Candidates in the 3rd Congressional District race have reached a stalemate in debate negotiations. The upshot: It appears Republican Jaime Herrera and Democrat Denny Heck won’t meet face-to-face in Clark County — or in Lewis County — before the Nov. 2 election.
Herrera spokesman Casey Bowman said Monday that Herrera will not take part in a 30-minute candidate forum Oct. 20 in Vancouver sponsored by the Clark County League of Women Voters. He said Herrera had already made a commitment to participate in a Lewis County forum on that date.
“Lewis County debate sponsors had been working on their event since September,” Bowman said. “Unfortunately, we didn’t know the League of Women Voters was hosting a debate until well after all of the other invitations.”
Heck campaign manager Grant Lahmann said Heck committed to attend the League of Women Voters forum last week before he learned the details of the Oct. 20 Lewis County event, sponsored by Centralia College, The Chronicle newspaper and the Centralia-Chehalis Chamber of Commerce.
“The Denny Heck campaign has sought from the start to have an accessible, direct debate with Rep. Herrera in Clark County and the League of Women Voters have a strong history of providing a fair and comprehensive format to do so,” Lahmann said. He said Heck will take part in the event whether Herrera shows up or not.
Ballots will be mailed to Clark County voters on Wednesday.
Jane Van Dyke, organizer of the League of Women Voters forum, said she extended invitations to both candidates on Oct. 1.
“What we proposed is opening statements, a league moderator asking the same questions of both candidates, an opportunity for candidates to ask two questions of each other, and closing statements,” Van Dyke said. “Denny Heck’s campaign told me they would come on the 20th. Herrera wanted more information.” As of Monday, she said she had not heard back from the Herrera campaign.
The congressional candidate forum was added to a previously scheduled Oct. 20 league forum that will begin at 7:30 p.m. at the Clark County Public Service Building, 1300 Franklin St. in Vancouver. That forum will feature candidates for Clark Public Utilities commissioner, Vancouver city council, Clark County prosecuting attorney and Clark County sheriff.
Both congressional campaigns sought to score points in the debate negotiations.
“The Herrera campaign is simply playing games with these appearances, and that is unfortunate,” Lahmann said in a statement. “The people of the 3rd Congressional District deserve better. The Denny Heck campaign actually cancelled an existing engagement to ensure Denny is able to attend this debate. Denny is excited at the prospect of having a full and direct exchange of ideas with Rep. Herrera in Clark County, our district’s most populous county.”
“That’s great that the Heck campaign wants to give Clark County voters another forum,” Bowman retorted. “But this was Lewis County’s only opportunity to see both candidates side-by-side” in either the primary or the general election campaign, he said. “We’ve been planning to campaign in Lewis County on the 20th, and now that the Heck campaign has brushed off those voters, we’re going to keep our commitment to them by going to Lewis County that day.”
Bowman said the Herrera campaign too had rearranged its schedule so Herrera could take part in a pre-taped debate between the candidates on KGW-TV’s “Straight Talk” public affairs program, which will be broadcast at 6:30 p.m. Saturday.
A Wednesday evening forum in Longview attended by both candidates will not be broadcast by KOIN-TV, although the station is considering streaming it live on its website, a station spokeswoman said Monday.
Both candidates also will appear at an Olympia forum at noon Wednesday.
Heck turned down an invitation to take part in a forum at 7 p.m. Oct. 18 at Camas High School sponsored by the Camas Youth Advisory Council, saying he had a scheduling conflict. Herrera has said she will appear at that event whether Heck shows up or not.
