The Great Debate Debate
Team McSally neglects to commit to TV debate, demands more debates
A debate over debates has broken out in the race between Democratic Congressman Ron Barber and his Republican challenger, Martha McSally.
On Sept. 4, Team Barber challenged McSally to two debates. Later that day, Team McSally responded with a demand for four debates. Team Barber eventually agreed to three debates and Team McSally has continued to needle Team Barber about a potential fourth debate.
But a representative from the League of Women Voters told the Weekly that one of the three Congressional District 2 debates, scheduled for last Sunday, Sept. 28, had to be called off because Team McSally would not commit to participating.
Bob Richardson said he sent both campaigns a registered letter on Sept. 4 that asked them to commit by Sept. 12 to a debate on Sept. 28 that would be televised by KVOA-TV. Team Barber agreed to the debate, but Richardson didn’t hear back from Team McSally by the deadline, so he took the extra step of contacting McSally spokesman Patrick Ptak to try to set up a debate.
Richardson, who worked in TV news for decades, said that he made multiple efforts to get the McSally campaign to confirm their participation in the debate, but Ptak would not commit to the event.
“I talked to him several times and he never would commit to it,” Richardson said.
Richardson added that KVOA staff also tried to confirm the debate with Team McSally, but could not get an agreement to participate. On Friday, Sept. 19, a KVOA staffer let Ptak know that he didn’t hear back with a confirmation by the end of the day, KVOA would have to back out of participating in the debate, according to Richardson.
A KVOA producer called Richardson on Monday, Sept. 22, to let him know that they had not heard back from Team McSally and were going to have to back out of the debate, so the League of Women Voters canceled the event, according to Richardson.
The Weekly reached out to KVOA News Director Cathie Batbie to learn more about KVOA’s role in the debate scheduling, but didn’t hear back as of deadline.
Richardson said Ptak had said that Team McSally had some concerns about whether the Sept. 28 date worked, but he never asked about alternative dates.
In a statement to the Weekly, Ptak didn’t address Richardson’s account of the negotiations over the debate but said the campaign was “surprised and disappointed to hear news that it was cancelled.”
Ptak added that “Barber agreed to three debates. We’re calling on him to honor that agreement and debate Martha on the number one issue for voters—job creation.”
Last Friday, Sept. 26, Ptak sent out a press release once again challenging Barber to a debate to be hosted by the Tucson Metro Chamber and the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
Team Barber spokeswoman Ashley Nash-Hahn said Barber had been “looking forward to the League of Women Voters debate.”
Nash-Hahn mocked Team McSally’s failure to say yes to the opportunity for a televised debate last week.
“Who could possibly keep track of Martha McSally’s endless twists and turns over whether she will debate, or when, or where?” Nash-Hahn added. “McSally and her Washington, D.C. operatives would rather play games with Southern Arizona then talk openly about the issues facing our community. This is truly a missed opportunity for the honest and rigorous debate that Southern Arizona deserves.”
There are now two debates scheduled between Barber and McSally. They will meet for an Arizona Public Media televised debate from 6 to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 6, on PBS 6, and again on 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 12, at Sierra Vista’s Buena High School in Cochise County.
No Shows
Republican candidates write off debates in Southern Arizona
Speaking of debates: It appears most of the Republican candidates who are running for statewide office aren’t interested in debating in Southern Arizona.
All four of the major candidates for statewide office rejected offers by the League of Women Voters and Arizona Public Media to set up televised debates.
Gubernatorial candidate Doug Ducey said no to debating Democrat Fred DuVal (although Ducey did debate DuVal here last month in a forum co-sponsored by Tucson Local Media and the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce). Secretary of State candidate Michele Reagan said she couldn’t find the time to debate Democrat Terry Goddard in Southern Arizona. Attorney General candidate Mark Brnovich declined to debate Democrat Felicia Rotelini down here. And Republican Diane Douglas, who is such a terrible candidate that even the Arizona Chamber of Commerce has endorsed Democratic candidate David Garcia, is another no-show. (To be fair, Douglas is refusing to debate Garcia in any forum other than the legally required Clean Elections debate.)
Why all the no-shows? We’d guess it has a lot to do with the diminishing power of the media in general, combined with a growing fear among candidates that they might say something stupid in an unscripted environment. In a world where TV ads rule and GOP candidates have a voter-registration advantage, they just don’t see enough of an upside to debating their opponents to justify the risk.
Nine on the Line
Legislative District 9 candidates debate next week
Here’s a debate you can attend: The Legislative District 9 House of Representative candidates will be debating on Monday, Oct. 4.
Legislative District 9 is one of the most competitive in the state. In fact, it’s one of the few districts in the state that’s represented by both a Democrat and a Republican in the House of Representatives: Republican Ethan Orr and Democrat Victoria Steele.
The Democrats are trying to win both seats by knocking off Orr with Randy Friese, a trauma doc who is best known for being on duty on Jan. 8, 2011, when the victims of the mass shooting at Gabby Giffords’ Congress on Your Corner began arriving at UMC.
Orr is arguing that he has a moderate record that includes support for the University of Arizona and Gov. Jan Brewer’s Medicaid expansion. Democrats are saying that his support for anti-abortion legislation and his support for gun rights—among other issues—show that he’s too conservative for the district.
The Tucson Weekly/Tucson Local Media forum is from 6 to 7 p.m. at St. Francis in the Foothills, 4625 E. River Road. Doors open at 5:30 p.m.
This article appears in Oct 2-8, 2014.
I still can’t believe that their lying mud slinging campaign managers have the audacity to bring them out in public after so many lies.
October 4th is a Saturday.
Ask Martha — martha@mcsallyforcongress.com — why she’s so reluctant to appear onstage with Ron here in Tucson, heart of the district she wants to represent.
No one should be surprised at the generalized reluctance of Republican candidates, especially those running for statewide offices, to appear live and in person in Tucson. Elect them and they will govern with no consideration given to our city or county and their hopes and aspirations. I’m a little surprised that they have not signed on en masse to the movement for a new state of Baja Arizona, so they’d never have to visit or be concerned with us who live south of the Gila. And perhaps we should be grateful to be spared hearing their nonsensical non-solutions to the problems of the state. A governor who would refuse to fund schools at the level demanded by the citizenry back in 2000 and at the same time put more money into classrooms? Even the honorable Janice disagrees with Dicey Ducey on that one. One thing he would do is make her look reasonable and responsible.
If Ethan Orr — supporter of the agendas of the National Rifle Association and Center for Arizona Policy — is a moderate, what does it take to be considered a conservative? In an article in today’s issue of Tucson’s other paper Ethan calls Dr. Randy Friese — he who with all too great frequency treats gunshot victims — for a focus on gun control. It is Ethan who is naive if he thinks Tucsonans are going to take seriously his disingenuous claims to look victims in the eye and to work to make the community safer. One CANNOT follow the NRA’s lead and advance public safety at the same time, or even in the same lifetime.
Maybe McSally couldn’t make September 28 because she had a botox treatment scheduled. Who paid for all the makeover work she’s had done? The RNC? The Koch brothers? The Republicans didn’t think she was pretty enough to win last time? Yeah, that screams substance. Funny how her handlers would only agree to debate where they’d have the smallest audiences.
From the story: “Tuesday, Oct. 6, on PBS 6, and again on 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 12,”
Oct. 6 is a Monday; Oct. 12 is a Sunday.
The posts above and the story clearly are biased towards the Barber/Pelosi agenda! As are the LoWV. So the Cambers are a better sponsor. If they want the debates then Barber camp can’t be in control of the subject matter. Kash is full of Soros DNC Rhetoric so can’t be taken seriously when he complains about the right.
The fact is this is all a waste of time. Mcsally or any other conservative has no chance of winning in this bastian of the left. Tucsons infrastructure will continue to crumble as the moronic city council commisions more statues and useless street cars. Illegals will continue to murder, rape and kidnap (fortunately they seem to keep this in their own communities) and anyone with any money will continue to retreat to pima county, marana and Oro Valley to avoid the the desolute impoverishment that is most Tucson. The elite will continue to joke “oh we don’t go below river” to their scottsdale counterparts and restrict their economic activities to La Encantada, Ventana, Marana and Oro Valley market places because simply their cleaner and safer . As long as the Tucsonians can delude themselves into thinking that the eclectic 3 or 4 block surrounding UofA and the capus its self is some how a greater representation of the city as a whole Tucson will continue to rank just above the getto slums in larger citys.
Memo to TW: I think all this “reaching out” has to stop. How’s about a simple “tried to contact?” A lot cleaner and, well, less stupid sounding.
Oh, am I tired of Martha McSally and her self-righteous claims of fighting for women’s rights. The only thing she’s fighting for is a big bite of Koch money and power.
I watch KOLD in Tucson of a morning while getting ready to go to work, and one of the ads that over-saturate the airwaves during this, our silly season, is McSally bragging on her fight for women- which consists of fighting the Pentagon about female soldiers wearing a hijab.
Seriously, you are trying to get the female vote by talking about HAIR? The only difference between a Kardashian and this candidate is that the Kardashian is at least sincere in her vapid shallowness. McSally is taking this tack to manipulate voters, based on agenda-driven market research.
I’ve been looking for a video of the ad for a while, but the clip below covers the point. The elephant in the room that she ignores of course, is the drastic changes women’s economic situations undergo if they DON’T have autonomous control over their reproductive choices.
Ron Barber may pander to the right to keep military contracts here in Tucson, but at least he’s not a gender-based quisling.