Atlanta Weather

| Traffic

Search
Political Insider

Candidate-on-candidate jabs in the ATL mayoral debate

7:43 pm November 1, 2009, by jgalloway

In candidate-on-candidate questioning, Atlanta attorney Jesse Spikes had one of the sharpest jabs at Mary Norwood of the entire evening.

“You’ve been on the council now for eight years. And never once in all those eight years has anyone asked you to lead a single council committee,” he noted. “Isn’t that a damning indictment of your leadership abilities by those people who work with you?”

Said Norwood:

“I realized that the committee system at council – the chairman has no power. The chairman has no ability to withhold legislation from reaching the floor. I am so interested in the multiplicity of issues across the state, that I spent my eight years working for specific results in communities.”

Norwood and Reed also exchanged pleasantries. Reed asked Norwood about her expenditures — some of which, he said, were reimbursements for money that went to her robo-call company.

Reed accused her of violating city procurement rules. Norwood responded by waving the report from the city ethics commission that said “all of my expenditures were absolutely correct, all of my expenditures were absolutely above board.”

“As far as my telephone company, my company had been a vendor for the city since the mid-90s. When I got to City Hall, the mayor used my company,” Norwood said.

In return, Norwood asked Reed, “Do you think cronyism is a major problem at City Hall?”

Not as much as it has been since Shirley Franklin’s been in office, Reed replied. Reed tried to turn the question back on Norwood. In 2002, Franklin proposed and City Council passed an ethics package that cut out some of the funny business, Reed said.

Norwood voted for that, he declared. But then, in 2006, Norwood voted to weaken the same package. “In fact, you voted to weaken the provisions regarding tickets to council members,” he said.

Editor’s note: Given the impending Atlanta mayoral election, instant commenting has been closed on the Political Insider blog. Readers are invited to submit comments on all posts, which will be published as soon as possible after review.

For instant updates, follow me on Twitter.

  • Print

10 comments Add your comment

Donny Fairlplay

November 1st, 2009
8:07 pm

That question was clearly dodged by Reed who has had pretty clear issues with transparency and ethics.

http://www.notkasim.blogspot.com

my poll

November 1st, 2009
10:03 pm

I have been asking Atlantans who were they voting for Mayor. 1. One already voted and left the top of the ballot blank. “I couldn’t bring myself to vote for anyone of them.” 2. Please tell me who to vote for. I don’t know too much about any of the candidates. 3. I haven’t decided (this from another candidate). My family hasn’t decided. The choice is difficult. If you don’t want more of the same vote for Jesse Spikes. Why give the career politicians another chance to put us further in the hole. No one can believe that Mary Norwood sitting on City Council for eight years ain’t part of the problem. Jesse possesses the leadership attributes that we need to lead the city out of the mess that it is in at this time. He is the only candidate that has met with CFO to learn about the city’s finances. Reed is too arrogant. Borders has ran a piss poor campaign and Norwood probably needs to go back to school to learn public administration not social networking.

Lifelong Democrat

November 1st, 2009
11:00 pm

I just received an email from Lisa Borders’ campaign. It contained the following astonishing remarks:

“More than 100 Borders teams were on the streets yesterday and what we’ve heard is a shift on the ground. The voters are tired of the relentless attack ads – of divisiveness and petty squabbles from those who want to lead our city. They want real leadership. They want Lisa Borders.

Just yesterday, we picked up hundreds of new voters who’ve said “no thank you” to the politics of partisanship. Lisa’s message of open, transparent and bi-partisan government has added new donors to our ranks. Indeed, contributions have been pouring in from every corner of the city.”

I feel like I just stepped through the Looking Glass!

General Sherman

November 1st, 2009
11:32 pm

With the majority black on the city council,,how can a person white be appointed to any position. Get real!

Canopy

November 2nd, 2009
12:44 am

For Reed to answer the question, “Do you think cronyism is a major problem at City Hall,” you would have to define what was meant by “problem.” If that cronyism that Reed and the rest of the Maynard Machine is known for allows them to pad their pockets and siphon money from the City via shady airport contracts, then no it’s not a problem — it’s a profitable enterprise.

He didn’t answer the question because as a lawyer he knows he can’t honestly do so without damning himself, so instead he changes the subject. Awesome.

Truth be told

November 2nd, 2009
9:14 am

I don’t know why Mary didn’t say so, but the reason she wasn’t assigne to chair a committee is that she has been asking tough questions of Franklin and the city council presidents (Borders and Cathy Woolard) were both allied with the mayor.

When you ask the tough questions of Franklin, you don’t get committee chairs from the nod squad.

AngryVoter

November 2nd, 2009
9:22 am

Lifelong Dem – Thanks for sharing the hysterical email. As much as Lisa talks about honesty and being transparent, the way she has tried to twist the facts throughout the race is astounding. If your child twisted facts the way Lisa Borders twists facts, you would ground the child for weeks.

What makes her think anyone would believe her email? Why does Borders think being shady is the way to get elected. (Wait, I think I just figured out the answer…it worked for Campbell it might work for her!)

Independent

November 2nd, 2009
9:31 am

In some form or fashion, Kasim Reed, Mary Norwood and Lisa Borders each represent what is wrong and has gone wrong in the city. I wish that instead of taking jabs at each other, they would present a coherent, credible plan for the city. Because they are being guarded leads me to believe that the city is actually in worse shape that they are letting on. And to see them resort to something as petty as mudslinging at this point instead of sticking to this issues is disappointing. In my opinion, none of them are qualified to be mayor, they all seem to be representatives of special interest looking to steal another 100 million from the city’s coffers.

PoliticOracle

November 2nd, 2009
9:53 am

General Sherman you are an uneducated clown and it is so obvious that you are on here to spew racism!

Let me educate you a little, though it may bring down you meth high.

Of the 7 standing council committees, 3 of them are headed by white councilmembers.

City Utilities Committee – Carla Smith (White Female)

Transportation Committee – Clair Muller (White Female)

Finance Committee – Howard Shook (White Male)

Zoning Commitee – Ivory Young (Black Male)

Community Development Committee – Jim Maddox (Black Male)

Public Safety Committee – Cleta Winslow (Black Female)

Committee on Council – Felicia Moore (Black Female)

These appointments are made based on councilmember strengths and not based on race or ethnicity. Stop being a victim and read a little before you speak. A simple google search would’ve done the job. These appointments represent a cross-section of the city and were very thoughtfully made (except for Cleta Winslow).

Norwood has never garnered the respect of her colleagues and she has never taken the lead on anything. Face it, she’s a bad candidate. I’m sure Buckhead had a better candidate for Post 2, Citywide. Ms. Norwood was a waste of your time and she wasted a lot of your tax dollars on food, mailers and trinkets to hand out to constituents instead of actually authoring and passing sound legislation to better the city.

eric watson

November 3rd, 2009
7:56 am

I think mary norwood would make a good mayor of the city of atlanta…Mayor Shirley Franklin and her present administration has misplaced 100million dollars???How do you furlough cops and firemen in a recession with the crime rate poised to go up?stop using the mayors office and the legacy of maynard jackson and hartsfield international airport to increase your gains at the expense of the people of atlanta…