Community Government

Solan seeks a seat on Pierce County Council representing Gig Harbor

Ask Mike Solan, a Republican candidate for Pierce County Council District 7 candidate, what three issues he feels needs to be addressed and the topics fly off his tongue.

It’s simple, he says: Public safety, financial accountability and growth.

The 52-year-old Solan has spent a lifetime advocating for others as a police officer and as president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild, he says. He’s no stranger for speaking up for others.

“I was elected by (police officer) members to a highly political position and needed to learn how to navigate politics in order to help with labor contracts,” Solan says. “At the time the defund the police movement was very vocal and urged more scrutiny in the police department.

“I was under scrutiny and received threats.”

Mike Solan

Advocating for public safety

That’s when he moved to Pierce County. He bought a home on a large parcel of land in Gig Harbor and moved his family and four dogs. Solan said his experience working with officers, people who were against the department and policy makers made him the person today who wants a seat on the county council.

“I’ve had first-hand experience on how politics blends into community safety,” Solan says. “There’s a lack of accountability here in Pierce County.”

Solan says he wants to closely examine the county’s budget to make it more balanced and less reliant on tapping into cash reserves.

“With my knowledge of public safety, I can help since 76% of the Pierce County general fund is spent on public safety,” he says.

Solan said he wants to shore up staffing in the Sheriff’s Department. Pierce County has the fewest deputies per capita of any county in the nation, Solan says.

“That’s a red flag for me,” Solan says. “Public safety is the lifeline when I need help. The average response time in the Key Peninsula is 45 minutes. There’s not enough staffing.”

If elected, Solan says he would go over the budget with a fine-toothed comb to see where the county is spending money.

“We have an imbalance in government,” he says. “I want to bring balance back to government to alleviate the difficult issues and keep the programs that are effective and get rid of the ineffective ones. I will be the checks and balances.”

Political views

While Solan has not served in public office before, he feels his experience as a police union president gives him insight that he can tap into as a council member.

When Solan filed to run for the office, the civil division of the Pierce County Prosecutor’s Office advised the Elections Office to invalidate his candidacy. The Pierce County Charter requires that candidates be registered voters in their district for at least one year.

Solan did not meet that requirement, but a court ruled in May that it was not a valid reason to remove him from the ballot.

Now he is turning his attention to the core issues the district faces. He says he represents a movement to bring balance back to government by being fiscally responsible.

A father of two daughters, Solan says he’d retire from the police department if elected. He says that the three adjectives he’d use to describe himself are fair, loyal and reasonable.

“As a police officer, the hallmark is balance,” Solan says. “You are a social worker, interacting with humanity and have you make split-second decisions to keep the peace. And to be effective, you have to weight the law with the humanity or event in front of you.”