Mayor's Forum Thoughts

I watched last night's mayoral candidate forum from my sick bed. (Rick Smith has excellent coverage here.)

But I managed to summon the strength to scratch a few notes.

1. News-Sports and Weather - There were a few times I thought I was watching the nightly news.

First News. City Council member and mayoral candidate Brian Fagan broke news that FEMA says the central library can't move back to its original location in the flood zone. That means a extra $4 million in federal bucks and allowed Fagan to argue that much-derided expert consultants made it happen. Ka-ching.

Next, sports. Former Iowa House speaker and current trucking executive Ron Corbett rolled out with his favorite sports metaphor, arguing that the current council has stayed in a huddle for 16 months and refuses to run any plays. He'll "break huddle" and run plays.

That led Fagan to argue that both of his opponents would have "dropped the ball" and allowed money to slip away without expert consultant help in "maximizing the rate of return" on disaster aid.

Not to be outdone, P.T. Larson then asked the age-old question, "What about Kurt Warner, Brian?" Larson argues that Master's champion Zach Johnson got a street named after him here and NFL MVP, Super Bowl champ Warner waits. Larson says the country club types made it happen.

"You dropped the ball and didn't step up to the plate," Larson said. Yeah, and he missed a three-point goal. Or something.

Next, weather. The candidates took a question about snow removal. Fagan got the last laugh. "As mayor, I'm going to eliminate winter," he said.

2. Turnabout is fair play -- Fagan landed a nice punch when he pointed out that Corbett's campaign ads are created by an "out-of-town consultant," namely Victory Enterprises in Davenport.

But Corbett returned a decent jab at Brian "Sustainability" Fagan when he said he's worried most about the city's "unsustainable" budget.

3. Hold on a Second - Both candidates misplaced some blame.

Fagan smacked Corbett for failing to reform Iowa's property tax system or rewrite its highway funding formula to benefit urban areas. Never mind that these are two of the toughest, unsolved issues facing state government that have confounded leaders in both parties for decades.

Corbett repeatedly tried to hang the unpopular concept of a wheel tax on incoming commuters around Fagan's neck, even though Fagan was not one of the council members who proposed it. Fagan, however, didn't refute the charges as clearly as he should have.

4. Translation, please. - Fagan referred several times to "duplication of benefits." I know what it means. Flood-affected residents know all too well. But it's not exactly a term you can throw around without explanation. He did explain near the end, but not clearly.

I'm glad Corbett met his wife in France and that his kids are bilingual, but I'm still not sure how that answers a question about diversity in the community. To be fair, his fellow combatants didn't do much better.

When Corbett got into the weeds on city policy, he would often fall back on  his charge that the city is sitting on local option sales tax money. He spent those bucks several times.

5. Winner? - I think all three did what they set out to do. Corbett got his points and punches across on why he thinks the city is off-track. Fagan got a chance to defend, passionately at times, the council's record on laying the groundwork for future progress.

And Larson made the point that he'll be a full-time mayor, not a "moonlighter" with another job likes his rivals. The debate ended in laughter at his P.T.will not stand for part-time line

Did any of them move the needle? Tough to tell. We'll know three weeks from today.