Goodman: Backfiring negative ads are aiding him

Erin Neff

Monday, May 3, 1999 | 11:07 a.m.

Criminal defense attorney Oscar Goodman says the mayor's race has grown so negative that voters will voice their disapproval of the process by casting ballots for him.

"My mood is very, very upbeat," Goodman said this morning after a weekend spent calling voters. "There's a tremendous excitement in the community, and I'm very hopeful we can win this thing tomorrow night.

"I wouldn't say I'm confident, but I'm very hopeful," he added.

Goodman has repeatedly said he will not go negative because of the Pledge of Fair Campaign Practices he signed when he filed for election. Ironically, all of the mayoral candidates signed that voluntary pledge claiming they would not sling mud.

"A lot of people are sick of it, and I'm going to win outright on Tuesday because of it," Goodman said Friday.

Veteran City Councilman Arnie Adamsen ran three ads heading into the weekend -- two attacking Goodman and one criticizing developer Mark Fine.

"I think it's curious that Arnie does not have a positive message on TV or in the mail," said Dan Hart, Fine's campaign manager. "He's got no positive message on -- nothing on that's telling people why they should vote for him.

"I think he's probably hurting himself," Hart said.

Fine spent the weekend calling voters and visiting those who have identified they would likely vote for him, Hart said.

"It's all down to the ground troops and the field operation," Hart said. "The ad part of the campaign is pretty much done. We're now focusing on making sure people get out to the polls."

Meanwhile, Adamsen's campaign kept churning out missives against Goodman -- alleging that Goodman was the one who began the negative slant to the campaign.

"Oscar's skin seems a little thin," Adamsen says in a news release. "He started the negative campaigning, and now he has to live with the consequences."

Adamsen's campaign manager Lindsay Lewis said Adamsen made that claim because of a Goodman radio ad that ran two weeks ago.

Goodman learned in a newspaper column that Adamsen planned to go negative by having members of the police union appear in an ad complaining about Goodman's past statements on a television program.

"According to these published reports one of my opponents is going to hide behind the police union to spread all kinds of half-truths and twist my words," Goodman said in the ad. "Two or three decision-makers in the police union cut a deal to do this candidate's dirty work. Well, that's politics."

But is that negative?

Goodman says no, and Adamsen says yes.

Meanwhile, Goodman has a commanding lead in the race, according to both independent and individual campaign polls. Most polls put him at 38 percent, with 16 percent of voters still undecided.

Depending on which poll's results you read, roughly 20 to 22 percent of voters say they will pick Adamsen, and anywhere from 14 to 21 percent of voters say they will opt for Fine.

If none of the nine candidates for mayor gets 50 percent plus one vote on Tuesday, the top two vote-getters will meet in the June 8 general election.

The other six candidates in the field have registered a combined seven percent of votes in the polls.