Democratic candidate Miles Burnett will face Mayor Jared Kraham, the Republican incumbent, in the Binghamton mayoral election.

The race has been particularly contentious, with several issues coming to the forefront of this election cycle. Burnett, who served as former deputy chief of staff to State Sen. Lea Webb ‘04, and Kraham, elected in 2021 as the youngest mayor in Binghamton City history, have both faced public scrutiny in the aftermath of controversies

One of the most prominent events this election cycle was the resignation of Binghamton Police Chief Joseph Zikuski months after a July 18 incident involving his girlfriend and two teenage boys in Johnson City. The City hired Lippes Mathias LLP to lead an independent, third-party investigation into the incident.

Released last week, the report accused Zikuski of violating several BPD policies, including “wiping clean” his cellphone before turning it over to authorities and storing a personal firearm in his office. Zikuski resigned before the findings were released.

In a digital debate on Wednesday hosted by WSKG Public Media, Kraham said that as mayor, he pursued the right course of action in investigating the matter and making the report publicly available for transparency purposes.

Burnett, however, questioned the actions of the mayor’s office, claiming that the investigation was not completed quickly enough or with enough transparency.

“We were promised that the investigation would be handled quickly,” Burnett said in an interview with Pipe Dream. “It took over 80 days for the public to be made aware of the findings of this report. The mayor has still yet to tell us when the report was received by his office and then made available to the public, and he’s still yet to tell us if he discussed the findings of that report with Chief Zikuski and allowed him to resign rather than terminating his employment, which I think would have been true accountability.”

The redevelopment of the Binghamton Plaza has also been a contentious topic between the candidates. With the New York Supreme Court allowing the city to take control of the property via eminent domain, the plaza is now slated for demolition. Kraham supports the plaza’s redevelopment, hoping to turn it into a “driver of economic development and revitalization.”

Burnett, on the other hand, joined North Side business owners in June for a press conference to push back against the plaza’s demolition. Several local businesses still operate at the location, including New York Pizzeria, TTJR Oddities, Leather Corner Shoe Repair and two different flea markets.

In an August WNBF radio debate, Kraham claimed that one of these business owners standing with Burnett was a registered sex offender.

“Miles Burnett stood with a convicted child rapist and level two sex offender,” Kraham said during the debate.

The business owner in question was convicted on Nov. 16, 2016, with three counts of rape in the third degree with a victim less than 17 years old. He failed to appear at his trial. The judgment was reversed in 2019 upon appeal, with the state Supreme Court’s Appellate Division ruling that the lower court “violated [the] defendant’s right to be present at his trial” before sending the case back to the Tioga County Court. However, the business owner remains on the New York State Sex Offender Registry as a Level 2 Risk convicted rapist.

Burnett, however, has maintained that Kraham attempted to defame the business owner and avoid addressing concerns from business owners in the plaza.

“It is my understanding that his charges were completely dropped on appeal, and that his record has been cleared in the other states where this trial was actually conducted in, and that the registry has not been updated in New York state,” Burnett said in an interview. “That is my understanding from talking to the business owner.”

“But again, I think that it’s wrong to be dragging in a business owner who is looking out for our community and trying to defame their character, especially when my opponent does not understand the whole lawsuit,” he continued.

The relationship between the mayor’s office and the Binghamton City Council has also been a point of focus over the past few months, with the most recent disagreement between them stemming from how to fund the city’s fire department. While the city council initially failed to approve, Kraham’s request to allocate $357,685 in federal Community Development Block Grant funds to the department, the legislative body on Sept. 10 passed a proposal that would give $141,000 to the department.

Regarding this issue, Councilwoman Rebecca Rathmell, who represents the sixth district, claimed that Kraham’s administration “just throws resolutions out and hopes we don’t have the time to figure out alternatives.” Burnett also criticized Kraham’s relationship with the Council, claiming that the mayor simply vetoes legislation that he disagrees with.

In an interview with Pipe Dream, Kraham emphasized his willingness to continue to work with the City Council and highlighted their previous successes.

“We’ve passed bipartisan budgets,” Kraham said. “We’ve passed really good reforms to certain laws, and I stand ready to work with City Council on any issue that’s important to their constituency. We’re going to have disagreements, for sure, but I won’t back down from my position on things.”

During the WBNF debate, the candidates also discussed the housing crisis extensively. Kraham discussed progress made under his administration in addressing the crisis, pointing to renovations at Town and Country Apartments, which will have 256 units of housing. Burnett claimed at the August debate that this construction “hasn’t been started.”

In an interview with Pipe Dream, Kraham said Burnett’s claim was “blatantly false.”

“It’s something where if he feels like he has to basically not tell the truth on something as trivial as, ‘Is a housing project under construction or not,’ that just points to someone who is either not aware of what’s going on in the community, or feels like they have to lie in order to, I guess, take shots at me,” said Kraham.

Another controversy began last month when a 2009 video of Burnett using offensive language resurfaced, causing public backlash. The video showed Burnett analyzing lyrics to a song where he used the N-word twice. Burnett released an apology on Facebook after the video came to light and claimed he was 14 years old when it was posted.

However, Kraham claimed that Burnett was actually nearly 17 years old at the time of the video. Records show that Burnett was born in 1992, meaning he would have been about 17 years old at the time.

“I think this is an example of my opponent trying to focus on the wrong thing here,” Burnett said. “When the video was posted on, I believe YouTube, by what seems like someone from his party, it did not give a timestamp of when that video happened. So I’m looking at the video, and I’m seeing where I was and doing my best estimate of how old I was at that time.”

During the WSKG debate, Burnett issued a public apology for the video.

“The words used in that video did harm people,” Burnett said. “And for that, I am deeply sorry. I do believe that this video coming out has facilitated a conversation about race that is so desperately needed in our community.”

The candidates will face off in another public debate on Oct. 20 at 6:30 p.m. in the Southern Tier Independence Center.

Students registered to vote in Binghamton can cast their ballots in the mayoral election on Nov. 4. Early voting begins Oct. 25 and ends Nov. 2.