Kyle City Limits
by BRENDA STEWART
I guess it’s the lunacy of Texas politics that keeps me coming back for more. I’ve been stewing for months about these local politicians stubbornly refusing to participate in publicly scheduled debates. It just seemed odd to me that they would have the audacity to decline what has traditionally been more of an expectation than an invitation for folks running for public office. Kind of like applying for a job. It’s just good form to show up for the interview.
Seems Perry might have just started some kind of warped domino effect in regard to refusing the long acknowledged responsibility of publicly debating one’s political opponent before an election. I’ve been watching him all summer as he has grown progressively jittery in anticipation of defending his tenure without the aid of a crisply scripted narrative and a folksy sound-bite or two.
Perry has stated that he feels as if something is amiss in White’s world and has demanded the release of 15-year-old tax documents. Since we’ve already seen Perry’s portfolio, we’ve known for a while that something is amiss in Perryland. I feel relatively confident that they probably all have something to hide.
What’s becoming dauntingly apparent, though, is that it’s probably not just shady business dealings they are attempting to cloak. With some of these folks it appears to be incompetency and ignorance of the issues and a dearth of pliable solutions to put forth to the public, that keeps them from the debate dais.
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has abdicated all responsibility in refusing to debate challenger Barbara Ann Radnofsky, blaming his staff’s recommendation. Likewise Steve Munisteri, the newly elected Republican Chairman, has counseled his party’s State Board of Education candidates to snub a debate sponsored by the Travis County League of Women Voters.
Evidently, after perusing the League’s leaders’ primary voting records, Munisteri surmised that Mercer and Farney could not get a fair shake due to biased debate methodology. Ironic given that Mercer is infamous for his use of biased debate methodology throughout his tenure on the Board of Education.
So, what alternative forum do they propose? Seems like it’s overwhelmingly the GOP avoiding these debates but so far they have not been willing to host them on their turf. When given the opportunity to submit questions for the candidates at the League of Women Voters’ debate, Munisteri declined. The editorial boards of the state’s largest newspapers have offered a one-on-one with Perry if he is more comfortable with that option. He said he wouldn’t even consider it.
I think that it is crucial that we get a true sense of what these candidates stand for, how they feel about the issues that are effecting us all, and what viable solutions they have garnered. I want to hear it in their own words and not in some scripted made-for-TV paid ad. And, ahem, not from some opinion columnist in the local paper, either.
God, even pistol toting, Christmas Mountain-selling Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson thinks that a public debate is the right thing to do. Suddenly I’m wondering if the politicians that have refused to debate are just taking the sage advice of our 16th president: “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.” – Abraham Lincoln
