State senate candidates pledge clean campaign

PALMER — Republican state Senate candidate Linda Menard and her Democratic opponent, Erick Cordero Giorgana, have pledged their campaigns will avoid negative tactics and be clean of mudslinging.

The pair got together after the Palmer Rotary Club’s meeting at the Palmer Moose Lodge. Menard and Cordero Giorgana pulled chairs aside and huddled in a corner, privately discussing the campaign trail.

It was the first meaningful face-to-face meeting the opponents have had since both announced their intentions to run for Senate District G. Both said Thursday that running a positive campaign — and avoiding personal attacks — will be a priority.

“Just on a personal level, it’s distasteful,” Menard said of negative campaign tactics.

In an e-mail following the meeting, Cordero Giorgana echoed Menard’s sentiment.

“Many people are tired of negative campaigns and the personal attacks,” Cordero Giorgana said.

Menard recently avoided a primary battle with Sen. Lyda Green, R-Wasilla, after the 14-year senator abruptly dropped out of the race by way of a letter to her constituents.

In that letter, along with expressing differences with Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Green said she never had a “strong personal desire” to be in office, but served her terms from a feeling of duty and public service.

Cordero Giorgana, a political unknown in the state, said he believes in open, honest government above all.

The District G Senate race this fall will present voters with two vastly different candidates.

Menard, coming form a well-known Mat-Su Valley family, is the wife of Mat-Su Borough Mayor Curt Menard and served 12 years on the Mat-Su Borough School Board.

Cordero Giorgana represents a fresh face in Valley politics, touting that point in his candidacy and calling himself an agent of change. In a recent interview, Cordero Giorgana said he wants to restore faith in the public process.

“Corruption is now kind-of expected,” Cordero Giorgana said. “I want to change people’s perspectives and notions to know it shouldn’t be expected.”

It’s too early to know when Menard and Cordero Giorgana will meet for a debate, but the pair have steadily begun getting the word out about their campaigns.

Contact Michael Rovito at michael.rovito@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.