State treasurer candidates debate over debates

Shortly after the May 20 primary, Oregon state Treasurer candidates Allen Alley (R-Lake Oswego) and state Sen. Ben Westlund (D-Tumalo) talked of their hopes to schedule debates around the Beaver State. First there were five debates. Then the dream grew to 10 debates. Westlund thought it would be great fun to travel to the debates together in the same car. He even invited Bob Eckstrom, the Constitution Party’s state Treasurer nominee, to come along before he dropped out of the race. Both candidates believed that through joint appearances, Oregonians would come and learn the finer nuances of the state Treasurer’s office, they would cast their vote, and the best man would win.

That was how it was supposed to work. Two months later, any romantic notions of a road trip have died, not a single debate has taken place, and the campaigns are pointing fingers at each other as to who has let the ball drop.

“You have not responded to the list of dates and cities we offered,” Westlund Chief of Staff Stacey Dycus wrote to Eric Wareheim, Alley’s campaign manager, in an e-mail obtained by PolitickerOR.com. “You have gone behind our back instead of planning events with us, and we are starting to feel that your goal is not to engage in forthright debate, but to play political games at the expense of the electorate,”

According to both campaigns, two debates have been solidified, one at the Portland City Club on Sept. 26, and one at the League of Women Voters in Bend on Oct. 14. That is far short from the 10 that were originally desired.

The Alley campaign, which prefers to let third parties invite both candidates to participate in an event, says that the Westlund camp has been turning down invitations from third parties.

In turn, the Westlund camp believes that the two candidates need to work together to decide on a date for a debate before approaching a third party to host. Otherwise, situations occur such as the one in Eugene on Saturday when Alley thought he was showing up to a mutually agreed on debate.

“League of Women Voters Debate today,” Alley wrote later in his Twitter. “What do you call a debate if only one shows up? A monobate? I call it no fun.”

That rubbed Dycus the wrong way.

“Ben had a previous engagement to speak to OLCV voters in Washington County,” Dycus said in another e-mail to Wareheim. “Yet, you took his absence at a chance for attack. Instead of calling around the state to try to get groups to sponsor on any day, in any city that works for you, why don't you call us and see what works for us first, as we did with you? Otherwise, I must assume your goal is to book debates we can't attend and then say we aren't interested.”

Wareheim said that is not the Alley campaign goal, but it is their goal to let parties uninvolved with the campaigns work out the details, including the date and time, of the debate.

“Almost all debates are hosted by third parties. Let’s let the third parties organize it,” Wareheim said in an interview with PolitickerOR.com. He also noted that even though some debates would be hosted by organizations such as the Chamber of Commerce or the Rotary, all would be open to the public.

But Westlund disagrees with the strategy, and he wrote that in a letter to Alley.

“That’s a campaign tactic as old as the Appalachians and not in the spirit of what we agreed to,” he wrote. “I look forward to doing debates, but for it to work we have to mutually agree on the cities and dates first…as we both previously agreed.”

Wareheim said that just isn’t the case.

“We’ve offered tons of dates through third parties,” Wareheim said over the phone. “We’re not trying to stall out and we’ve offered as many dates as we can.”

Shortly after the May 20 primary, there was a determination on both sides of the State Treasurer ticket to get out and talk to the public.

"It's incumbent upon the candidates to educate the public about the office and their respective experience that qualifies them to carry out its duties. I ask my opponent to agree to a series of five debates around the state so the public can make an informed choice in this election," Alley said at the time.

Westlund agreed, but he didn’t think five debates were nearly enough.

“I propose that we conduct, at a minimum, ten joint appearances, at least two in each congressional district and at least two in each month, beginning in June," Westlund wrote in a response to Alley. "I would further like to suggest that we emulate the example of two of Oregon's great statesmen, Bob Straub and Tom McCall who, when running as opponents for Governor traveled to their appearances together in the same car."

With only three months to the election, and with both candidates’ August calendars filling up fast, the 10  debates around the state may be a reach. However, as Dycus told Wareheim, it’s still entirely possible to complete all the debates. If they act quickly.

“We’ve organized 25 town halls in five weeks for health care reform, during a legislative session,” Dycus wrote to Wareheim in an e-mail. “It shouldn't be as hard as you are making it.”