Skagit treasurer candidate served 3 years in federal prison for tax fraud

Timothy Garrison will face incumbent Treasurer Jackie Brunson in the November 3 general election for Skagit County treasurer. Garrison qualified for the ballot as a write-in candidate during the August primary. He has a 50-year career in tax accounting but also a federal prison record that he has largely avoided in campaign materials.

Garrison pleaded guilty in 2012 to filing false income tax returns on behalf of clients. An investigation by the IRS and the U.S. Marshals Service found he prepared more than 50 returns containing false or fraudulent information. The errors resulted in a tax loss of more than $2.5 million for the government.

Garrison served a federal prison sentence from 2012 to 2015. His legal issues date back further; he was convicted of mail fraud in 1984. The Internal Revenue Service later stripped him of his enrolled agent license, which allowed him to represent clients in all 50 states. He opened the 89th Street Management Co. in 1988 and prepared between 200 and 400 tax returns annually, according to court documents cited by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

During his time in the sovereign citizen movement, Garrison threatened to arrest law enforcement officers in Skagit County and filed liens against their homes. In 2011, he was arrested for possessing firearms, a crime for a convicted felon. He and his wife served on a jury that found Alaska Peacemakers Militia founder Schaeffer Cox not guilty of plotting to kidnap and kill state troopers. A state court later dismissed those charges due to warrantless FBI recordings, though Cox was convicted of similar charges in 2012.

Garrison’s 2026 campaign has been marked by absences. He skipped the candidate forum hosted by Fidalgo Democrats and the endorsement interview hosted by the Skagit County Republican Party. His party, the GOP, declined to endorse him. Bill Bruch, chair of the Skagit County GOP, said the party wanted to support good candidates but found Garrison had not passed vetting.

“Jackie’s done a very good job,” Bruch said of Brunson. “She’s very experienced. She worked in the sheriff’s office before she became treasurer, and she’s very well respected. If we could find a good conservative or a good Republican that would run against Jackie it would be different, but Mr. Garrison just never passed vetting.”

Brunson said she believes Garrison’s history is relevant to the office he seeks. “What he doesn’t say is that when he was doing tax accounting, he was filing fraudulent tax returns on behalf of his clients,” Brunson said. She noted that her office has implemented digitized records, cross-trained staff, and introduced a new cashiering system. The office also issued a request for proposals from banks, saving tens of thousands of dollars in fees.

Garrison participated in a League of Women Voters forum on October 5 at Skagit Public Utility District. Moderator Kris Lytton, a former state legislator, said the forum questions must be relevant to both candidates. Garrison said he appreciates the opportunity and called the audience kind. He stated that if elected, he would not allow improper or unlawful transactions under his watch.

Garrison declined to answer a question from Salish Current about whether he is different now than he was in 2012. He said he does not want to talk about his time in prison. He hung up the phone before a question could be fully asked. He did not respond to multiple follow-up calls.

State law allows a person to vote and run for office in Washington once their felony sentence is completed. Garrison is one of four candidates who qualified via write-in for the November 3 election. The others are Derrill Fussell for coroner, Cody Hart for sheriff, and Amanda Toscano for county clerk. None of the four received a Skagit County GOP endorsement.