Our View: GOP candidates arrogant in refusing debate offers
The Idaho Republican Party should be ashamed of three of its top candidates for statewide office.
For the third time this month, a Republican candidate for an executive office has rejected an invitation from the League of Women Voters and Idaho Press Club for a live statewide debate on Idaho Public Television. Last week, U.S. Rep. Butch Otter, who is running for governor, opted for a TV debate in the Boise area with more controls. On Sept. 1, Gov. Jim Risch declined an invitation to face Democrat Larry LaRocco on public television in their lieutenant governor race. On Wednesday, former legislator Donna Jones said she won’t bother to debate Democrat Jackie Groves Twilegar in their controller race.
Jones told the Associated Press that “it didn’t make a lot of sense to have a controller’s debate” when both Otter and Risch have canceled.Basically, Otter, Risch and Jones are relying on the “R” after their names on the ballot to win Idaho office. They’re so confident in their strategy that they are risking voter backlash in an anti-incumbent year and undercutting a venerable campaign forum for addressing Idahoans. Democrat Jerry Brady said Otter is trying to avoid meeting him head on. Risch declined the League of Women Voters forum because he didn’t like the rules. Jones has other priorities. Yet, they’ll probably seek this newspaper’s endorsement in the next six weeks.
The Spokesman-Review has serious questions about endorsing any candidate who isn’t willing to discuss crucial state issues in a live debate.
To their credit, Otter and Risch have each agreed to debates televised by Boise station KTVB. Otter will meet Brady in Twin Falls on Oct. 30 in a debate that will be aired live by KTVB in the Boise area and on its Web site and then made available by tape to other stations, including KSKN in North Idaho. Risch opted for a prerecorded match-up with LaRocco on Oct. 10, which will be shown later on KTVB and distributed to other Idaho TV stations.
The League of Women Voters and Press Club will go ahead with their live Oct. 29 debate between Brady and Libertarian Ted Dunlap. But they have decided not to cover the lieutenant governor’s race since LaRocco is the only major candidate available. The controller candidates aren’t scheduled for other debates.
“I have a full-time position until the end of the month,” Jones, who directs the Idaho Real Estate Commission, told the AP. “I have one month to campaign full time. Two weeks (of that) are going to be spent on a bus tour. Quite frankly, I have other priorities that I need to take care of (than debating).”
The attitude of the Republican candidates toward live public debates is a far cry from the one displayed by then U.S. Rep. Richard Stallings in the 1992 U.S. Senate race. Stallings interrupted his busy Capitol Hill schedule to meet Dirk Kempthorne in a series of eight debates. At the time Kempthorne said: “These debates will give Idaho voters a chance to hear a direct and open exchange of ideas on the issues facing the state and the nation.”
The arrogance of the three front-running Republicans doesn’t serve government or candidates well when a cynical citizenry already assumes the worst about both.