By Gregory Childress
gchildress@heraldsun.com; 918-1046
CHAPEL HILL -- At a recent candidates forum to discuss downtown growth and development, mayoral candidate Kevin Wolff quipped that the voters of Chapel Hill should keep councilman and fellow mayoral candidate Matt Czajkowski "where he's at."
Everyone laughed, even Czajkowski. But as it turns out, Wolff wasn't joking.
Since that forum, a major chunk of Wolff's campaign strategy has centered on convincing voters, especially those wanting to add another moderate voice to the council, to vote for him in the mayor's race instead of Czajkowski.
By voting him in as mayor, Wolff said, Czajkowski would remain on the council even if he loses the mayor's race, and would have a moderate ally to counter the more liberal tendencies of the current council.
He's even taken out a half-page ad in local newspapers explaining to voters why he believes he's a better mayoral candidate than Czajkowski.
"Even if he [Czajkowski] withdraws or does not win the mayoral seat, he still remains a council member," the ad said. "Moving him to mayor does not change a thing -- he still has only ONE VOTE against a council that does not support him."
And if Czajkowski should win the mayor's race, Wolff says he would remain ineffective.
"In the past two years, Matt has failed to make allies on the Town Council. No one will second any motion he makes for his agenda. He has admitted this in one of his campaign letters, at least three times."
Czajkowski, who quipped back during the forum that he also wants to "remain where he's at," but move over one place to the mayor's seat, declined to discuss Wolff's campaign strategy last week.
"I'm trying everything I can do to make this campaign about the issues," Czajkowski said. "The residents of Chapel Hill deserve a campaign that is issue-based. Anything else is a diversion from what we need here."
Wolff declined through a campaign spokesman to discuss the ad or his campaign strategy.
Czajkowski said those issues include an unsustainable residential property tax base, how the town plans to manage its growth and downtown revitalization.
Council member and mayoral candidate Mark Kleinschmidt said he hasn't taken time to analyze whether Wolff's strategy helps his campaign.
He said he's been working really hard to rally supporters and convince people who are undecided that he is the best candidate.
"I can't say it's [Wolff's strategy] not interesting," Kleinschmidt said. "Each of us has a different strategy for getting over the hump."
Mayoral candidate Augustus Cho said he also wants to "keep Matt where he's at."
"I think that will help the Town of Chapel Hill," Cho said. "Matt's already on council. When he changes course in the middle of the term, I have a problem with that. He needs to finish out his term."
Cho said he hopes he receives more votes as a result of Wolff's unorthodox strategy. But he said what's more important is that voters elect him because they believe Cho is the best candidate.
"I hope I will be elected on my positions, my leadership and clarity of thinking," Cho said.
