WA congressional candidate accused of threats to pull a gun on a Tri-Cities inspector

Benton County commissioners have sent a stern letter to a Congressional candidate, warning him that intimidating a public servant is a felony.

A letter dated Jan. 31 was sent to Jerrod Sessler after a county code enforcement officer said the businessman threatened to get his gun and “deal with him” if he returned to his property.

Sessler ran unsuccessfully for the Washington 4th Congressional seat last year and announced in January that he plans to run again in 2024.

The code enforcement officer, Dale Wilson, had gone to Sessler’s rural property on Old Inland Empire Highway near Prosser in September to investigate a complaint.

Wilson was checking on the claim that someone was living in a house that was still under construction and was possibly occupying a recreational vehicle or trailer on the property without a required permit.

“Officer Wilson reported that while conducting his investigation that you were uncooperative and became very agitated,” said the letter signed by Commissioner Will McKay.

Sessler reportedly told the inspector if he returned to the property, Sessler would get his gun and would “deal with him.”

Wilson did not file a report with the Benton County Sheriff’s Office, but the letter said the county commissioners take threats against employees seriously.

Code enforcement officers have the right to walk to your front door and ask questions as part of a code enforcement investigation, the letter said.

“If you continue to threaten Benton County employees, the county will involve law enforcement to conduct a full investigation,” the letter said.

Sessler did not return Tri-City Herald messages left on his campaign phone line and email account about the allegations.

Code enforcement complaint

The letter to Sessler did not say who made the complaint to the code enforcement department.

However, earlier that same month on Sept. 9, the county auditor held a hearing to determine if Sessler provided false information on his voter registration.

John Trumbo, a Kennewick city councilman, said he was acting as a private citizen when he accused Sessler, a fellow Republican, of not living at the rural Prosser address where he registered to vote.

He argued that Sessler did not live at the property he owns on Old Inland Empire Highway because he had not obtained an occupancy permit needed to live in a house that is being built on the property, and he also had not obtained a temporary housing permit to live in a motor home parked at the site.

Sessler was one of six Republicans challenging Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Washington, for his District 4 congressional seat in the August 2022 primary. Sessler did not advance to the general election.

At the Sept. 9 hearing before Auditor Brenda Chilton, Trumbo and Sessler were allowed to question each other.

When Trumbo pressed Sessler on where he was living now, Sessler declined to answer.

“I am a private person and I feel like I am due the same privacy that any other citizen is due to protect their family, especially in the kind of world that we live in today,” Sessler said. “As a result of the work that the challenger has undertaken, that is now completely shattered.”

He said he has had to install expensive security and has had to “walk out and confront people with guns to protect ourselves on our property.” He blamed Trumbo’s “salacious” and “nonstop” attacks for the problems.

When Chilton questioned him, Sessler said it was irrelevant whether he moved into the house when he registered to vote. But he said he currently lives on the property.

Chilton dismissed the challenge, deciding that Trumbo failed to provide “clear and convincing” evidence.

Trumbo then filed a second challenge to Sessler and his wife’s voter registration, which Chilton dismissed Oct. 26, saying that it needed to be filed at least 45 days before an election as required by law. It was filed 19 days before the Nov. 8 general election.

Trumbo submitted documents in an attempt to show that for six months ending in February 2022 Sessler lived at a different Prosser address than where he now lives and is registered to vote.

But the auditor said even if the challenge had been filed in a timely manner, it is undisputed that Sessler now lives at the address where he is registered to vote.

She said a voter registration challenge can concern only the voter’s current registration and voting eligibility.