CARBONDALE - Read Carbondale mayoral candidate Sheila Simon's Web site, and you'll find a list of Democratic powerhouses with kind words about her.

From presidential primary candidate Barack Obama and U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin to such state officials as Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Chicago state Rep. Eddie Washington - Simon has found an unprecedented amount of party support for a part-time mayor's post in a mid-size Southern Illinois college town.

Simon said she didn't exactly plan it; it just happened that way.

"The first people I sought help from were family and close friends, but I'm proud to have a close enough connection with these statewide officials that they want to support me," Simon said.

Her opponent, incumbent mayor and known Republican Brad Cole, isn't convinced the big-name endorsements are a natural phenomenon.

"When you're a small-town mayor and you have the number two United States senator coming at you, it tells me there is either more at play here or some people are nervous," Cole said. "And they are not talking about a record; they are talking about politics, partisan politics."

Cole was referring to Durbin, who just this week sent out e-mails asking for contributions to Simon's campaign and warning that her "opponent" would soon begin a negative television ad campaign with the aid of a "professional Republican political operative."

Cole said the assertion was a ridiculous scare tactic aimed at raising more money for Simon. He said he has no professional Republicans on his payroll and said there will be no negative television ads.

However, the Citizens for Cole campaign group has begun a series of radio spots, which indicate Simon is supported by "cronies" of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

The incumbent mayor said he doesn't think the rhetoric is too negative, given he is trying to focus his message largely on what he's done for the past four years as the Carbondale mayor.

"I am focused on my record and moving Carbondale forward. I'm not worried about some Washington politician; I'm worried about the person on Main Street and that's been very clear all along," Cole said.

Simon said her endorsements from the Democratic Party aren't meant to stir up partisanship in the mayor's race.

"I think most of the decisions made locally really are not partisan, and I think the mayor and me, both individually, do not approach this thing in a partisan way," Simon said. "Who knows what the party folks see beyond Carbondale politics? What I see is a lot of folks from across the state willing to help me, and I have their support."

Cindi Canary, executive director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform - an organization Simon's father, the late Sen. Paul Simon, helped establish - said it's hard to escape partisan politics in any contested government race these days.

Canary wasn't comfortable commenting specifically on the Carbondale mayor's race, due to the fact Sheila Simon was a board member of the group until she began her campaign, but said in general politics seem to matter to people, no matter what elected body a person is running for.

"We talk in partisan terms almost 100 percent of the time," she said. "Municipal elections, even in quite small communities, are getting more political, more expensive and more hard-fought."

Even though the vast majority of any municipal official's duties come down to simple management tactics, Canary said people will execute the task with a healthy amount of political opinion.

"It's interesting if you look up in Chicago, we've got a city council that is taking positions on the Iraq War and all kinds of things they don't have any power to influence," she said.

caleb.hale@thesouthern.com

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