Democratic Congressman Jay Inslee today called for six debates with Republican Attorney General Rob McKenna to help voters decide which of them should be the state’s next governor.
Inslee wants to hold two each in eastern, central and western Washington and is seeking a diversity of formats including television and radio.
His campaign manager, Joby Shimomura, made the request in a note to McKenna’s campaign manager, Randy Pepple:
The most important issues facing the state should be the focus of the debates, she wrote. We propose two debates focused on jobs and the economy, one focused on education, and using the remaining debates to cover a range of other important issues.
At this stage, Inslee and McKenna are their respective party’s leading candidates for governor.
Such requests for debates typically come from candidates trailing in a race. To this point, every publicly released poll of voters shows McKenna leading Inslee by several points.
“I guarantee you that Rob McKenna will agree to more debates than Congressman Inslee will,” Pepple said.
He said they’ve already agreed to do two debates – one in Yakima to be hosted by the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and one in Spokane to be sponsored by the Association of Washington Business. Pepple said he has not heard if Inslee has agreed to those as well.
Inslee’s request comes after he secured the endorsement of the statewide teachers union Saturday in what might have been the most unsurprising political news in the state that day.
The Washington Education Association issued its endorsement based on his answers in a questionnaire and in an interview Saturday in Federal Way.
McKenna had announced Friday he would skip his scheduled interview. He also did not fill out the group’s questionnaire which prompted this response from WEA leadership.
“Through this action, Rob McKenna has signaled to educators around the state, and to all who are concerned about the state of politics today, that he is not interested in genuine dialog,” said WEA President Mary Lindquist. “It is regrettable that Mr. McKenna wishes to remain distant from those who are on the frontline of teaching every day. It is sadly disappointing that Mr. McKenna does not want to hear, firsthand, the challenges facing public education in our state.”
Pepple, in an interview Friday, said it had become clear to McKenna that the WEA “wanted to make this into a dog-and-pony show. We just decided to stay and talk to folks committed to reforming our public schools.”
On Saturday, McKenna meet with members of the Excellent Schools Now coalition in Seattle, Pepple said. The coalition often clashes with WEA on what reforms are most needed in public schools.
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