gchildress@heraldsun.com; 918-1046
Chapel Hill -- The chairmen of the Orange County Democratic and Republican parties are calling on election officials to investigate the origins of a campaign postcard distributed last week by what is believed to be an unregistered political action committee.
The postcard, which showed up in some town residents' mailboxes Friday, endorsed Councilman Mark Kleinschmidt in his mayoral bid and is critical of positions taken by Councilman Matt Czajkowski, who is also running for mayor.
"We both implore the voters of Chapel Hill to ignore this spurious attempt to influence the election and ask that it not influence their choice either way," wrote Jim White, chairman of the Orange County Democratic Party, and Bill Knight, chairman of the Orange County Republican Party.
White and Knight added that voters should elect the "candidates on their positions, not some unwelcome attempt by a third party to sway the outcome,"
Both Kleinschmidt and Czajkowski have denied knowing anything about the mailing, or the individual or organization that paid for it.
"I don't know who did it," Kleinschmidt said Monday. "I didn't authorize anyone to send it."
Meanwhile, Czajkowski said the mailer is clearly designed to persuade voters not to cast a vote for him into today's election.
"It certainly, in my view, very much runs against the prevailing view in Chapel Hill toward negative campaigning," Czajkowski said. "The majority of voters view that as something they don't want."
The individual or group that paid for the mailing failed to note on the postcard whether Kleinschmidt had endorsed the campaign literature, which is a violation of state election law.
"There should have been a statement on there that noted whether it was authorized by Mark Kleinschmidt," said Tracy Reams, director of the Orange County Board of Elections.
At the request of White and Knight, Reams will forward the matter to the state Board of Elections to determine if the group or individual taking credit for the mailing -- CHC, PAC -- broke election laws.
Reams said political action committees have 10 days after forming, accepting money or spending money to register with the county in which they plan to operate. If a political action committee plans to do business in multiple counties, it must register with the state Board of Elections.
The postcard, showing up just days before voters go to the polls, offers one more odd twist to the 2009 municipal election.
Last month, mayoral candidate Kevin Wolff announced that he was resigning from the race and proceeded to campaign harder than ever.
And over the summer, former councilman Bill Strom caused major drama after he resigned but not soon enough to allow voters to elect his replacement.
The postcard doesn't mention Wolff or Augustus Cho, who are also on the ballot in the mayor's race.
