Jackson Jambalaya

Let's get ready to ruuuuuuuuumble.   Jackson4Jacksonians' Fabulous February Mayoral Face-off is set to begin.  It is live-streamed below.  Yours truly will live blog the debate so tune in below. 

Let the games begin. 

* The Star Spangled Banner was sung.  It is not known if Mayor Lumumba was present.   No prayer?

* The candidates gave a short presentation of their platform.  

- David L. Archie said he is the "well-connected qualified leader here in Jackson, Hinds County, and the State of Mississippi" to "get the job of done."  The people want a Mayor to "fix things."  "We have so many problems," he said.  His solution to crime is to "do interlocal agreement with state to bring its equipment at fairgrounds and use it to fight crime.  Put police officers in the hard core crime areas and keep them there to run off the criminals.  "These guys got machine guns. We need to fight back like we've never fought back before."  

- Rodney DePriest was unable to appear. 

- Delano Funches.  The attorney said he has practiced law for over thirty years.  We need to clean this city up and make it "attractive to industry."  He stressed he can work with anyone, including local, state, and federal officials.  

- Socrates Garrett.  He said he ran the plants at Savannah Street, O.B. Curtis, and Presidential Hills.  He knows Jackson's infrastructure backwards and forwards.  He once headed up the Chamber of Commerce.  "I know Jackson."  After serving eight years on the levee board, he wants to see the Pearl River developed with a casino and beachfront property.  He wants to develop the Highway 18 corridor since its the only growth path for Jackson.  

- Tim Henderson. He is a retired Air Force veteran.  Challenges in city require strong leadership.  He oversaw military bases that had infrastructure and law enforcement. thus giving him experience with such matters.  There is a need for an economic roundtable.  He mentioned housing as an important issue.  Jackson 2035 is his vision for the city. 

- James Hopkins.  Who? CEO and founder of Reset Jackson, a community-based organization that caters to seniors and youth.  He called the other candidates "paid and bought for" as well as "hand-picked." He said he refused to let these "outsiders, these phonies, these fakes" come in.  He said it's time to reset Jackson. 

- State Senator John Horhn.  "I bring 45 years of experience in public and private sector serving Jackson."  He has been able to get funding for many projects for Jackson such as the 1% sales tax, convention center, and the Civil Rights Museum.  "We have to re-establish trust in Jackson."  No one, people, state, and federal government, do not trust the city of Jackson.  "When you go to turn on that water, you should know clean water is coming out of that tap."  Horhn is the first candidate to actually mention Jackson's water problems.  

- Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba. Hizzoner recognized his family as well as his staff by name.  "People will come here and tell you that you have potholes and tell you that you have crime and that you have economic development."  He said "Jackson has lot of group."  He said they were "admiring your problems."  He demanded the other candidates state how they planned to solve the problems.  City has paved more miles of road than any administration in last 30 years.  He referred to "water insecurity" that has endured for "decades."  The Mayor said he fought for Jackson's water insecurity in Washington.  Jackson is the first city to get $800 million in federal funding for a safe water system."  

- Zach Servis.  Servis opened with a prayer.  Said Jackson should be  place where every dream has a home.  Advocated abolishing no-chase policies and sweetheart deals for contractors. There will be a forensic audit of the entire city of Jackson.  Servis is the only candidate who said he will get such an audit.  Business licensing fees will be abolished while permitting process will be reformed. Sounded like a man with a plan. 

- KIM Waaaaaaade. The Radio Strongman said he is not here to "ask for your vote" but instead said listen to candidates.  Jackson is too important to be a beauty pageant.  Told Mayor Lumumba his WLBT interview was a workbook of what to do.  We've been doing dumb stuff for too long.  "We've been paying too much money in taxes for getting what we" are getting.  "We are going to generate some revenue."  He will declare a state of emergency for the first two years.  Have a cleanup day one Saturday every month. 

- Marcus Wallace. It will be "One Jackson", not a black or white Jackson.  What is missing from Jackson is "passion and workhorse."  He said there are too many showhorses.  As Mayor of Edwards, he balanced the budget every year.  Edwards had one homicide during his reign.  He said he was the General Contractor of the Siemen's contract.  

- Albert Wilson.  He cited his work in the community for 30 years working to make Jackson better.  He established Genesis Life Center.  His group bought nine blighted properties to convert to community centers for young people and seniors.  We are losing institutions such as the water system due to "bad leadership."  

12:00 PM: Lunch break. Faceoff begins at 12:30.  Hopefully this will happen.  

There were few attacks on other candidates, even the Mayor.  No mention of his indictment.  No one mentioned the highest murder rate for several years and the water crisis was barely mentioned.   A far contrast to the 2013 race where candidate after candidate criticized the Johnson administration while listing Jackson's problems.  Mayor Johnson didn't take it too well that night, calling them whiners.  Let's see what happens in the face-off.

Round 1 

Each candidate can ask a question and follow-up of another candidate.  

Questioner/Questionee

Tim Henderson/David L. Archie: What is your experience in running for Mayor and why is it important? Archie: Thanked him.  He is a JSU grad and worked for DHS as a fraud investigator, JPS, and HCSO.  He also served as Hinds County District 2 Supervisor.  He balanced a $400 million budget every year as a Supervisor.  He's paved roads,fixed bridges, and gone to Washington to lobby for more funding.  He said he was able to obtain state funding for the new Fondren parking garage since the state would not give the funds to the city.  He said there was "no kickbacks" on the $22 million project.  

Kim Wade/Senator Horhn: What ideas do you have for Jackson that don't require money? Horhn said Jackson is suffering from a crisis of spirit.  Pointed out kids are raising kids.  Need to get church more involved in turning community around and believing in self. 

Socrates Garrett/Marcus Wallace:  What experience do you have dealing with youth violence in the streets of Jackson.  Wallace said his son was in 7th grade.  He started an AAU basketball team to keep the kids out of trouble.  He was able to get 17 of those kids college scholarships.  Have to replace the guns with truth and knowledge.  Many don't have fathers, need male role models.  Said he would get companies such as Hemphill - yes, he actually said Hemphill - to place equipment at jail so they could learn. 

John Horhn/Marcus Wallace: What is population of Edwards and how does it translate to governing Jackson.  The population is under 1,000 but the comparison is not fair.  Edwards and Jackson fall under the same rules and regs.  Edwards is a prerequisite for learning how to run Jackson.  

 Marcus Wallace/Mayor Lumumba: Would you agree the Health Department comes in and inspects the water system.  Would you agree that's true.  Mayor: Uh, I would agree that the Health Department plays a role in the inspection of the water system but there are different water systems across Mississippi.  Jackson is one of the few that has a surface water system.  Wallace: The Health Deapartmnt and whoever else you talking about, did inspection reports on the water system and said they were out of compliance.  There is a document that says the city did not adhere to the compliance issues that caused the plant to run hot.  Said all levels of government were at fault for not working together.  However, Mayor was at fault since the city was not in compliance.  

The Mayor said "we know" we are out of compliance but did not have the funds to fix the problems.  Said it was not a matter of if but when the systems would fail.  Cited the $800 million for fixing the water system.  Said the city was losing 50% of its water.  Of course, that doesn't mention the turned off valves and a leak losing 5 million gallons of water per day.  The Mayor then said there was a problem getting Class A operators and said it took years to train one.  

Tim Henderson/State Senator John Horhn  asked Horhn where the BP money was for Gulfside Assembly of God.  Horhn asked him to help them make a plea to BP.  mediator was former AG Mike Moore.  Moore offered $240,000.  Horhn lobbied him to increase the funding.   Moore increased it to $2.14 million.  He said he didn't know where the money went after it got to the church.  

He said he met State Senator Horhn at Dixon's restaurant to discuss the "missing money."  Horhn said they did not meet.  

Zach Servis/Mayor Lumumba For the last two years, the allocation for state tort fund is $7 million.  The payment for claims by Jackson has more than doubled.  Most of losses are due to negligence, wrongful terminations, and civil rights lawsuits.  What are you going to do to change the allocation for money spent on lawsuits.   The Mayor said what you don't hear is Jackson wins or settles the lawsuits.  The city has suffered no major losses on lawsuits.  The Mayor then launched a discussion on development in Jackson.  Totally off the question.  Mentioned the revolving loan fund at JRA.  Servis should be cutting him off or challenging him for not sticking to question but looks in over his head going against the Mayor.  

Followup: He said the Mayor claimed the city didn't have resources, how come the city didn't spend $700,000 on pothole repair allocated by City Council and also asked about the $30 million paid to lawyers in Siemen's settlement.  The Mayor said the lawyers worked on contingency and put $1 million into the case.  He claimed people said the city was dumb for suing Siemen's but complained about the lawyers only when the city won.  He said the city was fortunate to only pay 33% instead of 40%.  

The Mayor said the city didn't have the workforce to fund the paving that was the subject of the $700,000.

If attacking the Mayor, know the facts backwards and forwards because he knows them more than well enough to manipulate them - as a lawyer should .

Albert Wilson/Mayor Lumumba  What were you thinking when suing each other over the garbage contract.  Hizzoner seemed glad to be asked the question.  He said he was trying to save the city money for garbage collection, stating the bid he chose was $13 million, which was important as he knew water bills would increase.  The Mayor has dominated the conversation for the last 15 minutes.  Each question seems to be a setup to allow him to launch into another sermon.  It was never his intent the garbage crisis would be prolonged.  He said the workforce was being exploited by Waste Management.  

Mayor Lumumba/Marcus Wallace  You have said you balanced the budget in Edwards.  Are you aware that it is a state requirement that every city has to end the year with a balanced budget?  Are you aware the city each year has had a balanced budget.    Wallace said the law does require balanced budgets but he didn't know about Jackson's budget because he had not "researched it."  Um, dear candidates: READ THE DAMN AUDITS!!!  Wallace said there was alot of unnecessary spending and ghost job positions in city of Jackson.  There have been times when he had to wait 3-4 months, one time 6 months, to get paid.  He said the reason why there are payment delays is because they have run off alot of people and those who remain don't know how to read a spreadsheet.  If elected, he will try to get contractors paid within two week.  

Mayor Lumumba said Wallace was a subcontractor, not a contractor.  He said he would not discuss why Wallace was a subcontractor.  Probably because he did not possess the proper licenses or couldn't get bonded.  The Mayor is turning his questions into long-winded statements about his administration as expected. 

David L. Archie/John Horhn "You gave some great long answers." to Mayor. to Horhn: If you are going to brag on relationships, we do you keep telling people we have good relationships when we have so many things that need fixing.  Horhn said no one trusts the city of Jackson, including the people.  He had been trying to get a permit pulled for five months to installed a generac generator in his father's house.  The county, federal government, and state don't trust the city.  The federal government asked a federal judge to oversee the $800 million spending was because it didn't trust the Mayor.  People laughed.  

Follow up: Folks that have relationships are not in such dire needs in their communities.   He cited Flowood and Madison as cities with great relationships.  Why hasn't the Governor visited neighborhood schools or community meetings in Jackson is the State Senator has such great relationships.  Horhn: As I recall it was the Mayor's relationship with the Governor that kept JPS from being taken over.  He said he has not been asked by the Jackson government to get much for Jackson.  He pointed out he got $20 million for the JSU parkway, and millions for the convention center and telecommunications center.  He got the 1% sales tax legislation passed.  Why is Archie attacking Horhn so much?  

James Hopkins/John Horhn  Two part question.  The state is considered a bank.  You are considered a banker.  Our schools, water system, and city are underfunded.  You want to stop being a banker and become a borrower.  What have you done for the poor communities?   Horhn: The bank metaphor does not hold true.  We are partners.  it is not my fault the city has a fractured relationship with the state.  

Followup: Again, the question was as a banker, how can you guarantee more money as a borrower? How are you going to return favors to donors and take care of the people as Mayor? 

A short break is taken.  The second round of Face-off is changed to allowing audience to ask questions.  The moderator urged the audience to ask questions of candidates who have not been asked questions. Observation: Only Marcus Wallace and Zach Servis asked critical questions of the Mayor.  The other questions asked of him seemed to set up Hizzoner for some shameless self-promotion.  The tougher questions seem to be directed at State Senator Horhn.  Interesting.  

 Daniel Walker, Ward 6, Water Treatment Engineer: Tim Henderson.  An RFP went out for the water plant.  3.1% was the minority business target in a city that is 85% black. What will you do to ensure minorities get higher targets to build the city of Jackson.  Henderson: We have a challenge making sure folks are licensed and bonded in the community.  Reason why a handful of black contractors are getting the work is because not enough are licenses and bonded.   "You've got to be qualified to do the work" so you can sit at the table.  We need to work with Hinds and nonprofits that offer training to get people licensed and bonding. 

Unidentified woman: Why has South Jackson been ignored in the debate?  Accused them of not saying anything about the lack of water, schools closing, lack of grocery stores, and lack of landscaping as well as crime. Servis answered: South Jackson is his top priority.  Said he wanted to torpedo the One Lake project because it only applies to North and Downtown Jackson even though South Jackson floods downstream.  He said South Jackson first, West Jackson next.  Servis said JXN Water's priority is not South Jackson.  

Feed interrupted. 

Feed resumed. 

 The same woman told Kim Wade he was disrespecting her.  He said do you want the problems fixed or just be right?  He said we have to decided what is important as she repeatedly tried to interrupt him.  Socrates said "I need to move away from Kim for a moment" to laughter.  Socrates said he will prioritize South Jackson since it is the only path of growth.  "The number one priority of the Mayor is to grow rooftops in the city" so there is revenue to accomplish goals.  

A knucklehead raised hell about JPS closing 15 schools.  Knucklehead because JPS has lost around 15,000 students over the last decade or so.  Fewer students mean fewer schools.   This is not hard to understand but no candidates mentioned that little fact.