ICYMI Ron Barber won't debate Jesse Kelly, high school says

From today's Arizona Republic: www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/azdc/161436

Voters in southern Arizona may get to see only one debate in the special election to fill former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' seat in Congress, and Republicans blame Ron Barber for that.

KUAT-TV, Channel 6, will broadcast a debate between Democrat Barber (top), Republican Jesse Kelly (bottom) and Green Party candidate Charlie Manolakis from 6-7 p.m. May 16.

But a second debate, planned for May 14 by Tucson high school students, was canceled last week after the Barber campaign backed out, said Arlo Ogden, Vail Academy and High School government teacher. The Barber campaign counters that it is attending lots of events in the district that will reach "as many people as possible."

The election in Congressional District 8 is June 12. Giffords stepped down earlier this year to focus on injuries suffered during a 2011 mass shooting.

Ogden said his students in far east Tucson began organizing congressional debates two years ago, drawing several hundred attendees and online viewers to each of two Republican primary debates in 2010 and in April, for the primary in the special election. During the first event, conservative radio host John Justice moderated; during the second, a senior in the class did so.

For the debate this month, Ogden said, Kelly and Manolakis agreed to participate, but the Barber campaign asked for "trusted, independent" moderators to be secured before making a commitment.

"I was not real enthused about the verbage. ... Those are my students they're talking about, and they're questioning their integrity," Ogden said, adding he would not have used a moderator with a political bent, like Justice, for a general-election debate.

Ogden said he found two local news reporters to field questions, in addition to lining up security, media coverage and a sign-language interpreter.

"We got everything, I thought, hammered out," Ogden said. But he soon received a call from the Barber campaign declining the invitation.

"These kids were going to do this the Monday night before their finals," he said. "My students have never received anything less than superior reviews (of the debates). When we got that phone call, it was kind of disappointing."

Jessica Schultz, a Barber campaign spokeswoman, said the KUAT debate is the only one being conducted by an independent news organization and that its reach will be much larger, since it will be broadcast throughout the district.

"We just want to make sure we're talking to as many people as possible," she said. "The (Vail Academy) room is much smaller, and it's a very small part of the district, relative to the number of people that will be reached by the televised debate."

With early ballots going out in less than two weeks, candidates have little time remaining to reach the district's voters.

Schultz said the campaign did not "promise to do something and then back out."

She noted Barber and Kelly are participating in a number of forums, in which they speak separately, throughout the district, including the Tucson-area National Federation of Independent Businesses, the Marana Chamber of Commerce and a veteran's group in Sierra Vista.

But John Ellinwood, spokesman for Kelly's campaign, said "we're disappointed in his reluctance to debate the issues in front of the people of the district of southern Arizona."

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