Chautauqua County Executive Greg Edwards has declined a second one-on-one debate with Legislator Chuck Cornell, D-Jamestown, citing scheduling conflicts and their participation in as many as five other debates in the coming months.
Held June 17, the first debate between the county executive and his Democratic challenger came at Edwards' request. According to Edwards, comments made by Cornell about business initiatives and entrepreneurship during a news conference in Dunkirk spurred him to propose a debate on the topics.
In the days after the debate, Cornell announced he would similarly invite Edwards to discuss county budget issues, as he believed the Edwards-requested debate to be the first of several such debates this election year. Cornell has since described the rejection of his debate invitation as demonstrating a flip-flop on Edwards' part.
"He invited me to a debate a week ago and I readily accepted it," Cornell said Monday. "I think the more debates the better. The more opportunity the public has to learn about what our positions are on various issues, the more informed they are when they go to the voting booth. I was happy that the county executive invited me to a debate a couple of weeks ago and I thought that was the start of having a few more. I returned the favor and invited him to a debate which he declined for reasons which apparently were not a problem a week ago."
Calling for a discussion of tax policy, county spending and surpluses this past Friday, Cornell offered Tuesday or Wednesday of this week, in the morning or afternoon, as possible dates and times for a debate. Edwards replied with the explanation that a daytime debate during working hours would not not be ideal for him and would likely not work for most people interested in attending.
Additionally, Edwards said the League of Women Voters plans to hold three debates in the coming months. Two other debates are also being organized, one hosted by the Jamestown Rotary and a joint debate co-sponsored by both Rotary and Chamber of Commerce.
"With five debates, there will be plenty of opportunities for me to present what I've accomplished in the last three-and-a-half years - which is significant and has directly benefited the people of Chautauqua County," Edwards said. "There will be lots of opportunities for people to ask just my opponent and I questions about our philosophies and what we've done in our lives and what we bring to the job.
Edwards said he also decided against a second one-on-one debate with Cornell because the first debate did not go as he expected.
"I thought that our debate was going to be on entrepreneurship, but my opponent elected to provide answers to a lot of questions that weren't asked, that had nothing to do with business," Edwards said. "So I will focus my energies on representing the people of Chautauqua County and continue to deliver for them as I have for three-and-a-half years."
To read the full text of Edwards' declination letter to Cornell, visit www.post-journal.com.
"I think there's great value in the League of Women Voters debates and some of the other ones that are traditional which are held each-and-every year," Cornell said. "I think there's great value in those, though they are a little bit different. This would have certainly provided an opportunity to really get into more depth on one issue. I've been out talking to the people of this county and certainly the high taxes and county spending are a particularly important issue. It would have really given us that opportunity to really delve into that issue and talk about what our positions are. That's not taking away from the League of Women Voters debates or any others, but I think the county executive signaled that he wanted to have some early debates and I thought that was a great idea. I'm sorry he changed his mind."