To the editor:

It’s time for a change. I’m supporting Bob Scales for prosecuting attorney. His exemplary record as a deputy prosecutor and public safety advisor speaks for itself. New leadership in the prosecutor’s office is long overdue.

The incumbent prosecutor, Russ Hauge, has been in the office for 20 years and in that time he has personally only tried one case. Much of his time has been spent in Olympia advancing his political standing rather than in Kitsap County serving our community. The partisan endorsements that he is relying on to get our vote tell us nothing of his real record with Kitsap County citizens.

Hauge is known across the county for his unequal application of the law ­— targeting his enemies and protecting his friends.

One of his deputy prosecutors has a DUI record; the first offense was plea bargained in Pierce County to a misdemeanor for undergoing treatment. Hauge quickly reinstated the deputy. This attorney was recently arrested for a second alcohol-related driving offense. On a weekday afternoon, with two 3-year-olds in the back seat, the deputy prosecutor slammed into a stopped car. Blood alcohol level was almost twice the legal limit, and after less than a month on leave the deputy was reinstated by Hauge.

Such latitude is not afforded Hauge’s enemies. Consider his relentless and costly targeting of Marcus Carter. Detailed in the Kitsap Sun in 2012, it is hard to classify this 15-year campaign against Carter as anything other than a very expensive, taxpayer-funded witch hunt and Hauge has lost every courtroom encounter.

Bob Scales has the experience, dedication and the will to transform this office. It’s time for a change!

BOB FORTNER

Bainbridge Island