Vote for King County Charter Amendment 3

KING County Charter Amendment 3 would give Sheriff Sue Rahr a shared role in bargaining with unions representing people in her department. It is a common-sense proposal, and voters should approve it.

All the authority to negotiate labor contracts at the sheriff's office now is held by King County Executive Dow Constantine. That makes sense for bargaining pay and benefits, because sheriff's employees are paid out of the same general tax revenues as other county employees. The sheriff does not have a separate taxing authority.

She does, however, have a separate responsibility to the people. Since the mid-1990s, King County's sheriff has been elected, reporting directly to voters rather than the executive. And that creates a problem. The sheriff can promise to do things — create an oversight system, employee evaluations, etc. But if those things require changes in labor contracts, she can't deliver them unless the executive wants to.

"I'm being held accountable for the management of my organization, but somebody else is bargaining the contract," Rahr has said.

Charter Amendment 3 gives the sheriff authority to bargain with public-safety employees on all issues except pay and benefits. Splitting the authority does add complexity. It means the sheriff and the executive have to do some negotiating between themselves. But they can do that.

And it's not particularly unusual. King County's elected prosecutor, Dan Satterberg, has authority to negotiate rules but not pay in his department. So do a couple of dozen elected sheriffs around the state.

Two former county executives, Gary Locke and Randy Revelle, have supported the idea. Voters should, too, by voting yes on King County Charter Amendment 3.