Heating up: Mullet goes after Ferguson for once backing drug decriminalization

State Sen. Mark Mullet, left, and Attorney General Bob Ferguson, right, are both running as Democrats for governor in 2024. (Photos courtesy of Mullet and Ferguson campaigns)

Grasping for greater name recognition among voters and to cement his place as the moderate alternative in the governor’s contest, Washington state Sen. Mark Mullet is taking swings at fellow Democrat and presumed frontrunner, Attorney General Bob Ferguson.

In his first television ad, Mullet jabs Ferguson for his calling in 2021 for the elimination of criminal penalties for possessing “non-commercial” amounts of illegal drugs – in line with a policy that Oregon adopted but has since walked back. It could hardly be called an attack ad, but Mullet amped up the criticism during an interview on Thursday.

“Right now, no voter realizes that I was a senator who was fighting to make sure we got accountability for public drug use and no voter in the state knows the person I was fighting was Attorney General Bob Ferguson,” he said. “He was encouraging us to follow the path of Oregon,” Mullet added. “I thought what Oregon did by initiative the previous year was a complete disaster. And it’s played out exactly as I said it would.”

‘Extremely optimistic’

Mullet’s barbs come as he polls in the single digits and is getting shunned by his own party’s establishment.

He’s banking on a theory this election cycle that if Republican candidates Semi Bird and Dave Reichert divide enough GOP votes, he can garner enough from Democrats and independents to slip through the August top-two primary and square off with Ferguson in November.

Mullet’s 30-second ad will run on television in the Seattle area. In it, he introduces himself, and pledges to bring down housing costs and lower crime. But it’s Ferguson’s previous stance on drug decriminalization that he thinks can change the race’s trajectory.

“I can’t imagine a more important public policy position to be on the wrong side of,” he said. “We are extremely optimistic that this position is extremely important to the voters in our state.”

Ferguson, in an emailed statement, didn’t directly respond to Mullet’s criticism of his 2021 positions on drug decriminalization.

Instead, he noted his stance last year on a bill lawmakers approved to overhaul the state’s drug possession law. “I supported restoring criminal penalties for simple drug possession, prioritizing treatment, and holding individuals accountable for selling drugs, engaging in public drug use, and refusing court-ordered treatment,” he said.

He also said he has “always demanded accountability for those who deal or supply drugs illegally or unethically – whether on the street or in corporate boardrooms,” noting $1.2 billion in legal settlements his office had won from companies with ties to the opioid sector. 

Mullet is also complaining that the state Democratic Party has stacked its campaign efforts against him, in favor of Ferguson, The Seattle Times reported Friday. People involved with the party suggest that what’s going on doesn’t reflect an unfair process, but that Ferguson’s campaign has gained far more traction.  

“Democrats across the state are excited about Bob Ferguson and they’re not excited about Mark Mullet,” said Dwight Pelz, who served as state Democratic Party chairman from 2006-14. 

Party Chair Shasti Conrad said in an upbeat statement that, “Only one gubernatorial candidate,” Ferguson, “is endorsed by 44 Democratic Local Party Organizations (every organization to endorse so far), Tribal nations, and statewide unions.”

“In this unprecedented election year we have no time to waste, Bob Ferguson helps us put our strongest foot forward,” Conrad added.

‘Just an illusion’

Last weekend, Bird secured the Washington State Republican Party’s endorsement, at a convention that Reichert derided as a “chaotic mess.” 

It highlighted a schism within the party over whether to back candidates who are more anti-establishment, ready to battle on culture war issues, and aligned with former President Donald Trump, or those who are more moderate and have a better shot at winning in a Democratic-leaning state. With Bird, delegates at the GOP convention chose the first option. 

Mullet said infighting among Republicans should help him. “Semi Bird supporters actually dislike Dave Reichert more than they do me and vice versa,” he said. 

He also pointed to last year’s Seattle City Council races, where more moderate candidates were ascendant, as a sign that the electoral pendulum is swinging in his favor. 

Even Ferguson tacked harder to the center on some issues – for instance with the public safety plan he released last month, proposing $100 million in grants to hire more police. He later took heat because Republicans proposed a similar idea in this year’s session.

But Pelz dismissed the idea that the recent Seattle election was any kind of bellwether Mullet could pin his hopes on. “Mark Mullet, thinking that there’s some elusive lane for a moderate to conservative Democrat in Washington state,” he said. “That’s just an illusion.”

Not everyone with money to spend sees it that way. At least not yet. 

In addition to the ad that Mullet’s campaign has out, there’s another one circulating that’s paid for by the Coalition for Pragmatic Leadership, a political action committee whose donors include companies like Marathon Petroleum, McDonald’s, and George Rowley, chairman of Rowley Properties, which owns and manages about 80 acres of property in downtown Issaquah, where Mullet is from. The committee reported $493,700 of spending this week in support of Mullet. 

“I have support from the business community because I’m willing to stand up against unnecessary tax increases,” Mullet said. 

“I’ve been in this lane, being very proud to be a moderate,” he added. “And I think that is where the majority of the voters are.”

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