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Marino wants more debates

Only one debate is planned between the candidates in the 10th Congressional District this year. And that’s got Republican Tom Marino pretty peeved.

Marino, a former U.S. Attorney, made his strongest plea for more debates this week, saying that Congressman Chris Carney (D-10) is trying to “hide his record from the people” of the northeast Pennsylvania district.

“Maybe he is afraid to defend the fact that he toes the liberal line and supports the reckless agenda of Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi?” Marino said in a statement Tuesday. “Maybe he is afraid of explaining why he votes with Nancy Pelosi more than 91 percent of the time? … Or maybe it is because he does not want to explain to the hard working people of this region why more than 75 percent of his campaign funds have come from liberal special interest groups outside of the District?

“Whatever the reason,” Marino added, “it is shameful that Chris Carney will not agree to a series of debates to benefit the voters. He would rather issue press releases that attack my character, than face me in a debate. Once again, I call on Chris Carney to debate me one-on-one.  I will be ready… any time, any place.”

Marino has struggled to gain any PR advantage in the race, thanks to lackluster fundraising and messaging missteps. And facing a huge financial disadvantage with his opponent already running TV ads, he seemingly needs the free publicity afforded by debates. He wants there to be nine debates between now and Election Day. The race is currently No. 10 on the pa2010.com Congressional Power Rankings.

Carney spokesman Josh Drobnyk pointed out that Carney got only one debate in 2006 on his way to unseating Republican Don Sherwood.

“Tom Marino has made one ethically questionable decision after another over the course of the last several years, including during this campaign,” Drobnyk told The Daily Item. “Congressman Carney has agreed to debate, and he is looking forward to sharing his message of tax cuts for small businesses and working families and ending tax breaks for companies that ship jobs abroad.”

September 1, 2010 at 7:58 am

--pa2010.com Staff

Tags: Chris Carney, PA-10, Tom Marino

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