An open letter to Doug Hoffman, Conservative,<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, October 28th, a coalition of groups including NCPR will host a debate at SUNY Plattsburgh between the candidates running for the 23rd House district seat.<\/p>\n
The event at 5pm will be held before a live audience. It’s the only debate currently scheduled inside the district. It’s the only debate that will be held in a public setting.<\/p>\n
Republican Dede Scozzafava and Democrat Bill Owens have confirmed that they will participate.<\/p>\n
So far, you and your campaign have not signed on, despite repeated requests.<\/p>\n
Put bluntly, it is absolutely imperative that you be there for the voters of this district.<\/p>\n
They deserve a chance to see all three of their choices in an open forum accepting questions from journalists and the public.<\/p>\n
I’ve been party to efforts to arrange two other forums in the district and your campaign has demonstrated a clear reluctance to participate.<\/p>\n
Questions are also growing about the fact that you live outside the district.<\/p>\n
Some critics suggest that you have a thin track record of involvement with or knowledge of many of the issue and concerns that face the region.<\/p>\n
Your campaign has focused instead on flat taxes and ACORN.<\/p>\n
Fair enough, but we also want to ask you about rural healthcare delivery, care for our soldiers returning from the wars, and education funding.<\/p>\n
We also want to see you demonstrate in a long-format and public setting that you can think on your feet, without the packaging and handling that has shaped much of this campaign.<\/p>\n
It’s important to note that you’re not the only candidate in this race who’s been “packaged” by national forces.<\/p>\n
Democrats and Republicans in Washington DC are pulling a lot of strings, too.<\/p>\n
But Mr. Owens and Ms. Scozzafava will be at this debate. By agreeing to take your proper place on the podium, you — like they — will put many of those concerns to rest.<\/p>\n
As one of the co-moderators, I can assure you that the tone will be challenging and rigorous, but also respectful and scrupulously fair.<\/p>\n
You’ve begun a remarkable political journey. It’s time to strike a balance between the national movement that has adopted you and the local voters who you will serve if elected.<\/p>\n
Respectfully,<\/p>\n
Brian Mann
Reporter & Adirondack bureau chief<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
An open letter to Doug Hoffman, Conservative, On Wednesday, October 28th, a coalition of groups […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[874],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1170"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1170\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}