Politicians already have a reputation for lying and stretching the truth to get elected. Voters in California’s 23rd state Senate District need to think carefully about whether they can trust Kipp Mueller to represent them in Sacramento.
Mueller repeatedly lied to this newspaper when he described his work history in an endorsement survey:
“My background as a criminal prosecutor, combined with my deep commitment to public service, makes me uniquely qualified for this office.”
“As a former prosecutor and the only candidate in this race who has a law enforcement background, I understand what it takes to ensure that communities feel safe and that serious crimes are addressed effectively.”
“As a former criminal prosecutor, I’m the only candidate in this race with law enforcement experience, and I understand firsthand what it takes to keep our community safe.”
This has long since been revealed to be false. He was never, in fact, a prosecutor (he was actually a volunteer post-bar law clerk and an extern). Legal news publication Metropolitan News-Enterprise described the scandal as, “a quest by a lawyer devoid of scruples to attempt to flimflam voters into thinking that he is something that he is not: a former criminal prosecutor.”
But that hasn’t stopped Mueller from continuing to misrepresent his past.
Recently, in a joint message with the campaigns of Pilar Schiavo and George Whitesides condemning the appearance of a Confederate flag at a Trump rally, Mueller is described as having, “previously worked at the Consumer Protection Branch in the Department of Justice under President Obama, and in the sexual assault division of the Santa Clara District Attorney’s Office.”
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This creative wording perpetuates his false narrative of being a former prosecutor. As MetNews noted weeks before the joint message, “Even if it is literally true that Mueller ‘worked for’ the DOJ and the Santa Clara District Attorney’s Office, there is a ‘substantial likelihood’—if not a certainty—that the claim on the website would ‘lead a reasonable person’ to infer that he was employed by those agencies as an attorney. It boils down to a lie.”
Meanwhile, a Mueller campaign ad likewise skirts the truth by saying, “in the DA’s office Mueller helped prosecute sexual predators and scammers.” Helped prosecute. Not prosecute. Helped prosecute. Visitors to Mueller’s campaign website will no doubt notice “Helped prosecute” prominently displayed.
This bizarre behavior from Kipp Mueller and his campaign team should be disqualifying for any reasonable voter.
Kipp Mueller can’t be trusted to talk about himself. Why should voters trust him to represent them in the California Senate?