First Ward aldermanic candidates clashed on more issues than they agreed upon Monday during their final debate before Evanston’s April 3 municipal elections.
Both Ald. Arthur Newman (1st) and his opponent, Kellogg Prof. Allan Drebin, said if elected, they plan to increase the amount of student parking and attract more student-friendly businesses to the downtown area. But accusations flew and disagreements were paramount in the candidates’ statements about student voting practices and town-gown relations.
“What I need is a whistle,” Medill Dean Ken Bode, who moderated the debate, said at one point.
Drebin accused Newman of asking an Associated Student Government senator for advice on how to suppress the student vote.
“This is disgusting,” Drebin said. “Who is anybody to say to a student they shouldn’t vote?”
Newman denied the allegation, saying he thought it was important students voted, but he didn’t want them to cast their votes irresponsibly.
“There is a question about how one should exercise the right,” Newman said, “and I don’t think students should vote based on association.”
Willard Sen. Katherine Turk said in a phone interview Monday night that Newman approached her after he spoke at an ASG meeting February 3.
“He asked me if I thought students were going to be apathetic in this election, and he said he was counting on that to win,” said Turk, a Weinberg freshman. “He asked me if I had any ideas about making sure students don’t vote.”
Newman said he recalled speaking with Turk, but he said their conversation was about the city’s panhandling ordinance and not about the student vote at all.
“I’m very happy students are registering to vote,” Newman said. “If students want to vote in this election, I welcome them.”
Newman accused Drebin of having a conflict of interest, saying Drebin would not be able to vote or participate in council discussions on some of the most important issues facing the First Ward because they relate to Northwestern.
When the campaign began, Drebin said he tried to distance himself from the university. Shaking his finger, he mimicked former President Clinton, saying, “I have not had academic relations with that university.”
But Drebin said he has since rethought that position. His relationship with NU and his academic expertise in finance as demonstrated at Kellogg would be assets, he said, and would outweigh any negative aspects and possible conflicts of interest associated with such an affiliation. If elected, Drebin said he would work to normalize relations between NU and the city.
“Fifty years ago, (NU’s) centennial celebration was a lovefest between the city and the university,” Drebin said. “Today the university and the city are at war.”
Newman said his commitment to fight for residents of the First Ward, including students, in negotiations with NU is stronger than ever. He said preventing the university from taking any more property off the tax rolls and requiring NU to provide more parking for students would be top priorities if he were re-elected.
“I’m not going to change being an advocate for the city of Evanston,” Newman said. “I plan on doing what I’ve been doing.”
But Drebin said what Newman and the council have been doing is not talking at all.
“We have to open dialogue,” he said. “We have to sit down and talk with (university officials).”
Drebin said Newman’s predecessor on the council would meet with university administrators on a regular basis, something he said Newman has failed to do in the year since Evanston residents voted overwhelmingly to begin negotiations with NU to get the city’s “fair share.”
Newman said Drebin and his “so-called financial expertise” will not be allowed on the city’s negotiating team because of his NU affiliation. Besides, Newman, said, “he’s not going to get elected.”
