U.S. Rep. Phil English said he is heeding a warning from voters who say they are tired of negative campaigns.

English, who spoke at the Radisson Hotel of Sharon in Shenango Township Friday, discussed a plan that would ban negative and soft-money advertising.

The Republican incumbent said the plan would "raise the tone of the fall campaign." English is running against Democrat Dr. Marc Flitter, a neurosurgeon at Erie's Hamot Medical Center.

English's plan would ban the campaigns from using their opponent's name or references to their opponent in ads.

It also would have the campaigns reject efforts by political parties to run soft-money advertising. Soft money ads are funded by political parties and special interest groups which typically do not report the amount and source of their donations, English said.

"If he (Flitter) runs no negative ads, I will run no negative ads," English said.

English said the campaign "should be a contest of ideas." Voters should be able "to make an informed decision based strictly upon our competing visions of the future," he added.

Both campaigns have run negative ads this year, and English admitted that his past campaigns also had their share of negativity. But, English said, "I have never attacked first."

Democrats were shocked by English's proposal.

"Is he for real? This is the king of negative ads. I've never seen anyone who can roll around in the mud like him," said Kevin Colosimo, Flitter's campaign manager. He added that English is trying to hide his record.

"Phil English is the grandfather of negative campaigning. It has been an intricate, calculated part of his political ascendancy and the maintenance of his personal, political viability," said Ron DiNicola, an Erie lawyer who lost to English in 1996, on Friday.

The 1996 race was English's closest; he won by about 2,700 votes. That year, English's campaign linked DiNicola to the Ayatollah Khomeini, saying he once represented a businessman who sold arms to Khomeini. The campaign ad featured Khomeini, and an Iranian mob burning the American flag.

In 1994, English's campaign suggested Shenango Valley Democrat Bill Leavens used taxpayer money to make a late-night, X-rated movie order while staying at a Chicago hotel four years earlier. Though the hotel never released the name of the movie, a woman could be heard moaning sensually in the background of English's commercial.

"People remain enraged at Phil English for what he did to Bill Leavens and Ron DiNicola in past races. For him to ride out as a white knight now is unbelievable," Flitter said.

"He (English) has typically lived by the negative campaign," Flitter added, calling the plan a "political tactic."

Robert Holste, administrative assistant in English's Washington office, responded: "I had no idea he (Flitter) was upset about our prior campaigns. He donated."

Holste was referring to a $150 corporate check Flitter cut to attend a 1997 English fund-raiser featuring Sen. Arlen Specter.

Flitter said he would decide on the proposal soon. Flitter received the proposal prior to a 7 a.m. joint appearance in Erie Friday.

"This isn't brain surgery. It requires a simple yes or no," said Holste. "If he (Flitter) turns it down, let the record show he started it."