Say this for Mayor Pete Lewis and his challengers, it has been a rather civil race for Auburn’s top office – at least publicly.
It was Lewis’ intention all along to focus on the issues, not potentially lethal character debates, as Tuesday’s all-mail-vote primary approaches.
In an era of ugly, downright dirty politics – stoked and exploited along the Internet highway – why not keep it cordial and concise? Let the voters, perhaps turned off and tuned out by local, blog-driven negative campaign rhetoric, decide the fate of this race.
“That is how we want to run our campaign,” Lewis said back in March when he officially announced his re-election plans.
Lewis has run a well-organized, carefully calculated campaign as he shoots for a three-peat. His strongly-supported campaign has been methodical, without all the shouting, symptomatic of someone who has passed this way before.
Lewis has faced little or no qualified opposition since he first took office in 2002.
All of which makes him the presumed front-runner and likely top candidate to come out of the primary.
Frustrated and economically challenged Auburn has made progress as it recreates itself downtown and elsewhere under Lewis’ watch.
“Four years from now, you should see the new community center in Les Gove Park, not funded by taxpayer dollars, but through some really strong efforts by the council … to find that funding outside the city,” Lewis told a recent Rotary Club of Auburn candidate forum. “You should see the activity center. You should see the downtown roads all redone, the arterials, the local streets as well as our big truck corridors.
“You should see the downtown rising,” Lewis said. “It’s the catalyst for the entire community to bring in more tax dollars … “
Lewis clearly will be difficult to beat.
The race for No. 2, however, remains unsettled. Voters will decide among three candidates – City Councilmember Virginia Haugen, locksmith Frank Lonegran and business owner Shelley Erickson, with the survivor advancing presumably to face Lewis in the Nov. 3 general election.
Make no mistake, each challenger is determined to improve the business climate recently hit hard by the deep recession. Each challenger has been focused on the issues, notably the price of doing business.
Haugen – a longtime Lewis’ rival and dissenting voice on the council – suggests the City completely shut down current downtown development to address spending habits and reassess zoning laws.
“We’re in big trouble,” Haugen said. “We developed in a hurry. We didn’t pay attention to our infrastructure. …
“I think it’s time to redevelop the government of the city of Auburn, and that’s what I intend to do.”
Erickson, a Haugen ally, supports a moratorium on development. Lonergan, who works for White Knight Safe and Lock, is concerned about disrupting the downtown’s historical tone and future commerce with costly development.
“We’re trying to reproduce Kent Station,” he warned. “If we do that, it will fail.
“New buildings downtown are going to increase the costs for businesses to move and do business,” he added. “We need, especially now while we’re coming out of a recession, reasonably priced places for business to work.”
Progress, however measured, is upon the city. It is up to the voters to decide who will lead them.
Stay the course or go another way?
You decide which flavor.
