Law enforcement and crime topics, coupled with a feisty slugfest over the continuing federal probe into city hall contractor/bribery corruption, dominated last night’s 90-minute Atlanta mayoral debate aired on WSB-TV.
The eight candidates addressed crime topics with few specifics– and the metro Atlanta criminal gang crisis was only addressed by three candidates. All pledge to increase the police force to between 2,300-2,500 officers from the current 1,700 force level. And all seek to increase pay and provide better training. Frontrunner Mary Norwood artfully noted that she is endorsed by the police and fire fighters’ unions.
Candidate Vincent Fort declared that he marched with the Black Lives Matters militants and “understood” them, saying the police need to “better communicate” with them. Candidate Kathy Woolard also said she wanted better communication with demonstrators, but added she would not allow them to swarm the highways blocking traffic.
The highlight, though, was the bribery scandal issue, which has already resulted in guilty pleas from two contractors as well the felony conviction of the ex-chief procurement officer who admitted to taking bribes from an unnamed vendor while serving under Mayor Kasim Reed.
Norwood reminded the audience that candidate Peter Aman was the city’s chief operating officer in 2010-2011. That’s the time federal prosecutors pinpoint as the genesis of the latest city hall bribe-taking to garner lucrative contracts. “In 2011, I was not at city hall,” Norwood said. “Mr. Aman was.” Norwood scored another punch by quoting a lawsuit accusing Aman and Reed of violating the city code. Aman hotly denied any wrongdoing.
Fort and candidate Keisha Lance Bottoms, a City Councilwoman and mayoral candidate endorsed by Reed, also tangled. She reminded the audience that there was a federal tax lien against the one-time lawmaker and that his paycheck was garnished to pay it off. In response, Fort displayed copies of federal tax liens against Bottoms— which she didn’t deny. And it was also revealed that Bottoms hadn’t fully paid her water bill over a two-year period.
Candidate Kwanza Hall didn’t offer anything new and candidate Ceasar Mitchell seemed restrained, although he kept repeating that he wanted every police officer required to “walk a beat.”
