SANDERS'

TOUGHEST
TEST
O ne gray bitterly cold IIIO I'IliDg
last month, somebody wrote
a message in the SIIOW on the
rear window of of the auto-
mobile of the mayor of Ver-
mont's largest city. There OD
Main Street. on the back win-
dow of Bernie Sanders' snow-encrusted,
dented and rusted Honda wagon. some-
body's finger had carved the simple one-word
message " B Y E .'
After six years as mayor of Burlington,
Bernie Sanders is facing his toughest politcal
challenge. His only opponent, Democrat Paul
Lafayette. says it's time for a change in the
Queen City. time to reject the personality
who has dominated the political scene and
left no shortage of enemies in his wake.
In fact, last fall. before Sanders would pub-
licly admit he would seek a fourth two-year
termat City Hall. the balding champion of
American third-party politics candidly admit-
ted that an attempt for re-election in 1987
would not be easy - that over the years, the
Sanders administration had made a lot of ene-
mies and just maybe those chickens would
come home to roost on March 3.
But these days, with the eJ ection rapidly
closing in, Sanders vehemently rejeda the
notion that his antago1listic. high volume
~osive style is a factor that vaters wDI
liIIlDIlider wben they gil to the polls next
~y.
"l1llink it's all crap," he says. when asked
about the matter. "Is the issue really 'who isa
nice goy?,n O n the contrary. argues Sanders,
"wbat's ~il what yon lllBlId for, bow
you analyzt! the problelns thatexl8tin society,
and what you believe in.l'venevet suggested
Lafayette is or isn't a nice guy -8O IIIll people
actually think Pm a nice guy -bIltthat(issueJ
is absurd. That'sgoodrl1etoricfora3O-seColld
radio ad, but it's not what this IS aboutn
For Bernie Sanders. nextTuesdafs~
will be a crucial landmark in his poIititaI
career. In November, runniOllforg~
an independent, he received 14.5 pereent of
the vole. Though finishing linnIy in lastplacie,
he left the statewide campaign trail i1 tgreat
spirits.
"The gubernatorial c:ampaip was a real
high for me," says Sanden. Inthat ~ he
more than tripled the Vole totals be rieved
in the se'lenties when as a J onghaifed tJ lliver-
sity of Chicago graduateh4l went on the state-
wide stump in Vermont m races for gover-
nor and the US 5eIIate.
In 1981,lbis radical voice fromthe WiJ dej-.
ness, forever lambasting the greed of wealthy
corporations and championing the rights fIf
"poor people, worlling people and the eldedy:
engineered the political upset of the era and
defeated incmnbent Democratic Mayor Gordon
Paquette by all of Ievotes.
Sanders proftted from the fact that there
were four candidates in the race, the incUm-
bent never lifted a finger to cainpaign, the
television media was attracted to his unique
style and the Burlington Police Patrolmen's
Association publicly endorsed him, providing
tons of credibility for his longsbbt campaign.
In 1981 Sanders received 43.3 percent of
the 9.280 votes. Two years later, he won
52.1 percent of the vote against Republican
J im Gilson and DemocratJ udy Stephany (now
Governor Kunin's legislative liaison).
In 1985 Sanders increased his pereentage
to 55.3, but as snow fell in Burlington, 3.000
fewer voters went to the polls and Sanders
received 1,200 fewer votes than in '83.
This time, with good weather, upwards of
12,000 voters are expected to go to the polls.
And nobody but nobody anticipates the race
to be anything but close.
t!tIfIIinwd i/fII!II/I6 ~
"0
girl
sun
exc
t,
Paul Lafayette (left) and Bernie Sanders
BERNIE:
~ continued from page 1
A Burling/on Free Press poll
released February 19showed
Sanders ahead with 44.7 per-
centto Lafayette's 40.2 per-
cent. But the 4.5 percentage
difference mirrored the poll's
"margin of er r o r ," m ean i n g t h e
racelooksneck-and-neck corn-
ing down the home stretch.
"I think the Progressive
movement will always be
around in Burlington," says
challenger Paul Lafayette. But
Lafayette, an alderman and
painting contractor who lives
in the South End just around
thecomer fromSanders, says
they maycarry different labels,
including "Progressive Coali-
tion, progressive Democrats
or Rainbows... they're always
going to be around here."
Lafayette himself has inthe
final days of the campaign
labeledhisownplatformapro-
gressive one. "We're looking
toward a future with a pro-
gressiveagenda," hesays. "I've
never said Bernie's done a
totally badjob, but he doesn't
have a lock on the word 'pro-
gressive'. It's in the diction-
ary and anybody can use it."
Indeed, wben Sanders
scored bis stunning upset in
1981, neither henor the media
called himanything but an
"independent." It wasn ' t until
the day after that Burling-
tonians woke up to the fact
that they had just elected a
"socialist." It would still be a
few years before the adjec-
tive"progressive" elbowed its
way into the local political
lexicon.
For Lafayette, ahometown
boywhohas wonwiderespect,
this raceisastep intoapolitcal
unknown beyond his experi-
en c e. He' s n ev er r u n f o r an y -
thing morethan alderman be-
fore, and mountingachallenge
t o su c h a seaso n ed v et er an as
Sanders has not been an easy
task.
Lafayette's first forays on
the campaign trail were near-
disasters. In the first debate
at the Radisson Hotel before
the Downtown Burlington
Development Association he
was t en u o u s an d n er v o u s. He
seemed intimidated by the
audience and by his opponent.
Later, beforetheeditorial board
of the Free Press he report-
ed~yfaltered so badly he lost
the paper's endorsement to
Sanders-a real shocker.
But with each debate and
press conferenceLafayette has
gainedpoise.O n Mondaywhen
Sanders went ontheoffensive
and attacked his credibility
Lafayette countered like an
experienced politician.
"This is the most fascinat-
ingcampaigninwhichI'veever
particpiated," Sanders told
reportersat hisSouthWinooski
Avenue campaign head-
quarters. "After two months
of thecampaign, it isvirtually
impossible for me, and I think
for a majority of the citizens
of Burlington, to understand
where my opponent stands on
the major issues facing Bur-
lington.WhereisMr. Lalayette
and what does he stand for?"
asked Sanders sarcastically.
Minutes later, Lafayette
adroitly flipped over the
mayor's assault andcountered,
"I'm sure the poll scared the
m ay o r ... We' r e r u n n i n g a v er y
positivecampaignand I'mvery
disappointed that the mayor
feels we should run his style
of campaign. Apparently he's
a little nervous. II
What irritates Sanders isthe
very style of Lafayette's cam-
paign.In the past, Sanders has
been the one who's been at-
tacked by his opponents and
then given the opportunity by
the media to get in the last
shot. But this time Lafayette
has steered away from any
direct attacks on Sanders or
his record. In fact, at times
the challenger has been quick
to say how much he admires
the accomplishments of Sand-
ers and his administration.
"Paul Lafayette and what
his campaign is about is your
absolutely typical, beautifully
staged modemAmerican cam-
paign. He's a nice guy with a
goodimage, nosubstance, and
endorsements from well known
people [likeMadeline Kunin],
and he's not saying anything.
Paul's very honest about this,"
says Sanders, "and I have to
confess there's acertain frank-
ness tohis stylethat I admire."
Lafayette's campaign
manager, Chris Mulvaney,
says their strategy isbeing put
into action precisely accord-
ing to plan. "Bernie's at his
best defending himself," he
say s, so it d o esn ' t m ak e sense
to give himthat opportunity.
"I think our campaign has
thrown hima little bit," says
Mulvaney.
Lafayette headquarters on
Main Street is a bustling site.
Volunteers seemto beperpet-
ually stuffing envelopes for
direct mail drives, computers
are cranking out data and the
air is full of anticipation. O n
thewall over Mulvaney's desk
hangs a huge calendar with
each day's activities carefully
plotted.
According to that calendar,
Lafayette isrequired todotwo
hours of door-to-door earn-
paigning daily and is allotted
one hour to be with his wife
Karen, who herself is a full-
timecampaignworker. Accord-
ingto the calendar, Lafayette
supporters willgather at4 a.m.
next Tuesday tobeginonefinal
all-cityliteraturedropjust hours
before the pollsopen. Accord-
ingtoMulvaney, Lalayette vol-
unteers can cover every door-
step in Burlington within two
hours.
As for the nuts and bolts of
the Sanders campaign, Mul-
vaney, wholast managed Lieu-
tenant Governor Howard
Dean's election effort, says it
seems it's not as good as it
was in the past when David
Clavelle ran it.
Clavelle, who was one of
the few fly-by-night volun-
- .. ~ - .
teeers in Sanders 1981 upset,
later was appointed city con-
stable and devoted his skills
to two successful re-election
campaigns. But last year
Clavelle(cousinof Community
and Economic Development
Director Peter Clavelle), re-
signed his City Hall post and
signed on with the Leahy
campaign. Hehasn't returned.
O ver at Sanders head-
quarters, campaign manager
J im Schumacher denies that
claim. Actually, I think we're
stronger," he says, pointing
to even better voter ID capa-
bility-the process by which
supporters are pinpointed and
targeted for get-out-the-vote
efforts.
Schumacher says Sanders
oeeds a good turnout next
Tuesday. Also key, according
toSchumacher, will bethesuc-
cessthe Sanders campaign has
in winning over the more than
2,000 newly registered vot-
ers who have signed on the
checklist since last summer.
They're newcomers to the
Queen City, hesays, who were
signed up as a result of the
voter registration efforts of the
victorious Leahy for US Sen-
ate Campaign and the unsuc-
cessful Equal Rights Amend-
ment effort. "They're younger
people who are new tothe city
and not aware of the changes
that have occured since 1981."
Schumacher, who two years
agowas trounced by Lafayette
inthe Ward 5aldermanic race,
charges Lafayette is running
a campaign heavy on "smoke
and mirrors."
"Paul's not going to open
hismouth. We've already seen
everything we're going to see,"
says Schumacher. All Paul's
doing, he says, is saying "me
too, I'm a nice guy." Why is it,
he asks, Democrats become
"progressives" in the last 10
days of a campaign: "I'm tired
of it." he says.
Sanders has declared this
will be his last run for mayor
of Burlington. Eight years, he
says, is enough. But he won't
commentonother politicalaspi-
rations such as another bidfor
governor in 1988. "Being
mayor's avery hard job," says
Sanders, "when you take on
theestablishment and youfight
and you fight and you fight.
People think that fighting is
my personality but you might
want to look at it the other
way-every time you take a
stepforward there's aconflict."
Lafayette, meanwhile, says
what Burlington needs is a
mayor who can be a "facilitator
for the city, not someone whn
just wants to build up their
own political career."
"When you stand up and
fight for what you believe in
you're stepping on people's
toes,"counters Sanders. "When
you don't stand up and fight,
you don't get anything."
Next Tuesday Burlington
voters will decide just what
they'll get for the next two
years .
. ... .... . . . ... .. ....- .