Oct 19, 2023 By Christina Proctor 3 min read

I drove past a home recently that had a sign in the yard that said, “Fed up? Vote Republican.”

This was an odd sign to see here in Washington County, particularly in this election cycle. On the ballot this year are countywide row offices, including prothonotary, clerk of courts, register of wills, coroner and treasurer, as well as district attorney and county commissioners. Every county row officer in Washington County is Republican, the district attorney is Republican and the Republicans hold a majority on the three-member board of commissioners.

So if you are fed up with the current county government, and frankly you should be, then why would you vote Republican?

Since Republicans swept the election four years ago and took control of Washington County government, there has been embarrassing headline after embarrassing headline. Here are some of the headlines from the Observer-Reporter:

“Clerk of Courts Davis held in contempt, sentenced to jail”

“Attorney General investigating Clerk of Courts Davis”

“Audit finds ‘significant’ issues in Register of Wills office”

“Register of Wills accused of taking gun into courthouse”

“Prothonotary Hough under fire for use of background check database”

“Roman accused of threatening employee at Register of Wills office”

“Register of Wills could be held in contempt due to delayed adoption filings”

“Judge strikes Register of Wills’ report from public record”

“Washington County controller cited for harassment at GOP Christmas party”

While the row officers’ legal troubles make front page news, what does not appear in the paper is the daily incompetence and dysfunction the row officers have caused within our county government.

A memorandum obtained via a right-to-know request that was sent to the commissioners from Washington County’s president judge in 2021 documented “the challenges the court has faced involving county court-related filing officers.” The president judge stated, “The register of wills is simply incapable of handling the daily business of the office. Appeals from Orphans’ Court orders are not being processed timely and the records are not being transmitted to the appellate court, thereby delaying the rights of litigants. Files are routinely misplaced or incomplete. Fees are not being assessed appropriately.”

In reference to the prothonotary’s office, the judge stated, “The court issued an administrative order to address the delays in the docketing and scanning of legal papers that threatened our ability to have a functioning system of justice, and the satisfaction of the basic tenets of due process. We determined that the prothonotary had delays in excess of six weeks, and that judges and court staff were devoting copious amounts of time to compensate and work around these issues.”

Since being elected four years ago, the Republican row officers have proven that they are unfit for office. We, the voters of Washington County, should vote accordingly. These offices are not political in nature. They make no policy decisions and have no political power. These offices are administrative, and we should elect professional individuals who can effectively manage an office. The current row officers have clearly demonstrated that they cannot effectively and professionally run their offices.

If you think county government should function like an episode of Jerry Springer’s TV program, vote Republican. If you think county government should function responsibly, respectfully, and effectively, then you might want to consider voting for Democrats this election cycle.

Christina Proctor is the chair of the Washington County Democratic Committee.