County commissioners and county councils can suspend a county treasurer who is accused of misconduct. But they can’t suspend an assessor-treasurer, which is the name of the dual job in Pierce County.
That nuance in state law has come under question after Dale Washam’s four-year reign at the assessor-treasurer’s office.
Sen. Mike Carrell and a bipartisan group of fellow Pierce senators — Jeannie Darneille, Bruce Dammeier, Steve Conway and Randi Becker – want to sync up the suspension authority for elected treasurers and assessor-treasurers. Their proposal, if it had been law, would presumably have allowed Pierce County Council to do something akin to impeaching Washam.
Read more here: http://blog.thenewstribune.com/politics/2013/02/19/legislature-considers-letting-county-councils-suspend-future-dale-washams/
JOIN THE DISCUSSION | Register here
We welcome comments. Please keep them civil, short and to the point. ALL CAPS, spam, obscene, profane, abusive and off topic comments will be deleted. Repeat offenders will be blocked. Thanks for taking part — and abiding by these simple rules. A thorough explanation of rules of conduct can be found in our Terms of Service. If you have any questions, including why your comment may not be showing immediately after you submit it, be sure to visit the commenting FAQ.