Fiscal Issues Dominate First Televised Mayoral Debate
Stephen Beale, GoLocalProv Politics Editor
Fiscal Issues Dominate First Televised Mayoral Debate
Pensions. Asked how he would deal with a $900 million pension liability, John Lombardi, a 26-year member of the city council, criticized a new contract with firefighters as unfair to voters, saying it did not go far enough in reducing costs. As mayor, he said he would appoint a commission to study the issue of pension costs.
Steven Costantino, who has dealt with pensions on a state level as House Finance Chairman, warned that the pension system was heading for collapse due in part to the cost of living adjustments. “The key issue for the Providence pensions isn’t so much what the benefit is,” Costantino said. “It’s actually whether there will be a pension sometime in the future. I do believe you have to revisit the COLA issue because at this rate the pension will collapse on itself.”
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTAngel Taveras called out both his Democratic primary opponents for not having clear answers. “We have the chairman on one side of me. He says he’ll revisit it,” Taveras said. “We have the councilman on the other side who after 26 years said he wants to study it.” Taveras said he unequivocally opposed compounded COLAs.
Jonathan Scott, an independent candidate, said new hires should be moved over to 401(k)s. He also was optimistic that he could convince younger workers—who had 10 years or less on the job—to move to private retirement accounts as well.
No one on stage at the Providence Performing Arts Center seemed to think that their predecessor, David Cicilline, had done that great of a job as mayor. Costantino gave him the highest grade—a B— followed by a B- from Taveras, a C from Lombardi, a C- from Scott, and an F from Young.
The candidates split on a question as to whether another former mayor, Buddy Cianci, deserved a city pension, after being convicted of racketeering conspiracy. Three of the four Democratic candidates said he did not. Only Young said he did, because he did “great things” for Providence. Scott said he believed Cianci was entitled to his pension by law.
Budget Deficit. Scott said he would cut the administrative budget by 20 percent and either end or reduce the cost of the city’s contract with Aramark, a company which manages its school custodians. Costantino said he would consolidate departments and reduce the budget by 5 percent each year. Lombardi called for across-the-board 5 percent cuts in department budgets, wage freezes, and eliminating overtime. Taveras emphasized the importance of all those in city government sacrificing to save money.
Some of the notable jabs of the evening were between Taveras and two primary opponents—Costantino and Lombardi—who he said had served a combined 42 years in elected office. “It’s time for new leadership to move our city forward and that’s why I’m running for mayor,” Taveras said in his opening remarks. “We can’t afford career politicians who got us to where we are today.”
Later in the debate, Lombardi suggested that Taveras had been silent about controversial attack e-mails against him and Costantino that had been distributed anonymously. Taveras denounced the e-mails and said that if he found out that any member of his staff was behind them that person would be fired. Lombardi said Taveras had had a “change of heart,” claiming that Taveras had previously refused to denounce the e-mails.
Young’s Mental Stability Questioned
Moderator Tim White asked Chris Young if he had the mental stability to serve as mayor. “Critics say you are more likely to turn events like this into the Jerry Springer show rather than a substantive discussion,” White said. “You spend enormous amounts of time lamenting the past and attacking quite frankly everyone. What do you say to people who question your stability to handle a high-pressure job as the mayor of Providence?”
“Well I’m very stable,” Young replied. “I’m not so stable enough to follow Angel Taveras though over a cliff. You know he wants to move forward and get going and move forward. And that will be over a cliff because Mr. Taveras you are a puppet for Mr. Cicilline.”
Young, prone to colorful performances and controversial stunts—like bringing a statue of the Virgin Mary to one debate, did not disappoint last night. In his closing remarks, he asked his girlfriend, Kara Russo, to marry him. She said yes. Young said his proposal was conditional on his winning the election for mayor.
Sylvia Batista told GoLocalProv she supports Taveras because he’s a fresh face and an outsider to the system. She said the other major Democratic candidates for mayor have already had their chance to change the city. “They’ve been involved in the city and I don’t see the changes,” she said. She thought Taveras had done well in the debate—answering questions calmly and confidently.
Howard Schulman, a doctor from the East Side of Providence, came into the debate a Costantino supporter and remained firmly in his camp afterwards. “He just has a lot of experience and everything he said is logical and doable,” Schulman said. "He has one hundred times more experience than everybody else.”
He said his second-favorite candidate was Taveras because of his Dominican background. He said his election would give the Hispanic community more confidence in the city leadership.