Thursday, September 21, 2000

The campaign for clean campaigns yesterday secured an agreement in its fourth congressional race in Ohio.

In the Canton area's 16th Congressional District, the pact to behave on the campaign trail was signed by Republican incumbent Ralph Regula -- the dean of Ohio's congressional delegation -- Democrat William Smith, Libertarian Richard Shetler and Natural Law Party candidate Brad Graef.

The quartet has vowed to remain committed to principles such as honesty, fairness and responsibility.

"This code confirms that, more and more, candidates agree that campaign conduct is one of the top campaign priorities for all candidates for public office,'' said Brad Rourke, vice president for public policy at the Institute for Global Ethics in Maine and director of the Project on Campaign Conduct. "Citizens respond very favorably when candidates can agree to keep the fight on issues and avoid personal attacks.''

Candidates in Ohio's 3rd, 11th, and 14th congressional districts already had signed similar codes of conduct.

The Project on Campaign Conduct -- which obtained an agreement in just one Ohio congressional district during the organization's maiden effort in 1998 -- is seeking to negotiate accords in every congressional district throughout the pilot states of Ohio and Washington. The effort is funded by a grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts.

-- Darrel Rowland

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