I served in the Washington state Senate with John Braun for years.
I was a Democrat, John was a Republican, and we didn’t agree on everything.
But I worked closely enough with him to know his record — and the attack ads now being run against him badly distort it.
Take state spending. John was indeed one of the Senate’s lead budget negotiators when Republicans controlled the Senate. But the enormous growth in state government cited in the latest attack ad occurred after Democrats took full control of Olympia.
John didn’t write those budgets. He fought them.
That distinction matters. During the years when we worked together in a bipartisan Senate majority, John earned a reputation as a serious fiscal conservative who understood budgets and pushed relentlessly to control spending and protect taxpayers. Blaming him for budgets passed years later by Democratic majorities is simply dishonest.
The claim that John authored the “biggest property-tax hike in state history” is equally misleading.
I was there.
The 2017 legislation was part of the Legislature’s bipartisan response to the Washington Supreme Court’s McCleary Decision requiring the state to fully fund public schools. It shifted responsibility for school funding from local levies toward the state and actually reduced property-tax rates for many homeowners, particularly in rural communities.
Then there is the claim that John somehow gave himself a 72% pay raise. Anyone familiar with Washington government knows legislators do not set their own salaries. An independent citizens’ commission does that.
John not only lacked the authority to award himself a raise — he publicly opposed legislative pay increases before the commission.
Campaigns are rough, and candidates should expect their records to be scrutinized. But voters deserve arguments based on what candidates actually did.
I know John Braun’s record because I served alongside him. I watched him negotiate budgets, challenge excessive spending and work across party lines when it was in the best interest of Washington taxpayers.
There are plenty of legitimate issues for candidates to debate in this election.
Distorting John Braun’s record shouldn’t be one of them.
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Tim Sheldon served for 32 years in the Washington state Legislature, including 25 years in the Washington state Senate and seven years in the Washington state House. He served as president pro tempore in the Senate and as the assistant majority leader.
