The Friends of Durham, one of the city's three main political action groups, has endorsed incumbents Cora Cole-McFadden (Ward 1) and Howard Clement (Ward 2) in the Oct. 6 muncipal primary.
The group did not make endorsements for mayor or in Ward 3, where only two candidate are running.
"It gets down to experience," said David Smith, chairman of the Friends. "We're in tough times right now. We thought experience was important."
Three candidates are running in Ward 1: McFadden, Donald Hughes and John Tarantino. Smith said the Friends 50-member steering committee was impressed by Hughes, but felt he was too young and needed experience serving on city boards.
Five candidates are running in Ward 2: Clement, Mike Drew, Sylvester Williams, Sandra Howell and Darius Little.
Little has called Clement too old, and Smith said the veteran council member is "showing his age a little bit." But "the other four didn't impress us much," he said. Clement also serves on the Crime Cabinet, he noted. The Friends stand for better schools, lower crime, lower taxes and better race relations, he said.
