Both Aaron Johnson and Joseph Azar say they'd like to see their former opponents Steve Benjamin and Kirkman Finlay debate in a wide open, no holds barred setting.
COLUMBIA -- Several former mayoral candidates say Columbia's debate system is flawed and residents simply can't learn enough about who they're voting for in the current setup.
There were more than a dozen candidate forums and debates leading up to last week's election.
However, some former candidates say not one of the original seven mayoral hopefuls ever scratched the surface on the real issues facing the city.
Both Aaron Johnson and Joseph Azar say they'd like to see their former opponents Steve Benjamin and Kirkman Finlay debate in a wide open, no holds barred setting.
"How is the public going to learn if they don't have candidates challenging candidates," Azar says. "The things behind the scenes we know, the public doesn't. They expect us to bring it out and that's what we're doing in a debate. There has been no true debate this year and I haven't seen one in the past few years. It short changes the public."
"All the forums I've been to and all debates I've seen and I've been to have not seen a real, down to earth, deep probing discourse on the events, and the issues, and the plans involved here," Johnson adds. "Why anyone would want to turn down that opportunity to go into that detail, to really have that core discussion, is beyond me as a former candidate."
WACH FOX News offered both Kirkman Finlay and Steve Benjamin the chance to debate the issues live on our air before next Tuesday's run-off election.
The Finlay Camp told us they were open to anything.
However, a spokesman for the Benjamin campaign says Steve Benjamin doesn't have the time and is booked solid through next week's run-off.
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