Keep Campaign Clean

With the exception of Maureen O’Connor and her supporters and possibly Councilman Ed Struiksma, who gets to function as mayor until someone is elected to the job, probably no one is really looking forward to another 13 weeks of mayoral campaigning.

O’Connor’s margin over City Councilman Bill Cleator in Tuesday’s primary was so substantial that the odds against Cleator overtaking her in the June 3 general election appear great.

Cleator’s task is made even more difficult by the fact that third-place finisher Floyd Morrow, who received 19% of the votes, is a Democrat like O’Connor, and the majority of his supporters are likely to end up voting for her.

Yet, despite the public’s boredom with local elections, and notwithstanding the fact that O’Connor begins the last leg of the race so much closer to the finish line than her opponent, the campaign between now and June can have some positive effects.

For example, O’Connor still has not sketched a very complete picture of what her administration would be like, what she hopes the key accomplishments would be during the 2 1/2 years left in the current mayoral term. With the comfort that comes from having a 16-percentage-point primary lead and with three more months to think and plan, she should be able to articulate her goals better.

We would expect Cleator to run an aggressive campaign and push O’Connor to spell out her positions, issue by issue. In his primary campaign, Cleator tried hard to expand his political base beyond his core group of conservative Republicans. If he continues to develop rapport with minority groups, homosexuals, environmentalists and neighborhood activists, he will be a better councilman even if he loses the race.

So far, this has been a relatively clean campaign. Although the candidates have objected to some of their opponents’ actions, overall it has not been marked by the vitriol of some other recent races--including the 1983 O’Connor-Hedgecock general election. Cleator and O’Connor have run largely positive campaigns and have limited their attacks to criticizing the other’s records and positions.

While Cleator may be advised by supporters to launch personal attacks on O’Connor to try to close the gap he faces, the community will be better served if he remains above such tactics. Likewise, O’Connor certainly has no reason to resort to a more personal style of campaign offensive. Both should finish the campaign with the dignity and civility they’ve maintained to this point.