The Mullet Duplicity

Dear Friends, 

The blockbuster summer movie season is now behind us. I took my son Wilson to see the Bourne Legacy two weeks ago, but there is also an interesting action story unfolding right here in the 5th District. My opponent is delivering the drama as he tries to explain his multiple positions on taxes.

 Tax Action 

The story opens earlier this year in April when Mark Mullet submitted his responses to a survey for the King County Democratic Party [Click Here]. In it, he unequivocally stated his support for an income tax and reinstatement of the estate tax. Although the survey allowed for him to qualify or explain any of his answers, he offered a straight "yes" answer in his support for the whole King County Democratic Platform. On page 4 the platform document explicitly states the goal to implement an income tax as part of a more progressive tax system for our state [Click Here].  

The real intrigue of the story arises in his answer to the fourth question of the survey. It inquires whether he supports super-majorities (a 2/3 or greater vote) to raise taxes and fees in the legislature. He qualified his answer this time: "Don't support, but repeal is not part of my campaign platform." Does this mean that he is against them but doesn't want to explain why to the voters? His quandary is understandable; voters have approved super-majorities to raise taxes every time they have come on the ballot  over the last 20 years.  

Stranger than Fiction

In an interesting plot twist, last week Mullet went to his friends at The Stranger, an extremist little paper with a readership confined to Downtown Seattle and Eastside Zeek's Pizza locations to manufacture a favorable article about his stances on taxes. With several credible local papers and blogs in the 5th district (including Patch!), it begs the question of why he didn't approach one of them to help set the record straight. The Stranger article inexplicably states that Mark Mullet has never supported an income tax, and brushes aside his stances articulated to the Democratic Party in their survey.

We all love a happy ending.  Maybe, Mark could articulate his stance on taxes in clear, sincere terms to the voters instead of behind confusing doubletalk.  Just before the primary, he chose to send out an ominous direct mail piece to the 5th District with a strident message calling me a liar for bringing his duplicity to light.      

Hope springs eternal for a happy ending.  That's why Washington small business leaders such as the National Federation of Independent Business and Seattle King County Realtors are supporting my candidacy.

Thanks for reading.

Editor's note: Brad Toft is a candidate for Washington's 5th District Senate seat. Patch welcomes Local Voices posts from all local candidates and those interested in sharing their opinions.