Questioning candidates John Brummett

They had another forum for the mayoral candidates Monday night, this one standingroom-only on Little Rock’s paramount issue — crime — at the Fletcher Library in midtown.

I would never dare to criticize any of the earnest and upstanding organizations sponsoring these weekly forums. But the format? I’ll pan it gladly. It fails.

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The five candidates got a minute each to respond either to a written query from a sponsoring organization or a written question from the audience. There was no continuity or elaboration. As soon as all candidates finished with their talking-point minute — and, really, in a minute that’s all you can do — the moderator was asking another question to start the platitude parade all over again.

All the questions were general, meaning nothing was asked to challenge specifically any candidate.

Further hampering the process is that three of the candidates are to be taken seriously and two … not so much.

The only interest-piquing matter that arose was whether the candidates believed the city police should cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement on immigration law enforcement. The three serious candidates—Baker Kurrus, Warwick Sabin and Frank Scott, listed alphabetically by last name—said the Little Rock police department had more than enough locally generated crime to occupy itself and should leave immigration matters to federal immigration officials.

Here’s my formulation of the choice: Sabin does his homework and is a smart, thorough young man. Kurrus is more engaging and rivals him with particular command of the city budget. Scott is the guy explaining that the things Sabin and Kurrus are talking about could be brought to bear only if he first unified the city.

I had been so frustrated with Monday night’s limitation that I presumed on Tuesday to ask each of the serious candidates a question crafted for them and drawn from readers. I’ll give over the balance of the column to those questions and the candidates’ prompt answers.

For Baker Kurrus: While his pragmatic position is that the Interstate 30 widening project through downtown is long settled, the fact is that the state’s acquiescence to proliferation of charter schools in Little Rock was settled policy as well. Yet he railed against the latter. Why pragmatic acceptance on the interstate but passion against charter schools?

Kurrus replied that, OK, he could see “a bit of a common thread there,” but that there’s a big difference: He was the state-appointed school superintendent at the time doing his job resisting charters. But now he is a mayoral candidate coming along well after the main fight has been had on the interstate. But the freeway issue is not over, he said. “There’s a lot left to be decided and the next mayor will be very involved in every step of implementation to protect the city’s interests,” he said. “That’s the mayor’s job, dealing with the problems before him.” But he said not to put him down as a big fan of freeways. “I wish everybody worked in the place they live,” he said.

For Warwick Sabin: As a freshman state legislator, he led the fight for a constitutional amendment on ethics reform, but, along the way, allowed former state Sen. Jon Woods, now federally convicted of corruption, to tag on to his proposal with sections extending term limits and establishing a commission to raise legislators’ pay. Does that suggest naiveté that ought to concern Little Rock voters?

Sabin began by making sure I wasn’t implying he was corrupt because a senator who would later go to jail had tagged on to his proposed amendment. I emphasized that I most certainly wasn’t; that the issue was naiveté. He said it was hardly naïve, but “a tremendous accomplishment,” to pass, as freshman minority-party state representative, a ban on lobbyist gifts to legislators and corporate contributions. That lobbyists and legislators found a way around part of the restriction, and that he let Woods add a couple of planks, does not change the fact that he got “90 percent of what I was trying to get.”

For Frank Scott: He’s never run anything like the large institutions Kurrus has run or the smaller organizations Sabin has headed. Does that suggest a lack of relevant managerial experience, and is it why he tends to speak in broad terms rather than specifics?

Scott said he’d managed people, resources and strategies as a Target distribution manager, and at his church where he is a pastor, and as a top aide to former Gov. Mike Beebe, and highway commissioner. He said the greater need is experience in the intersection of business and politics, and “that’s where my strength lies.” Anyway, he said, “experience is important, but outcomes are more important, and I’m all about outcomes.” He said City Hall had a ton of experience inside it. Outcomes? Not so much. If you want that kind of experience, then he isn’t your man, Scott said.