EDITOR’S NOTE: Ed Prince, a candidate for Renton City Council Position 5, has authored an open letter to the community to explain his side of issues raised by one of opponent Robin Jones’ campaign volunteers, Rosemary Quesenberry. Prince also offers insights into life and his family. The Renton Reporter has offered the opportunity to Jones to write an open letter, a personal narrative about his life and family and any challenges he has faced. He also may respond to any of Prince’s comments on his campaign. Because of their length, the letters will appear online and not in the print edition of the Renton Reporter.)

I was extremely disappointed to hear that the Guild has given the attacks on me any credit at all, but it has forced me to realize that unfortunately, negative attacks do work, even in local politics when we should know better. I gave the same answers three weeks ago, but apparently it’s time for me to fully address these attacks. I am absolutely heartsick that I have to dredge my family and father’s memory through the mud, least of all to defend myself against a desperate and despicable attack on my character. The fact that Robin Jones would force all this into the open absolutely disgusts me. For anyone who has had a family member with an addiction, or who has known poverty, you know how devastating these choices can be, and I simply did not want to discuss this further. I intended to ignore these attacks, but I’ve had enough of this garbage, and here is the truth:

First off: I absolutely take responsibility for my actions and my choices. There have been times in my life when I struggled financially. I came from a family with addiction, and all the financial problems that addiction causes. So when I went to college, I struggled. And when I fell on hard times, I didn’t have my parents to fall back on. I did NOT knowingly and intentionally accept unemployment that I wasn’t due. I accepted unemployment that I thought I was allowed, and when it was contested, I fought back because I thought I was in the right. It turns out, I was wrong. It was unfortunate, and made things harder, but there was NEVER any intent to do wrong. I stand by my integrity 100 percent.

Since absolutely nothing in my life appears to be considered private, I will tell the full story. My father and I shared a name (I am Jr., he was Sr.). He had a substance abuse problem, and in the course of his abuse, my father contracted HIV. When things got bad enough, he used my name and SS# to create debt. When he couldn’t pay his bills, the creditors came after me. I could have disputed these charges, because it was identity fraud, but he was my father, and he was sick. A debt to the AIDS Foundation (which Robin originally attacked me on before Dean Radford refused to allow it) was also his. There is only so much you can do in these situations, and I knew he was hurting so I simply chose to pay the debts that I knew he couldn’t pay. These debts, his addiction, and his illness were hard on my family and created a constant financial burden. But we were family. So sometimes that’s just what you do.

My wife and I lost our home when I lost my job. We went through the bank and did everything legitimately. To attack us on this is beyond low. Thousands of local people are losing their homes for the same reasons we lost ours. This was an awful choice to have to make, and I never thought I would have to defend myself publicly for such a difficult decision. Imagine being in our shoes.

On the unemployment benefits: I received unemployment when I lost my job. The company on a national level successfully appealed the payments. I thought it was clear that I had lost my job, and they thought it was clear that I had resigned. Once the decision was made that I should return the payments, I have done so diligently. But Robin Jones won’t tell you that. He doesn’t care about the facts.

Robin has gone as far back as 1998 to dig up dirt, and found a time that I couldn’t pay my rent. My mother had offered to pay my rent while I was in college as her way of supporting my college expenses. When she had a stroke, she suddenly couldn’t anymore, and I wasn’t able to scrape enough together to keep the rent going. I moved in with a friend until I could get my own place. Finally, also more than a decade ago, I was once pulled over for driving on an (unknown to me) suspended license. The next day I called Licensing to inquire about it and they didn’t have any record of my license being suspended and I got a new license the next day. When I went to court for the infraction, the judge bumped it to the lowest level (the same level of criminality as a speeding ticket).

Earlier this month, right before he launched these attacks, Robin Jones was the only candidate NOT to raise his hand when all candidates at a campaign forum were asked if they would refuse to engage in a negative attack campaign. So I say to Robin: you seem to have a total lack of values, honor, or campaign ethics. You won’t even stand behind your own attacks, you have your campaign crony Rosemary Quesenberry throw the mud for you so you don’t have to get your hands dirty. Did it not occur to you to wonder WHY someone would owe a debt to an AIDS organization before launching these attacks? Do you think everyone who has lost their job or had trouble making house payments in this economy is irresponsible? You dug into my past and my family life and into my personal finances, and found things you thought would shame me. I am not proud of everything I have ever done in life, but I am proud of doing everything I had to do to help my family in the worst imaginable situations. I hope you have the sense to be ashamed of yourself. You owe me and my family an apology for your utter lack of consideration and respect for our privacy.

For anyone else who is concerned by these or any further attacks by Robin Jones’ campaign, allow me to share this: my wife and I adopted our wonderful son Alex last year. As you probably know, to qualify for an adoption you have to undergo an extensive financial and criminal background check.  We did so and, obviously, were found to be fit to adopt Alex.  I was also hired just last month by Governor Gregoire as the director of the Commission of African American Affairs.  This position also requires a thorough criminal and financial background check, and between the adoption and the governor’s appointment, I can safely say that I am fit for service on the Renton City Council.

If Robin Jones or Rosemary Quesenberry or anyone else have anything further to ask me about my past, you can contact me directly. The media and the blogs are no place for discussing my personal life, especially with faux-anonymous names to hide behind. I’m proud of who I am and how I got here. I’m proud of what I bring to Renton and what I can offer on the Council. And I will no longer stand for the negative campaign attacks. We have better things to discuss. LET’S GET BACK TO THE ISSUES.

Ed Prince

Renton, candidate for City Council