PIERCE COUNTY, Wash. — Pierce County voters will choose between two candidates Tuesday for the county’s next prosecuting attorney: Coreen Schnepf and Bryan Chushcoff.
The candidates differ significantly in how they characterize the management of the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
Chushcoff argues the office is falling behind, pointing to unresolved felony cases and a higher rate of jail bookings that do not result in charges as evidence that its management needs to change. His campaign calls for reorganizing the office, retaining experienced attorneys, and using performance data to guide decisions.
Schnepf, the office’s current chief criminal deputy, instead focuses on modernizing its work as prosecutors handle growing amounts of digital evidence, devoting more attention to quality-of-life crimes and increasing public accountability for how the office uses its resources.
The Pierce County prosecuting attorney oversees an office with criminal, civil, and family-support divisions. The office prosecutes all state felony cases in the county and misdemeanors committed in unincorporated areas, represents county officials and departments in litigation, provides legal advice on matters including contracts and public records, and works to establish parentage and enforce child-support orders.
The candidates enter the race with different backgrounds in the county’s justice system.
Schnepf is the chief criminal deputy in the Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office and has more than 20 years of experience prosecuting crimes, according to her campaign website. Her campaign says she is focused on violent crime as well as crimes that affect residents’ quality of life, including stolen vehicles and organized retail theft.
Schnepf’s campaign also emphasizes her work prosecuting murderers, rapists, human traffickers and domestic abusers. Her campaign says she wants the prosecutor’s office to remain free of politics while focusing on community safety.
She entered the race after current Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney Mary Robnett told her staff she would not seek reelection, according to an announcement published on Schnepf’s campaign website. The campaign says Robnett endorsed Schnepf as her successor.
Chushcoff is a former judge whose campaign centers heavily on how the prosecutor’s office is managed. His campaign website describes his experience as including work as a judge, administrator, and attorney, as well as managing complex institutions and a multimillion-dollar budget.
Chushcoff argues the prosecutor’s office should be filing more charges against people who have been arrested.
The race gives voters a choice between Schnepf’s experience leading within the current Prosecuting Attorney’s Office and Chushcoff’s argument that the office needs broader management changes. Both candidates say public safety and keeping politics out of the prosecutor’s office are central to their campaigns.
To learn more about Coreen Schnepf’s campaign, visit her website.
To learn more about Bryan Chushcoff’s campaign, visit his website.