Judge approves 2nd recall effort against Sheriff Fortney
EVERETT — A second effort to recall Snohomish County Sheriff Adam Fortney may begin gathering petition signatures to put the question on the ballot later this year, a judge signaled Tuesday.
Two petitions have been sparked by Fortney’s public criticism of Gov. Jay Inslee in April, when he stated in a viral Facebook post that Inslee’s stay-home order amid the COVID-19 pandemic was unconstitutional, in the sheriff’s opinion, and that his deputies would not enforce it.
“As your elected Sheriff I will always put your constitutional rights above politics or popular opinion,” Fortney wrote on April 21. “We have the right to peaceably assemble. We have the right to keep and bear arms. We have the right to attend church service of any denomination. The impacts of COVID 19 no longer warrant the suspension of our constitutional rights.”
San Juan County Superior Court Judge Kathryn Loring heard more than 1½ hours of argument Tuesday via the video meeting app Zoom by a committee of four local attorneys petitioning for voters to decide if Fortney should be removed from office, as well as legal counterarguments by Fortney’s private counsel, Mark Lamb.
After taking a 45-minute break to weigh the facts, Loring rejected Fortney’s assertions that he was exercising his enforcement discretion, as law enforcement officers do all the time — suggesting instead that Fortney had done the opposite of making case-by-case decisions by making a blanket statement that he would not enforce the order at all.
https://www.heraldnet.com/news/judge-approves-2nd-recall-effort-against-sheriff-fortney/
