The Norfolk weekly news-journal., 1907-03-29
Who WHO IN CAMPAIGN?
WHEN is A CANDIDATE NOT 4
CANDIDATE?
THE BALLOT GIVES SURPRISES
Judge WesterveIt's Name is On Ballot,
Despite His Efforts to Escape, and
B. e. Bowden's Name Has Been Left
Off-Doan is Republican.
[From Wednesdays Daily.l

[From Wednesdays Daily.l
When is a candidate not candid
ate? Simple folk will say that a man
becomes a genuine candidate when he
is nominated for Office by regularly
constituted convention, caucus or COM
mittee and ceases to be a candidate
when he declines the nomination. Not
so in Norfolk.
A Norfolk man is running away from
an Office with salary attachment
While other men are urging their
qualifications for Office holding upon
the voters this man is making siren
uous efforts to keep out of office. The
man is Judge Ira G. Westervelt and
the Office that he is seeking to avoid
is that of police judge of Norfolk.
Apparently he is making no material
progress.
Judge WesterveIt Can't Quit.
Judge Westervelt was renominated
over his protest by the democratic city
convention. He thereupon declared
through the columns of The News
that he would not be a candidate, that
he would not qualify If elected and
that he declined the nomination. The
democratic central committee met,
held that no man could be put in Of
fee against his will and decided to
turn the judgeship over to Judge Else
ley the republican nominee, by default.
Judge Westervelt rested in fancied
security until yesterday when his men,
jolt. His name had been printed on
the official ballot and to all intents
and purposes he was still candidate.
Running But Not Running.
A very different situation confronts
another Norfolk man. This gentle
man had been nominated for Office and
had entered into the campaign with a
vim. Just before the election he finds
that as a matter of fact, he is not a
candidate at all-at least his name is
not on the official ballot. This man
is B. e. Bowden-supposedly the re-
publican candidate for city engineer
DoIan Republican.
The appearance of sample ballots in
the city clerks Office brings still an
other new fact to light touching the
candidates before the people. Pat
Dolan, the all-Fourth-ward candidate
for the council, is a republican. The
heated debates at the Junction may
now cease for the democratic label is
not tagged on to Dolan on the official
ballot and Dolan will ride to victory
on the republican ticket. The demo
cratic endorsement of Dolan though
loud and joyous never marched into
the city clerks office in the required
legal form.
Ballot According to Law.
The appearance of the sample bal
lots yesterday aroused some interest
ing political comment. City Clerk
Huff states that he followed the law
in the matter and that the ballot repre-
sents the sum total of the official com
munications that reached him on the
subject. Members of the republican
city central committee, when they
learned that Mr.. Bowdens name had
not been presented in regular form to
the city clerk, were anxious to take
any possible steps to correct the mat
ter. Judge Westervelt is as determin-
ed as ever to get off the ticket accord
ing to his published statement. And
the Fourth ward democrats, for the
honor Of their party, ought to want
to have their brand placed after the
good sounding name of Dolan.