JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Three men in a hotly contested race for Clay County sheriff debated the issues and their qualifications in a debate at Channel 4's studios Thursday morning.

Gary Newman, former director of security of NAS Jacksonville, and Mike Taylor, and Mike Taylor, former special agent with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, are trying to unseat the current Clay County Sheriff Rick Beseler.

All three are Republicans running in the Aug. 26 primary, but since there is no Democrat in the race, all registered Clay County voters will see the race on their ballot.

Channel 4's Rob Sweeting moderated the debate, with anchor Bruce Hamilton, reporter Diane Cho and WOKV's Roxie Tyler asking questions -- both their own and those submitted by viewers.

The candidates were asked to explain how they would try to keep the criminal activity that is increasing in Jacksonville from spilling over into Clay County.

Newman: "Bringing the police officers back into the communities and the businesses along Wells Road; also working closely with Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, identifying criminals coming out of Jacksonville and coming into Clay County."

Beseler: "Operation Night Sight is an operation that we began 1.5 year ago in response to Operation Safe Streets that Sheriff Rutherford began in Jacksonville. Sheriff Rutherford said that when we put the number of officers on the street in Jacksonville that we are doing, it's going to push criminals into Clay County, and we've seen that impact. But what we did is form a cooperative agreement between the Florida Highway Patrol, the U.S. Marshals Service and the Clay County Sheriff's Office to infuse a dynamic police presence in the northern end of the county. That Operation Night Sight has been every effective in keeping that area from keeping more of an increase in crime than we've seen."

Taylor: "With little old ladies being carjacked in Wal-Mart parking lots in broad open daylight; with stabbing and gunfights in the mall, I would disagree that the criminals fear Clay County. And I do have a plan to address that. First, we put experienced law enforcement commanders in command positions. Next, we re-implement national accreditation.... We network with our sister agencies in other counties, our state partners and our federal partners, and we go fight crime."

Read Profiles Of Clay County Candidates

Questions have arisen during the campaign whether Taylor used political connections to discourage any criminal charges involving his son. The controversy grew after Folio Weekly published a story asking whether it was a legitimate issue or part of a smear campaign.

Taylor said the allegations were false and vehemently denied using any influence in the criminal inquiry.

"I've never, ever exercised any attempt in any way whatsoever to have charges dropped against myself or any family member, ever," Taylor said. "My charge has never been arrested. He's never been charged, and it's absolutely despicable that folks would bring this up in a political campaign."

Beseler said his deputies had enough probable cause to make an arrest, but the State Attorney's Office declined to file charges. He directed any questions on issues of prosecution to them.

Each candidate was asked how they planned to maximize their resources in light of funding restraints resulting from the passage of Amendment One in January, which effectively lowered tax revenues to local governments.

Asked about any hostility in the hard-fought campaign, Beseler called Clay County politics a "blood sport" and doesn't see this race as any worse than four years ago.

"We've tried to keep it on a high plane. There have been no negative advertisements coming from my campaign, I've never spoken ill of either of my opponents in public or in private," Beseler said. "Sometimes your supporters, they get a little bit overly aggressive and it's difficult to control them. We try to make sure they don't do anything unethical or tasteless, but those sort of things do happen."

"If you go back to beginning of my campaign, you'll see that I have been very straight and forward with my issues," Newman said. "I have a plan for future of Clay County. I don't get sidetracked by the negativity that's going on between my two opponents."

"I've never been a politician; I've never wanted to be one and never thought I'd be here. I can tell you the only thing I've underestimated in politics is how dirty some folks would be," Taylor said. "I've encouraged all of our supporters to not stoop to those levels, it's inappropriate and we should not do it."

The live debate was webcast on News4Jax.com. A link to a video replay of the entire debate is the sidebar in the upper right of this story.

The debate will also be televised on the local station at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday.