For mayoral candidate Peter Godwin, it was a “novel solution” to the April 5 election.

But it was an insult to Evanston Mayor Lorraine H. Morton.

In another twist to an election that has seen one aldermanic incumbent kicked off the ballot on legal technicalities, Godwin wrote to Morton in a letter dated March 15 that he would split the mayor’s $17,000 salary with her if she pulled out of the race and became a “public liaison” for the city.

The proposal was rejected the next day.

“I just think the young man doesn’t know how we do business in this form of government because it isn’t something that’s even legal,” Morton said Wednesday. “He showed a total disregard of the taxpayers and voters of Evanston.”

Godwin is the first mayoral candidate to challenge Morton since she was first elected in 1993. She served as Fifth Ward alderman for nine years before she was elected mayor.

Godwin said in his letter that Morton was a “well-respected community leader” but has been unable to negotiate consensus among Evanston City Council members. The letter praised Morton’s “decades of public service” but said she could better serve the city by representing Evanston to the public.

“She can take the other role,” Godwin said Wednesday, “the role she’s been good at.”

In the letter, Godwin envisioned adjacent offices in the Civic Center and said the partnership would reflect the diversity of the community.

Valerie Krejcie, president of the League of Women Voters of Evanston for the past three years, said she has never heard of a similar proposal in other municipal elections.

The proposal was an “ill-conceived publicity stunt,” said Elizabeth Brasher, Morton’s campaign manager and daughter. She said Godwin sent the letter to media outlets before the mayor could officially respond.

“This is just ludicrous,” she said. “One has to wonder, too, why wouldn’t he want to go through with the electoral process?”

But Godwin said it was not an attempt to bolster his campaign in the final month before the election.

“I’ve had tons of debates, tons of interviews, a lot of press and I meet with the community every day, ” he said. “So I didn’t need a last-ditch effort, but what I did need was a novel solution to a persistent concern.”

Krejcie said anything that would remove a candidate from the ballot is bad for Evanston voters.

“It’s up to the electorate,” she said. “I like the fact that there’s a choice. That shows there are people willing to challenge the incumbents, and that’s a true democracy.”

Morton said she never considered accepting Godwin?s proposal.

“He can’t tell the citizens of Evanston what to do,” she said. “He doesn’t have the choice.”

Reach Mike Cherney at [email protected].