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Home My WebLink About072026 - Public Comment – July 20_ 2026 BOCC Meeting – Due Diligence in Appointment of Sheriff Andy PernsteinerALERT: BE CAUTIOUS This email originated outside the organization. Do not open attachments or click on links if you are not expecting them. Commissioners, In January 2025, following Sheriff Joe Nole's retirement, this Board appointed Andy Pernsteiner as Interim Sheriff. In November 2025, he ran unopposed and was elected Sheriff to complete the remainder of that term. Now, Jefferson County voters are preparing to decide whether to give him his first full four-year term. That history leads me to a simple question: What due diligence did this Board perform before appointing Andy Pernsteiner? Before making that appointment, did you review his professional history, court decisions involving his conduct, or the Sheriff's Office's documented history under its leadership? Or did the Board simply continue the status quo without fully examining the public record? The public record shows that Andy Pernsteiner was one of the deputies named in the civil lawsuit arising from the 2001 death of Kevin Bledsoe in the Jefferson County Jail. Jefferson County later paid $1.6 million to settle that lawsuit while denying liability. The public record also includes the Washington Court of Appeals decision in State v. Mylan, where convictions were reversed after the court concluded that a warrantless search violated constitutional protections. These are not campaign attacks. They are documented events that existed before this Board made its appointment. As elected commissioners, your responsibility was not simply to fill a vacancy. It was to determine whether Mr. Pernsteiner was the best person to lead the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office. Today, I ask each of you the same question many citizens are asking: Knowing everything that was publicly available then—and everything that is publicly known, would you still make the same appointment? If your answer is yes, please explain to the citizens of Jefferson County what due diligence was performed before making that decision. Amber Armstrong Sent with Proton Mail <https://proton.me/mail/home> secure email.