LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas — The candidates for Little Rock mayor spoke at a forum downtown on Monday night.
The candidates: Mayor Frank Scott Jr., Steve Landers, Greg Henderson, and Glen Schwarz were all in attendance and answered some questions they had never addressed before.
As accusations and rebuttals ensued, things got heated.
The first question was about the now-canceled LITFest and where it all went wrong.
Steve Landers said it was a bad idea from the start, and claimed it was a part of a "political rally" for the mayor, and that the contract was a sham.
Glen Schwarz compared the event to RiverFest and said it was hard to get a festival going in Little Rock.
Greg Henderson said that a festival is possible, but it should, however, be run by an independent community.
Mayor Scott said the vision of the festival was to unify the city, and after postponing it because of the pandemic they wanted it to continue.
"I will say there were some key learnings. There were some mistakes made, but in a time when we have a decision as a leader I made sure those decisions were corrected," said Scott.
Mayor Scott also responded to Landers' claims of corruption surrounding the festival.
"The word corruption is not even in our definition book," said Scott. "We don't need to get started on sham contracts tonight. We don't need to get started on lawsuits tonight. We don't need to get started on misusing individuals tonight."
The candidates also addressed violent crime in the city.
Landers explained that he has a 3-point plan to reduce crime, which includes building relationships with local law enforcement agencies, funding police, and recruiting officers.
Schwarz said he wants to end the war on drugs and that in turn, will free up space in prison for violent criminals.
Henderson stated that they need to take on long-term solutions to deter crime and the mayor said he has created both long-term and short-term plans.
The candidates also discussed the legalization of recreational marijuana— All candidates except for Landers agreed that it should be legalized.
Landers said it was a federal and state issue and the voters would decide on that in the election.