Campaign Worker Elbows Out Candidate

WHEN City Councilman Geoffrey Rose turned over a voter list to a college freshman to help get out the vote, it didn't occur to him to ask the kid whom he was getting out the vote for.

It turns out, the 18-year-old Eastern Michigan University student was looking out for No. 1: He got 32 write-in votes to Mr. Rose's 16. ``It was a political move,'' councilman-elect Frank Houston said Wednesday. ``I wanted him to find out ... but late enough so I could win.''

To Rose, who thought he was running unopposed in Monday's primary, it was a prime example of ``that dirty, sleazy, whatever-it-takes-to-get-elected attitude.''

``Frank is 18 years old, and he's already acting like what most people in the country can't stand in elected officials,'' Rose said.

Rose, a 23-year-old graduate of Eastern Michigan, had recruited Mr. Houston in December to help get out the vote. The student-dominated district has a history of low voter turnout.

City Councilman Kevin McCormick called Houston's actions ``reprehensible.'' ``Someone that pulls a back-stabbing gesture like that to get elected, I don't think people are going to trust him very far,'' Mr. McCormick said.