More attacks fly between Patricia Lesko and John Hieftje in second Ann Arbor mayoral debate

The two Democrats, who will face off in the Aug. 3 primary, took turns taking shots at each other before a crowd of several dozen residents gathered at the Ann Arbor Community Center.

A visibly frustrated Hieftje departed from his usual soft-spoken ways and declared he's tired of Lesko distorting the truth and propagating "conspiracy theories" about him and other city officials. He extended his criticism not just to Lesko, but also to an unofficial slate of City Council candidates with which Lesko has aligned herself.

Lesko speaks at today's debate.

Ryan J. Stanton | AnnArbor.com

That slate includes Sumi Kailasapathy, Jack Eaton and Lou Glorie. Hieftje is backing the incumbents: Sandi Smith, Margie Teall and Carsten Hohnke.

"There are so many subtle myths that are propagated in all of the literature and statements that we hear from the other slate in this campaign," Hieftje said. "They are closely linked and they continue to play games with the truth."

Lesko criticized the mayor for what she considered ad hominem attacks about her personality. She said she'd prefer Hieftje stick to the issues.

"Because, you know what, it's easier to hammer someone personally than talk about the issues," she said. "That's really what's happening. It's easier to talk about personalities than to talk about budgets."

Halfway into the debate, Hieftje's growing frustration bubbled to the surface. For the first time in a public setting, he heavily criticized Lesko for anonymously running the blog A2Politico.com, using the pseudonym "Sam Rosenthal."

"It's very interesting to hear someone who started a blog site, advertised it on EMU radio, went under the name of 'Sam Rosenthal' for six months and commenced to rip everyone on City Council ... talk about transparency," he said in response to one of Lesko's claims. "When her role as Sam Rosenthal was found out, she announced she was running for mayor."

Lesko alleged Hieftje contributes to a lack of transparency in city government, and said she believes sneaky, backroom deals are happening.

"Has there been backroom dealing? Absolutely," she said. "I think the FOIA'd e-mails last summer made it clear that the city government whom we elect was conducting business in private in the middle of public meetings."

Hieftje fired back, saying Ann Arbor has one of the most transparent city governments anywhere.

"I haven't sent e-mails to council members during council meetings," he said. "Some council members did. I had a very appropriate response to that."

Lesko suggested the city is neglecting its duty to help the most vulnerable members of society who are struggling to make ends meet.

"Homelessness, as we know, is on the rise and human services funding was frozen this year," she said. "While the need grew exponentially, human services funding has not grown exponentially in the city of Ann Arbor. Homelessness is a huge problem in our community."

Hieftje speaks at today's debate.

Ryan J. Stanton | AnnArbor.com

Hieftje said Lesko painted a distorted picture. He said while the state and county have cut funding for human services, Ann Arbor actually has been increasing its commitments and remains one of only two cities left in the entire state of Michigan that still funds human services.

"This winter, recognizing the problem, we doubled the number of homeless beds available," he said. "We put another $170,000, we worked with the county, we worked with the DDA, we worked with the homeless shelter, we bought more vouchers, we put more families into permanent housing, we allowed for a whole other floor at the shelter to be opened up."

Throughout the debate, Lesko continued to bring up the city's decision not to fix the Stadium bridges until next spring, floating bonds to finance a new underground parking deck downtown, and building a $47.4 million police-courts complex when cheaper options were available.

She accused the incumbent of ignoring the voices of 6,000 residents who signed petitions to put the police-courts building up to a vote of the people.

"I would argue that there were 6,000 voices who weren't heard, and that we may have gotten a different outcome had the voters of Ann Arbor had an opportunity to vote on those bonds," Lesko said.

Hieftje didn't respond to that claim directly, but said it made a great deal of sense to take on the project and put both the police and the courts on the same site. He said he personally held up the project for a year while the city investigated alternative solutions and that proved to be the best option with minimal impact on the city's general fund budget.

At other points, Lesko briefly butted heads with Jim Leonard, the debate moderator, and Party Chairman Conan Smith. She interrupted before the closing remarks to argue that she expected to speak last. Smith said it was determined by coin toss that Hieftje would get the last word in.

Previous to that, Leonard had asked a two-part question and casually instructed Lesko on which point to answer first.

"Actually, I'll answer the question how I like," Lesko responded bluntly.

"This isn't personal," said Lesko about Hieftje at one point in the debate. "I'm not making it personal. I don't dislike him. What's the point? It's about policies, it's about programs, it's about the issues. We simply disagree on the issues.

"As a voter, as a citizen, I want to see Ann Arbor go in a different direction policy-wise than the incumbent. So why me? If you agree that you're getting the best value for your tax dollar, then you know what, vote for the incumbent. But if you don't, then inherently what you're saying to yourself is it's time for a change."

Lesko, who considers many of the mayor's environmental efforts to be window-dressing at best, cited an endorsement she picked up from the Sierra Club.

Hiefjte highlighted his endorsements from the UAW and the Michigan Democratic Party’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender & Allies Caucus. He also said he won a statewide environmental leadership award from the Michigan League of Conservation Voters in 2008.

"I'm happy to run on my record," Hieftje said. "I'm happy to run on the position that Ann Arbor finds itself in right now as probably the best-situated city financially in the state that's been the hardest hit."

Lesko said Hieftje doesn't deserve all the credit.

"It's easy to talk about the awards our city has won. They're not due to the incumbent or City Council, they're due to hard working city staff," she said.

Hieftje made a plea to the Democrats in the audience during his closing remarks, which ended the debate.

"While there are struggles, I think we have a very solid City Council," he said. "I think you have people on council that are committed to working hard, that are bright and will come up with creative solutions as we do year after year. And I would ask that you consider voting for those members of council who are running for office as well, because I think they deserve your vote."

He finished by comparing the two slates.

"One side, one slate of candidates that are closely tied together is saying, 'There's something wrong! We must do something about this!'" he said. "The other side is saying, 'We are continuing to work very hard and seriously on serious issues that confront our city in a hard-hit state, and we're continuing to make progress on those issues, and we're happy to put the condition of our city up against any other city in the state.'"

Ryan J. Stanton covers government and politics for AnnArbor.com. Reach him at ryanstanton@annarbor.com or 734-623-2529.