They were surrounded by the ladies in the pink jackets, members of the Gamma Rho Omega chapter of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.
For Reggie Gaffney, George Spencer, Katrina Brown and Pat Lockett-Felder, it was picture time. The candidates squaring off in races for City Council Districts 7 and 8 were all smiles.
Yet, for two hours before the photo op, the candidates had stuck to talking points and traded an occasional jab before a standing-room-only crowd of about 120 people at the Bradham-Brooks Library in Northwest Jacksonville. Gaffney and Spencer are vying for District 7, while Brown and Lockett-Felder are running in District 8.
Woven between responses about the Human Rights Ordinance, Downtown development, the port and more was talk of experience, the prevalent theme of the evening. It meant different things to each.
For Gaffney, it was about his time helping the less fortunate as head of his Community Rehabilitation Center nonprofit and his leadership on the Jacksonville Port Authority board.
Spencer talked about his integrity and background as an attorney and a certified public accountant, making him better suited to financially help the area.
Lockett-Felder, a two-term council member from 1999-2007, frequently claimed “experience matters” as she touted her past of reviewing a city budget and passing bills.
Brown talked about her experience as a small business owner, but directly objected to her opponent’s track record. Fresh ideas and new blood are what’s needed in the district that’s been represented by a select few for decades, she said.
It was a forum largely void of any biting contention, until the last possible opportunity. In her closing statements, Lockett-Felder hit back at an issue of Brown’s revealed earlier in the day.
“Hey, pay your tax,” Lockett-Felder said about Brown. “I pay my tax.”
The Florida Times-Union published a story about a business Brown’s family owns owing close to $22,000 in taxes. Lockett-Felder’s blow caused the crowd to respond with hushed shock and Brown to raise her hand asking to respond. But when Lockett-Felder was done, the debate was, too.
Brown afterward said the issue “was getting taken care of” and she changed her mind about responding and “wanted to take the high road” on the issue.
A few glimpses of the issues throughout the night:
• Expanding the Human Rights Ordinance. Gaffney said he supported whatever the state passed down, then when pressed further said he needed more information. Spencer is “all for equality” and wanted the issue expanded to include ex-felons. Brown was in support, while Lockett-Felder said she didn’t support any new law going on the books and that government couldn’t legislate morality.
• Each indicated support for a bill that would place body cameras on police officers, but none had a specific idea on how to fund them.
• Opinions differed on whether to increase the sales tax to support pension liability. Gaffney said he was in favor; Spencer said he needed more information, so his answer was no for now; Brown wanted to put it on the ballot for voters; and Lockett-Felder said she wouldn’t vote for it without seeing it first because “something could be attached to it.”
• Each supported deepening the St. Johns River for economic reasons, but mostly said they weren’t experts on the environmental aspects and would seek help on that issue elsewhere in City Hall.
The forum was one of four across the city highlighting council races with candidates in a runoff for in the May 19 general election.
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