Mayoral candidates square off in debate
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Sharing a stage for the first time, the candidates for mayor of Pittsburgh sparred on taxes, ethics and the logistics of the G-20 summit.
The event, which will be broadcast at noon today on KDKA television, was the first of three scheduled televised debates, forums that will offer the less well known challengers the opportunity to raise the public profiles of their bids to unseat the incumbent Democrat, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl.
While the one-hour event maintained a largely civil tone, Kevin Acklin and Franco "Dok" Harris, both running as independents, criticized the mayor for proposing taxes on hospital bills and college students to bridge a $15 million gap in the city's pending budget.
Mr. Acklin called the proposal "offensive," while Mr. Harris said it was not appropriate to tax students at a time when the city is trying to attract and keep young people. Neither, however, offered specific details on how they would come up with the $15 million in annual revenues represented by the administration proposals. Mr. Harris said that the city's nonprofit sector should pay its "fair share" to the city, while Mr. Acklin said he would work with the Legislature to come up with a preferable better alternative.
Mr. Ravenstahl has suggested a 1 percent tax on college tuition and a one-tenth of 1 percent tax on hospital bills to produce the new revenue. He has yet to submit the plan to council and has said he is open to alternatives, such as new fees on parking or water use.
"What I'm not willing to do is raise taxes on city residents," he said. "They pay too much now. Nonprofits, on the other hand, do need to step up."
Much of the early portion of the one-hour interview, hosted by KDKA reporters Ken Rice and Jon Delano, was devoted to a review of the city's preparation and police response to last month's G-20 summit.
Mr. Acklin said he would not have agreed to host the session without former federal guarantees to defray the city's costs. Mr. Ravenstahl insisted that city taxpayers would not be saddled with any extra costs from the event.
Mr. Harris faulted the city for restricting access to the Downtown area. Mr. Ravenstahl rejected the suggestion that the city had been shut down, although he acknowledged that he wished that more people had chosen to patronize Downtown businesses and restaurants during the two days of the international meeting.
"I would have loved to see more people Downtown, I admit it," he said. "Downtown was a ghost town."
The mayor maintained, however, that the international publicity from the event would produce long-term benefits for the city in terms of commerce and convention business.
While Mr. Ravenstahl played the incumbent's traditional role as chief target, he was not the only candidate called on to defend his record.
Some of the liveliest banter came during questions about Mr. Harris' voter registration records, which showed he voted in Sewickley until early this year, despite moving back to the city 2004 to attend law and business school.
Mr. Harris said that keeping his registration at his parents' address "was inappropriate, but I am a Pittsburgher, I've lived here for four or five years and there is really no question about that."
"Isn't that voter fraud, Dok?" asked Mr. Ravenstahl. It was not fraud because there was no intent, Mr. Harris replied, and "as a layperson I did not understand" the rules.
"But you're a lawyer," countered Mr. Acklin, who is also an attorney.
Pittsburgh's city charter has only one major requirement for those running for mayor -- living in the city for at least three years before the election. It says nothing about where candidates are registered to vote.
Mr. Harris held a news conference earlier in the day to refute residency questions, at which he gave reporters copies of lease agreements for various apartments in the city going back to 2005. He switched his voter registration to a city address in March. Last month, his campaign survived a court challenge by Acklin supporters on unrelated election matters.
"It's funny that these [allegations] did not come out during the original challenge period. Most likely they would have been laughed out of court," Mr. Harris said.
Near the end of the 60 minutes, the format switched to a Jeopardy-like lightning round. All three had a pretty good idea of the city's population, 310,000, though Mr. Acklin was the most precise. Mr. Acklin was off slightly on the city's African-American percentage, 24 percent. Mr. Harris had the right answer -- 27 percent -- while the mayor was way off with a guess of 36 or 37 percent.
Mr. Ravenstahl also missed the mark on the Port Authority's basic fare. He said $1.50 while his challengers correctly answered $2.
Mr. Ravenstahl did better when the questions turned to knowledge of the Legislature. He knew that the Senate majority leader was Dominic Pileggi. Mr. Acklin correctly identified the lieutenant governor as Joseph Scarnati but Mr. Harris drew a blank on the House majority leader, Keith McCall. Mr. Ravenstahl also knew that "about half a dozen" Fortune 500 companies were headquartered in Pittsburgh while Mr. Acklin was off by one with his answer, seven, and Mr. Harris offered the optimistic overestimate of 14.
The three candidates are scheduled to appear in two more televised debates -- Wednesday on WTAE and a week later, Oct. 29, on WPXI.
First Published October 17, 2009 12:00 am
