You know, I have. I met him at this table, long ago and I started talking to him. It was maybe a year after I had come home from Katrina and I was helping out Charlotte Garrido. Here’s your moment of validation because someone had indeed asked me about this word.

Fresh off the plane, not having really much of anything to my name at the moment except my two children, I had been at my parents house for a little over an hour. The phone rang and it was for me. It was Charlotte Garrido and she had tracked me down and wanted to know if there was anything that she could do to help our family. Am I going to pay that forward? Absolutely.

Back to Josh though, because we’re really talking about him. I’m seated at the table and I’m hearing about how he grew up in Kitsap. He too left the area, but he left for education. He came home and like me, saw that the entire landscape had changed. He too, like me, wanted to give back to his very home and fight to make sure that our home was the best ever for generations to come. You think I am making this conversation up and maybe I am. But maybe I’m actually telling you what I got from the conversation we had. Both of us were genuine in that we wanted our home, his being North (at the time, geez, get over yourselves) and mine being South, to grow and flourish.

Yes, I’m glad he was elected Kitsap County Commissioner. What I’ve learned in the last two years of our current county commissioners seated is this. By no stretch of the imagination is it an easy job. In fact, there’s this subject that I am sooo wanting to take up with Jan Angel when I see her. Best believe I brought up Jan Angel here. Now here’s why.

I listened to Josh one night in a room full of pretty irate people. Each person was upset in one way or another that our county was going downhill and some were screaming out Jan Angel’s name. I want to say that even Patty Lent’s name was even thrown into this almost witch hunt quality of “Let’s Blame Who For What”. Sure as can be, Josh puts a halt to all of this. What’s he say? He tells everyone it’s not about pointing fingers. It’s about coming together to make solutions happen that can best benefit everyone in our county. I think it’s one of the most important things he’s ever said about the state of our county and perhaps one of the most compelling reasons why he has my endorsement for Kitsap County Commissioner district three.

I was telling you about your average commissioner does in their tenure. Oh yea. I loved it when one of my fellow democrats put it under “So you guys just attend a lot of meetings, then.” It’s a correct statement. However, they not only attend these meetings but they also sit on boards for some of those county services essential to us as citizens. All three collectively work hard on bringing things to Kitsap County for our residents, our citizens. I think the biggest challenge in that is that our population is ever changing. Our county is full of military and civilian personnel contracted to the military. I think that the best term I ever heard applied to Josh was “he’s a fiscally conservative commissioner, that’s for sure”. If you ask me, I’d say this is entirely true because although we’ve had to make cuts to things around here, we’ve done just that but also saved some essential services here as well.

Learn more about Josh Brown here and as always, remember to register and vote come August and November.

Josh Brown (photo courtesy Washington State Democrats)