This week, three sitting commissioners and a former one tossed gas on the flames.

In a letter distributed to area media outlets, commissioners Charles Jeter, Sarah McAulay and Ron Julian – joined on the signature line by former Commissioner Ken Lucas, who resigned from the board when he moved to Texas in July – express support for incumbent Jill Swain in the head-to-head battle for mayor with first-term Commissioner Danae Caulfield.

Swain, who is completing her second two-year term as mayor, says she’s happy for the support.

“This is probably one of the greatest, if not the greatest, compliments I’ve ever received in office,” Swain wrote in an e-mail response to The Citizen. “To have four unique personalities appreciate my efforts has me without words.”

Caulfield, however, claims that one of the three commissioners who back Swain had originally pledged to support Caulfield, and another had promised to stay neutral. They changed their positions, Caulfield says, after she suggested in an Oct. 13 debate that commissioners should face term limits.

“Politics can be a crazy business,” she says in a written response to the endorsement letter, “but I know that you are smart enough to see beneath the facade.”

Caulfield, meanwhile, has picked up high-profile endorsements from Mecklenburg County Commissioner Karen Bentley, whose district includes all of Huntersville, and outgoing Cornelius Commissioner Jim Bensman.