A Q&A with Incoming Chelan County Sheriff Mike Morrison
Morrison took 54 percent of the vote, a nine percent lead over incumbent Brian Burnett
Mike Morrison clinched his win in the Chelan County Sheriff’s race this week after County Auditor Skip Moore released updated numbers for county elections.
Morrison maintained a nine percent lead over incumbent Brian Burnett, garnering 54 percent of the votes cast in the Chelan County Sheriff’s race. It’s an impressive victory by any standard, but the fact Burnett raised more than twice the amount of money than Morrison (upwards of $88,000 to Morrison's $42,000) put things in even greater perspective.
I reached out to Morrison to ask him a few questions about how he’s feeling, what his priorities are and how he plans to build bridges in a divided department.
Q: How are you feeling about the race?
“I’m just appreciative of the fact that the voters believed in the campaign, believed in the message that was being delivered, and trusted me to take over an important position for the county.”
Q: What are your priorities?
“The priority is the same. To get our focus back to law enforcement, to step away from politics, and to start doing what’s best for the county.”
Q: What do you hope to achieve as far as bridge building? Burnett’s leadership is going to be left behind. What’s your plan to start rebuilding some of these relationships?
“We’re all on the same team. I would expect nothing less from them than I’ve done myself. I’ve given them 100 percent in my position currently, even though at times I have not been very happy with the way things were going but we’re serving the community not ourselves.”
Q: What would you say to the folks who didn’t vote for you?
“I’ve always given 100 percent to the county. I’ve always put them first and I’m going to continue to do so no matter what,” he said. “I hope they get the opportunity to get to know me better and get the opportunity to watch me work and if I’m able to do everything that I set out to do I can’t imagine that they would be unhappy with my performance.”
Q: And what do you want to say to the folks who did support you?
“I’m overwhelmed and humbled. I came in as an unknown, and the fact that they believed in me, they listened to me, they gave me the opportunity, and the amount of people who came out just to support the campaign and help me and help everyone else – that was impressive.”
Q: Is there anything else you think the community should know that we didn’t cover?
“Regardless of who supported me or not, I want to take the time to thank everyone who took the time to vote. I do want to see our focus get back to law enforcement. I want the quality of life we’ve come to expect in Chelan County to continue and I want us to really start bridging the gap. Especially politically. I would like to see us all working together, communicating for the greater good in Chelan County. We all live here. We all live next to each other and I think it’s time for us to start working together.”
Brian Burnett’s Response
I reached out to Burnett’s campaign manager Drew Zabrocki to ask if they had a statement about the outcome of the race and told him I’d be writing a piece to recap things.
“You do you, man,” he wrote.
However, Burnett did go on record with NCWLIFE reporter Jefferson Robbins about the race and his opinion about Morrison.
“I’m going to speak this with boldness: I have respect for the position of sheriff. I have zero respect for Mike Morrison, and what he said and did, and the lies that he cast upon myself and my administration,” Burnett said. “So I will do what’s right, because it’s right for our office and the county, but it’s not for having anything to do with Mike Morrison. And I’ll double down on it again — I have zero respect for him.”
My Two Cents
I decided to focus on this race this election season for the following reasons:
To further examine how Sheriff Burnett’s religious beliefs were impacting public employees and the community.
To better understand the cost of lawsuits and settlements accrued due to Burnett’s administrative decisions and the workplace culture he fostered.
To bring more transparency to a public agency that has worked to hide the truth and give voters the details they needed to make fully informed decisions about this race.
I refrained from endorsing candidates because I don’t think that’s my place. Nor was I in cahoots with any candidate’s campaign, as some have insinuated or implied. These excuses are borne from sour grapes and a refusal to take responsibility for poor campaign decisions and, frankly, not worth a response.
My interest in the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office is not diminished because of Morrison’s victory over Burnett – quite the opposite. I am keen to see how the new sheriff will approach the role and what CCSO workplace culture will look like in the coming months and years under his leadership.
Will things change? Will we continue to have wrongful termination lawsuits and bleed taxpayer money to arbitrators, lawyers, negative judgments, and out-of-court settlements? Will the bullying and toxic workplace culture persist? Will we continue to see law enforcement politicized and public employees refuse to carry out their duties because of the political opinions of the sheriff? Will Grace City Church continue to have sway over and receive special perks and considerations from CCSO?
Time will tell.
And you did a great job addressing your 3 reasons to focus on this election, Dominick! I firmly believe the better man won here!
Night and day comments from each of these men! One is focused on the county residents, the other is focused only on his prior opponent. Hopefully Morrison WILL get things out of the political/religious realm.