Mayor Alvin Brown and Lenny Curry stood at their podiums, took a breath, relaxed their shoulders.
They scribbled some notes, maybe sipped a bottle of water.
While the cameras were off Wednesday in the debate many didn’t expect, the two were quiet.
They didn’t smile. They didn’t talk to each other, not even chat of families or the weather that normally fills awkward moments of silence.
Back from commercial breaks, it was back to the show.
Brown talking about 36,000 jobs, a thriving Downtown, and crime prevention and intervention.
Curry about making the city safer by bringing back 147 police officers, making it more attractive to business and investing in all neighborhoods.
Much of what was said during the first mayoral debate before the May 19 general election has been repeated over the past several months.
For much of the campaign, Brown has said he’s been positive and Curry negative.
On Wednesday, that changed when Brown went on the offensive during his opening statements, saying he found it “disturbing” Curry wouldn’t recognize Jacksonville’s growth and greatness in the past several years.
“If you don’t believe that, then you’re not qualified to be our mayor,” he said.
Curry didn’t back down, though. He called Brown a nice guy. A well-intentioned person. But one who “just failed to lead the city of Jacksonville.”
From there, the two disagreed on issues of crime, the budget and more.
The forum led off with three straight crime questions, with Brown saying his job was prevention and intervention.
He’d started “Jacksonville Journey-like” programs to help. Brown said the sheriff’s job is enforcement and he encouraged Sheriff John Rutherford to hire more officers, which he neglected to do.
“He hasn’t done his job,” Brown said.
Curry came to the defense of Rutherford, one of his campaign supporters, saying Brown’s budgets caused the layoffs and cuts in Jacksonville Journey programs. As he’s campaigned extensively on, Curry said his No. 1 priority would be to rehire those officers, get them back on the street and let them forge relationships that would help lower crime.
Instead, Curry said Brown was passing blame when something didn’t work.
When asked where he’d find the money for those officers, Curry said that as an accountant reviewing a $1 billion city budget, “I can find it.” Curry has previously said it would take about $14.7 million to fund those positions.
While Curry has attacked Brown’s track record, the mayor doubled down on his past four years. Throughout the evening, he talked about his experience leading and results, while Curry was “only talking about what he’s going to do.”
“I am telling you what I’m going to do because it’s not being done right now,” Curry responded.
As was the case during First Election debates, a question was asked about expanding the Human Rights Ordinance. Since then, there have been some changes.
Curry said he remained unconvinced there was a need to change Jacksonville’s law, that “I don’t believe we are a discriminatory people.” But, he will lead the conversation.
Brown talked about his order for the Office of General Counsel to review local, state and federal laws on discrimination, with the results to come back to City Council.
He said he thought it “pretty naive” Curry didn’t think discrimination existed, which was a difference between the two. Brown said he’s “always been against any form of discrimination,” but was noncommittal to protections for the LBGT community.
A measure to pass such protections failed at City Council in 2012, with Brown not publicly taking a stance on the issue.
While the two went back-and-forth for TV viewers for almost an hour and were silent with the cameras off, they did interact once. When the show closed, they shook each other’s hands and walked in different directions.
They’ll meet again Monday and Tuesday for the remaining two debates.
@writerchapman
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