Two Republican mayor candidates argued Scranton's government needs to operate better than it does during their debate Tuesday.
In a separate Democratic debate, one mayor candidate, Bob Sheridan, agreed with the Republicans, but the other, Mayor Paige Cognetti, said she's doing a good job running the city and made her case for four more years.
The debates took place at the University of Scranton. The Democrats debated first, then the Republicans followed in the same room with the same moderator, who asked the same questions.
Each candidate seeks a nomination in the May 20 primary election. Pennsylvania has a closed-primary system. Only members of the major parties vote to nominate candidates for November elections.
The primary winners and any third-party candidates will face each other in the Nov. 4 municipal election. You can read more about the candidates here.
Cognetti largely stayed on topic responding to questions asked by moderator Michael Jenkins, chairman of the university's Criminal Justice, Cybersecurity and Sociology Department.
Sheridan spent much of his allotted time — including rebuttals — criticizing the incumbent mayor and the state of the city. He also tried to ask Cognetti questions about where she lives and future political plans, which Jenkins cut off, citing debate rules.
The Republican debate was quieter and less contentious, with Beynon and Labrosky rarely disagreeing, but often raising concerns about the state of the city under the mayor, who was not part of their debate.
Top priorities as mayor?
Cognetti said her top priority if re-elected would be to continue being a strong financial steward of taxpayer dollars.
"The responsible financial management of our city undergirds everything that we do, from having our firefighters be able to respond to you, our police department should be there when you need them, our public works department to continue to improve our policies and processes for road safety, for traffic safety to continue, for our code enforcement to make sure that we're getting rid of blight make sure that our law department can continue to prevent lawsuits from even coming," Cognetti said.
She said the city's credit rating improved under her tenure, and Scranton received several awards for fiscal management.
"Financial stewardship is the absolute bedrock of what we need to do," Cognetti said.
Sheridan said his top priorities would be "to make sure the budget is secure," and making sure city employees "are happy."
He alleged the mayor "has failed in the last four years" with city employees, claiming without explanation that the unions "have her banned" and she would not negotiate with them.
Cognetti responded that the city has successfully negotiated contracts with all five unions and that by 2027 all city employees will earn more than $50,000 a year. Some earned as little as $28,000 when she came to office.
Sheridan said he has heard Cognetti refused to negotiate personally with police and fire union members. She said police and fire contracts went through arbitration, which she called a standard practice.
In the Republican debate, Labrosky opened by saying her top priority would be listening to constituents.
"Top policy for me would be opening my ears, listening to concerns, resolving issues for citizens," she said. "I would also open the doors to City Hall. ... I don't feel fearful that anyone would come in ..."
Beynon said her top priority would be transparency — and that also included less restrictive access to City Hall.
"We don't know where our tax money is going all the time, and we don't know what's going on behind closed doors," Beynon said. "I think people need to know. They need to know where the tax money is going. They need to know who they can rely on."
"We also need them to have the (City Hall) doors open," Beynon said. "There's a lot of older people that are in the area. They can't use a computer. ... We need to be able to go into City Hall and ask questions, get answers, know where everything is going. Transparency is key for me."
Security measures at City Hall under Cognetti's administration, as noted above, were criticized by the other three candidates. The mayor defended the measures as necessary given increasing violence in civic and political life.
Key themes across debates
Several other key themes emerged during both debates:
- Flood money — The candidates were asked about a recent Federal Emergency Management Agency decision to terminate the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program. The city had hoped the program would provide $2.5 million to buy out 21 flood-damaged West Scranton properties.
Cognetti spoke about lobbying federal officials to get those cuts reversed and talks with Harrisburg to find state-funded solutions.
"And we've always been looking at a locally funded plan B," she said. "We hope that it doesn't get to that but we are prepared to do that. We are very, very committed to making sure that those families are made whole."
Sheridan did not say what he would do, but criticized the mayor for taking several days to address the residents when the 2023 flooding happened. He alleged she had access "to COVID money, rescue money that she could have used ... to help those people back then, and she didn't."
Labrosky said she "would reach out to any legislator, any rep, any congressman, senator or even the president, if I had to, to do what's best for the citizens of Scranton."
But, she said, "as far as counting on federal funds, I think we need to find more self-sufficient ways in Scranton to fund things that need to be done, like flood projects, and not have to count on federal funding for that. ... Counting on federal funds is not sustainable."
Beynon agreed.
"That would be my answer, pretty much the same," she said.
"We have to make sure that we have other avenues that we can explore to make sure that we get the monies that we need for the infrastructure," Beynon said.
"There's got to be ways to restructure the monies that we already have with the city. If we can, you know, offset it to something else that would be important. We do have the money. We don't know where all the money is going," Beynon said.
- Safety, infrastructure — Cognetti's challengers painted a picture of a city they feel is increasingly unsafe, with growing blight, decaying infrastructure, and morale low on the police force. The mayor challenged those contentions.
In particular, Cognetti said the city has demolished 72 blighted buildings with "dozens more" on the list. She also said the city has added five new police officers to the budget for this year, and over $4 million in new technology and training overall.
Sheridan criticized Cognetti's performance on infrastructure and the state of the city's parks, saying children need working swimming pools more than splash pads. He hearkened back to the days of amusement rides in Nay Aug Park.
"Unfortunately, at this point in our history, we can't afford to have a zoo, we can't afford to have an amusement park," Cognetti said. She said the city has 32 parks "with lots of things to do for people of all ages," and improvements are ongoing.
Train project — Only Cognetti gave full support to continued efforts to restore passenger rail service to Scranton. Sheridan's answer seemed to veer from the topic, while the two Republicans expressed qualified support tempered by concerns about whether trains from New York would lead to a need for increased policing.
Both debates were recorded by ECTV for later broadcast. The University’s Center for Ethics and Excellence in Public Service website will also post video of the debates.
