Four fliers for the Democratic primaries came through the mailbox all at once the other day. It’s the only way some of those guys are ever gonna get together.

I’ve heard Anthony Dawson give his stump speech a couple times, and am impressed with his history as a maverick alderman in the ‘80s and ‘90s. But his flier really turned me off. It’s the most overtly negative campaign lit I’ve seen this month. It’s single-minded focused on street crime, alleging that while incumbent mayor DeStefano does nothing, our children are being murdered!” It parrots the much-maligned assertion that “New Haven is the fourth most dangerous city in America” without footnoting where the info’s from. (It’s from a preliminary FBI report on crime stats which the bureau specifically suggests should not be taken out of context as some sort of national ranking.)

Dawson also dumps on opponent Clifton Graves, coldly labeling him “Puppet of DeStefano” because he worked for the City of New Haven. Say what you like about Graves, but puppets don’t ordinarily run in political primaries against the very people supposedly pulling their strings. If you can’t insult someone better than that, don’t bother.

And how should the other guy in the race, Jeffrey Kerekes, feel, not being mentioned in Dawson’s flier at all?

It’s nice to have a primary with four genuine candidates for a change. They’re different men with different approaches for running the city. They’ve been differentiating themselves well without the need for namecalling and sensationalism, and it’s a pity that Dawson’s playing this desperate card days before the primary.