Mayoral Debate: Cheap Talk and Sound Bites
by Adam Lynch
April 20, 2005
The April 17 mayoral debates between Democratic incumbent Harvey Johnson Jr., and Democratic contender and former Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics head Frank Melton contained more red meat than a butchered elephant. Hosted by WJTV, The Clarion-Ledger and The League of Women Voters at Murrah High school, the hour-long debate gave candidates a chance to hurl some overused sound bites that were nevertheless promptly chomped up by the clapping audience, despite rules against applause.
There is no telling whether or not the audience in the Murrah auditorium was an accurate sampling of the Jackson populace, but it was clear that supporters of Johnson dominated the seats. Though Melton often got a fair shake of applause for biting comments, spectator reaction to Johnson’s statements were more gravid, even when Johnson’s retorts contained only a fraction of Melton’s snap.
One statement by Melton linking the recent death of JPD officer Thomas Catchings to the mayor’s inability to work with county supervisors in securing better police communication lines drew numerous hisses from the crowd of hundreds.
Johnson referred to Melton’s “slick talk,” “cheap talk” and “45-second sound bites” on many occasions. “We need to get past cheap talk, and the only thing we’re going to get tonight out of my opponent is glitzy talk. He’s been doing it for 20 years, and he’s very good at it, and if you don’t believe me just listen,” pointing to Melton just as he was to respond.
Even Melton acknowledged his propensity for TV-style quips. “This is the second time the mayor has accused me of being a 45-second sound bite. Everybody knows here that I’m from the media, and that’s the way it works, but he’s been an eight-year sound bite,” he said.
“You see? What did I tell you?” Johnson eventually replied.
Panelist Eric Stringfellow called upon Johnson to explain who the “powerful” and “privileged” were in a recent campaign ad claiming both were trying to “turn (Jackson) back.”
Johnson initially balked at the explanation, instead pointing to Melton’s own divisiveness in “putting the faces of black men upon billboards.” When asked again, Johnson said the enemies of the city were “the mean-spirited people who would rather criticize and point out the negative of the city rather than work to move the city forward.”
When called to answer accusations that he had not registered to vote for the majority of his more than two decades in the city, Melton replied that he had voted. He just had not voted for Johnson.
“Aww, he didn’t vote for me because he couldn’t,” Johnson quipped back, drawing raucous laughter. “He had the nerve in 1992 to go over to the Missionary Baptist Church in Georgetown and chastise the people in Georgetown, saying ‘you know the way you get things straight here is to vote your people in,’ and he wasn’t even registered to vote here in the city of Jackson.”
There were no revealing monologues promoting the arguments of either candidate. Johnson did manage to get some informative explanations into the debate, such as his defense of numerous programs initiated by the city in partnership with universities like Jackson State, and insert some good news on development in Jackson, but details in the debates remained sketchy at best.
At the end of the battle, Melton managed to pull himself from the back-and-forth exchange of breaking down the incumbent’s record and tearing down the contender’s character. In their closing statements, Melton thanked the team that had brought the contest to Murrah and offered gratitude for attendants. Johnson, however, stayed on the attack, again raking Melton over the coals for his registration delay.
“Be careful of the candidate who is asking for your vote and has not taken the time out to not address the responsibility of voting himself,” Johnson warned. He also managed to stuff another scold of Melton’s shaky Democratic background, and usurp a characteristic Melton catch phrase in the same statement. “… (and) who says he is a Democrat but who has never voted for a Democrat because he’s never supported a Democratic candidate in Jackson. … It’s not about cheap-talking slick talk but about doing—and that, my friends, is the real bottom line.”
The audience, with its glut of Johnson supporters, roared into a deafening reverberation that tumbled into a gleeful chant of “four more years.”
No one interviewed afterward claimed to have changed their mind. “It didn’t sway my opinion in a big way. I already realized that Frank Melton knows nothing,” said Jackson resident Dorothy J. Taylor. “The mayor is the mayor, and he’s been there and he’s got it going on. The mayor Harvey Johnson is the man. Melton is a wannabe.”
Samuel “Sam” Stanley said his support likewise stayed right where it was prior to the debate: safely with Melton. “This debate didn’t change nothing,” Stanley said. “Melton is still getting my vote just as he was before. My (south Jackson) neighborhood is falling to pieces, and it’s time for a change. It’s that simple.”
Johnson said he was pleased with the outcome and Melton appeared cheery and confident in interviews outside the auditorium, jokingly asking reporters if Johnson could use his ‘that’s the bottom line phrase’ without owing him money.
The debate was not without the occasional snafu. Viewers of Channel 12 saw Johnson’s closing arguments get twice interrupted by commercials. WJTV News Director Rick Russell said “sombody pushed the wrong button at the wrong time. It was an accident,” adding that the final portion would be rebroadcast at the 10pm slot. Rumor also has it that Melton hopped into his vehicle and drove off with WJTV’s radio microphone still attached to his lapel, but that could not be confirmed.
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