District 9 incumbent Yusuf Hakeem speaks about his platform on Monday, Jan. 23, 2017. 
City council candidate Demetrus Coonrod is photographed Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017, in Chattanooga, Tenn.Demetrus Coonrod, runoff candidate for the Chattanooga City Council District 9 seat, says she's not "unhinged, a pathological liar and crazy," as opponent Yusuf Hakeem labeled her during a Sunday afternoon radio program.
Just a few hours later, Coonrod fired back at Hakeem, the incumbent, during a candidate forum hosted by the Unity Group of Chattanooga and Concerned Citizens for Justice for the District 9 and District 7 seats. The election is April 11. Early voting ends Thursday.
The two had to swap shots at long range because Hakeem, though invited, did not attend the forum at the Eastdale Community Village United Methodist Church.
"There's nothing in my past that would indicate that I'm crazy, that I'm unhinged and that I'm a pathological liar," Coonrod said "It's a proven fact that my opponent has been unhinged on more than several occasions."
At the sparsely attended forum, Coonrod said Hakeem had blown up at Brent Goldberg, the city's chief operating officer in 2015, during a public meeting and has gotten into heated exchanges with his City Council colleagues.
She also cited Hakeem's behavior during an Eastdale Neighborhood Association meeting in September as an example of his "anger management issues." Hakeem accused Coonrod, the association president, of using the meeting as a platform to launch a council bid.
Contacted by phone after the forum, Hakeem didn't budge on the description he proffered on the WDEF program "Point of View."
"Given the opportunity to think about it, I would have used different words, but they would have had the same meaning," Hakeem said.
He said Coonrod has flip-flopped on statements she has made about him on recent radio programs, first describing him as a mentor and friend, and then denying it. She's also called him a "sellout" without explaining what she meant, Hakeem said.
Hakeem also cited social media attacks by a Coonrod acquaintance who claimed the councilman had pulled up her campaign signs.
"That's just malarkey," he said.
He said he once asked Goldberg to sit down during a Wilcox Tunnel community meeting because he repeatedly broke in during a session intended to give residents time to speak.
As for his fellow council members, Hakeem said he doesn't believe they would readily support initiatives he champions if he did not have a good relationship with them.
Going back to the September Eastdale Neighborhood Association gathering, Hakeem said he confronted Coonrod because she kept attacking him for "political reasons" throughout the meeting.
Hakeem said he did not attend Sunday's forum because he thought it was "a setup," claiming Coonrod has been trying to engineer a forum on friendly ground ever since the District 9 race paired them up for a runoff.
Eastdale certainly offers some home-field advantage to Coonrod. Even though Hakeem got more votes in the precinct during the March 7 election, it's where she pulled the most votes for her campaign.
Coonrod said she was not "in cahoots" with either the Unity Group or Citizens Concerned for Justice.
"I got an invitation just like everybody else," she said.
While Coonrod's opening remarks focused on Hakeem, she spent much of the two-hour forum discussing audience concerns over how to remove employment challenges facing felons when they return to the community.
Erskine Oglesby, runoff candidate for the District 7 council seat, did not aim shots at incumbent Chris Anderson, who was not present, during the Sunday forum. Like Coonrod, he concentrated his time voicing support for job readiness and community revitalization.
Anderson could not be reached for comment.
Contact staff writer Paul Leach at 423-757-6481 or pleach@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @pleach_tfp.