Campaign rhetoric in state rep. race | Federal Way letters

Published 12:14 pm Friday, October 29, 2010

Don’t be misled by negative campaign rhetoric.

This political season I’ve heard it all. The amount of money put into attacks and misleading mail by special interests exceeds by far the money raised by candidates themselves. These groups have the freedom to say whatever they want and distort the facts.

I’ve heard many ridiculous things this election cycle. For example, special interest groups who know nothing of city issues claim that Katrina Asay, “has driven Milton into financial distress,” knowing though the majority of people in Milton value her leadership in these tough times. 30th District voters should know that Milton, a traditionally Democratic area, favored Katrina Asay by a huge margin in the primary. Mayor Asay also has received all of the major media endorsements in the area including the Milton Signal, the Tacoma News Tribune, Seattle Times and the Federal Way Mirror. That is simply because Katrina Asay is much more qualified than Gregory, her opponent. Her leadership as mayor has left the city better poised to face tough times, and that’s the whole truth. She’s worked across party lines to balance the budget and protect services every year since 2003.

I have also heard in campaign mail that Carol Gregory is a state budget “expert” because she balanced the “school lunch program” some 10 years ago, but I ask, how could anyone “not” balance a school lunch budget? City expenditures are much more complex. Just ask the Federal Way mayoral candidates. This type of misleading rhetoric threatens the outcome of this election, and will mean nothing come Nov. 3.

Katrina has run a positive, bi-partisan, fair campaign and she has my vote for state representative position 2.

Judy Richardson, Federal Way