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Gloves come off in Dallas mayoral race
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Race
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| Contributor | TX DEM |
| Last Edited | TX DEM Jun 01, 2007 07:44pm |
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| Category | News |
| Media | Newspaper - Dallas Morning News |
| News Date | Friday, June 1, 2007 05:20:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | DALLAS — Until now, the Dallas mayor's race has been a quiet, gentlemanly affair.
But now, accusations are flying about business ethics, party politics and hitting below the belt.
"This city is already divided," said Adelfa Callejo, who backs candidate Tom Leppert in the June 16 runoff election. "We do not need further division by making this election partisan."
Callejo and others came out swinging on Thursday, accusing rival candidate Ed Oakley of breaking tradition and turning the Dallas mayor's race into a Democrat vs. Republican affair, creating wedges.
"People who do that now—that's the way they're going to govern," Leppert said. "I just think it's so imporant to bring the city together."
Oakley was recently endorsed by the Dallas County Democratic Party. While he said he wasn't seeking their support, he noted that they do share similar values. "They know what Tom Leppert's track record is, and the things that he has been touted are important to the people behind me; they're important to the Democrats," Oakley said.
Oakley is hitting Leppert's record as a businessman in a new campaign ad that targets problems at the firm Leppert headed, Turner Construction.
"What do we really know about Tom Leppert?" asks the announcer in the Oakley commercial. "He says he'll fix schools, but Leppert's company was caught using toxic dirt while building an elementary school."
Leppert campaigns hard on his former role as Turner CEO.
Political analyst Cal Jillson explained the Oakley strategy: "Go right at their strength, because if you can chip that away, then they fall completely," he said.
But some think parts of the Oakley ad go too far.
Tom Leppert has a facial tic, a random twitch, which appears noticeably several times in the Oakley commercial.
"I just don't think making fun of somebody's disabilities is anyplace to be in a campaign," said Leppert campaign manager Carol Reed.
Oakley was asked whether his commercial hits below the b |
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