Until

Wednesday afternoon, I had not intended to occupy this

space or have any comment on the Peachtree City Council

races next Tuesday. That was before a telephone call to

me from one of the three candidates for the open seat.

Dr. Bruce Perlman wanted to

make sure I received a fax that consisted of two pages: a

title page and a copy of a 1995 campaign contribution

report from one of his opponents, Dan Tennant.

I asked Dr. Perlman if he

had been interviewed by our reporter for a story on the

candidates in the two contests (elsewhere on this page

and in this issue).

He replied that he had

not spoken with our reporter and did not intend to be

interviewed for the pre-election story.

When I closed my gaping

mouth - no candidate I can remember in a Peachtree

City race has ever refused to be interviewed - I

asked him why. Why would he refuse to be interviewed for

a story that would give voters more information about the

candidates?

"I just don't think

it's appropriate," Dr. Perlman answered. "I was

offered a choice, and I made my choice."

His choice was to fax a

one-paragraph note that talked about trust and then

attacked his two opponents for taking political

contributions from developers. He said that Tennant

accepted a $1,000 contribution from John Proffitt in

Tennant's 1995 write-in campaign. And he charged that

Chuck Lehman, his other opponent, took money from Bob

Adams Homes.

He labels himself as "the

only candidate who has refused to take political

contributions from Peachtree City developers."

What the good doctor

conveniently fails to note is that he has raised more

than twice as much money - $13,215 as of Oct. 18

- as his two opponents put together. In fact, many

of his contributors are doctors and medically-related

businesses with addresses in Atlanta. Not exactly a

homegrown group of grassroots supporters.

Perlman also has received

money from two contributors who list their occupations as

"Marketing/Realtor" and

"Contractor/Realtor." One of those contributors

is a top executive with a commercial developer currently

doing business in Peachtree City and Fayette County.

So it seems that the

good doctor is not giving you the full picture and is not

telling the whole truth, although his faxed statement

reads, "The major issue in this campaign, however,

is trust. Who can you trust...?"

Indeed, who can you trust?

It also seems the good

doctor is paying for an attack telephone campaign that

disguises itself as a "poll." If you don't give

the right answer to the phone "pollster," you

get a spiel about how the good doctor's opponents are

deep into the developers' pockets.

Just for the sake of his

own ethical responsibility, Dr. Perlman ought to disavow

such dirty-trick tactics. However, I'm told that the good

doctor admitted that his "consultants" were

conducting just such phone calls, that it was not

illegal, and that he did not intend to put a stop to

them. This admission, I'm told, occurred after Lehman

confronted Perlman Wednesday at the good doctor's office

in Peachtree City. Both Lehman and Tennant supporters

reported getting such misleading calls.

What steams me most ,

though, is the good doctor's blithe dismissal of an

interview. I guess he just doesn't believe he has to

answer face-to-face, in-person questions that might

depart from his well-organized Clintonesque script. It's

the Clinton way: Just smile, ignore the embarrassing

questions, and attack, attack, attack.

Should he be elected, the

good doctor's service on the city council would be

sullied by such a disregard for plain truth and public

accountability.

I'm not going to tell you

whom I think you ought to vote for in either of the two

Peachtree City races. But I can recommend someone I think

you should NOT vote for.

Dr. Perlman should confine

his expertise to serving his medical patients. In the

field of public service - just based on his campaign

record so far - the good doctor is guilty of

malpractice.

[Editor and publisher Cal

Beverly has lived and voted in Peachtree City for close

to 23 years.]