[Vision2020] Latah GOP candidates renege on agreement to debate

[Bruce and Jean Livingston]

Latah GOP candidates renege on agreement to debateJanesta and Vision2020 members,

Thank you for your question, Janesta.  The short answer is that nobody had even been selected and offered as a possible moderator/question selector at the debates.

I am the person who was setting up the debates on behalf of the Moscow Civic Association.  I was shocked to learn from a newspaper reporter that according to a letter signed by Barrett Schroeder, Chairman of the Latah County Republicans, almost half the candidates in the MCA debates, the Republicans, had "decided to decline your [MCA's] invitation to participate."  Nobody contacted me to attempt to work  out their concerns before withdrawing.

I had personally discussed the debates on the telephone with every one of the candidates.  The nearly universal reaction from the candidates, Republicans, Democrats and Independent, had been  strongly positive -- real pleasure expressed at the fact that someone was putting together a forum in which issues could be addressed substantively at some length, since the forum I proposed from the outset was to provide approximately one hour per race.  Most of the forums occur over a total of an hour or two, as opposed to the five hours that MCA was offering, and the nature of those other forums preclude extended comment from any candidate due to time constraints.

We are going to have a moderator who merely keeps track of time and tells candidates that their time is up.  We are also going to have a question selector.

I think the current controversy is really about the questions, which are to come from the audience.  The questions that are to be asked would be selected from written questions submitted by the audience and given at the meeting to the question selector.  Our intent is to have a fair "question selector."  I was in the process of trying to get a so-called "question selector" who would be acceptable to the parties.  I had never gotten back to any of the parties with a person who would be offered as THE "question selector."  

Jeff Harkins, a Republican candidate for Commissioner, is the only person of all the candidates who even inquired about who would be doing the questioning.  I told Jeff that we hadn't selected or even contacted anyone about doing the job, yet, but that one person I was contemplating was Kenton Bird, an MCA member and the interim head of the U of I's Journalism Dept.  Jeff did not comment one way or the other on Kenton.  Jeff did suggest four other people, none of whom I knew, as possibilities.

I contacted Kenton to inquire whether he was interested and available, and Kenton informed me that he was willing to do the questioning for the Monday October 25 debates (Sheriffs and County Commissioners), but that he was unwilling to do so at the State Representative debates because he had donated money to one or both of those Democratic candidates.  Before I could check with the Sheriff and County Commissioner candidates about whether Kenton might be acceptable as the "question selector," and before I had even come up with a possible "question selector" for the State Representative debates on Wednesday October 27, I received the letter via fax from a newspaper reporter that the Republicans were withdrawing from the debates.

I would also like to address the "spin" by Barrett Schroeder, Chairman of the Latah County Republicans, that somehow I was encouraging "cheating" when I suggested that it would be appropriate for a candidate to ask a supporter to raise a question on an issue which the candidate felt was important to have addressed.  I made this comment in my conversation with Jeff Harkins, who had expressed concern -- in response to hearing that the questions would come from the audience -- that the Moscow Civic Association was "Liberal."  I told him first, that I disagreed with that perception, but also that he could bring his supporters, that this was an open meeting, and that we would love to have hundreds of people show up who were not MCA members.  The idea of these debates was to address the important issues of substance, and if he had some questions "favorable" to his position I thought there would be nothing wrong in having his supporters pose such a question. 

By email to each and every candidate I wrote:  "I see nothing wrong in a candidate having someone submit a question because the candidate thinks it is an important issue that needs to be addressed.  The more substance that we can address, the better."

I fail to see how asking issues of substance is "cheating," Barrett.

Finally, at least one candidate, Representative Trail, is suggesting that I changed the format to a race-by-race debate after the candidates committed.  That is emphatically NOT the case.  A survey of all the candidates will establish that I told them in my initial conversations that the debates would be done with questions from the audience, directed to the candidates race-by-race, and that the Sheriffs and County Commissioner debates would be on Monday and that the State Rep races would be on Wednesday.  (I did change the date of the State Rep debates from Tuesday to Wednesday because Rep. Trail informed me that he had a conflict on that Tuesday with a prior scheduled Latah County Republicans Central Committee meeting.)  

It is possible that Representative Trail misunderstood me and made an assumption based on past forums.  I suppose it is also possible that I omitted the race-by race aspect of the debate in my conversation with Representative Trail, though I do not think that is the case.  The former possibility is more likely, in my opinion, as the race-by-race format and the extended time frame were MCA's main objectives in formulating the debates.  But I did not change the format after obtaining commitments from the candidates.  

I will not call Representative Trail a liar, for it is obvious to me that one or the other of us is mistaken.  He is my former neighbor, and he supported the MCA endorsed candidates for City Council last year.  I pounded the Chaney and Dickinson signs on his property, moving them at his direction to a more visible location across from where the Mountainview Park parking lot exits to the street.  

The Moscow Civic Association is not a radical fringe group, as Representative Trail's support for the same City Council candidates that we endorsed should show.  We are an activist group of citizens interested in promoting open government and public involvement in the political process.  The Moscow Civic Association is not endorsing any candidate in this election. 

Extended discussion of issues, substantively, is in the interest of everyone.  I am confident that a fair question selector will be found, and I would be happy to receive suggestions of people to consider for the job.  The MCA debates will go forward with or without the Republican candidates. It would be best for the citizens of Latah County if the Republicans participated.

Bruce Livingston
Moscow Civic Association
Committe on Elections and Debates




  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: JSullivan 
  To: JSullivan ; Nancy Chaney ; 'Mark Solomon' ; vision2020 at moscow.com 
  Sent: Thursday, October 07, 2004 12:41 PM
  Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Latah GOP candidates renege on agreement to debate


  I don't know if that is what I meant to say, I was just curious as to who will be the moderator of this event.


  Other than the MCA debates, who are other debates sponsored by, and where are they?

  Thanks,
  Janesta Carcich Sullivan
  Private Citizen
    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: JSullivan 
    To: Nancy Chaney ; 'Mark Solomon' ; vision2020 at moscow.com 
    Sent: Thursday, October 07, 2004 11:26 AM
    Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Latah GOP candidates renege on agreement to debate


    I am curious, is there a bi-partisan moderator? Or does MCA have to have a bi-partisan one?

    Thanks,
    Janesta Carcich Sullivan
      ----- Original Message ----- 
      From: Nancy Chaney 
      To: 'Mark Solomon' ; vision2020 at moscow.com 
      Sent: Thursday, October 07, 2004 10:38 AM
      Subject: RE: [Vision2020] Latah GOP candidates renege on agreement to debate


      Oct. 7, 2004

      Open letter to Candidates:

       

      This morning on Vision 2020, I read Dean Ferguson's article from the Lewiston Tribune indicating that, "Latah County Republicans are shunning the Moscow Civic Association debates scheduled for later this month."

       

      As a local elected official, member of MCA, and resident of Moscow, I urge them to reconsider. MCA exists in large part to "broaden public discourse" and to organize and inspire "civic participation." We have relatively few opportunities to engage in open dialogue about such things, not because of legal constraints, but because people often seek out and interact with others of like minds and because so many of us lead such busy lives. How often do we hear about citizens who aren't even interested in voting, who are disengaged because they are turned off by rhetoric, imbued with a sense of political impotence, or inadequately informed about issues that will directly affect their lives?

       

      I can appreciate that candidates' forums and debates can be time-consuming and nerve-wracking, particularly when the sponsoring body is unfamiliar to panelists. It is my strong hope that those candidates who are considering boycotting MCA's debates recognize that attendees are also their constituents, that tough questions are and should be part of the territory, that they may certainly decline to respond to questions that seem inappropriate, and finally, that membership in MCA is open to them too!

       

      The GOP candidates who are suspicious, fearful, or resentful of MCA members might be surprised to find a number of their Republican constituents among them. I hope that they will reconsider participating in as many of the upcoming debates and forums as they can, to reach as many of our citizens as possible. We all don't have to agree, but it doesn't make sense to pretend that conflicting viewpoints-perhaps insightful ones--don't exist. Who knows? Maybe we'll all learn something.

       

      Sincerely,

      Nancy Chaney 

       

       

      -----Original Message-----
      From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com] On Behalf Of Mark Solomon
      Sent: Thursday, October 07, 2004 9:12 AM
      To: vision2020 at moscow.com
      Subject: [Vision2020] Latah GOP candidates renege on agreement to debate

       

      Lewiston Morning Tribune, 10/7/04

       

      Latah County GOP to sit out local debates

      Dean A. Ferguson

      Latah County Republicans are shunning the Moscow Civic Association debates scheduled for later this month.

       "They are a group that has a political mission," said Barrett Schroeder, chairman of the Latah County Republicans.

       The county's Republican candidates have all agreed not to go to the debates, said Schroeder, who has been chairman for four years and is the son of state Sen. Gary Schroeder, R-Moscow.

       Barrett Schroeder charged the civic association with being dishonest about the format of the debate. He also said he feared an ambush because the civic association has strong ties to Mark Solomon, the Democratic candidate running against incumbent state Rep. Tom Trail, R-Moscow.

       The series of one-hour debates scheduled Oct. 25 and 27 were supposed to feature questions from citizens, Barrett Schroeder explained. However, candidates were told to write questions and have someone in the crowd ask them.

       Barrett Schroeder called the message "deceptive" because it hadn't been publicized.

       In a mass e-mail to Republican, independent and Democratic candidates, debate organizer Bruce Livingston said candidates could introduce questions through the audience.

       "I see nothing wrong in a candidate having someone submit a question because the candidate thinks it is an important issue that needs to be addressed," wrote Livingston.

       Livingston said the suggestion was solely to get as many important ideas into the debates as possible.

       In a letter to Lois Blackburn, president of the civic association, Barrett Schroeder accused the civic association of being a political action committee that endorses and supports candidates.

       "I've never heard of a PAC organizing a debate," wrote Schroeder.

       Livingston called the comment "completely wrong."

       "The Moscow Civic Association is not a political action committee," he said. "It's a 501c4 organization, and we haven't endorsed and don't intend to endorse any candidates that are involved in any of these debates."

       But Barrett Schroeder said the Republican candidates plan to attend more than a dozen other debates and forums. They're just not going to give the civic association and "Mark Solomon's friends and family" a shot at them so close to Election Day.

       ------

       Ferguson may be contacted at dferguson at lmtribune.com



--------------------------------------------------------------------------


      _____________________________________________________
       List services made available by First Step Internet, 
       serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.   
                     http://www.fsr.net                       
                mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
      ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯



----------------------------------------------------------------------------


    _____________________________________________________
     List services made available by First Step Internet, 
     serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.   
                   http://www.fsr.net                       
              mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
    /////////////////////////////////////////////////////



------------------------------------------------------------------------------


  _____________________________________________________
   List services made available by First Step Internet, 
   serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.   
                 http://www.fsr.net                       
            mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
  /////////////////////////////////////////////////////
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/attachments/20041008/c8c2840e/attachment-0001.htm