Sen. Mullet may enter governor’s race because ‘Ferguson is more of the same’

State Senator Mark Mullet (D-Issaquah) said he is considering a run for the governor’s office and had this to say about high-profile contender Attorney General Bob Ferguson: “If you want change, Ferguson is more of the same. I think if you want change, we’d have to elect a different type of Democrat or somebody completely different, Independent or Republican.”

“I think people are really frustrated with where things are at, and we can do a lot better,” Mullet continued on The Jason Rantz Show on KTTH 770 AM. “I think anybody who’s happy and complacent with where things are right now is divorced from reality.”

Mullet said he is going through a process to decide whether he’ll run and he’ll have an answer in four to six weeks. Fellow Democrat Ferguson has already announced his intention to run.

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“I think you can find supporters from a wide range of people in Washington who feel they’re not happy with the status quo, the way things are right now,” Mullet said. “I’m confident if you have the ability to listen to people, all ideas from all sides of the state, and you can actually then craft policy solutions based on that input. I think there are people that are very interested in supporting those kinds of candidates, and I think that’ll be the case in our state. I think that’s always going to be the case.”

Rantz asked Mullet if he believed there is a Republican who has a chance to win or if it makes sense, in this particular race, to go with someone who’s more moderate.

“My main message would just be, I listen to all sides of every argument,” Mullet replied. “I’ve done that during my entire time in elected office. If you’re not willing to listen to the views from eastern Washington on these issues, there’s absolutely no way you have any chance of success in creating bipartisan policy solutions.”

Rantz wanted to know whether Mullet would veto legislation or stick with the party, extreme or not.

“I think it’s obvious it would be very specific to the policy issue,” Mullet answered. “Bills that are going backward, like on public safety, I feel very comfortable vetoing. Bills that increase taxes. Yeah, I feel very comfortable vetoing. I think our challenge now is a fair way to balance the state budget without creating new taxes every two years, and that’s going to be coming. That’s a fundamental shift.”

Mullet said he doesn’t believe in a payroll tax for long-term care.

“I don’t think the voters ever supported it. And I don’t think when people start paying the tax on July 1, they’re going to be happy about it.”

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A special legislative session is occurring this month to develop a compromise for the drug use and possession bill.

“This whole thing can be solved on May 16,” Mullet said. “We don’t have to reinvent the wheel. We have bipartisan language that I agree with. But I’m not going to vote for another bill if you can actually implement it on the ground based on the people, the cities, the prosecutors, and the police.”

Listen to the Jason Rantz Show weekday afternoons from 3 – 7 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (or HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here.