The candidates in the special election race for New Castle County Council president are trading verbal fire with just a week to go before voters head to the polls on January 13. Ninth District County Councilman Tim Sheldon (D) and former state Representative Tom Kovach (R) are at odds over ethics issues and campaign conduct. But are charges and counter charges enough to drive voters to the polls for a stand-alone race in chilly early January?
The two campaigns seem to agree that with the holidays over, now is the time to grab voters’ attention – even if the window of opportunity left to engage voters is admittedly a small one.
“People are in their homes after the holidays. People are recovering from the holiday hangover,” said Kovach.
Sheldon’s campaign manger Brian McGlinchey calls this final week “critical” to educating voters.
“People got sucked into the holiday vortex, so its been difficult trying to get the message out,” McGlinchey observed.
Tim Sheldon’s campaign manager, Brian McGlinchey discusses the issue his candidate is stressing.
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Sheldon wants to get voters to focus on ethical questions he is raising about Kovach. In a press release Wednesday, the Sheldon campaign suggested Kovach’s work as an attorney with Parkowski, Guerke & Swayze creates potential conflicts of interest, since that firm represents clients that have business before the county. Sheldon believes those conflicts will force Kovach to recuse himself frequently, making him a “part-time member of council.”
“His firm legally represents and lobbies for big land developers, and also polluters like BP and Sunoco, who may be coming before the council seeking favorable decisions. Will he be serving the public interest or his law firm’s clients when he votes on land-use issues? I think the public interest would be put at risk if Mr. Kovach were to become council president,” said Sheldon.
Kovach says Sheldon’s press release misrepresents his role with the firm by calling him a “director” of Parkowski, Guerke & Swayze. He says he stepped down as a partner during his time as state representative for the 6th district and continues to work only as a contractor for the firm.
“I do not receive compensation from the firm’s clients. I only get compensated based on my work,” said Kovach. “I don’t represent any clients in front of County Council or the land use board.”
Sheldon calls Kovach’s explanation “too slick by a half.”
“Somebody signs the front of [his paycheck] and it’s the law firm,” Sheldon said. So, anytime the firm’s clients come before him on council, “whether he’s a subcontractor or however he classifies himself,” Kovach would have to recuse himself, Sheldon argued.
Sheldon’s campaign also claims Kovach has failed to file the appropriate financial disclosure form with the county as a candidate for office. Sheldon suggests that failing to provide that information undermines Kovach’s call for more openness and transparency in county government.
Kovach says he filled all the forms he was given to fill out by the Department of Elections. He says if there are additional forms that need to be filed, he is prepared to do so. However, Kovach suspects dirty politics. If a form was missed, he wonders, how did the Sheldon campaign find out about it before he was informed?
“It’s very disappointing and questionable that an employee of the county, Councilman Sheldon, would get this inside information, if there was any, and release it, instead of that information being brought to my attention,” said Kovach. “It’s an improper use of his position.”
Kovach has further accused Sheldon of avoiding debates and other public forums that would give voters an opportunity to hear the candidates discuss the issues.
“I really feel like my opponent has been ducking the opportunity to engage potential constituents all over the county,” Kovach said, “and I think it’s unfair to the voters and it makes it even harder the process to educate people when you just have one person coming instead of both of the candidates.”
Tom Kovach discusses the central theme of his campaign.
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Sheldon says the holidays and his commitments to events involving his district made it difficult to schedule anything before January. He points out that in the final week of the campaign he is participating in multiple events with Kovach, including a public debate Monday night at the Hockessin Fire Company Memorial Hall and a Tuesday morning roundtable with DFM News moderated by Nancy Karibjanian.
“It wasn’t like we ran away from anything,” said Sheldon.
Will the flurry of accusations late in the six week campaign overcome the historically low turnout for special elections? The most recent special election in New Castle County was to fill a Council vacancy in the 5th District in February 2009. Democrat Lisa Diller defeated Republican James Moulthrope with a total turnout of only 5.5 percent of registered voters – 1,353 people.
In other recent special elections in New Castle County, Kovach’s win in the race for 6th District state representative in December 2008 drew an 18% turnout, 29 percent turned out for state Representative Bryon Short’s April 2007 victory in the 7th District and 18 percent came to the polls turnout when the 14th Senatorial District elected Bruce Ennis in November 2007.
Kovach concedes turnout is likely to be minimal. He hopes to drive his supporters to the polls by engaging them individually on the issues. ”You have to talk to the people about issues. If you just talk to them about another election, people are pretty beat up after the election in November.”
“We had national, international attention in Delaware for our Senate race and people are electioned out. They’re tired… [Y]ou can’t just say ‘There’s an election, come out.’ You have to provide these reasons.”
McGlinchey says the Sheldon campaign is looking to identify “chronic voters” who are likely to vote in a special election and engage them. “It’s sort of foxhole to foxhole,” noted McGlinchey. “It’s much more precision shooting. You really have to know the universe of voters and be able to focus the message, and tailor it to that distinct group, as opposed to broad, retail-based messaging.”
The special election will fill the vacancy that occurred when County Council President Paul Clark replaced Chris Coons as county executive following Coons’ win in Delaware ’s U.S. Senate race in November. Republicans named Kovach their party’s nominee November 17th. Sheldon was nominated by the state Democratic party on November 22nd. The Department of Elections set Thursday, January 13th as the date for the special election. The special election is open to all registered voters in New Castle County.
