Rob Anderson shared a video on Facebook about the November general election vote for the 15-member Clark County Charter Review Commission

Ken Vance, editor
Clark County Today

Four years ago, Clark County voters elected 15 area residents to serve on the Charter Review Commission. After attending the first meeting, Liz Pike looked around at the other 14 who were elected to serve with her on the commission and realized her conservative voice was going to have little or no impact. Soon thereafter, the former Washington state representative resigned from the commission.

Voting is now underway for the Aug. 5 special election, but it’s the November general election when Clark County voters will again be tasked with electing 15 area residents to form the next commission to review the Clark County Home Rule Charter, approved by voters in 2014. The county is required to form a commission at least once every five years to review the Charter. Three members are elected from each of the county’s five districts.

Reform Clark County Founder Rob Anderson has spent a great deal of time and effort trying to make sure a repeat of the last commission doesn’t take place again in this election. He encouraged many of the candidates to file for the commission and he has done his best to raise awareness among area voters on the importance of participating in the process.

Recently, Anderson made an informational video that he shared on Facebook:

In his video, Anderson discusses the significance of the Home Rule Charter — the county’s version of a constitution — and the upcoming election for its Charter Review Commission, which takes place every five years and includes 15 elected members. He criticizes the previous commission’s amendments, including proposals for ranked choice voting (which voters rejected), a Diversity and Inclusion office (which failed twice), and a rule allowing executive branch officials to appoint their own successors — rather than having vacancies filled by the County Council. Anderson argues that making positions “nonpartisan” has not removed politics but instead limited voters’ ability to understand candidates’ affiliations.

“So you all know about the US Constitution, you know about the Washington State Constitution. But do you realize that Clark County has a constitution? It’s called the Home Rule Charter,’’ Anderson said on the video. “And every five years, a committee is elected, 15 people are elected to the Charter Review Commission, which you will see on your ballots in November.

“Now, last time the Charter Review Commission, when they were elected and got together, they talked about that. They wanted good governance,’’ Anderson said. “They talked about in their voters pamphlet that they wanted, you know, nonpartisanship. So what did they do? What did the voters actually get as charter amendments? They got ranked choice voting, which was defeated because that’s not something people are clamoring over. A DEI office, which not once but twice it failed. And they also gave executive branch members the ability to appoint their successor. So if they quit or maybe they get disqualified for crimes, guess what? Instead of the council, the voters, the people’s branch picking the replacement, that executive gets to pick their replacement. So those were kind of some of the things, nonpartisan.

“So they made all the positions or most of the positions nonpartisan, which doesn’t take the politics out of politics in elected positions,’’ Anderson continued. “It doesn’t magically take away. In fact, what it does is it takes away information from the voters, so the voters are less informed about the candidates because they get to hide behind nonpartisanship. So those are some of the things that we saw last time.’’

A different vision

Anderson contrasts the last commission with a new group he says needs to prioritize public safety, citing long-standing underfunding of sheriff’s deputies. He supports a potential charter amendment requiring a supermajority (four out of five council votes) for property tax increases, and highlights other possible reforms like transportation priorities and improving accountability from unelected bureaucrats.

Anderson warns that Democrat-backed candidates are pushing for redistricting (which he claims could increase Democrat seats), reviving ranked choice voting, and adding new restrictions to the initiative process. He also states there are Democratic candidates who want to revisit the idea of making the county clerk an appointed position. The county clerk is currently an elected position.

Anderson urges voters to examine the Charter Review Commission candidates closely and support those who will focus on public safety, fiscal restraint, smarter transportation, and government accountability.

“This time, we’re seeing a group of people step up and say, you know what? We want to put the people first. We want public safety. That’s right,’’ he said. “The deputy funding crisis, deputy funding has not been prioritized over decades, and other priorities have taken over. Public safety has taken the brunt of it. So now a group of people are saying, hey, let’s have a charter amendment for public safety prioritization.

“The other thing is, maybe a supermajority for tax increases,’’ Anderson said. “We’re seeing tax increases, tax increases several years in a row. Now in the Clark County Council, they have raised the property taxes and, you know, so there’s a call for a supermajority amendment that would require four out of five votes. That’s a great idea for the people of Clark County.

“There’s other kinds of aspects of, for example, transportation priorities and, and advocacy for, transparency and better accountability from unelected bureaucrats,’’ he said. “So that’s what’s at stake this time. You know the Democrats, what they’re saying. And yes, the parties are active. So don’t be fooled by nonpartisan labels. The Democrats have put forward a group of people in which they’re talking about redistricting, which is a clever way of saying they want to add more seats.

“Democrat-controlled areas, on the Clark County Council, want Ranked Choice Voting again,’’ Anderson added. “They want to further restrict initiatives by adding more requirements and reviewing the initiatives. So they just don’t necessarily want to prioritize what the people want and what’s going to help overall. And so I want to let you know what’s at stake.’’

Voter engagement encouraged

Voter participation in non presidential elections is often low. Anderson is doing his best to get more voters engaged this time.

“It’s very important that you take a look at all the Charter Review candidates and say which ones are going to be looking to for public safety, which ones are going to be looking to hold down tax increases, which ones are going to maybe look to smarter transportation priorities or better accountability?’’ he said. “Those are the priorities that we should be looking for and Clark County needs.’’

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