Kirk to Democrat Candidates: Stop ‘Bashing’ and ‘Trashing’ : Warns Against Wounding Other Hopefuls, Party

Democratic Party Chairman Paul G. Kirk Jr., criticizing tactics used in 1984 by Gary Hart and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, today warned the party’s 1988 presidential candidates not to engage in “bashing” and “trashing” each other, the party or key groups backing Democrats.

He outlined a code of conduct for next year’s campaign, aimed at keeping the primary campaigns on a positive note and avoiding the “self-inflicted wounds” of previous years.

“Voters do not want to hear about the worst in others; they want to hear why Democrats are best for them,” Kirk said in a speech to the National Press Club.

“The Democratic Party and its candidates must undertake . . . to restore respect for our own political process by delivering a positive message of hope to a national audience. That respect cannot be attained if victory by default, distortion or defamation are the primary political tactics of the day,” Kirk said.

Chastisement Possible

Kirk said a Democratic unity task force might publicly chastise candidates who use negative campaign tactics in violation of his voluntary code.

“My memory of the 1984 nomination contest is one of self-inflicted wounds, of meaningless straw polls, of campaigns devoting considerable time and expense to tearing down the opposing Democratic candidates, to trashing our traditional base constituencies, to bashing the party itself and to bickering about nomination rules and internal procedures,” he said.

Kirk sent the code of conduct to all candidates and potential ones earlier this year. Party spokesman Terry Michael said no candidate reacted negatively to it and some had responded to specific measures positively.

Kirk called for a ban on “negative campaigning and personal attacks” against fellow Democratic hopefuls during the presidential primary season, saying such ads in the past had turned off Americans to politics.

He mentioned no Democratic candidates from 1984 by name. But Hart--the current front-runner--was clearly one object.

Hart Targeted Mondale

In 1984, a major tenet of Hart’s campaign was that opponent Walter F. Mondale was the candidate of “tired solutions and narrow interests and old arrangements”--including labor unions and other organizations in Washington.

Kirk asked 1988 candidates not to attack the party and not to squabble over the party’s rules for the nomination.

While, again, Kirk did not mention anyone by name, Jackson made a special case in 1984 that party rules discriminated against him, the first black man to make a serious bid for the nomination.

A fourth point of the code is aimed at another tactic Jackson used to advantage in 1984. Kirk said each contender must “forswear the politics of polarization or attacks on the Democratic Party; and all candidates must resolve in advance to give their early and unqualified support to the Democratic nominee once the nomination is secured.”

Jackson hinted repeatedly in early 1984 that he might run as an independent in the fall. Later, he suggested he might withhold his support from Mondale. He eventually supported Mondale.