A note from Leland Dart, Publisher MyEverettNews.com Friday 10/29/2021 6:45 PM
This week the Affordable Housing Council sent a mailer about Everett City Council District 5 candidate Ben Zarlingo to voters in that district. Here is one side of that mailer.
This statement never appeared on MyEverettNews.com as the mailer implies (click photo to enlarge.
According to the Master Builders of King and Snohomish website the AHC is a political action committee that works with MBAKS to help make a positive political environment for the homebuilding industry in the Puget Sound region.
The issue is MyEverettNews.com does not endorse candidates for office and has made that clear on our website. We never wrote the words that the mailer tries to tie us to and in fact the only story we ran on July 17, 2021 concerned a Washington State Patrol vehicle that had been hit in Everett.
Here is the other side of the mailer showing that it was an independent piece not authorized by any candidate.
This is the disclaimer with who paid for the ad. Click photo to enlarge.
MyEverettNews.com contacted Ben Zarlingo Thursday night (10/28) after we were made aware of the mailer. Mr. Zarlingo advised the following via email.
Leland, that had me scratching my head too. I haven’t had the chance to dig into the specifics yet, but the mailer was produced without my knowledge or involvement at all, by the Affordable Housing Council of the Master Builders of King and Snohomish County. As far as I understand the laws, I couldn’t have had any involvement in the mailer at all, or it would have been a campaign contribution from the AHC.
In a follow up email Mr. Zarlingo advised he regretted that this happened, whatever the cause and said he would contact them and ask for a correction. This afternoon we also reached out to the AHC asking for an explanation of how that mailer was associated with MyEverettNews.com.
MyEverettNews.com has not heard back from Mr. Zarlingo or the Affordable Housing Council as if this writing. We did however hear from other candidates for Everett City Council who are opponents of those endorsed by the Affordable Housing Council who provided mailers that also reference statements attributed to MyEverettNews.com on specific dates however those mailers fail to mention the statements are those of their own candidates writing introductions to the community and were not created or edited by MyEverettNews.com.
Per their website the Affordable Housing Council has endorsed the following candidates in Everett races
Mayor of Everett: Cassie Franklin
City Council District #2: Greg Lineberry
City Council District #3: Don Schwab
City Council District #4: Tommy Rubatino
City Council District #5: Ban Zarlingo
Port of Everett Commissioner: Scott Murphy
Again MyEverettNews.com does not endorse candidates but we do offer candidates in the primary and general elections the opportunity to write an introduction to our readers. Here is the prelude to every introduction printed before the general election and we ran the same with proper dates for the primary.
Editor’s Note: On September 19th candidates in the November 2nd General Election for Mayor, Everett City Council Districts, Everett School Board and Port of Everett Commissioner were invited to send a statement up to 500 words to MyEverettNews.com introducing themselves to our readers. Not all of the candidates responded but we are publishing unedited statements from those that did reply by our deadline. MyEverettNews.com does not endorse candidates but thinks this is a good way for you to hear directly from the people running. All offices are non-partisan.
MyEverettNews.com will be contacting the Public Disclosure Commission and State Election officials over this mailer and the falsehoods portrayed. We are asking all Everett City candidates who have been endorsed by the Affordable Housing Council to denounce this mailer and the actions of the Master Builders of King and Snohomish County in this case.
Leland Dart, Publisher MyEverettNews.com
Email: News@myeverettnews.com
October 29, 2021
Everett Government