Republican candidates for Town Council have asked their
Democratic opponents to sign a pledge to focus on the issues and avoid mudslinging
By: Lea Kahn
The Lawrence Township Republican candidates for Township Council have asked their Democratic opponents to sign a pledge committing the signers to focus on the issues and avoid mudslinging.
But the Democratic candidates incumbent Township Council members Pam Mount and Michael Powers and running mate Jim Kownacki said they are not going to sign the pledge because they believe it is unnecessary.
Republican candidates Bob Bostock, Falk Engel and Marie Tagliaferri modeled the pledge on one developed in 1996 by the University of Maine’s Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center, which has been used in political elections in Maine and elsewhere.
The purpose of the pledge is to "encourage a substantive issues-oriented electoral campaign in Lawrence Township that will educate Lawrence voters and help to improve the quality of dialogue about public policy," according to an Aug. 4 letter sent to the three Democratic candidates by Mssrs. Bostock, Engel and Ms. Tagliaferri.
"We are looking forward to a vigorous, issues-based campaign this fall," Mr. Bostock said. "We are committed to communicating with Lawrence voters about why we are seeking election to Town Council in an open, honest and honorable way."
Mr. Engel and Ms. Tagliaferri agreed that voters want to know about the issues and where all candidates stand on those issues. They want to know how Republicans would do things differently if they were elected, Mr. Engel added.
Voters want that information "without the distraction of personal attacks and negative campaign tactics that characterize too many campaigns these days," Mr. Engel said. "We can set a model for Mercer County and the rest of New Jersey by how we all conduct this campaign."
Ms. Tagliaferri said she hoped Mr. Powers, Ms. Mount and Mr. Kownacki would sign the pledge. Even if the Democrats do not sign the pledge, she said, she and her running mates will follow the principles of the pledge and ask the voters to hold all six candidates accountable for how they run their campaigns.
But Mr. Powers, who is seeking re-election to Township Council, noted that "it goes without saying" there would be no mudslinging. Lawrence Township political campaigns have traditionally been conducted in a civil manner, he said.
"This is not Hudson County. To sign something that comes from the heart is kind of silly. People can judge me by my (prior) campaigns," said Mr. Powers, who was elected to Township Council in 2003 after an unsuccessful bid for election in 2001.
Mr. Kownacki said that in the 10 years he has been involved in Democratic Party politics in Lawrence, the party has never endorsed negative campaigning. He said he would run a clean campaign, avoid negative campaigning and stick to the issues.
"I am a man of my word," Mr. Kownacki said. "I will stick with the issues. I will not personally attack anybody."
Ms. Mount, who is seeking re-election to Township Council, said Township Council candidates in the past had signed a similar pledge prepared by the Lawrence chapter of the League of Women Voters that called for a clean campaign.
"We have conducted clean campaigns," Ms. Mount said. "This is not something new to us. We have never done a negative campaign. It is not what we are about. We don’t slander anybody. Lawrence is a small town where everybody knows everybody."
Doris Weisberg, a member of the Lawrence chapter of the League of Women Voters, said that for many years, she and former township resident Mary Tanner ensured that Township Council candidates signed a similar LWV-sponsored "clean campaign" pledge. Ms. Weisberg is a Democrat and Ms. Tanner is a Republican.
Ms. Weisberg added that until the 1990s, the Lawrence LWV chapter also had organized a committee made up of township residents that would review campaign-related complaints, such as ethics complaints or complaints that alleged negative campaigning.
"We never had any really significant ethics violations to look at," said Ms. Weisberg, who served on Township Council from 1999 to 2002. She presently serves on the bipartisan Clean Elections Committee, which is examining the possibility of funding future Township Council elections with taxpayer dollars.

