'Tis the season to cultivate votes.
Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke's re-election campaign may not have started officially, but he's blanketing Baltimore with tens of thousands of glossy, full-color holiday greeting cards.
City Councilman Nicholas C. D'Adamo Jr.'s household, for example, received three cards -- one addressed to him, another to his wife and a third to the D'Adamo family.
"My wife's a registered voter so I can see why she got one, but I'm not sure about that third card," said Mr. D'Adamo, a 1st District Democrat.
"We don't have any children, but we do have two dogs. Maybe they didn't want to leave them out."
Council President Mary Pat Clarke, who plans to challenge the mayor's re-election bid next year, isn't standing idle.
Her black-and-white holiday card, which featured her four adult children and her husband, Joe, also served as an invitation to her annual holiday reception, held Dec. 13 in City Hall. Thirty thousand cards were printed and mailed at Mrs. Clarke's expense, said Chris McKee, a spokeswoman for the council president. Ms. McKee would not reveal the cost of the cards.
On the cover of Mr. Schmoke's humorous greeting are color photographs of his daughter, Katherine, chatting on the phone while the mayor and his wife, Patricia, beam smiles. Inside the fold-out card, the Schmokes pose more traditionally and the message reads: "Now that Kathy is off the phone, the Schmoke family wishes you and your family Happy Holidays."
The mayor's office paid $6,399 for 30,000 cards printed and mailed at taxpayer expense, said Wendell Sutton, assistant to the mayor. That expenditure is a City Hall tradition that predates Mr. Schmoke's tenure.
But those weren't the only cards sent on behalf of Mr. Schmoke. His political consultant, Larry Gibson, said a separate batch of cards -- more than 30,000 -- was printed and mailed by the mayor's campaign committee at its expense.
Mr. Gibson wouldn't reveal the cost of the committee's cards, adding that it should show up on campaign disclosure statements. Each of those cards carried a disclaimer noting that it was not financed by taxpayers.
Sen. Julian L. "Jack" Lapides thought the Schmoke card was delightful. "The mayor has a reputation for being too uptight. This was whimsical."
Mrs. Clarke's less expensive card -- on thinner paper with a single family photo on the cover -- may be more satisfying to voters concerned about frugality. But she may need to worry how many people will remember it.
"I think I got her card," said Mr. Lapides. "Oh, yeah, I'm pretty sure I got one."