Editor:
One of the most disturbing developments in the school bond campaign is the arrival of Super PACs on Mercer Island. Super PACs raise unlimited sums of money and can advocate any position. They are built for negative advertising and run attacks under a cloak of anonymity. They answer to no one and can make any claim without substantiation. Think Big Tobacco and Swift Boat. Two Super PACs on the Island are financing the NO campaign against the school bond. One is financed by a few people and publishes the names of only six men. Another NO “group” lists only one person as a member.
This contrasts sharply to the YES campaign’s public list of 1,200 supporters.
Why won’t the NO campaign tell us who they are? What is their agenda? Why are the NO signs only placed next to public property YES signs and not on individual homeowner lawns? Why are the YES signs systematically disappearing and being vandalized while NO signs remain untouched? I know what the YES campaign wants - to build new schools.
What does the NO campaign really want and why won’t they publicly tell us who they are? Why did they run a full page ad in the with no names and no disclosure? Where is the transparency from a handful of people who use fear vs. facts? Why won’t they stand behind their words and actions? Why would we let a Super PAC hijack an election?
Carol Gullstad
