~

By

ungest Candidate Promises

DY MEAD
0 1 TIM Herold Staff

'~itizen

Participation'

EDITOR 'S OTE This Is the fourth 1 n a daily sent ol interviews with candidates in the Le 1 ngton mayor's race

Could Thomas Paine get elected mayor of Lexington? Could Thomas Jefferson? "I ha e m doubts." ays 1ck Marlin. " I would think th people who con trol the weallh would never g1v money to Thomas Jefferson and cenatnly not to Paine." Manin. who at 21 1s the young st or six mayoral candidates. finds some philosophical comfort in the writings or two of the more radical Founding Fathers But while ther are phllo c;oph1cal 1m1larit1es, he hope ther 1s an 1 portant concrete difference : He h he can get elected. Martin says there's still a "good 10 e cell nt" chance he will come out or the \1ay 24 primary as one of the 1wo ft ahsts, but admits that will only happen 1f enough people in Fayette C unt are fed up with the s1a1us q and ready to nsk a change.
'Sen

arates me from the others (in the race) . "I'm not saying I can represent you perfectly well on every issue. What I'm saying is that I feel the same sense of helplessness that you do."

Of Helplessn

really don't control our lives an ore," ays Martin . "That's a ba 1c l ct and 1ha1' what really s p-

of, by and for the people' instead of for independent Eugene McCarthy's , alition to put Martin into office. He hopes to get the McCarthy an entrenched group." campaign. He believes the "compo nents" for a McCarthy victory ex- backers and '. 'others who didn't agree While other canaidates talk about . isted, but were dashed by a system with what I did in the presidential traffic and sewers and campaign race, but thought it had some honor .contributions.Martin insists the basic that barred him from the debates in it." He's also counting pn votes issue in the 1977 race for mayor "is and labeled him a fringe candidate. from\ students and blacks and others the question of the status quo vs. "I think both of us have the funcwho are dissatisfied with the way reasonable change." It is, he says, The flavor of the Martin cam tion of serving as a sounding board things are going. "the age-old struggle between incumpaign is distinctly different. Working for opinions that aren't carried by People with money, though, tend bent ideas and insurgent ideas." the regular politicians," Martin says. with about $500 in contributions and a to be more satisfied than those withPulling the lever under his name lot of energy, he turns out press r.e 'Stakes "Aren't As High' out , and Martin is not optomistic would, he says, mean a commitment leases on rent control, tax cuts for While agreeing that his campaign about attracting the -wealthy. to change, a. statement that "the middle-income earners and public faces some of the same limits that "The base of the three wealthier whole notion of democracy" somehow ownership of utilities. -He also says he hampered McCarthy, he hopes to fare candidates (James Amato, Scotty got perverted or lost so mew here bewill refuse the full $25,000-a-year better because "the stakes aren't as Baesler and Joe Graves) is perhaps a t ween Thomas Paine's "Common mayor's salary, turning back at least high." The question of nuclear disarnarrower base than (candidate) Terry Sense" and today's politics. $10,000. mament isn't an issue in the local Newman and I have," he says. "But 'Security10CThe System' race, he points out. they can draw on that wealth . During last year's presidential Although Martin believes there (through political contributions). Still, it will take a remarkable coare a lot of people out there who race, Martin was state coordinator "I've been becoming more and might agree with what he has to 5ay, more concerned that it's 'one dollar, he says that won't necessarily transone vote,' not 'one man, one vote."' fer into votes. 'Citizen Participation' "Basically a decision to vote What Martin says he offers is a against me I would interpet as a re chance for a kind of change that luctance. to part with the security of would have a strong affect on every the system now in existence," he says. "There's also some feeling that Lexington resident. if the average person gets involved in "The main change I would anticigovernment he will boggle up governpate is that there will hopefully be a ment. Thursday Morning, March 31, 1977 A-3 regeneration of the people's interest ' "But if we don't change, we be: in government,'' he says. "Citizen participation in government would come stagnant. If we don't take a lead to a substantial change in the few risks, we go backward." political climate. That would be the (TOMORROW: Te'rry Newman) best thing I could offer Government

LEXINGTON HERALO

L ~ I Fr nt