During the last hour of the Federal Way Mirror’s candidate forum on Wednesday, things took a turn when Federal Way City Council candidate Mark Greene made a bold statement and Mayor Jim Ferrell called his bluff.

In the midst of answering how Federal Way should attract more businesses to the city, Greene applauded the mayor for doing an “excellent job.”

“And as everybody, well I shouldn’t say everybody, but as every political insider in Federal Way knows, I was chosen to be put in this race by the mayor’s political camp,” Greene said to an audience of about 60. “And so I’m going to be there helping Mayor Ferrell attract business.”

As Greene ended his answer, City Council candidate Anthony Murrietta took the microphone.

Murrietta was about a minute into his answer of explaining why the Seattle and Tacoma ports make Federal Way an ideal location for businesses, in addition to easy accessibility to Interstate 5 and Sea-Tac Airport when he joked, “And apparently you heard it first today, Mayor Jim Ferrell apparently put Mark up here to do this.”

The mayor was on his feet.

“That is not accurate,” asserted Ferrell from the back of the room at Twin Lakes Golf and Country Club. “That is not accurate!”

After Murrietta rushed to explain his sarcasm and T.M. Sell, the forum’s emcee told the mayor to sit down, Ferrell said, “I have been injected into this forum and that is not accurate. We have never met.”

The heat quickly cooled when Sell interrupted Greene, who tried to say Ferrell’s political aid had contacted him.

“I’m sorry, it’s not your turn,” Sell said. “I believe Mr. Murrietta has a little bit of time left.”

As the candidates resumed answering questions about the $8.2 million purchase of the former Target site, a preferred route for the Federal Way Link Extension and how more partnerships could be formed with faith-based organizations, the mystery of Greene’s statement couldn’t be contained.

The mayor had another opportunity to question Greene during the “questions from the audience” portion of the night.

“Who was it that approached you and what in the world would make you think I had anything to do with your candidacy?” Ferrell asked.

Greene said he appreciated the mayor was trying to get out of him the exact identity of the mayor’s political aid but said he wouldn’t disclose that information until he had permission.

“Your campaign manager for your mayor’s race,” Greene said. “He’s the one that contacted me first and he’s the one who pushed me into this race because I was dead set on running for state representative. I thought, ‘Wow, you think I got a chance getting elected for this’ in so many words. It came to the conclusion that I’ll forget about state representative and run for council.”

But Greene would still not say who it was, even when South King Fire and Rescue Commissioner James Fossos pressed him.

“Sir, I have proof in the form of an email,” Greene replied to Fossos. “I’m not going to disclose that right now unless I have his permission but I said it was the campaign’s manager. How many campaign managers did (Ferrell) have?”

In Greene’s closing statement, he announced he would send the Mirror more information.

“A member of the audience basically called me a liar and, so, to counteract that, I am going to send an email regarding the mayor’s camp basically putting me in this position to the editor of the Federal Way Mirror,” Greene said. “I don’t like somebody calling me a liar unless you’ve got proof to back it up.”

The Mirror did receive multiple forwarded emails from Greene corresponding with the mayor’s former campaign manager Chris Truppner, however, none of them indicated the mayor had asked for Greene to run for council, nor that he would endorse him.

In a subsequent email, Greene told the Mirror he’s aware that the emails don’t reflect this but “that was pretty much said during the one long phone call we (Truppner and I) had back in December of ‘14, if I’m not mistaken about the month, which I am 99 percent certain is the right month.”

When the forum ended, Ferrell reflected on the validity of Greene’s statements.

“He said I had somebody, or essentially he implied that I put him up to running, which is absolutely untrue,” Ferrell told the Mirror in an interview. “Then he made reference to a former campaign manager of mine and so the only former campaign manager of mine is Chris … I’ve made no contact with Chris about candidates running for office. I have never met this individual [Greene].”

Ferrell said he was not going to stand back and let somebody say false claims about him in a public setting, especially when it put the impression that he was endorsing someone over current Councilwoman Lydia Assefa-Dawson, or Murrietta, the mayor’s friend.

“I felt I had two options as that happened,” Ferrell said. “The first is to remain silent and let this play out and have an opportunity to talk to you later or ask that question. Not knowing whether I would be given that opportunity, I made a decision to stand up and really call out Mr. Greene, who I thought was making a misrepresentation that I was not going to allow.”

Truppner, the mayor’s former campaign manager who was accused of telling Greene to run for council on behalf of the mayor, said Greene’s statements are false.

“I, in fact, did not ask him to run for this position,” said Truppner, who was at the forum. “I did not use the mayor in any form except that I did work for the mayor on his campaign and that’s public information, you can find that out anywhere.”

Truppner said he would never do that to his clients, nevertheless the mayor.

As a political consultant, the only contact Truppner has had with Greene is an email he sent requesting services, which Greene never utilized.

“I have had no contact with him about this race,” he said. “I have not worked with him in any capacity. So until now, I have not heard this.”

Tackling the issues

In spite of the night’s dramatics, City Council candidates for Position 1 were able to give their opinion on pressing matters facing the city of Federal Way’s future.

When asked whether they support legalizing zoning for recreational marijuana retail, production and processing — there’s currently a moratorium on these businesses in Federal Way — Murrietta was the only one in favor.

“Fifty-three percent of voters voted for legalized marijuana in the state of Washington and I find it very difficult to believe in their wisdom they didn’t want legal access within the city of Federal Way,” Murrietta said. “I also believe that by allowing legalized marijuana shops, it’s going to take it away from the black market. Marijuana has been illegal for I don’t know how many years yet children have had access to it as had adults because they get it on the black market.”

Taking it out of the black market and funneling potential funds from the legalized sale could benefit citizens, Murrietta continued.

Assefa-Dawson acknowledged her vote against marijuana zoning as part of the Land Use and Transportation Committee and said her main concern lies with access to youth.

“By legalizing it and making it potentially more accessible, we’re telling the youth that it’s OK and that’s not where I stand on the issue,” Assefa-Dawson said, acknowledging the citizen advisory vote in November will give the council a better understanding on what action to take. “It’s all about our community as a whole. It’s about what we bring to the citizens of Federal Way… I still stand by what I believe and it’s not good for young kids, it’s not good for their brain development and if we care about the future of our city and the future of our citizens, this has to take precedence over whether or not it is available.”

Greene agreed.

“I think that America, we have a very serious acculturation problem,” he said. “Our morals are going downhill. Kids are being conditioned by very obnoxious … entertainment shows and morality has been taken out of the schools. We need to put the morality programs into schools.”

All agreed that the city should invest in a day shelter for the homeless, a controversial issue the city has not taken immediate action on due to lack of Human Services funding.

Assefa-Dawson expressed her empathy for the homeless through experiences of her own.

“I’ve never been on the streets, however, thank God there were people who came through for me when I couldn’t make ends meet,” she said. “So, I lived with my friend but I was separated from my children during the 10 months that I was staying with my friends, so I can’t imagine what it’s like to be on the streets, not knowing where you’re going to be.”

She said homelessness affects more than just the person on the street waving a sign, panhandling. Families and children are affected too, she said, adding that the day shelter will be a one-stop-shop with a multitude of services to help those in need.

Murrietta questioned if the city spent $32 million on the Performing Arts and Events Center and the $8 million purchase of the former Target site, then why couldn’t the city afford to coordinate a day center.

“I’m not criticizing, I’m just pointing out that I believe our priorities need to take care of all of our citizens,” he said.

Whether it be people affected by the economic downturn, those with mental health issues or drug or alcohol addiction, Murrietta believes the day center should be more than a place for the homeless to bathe, wash their clothes and use computers or telephones.

“We should be coordinating where they can go to take care of their mental health, physical health issues,” he said. “We should be ensuring we’re and intricate part of the solution and not just having the NIMBY effect of nobody wants this issue in their backyard because it’s not pretty when I see a homeless person. The reality of it is it’s a part of our society and we have a moral obligation to fix this.”

Greene said the city needs to do everything it can to make provisions for persons in need — not just the homeless, but the disabled and those who are tight on their rent or mortgage payments.

“The city needs to come up with all kinds of possible arrangements to help these people,” Greene said. “But, as I said, we have to be frugal with the taxpayer’s money and get their approval before we do anything that’s extravagant.”

The primary election will be held on Aug. 4. The top two candidates will advance to the November general election on Nov. 3. Ballots will be mailed on July 15 to all registered voters in King County. For more information on candidates, visit www.kingcounty.gov/elections