Whoever said local politics were centered around local issues and the good-natured exchange and debate of ideas apparently never campaigned in Pullman against Bill Paul.

In the final weeks of the current election cycle, the dynamic of this contest has apparently been flipped upside-down, with the Paul campaign embracing the most radical elements of what has historically been his opposition on Pullman City Council, and is encouraging vicious, unsubstantiated mud slinging emanating from the candidate’s son, Timothy Paul.

Over the past week, representatives of the Pullman Alliance for Responsible Development (PARD), and proponents of a proposed (failed) 20-cent-per-plastic-bag tax have endorsed Bill Paul in endless glowing prose. And Paul apparently needs these endorsements so badly that he is in no position to refuse them.

How can I make this claim? Because Tim Paul (again, the candidate’s son, and according to Washington State Public Disclosure documents - his sole election committee member) has publicly responded to a letter recently published online in which we challenged him to specifically explain his unsubstantiated claims that I hold “radical” positions, and where I also asked my opponent to repudiate any endorsement from individuals with whom he held philosophical disagreements.

Our specific request for refutation of those published references has been ignored.

So what we have now is nothing more than a typical, old-school politician clinging to public office after nine years of service, spinning his wheels in the mire and the muck, trying to achieve traction against my positive message of common sense. 

Paul is akin to a zebra trying to change its’ stripes… he is now apparently willing to alter any principle or position and align himself with any individual or group who is willing to pen 300 words in his favor. It’s actually kind of sad. Whether or not he is victorious in his campaign against me, he has done a great disservice to his own legacy in the process of attempting to attack mine.

If he attempts to claim he was unaware that these letters were being written, that’s going to be difficult to do, since the author is his de-facto campaign manager.

But let’s return to Tim Paul’s smear letters. In his first op-ed, published on Monday, 10/19, he wrote that I bring “extreme predetermined political positions” [...to the table].

In my response to him the following day, published in both my email newsletter and on my website, in regards to this SPECIFIC and COMPLETELY UNSUBSTANTIATED allegation, I wrote “Tim… I have one thing to say in response... PROVE IT. You see, the problems about making such false claims with every article I have written and every interview I have made being readily available on this website, it makes such claims very easy to disprove, and the author of said comments to look like a fool.”

Today (10/23) Tim Paul wrote “Responding to my letter to the editor on his Web site, Jeff Williams flatters me by boisterously demanding that I "prove it" regarding his extreme political views. Isn't he the one running for office? Why doesn't he do the proving? He said my claims were easily disproved, and then he said nothing to disprove them.”

With all due respect to Tim Paul, I don’t have to prove anything and it's impossible to prove a negative. He’s the one that made allegations against me, and has still yet to justify or substantiate that allegation. I can’t prove a claim if I don’t know specifically what is being mentioned, and in all candor, I have no clue what he is talking about. Furthermore, Paul claims that my allegations that he is making himself look foolish through his negative campaigning techniques is an insult to those whom I might represent.

Then Tim Paul rambles off on some odd tangent about my participation in the 9-12 March on Washington to prove that I am some sort of radical, with wholly invented facts and justifications rooted in bizarre partisan talking points that even my liberal friends don’t quite understand. And I thought Bill Paul was supposed to be a centrist conservative. Feeling dirty, Tim? You should be...

The problem is that none of these things are true, and none of these things have anything to do with this campaign for Pullman City Council. Bill Paul, through his surrogates, is trying to engage local democrat activists to raise up against me, while painting me as some bizarre GOP caricature. So, as a guy who likes to call them like I see them, and use common sense to do it, I’ll respond to Tim Paul once again.

Tim, you aren’t acting like a fool… you ARE a fool.

Since day one of my campaign I have posted my values and principles on my website for all to see. And unlike Bill Paul and his campaign, I stand behind those values and principles 100%. I’m not going to change who I am or misrepresent what I believe in to scrap for a few votes. Where I come from, that’s not radical, that’s generally considered to be strong leadership.

Bill Paul can’t challenge me on local issues, because he knows I am right. In fact, I have the video of him saying so on camera, at our one and only candidate’s forum. He knows his plans to attract businesses have failed miserably. Since he represents himself as a one-time business owner, he has to know that businesses care about only one thing when locating in Pullman as opposed to Moscow… and that is “Where can I make the most money.” It has nothing to do with the ideas he has repeatedly given in his interviews promoting pathways, better sidewalks and beautification. Furthermore, his argument that he has done so much good work with the City Council over the past nine years is a travesty. The city is in financial crisis, retail is in negative growth, and citizens are rejecting calls for new taxation, calls that he has not overtly challenged.

Over the past six months, Bill Paul has had the opportunity to define his seat on the city council by taking principled stands. Has he done so? No. He voted for the storm water initiative, he voted for business licensing, he voted for huge increases in water and sewer fees and he voted for a property tax increase. Then, in his campaign statements, he claims to be anti-tax. Well, Mr. Paul, your record there is dismal, which is probably why your son has trotted himself out to the local media as your surrogate and is pulling a myriad of dirty campaign tactics out of the back of your playbook at the nth hour of this campaign.

As for those groups who have clearly identified themselves through their words and actions over the past several years of radical leftist activism… these individuals have already cost Pullman millions in lost revenue, what will the costs of Bill Paul’s dubious endorsements – these arrangements of convenience – be in our future?

All of this smacks of desperation to me. But I believe the voters will see through it. They will stick to the issues, they will read and respect my opinions, and they will elect me to Pullman City Council, knowing they can count on me to lead with integrity and to stay true to my values and principles, something neither Tim or Bill Paul are apparently willing or able to do.