To the Editor:
I'm writing to discuss honesty in politics. I'm sorry to say that one candidate has not been honest in her campaign. Jin-ah Kim has made irresponsible untrue claims against her opponent, Keith McGlashan. In one widely distributed flyer, she claimed that McGlashan had been instrumental in the 'approval' of Point Wells, then asked how we could trust him when he would do this. Of course, this was completely untrue. Point Wells has not been approved, and only Snohomish County could ever approve it. Kim’s supporters then claimed this flyer was a "misunderstanding" Hogwash! It was a deliberate smear. Then another Kim supporter wrote a long diatribe about McGlashan’s personal business dealings, another untrue smear. You can read McGlashan's rebuttal.
Why is Kim using these tactics? I know she has the support of the local Democratic Party so I'm confused, as a long time Democratic voter. Her claim to fame seems to be her hard luck story of being a heroin addict, recovered. She's promoted heroin injection sites first in Shoreline, then backing off after realizing that wouldn’t fly here, but she still supports them. She bemoans the deaths of her many dear addict friends. This is sad, I agree, but does not qualify her to represent the citizens of Shoreline. What has she actually accomplished that gives her the ability to make decisions for the vast majority of Shoreline residents who are not homeless or addicted to drugs?
McGlashan, on the other hand, is an award winning business owner, was co-president of Shoreline Public Schools Foundation, raising money for its cause, helped stop backyard encampments, blocked Deepgreen double-density, and worked on behalf of Shoreline’s Wonderland Development Center. I support Keith McGlashan for city council.
Barbara Twaddell
Shoreline
Unfortunately, McGlashan backers have also dished it out, questioning, at times, Kim's integrity. This has cut both ways and makes for a disappointing campaign.
ReplyDeleteI have been watching this race, and I have read what has been written. No candidate can completely control what is said by second parties, but the mailer I got that was paid for by Jin Ah Kim's campaign- that had her picture and logo- contained accusations that are not true about Keith McGlashan. These were serious accusations of malfeasance including accusing him of making back room deals with developers. Where is the proof of this? This is not Chicago. Making untrue allegations to score a few votes is probably going to backfire on Ms. Kim. And where is the integrity she claims to have? I think it is a big risk to play such dirty politics as an unknown entity with no community service or work history to offset the negative impression this leaves. I assume she is hoping we will fall for this, but I believe Shoreline is smarter than that.
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