Candidates for Mayor of Monroe debated tonight at Stubbs Hall on ULM’s campus. Candidates addressed multiple issues facing the city, and what they would do to correct the problems they saw.

Johnny Riley received the most praise in his criticism of current mayor Jaime Mayo. Mayo declined an invitation to the debate, hosted by KEDM public radio.

“We need to fix the corruption at city hall. It’s a shame that he’s [Mayo] not willing to show up at this particular debate, because he’s not concerned enough about the problems of this city and its people,” Riley said to a round of echoing applause. Riley was the only candidate to receive an applause after he answered a question.

Ray Armstrong delivered some business practices that he would initiate as mayor. He says that flooding has become a major problem for Monroe residents, and that as mayor he would put more work into the drainage system of Monroe.

Clint Thomas, a local comic-book-store owner, says that he would like to see less government. Thomas says that he is not a politician and the citizens of Monroe are his number one agenda.

“Really there was only one candidate who had a serious grasp of the issues and a serious mastery of facts, and that was Johnny Riley,” said John Sutherlin, a Political Science professor at ULM. “Thomas had a certain comedic value and offered some interesting one-liners, and Ray Armstrong dealt with only one issue and that was indebtedness. Johnny Riley clearly won this forum.”

All the candidates took part in blaming the current administration as being the source of all the problems facing the city of Monroe.

“He [Mayo] was more concerned with his election than he was with the citizens,” Armstrong said. Citing that Mayo’s priority crisis is what caused the 18 change orders to the Monroe Airport. All of the candidates distanced themselves as far as they could from Mayo’s administration

Armstrong also discussed copying the city plans of places like Huntsville, Alabama, and Melbourne, Florida, as a way to lead Monroe to better future. Thomas said that he would stay local; citing Shreveport as an excellent example for Monroe to follow.

“If I was voting I would vote for Johnny Riley,” said Aaron Word, a junior political science major from Start. Word was just one of many people that expressed the belief that Riley was the winner at tonight’s debate.