“Best commissioner in years.” “A breath of fresh air.” “Someone who is actually trying to help.”

I’ve been hearing from quite a few people in Jefferson County that County Commissioner Greg Brotherton is being extremely helpful and responsive to those struggling to preserve livelihoods and jobs during Governor Inslee’s COVID lock down. I’ve reported on how he has stood out from the dilatory and obtuse Board of Health in attempting to apply common sense solutions to reopening Jefferson County’s economy. Patrick Sullivan over at the Jefferson County Washington Facebook page, the most widely followed news source in the county, has also been reporting on Commissioner Brotherton’s similar efforts to get people back to work.

In just the past day I have again heard of Mr. Brotherton working closely with business people seeking help on understanding the perplexing, vague guidelines issued by the Governor for specific business operations. They have also shared with me that he has been, at least in their experience, the only commissioner to return their calls or emails and spend time trying to help them.

I’ve even heard from people who questioned his candidacy that Greg Brotherton has been impressing them. The one recurring reservation is that, being such a nice guy, he isn’t much of fighter.  Some of them want him to be far more aggressive and contentious. Of course, many things that need to have happened, and happened with more alacrity and urgency, have not come to pass.  But from watching (too many) BOH and BOCC meeting videos, I think it is clear Mr. Brotherton is doing what he can in the forums where he must work, with the people with whom he must work.

There is so much to be done. Jefferson County’s unemployment rate for last month exceeded 17%, making it the sixth worst county economy in the state of Washington. That is a grim statistic that translates to hopelessness, despair, substance abuse, domestic violence, child abuse, crime, and negative health outcomes that burden our medical care providers and first responders. Every business, no matter how small, that can return to vitality is a critical player in healing our community. Every minute a public official spends with a business finding a path for them to reopen is a major contribution in the right direction.

Readers of this site will recall a series of investigative and highly critical articles we ran when Mr. Brotherton was running for his current position. Those articles focused on an issue I have no reservations about having raised and raised aggressively. At the time he was running for office, Mr. Brotherton was in the business of selling marijuana and promoting its use. That would have been an irreconcilable conflict of interest for someone who, if elected, would sit on the Board of Health and oversee policies directing the county’s marijuana education and prevention programs.

Mr. Brotherton shed himself of that conflict of interest some time ago by selling his business. The concern behind those articles and investigations no longer exists.

For now, based on what we are seeing and hearing, he is doing a pretty good job, all things considered. I’d just like to put that on the record. 

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[article restored to original 2020 version on 9/14/24 at author’s request]