VANGUARD P RES:

Saying he feels "very alive politically, " Burlington Mayor Bernie Sanders announced Monday he'll run for a fourth term in office.
The next day Ward 5Alderman Paul Lafayette announced his intention to be the Democratic candidate who will upset Sanders'
plans come Town Meeting Day in March.
"As a native Burlingtonian, "said Lafayette, '1understand the concerns of our older residents. It's not easy to watch the city you
grew up in change so quickly. " Lafayette, a painting contractor, called for blending the old and the new to "recapture a sense of
community. "He blamed the Sanders Administration for failing to develop "long-rang planning, "and said that if elected he'd keep
the Mayor's Youlh Office and the Mayor's Arts Council in operation but drop "Mayor"/rom their titles and insert "Burlington."
Lafayette is challenging CarylStewart in the Democratic caucus. Whoever gets the mast supporters to that meeting-to be held
the second week inJanuary-willget the party~ endorsement.
UVM Political Scientist Garrison Nelson, a long time watcher of the local political scene, says he expects Lafayette to win at the
cauezlS. "He's a native. He's young and he's a uigorous campaigner with a successful track record in Ward 5,"says Nelson.
"Ironically," he nates, Lafayette was cited by Caryl Stewart as having "slammed the door" an the Sanderistas in 1983when his
victory in Ward 5blocked their chances at a seventh seat on the Board of Aldermen and the majority cO>ttrol that would have gone
with it.
As far as Lafayette's negatives go, Nelson points to his opposition to the Alden watetfront scheme in which he made enemies
among local Republicans. Also, says Nelson, he's nat as "articulate" as Sanders- "he might have trouble appealing to Yuppies. ".
Stewart, says Nelson, is articulate and has support in the women~ movement. And while he expects Stewart to have a "solid
organization" behind her, Nelson nates she hasn't proved herself to be "electable"-: reference to her solid defeat by Progressive
Peter Lackowski in a bid/or an alderman's seat representing Ward 3.
Sanders, says Nelson, will be tough to beat. "He's coming into the race an a hell 0/ a roll," he says noting that while Sanders
finished a distant third in the governor's race last month, "he was the tap thirdparty vote-getter in the country an election night. "
Peter Freyne