NICK MARTIN

'Sense Of Helplessness"'
Youngest
EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the in a
daily series of interviews with candidates
in the Lexington mayor's race.
By ANDY MEAD
Of The Herald Staff
Could Thomas Paine get elected
mayor of Lexington? Could Thomas
Jefferson?
"I have my doubts," says Nick
Martin. "I would think the people
who control the wealth would. never
give money to Thomas Jefferson -
and certainly not to Paine."
Martin, who at 21 is the youngest
of six mayoral candidates, finds some
philosophical in the writings
of two of the more radical Founding
Fathers. But while there are philo-
sophical similarities, he hopes there
is an important concrete difference:
He hopes he can. get elected. -
Martin says there's still a "good'
to excellent" chance he will come out
of the May 24 primary as one of the
two finalists, but admits that will
only happen if enough people in Fay-
ette County are fed up with the sta-
tus quo and ready to risk a change.
'Sense Of Helplessness'
"We really don't control our Jives
any more," Martin. "That's a
basic fact and that's what really sep-
Candidate Promises 'Citizen '. Prarticipation'
arates me from the others (in the
race).
"I'm not saying I can represent
you perfectly well on every issue.
What I'm saying is that I feel the
same sense of helplessness that .you
do."
The flavor of the Martin cam
paign is distinctly different. Working
with about $500 in contributions and a
lot of energy, he turns out press re-
leases on rent control, tax cuts for
middle-income earners and public
ownership of utilities. He also says he
will refuse the full
1
$25,000-a-year
mayor's salary, turning back at least
$10,000.
During last year ' s presidential
race, Martin was state coordinator
for independent Eugene McCarthy's
campaign. He believes the "compo-
nents" for a McCarthy victory ex-
isted, but were dashed by a system
that barred him from the debates
and labeled him a fringe eandidate.
"I think both of us have the tune
lion of serving as a sounding board
for opinions that aren't carried by
the regular politicians," Martin says.
'Stakes Aren't As High'
While agreeing that his campaign
faces som.e of the same limits that
hampered McCarthy, he hopes to fare
better because "the stakes aren't as
high." The question of nuclear disar-
mament isn't an issue in the local
race, he points out.
Still, it will take a remarkable co-
LEXINGTON HERALD
L cal Front
/
Thursday Morning, March 31, 1977 A-3
*
alition to put Martin into office.
He hopes to get the McCarthy
backers and "others who di 't agree
with what I did in the
race, but thought it had some honor
in it. ;' He's also cdunting on votes
from students and blacks and others
who are dissatisfied with the way
things are going. .
People with money, tend
to be more satisfied than t with-
out, and Martin is not o tomistic
about attracting the wealthy.
base of the three wealthier
candidates (James .Amat Scotty
Baesler and Joe Graves) is perhaps a
narrower base than (candid te) Terry.
Newman and I have," he s ys. "But
, they ' can draw on tha wealth
(through political con tio ).
"I've been bee ore and
more concerned that 'o e dollar,
one vote,' not 'one one vote."'
'.Citizen Partfclpati '
What Martin says he o ers is a
chance for a kind of change that
would have a strong a.ffect IOn every
Lexington resident.
"The main change I woUld antici
pate is that there will hopefully be a
regeneration of the people's interest
in government," he says. "Citizen
participation in government would
lead to a substantial change in the
political .climate. That would be the
best thing I could offer: Government
of, by and for the people instead of
an entrenched group."
While other candidates talk about
traffic and sewers and campaign
contributions.Martin insists the basic
issue in the 1977 race for mayor "is _
the question of the status quo vs.
reasonable change." It is, he says,
"the age-old struggle between incum
bent ideas and insurgent ideas."
Pulling the lever under his name
would, he says, mean a commitment
to change, a statement that "the
whole notion of democracy" somehow
got perverted or lost somewhere be-
tween Thomas Paine' s " Common
Sense" and today's politics.
'Security Of The System'
Although Martin believes there
are a lot of people out there who
might agree with what he has to say,
he says th!lt won't necessarily trans-
fer into votes.
"Basically a decision to vote
against me I would interpet as a re-
luctance to part with the security of
the system now in existence," he
says. "There's also some feeling that
if the average person gets involved in
government he will boggle up govern
ment.
"But if we don't change, we be
come stagnant. If we don't take a
few risks, we go backward."
(TOMORROW: Terry Newman)