Pittsburgh's mayoral candidates last night sparred over the longtime residency requirement for city employees and whether Republican challenger Mark DeSantis "sold the city down the river" to get the endorsement of the police union.

"I stood up to the [Fraternal Order of Police], and my opponent was unwilling to stand up to the FOP and rather caved in to their demands," Mayor Luke Ravenstahl said during an hour-long debate sponsored and televised by WTAE-TV.

Mr. DeSantis responded that he received the police union endorsement last week because of his long-held belief that the city's residency requirement "is government by folklore."

"If we're worried that thousands of city employees are suddenly going to leave the city, let me tell you, we have a far bigger problem on our hands than losing a few taxpayers," Mr. DeSantis said. "[We need] to give our employees the flexibility to choose where they want to live. I happen to believe that they'll like the city so much that they'll want to stay."

Mr. DeSantis suggested that eliminating the residency requirement would make for happier employees and would "dramatically improve the quality of the people we can bring into city government as well."

Mr. Ravenstahl reiterated his support of the residency requirement and argued that Mr. DeSantis' characterization amounted to criticism of city workers.

"I couldn't disagree more," Mr. Ravenstahl said. "I'm a firm believer that if you're a taxpayer of this city then you should demand that your employees live in this city. ... It's a morale issue, and to suggest that somehow we're going to find better talent in the suburbs ... is a smack in the face of all of us in the city."

"To really chain people, in some way, and force them to live in the city when they choose to do public service and do good work for the city ... really doesn't make any sense," Mr. DeSantis responded.

The two candidates faced more than a dozen questions during the debate, at least three of which addressed ethical issues Mr. Ravenstahl has brought upon himself during his 13 months on the job.

"When Mayor Ravenstahl became mayor, I was rooting for him," Mr. DeSantis said. "I believed he had the potential to do the things we needed to do to make the hard choices and do the hard work that we needed to do.

"But now, after a year of mistakes and misjudgments, it's clear to me that Mayor Ravenstahl will not fulfill that potential."

Mr. DeSantis said he would appoint an ethics compliance officer and ensure that the city's ethics code was "very clear and very easy to understand."

"Government is not about gifts and perks," he said.

Mr. Ravenstahl noted that the Ethics Hearing Board -- which he put in place for the first time in more than 10 years -- had found that he had not accepted gifts and cleared him of wrongdoing in taking part in a charity golf event.

"The ethics code is clear," Mr. Ravenstahl said. "We are not allowed to accept gifts and the Ethics [Hearing] Board showed I did not receive gifts.

"The mayor should be at events, and the public charities are able to do more good when the mayor is there."

On the matter of consolidation, Mr. DeSantis again expressed his support of merging city and county services.

"I'd like to be the last mayor of Pittsburgh," he said. "I think consolidation is essential to our future. ... We have to rethink what our city really is."

Mr. Ravenstahl said he is open-minded about consolidation and willing to embrace it if it meets two criteria: Saving city taxpayers' money and providing better services.

On financial issues, the mayor again touted the balanced budget he has submitted and the five-year plan he has proposed for the city's debt recovery.

Mr. DeSantis, however, said the mayor's budget proposal calls for an increase of $50 million in spending over the next five years, while the population of the city is expected to continue to decline.

He said he would decrease spending by 1 percent each year.