Ready for a change: Grant County Prosecutor announces his resignation

EPHRATA — Grant County Prosecuting Attorney Garth Dano recently announced he’ll resign at the end of the year.

In a letter to the Grant County commissioners Sept. 27, Dano said he will be resigning effective Dec. 31, 2021, “for personal reasons.”

“I have a lot of personal reasons for doing this,” Dano told the Columbia Basin Herald.

Additionally, Dano said he has found very frustrating the “draconian proclamations” from Gov. Jay Inslee in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the failure of state elected and appointed leaders to respond to letters or return phone calls and consider alternative ways to address the pandemic.

“He won’t talk to me, and he won’t get back to me,” Dano said of Inslee. “I find that disgraceful.”

“I’m disgusted with the whole thing,” he added. “Maybe I can do something in private practice to deal with this insanity.”

In the letter to the commissioners, Dano recommended appointing Kevin McCrae, the current deputy prosecutor responsible for handling the county’s civil cases, as his replacement.

Grant County Commissioner Cindy Carter said the three commissioners have already submitted names to the Grant County Republican Party for Dano’s replacement, who will serve out the remainder of his term, which expires at the end of 2022.

“Garth has done a great job,” Carter said. “It’s been a challenging year with COVID.”

Carter described McCrae as one of the “best civil attorneys” Grant County has ever had.

Dano was first elected prosecuting attorney in 2014 after challenging incumbent county prosecutor D. Angus Lee.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at cfeatherstone@columbiabasinherald.com.