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Ashland race gets rough Negative newspaper ads target mayoral candidate By Sara Murphy ASHLAND � The mayoral race caught fire this week, sparked by a two-day series of newspaper advertisements challenging candidate Alan DeBoer�s record on the Ashland School Board. Paid for by the Campaign for School Tolerance, three ads placed in the Ashland Daily Tidings this week allege DeBoer voted to "limit public participation at school board meetings" and "failed to provide leadership on the tough issues" of drug use and special education. A fourth ad is scheduled to run in Monday�s paper, the group said. DeBoer will hold a meeting to rebut the advertisements at 9 a.m. today at the Historic Ashland Armory, 208 Oak St. The Campaign for School Tolerance � directed by Paul and Margaret Copeland and Andrea Haldane, all Ashland residents � is a group that advocates youth rights and opposes DeBoer�s candidacy, according to papers filed with the city recorder. Paul Copeland said the group is not endorsing any of the mayoral candidates. Copeland, however, is the single largest contributor to Carole Wheeldon�s campaign, with a $250 donation. John Freedom, Betty Austin Hutto and Gary Smith are also running for the seat. Mayor Cathy Shaw is not seeking re-election. Copeland says none of the mayoral candidates � including Wheeldon � knew about the ads before they were published. "I expect, if anything, she would not be happy about this," Copeland said. "If I had thought about it beforehand, I probably wouldn�t have" contributed to Wheeldon�s campaign, he said. Wheeldon also said she didn�t know about the ads until they were published. "If this was my ad, it would have had my name on it," Wheeldon said. "People in the community have the right to raise questions about Alan�s public record on the school board just as people have raised questions about my record on the City Council." Wheeldon said she was told by the school district that dropout figures cited in Thursday�s ad are inflated. "I condemn the use of false information in a political campaign," she said. DeBoer said he�s concerned about the timing of the ads, which first appeared Wednesday � three days before ballots are scheduled to be mailed out for the Nov. 7 election. "We had five debates," DeBoer said. "There was time to ask questions." DeBoer said he�d hoped this year�s election wouldn�t include last-minute "negative" campaigning, a tactic he believes cost him the mayor�s seat in 1996. DeBoer said he lost that election to incumbent Shaw by 62 votes after her supporters distributed brochures late in the campaign that also challenged his record. Copeland said "there�s nothing magic about the timing" of his group�s ads � they weren�t ready for publication until now. "I would like to clarify that there was no attempt to be devious," Copeland said. "Our intent was just to inform the public of Alan DeBoer�s record. "We feel there�s been a lack of leadership in dealing with at-risk kids." School board chair Kent Provost said the ads are misleading. "I�m outraged," he said. "Dirty politicking like this needs to be stopped." Provost said the district�s drug abuse policy is not a "zero tolerance" policy. Although students who violate the policy are initially expelled from school, a contract allows them to return "basically the next day," he said. "Alan DeBoer, out of all the school board members, has been the most stringent supporter of keeping kids in school," Provost said. Provost said he � not DeBoer � asked three parents of special education students to stop speaking at a school board meeting because he believed their comments were inappropriate for a public meeting. "We were trying to protect the confidentiality of the kids," he said. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.