Whether one leads a government agency, a business, or a charity, among the most essential skills of leadership are making wise decisions, taking the initiative, and motivating subordinates to move the organization forward and accomplish the organization’s goals. The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office (JCSO) needs a sheriff who has those skills.

In his 2018 campaign for sheriff, Joe Nole promised to get accreditation for the JCSO. The process takes a little over a year and was over 80 percent done when Joe became sheriff. Four years later, Joe has done nothing to get it done.

When Nole took office in 2019, he inherited a JCSO strategic plan the county had developed at a cost of $20,000. Instead of updating it, Nole just threw it away. Four years later, JCSO still has no strategic plan.

I attended a meeting on Sept. 25 at which Nole spoke. To my amazement, Nole thanked his opponent Art Frank for helping him realize the importance of pursuing accreditation and preparing a strategic plan sooner rather than later. Nole announced he would act on Art Frank’s recommendations. In effect, Nole admitted that Art Frank has better ideas and is a better leader.

After four years of inaction, it took Art Frank’s campaign for sheriff to motivate Nole to promise again to do his job. Since Nole has broken promises before, you can bet he will break these promises too.

Since all of Nole’s best ideas come from his opponent Art Frank, voters should just cut out the middleman and elect Art Frank.

Please vote for Art Frank for sheriff.

Lily Smith
PORT TOWNSEND