A.G. Gancarski
Another day, another forum in Jacksonville. Thursday night brings Mayoral candidates Lenny Curry and Alvin Brown to the Beaches, as well as Sheriff hopefuls Mike Williams and Ken Jefferson. The forum, which starts at 7 p.m. at Fletcher High School, will include a debate between the Sheriff’s candidates, and separate speaking slots for the two Mayoral candidates, a condition which causes the Curry Camp considerable consternation.
The Curry campaign wanted a debate at this forum, but it will not be happening. According to Brown spokesman Yianni Varonis, the problem is one of scheduling. “Mayor Brown had a prior obligation both before and after the forum. His speaking time is when he was available that evening.”
With expectations of a pro-Curry crowd, it is an open question as to how well that unavailability to debate directly will be received. As we’ve reported, a sticking point in this campaign has been that Curry has wanted a lot more debates than Mayor Brown. In addition to seeking three television debates, Curry also wanted a debate in every Council district. That’s obviously not happening. As we reported:
Curry proposed adding “a series of town hall meetings, one for each Jacksonville City Council district, from next week until the end of the campaign.”
“For 60 to 90 minutes, three times per week, you and I would be available not simply on television, but in a community-based venue open to the public. Being in each region would allow us to have discussions not only about the vision for the entire city, but localized consideration of special challenges facing unique areas of Jacksonville,” Curry said.
Curry’s proposal for an unprecedented 17 debates before the runoff is not likely to happen, if the Brown campaign’s response to “Party Boss Lenny Curry” is any indication. In the words of Brown Campaign Manager Isaiah Nelson, the letter is just “another partisan campaign stunt from a political party boss who knows all the tricks in the book. This is a partisan attempt to distract the voters from the real issues at hand — how to keep Jacksonville moving forward with new jobs, safe neighborhoods and a growing economy that works for every citizen in our community. Boss Curry doesn’t want to talk about these issues, but would prefer partisan sideshows, because he knows Mayor Brown’s record is strong.”
Meanwhile, the Sheriff’s candidates are debating with remarkable frequency. Having covered many of their joint appearances, what has stood out is that repeated engagement has helped the candidates to sharpen their critiques of each other and to delineate meaningful differences between each other. Conversely, the Mayoral race is largely debated through emails and phone calls from operatives, along with mailers and media buys, even as the total fundraising has exceeded $5M for the two runoff candidates in this cycle.
