PORT TOWNSEND — Jefferson County voters have replaced their prosecuting attorney, according to initial counts in Tuesday’s general election.
Michael Haas earned 6,681 votes, or 61.64 percent, over incumbent Scott Rosekrans’ 4,057 votes, or 37.43 percent.
“I would have been happy with 52 or 53 percent, so I’m very pleased with the numbers,” said Haas, 53.
“We tried to keep things on a positive level and run on the issues to support more progressive programs and stop the revolving door at the courthouse, he added.
“I think that’s everyone’s goal, but there are different ways to get there.”
Rosekrans, 62, said he is “obviously disappointed because I think the office has done a pretty good job over the last four years by holding people accountable and serving the citizens with mental health court and drug court.
“I don’t know why the voters voted the way they did. That’s for the political experts to figure out.”
Haas and Rosekrans are both Democrats.
The Jefferson County Auditor’s Office counted 13,402 ballots Tuesday out of 22,207 issued for a voter turnout of 58.64 percent.
Auditor Donna Eldridge expects about 2,000 more ballots to come in later this week.
The next count has been scheduled for about 2 p.m. Thursday unless all the ballots in hand can be processed. In that case, a count will be done Wednesday.
Haas has worked as a prosecutor and a defense attorney. He now has a small practice in Port Townsend.
Haas ran for Superior Court Judge in 2012 but placed third in the primary after Peggy Bierbaum and Keith Harper.
Harper went on to win the November election and is now on the bench.
Rosekrans, who was seeking a second four-yer term, was not at the county courthouse for the election results on Tuesday night. He is in
Port Orchard in the middle of Michael J. Pierce’s fourth trial on double murder charges.
Pierce, 39, was convicted in 2010 of the 2009 murders of Pat and Janice Yarr of Quilcene. The state Court of Appeals reversed the conviction in 2012 and two retrials ended in mistrials.
The trial is being heard in Kitsap County Superior Court, where it was relocated after a judge ruled that Pierce could not get a fair trial in Jefferson County.
Rosekrans was elected prosecuting attorney in 2010 with the endorsement of the retiring prosecuting attorney, Juelie Dalzell.
At that time he had just won a conviction in the first Pierce trial.
When the state appellate court overturned the conviction, it ruled that Pierce’s constitutional rights were denied after his arrest and that
Rosekrans’ closing argument represented prosecutorial misconduct.
The Washington State Bar Association later said it could not find that Rosekrans had committed an ethical violation for speculating during closing arguments what the Yarrs and Pierce were thinking during the night of the murders.
The trial became a campaign issue, with Rosekrans saying several times that it was more important to gain a conviction than to win the election.
The prosecuting attorney is a four-year partisan position that will pay $131,345 in 2015.
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
