Smiley, Morales spar in first Democratic primary debate of Providence mayor’s race

PROVIDENCE – In their first head-to-head debate, incumbent Mayor Brett Smiley and his challenger, state Representative David Morales, sparred on rent control, snow removal, immigration enforcement and their records, as both men seek the Democratic nomination in a race that has divided the progressive and moderate wings of the party.

Read more Trading for A.J. Brown was the right move for the Patriots, but there’s a lot not to like about it

In the debate at the Globe’s Providence podcast studio moderated by this reporter, Smiley, 47, said the city has become safer and better-run during his first term, and sought to distinguish himself from Morales, 27, a state representative whom Smiley said has not done enough for Providence on Smith Hill.

Morales, a Democratic Socialist, said Providence needs new leadership that will stabilize rents and fight harder against federal immigration enforcement. An underdog compared to the well-funded Smiley, Morales won the support of the Providence Teachers Union earlier this week.

The next mayor will serve a critical role as the city regains control of its school system for the first time since 2019, and will be tasked with balancing a budget that is continually squeezed by rising pension payments caused by past mayoral administrations, which underfunded the pension system.

During the debate, Morales reversed course on two previous positions: He said he no longer supports defunding the police, and also will not attempt to renegotiate benefits for existing retirees as a way to address the city’s pension crisis.

He made the remarksabout retirees’ pensionson WPRI’s Newsmakers in September, shortly after declaring his candidacy, proposing to lower benefits for existing retirees, especially for out-of-state residents.

Smiley criticized Morales for seeking to get retirees to “take a haircut” voluntarily on their pension benefits.

“I misspoke during that interview, and do appreciate having the opportunity to clarify as part of this debate,” Morales said. ”We made a promise to our workers, and we’re going to maintain that promise.”

Morales criticized Smiley for mishandling a snowstorm in January, when it took a week to fully remove the snow, especially from parking lanes. He said he would replace city Department of Public Works Director Patricia Coyne-Fague with someone who has worked as a traffic engineer in a city larger than Providence.

Smiley acknowledged the city fell short during the January storm, which dropped 16 inches of snowfollowed by a week of frigid temperatures, but touted a much-improved system during the record-breaking February blizzard, when three feet fell. The city was “passable in three days and open in five days,” Smiley said, “a full week faster than the Blizzard of ‘78.” He said he has confidence in Coyne-Fague.

The two clashed after Morales said as mayor he would seek to get more state aid for a host of areas, including schools, libraries and infrastructure.

“There was a half-dozen state aid ideas that were just rattled off,” Smiley said. “The representative is a state rep from Providence, so we’d be grateful if you passed any of those increases in funding while you’re still up there.”

Morales noted he and colleagues on Smith Hill had secured more funding for Providence, but criticized Smiley for not convening the Providence delegation of representatives and senators often enough.

“So the reason that the representative didn’t work harder for the city is because I didn’t call you to enough meetings?” Smiley responded.

Much of the debate centered around housing. Providence topped Zillow’s list of “hottest” rental markets earlier this month, and is considered one of the least affordable cities when comparing median rents to incomes.

While both men said it’s important to build more affordable housing, Morales has made rent control a pillar of his campaign. Smiley recently vetoed a rent stabilization measure passed by the Providence City Council that would have limited annual rent increases to 4 percent for some apartments in the city. Council leaders were unable to get enough votes to override the veto.

“Our neighbors should not be living in fear that they’re going to be price-gouged,” said Morales, who has pledged to sign the ordinance into law if elected.

Read more Tuesday’s nine high school tournament takeaways: Girls’ lacrosse semifinals start to take shape

“Affordability is the most pressing challenge facing our city right now,” Smiley said. But he said rent control would shift the tax burden to single-family homeowners, decrease construction, and “all-but-guarantee” renters would get the full 4 percent increase each year.

He questioned Morales’s support for a proposal that would have exempted a large swath of apartments across the city, including newly-constructed buildings and owner-occupied multi-family homes.

“It’s totally inequitable,” Smiley said. “Some of the people who are going to end up being in a rent-controlled apartment are college kids. … It’s not targeted to the people who need it the most, it’s not targeted to our lowest-income neighbors, it’s not targeted to families. It’s all luck of the draw.”

Morales said “all of our neighbors deserve stability, including college students.” He defended the exemptions as seeking to find a “balance” so new development is not impacted.

Both men said they would keep Colonel Oscar Perez on as police chief, and would hire more police officers. Smiley said the department, which had 464 officers after the most recent academy graduation, was close to fully staffed. He held three police training academies during his first term, and said future academies would depend on the number of officers who choose to retire.

Morales, who in 2021 had advocated for defunding the police, said he would also hold an academy to hire new officers, which would adopt a points system that gives a leg up to Providence residents who want to be officers. (The department already gives extra points to Providence residents in its application process, a police spokesperson said.)

On immigration, Morales criticized Smiley for “performative press conferences and executive orders that hold little weight,” and said he would seek to communicate with neighbors in real time when US Immigration and Customs Enforcement is nearby.

“It’s been very stressful to hear the fear that our immigrant neighbors are forced to live in,” Morales said.

Smiley said immigration enforcement under President Trump has been “unacceptable and un-American.”

“I do not believe it is performative for this community to hear and see their police chief standing next to their mayor saying, and reaffirming, that all are welcome here,” Smiley said.

Morales proposed a higher commercial tax rate for “corporate polluters” in the Port of Providence, a proposal Smiley called “naive.”

 ”You cannot legally just pick and choose which businesses you want to tax at a higher rate because you don’t like the business,” Smiley said. ”It’s not as simple as just picking and choosing who you don’t like, and then that’s who you get to tax. And frankly, this city’s got a long history of things that smell like corruption in that way.”

The two disagreed on the charter school debate; Morales said he supports a moratorium on new charters that is being considered at the State House, while Smiley said he opposes it.

Neither candidate would say who they are supporting in the Democratic primary for governor, where incumbent Governor Dan McKee is being challenged by Helena Foulkes.

The primary election is set for Wednesday, Sept. 9. The winner is expected to face independent Allen Waters in the general election.

Listen to the full debate on the Rhode Island Report podcast on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get podcasts.

Read more Owners’ salary cap proposal, rejected by the players, is the first salvo in MLB labor strife