A mayoral candidate has called a meeting to urge two opponents to get out of the race.
Clerk of the Courts Frank M. Conaway Sr. has asked state Del. Jill Carter and school Administrator Andrey Bundley to a closed-door sit-down Sunday. His plan: to convince them to join forces to beat Mayor Sheila Dixon.
“I think all of us should drop out except Frank Conaway,” he said. “I have more experience than any of them, I?ve handled a government budget and 200 employees, and none of them have.”
Conaway said too many candidates might split the vote and give Dixon the win.
“The concern is the target and the target is Dixon. We shouldn?t be at each other?s throats, we should be after the mayor,” Conaway said. “We?ve lost sight of the objective.”
But Bundley and Carter, who both have agreed to meet, took exception to Conaway?s idea.
“I like Frank Conaway and respect him, but if I believed he was the best choice for mayor I would not have run,” Carter said. “He does not have a shot.”
Carter said she was the most qualified.
“Of the candidates he speaks of, I?m the only one with a secure voting base,” she said.
Bundley also said he does not plan to drop out.
“Why would I leave the race? I?m the only one qualified,” he said.
“I have respect for Mr. Conaway and I am planning on having a conversation with him, but I will not drop out,” he said.
In January, defense attorney Warren Brown sent a letter to all six black candidates urging them to coalesce around one person. Brown was concerned too many black candidates splitting the black vote would encourage a white candidate to run and win, a scenario that failed to materialize.
But Conaway said he was now concerned about the race for City Council president, which pits two black candidates, City Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and City Councilman Kenneth Harris Sr., against white candidate Michael Sarbanes.
“The president of the City Council race is so important, we must come to some consensus on that, and we should be leaning toward one of the African-American candidates,” he said.
