Published: February 15, 2008 10:44 am      

Candidates deny campaigning together

Officially supporting a candidate before the primary election is taboo in party politics. Even party auxiliaries, such as the Cooke County Democratic Club or the Republican Women, must be careful not to show favoritism toward one candidate or another from an official standpoint, and are expected to provide an open forum for all candidates.

But with the candidates themselves it’s a whole other matter, as they can individually support whomever they choose — except for judicial candidates. And individuals may support any combination of candidates.

Many calls came in to this reporter about similarities between two recent campaign flyers — one for a Feb. 9 fund raiser for Janice Warder, candidate for 235th District Attorney, and another for a fund raiser for 235th District Judge incumbent Janelle Haverkamp for the same day.

Warder’s fund raiser took place from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Miss Olivia’s on South Lindsay Street and Haverkamp’s took place from 6 to 7 p.m. at the same location. The fliers each featured “We the people ...” on the invitation printed on a graphical background resembling parchment. Several of the same typefaces were used, and each of the envelopes, though the invitations were mailed separately, featured the same postal permit number.

Are they running together? Both candidates said they are not.

“In fact, we had to divide them,” Warder said in an interview early last week. “We can’t have them together. But we wanted to use the same place.”

Warder is opposed by Chris Fostel and incumbent Cindy Stormer in the March 4 Republican primary.

Warder said some of the same people on her campaign are in Haverkamp’s campaign and both candidates were invited to a single fund raiser.

“It’s not Janelle and I organizing them, it’s the same supporter,” Warder added.

Canon 5 Texas Code of Judicial Conduct states “A judge or judicial candidate shall not authorize the public use of his or her name endorsing another candidate for any public office, except that either may indicate support for a political party. A judge or judicial candidate may attend political events and express his or her views on political matters ...”

“People I knew and respected called and offered to give me a fund raiser,” Haverkamp said in a statement this morning. “They were also giving Ms. Warder a fund raiser. For convenience, they wanted to hold the two events on the same night. These were two separate events.”

Haverkamp said she checked with the Commission on Judicial conduct and a representative there said there was no foul in having two events on the same night in the same place.

“It did not violate the Code of Judicial Conduct,” Haverkamp said. “At their suggestion, the fund raisers were scheduled one-half hour apart. I did not attend Ms. Warder’s fund raiser. I certainly appreciate the efforts of these supporters in organizing and sponsoring this fund raiser on behalf of my campaign.”

Fred Rosenbaum, a Gainesville resident, said the similarities seem suspicious.

“I finally broke my rule to stay out of local politics, when an outrageously deceptive letter to the editors criticized the District Attorney,” Rosenbaum said in an e-mail statement. “I can say, I was appalled. I do not believe in coincidences. Candidate Warner’s campaign signs are co-located with another candidate for public office.”

There has been at least one campaign where the candidates banded together to seek offices in recent years. In 2004, a group of candidates for the North Central Texas College Board of Regents ran as the “Challengers for Change.”

The campaign led to the election of Steve Gaylord, David Flusche and Bill Ledbetter to the Board of Regents.

“I had no problem with doing that for the college election,” Gaylord said. “I think the D.A. and the District Judge candidates should be independent, though.”

Gaylord said having similar campaign literature or signage may be perceived by the public as improper.

One other candidate contacted, Wayne Dodson, said he had been accused of runnning with Martin Peterson, as many of his signs were located near his.

Peterson is opposing Haverkamp on the Republican ticket for District Judge. Dodson is opposing incumbent Gary Hollowell for Cooke County Commissioner of Precinct No. 1.

“I got my own approval from the property owners, and I am not running with Peterson,” he said. “People put up a sign next to other names and sometimes they think they (those candidates) are campaigning together. But that’s not usually the case.”

Reporter Andy Hogue may be contacted at andyhoguegdr@ntin.net