Top 5 moments of first mayoral debate
Tuesday was the first time all five mayoral candidates (yes, there are five), took the stage together to discuss their ideas. The debate was tame and didn't provide too much color. But there were some interesting and funny answers. Here are some top moments from the first general election mayoral debate.
Tuesday was the first time all five mayoral candidates (yes, there are five), took the stage together to discuss their ideas. The debate was rather tame. But there were some interesting and funny comments. Here are some top moments, in no particular order, from the first general election mayoral debate:
Smaller City Council. Jim Foster, an independent candidate and longtime gadfly, said that as mayor he would cut City Council to 10 members and their overall budget. (That would mean Council members would have to essentially vote themselves out by approving to put such a measure on the ballot for a charter change.) Foster also went after city officials and the Democratic party, saying that city departments are "silos of incompetence" and that the city political system "is in ruins," usually as answers to unrelated questions.
Urban Republican. Melissa Murray Bailey, the Republican candidate, got some laughs when an audience member yelled he couldn't hear her and she said "Thanks for wanting to hear me." The long shot candidate closed out by telling the audience that even if they are Democrats, they can still vote for her. She is a self-described "Urban Republican," who until very recently was a registered Democrat.
Unions rule. Jim Kenney, Democratic candidate and prohibitive favorite, didn't have any Old Kenney type comments. But he did blast the employers of the airport cleaners who tried to unionize and were penalized for it. "Their employer fired them, cut their hours and gave them bad shifts," Kenney said as he spoke of his "unabashed support" for workers unionizing.
Independent mobilization. The go-to answer for Osborne Hart, a Walmart worker and a Socialist Worker Party candidate, was "Independent mobilization." To the question on how would he convince parents to stay and keep their children in public schools, Hart answered: "There's plenty resources but it has to be mobilized and that happens through independent mobilization."
$15 or higher taxes. Wearing tie that emphatically demanded a $15 minimum wage, independent candidate Boris Kindij spoke several times about raising the minimum wage. His plan for businesses is they would either pay the $15 minimum wage and the city reduces its business income and receipts tax (BIRT) or the city increases your BIRT. Oh, and he also wants to create Public Security Public Agency that will employ up to 10,000 people.
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