Final mayoral debate a tepid affair

Democrat Jim Kenney and Republican Melissa Murray Bailey split on several matters of crime and immigration Friday in a polite and otherwise mostly agreeable final mayoral debate.

The one-hour taped debate will air, commercial-free, at 11 a.m. Sunday on 6ABC and stream on 6ABC.com and the ABC Watch App.

Kenney, the longtime former city councilman, continued to position himself as the candidate with experience fitting of a mayor, while Bailey, a newcomer to politics, touted the benefits of electing an outsider with business leadership know-how.

"I get it, I don't look how I'm supposed to be looking to be standing up here," Bailey said in her closing statement. "And you wonder about my experience - and if you think experience is sitting in City Hall for 23 years. then my opponent is who you should be voting for."

The two disagreed on whether to end the controversial police practice of stop-and-frisk.

Bailey said she wants to see the approach reformed so it doesn't violate constitutional rights but "we need to make sure that it is a tool that remains in a police officer's arsenal."

Kenney, who has vowed to do away with stop-and-frisk, said police already have the ability to stop someone and pat them down if they think the person is holding a weapon.

"The laws are not being applied appropriately and fairly," he said, "and we're going to stop doing it so we can create an environment within our communities where people trust the police."

On the topic of releasing names of officers in police-involved shootings, Kenney and Bailey split slightly.

Kenney said he supported Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey's policy of making the officers' identities public within 72 hours.

Bailey said she doesn't support "a full-throttle release of names."

"I think there's a balance," she said, noting she is in favor of body cameras for all officers.

Another notable difference came when Bailey, a business executive, said she would vote to revoke Philadelphia's status as a "sanctuary city," a city that restricts local police cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

In April 2014, the Nutter administration enacted a policy that requires ICE to obtain a judicial warrant, along with a detainer request, for any prisoner in city custody who would otherwise be released.

"They think if we get rid of [sanctuary-city status] all the sudden we're going to round up all the illegal citizens and deport them," Bailey said. "That's not what sanctuary city is about. It's for people who are here illegally and committing crimes, that we will hold them until a detainer request is granted, and I think that is something that we need to do in order to keep Philadelphians safe."

Kenney rejected that view, calling the family detention center in Berks County "basically a concentration camp," and pledging to keep the status if he is elected mayor.

On how to combat crime, Kenney says he favors legislation continuously blocked in Harrisburg that would make it a requirement for gun owners to report lost or stolen weapons.

Bailey repeated her call for 500 more police officers on the force. Asked how she'd pay for such a surge, she said she'd shift the city to "paperless operations," which she said could save millions.

Also running for mayor are independents Jim Foster, a newspaper publisher, and Boris Kindij, a real estate property manager, along with Socialist Workers Party nominee Osborne Hart, a Walmart employee.

jterruso@phillynews.com215-854-5506 @juliaterruso