Where and When Are The Debates?
Break out the chicken suit. As of today, it has officially been three weeks since Pittsburgh mayoral candidate and City Councilmember Bill "Cojònes" Peduto challenged the incumbent, Interim Mayor Luke "Flip Flop" Ravenstahl, to a series of eight televised debates. Initially, Master Ravenstahl replied that he would be happy to engage in these debates, but -- what a surprise -- refused to provide any specifics. A week went by. Mr. Peduto issued a press release, noting that Master Ravenstahl still had not agreed to a specific date and time for even a single debate with his opponent. The Ravenstahl campaign seemed to cave in a little bit at this point, finally agreeing to show up at an untelevised "Mayoral Forum" in Squirrel Hill. And since then, there has been nothing but stony silence.
I don't know of a single date and time of any event in which our two mayoral candidates will debate one another face-to-face. I don't even know when this "Mayoral Forum" thing is supposed to take place in Squirrel Hill, and I bloody well live there! Googling "mayoral forum squirrel hill" doesn't turn up jack shit apart from one of my previous posts and a few things from the 2005 election.
I'm guessing a bit here, but I would imagine that if the Ravenstahl campaign were still ducking these debates a full three weeks after the challenge was issued, we would be hearing about it from Mr. Peduto. Then again, apart from a blog post over at The Busman's Holiday, there was almost no coverage of Mr. Peduto's first complaint about this kind of behavior from the Ravenstahl camp. Maybe the Peduto people are screaming bloody murder at the moment, but the press simply isn't telling us about it.
But really, as a citizen, I think it's a pretty fair question. Just where in the hell are our debates?
5 comments:
I tend to think that the details and thigns are being worked out. I think Peduto would be more vocal as of late about it if things weren't being worked out.
Post-Gazette 'Early Returns'
March 12, 2007
"...Mr. Peduto's team is renewing its call for debates today, now saying it has told four television stations that it will "bend over backward" in the words of campaign manager Matt Merriman-Preston, to participate in six televised head-to-heads. Mr. Ravenstahl's campaign manager, Damon Andrews, said he's "beginning the negotiations for the televised debates" with the TV stations that have expressed interest, and added that the mayor "will do at least five" leading in to the May 15 primary."
Matt..the biggest item to be worked out is attendance...the details is all BS...The people deserve to see both guys side by side discussing the future of Pittsburgh...
Assuming that he's not just being a coward, and the reason for the failure to schedule is that his $70,000/year secretary can't figure out how to use the phone just yet, public debates should be a priority for the interim mayor. Then again, why should he have to debate anything when the MSM is working so hard to do his campaigning for him, giving him a free pass on virtually...everything? Rich/Jeremy: Call the ethics board (you know, the one you did the story on 2 mos. ago when Bill Peduto raised the fact that the board STILL hasn't met despite the fact that Bob O'Connor appointed a full board before he died - remember: Luke called a meeting the day after Peduto called a meeting? Yeah, well, what happened? There hasn't been a meeting since, and heaven forbid that Bill should convene one...Why aren't our newspapers keeping an eye on these things?) Funny how Luke jumps at the chance to launch an investigation into allegations that Rashall Brackney drove a friend from the scene of an accident (HEY LUKEY: Maybe they "shook hands like men" and agreed that they each could've handled the situation differently?) yet he failed to even initiate an investigation into Dennis Regan's attempt to interfere in ongoing police business? Once again, the double-standard as applied by the Luke administration...look out ladies and anyone who has the decency to refrain from befriending Dennis Regan...
I am guessing that Luke is chomping at the bit with the Brackney story. He just can't wait to get even.
Post a Comment