Clark urges voters to support Jordan
Posted on Thursday, November 20, 2008
ANTHONY REYES Northwest Arkansas Times Fayetteville mayoral candidate Lioneld Jordan, left, laughs with former mayoral candidate Steve Clark before a press conference Wednesday at the Fayetteville Town Center. Clark endorsed Jordan in his bid to unseat Mayor Dan Coody in the general election runoff Tuesday.
One more of the former Fayetteville mayoral candidates has endorsed Ward 4 Alderman Lioneld Jordan.
Steve Clark announced at a press conference at the Fayetteville Town Center that after a few weeks of listening to candidates and attending mayoral forums, he felt Jordan would be the best leader for the city.
Clark said after Nov. 4, when Jordan and incumbent Mayor Dan Coody were headed to a runoff election, he considered the event a whole new election, different from the one he participated in for several months. Clark said after reading news articles and watching debates, he believed any negative talk of Jordan being against trails, the arts, sustainability or wanting to unionize the city “just wasn’t true.
“Lioneld Jordan should be our next mayor,” Clark said. “He’s forthright, honorable and his word is always his bond. I’m voting for him, and I hope the voters will support me and do the same.”
Jordan said he was happy to receive Clark’s support and he felt while campaigning for the general election he became friends with a lot of the other candidates.
“At the end of the day we finished up as friends,” Jordan said. “That’s what makes getting an endorsement from a man like (Clark) so important. ”
Furthermore, Jordan said that during his campaign Clark introduced some pretty good ideas for the city, ideas Jordan said he planned to steal.
In an interview with the Northwest Arkansas Times after the press conference, Coody stated that he was not surprised at all with Clark’s endorsement of Jordan. He said it would not change anything about his campaign to hold on to his seat.
“First, I think that (Clark’s) supporters are pretty intelligent folks, and I think they’ll think for themselves,” Coody said. "The only surprise was that it took this long. Had any (of the former mayoral candidates) endorsed me, I’d be very surprised.”
Coody added that in the end, he felt like voters would be choosing which direction they wanted Fayetteville to go. He said that he and Jordan have two very different views on how to run the city and that voters will have a chance Tuesday to declare which way they prefer.
On Nov. 8 Jordan formally received the support of Walt Eilers and Adam Fire Cat, two former candidates.
Eilers listed Jordan’s people skills and experience as reasons why voters should choose him for Fayetteville mayor. He added that Jordan’s support for dog parks, economic development and recycling are in line with his own goals for the city.
Fire Cat said that Jordan’s pledge to work toward a balanced city budget was the main reason he urged his supporters to choose the alderman over the incumbent.
Former candidate Sami Sutton has yet to make an official endorsement of either Coody or Jordan.
Early voting for the runoff began Monday at the Washington County Courthouse, and election day for the runoff is Tuesday.
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