Benton sheriff recall has enough signatures to make the ballot. What happens next?

It will now be up to Benton County voters whether to remove Sheriff Jerry Hatcher from office.

The recall petition was certified Thursday morning by Benton County Auditor Brenda Chilton after her staff finished verifying.

To place the issue on the ballot, 13,937 signatures of registered voters were needed. The Auditor’s Office validated 14,215 signatures.

The question whether to oust Hatcher from his elected office will be on the Aug. 3 primary.

Hatcher told the Tri-City Herald that he totally supports and accepts the will of the people, but does “not accept the pretense from this recall group that it is for accountability.”

He accused the recall organizers of misleading citizens during the signature-gathering process by claiming the courts had found him guilty of their allegations.

“I have been attacked relentlessly for resisting organized labor’s attempt to take over and control your sheriff’s office,” Hatcher said in a written statement. “Nobody deserves to be falsely accused of anything and no person deserves to have horrible and unsubstantiated accusations made against them.”

“I will not stand idly by and allow this type of unethical behavior and conduct to happen to anyone as long as I am in office,” he added. “That being said, I work for the people of Benton County and will accept the determination of our citizens.”

Sgt. Jason Erickson started the effort last summer, accusing his boss of intimidating witnesses and public servants in investigations, retaliating against them, and tampering with and destruction of physical evidence.

Erickson is supported by a vast majority of the Benton County Deputy Sheriff’s Guild, along with the Washington State Fraternal Order of Police, which have called for the sheriff to step down.

“My client, Jason Erickson, and the Benton County sheriff’s deputies are ecstatic that the certification process went so smoothly, and it’s a credit to the recall Hatcher group and Kathlen Wierschke and all her efforts,” said Alan Harvey, the union lawyer.

“We look forward to the upcoming election for the voters to be able to decide on the eight allegations with respect to the unrefuted proof.”

Denied wrongdoing

Hatcher is entering his fifth year as the Benton County sheriff.

He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, and has insisted he will be exonerated of any criminal allegations and retained by county voters. He’s currently under investigation by the Washington State Patrol, but is not charged with a crime.

Hatcher sought to bring an end to Erickson’s recall petition with an appeal last fall to the Washington state Supreme Court.

However, the state’s highest court ended up giving the green light to the effort, and followed up with a 47-page opinion that criticized Hatcher for his alleged behavior.

After the court reached its initial decision in early November, the “Committee to Recall Sheriff Hatcher” had six months to turn collect and submit the necessary signatures.

The committee turned in 16,460 signatures on April 23, less than two weeks shy of their deadline.

Elections employees spent eight days in a line-by-line check of 823 signature-filled pages, comparing each name, date of birth and signature against the registration record in their system.

Staff had to disqualify a number of signatures on the petitions either because they did not match what was on record for the voter, or it belonged to a person who had not yet registered to vote in Benton County.

Chilton previously said there were observers during the week at the Benton County Voting Center from both sides of the recall and that they were respectful of the process.

Ballot synopsis

Once the threshold was met, she certified the petition as sufficient and called for an election. She then served Hatcher with official notification.

The sheriff now has one week to submit a brief response to the Auditor’s Office to be placed on the ballot synopsis.

The ballot also will include the eight approved charges, that Hatcher:

▪ Illegally appropriated for his own use 14 cases of ammunition belonging to Benton County.

▪ Illegally tampered with physical evidence by directing the distribution of ammunition that was potential evidence of his own alleged unlawful acts

▪ Interfered in an investigation into his conduct by acting to prevent witnesses from being interviewed.

▪ Violated county anti-discrimination policy by hindering an investigation into his conduct and retaliating against the complainant and witnesses to the investigation.

▪ Illegally intimidated public servants and witnesses in investigations into his conduct by raising false allegations of impropriety and threatening witnesses’ jobs.

▪ Illegally made false or misleading statements to law enforcement and the court regarding the number of firearms he needed to surrender pursuant to a court order.

▪ Illegally made false or misleading statements to public servants claiming that he had initiated a criminal investigation into his own conduct when he had not.

▪ Falsified a public record by placing a false date on an investigation request.

Voters then will be asked, “Should Jerry Hatcher be recalled from office based upon these charges?”

If the recall result is in the affirmative, meaning the voters choose to remove Hatcher, he will have to vacate his office the day that Chilton certifies the election.

Then, the Benton County Republican Party will submit a list of candidates to the county commissioners for consideration. The commissioners will appoint a replacement to serve until the next election.

This story was originally published May 6, 2021 at 12:06 PM.