Leading up to Election Day, I moderated a contentious debate among the four candidates running for mayor of Little Rock. It was the first debate-style event the candidates had participated in and I questioned them about some controversial issues they had not previously discussed during a public event. It prompted some heated moments.
The debate was organized by the Central Arkansas Library System, KUAR and the League of Women Voters of Pulaski County. A crowd of a couple hundred people were in the Ron Robinson Theater on Monday, Oct. 10 to watch it in-person, while the debate was also streamed on CALS’ YouTube channel and aired live on KUAR.
The debate generated significant media attention, with my name and KUAR mentioned in stories by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, the Arkansas Advocate and the Arkansas Times. In particular, the Arkansas Times said:
Though well-organized and fair, the Monday evening Little Rock mayoral forum got heated — particularly between incumbent Frank Scott Jr. and candidate Steve Landers when it came to crime, LITFest and the city’s parks.
KUAR 89.1-FM journalist Michael Hibblen moderated the forum at Ron Robinson theater, and it was the first that could be called a debate. The candidates — Scott, Landers, Greg Henderson and Glen Schwarz — were given two minutes to answer the same question, and if someone was called out, they were given a one-minute rebuttal period.
Later in the story, regarding LITFest:
The forum was also the first time Scott publicly answered questions about LITFest, the city-sponsored festival that was supposed to “unite” Little Rock, but was canceled days before its start.
Scott’s main claim about the festival was that the event brought “key learnings,” and there were some “mistakes made,” he said. “But when the time [came to make] a decision, as a leader, I made sure those decisions were correct. So, yes, it had to be canceled.”
Hibblen phrased the question to include several details of the LITFest saga, including the hiring of the mayor’s former chief of staff to Think Rubix — the company that was chosen to organize the festival, the move to skip the Board of Directors’ approval and the contract concerns that arose. Scott did not include explanations to any of these details in his response. He did not include LITFest in his response concerning city transparency. He did say that if he is reelected, he would fight again to bring the festival to Little Rock.
Landers again took a stab at Scott’s work and said that “LITFest was a bad idea from the start.” He said that it would hurt the State Fair, which was scheduled for the week following the festival’s Oct 7-9 dates, and it was something of a “political rally” for Scott. Landers also called the contract a “sham.”
Director of Public Affairs at Arkansas PBS, 35-year broadcasting veteran, photographer, interested in radio, TV and railroad history, author and host of the book and podcast series Rock Island Railroad in Arkansas.
