Last month, the Valley Independent Sentinel sent an email to both mayoral candidates proposing a debate to be moderated by them as an independent and impartial publication.
The proposal was extremely thorough and fair.
The format was designed to have four questions asked of each candidate, allowing ample time for each candidate to answer the questions, and also gave the opponent sufficient time to rebut.
Some of the questions were to be selected from suggestions of the readers of the Valley Indy.
Mayor Staffieri has again declined the opportunity for a public debate.
He is again imposing a disservice on the voters of Derby by not providing them with an opportunity to hear responses to unbiased questions from the voters.
Prior to declining the invitation, Judy Szewczyk, Tony Staffieri’s campaign manager, agreed to the fairness of the proposal by saying, “the ground rules you suggest are fair and I like the scenario.”
Within three hours of receiving the invitation, Rob Hyder, my campaign publicist, responded by saying, “We gladly accept the proposal as outlined and look forward to finalizing the details for a date, time and place.”
In 2009, Mayor Staffieri repeatedly refused to debate me, depriving the voters of Derby the opportunity to hear our campaign platforms in an open forum. Two years ago, he claimed to reject the debate invitation because he felt my campaign prearranged the details.
That was clearly not the case.
So why is Mayor Staffieri again choosing to avoid a debate?
He claims he will take his platform door-to-door. What if someone isn’t home? Also, Mayor Staffieri can say one thing to one house in the 1st Ward while conveying a different message in the other wards.
By debating, voters will get a much better perspective by attending the debate, reading about it in the newspapers or watching an online video of it.
Mayor Staffieri is once again providing a disservice to the electorate of Derby by avoiding a major component of the electoral process.
My platform is no secret. I laid it all out on the table during my acceptance speech. I have genuine and substantial thoughts, ideas and proposals to make Derby a better place to live.
This is Mayor Staffieri’s opportunity to oppose my platform, but he is again choosing not to.
By not accepting the debate invitation from the Valley Independent Sentinel this year, I view the decline as an endorsement of my plans for Derby.
During Mayor Staffieri’s inauguration speech in 2009, he stated, “[Dan Foley] offered
competition of thought, which promotes better government for all. I invite him to continue giving of his mind and thought, but, no debate.”
That comment about no debate made a mockery of the entire election process.
In 2005 as the challenger, Tony Staffieri debated. Ever since, with a record to defend, he chooses not to debate. What is he hiding?
Should Mayor Staffieri change his mind and accept the invitation for an impartial debate, I am ready, willing and able.
The writer is a Democrat running for Derby mayor.
Editor’s note: The Valley Indy welcomes ‘guest columns’ from those running for local office. We take each submission on a case-by-case basis. We’ll print up to two a month per candidate. We ask that the columns offer positions and solutions, as opposed to simply criticizing an opponent. We insist on a 500-word limit. If a political opponent takes issue with a guest column, responses are encouraged in our comment section. We encourage candidates to register with Facebook with your first and last name to post a response here. We will not post your responses for you.
As in 2009, Mayor Tony Staffieri declines to debate. Why would he change his debate stance — when he won the Mayoral election, without a debate, two years ago?
I like Mayor Tony, because he is my type of “common sense peraon!” The people of Derby like Mayor Tony, for the same reason, in my humble opinion.
My problem is that I believe we had the same issue when Stafferi ran for Garofalo’s position; he wanted a debate, and Garofalo declined. I find it hypocritical that his stance has changed. This isn’t a “common sense” issue, it’s rote politics, and it should not be a desireable candidate in someone we’re entrusting to the keys of the town. Stan, you’re essentially saying that because Mr. Stafferi is acting hypocritical, that’s a good thing for Derby. That’s nuts.
Christopher Bowen: Mayor Staffieri is not running against former Mayor Garofalo. Staffieri declined to debate Dan Foley in 2009, and does not want a debate with him in 2011. You used the word hypocritical twice –but our Mayor is not hypocritical, but he is indeed — “consistant!’ He still does not want to debate!
I’ll grant you that he’s “consistent”. He’s consistently been a coward.
The Foley Camp has “raked me over the coals,” only because I happen to be a supporter of Mayor Tony Staffieri — which doesn’t bother me — as I’m not running for office.
However, “by calling the Mayor a coward,” the Foley people has lowered themselves to bottom of the barrel, desperate politics — which will gain no votes for Dan Foley.
Hopefully, Mr. Foley can take control of his over-zelous election campaign — and return it to a respectable, civil level of propriety.
Derby voters will not be swayed by “cheap shots!”
Just to clarify, Christopher Bowen is not a part of Dan Foley’s campaign team. The only people authorized by Dan Foley to speak on behalf of his campaign, other than himself, are Mike McFarland (campaign manager) and myself (campaign publicist).
While we appreciate Mr.Bowen’s support, it is not the policy of the Foley campaign to call our opponent derogatory names, nor do we condone it.
Mr. Muzyk, we also appreciate your support of Mayor Staffieri, but please refrain from muddying the waters by suggesting that Dan Foley’s campaign has “raked you over the coals.”
Rob Hyder 641: Hopefully, your Dan Foley supporters can tone down their troublesome rhetoric — and we can look forward to a Derby city election campaign — based on real issues.
Rob Hyder 641: On August 6, I verified that key supporters of Dan Foley, Jr., for Mayor used a Facebook members name, a woman named Tracy Ganes, from Florence, S. C., to attack me in the Valley Independent Sentinel, along with my generation of Shelton High School, Class of 1948, for failing to bring redevelopment to Downtown Derby. This devious campaigning effort, resulted in the Valley Independent Sentinel to only accept bonifide Facebook member comments in their publication — to prevent further scam efforts of this nature.
Hi Stan,
One clarification — while the incident you mentioned was extremely annoying to us, we wanted to switch to Facebook comments looooooong before that happened.
Someone did use a fake name, but we have no idea who did it or who they support politically.
Eugene Driscoll: I found two Dan Foley supporters, in the backup connected in the Tracy Ganes hoax story. Please check it out.
Thank you Gene.
Hi Stan,
I’ll take your word for it. I just wanted to clarify that wasn’t the reason we switched to FB commenting.
Eugene Driscoll: Thank you, Gene. I’m glad that you switched to FB commenting, “as it separates the men from the boys!”