Friday, March 22, 2013

Debate night in The Heights

The four candidates for Jersey City mayor squared off last night in The Heights for a two hour back and forth over the issues, and all the character flaws that could be tossed out.

Mayor Healy, Councilman Fulop, Abdul Malik and Jerry Walker all had problems with some of the other candidates platforms. After Steve Fulop said he had a passion for education, Malik responded by saying:

Fulop “has a passion for power, more and more power.”

After Mayor Healy spent time talking about how great the JCPD are and how certain crime metrics are down, Jerry Walker spoke about his plan for real public policing and took the mayor to task for perhaps not seeing the reality of things on the streets:

“We’re tired of looking in the paper, picking up the paper and seeing another kid killed in the streets,” he said. “This has to stop.”

Fulop, as expected, pressed Mayor Healy over what kind of record he has truly built:

“We have an opportunity in Jersey City to be the best mid-size city in the United States of America, and I believe that’s possible,” said Fulop, also noting the city is at a crossroads.

One day after his endorsement from President Obama, Healy continually stressed that streets are safer and hiring more cops would cost taxpayers more, something he's not ready to do:

“Our police department and leadership is doing an excellent job,” Healy said. “What we need are more cops ... that entails money, and we can’t keep hitting the taxpayers over the head.”

So, debate #1 is in the books. Did anyone come off better than you expected? Worse? Anything you'd like to ask the candidates that wasn't brought up? Spill it in comments.

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