Jackson Free Press

A standing-room only crowd of Jacksonians came early and went home happy at Tuesday night's much-anticipated mayoral debate at Mississippi College School of Law's Student Assembly Center.

The debate took place exactly one week before voters go to the polls to pick a Democratic nominee, and thus, a mayor of Jackson for the next four years. The debate featured a back-and-forth between incumbent Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr., and leading front-runners Jonathan Lee, Frank Bluntson, Regina Quinn and Chokwe Lumumba.

Many candidates got their jabs in, but no candidate delivered the knock-out blow it may take to defeat Johnson, who has served as mayor for 12 years.

That doesn't mean they didn't try.

On the issue of crime, Lee was the only candidate who pledged to fire Jackson Police Department Chief Rebecca Coleman, but all the candidates pointed to low morale in the police department as a problem. Johnson returned the blow by intimating that Lee might have made a deal for a police union endorsement.

Quinn took her shot at Coleman, inferring that because Coleman does not live within the city limits (she lives in Clinton), she can't know what is going on with crime in the city.

Johnson cited falling crime statistics and said if the numbers are falling, then morale must be high.

Lee went it alone on the 1-percent sales-tax proposal as well. Three of the other candidates—all but Quinn—said the current proposal was unacceptable, because it gives oversight of funds from a city-wide 1-percent sales tax hike to a commission partly made up of outside interests. Lee and Quinn want the sales tax to go to a vote with the current commission in place, which the other candidates say both gives up local control and endangers the vote's chance of succeeding.

One of the best exchanges of the night came when Lee, who has been in the news in the past week because of default judgments against his family business, Mississippi Products, went after Johnson for allegedly leaving federal money on the table. Lee cited a supposed complaint from Rep. Bennie Thompson that Johnson left $35 million in federal dollars on the table.

"Look behind those numbers and look behind that talk," Johnson said. "Because this young man is very, very deceptive. He can make the numbers sound good, but are they good? Would I turn down $35 million? Please."

Lee shot back.

"I don't believe I'm being deceptive at all," Lee said. "It's not necessarily what the mayor has done that the people of Jackson have a problem with, it's what he hasn't done. Of course, we are pulling down money, and there are ongoing projects. I'm proud of those, with all due respect. I am, but we can do better."

The exchange continued from there, with Lee and Johnson speaking back-to-back to end the night as the tension grew.

After listening to Johnson talk about experience all night, Lee listed the city's woeful education and infrastructure problems, and asked the audience to “…look at what experience has gotten us."

But Johnson got the final word: “Some of us, experience has gotten us judgments against our company,” he said. “Some of us have run businesses into the ground.”

The debate will re-air Saturday at 12:30 p.m. on WAPT.