20 OCT 06: DOWNTOWN SHOWDOWN

Thursday brought a day-night doubleheader in the race for Columbus Mayor. There was a mock election at a grade school, then an evening debate at the RiverCenter. Can you guess which one of the three announced candidates dared to face questions from the students?

The RiverCenter debate was the main political event, since it was billed as the only televised debate of the mayor's race. But it was NOT the main event in the building - as the larger Bill Heard Theater was booked for a "radio theater." And we hope write-in candidate Bert Coker was allowed on stage for that one, at least....

Inside the RiverCenter's little theater, Incumbent Bob Poydasheff painted the mayor's race as a clash between "the past and the future." Yet panelist Richard Hyatt pointed out Poydasheff is 76 years old, while Jim Wetherington is 69 -- and besides, is either candidate on Myspace or YouTube?

Bob Poydasheff dismissed Jim Wetherington as someone who would send Columbus "back into the past." Oh no - if we change mayors, all that annoying Streetscape work is going to be torn up.

Challenger Jim Wetherington made it sound as if his main issue has widened from public safety pay to city finances overall. He said before the debate a criminal investigation is possible, of missing fees from the city landfill. So the first police officers he hires as mayor could be detectives....

Jim Wetherington warned the missing million dollars in landfill fees could cost the city of Columbus, in terms of its bond rating. Bob Poydasheff said later the city has a AA bond rating - which means it's still a full level above the Columbus Catfish baseball team.

Bob Poydasheff replied when you consider Columbus has a $163 million city budget, one lost million in landfill fees "really.... is no problem." I hope he doesn't use that same numerical logic, when it comes to abortion in this country....

The incumbent tried to minimize the damage from missing landfill fees, by saying it amounts to "$100,000 a year over ten years." If Bob Poydasheff loses the election, he has a great future selling sweepstakes offers.

Jim Wetherington revealed during the debate he's met with City Manager Isaiah Hugley and Police Chief R.T. Boren (the nameplate on his desk). Yet he said if he's elected mayor, he'll have to "find out what shape city finances are in." Won't any city official let him look at a budget book? Doesn't he know they're in the reference section of the main public library?

The challenger declared at one point in the debate: "I'm not in favor of raising taxes, period." But Jim Wetherington said a sales tax vote might be necessary, if he discovers Columbus city finances really are in bad shape. With talk like this, maybe the tax money should go in a "hedge fund."

When it comes to the Columbus city payroll, Bob Poydasheff assured viewers he'll "continue to march to the tune of the University of Georgia." We expect the local chapter of the Auburn Alumni Association to endorse Jim Wetherington sometime today.

But even here, the mayoral candidates had different views. Jim Wetherington noted city employees currently are paid at 92 percent of the University of Georgia's pay plan recommendations. He wants to push that to 100 percent - even though he should know from his time at Calvary Christian School that a score of 92 is still an "A."

Jim Wetherington addressed what he called a "whispering campaign" around Columbus, that he wants to fire City Manager Isaiah Hugley. "I told Isaiah that he doesn't have anything to worry about," Wetherington declared. If I were Deputy City Managers David Arrington and Lisa Goodwin, I'd be a little nervous about that....

Bob Poydasheff noted he nominated Isaiah Hugley for the City Manager position, and declared: "I'm sticking with him." So who started the whispers about Mr. Hugley possibly getting fired? Is Mark Taylor's "truth squad" out of ways to find fault with Sonny Perdue?

What about Columbus public safety? Mayor Bob Poydasheff said if the city was unsafe, Fort Benning would not be expanding operations. Didn't the U.S. military debunk that sort of thinking Thursday, in terms of bringing peace to Baghdad?

Besides, the incumbent said, crime in Columbus is at the "same ratio" today as it was when Jim Wetherington was police chief. Bob Poydasheff never explained what ratio he meant -- but it probably isn't compared to the number of police officers.

But former police chief Jim Wetherington told the debate audience the last four years have brought a "dramatic rise in serious crime." And I thought my neighbor in the apartment complex had his BB gun out Thursday afternoon to shoot birds....

Jim Wetherington says he's already talked with Police Chief R.T. Boren about how to fill dozens of open public safety positions. But he did NOT say if any agreements or plans were worked out. The sooner Caribbean cruise ship rooms can be booked for new hires, the better the city probably will be.

Both candidates for mayor offered interesting quotes during the debate. For instance, Bob Poydasheff declared "Columbus South is on the march." Oh yeah - the S.O.A. Watch protest IS only a few weeks away, isn't it?

(Mayor Poydasheff cited as an example of a "marching" Columbus South the new church building Bishop Ann Hardman has near Victory Drive. As if the city is trying to recruit congregations away from Ladonia?!)

Asked what he would do about South Columbus, Jim Wetherington replied: "Our citizens are the best thing going for us...." Hmmmm - some might take that to mean a payroll tax on workers who commute from Harris County.

Jim Wetherington told the audience ever since he was police chief, his goal has been to "make sure our citizens are treated special." OK, here's the standard to match - in January 2003, Bob Poydasheff had an all-comers inaugural buffet.

The mayoral candidates suggested they have different approaches, when it comes to leadership. Jim Wetherington promised he'll "look over people's shoulders when I need to." I don't know about you, but it annoys me when people do that when I'm on a public library computer.

In response, Bob Poydasheff said he takes a "servant leader" approach to the mayor's office - letting other people do their jobs, instead of doing the jobs for them. So how is the city functioning, with those recent cuts in positions?

Richard Hyatt of the Ledger-Enquirer seemed to have the most original questions at the debate. His last one touched on something which has crossed my mind in recent days - what's being done to attract younger voters. It's almost as if the main mayoral candidates are ignoring them. Or have you noticed Bo Callaway endorsing Bob Poydasheff on TV, instead of the Northern Little League All-Stars?

Jim Wetherington had an interesting reply to that question about younger voters. He suggested the mayor's salary be increased in years to come -- after he's out of office, he quickly added. C'mon, chief, that didn't stop Isaiah Hugley awhile back....

Backers of Bert Coker were unhappy that the write-in candidate was left out of Thursday night's televised debate. But Coker gained a small victory earlier in the day, when he won a mock election of students at Martin Luther King Elementary school. Now THAT'S the way to go after younger voters - even if they're several years too young.

The staff at M.L.K. Elementary invited all the mayoral candidates to its mock election day, but only Bert Coker showed up. It's tempting to say his appearance tainted the students' vote - but then again, a write-in candidate encourages youngsters to have good penmanship.

E-MAIL UPDATE: Before Thursday's debate began, we received a message with election thoughts -- apparently in general:

Is it me .

Have people forgot how to run for a political position.

They must have, when you listen to ones that are "So called" running for a spot they basically have no clue as to what they are really suppose to be doing.

They give you a line of B. S. that makes you feel like you're a cat in a dog's world.

You asked them another question and God forbid what comes out of their mouth..

This must be the direction this country is headed because it is among many that are running this year "No common sense".

We need this- before someone can sign up to run for anything in the future that they take a test to see if they are too bright for the seat they want to run for, this will let the voters know ahead of time to use caution when approaching this candidate to ask anything for them to respond too.

and this one

cannot wait for the Nov. election to be over so that we can go back to complaining about things that we were complaining about to start with.

If the candidates aren't running for office properly, maybe we should give them some pointers. Step one: kiss the babies, and shake the hands of the grownups. Please do not get this confused....

That's an interesting idea, to have political candidates take some sort of IQ test. After all, we expect that of future candidates already. It's called "No Child Left Behind."

But if you think about it, an aptitude test for political candidates probably would be ruled unconstitutional. They barred that sort of thing across the South for voters long ago, so it's only fair....

Now let's step away slowly from the ballot box, and consider other headlines from Thursday:

+ The Russell County School Board voted 4-3 to hire Barbour County's Vivian Carter as Superintendent. Some people spoke up in protest after the vote, and law officers had to intervene to keep order. How strange -- for a change, Russell County parents might have been arrested instead of teachers.

(The 4-3 vote was along racial lines. The African-American school board members voted for Vivian Carter. The Euro-American board members voted against her. I'm not sure we have can have "One Russell County" as long as Phenix City is the county seat.)

+ Columbus Planning Director Rick Jones told WRBL plans are on the drawing board for an east-west version of the Riverwalk, from 14^th Street to Psalmond Road. But that project will require several things first. Step one: build a river....

+ The Florida Seals edged the Columbus Cottonmouths 4-3 in a pre-season game. You could tell the regular season hasn't started yet at the Civic Center - because the boards had no advertising on them whatsoever. [True!]

COMING SOON: A local woman's downright shaky situation....

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