"Nickels hits back at opponents' 'distortions,' 'half truths'"

Chris Grygiel (Strange Bedfellows):

With a week to go before the Aug. 18 primary, Mayor Greg Nickels is done playing Mr. Nice Guy.

Nickels, who polls show is vulnerable, has been in the field with commercials highlighting his accomplishments and his mea culpa for unnamed mistakes. Nickels' campaign spokesman, Sandeep Kaushik, said the two-term incumbent was trying to run a positive campaign.

"But rather than reciprocating by laying out an alternative vision of their own, our challengers have relied mostly on potshots and distortions in an attempt to mislead voters. It is time to set the record straight," Kaushik said.

Nickels' campaign said Monday evening it would begin placing thousands of robo-calls to Seattle residents "to clear up the distortions and half truths about candidate Mike McGinn's position on the Alaskan Way Viaduct. McGinn has used mailings and multiple rounds of push polling to create the erroneous impression among many voters that he is an advocate for lower taxes. In fact, the opposite is true. His actual position on the Viaduct – which he leaves out of his communications with city voters -- would involve tearing up the existing agreement with the state in order to take down the Viaduct and replace it with surface streets. This option would still require $930 million from Seattle taxpayers."

Kaushik said McGinn, the former Sierra Club leader who has made opposition to the viaduct tunnel replacement the centerpiece of his campaign, is being hypocritical when he says he opposes the tunnel because it would be the largest tax increase in Seattle history.

"According to Mike McGinn's own campaign logic, he actually favors the largest tax increase in Seattle history," Kaushik said.

Nickels will address what he considers the distortions of other candidates in the next few days, Kaushik said.