I spent 28 years in law enforcement, including 10 as Lewis County sheriff. One thing that experience taught me is that serious accusations deserve more than a sound bite.
You look at the evidence.
I also spent 13 years working for John Braun at Braun Northwest, so I feel qualified to respond to a recent ad from U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez that troubled me.
Politics is a rough business, and John doesn't need me — or anyone else — to defend him from criticism. His votes, business record and statements are all fair subjects for scrutiny. But when a political advertisement invokes injured and deceased workers, the whole truth matters.
So I looked at the claims.
Her ad describes a Braun Northwest employee injured while operating a drill press as having been “maimed” on equipment she wasn't trained to operate. Neither description fairly represents what happened.
The employee had been trained. She unfortunately fractured a finger, but received medical treatment and returned to work the next day.
Words matter and “maimed” ordinarily describes a serious and lasting injury or disability. Using that word creates an impression dramatically different from what occurred.
The ad also invokes the tragic death of a Braun Northwest employee and leaves viewers with the impression that Braun Northwest was responsible.
The Washington Department of Labor and Industries investigated the incident and did not attribute fault for the employee's death to Braun Northwest.
Any workplace fatality is devastating for the worker's family, fellow employees and everyone involved. Using that death to create a political impression that isn't supported by the investigation does nothing to honor the person who died.
Braun Northwest's workers' compensation experience-rating information provides important context as well. Its claims history shows the company has maintained a strong safety record for its industry.
The ad also claims Braun voted “against workplace safety every time.” That simply doesn't match his legislative record.
In 2019, Braun was the prime sponsor of bipartisan legislation directing Labor and Industries to establish best practices to improve firefighter health and safety, reduce exposure to carcinogens and prevent workplace injuries and illnesses.
In 2024, he sponsored legislation expanding that program so safety funding could be used for safety-culture assessments, training and other interventions. It passed the Senate 49-0 and House 93-0 before being signed into law.
Those are hardly the only examples of Braun working to improve worker safety. There can be legitimate disagreements over particular regulations and whether a specific policy actually makes workers safer. That's what legislators debate. But disagreement over policy is not the same as opposition to worker safety. Suggesting Braun is somehow against keeping workers safe simply isn't a fair characterization of his record.
My experience reinforces that. During my 13 years at Braun Northwest, safety was taken seriously and we had regular safety meetings.
The ad also uses the industrial tragedy in Longview to attack Braun, pulling the words “accepted the risks” from his comments. His full statement called the deaths “heartbreaking,” honored workers who risked their lives trying to save their colleagues and called for an investigation to determine what happened.
That's substantially different from the impression created by the ad.
There's another contradiction worth considering.
To my knowledge, Gluesenkamp Perez has never visited Braun Northwest. That matters because she is making serious claims about safety practices and working conditions inside a plant she hasn't seen firsthand.
It's especially puzzling because Gluesenkamp Perez has repeatedly advocated for more manufacturing, skilled-trades education, apprenticeships and career opportunities in Southwest Washington.
Braun Northwest provides those opportunities in spades. Hundreds of people work there building specialized vehicles. Welders, fabricators, electricians, painters, engineers and technicians make products in Southwest Washington that are shipped across the West. These are precisely the skilled, family-supporting careers our region needs.
Any employer can and should face legitimate scrutiny. But there's a contradiction in championing skilled trades and manufacturing while attacking a local manufacturer providing hundreds of those opportunities, particularly without firsthand knowledge of the plant.
I've been inside that plant. I worked there for 13 years.
The training records matter. The L&I investigation matters. The company's safety history matters. Braun's legislative record and complete comments matter.
Political ads and tough questions are fair game. But when workplace injuries and deaths become campaign material, we should insist on something more than carefully edited accusations.
We should insist on the facts.
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John McCroskey was Lewis County sheriff from 1995 to 2005. He lives outside Chehalis and can be contacted at musingsonthemiddlefork@gmail.com.
