Fortney, Johnson face off in expensive, contentious sheriff's race

EVERETT — What kind of sheriff does Snohomish County want?

That’s the question before voters in an expensive, hotly contested and deeply personal race between incumbent Sheriff Adam Fortney and challenger Susanna Johnson, the deputy police chief in Bothell.

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Fortney has doubled down on defending some of his most controversial decisions, such as rehiring deputies fired under the previous sheriff and publicly criticizing Gov. Jay Inslee’s stay-home mandate at the height of the pandemic.

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Johnson is a career cop, too. She is more measured. She has spent three decades with the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office, ending her tenure third in command as bureau chief of operations. She has touted the endorsements of all five living former sheriffs.

Johnson believes Fortney’s coziness with the constitutional sheriff movement, as well as “some of the early decisions” he made, have badly damaged public trust. She said her opponent signing onto a letter pledging to protect the “Second Amendment” in the face of gun control legislation, for example, signals “to some of our community members that the current sheriff is not going to enforce all the laws.”

https://www.heraldnet.com/news/fortney-johnson-face-off-in-expensive-contentious-sheriffs-race/