Adam Fortney for Sheriff

08/31/2026

Checked out the fair with the family today. While there the person running the 4H kids figured out I was the former Sheriff and talked me into a horse race. It for the kids!

When I wasn’t doing that, I was scouting new patrol car models at the monster trucks! Always working!!

08/28/2026

Sometimes you run across an article that captures everything you are trying to say. For me, this one does exactly that! The 1990s management style for police leadership that puts processes before people does not work anymore and it will not inspire the next generation of public safety professionals. Thank you Simon Sinek!

From the article:

Effective professionals, he said, need both the skills required to perform the job and the human skills required to work with and lead others. “If you’re only good at hard skills, nobody wants to work with you,” Sinek said. “Nobody wants to trust you.”

“As you make your way up the ranks, the human skills become more and more important,” Sinek said.

People can sustain difficult work when they believe in its purpose. “Working hard for something we don’t believe in is called stress,” Sinek said. “Working hard for something we do believe in is called passion.”

People First – Future Focused.
fortneyforsheriff.com

https://www.police1.com/real-time-policing/nrtcca-2026-quick-take-6-leadership-lessons-from-simon-sinek-for-the-age-of-ai

Sinek challenged public safety leaders to invest as deliberately in trust, purpose and human skills as they do in rapidly advancing technology

08/27/2026

I’m glad to see at least one city councilmember talking about the mismanagement of the Sheriff’s Office budget and what this means for both taxpayers and the cities around us that utilize the Snohomish County Jail to help keep their cities safe.  There is so much anger at this current Sheriff administration but most are not talking about it publicly.  I give a lot of credit to this one for being transparent.  

To everyone that lives in a city, works for a city, or for anyone in Snohomish County for that matter, there is a better way and I have the track record to back it up.  Pay attention to this 2027 election for Snohomish County Sheriff.  I will work harder than anyone to earn your vote and get this back on track.  A stronger Sheriff’s Office makes for a stronger Snohomish County!

People First – Future Focused.
fortneyforsheriff.com

08/22/2026

There are a few remaining spots for this campaign kickoff coming up on September 13! I have been so excited about the response to this event! This is a free event and simply register from our website so we can keep a head count.

It is time for a new path to bring the Sheriff’s Office into a new generation of leadership that can inspire the next generation to come into this profession. I’ve done it once and I’ll do it again!

I would specifically like to invite those who haven’t been to a political event or doesn’t know anything about the race for Sheriff! Come and check it out!

08/21/2026

This is interesting to me and I’m glad to see someone talking about it. When I was Sheriff and there was a string of juvenile gang shootings, I met with the director of the Denny Youth Center and head of the superior court (they run the youth center). I asked for two changes in bookings at the youth center: 1-If a juvenile is caught with a firearm we should be able to book them and 2- if there was any crime and we could show it was related to gang activity we should also be able to book them. I was shot down. And to be honest the conversation was a non starter for them.

I am the biggest supporter of our youth getting second chances and that’s why I started my LEAD The Way Foundation. But we are doing our youth and our community a disservice when we don’t hold youth accountable. If there is no accountability, we are showing the youth there are no consequences for this behavior.

Juvenile crime is one area where our leaders are simply not in touch with the community.

Good on this legislator!

https://fb.watch/J8hBtlPkgG/?

08/21/2026

As Sheriff, it will be my job to give people a reason to want to stay in this profession and carry out their service in Snohomish County. We cannot do this with a 1990s style of police leadership that ran its course a decade ago. I will appoint a command staff that are all people first-future focused leaders which will reverberate throughout the organization and beyond. This means they will not sit behind a desk for months on end, not knowing their own people and simply waiting for the next emergency of the day to hit their desk and react to it. My command staff will have a vision for the future and they will proactively live out that vision with our people. This will build a culture that people will want to remain in and be a part of.

People First – Future Focused.
fortneyforsheriff.com

08/14/2026

Staffing will be priority #1 for me as your Sheriff and I have proven results in my first term that it can be done. We cannot afford to simply sit back and blame “national trends” in police staffing when other agencies around us are proving otherwise. If “national trends” were to blame for our current staffing crisis, where were the “national trends” when I was in office during the most tumultuous times in public safety history, yet I was setting hiring records? As your Sheriff, I will not allow someone else’s narrative to dictate my vision for public safety in Snohomish County. I will build a culture that the next generation of public safety professionals will want to be a part of and we will have fun doing it!

People First – Future Focused.
fortneyforsheriff.com

08/13/2026

Out supporting our foundation today in Marysville handing out school supplies and talking to folks about Lead The Way Foundation! It is packed!!

08/12/2026

Snohomish County Council voted to raise your taxes today, not once, but twice. They raised the sales tax on you and added $20 car tab fee for you.

I was the sole voice in the packed council chambers speaking on behalf of taxpayers. When I say I was the only voice, I literally mean I was one the voice speaking for you. Everyone else was in lock-step.

So last month this same council voted unanimously to put the Sheriff’s Office under an audit because they don’t where the money they already took from your income is going. The audit has not even started yet.

Now this month, instead of waiting for those audit results and figuring out where the money is going, they decided in a 3-2 vote to simply make up for the unknown spending by taking it from your income.

It just got more expensive to live and raise a family in Snohomish County thanks to the three members so the Snohomish County Council.

I took the day off from work, stood for 90 minutes while all of government made the case to take more of our income, and then I got my 3 minutes to be the only dissenting voice in the room. It was lonely and uncomfortable, but it was my honor to defend and respect the taxpayers of Snohomish County when no one else would. I wouldn’t change a thing.

You voted this tax down in 2024 by 14 points. Our government went around the people today and put the tax in place against your wishes.

I am not a yes man. We have enough of those in government. I defended you and your family today and I am asking you to help get me back to the position of Sheriff so I can advocate for you, the people of Snohomish County, when no one else will.

People First-Future Focused
Fortneyforsheriff.com

08/11/2026

When I opened with this series I told you I wasn’t trying to talk you into a tax or out of a tax.  That is up to you.  But I dang sure am trying to give you information that no one else is talking about and you deserve to know.  I think this final video in this series sums up the information well.  It is not too far-fetched to simply expect our elected officials to get their financial house in order before they come to ask for more from our financial house.  There is overwhelming evidence their financial house is not in order.  

Tomorrow is the day they will vote to take more from your household and your elected officials should hear from you.  You can email them at [email protected] or show up at the council meeting and provide up to three minutes of testimony.  You can also testify virtually.  

Every political candidate talks about transparency.  I am one of the few who lives it.

People First – Future Focused.
fortneyforsheriff.com