Letters to the Editor
Letter to the Editor | The future of Pierce County is on the ballot
Every ten years, Pierce County voters are entrusted with a rare and vital opportunity: to shape the very foundation of our county government. Through the election of a 21-member Charter Review Commission, we choose the people who will examine how our local government functions, scrutinizing the roles and powers of the County Council, Executive, and other elected offices. This commission has the power to propose charter amendments that can dramatically alter how we’re governed, from whether key roles like Sheriff, Assessor, and Auditor should be elected or appointed, to whether partisan and nonpartisan positions should be held to the same term limits.
This isn’t a symbolic process. It’s a constitutional moment for our county. What gets decided here will ripple through every department, every vote, and every taxpayer’s experience for the next decade or more.
Here in District 7, voters can select three commissioners, and the stakes couldn’t be higher. Many capable individuals have filed, but we must look beyond name recognition and slogans. We need candidates who will serve the public interest, not pursue personal vendettas, ideological crusades, or political redemption tours.
Let’s take a clear-eyed look at two candidates who deserve a deeper level of scrutiny:
Jesse Young: Extremism in a suit and tie
His name leaps off the list. Recently defeated in his run for the State Senate, Young previously spent years in the State House, a time during which he did not govern constructively, but instead aligned himself with some of the most extreme elements in Washington politics. His close association with Matt Shea, a far-right figure investigated for ties to armed standoffs with federal authorities, should be disqualifying on its own. But it doesn’t stop there.
Young has a documented record of hostility toward reproductive freedom, a history of anger management issues that have been well-publicized, and an incident where he brought armed individuals to intimidate a peaceful student-led protest. This isn’t leadership, it’s intimidation politics.
He has openly expressed support for transforming our secular democracy into a theocracy based on his personal religious views. That should send a chill down the spine of anyone who values religious freedom, democratic pluralism, or basic sanity in governance.
Randy Boss: The perennial candidate
Then we have Randy Boss, a fixture on Washington political ballots for nearly three decades. His record? One win, a one-year term on the Peninsula Metro Parks Board in 2004, against eleven defeats. Boss’s long résumé of electoral failure spans everything from Public Lands Commissioner to State House, Pierce County Council, and, yes, Charter Review. He’s filed for this very commission three times and has been rejected twice already by voters.
What Boss lacks in governance experience, he makes up for in relentless opposition to public education. As the leader of multiple groups, such as Citizens for Responsible School Spending and School Accountability First, he has fought for years to defeat school bonds and levies, directly opposing investments in our kids and our future.
And if you’ve seen his entry in the Voter Pamphlet, you know Boss leans more toward self-mythology than fact. Under “Elected Experience,” he lists his current role as a Precinct Committee Officer — a position he won with a whopping 120 votes. That’s less than the crowd at a junior varsity basketball game. PCO is not an elected officer but a political popularity party position.
But here’s the kicker: Boss proudly declares, “This will be my third involvement contributing to the charter review.” Sounds impressive until you realize what he means is: he’s filed three times. He hasn’t served three times. He hasn’t contributed policy ideas three times. In my way of thinking, his use of the word “involvement” is a slimy, weak word-smithing attempt that reveals his character.
The voters twice previously told Boss “No.” Let’s make it a three-peat.
The Charter Review is not a vanity project. It’s a once-in-a-decade responsibility to protect and strengthen our democracy at the local level. We must elect commissioners with integrity, vision, and a commitment to the public good, not candidates chasing relevance, retribution, or radical ideology.
District 7 voters: pay attention, ask questions, and vote like the future of our local democracy depends on it—because it does.
George Young
Gig Harbor