On the night I lost the mayoral race in 2018, I called Frank Scott and told him I would do all I could to help him and our city. I served on two of the mayor's transition committees. I went to all the meetings. I presented research. I participated fully.
All of that effort was wasted, and nothing substantial was achieved from those committees. It seems Scott put me on those committees as window dressing, for his personal political benefit only. The steady stream of political showmanship, sloganeering and spin has continued for almost four years, while our city has gone in the wrong direction.
I am voting for Steve Landers for mayor of Little Rock because he is the best candidate in the race. Steve is an unconventional politician, but sometimes the best person for the job is not who you might expect.
Landers will go to work for you, which is what our city needs.
Landers won't waste your money on himself and his friends. He won't hire his cronies and his publicist, or fail to give you access to himself and the public documents that you should be able to see. He won't have full-time security personnel, or reportedly buy luxury SUVs with leather seats to take him to late-night dinners with supporters, at city expense. He won't be jetting off to Washington, D.C., at city expense, perhaps looking for a better job.
Landers won't make an idle promise to add 100 police officers to our force. He won't stand by for years while the force loses its leaders, and falls far below full staffing. He won't tell you he added 8,000 jobs in Little Rock since he was elected, when the net total number of jobs added in Little Rock since January 2019 is 1,306. Landers won't pledge to be transparent, and then fail to respond when the press and others ask to see public records.
It seems Scott has put himself first by spending thousands of dollars on out-of-state travel. He uses city police as a ride service to extravagant dinners with supporters. He even reportedly uses city police officers and city vehicles to take him to campaign events. He gets a monthly car allowance, but apparently doesn't even buy the gasoline he uses.
His first official act was to take the largest conference room in City Hall and have it remodeled into his extravagant office. He then left town to go to a mayoral conference. He hired his campaign staff at high salaries. He even hired his campaign publicist, at a cost of about $170,000, to be his personal mayoral publicist. These acts are regressive, old-school political tactics.
Recently the mayor gave almost $50,000 to a company owned by a major donor. The company, which is not registered with the state as a business entity, employs Scott's former chief of staff, and is supposed to stage some sort of festival just as the election is heating up. This "festival" appears to be nothing more than a campaign event funded by city dollars.
This is the sort of machine politics that progressive Arkansans like Winthrop Rockefeller, Dale Bumpers and David Pryor worked hard to eliminate.
Scott's agenda is to put himself first, to advance his political career, and to promote himself at city expense. He fails to work with the city board, and chastises the board publicly when he does not get his way.
This is not the way to unify a city, or the way to govern our city effectively. Little Rock is losing badly. Scott fired parks and rec maintenance workers while he hired his friends to be event planners. This was a demoralizing blow to every city employee. Just plain old bad management.
Frank Scott has not earned another term. The prospect of another four years of profligate spending, hiring of cronies at inflated salaries, backroom deals for city services, and all the rest is unacceptable to me.
Being the mayor of Little Rock is not about political ambition, buzzwords, and regal showmanship. It is all about public safety, parks and recreation, streets, trash collection, neighborhood revitalization, affordable housing, economic development, and hard work. For Steve Landers, the mayor's job is not a stepping stone, but a management job--a place to make a difference for everyday citizens. Landers is a proven manager. He will work with the city board.
Landers is a servant leader who believes in diversity, equity and inclusion. If you were ever in one of his dealerships, you saw those things in action.
With Landers you get a proven team builder who has no other political ambition. With Scott, you get carefully crafted press releases, year-round campaign events, spin doctors and lots of extravagant expenses. With Landers you get hard work, and plain talk directly from the mayor, without spin. You get the truth.
This is Little Rock. We need a working mayor, not a PR parade. I will help Steve Landers if he gets elected, just like I wanted to help Scott. I will always do all I can for our city.
Frank Scott has had a fair chance. This time, Landers is the clear choice for mayor of Little Rock.
Baker Kurrus is a Little Rock attorney and business consultant.