You’ve heard Josh Harris is running for Pierce County Council. Meet his opponents
You’ve probably heard about one of the candidates for the District 7 Pierce County Council seat from recent headlines.
Josh Harris allegedly shot and wounded a car theft suspect in Tacoma in May who he said was driving toward him, and Harris previously paid to bail out three Tacoma police officers involved in the death of Manuel Ellis. Meanwhile, court records from 2008 and before showed Harris has twice been charged with theft in Pierce County.
He’s one of five candidates running for the council seat. District 7 includes Gig Harbor, Key Peninsula, Fox Island, McNeil Island, Ruston, West Tacoma and North Tacoma.
The primary election is Aug. 2.
Here’s who is running:
Mitch Anderson (R)
Anderson, 63, was born and raised in Gig Harbor. He believes the county’s natural beauty, recreational opportunities and cultural events make it a special place.
Anderson is a fully licensed financial advisor with several professional licenses. They include: Series 7 - General Securities Representative Examination; Series 66 - Uniform Combined State Law Examination; SIE - Securities Industry Essentials Examination; and Insurance Producer - Life, Disability, Variable Life & Variable Annuity. At one point he also had a few mortgage licenses, one being for Washington.
“I want to give back to the county and this is an opportunity for me to use my financial background. I think I bring financial tools that the other candidates don’t have,” Anderson told The Gateway.
Anderson graduated from Washington State University with a bachelor’s degree in general studies with an emphasis in music and business.
Anderson has spent over 15 years as a financial advisor. He said he’s worked with some of the largest financial firms in the world, including Smith Barney (owned by Citi Group at the time, Smith Barney merged with and was eventually acquired by Morgan Stanley), and Merrill Lynch (owned by Bank of America).
“This is going to allow me to help with effective financial budgeting and critical review on the way we’re currently spending our money and give me the tools to continually monitor performance of our budget,” Anderson said.
Anderson has also held leadership positions with the Gig Harbor Chamber of Commerce and the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber.
For Gig Harbor he served on the board for eight years. Three of those he spent as the treasurer and he also served as chairman of the board. He ran a public affairs forum for 12 years with the Gig Harbor Chamber, where they brought in elected public officials and ran campaign debates.
For the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber, Anderson sat on the board for six years. He has been on the finance committee for the past seven years and an ambassador for 14 years.
Anderson has also served on the board of the Tacoma Rescue Mission.
If elected Anderson’s goals for the council include focusing on crime, the economy and jobs. He said he wants to give law enforcement officers tools and resources to do their jobs, rebuild the rainy-day fund and pull back unnecessary spending. He said he believes Pierce County has unlimited economic potential. Taking care of local businesses and being good stewards of our natural resources is a way to show that Pierce County is a beautiful place and a good place to do business, he said.
Anderson said he got into this race late, and has not chased many endorsements. He is endorsed by Terry Lee, former Pierce County council member for District 7.
“I have been more focused on fundraising right now. I’m excited. I think this is a great opportunity to utilize my skill set and help make Pierce County a better place to live,” Anderson told The Gateway.
Public Disclosure Commission records show Anderson has raised $8,782.46. In-kind donations from himself account for about $1982.46 of that. $1,000 is from the Goodfellas Motor Company and $5,800 is from individuals.
When asked about recent headlines regarding Harris, Anderson said: “We have let the drug addicted and homeless run the show. But we cannot have vigilantes out attempting to serve justice. When that happened it no longer fits the definition of a civilized society. Vigilantes are not trained to uphold the law, there is no training there.”
Anderson went on to say: “We cannot trample over the constitution if we’re mad ... there is proper ways to go about it. The police are trained to get all sides of the investigation, deescalate situations. ... I get so concerned when someone wants to take the law into their own hands that is not trained, trying to serve justice. It doesn’t make sense.”
Additional resources for information about Mitch Anderson:
Website: https://www.mitchandersonjr.com/
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/electmitch/
Who is paying for the campaign?: www.pdc.wa.gov
Robyn Denson (D)
Denson, 47, said she’s passionate about nature and Pierce County.
She currently serves on the Gig Harbor City Council and is Gig Harbor’s Mayor Pro Tempore.
Prior to serving on the City Council, Denson worked to conserve world working lands (rangelands and forestlands that support livelihoods) and critical habitat throughout Pierce County. She also served on the Gig Harbor Parks Commission for four terms and has been part of the Pierce County Conservation Futures Citizen Advisory Board.
“I love Pierce County, I think we live in the most amazing county,” Denson said. “Everything from Mount Rainier to our miles and miles of shorelines, and cool cities. We have a lot of assets and a lot to be proud of. But we also have our challenges as well. I want to move the county forward in a way that doesn’t leave anyone behind and provide an improved quality of life that we should all be enjoying here in Pierce County.”
Some of Denson’s priorities if elected are growth, protecting the environment, and addressing crime, homelessness, and mental health issues.
“I want to ensure that as we grow as a county, we have really well-planned managed growth that provides affordable housing opportunities, preserves the unique character and identities of our different communities, and protects our rural areas and environments,” Denson told The Gateway. “Our natural beauty and unique characteristics of our communities are really what make Pierce County special. ... we need to make sure we aren’t losing what makes Pierce County such a wonderful place to live.”
While going door to door two concerns she heard involved crime and homelessness. Denson said she is committed to increasing community safety, making sure that our law enforcement agencies and service providers have the staff and resources they need to be able to respond to calls appropriately and in a timely matter.
“Residents expressed interest in compassionate and effective responses to the homelessness issues. We are very fortunate that the county has passed the comprehensive plan to end homelessness and I’m looking forward to digging in and implementing that plan,” Denson said. “I want the community to really see we’re making a difference and taking really intentional steps to address the immediate crisis of moving unhoused people into stable housing that is suitable and works for them, while also really addressing the root causes and preventing more people from getting into homelessness into the future.”
Denson is also focused on protecting the environment and preventing climate change. As a current public official, she considers this to be a responsibility of government and a matter of health and safety for communities now and planning for the future, she said.
“Here in the Pacific Northwest we’re seeing climate change affect sea levels, which ultimately will also affect our small businesses in our tourist areas by the water,” Denson said.
Denson believes mental health and behavioral health services is an area that the county has under-invested in for a long time.
“I am excited to help build resources to help the many people that need it,” Denson said.
Denson graduated from the University of Michigan with a bachelor’s degree in Latin American and Caribbean Studies.
Denson has raised more than $70,000 and has over 70 endorsements of federal officials, state officials, city officials, school board members, fire commissioners, parks commissioners, community leaders and organizations. She is endorsed by Derek Young, the current council member for District 7 who reached his term limit. She’s also endorsed by Terry Lee, former Pierce County council member for District 7. A full list of endorsements can be found on her website.
PDC records show she’s raised $81,081.04. Individuals have donated $68,714.1, Denson has contributed $2,099.06 herself, and Political Action Committees donated 4,700. Some of her donations include $500 from the Gig Harbor Professional Firefighters PAC and $1,217.82 from WA State Democrats, among others.
In regards to the recent news about Josh Harris, Denson said she had no comment.
Additional resources for information about Robyn Denson:
Website: https://www.electrobyndenson.com/
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/robyndensonpiercecountycouncil
Who is paying for the campaign?: www.pdc.wa.gov
Paula Lonergan (R)
Lonergan, 69, graduated from the University of Puget Sound with a bachelor’s degree in Public Administration after getting honorably discharged as a sergeant from the U.S. Air Force at McChord.
“I’m committed to work hard on their behalf and work with other council members to address the real issues that are most important to the people in my district,” Lonergan told The Gateway.
Lonergan, a Tacoma resident, currently chairs the Sheriff’s Civil Service Commission. She served two terms on the governor’s Affordable Housing Advisory Board, as well as serving on Tacoma’s Human Rights Commission and on its Affirmative Action Advisory Committee.
She thinks the county desperately needs to increase sheriff staffing and visibility in unincorporated Pierce County.
“Crime is up in every part of our county. I would like to serve on the South Sound 911 Board to provide oversight of this vital dispatch service,” Lonergan said. “There are a number of other areas where the courts, alternate bail options and pretrial services may not be serving our citizens well. This requires a deeper dive to determine what can be done to improve this situation. For a safer community, career criminals must know they will face a real crime deterrent and, when they’re ready to change their behavior, know what options are available to support positive change.”
Other district-wide priorities for Lonergan include replacing the Fox Island bridge, job and business recovery during the pandemic, returning public transportation services lost during the last big Pierce Transit cutback, facilitating planned growth, protecting property rights, and improving 911 response times county-wide.
She wants to better protect the drinking water supply from pollution by working with state agencies responsible for approving plans and standards, in addition to the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department.
“It’s my understanding that ground water testing and standards may come under more than one agency and I’d want to ensure that citizens had access to clean water that met standards,” Lonergan said.
She is married to county assessor-treasurer Mike Lonergan.
Lonergan said she’s still working on securing formal endorsements.
PDC records show she’s raised $14,490.00. $10,000 of that is from herself and $4,440 is from individual donations.
In regards to the recent news about Josh Harris, Lonergan said she had no comment.
Additional resources for Paula Lonergan:
Website: https://www.electpaulalonergan.com/home
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100081841417884
Who is paying for the campaign?: www.pdc.wa.gov
Chuck West (R)
West, 64, owns a small business as a licensed general contractor and is a former firefighter who plans to push for changes to how county agencies serve residents.
“Being in the rural communities, we’ve always needed more agency presence out in the community. This will hopefully give residents an opportunity to get their questions answered,” West told The Gateway.
He graduated from the Washington Fire Academy in 1986 and became a certified IFSAC fire service instructor and officer. He also took classes from Tacoma Community College and Pierce College in technology and history.
After being a firefighter for 35 years, West wants to provide sheriff’s deputies the resources and tools they need. He hopes to reduce crime rates.
“I know they have been the ones calling for changes to have people come out and take care of mental health and addiction issues in our community,” West said. “We’ve been talking about solving them, but haven’t done much of anything. I hope to guide how we deal with that. For example more than just a 72-hour stay. There needs to be follow-up.”
West was with Key Peninsula Fire as a battalion chief until June of last year.
Aside from the fire service, West has also worked with multiple government agencies and officials.
West is on the Peninsula School Board and serves as president of the KP Community Council. He also served on the Key Peninsula Land Use Advisory Board as chair for eight years and has sat on the Pierce County Flood Control Advisory Board since its inception. While on the Pierce County Flood Control Advisory Board, he said he got more involved with county-wide issues
“It got me familiar with other areas of the county, while I was still bringing resources back to the Gig Harbor/ Key Peninsula area,” West told The Gateway.
West has faced criticism in recent years for comments he made on social media. The Gateway reported that in posts on Facebook West suggested that “inner city Black men commit a disproportionate amount of the violent crime,” and therefore have more encounters with police. That comment was in response to an article about a report in 2020 that found Black people were arrested disproportionately in Pierce County.
He was also criticized for seeming to downplay the seriousness of the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol by a mob and for comments he has made about the pandemic, The Gateway reported.
“Why is the media and big corporations shutting down the other side? What little I have been able to hear from unbiased sources it seems the attack was limited to a handful of people, that the peaceful protesters even tried to stop,” West said in a comment on a post from Congressman Derek Kilmer after the riot.
Some pandemic-related content West has shared on Facebook has been labeled false or partly false by independent fact checkers, according to labels on the website.
Asked about his social media presence as an individual and as a public official, and if he’d posted things in the past that no longer reflect his beliefs, West told The Gateway June 24: “I remember a friend telling me back when the (violent crime) social media post was written, saying she concurred with what I had said, but we can’t talk about it because we’re gonna offend people. We live in a society today where we are so worried about offending everybody, it’s sad. I grew up in the ‘60s and the ‘70s, where everyone was offended. We were pushing civil rights, and offending a lot of people. But it was okay to do that and talk and have those conversations. Today, we can’t do it. Today we’re shut down. And it’s just scary, the censorship we’re beginning to see in social media.”
West is endorsed by Terry Lee, former Pierce County council member for District 7. West said he hopes to go after more endorsements moving forward.
“I have seen the other side of things of raising a family and running a small business here in Pierce County, dealing with the government agencies. I think it gives me a unique perspective to know the ramifications of the regulations and actions taken by the council and agencies. I want this job so that I can represent the interest of the working class families, small business and the citizens who need to be heard,” West said.
West said one of his first experiences working with local communities was on a project he started for his son.
“Starting as a volunteer firefighter it really got me into the volunteering aspect of things. When my oldest son, Zech was growing up he needed a place to skateboard and at that time back in the ‘90s, skateboarders were frowned upon. I had to change the mentality and wanted to give him a place to skateboard out here in the rural community, where we didn’t have big parking lots and malls. I approached the park district and then built a small wooden skate park,” West said.
Later in life his son, Zech, died in a car accident in 2004. He was active-duty Navy, stationed in Italy at the time.
After the death of his son, West put together a nonprofit foundation, fundraising to build a real skate park.
“It has concrete that will last as long as concrete lasts. It was a great motivator for me to realize that I could do something like that. I volunteered a lot in the community as a firefighter, doing little projects. And then I worked myself into different leaderships positions.”
PDC records show he has raised $9,937.73. $4,350 is from individual contributions, $1,237.73 is from himself, and about $4,000 is from businesses, including Town Center Villages and Riel & Associates.
In regards to recent news about Josh Harris, West said he had no comment.
Additional resources for information about Chuck West:
Website: https://www.westforwa.com/
Who is paying for the campaign?: www.pdc.wa.gov
Josh Harris (R)
The name Josh Harris might be familiar.
The News Tribune has reported about the shooting Harris, 47, was involved in on May 30 at a homeless encampment in Tacoma.
Harris shot a suspected car thief at the encampment near Cheney Stadium. The man suffered gunshot wounds to his head and his hand. Harris said he fired in self-defense when the man drove at him, The News Tribune reported. Harris said he was there to help someone retrieve stolen tools and other items. He has not been charged or arrested. The prosecutor’s office is awaiting the results of the investigation into Harris firing his gun from the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office, The News Tribune reported.
Harris is running on a law-and-order platform. He has a criminal record of his own, The News Tribune has reported. Harris has twice been charged with theft in Pierce County, according to Superior Court records from 2008 and before. Harris previously made headlines for paying $300,000 to bail out three Tacoma police officers involved in the death of Manuel Ellis. His brother is a Tacoma police chaplain.
Harris said he has worked with the community in homelessness prevention for 25 years, with various organizations including Need A Break Services, the Tacoma Rescue Mission, Coffee Oasis, Integrity Services, Charlies Dinosaurs (a program that provides children in emergency foster homes with backpacks that have toys, school supplies and other items), Foster Parent Alliance of Washington State and Youth For Christ-mentoring in Remann Hall Pierce County Juvenile Detention Center’s 180 Mentorship Program.
He told The Gateway he had a seven-year tenure helping with Tacoma-Pierce County Crime Stoppers.
Harris also said he spent four years donating house remodels for Women In Transitional Housing which is a domestic violence shelter program for women and children. Additionally, he served on the University Place Fire Board (1997-2001).
He said he has helped many people out of homelessness by connecting them to resources, mentoring them and trying to help find them a job.
In 2004, he established Integrity Construction – a company he still owns and operates. He said he understands the struggles small business owners and working families face when it comes to taxes, regulations, and law enforcement policies that he believes make communities unsafe.
If elected his plans for the council include seeking accountability on resources funded by the county and producing entry-level housing. He wants to do this by producing pod-like community homes that are affordable.
He also said he has concerns about some drug rehabilitation centers and that he wants to partner with those that are successful. He said he wants to do a full audit on all the facilities’ finances, success rates and what full services they provide to evaluate which facilities are worth continuing to fund.
He also wants to procure better utilities, internet, and transportation to the Key Peninsula, fix the Wollochet on-ramps, and assess the Fox Island bridge for replacement.
When asked why he wants this job, Harris said: “Honestly I don’t. I love construction and have serious concerns about our leadership and polarization of both parties. However, I am the person who steps in when leadership is needed. Most of these candidates threw their name in at the last minute. I was asked by several people over a year ago and have been watching, asking questions, and digging into the details to see why we are failing.”
Harris is currently endorsed by the Tacoma Police Union.
“Other politicians and the Pierce County Republican Party endorsed me until last month when I told the chair that due to the bitter bickering between a small group of people I would rather they pull my endorsement,” Harris told The Gateway. “I am done with high school behavior. Therefore, they are not endorsing any candidate in this race. I have had the support of others in leadership but did not ask for their official endorsement because I felt it may bring discord with current relations between individuals currently working in leadership and running for this position. I asked for their behind the scenes support which they pledged and have graciously done so. There is already too much division and divisiveness and to bring real solutions all must come to the table without labels and agendas.”
PDC records show he has raised $27,885.00. $20,000 is from himself, $6,615 is from individual contributions, and $1,050 is from businesses.
Additional resources for information about Josh Harris:
Website: www.friendsofjoshharris.com
Who is paying for the campaign?: www.pdc.wa.gov
This story was originally published July 5, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
