April Sloane should resign as Washington County controller
Editor’s note: This editorial was updated Dec. 14 to correct an error regarding the relationship of the person at whom April Sloane was accused of throwing a drink.
April Sloane needs to resign.
Immediately.
On Tuesday, Sloane, Washington County’s controller, was charged with two felony counts of animal cruelty about a week after police searched her North Strabane residence and found the remains of a pet dog wrapped in a garbage bag in a basement garage. The dog seems to have died from egregious neglect, basically having been starved to death. It’s both repellant and puzzling. If she didn’t have the time for the dog, or didn’t even like it, why not just surrender it?
We are hardly alone in calling for Sloane’s resignation. Several county officials joined the chorus Wednesday, including all three commissioners and commissioner-elect Electra Janis, and the county’s state House delegation issued a statement expressing its outrage.
An argument could be made that what happens in Sloane’s household is not germane to how she is evaluated as a public servant. Over the years, there have been legions of elected officials, from small-town mayors to presidents of the United States, who have conducted themselves less than admirably in their off-hours, but have done stellar work when they are on the clock. But Sloane’s alleged failure to provide basic care for a family pet is part of a larger pattern. To put it simply, Sloane doesn’t seem to have her act together.
The controller’s office handles such areas as payroll, accounts payable and revenue for county offices, and since she was elected to the post in 2021, there have been late audits and she was taken off the county’s prison board because, among other things, the meeting minutes she provided had many errors. These are basic parts of the job, duties previous controllers were able to handle promptly and professionally. If Sloane were in the private sector in a comparable job, she would have been shown the door. But because she is an elected official under Pennsylvania’s antiquated county government structure, there is nothing Washington County commissioners can do about her. It is solely up to voters to decide.
And those voters should not have to endure another two years of Sloane, either for her apparently lackluster performance or the fact that she is alleged to have committed a stomach-twisting offense and could be on her way to being a convicted felon.
The charges of animal neglect come just one year after Sloane was accused of harassment after throwing a drink in the face of another party guest at a Christmas party. In fairness, she was acquitted of the charge, but it was just another in the seemingly endless series of controversies that Washington County’s row officers have generated over the last four years or so.
To some residents of Washington County, this all might seem like bread and circuses. But how long before the county starts to suffer serious reputational damage as a result of having officials like Sloane in office? How long before businesses or potential residents look at all the dysfunction and shenanigans and decide that, no, we’ll look elsewhere to set up shop or buy a home?
If Sloane can’t be trusted to care for a dog, how can she be trusted to carry out the people’s business?