Debate ends before it can begin
Maureen Dolan Staff Writer | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 8 years, 3 months AGO
Tomorrow's debate planned by local Democrats is about to be a bust.
The event, slated to take place Friday at noon at the Iron Horse Grill on Sherman Avenue, was to feature District 2 candidates vying for two seats in the Idaho House. The group’s announcement of the debate, which was reported in Wednesday’s edition of The Press, said all candidates were invited. It did not state one Republican candidate had already declined, over a month ago.
Rep. Eric Redman, the Republican incumbent for seat B, called The Press Thursday and said he would not be attending because he wasn’t invited.
“The first time I heard about it was when I read it in the paper,” Redman said.
He is being challenged by Democrat Richard Kohles.
Tamara Poelstra, who is organizing and moderating the Democrats’ debate, said she sent two invitations to the official email address Redman has as an elected member of the state House. One was sent Aug. 30, at the same time an invitation was sent to Rep. Vito Barbieri’s official email address.
Barbieri, the Republican incumbent for seat A, responded to that message Sept. 1. He thanked Poelstra for the invitation, but declined.
“I think it highly unlikely that my views and policies would find any purchase in the Democrat Club,” Barbieri wrote.
Barbieri’s Democratic challenger is Kathy Kahn.
Redman said Thursday he may have been sent an invitation by email, but he never received it. A follow-up email invite was sent to Redman about 10 days ago, Poelstra said.
“If it was sent to my address, I would have sent something to them. I would have responded,” he said. “If they didn’t get a response, they should have called. I do have a phone number.”
Redman called The Press again late Thursday and said he found the invitation in his email account, at the bottom of a long list of deleted messages. He said he would not have deleted it on purpose, and he still would have expected a phone call if the Democrats did not receive a response from him by email.
He said he has another engagement at the time of the debate, so he won’t be attending anyway.
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