(The Center Square) – The early and unexpected retirement of Kitsap County Sheriff John Gese along with four members of the department’s leadership team has Kitsap County Democrats scrambling to identify three nominees for the interim sheriff role.
Last year, Kitsap commissioners approved 3% budget cuts across all departments, which amounted to an estimated $1.7 million cut for the sheriff’s office.
The budget issues and timing of pension benefits reportedly played into the timing of exits.
Since it is a partisan office and Gese is a Democrat, that party gets to choose a replacement.
Those candidate names will go to the Kitsap County Board of Commissioners in the coming weeks, and the board will then name its choice.
“The Washington State Constitution requires the Board of County Commissioners to appoint replacements for vacancies in any partisan county elected office within 60 days from the date of vacancy,” wrote Kimberly Brolin-Pleger, county communications and community engagement manager, in an email to The Center Square.
“The appointee must be a member of the same political party as the elected officer who previously held the seat.”
The potential conflict comes in that one of the likely nominees will be Kitsap County Sheriff’s Sergeant Brandon Myers, who is the Democratic candidate running for sheriff. Gese has announced Myers will be promoted to Patrol Chief.
The Republican candidate for Kitsap County Sheriff Rick Kuss tells The Center Square that’s not how the process should work.
“They should not pick my opponent as the interim sheriff,” said Kuss.
“A lot of the community members are stating that if the PCO selects my opponent as their number one choice, and it goes before the board of commissioners, the board of commissioners have the due diligence to keep politics out of this, and let the two people running not be in that position, and let the people decide on a ballot in November.”
After Gese made his retirement announcement, Myers posted on Facebook that he had no idea it was coming.
“While others may choose to turn this into a political debate, my focus remains on the employees of the sheriff’s office and the people we serve,” he wrote. “The process moving forward is established by law, and I respect that process and those responsible for carrying it out.”
The Center Square reached out to Myers for an interview, but he responded to say he was unavailable on Friday.
Kitsap County Commissioners will interview the three candidates in public forums and will then appoint one to serve as the interim Sheriff for the remainder of the term, which ends December 2026.
“The Commissioners requested that Kitsap County Democrats provide their list of nominees by July 13. However, the process could move quicker, depending on when the Democrats move forward three candidates,” wrote Brolin-Pleger with the commissioners’ office.As reported by TCS, Kuss had to file a lawsuit for the opportunity to run for sheriff after state lawmakers passed SB 5974, dubbed by critics as the anti-sheriff bill. A Thurston County Superior Court judge put that measure on hold citing potential constitutional issues, allowing Kuss to continue his campaign.Kuss has a decorated military career and currently serves as a deputy with the King County Sheriff’s Office, but would have been unable to run under 5974 because the legislation requires five years of uninterrupted law enforcement experience.He told The Center Square to get over the hurdle of SB 5974 and now run up against the possibility his campaign opponent could be named interim sheriff is a lot to handle.“I have this full-time job as a deputy in King County,” he said. “There are so many things attacking me at the same time, so my wife and I we just had to take a break this morning and pray together, because God’s in control. If you’re being persecuted, that means you’re doing something right.”
