Roberts: ‘How about just one debate on public safety?’

PORTLAND -- Barbara Roberts is urging U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Pendleton) to agree to more debates with Senate candidate Jeff Merkley (D-Portland).

The former governor was speaking out against Smith’s attack ads Monday when she suggested that the Smith campaign was likely trying to avoid debates, smear the oppositin, and keep the conversation away from its candidate's record.

“If Gordon Smith wants to be re-elected, maybe he should tell us about what he’s done,” Roberts said to a cheering crowd of around 30 that gathered outside of Merkley’s campaign headquarters in Portland. “I know this campaign is ready for more debates; right now there are only two debates. How about just one debate on public safety? That would go a long way.”

Roberts said the incumbent Republican senator is out to mislead voters on Merkley’s record on crime, which she said had been stellar. The bill that Merkley voted against in the Oregon legislature, that would have extended the statute of limitations for victims of sexual assault, was not representative of his record, Roberts said.

“The facts are very, very clear,” Roberts said. “And the record in the legislature is very clear.”