The mayor’s race has adopted a harsher tone in the last stretch of the candidates’ campaigns, with both candidates running ads directly questioning the other’s character and track record.

Mayoral candidate Paul Soglin began running radio ads Friday in response to opponent Dave Cieslewicz’s ads claiming that Soglin raised property taxes 69 percent while mayor from 1989 to 1997. Soglin said Cieslewicz’s numbers were misleading and that the property tax increases during his tenure were a natural result of construction and new developments that raised property values.

Cieslewicz discontinued his radio ad shortly after Soglin disputed the ad’s accuracy. Cieslewicz spokesman Thomas Dewar said Cieslewicz stands by the numbers because different conclusions can be drawn from the same data.

“It depends on what you measure and how you measure it,” Dewar said. According to the city comptroller, city taxes increased from $52.5 million to $89 million, but Soglin said the extensive demolition of older homes to make way for expensive developments and remodeling contributed to the rise in taxes.

Dewar said Cieslewicz’s ad was “comparative” rather than negative and that he would continue to run only positive ads in the future.

University of Wisconsin communication arts professor Stephen Lucas said he would not classify the recent ads as negative because they stemmed from budget issues and previous debate, rather than personal attacks. However, he also said Soglin’s comment in his ad — that perhaps Cieslewicz is more of a politician than his image portrays — deviates from a legitimate rebuttal to Cieslewicz’s assertion.

“Three-fourths of Soglin’s ad is not negative,” Lucas said. “But with that little twist at the end, it tends to make it nastier in tone.”

He said negative campaigning has been proven effective, however, despite apparent public contempt for it.

“People vote as much against a candidate as they vote for a candidate,” Lucas said.

Lucas said the controversial ads could affect the race’s outcome in Soglin’s favor.

“If it looks as if Cieslewicz has purposely distorted the facts, it could hurt him, but Cieslewicz said nobody meant to distort the numbers,” Lucas said.

Increasingly heated arguments between Cieslewicz and Soglin began after Cieslewicz released his budget proposal in early March. Soglin did not immediately reveal his own strategy, instead saying the budget was an issue he would resolve in meetings in office, but he then released his budget proposal a week later.

Cieslewicz’s plan includes a 5 percent pay cut for the mayor and his staff, a hiring freeze until 2003 and the elimination of out-of-state travel by city employees. Doyle’s current budget proposal would mean $3.5 million in cuts to the city of Madison, 27 percent of the city’s revenue.

Soglin’s plan would tap into the city’s contingency fund, a $29.6 million rainy-day fund that includes revenue from fines and permits, to remedy the state’s cuts in shared revenue to local government.

The debate over the plans drew uncharacteristically strong statements from Cieslewicz.

“I have a plan, but Paul’s plan is to wait and hold a bunch of meetings, ” Cieslewicz said. “Soglin wants to avoid tough choices.”

Painting Cieslewicz as an inexperienced politician, Soglin said his own experience and “seasoning” make him the best candidate available to handle budget issues.

Cieslewicz agreed that Soglin has experience — “experience in raising taxes.”