Sep 25, 2008

GOP House front runner cancels debate at the last minute


Apparently Bill Rogers, GOP candidate for the 66th District Michigan House seat, can't find 30 minutes in his busy schedule for the voters.

Rogers and Donna Anderson, his Democratic challenger for the open seat that covers Livingston County, were set to tape a 30-minute televised debate sponsored by the Center for Michigan and Detroit Public TV. In what is being called the Great Debates, 30-minute, fixed-format debates are being taped at DPTV’s Detroit studios with a panel of journalists consisting off Nolan Finley of The Detroit News, and Ron Dzwonkowski and Stephen Henderson of the Detroit Free Press. The plan is for all of the 110 contested races to be televised.

Last week saw three debates televised on Sunday afternoon and on the two sponsor's web sites, and four more are set this week. They are Livingston County's open 47th District featuring GOP candidate Cindy Denby and Democrat Scott Lucas, Oakland County's 37th District featuring GOP candidate Paul Welday and Democrat Vicki Barnett, Oakland County's 45th District featuring ultraconservative right-winger Tom McMillan and Democrat Randy Young and Washtenaw County's 54th District featuring perennial GOP candidate Tom Banks and Incumbent Alma Wheeler Smith.

Those debates can already be viewed online, and they will air from 3-5 p.m. Sunday on Detroit PBS.

Rogers and Anderson's debate was also supposed to air this Sunday, but Rogers apparently canceled at the last minute, according to the local newspaper. Anderson is accusing Rogers of ignoring voters and coasting on the fact that Livingston County is predominantly Republican and on his family name; he is the older brother of U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers and his mother was the director of the Greater Brighton Chamber of Commerce for many years. According to the article, Dave Manney, director of program development with Detroit Public Television, is still hopeful the debate can be rescheduled.

2 comments:

ka_Dargo_Hussein said...

He's probably helping McCain solve the financial crisis. *eye roll*

Communications guru said...

Somehow I doubt that, but they certainly do not like to debate. Sometimes it's hard to blame a front runner for not wanting to debate, but Rogers agreed to it and then canceled. As For Grampy, he also agreed to it and then tried to cancel. The difference is he's not the front runner.