Mr. Swisher faces two challengers in the Democratic primary, A. Dwight Pettit and Anton Keating. Mr. Pettit is a personable, energetic young black lawyer, a man who, we believe, has a political future in this city. Were he the only Swisher opponent, this newspaper well might support him. Many Baltimoreans, black and white, who were justifiably shocked at the way Mr. Swisher went about defeating Milton B. Allen in the 1974 Democratic primary, no doubt feel a Pettit victory next Tuesday would right a wrong done to the city's black citizens.
Yet, we believe, supporting a candidate just because he is black would be as wrong as supporting a candidate just because he is white. To do so would be to fall into the trap of racial polarization. In a city where racial harmony and bi-racial politics should be the goal of every citizen, no office should be the exclusive preserve of one race or the other.
The Sun recognizes that the city's blacks are under-represented in the upper reaches of local government and awaits the day when blacks and whites are can compete for major office solely on the basis of qualifications. Through the years, we have supported black candidates on many occasions, including Mr. Allen in 1970, when he won the state's attorney office, and in 1974. We urged Mayor Schaefer in 1975 to consider a black on his ticket for citywide office, a proposal he spurned to his later regret.
Yet the personal qualifications of candidates must predominate over considerations of race. Anton Keating clearly is a more experienced lawyer than Mr. Pettit. In nine years as a prosecutor and a defense counsel, he has built an excellent reputation as a trial lawyer. He is thoroughly familiar with the criminal justice system and sensitive to the inequities lingering there from this nation's decades of official racial duality. Mr. Keating's record suggests he would do all in his power-and the state's attorney has considerable power-to see that justice in Baltimore was racially blind. Nothing in the Keating record suggests that Baltimore's blacks have anything to fear from him. He would be a fair and impartial prosecutor and could also stand up to the considerable political pressures thrust upon a state's attorney.The Sun urges his nomination.
Reprinted from The Sun, September 5, 1978. A10.
