To the Editor:
In a paid ad in The Dartmouth Tuesday, Joseph Asch '79 disingenuously proposed a campaign finance "truce" with me and his opponent for trustee, John Replogle '88. His proposal is a gimmick designed not to level the playing field, but to work to his advantage. Asch already has sent out an expensive mailer to thousands of alumni, ostensibly to secure 500 signatures for his petition, but clearly to promote his candidacy. John and I have sent out no mailers. The College's notice of our nomination by the Alumni Council is required by election rules of the Association of Alumni and was not part of or funded by our campaigns. It did not contain any solicitation of support, as Asch's did.
As to his urging that we limit campaign expenses and make donations to the Dartmouth College Fund, it's worth noting that Asch was a strong supporter of the lawsuit initiated in Sept. 2007 which cost the College a considerable sum to defend itself against and only recently declared that he opposes the new suit which could cost the College yet more at a time when it is faced with a huge fiscal crisis. Moreover, Asch took out the ad in The Dartmouth which we have not done without notice just days before we were to meet with him in Hanover. This behavior hardly tracks with his claims to be a unity' candidate.
I favor limits on campaign expenditures in trustee races, but Asch's proposal would be fair only if he had not already spent thousands more on this race than either John or I have.
Morton Kondracke '60Council Candidate for the Board of Trustees
