[UPDATE: In this article written two years ago, I stated that Mr. Brotherton had eliminated a conflict of interest between his duties as a member of the Board of Health and his activities in selling and promoting the use of marijuana. On multiple occasions he had been found in violation of regulations governing his marijuana business, Sea Change Cannabis. He opposed child safety cannabis rules. As a cannabis retailer, he was undermining youth prevention efforts. The Board of Health is supposed to be addressing problems related to cannabis usage, especially underage use. It is supposed to educate people about the risks and dangers of cannabis use, not encourage more people to smoke and eat cannabis products. As we reported, using information from the State of Washington and Jefferson County’s own Health Department, medical science has shown a direct correlation between early cannabis use and brain damage, and emotional distress in teens. Jefferson County has a very serious problem, one could call it a crisis, with teen suicidal ideation and widespread cannabis use. Brotherton’s interest in attracting more people to use his products and minimizing their drawbacks conflicted with his duties as a member of the Board of the Health.

I was wrong when I wrote this article in 2020 that Mr. Brotherton had eliminated his conflict of interest. He has continued to finance the new owners of Sea Change Cannabis. I recently questioned him about his financial interest in this business. In an email he stated that his financing was a “small note” that will be paid off this year. But during the past four years he has operated under that conflict of interest. He won’t get paid unless the cannabis business sells product and turns a profit.

My concern that his conflict of interest might result in failure to fully execute his duties as a member of the Board of Health appears to have been justified. Not once during the past four years has the Board of Health responded to concerns about marijuana usage among teens, even after the Public Health Officer in April 2019 alerted the Board that the latest Healthy Youth Survey raised serious concerns the Board should address. See: Jeffco High Schoolers Depressed, Hopeless, Suicidal: 2021 Healthy Youth Survey Results Released. This indifference has extended to the crisis of substance abuse, overdose and drug-related suicide. During Mr. Brotherton’s tenure, and he is now Chair, the Jefferson County Board of Health has not even made these concerns an agenda item, let alone taken any action.

The screenshot below is from a stoner movie Mr. Brotherton wrote, directed, produced and starred in. In this scene he is getting high during an illegal black market drug sale. The movie was once available on the website of Sea Change Cannabis before Mr. Brotherton sought public office. It is still on YouTube.

His blindnessn, numbness, indifference, acceptance of the county’s drug culture and its human toll was evident in his actions regarding the lawlessness and open air drug market that occupied the Fairgrounds for over a year. He allied himself with the people who were dealing drugs, mainly fentanyl and meth, and turned a deaf ear to the complaints of neighbors and those vulnerable souls living in the camp. His poster child and closest contact in the camp is a man who was dealing drugs and abusing women, and who has his own public benefits income on top of what he makes in the black market. When a woman in the camp cried out for help, Brotherton (and the other commissioners), did nothing. She fled the camp and later killed herself. See Another Fairgrounds Tragedy and our other reporting on the Fairgrounds chaos and suffering.]

“Best commissioner in years.” “A breath of fresh air.” “Someone who is actually trying to help.”

I’ve been hearing from quite a few people in Jefferson County that County Commissioner Greg Brotherton is being extremely helpful and responsive to those struggling to preserve livelihoods and jobs during Governor Inslee’s COVID lock down. I’ve reported on how he has stood out from the dilatory and obtuse Board of Health in attempting to apply common sense solutions to reopening Jefferson County’s economy. Patrick Sullivan over at the Jefferson County Washington Facebook page, the most widely followed news source in the county, has also been reporting on Commissioner Brotherton’s similar efforts to get people back to work.

In just the past day I have again heard of Mr. Brotherton working closely with business people seeking help on understanding the perplexing, vague guidelines issued by the Governor for specific business operations. They have also shared with me that he has been, at least in their experience, the only commissioner to return their calls or emails and spend time trying to help them.

I’ve even heard from people who questioned his candidacy that Greg Brotherton has been impressing them. The one recurring reservation is that, being such a nice guy, he isn’t much of fighter.  Some of them want him to be far more aggressive and contentious. Of course, many things that need to have happened, and happened with more alacrity and urgency, have not come to pass.  But from watching (too many) BOH and BOCC meeting videos, I think it is clear Mr. Brotherton is doing what he can in the forums where he must work, with the people with whom he must work.

There is so much to be done. Jefferson County’s unemployment rate for last month exceeded 17%, making it the sixth worst county economy in the state of Washington. That is a grim statistic that translates to hopelessness, despair, substance abuse, domestic violence, child abuse, crime, and negative health outcomes that burden our medical care providers and first responders. Every business, no matter how small, that can return to vitality is a critical player in healing our community. Every minute a public official spends with a business finding a path for them to reopen is a major contribution in the right direction.

Readers of this site will recall a series of investigative and highly critical articles we ran when Mr. Brotherton was running for his current position. Those articles focused on an issue I have no reservations about having raised and raised aggressively. At the time he was running for office, Mr. Brotherton was in the business of selling marijuana and promoting its use. That would have been an irreconcilable conflict of interest for someone who, if elected, would sit on the Board of Health and oversee policies directing the county’s marijuana education and prevention programs.

Mr. Brotherton shed himself of that conflict of interest some time ago by selling his business. The concern behind those articles and investigations no longer exists.

For now, based on what we are seeing and hearing, he is doing a pretty good job, all things considered. I’d just like to put that on the record. 

Jim Scarantino

Jim Scarantino was the editor and founder of Port Townsend Free Press. He is happy in his new role as just a contributor writing on topics of concern to him. He spent the first 25 years of his professional life as a trial attorney, then launched an online investigative news website that broke several national stories. He is also the author of three crime novels. He resides in Jefferson County. See our “About” page for more information.