Mayor Jim Brainard and his challenger City Council President Rick Sharp both tried to grab the title of “fiscal conservative” as they made their pitch to voters at the Current in Carmel debate April 21.
Both candidates told a crowd at The Ritz Charles that they believe their records have been distorted by their opponents, using incorrect statistics, scare tactics and revisionist history to tip in the scales in their favor.
Both Sharp and Brainard consistently tried to put forth an image as a true Republican who believes in the power of the free market.
At one point early in the debate, Brainard accused Sharp of acting much like “communists in Russia” because of Sharp’s vocal concern about the “overdevelopment” of rental properties.
“What Rick is suggesting is that the City Council, the Mayor and the City of Carmel should decide what the free market wants,” he said. “He’s suggesting – much like the communists in Russia before the curtain fell – that the government can plan how many apartments, how many condos. That’s better left to capitalism and the free market. Bankers decide that. Developers decide that.”
Later in the debate, Sharp shot back saying the mayor liked to “pick the winners and the losers” when it comes to the business community in Carmel. He criticized Brainard for overly subsidizing businesses to move to Carmel when this community is affluent and should already be very attractive for business.
Sharp said Brainard might want to claim that developers are the ones driving an increasingly dense downtown urban core, but the truth is that increasing debt and a need to prop up areas like the Carmel City Center are causing Brainard to decide how Carmel develops. He questioned whether a dense downtown is what Carmel should want.
“Do we want to remain Carmel or do we want to become little Chicago?” Sharp said. “I’m intensely interested in keeping Carmel Carmel. As I go doorstep to doorstep and talk to residents, a consistent theme is, ‘They way things are going but.’ And the but always has to do with will be lose our character and our charm that makes this city a town? I think the issue is that issue is driven by the fiscal policies of this administration.”
Brainard provided statistics – often scrutinized by Sharp – to counteract each of his opponent’s assertions. The mayor said added density provides a walkable downtown and reduces infrastructure costs, which keeps taxes low. He said the “sky isn’t falling” like Sharp would suggest and that Carmel is on solid financial footing, as evidenced by bond raters giving the city of Carmel at AA+ rating.
“Neighborhoods are strong and our financial future is strong,” Brainard said. “What my opponent is talking about doesn’t exist.”
Sharp said he’s going to spend less money than Brainard, but that doesn’t mean the city’s amenities will go away.
“I’m not going to end the festivals. I’m not going to take the flower baskets down. I just want a new financial direction,” Sharp said.
He said Brainard accuses him of going negative, but he’s only stating the facts.
“If you only want to hear sugar coat, I’m not your guy,” Sharp said. “Why am I here? I’m here because of a billion dollars. That’s the debt. I’m not here to scare you. That’s what the number is.”
