where we change our county's constitution, so to speak," Leighton told The Center Square. " At the end of the day, we the charter are not deciding anything. We are deciding what is put forward for consideration by the voters and they will decide.”
Mell said their case is set to go before a judge Sept. 4.
"I don't know what the court intends to do but we already have the scheduling order that compels a tight timeline," she said.
Ballots need to be finalized ahead of printing deadlines in early to mid-September.
