The debates in Mesa’s mayoral race have been cordial affairs for the most part, with each of three candidates complimenting opponents before digging into a complex issue like illegal immigration.

Immigration, safety on candidates’ minds

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However, on Monday night things got snippy between Vice Mayor Claudia Walters and businessman Scott Smith at one of the bigger forums this election season.

In one exchange, Smith said that the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport was a “gem” and that the city should ensure development around the airport be set at a high standard — so that people coming to Mesa don’t see pawn shops and payday loan stores.

Walters shot back that Smith “probably would have been the fourth vote” on an unsuccessful bid last year by Walters to limit payday loan stores and targeting the city’s west side, where the stores have been seen as a problem.

“I probably would have been the first,” Smith said.

Rex Griswold, for his part, stayed away from the jabs and the jabbing.

However, at one point in the hourlong debate sponsored by the Mesa Republic and the Mesa Chamber of Commerce, Griswold won unexpected support for his plan to reform bus service in the city.

Griswold said that the city’s bus service should be cultivated along main routes like Broadway Road, Main Street and McKellips Road, and not all over the city because it is too expensive.

His two opponents acknowledged that was a good idea.

Mesa’s mayoral race taking a more aggressive tone was bound to happen.

The race is shaping up to be one of the most expensive in the city’s history and is one of the most important in memory.

Two years after the city slashed $14 million from its budget, four council seats are up for grabs as well as the mayor’s seat.

The mayoral hopefuls are playing up the election’s importance.

Walters and Smith are saying that Mesa needs focus on the city’s positives.

Griswold, meanwhile, is sounding an urgent note that the city needs to change its ways, especially when it comes to its finances.

“The next four years are going to determine the city’s future,” he said.

As in every debate this election season, the candidates were asked what their policies would be on enforcing illegal immigration.

Smith said that the city should have a “clear policy” for both city officials and citizens to understand. But he didn’t say what that policy would be, other than to “enforce the law.”

Walters said that the city cannot just patrol for immigrants any way it chooses.

“It doesn’t work like that, you have to have probable cause,” Walters said.