You’d think that a neophyte candidate for elected office would seize every opportunity to promote his candidacy to the public. Not in the 3rd District Congressional race in Tennessee. Republican nominee Chuck Fleischmann has yet to meet a general election opponent in open debate, and is unlikely to do so if his current policy holds through Election Day. District voters who find his refusal to debate in public troubling should hold him accountable for the lapse when they go to the polls.
Fleischmann’s purposeful avoidance of public debate is readily apparent. On Thursday, for example, he and one of his opponents – the Democratic nominee, John Wolfe – were invited to talk to the Cleveland Associated Industries at the Cleveland/Bradley County Chamber of Commerce. Wolfe appeared on time and made his presentation. Fleischmann arrived late, made his talk, shook hands with Wolfe, allowed a picture or two to be taken, avoided more questions than he deigned to answer and then departed.
Fleischmann seems to see no obligation to explain, debate and defend his views in public forums, while most of the candidates in the district willingly accept the challenge to mix it up with their opponents. Wolfe, especially, has made it obvious that he welcomes – indeed, relishes – the chance to debate his GOP opponent. It’s an opportunity that Fleischmann apparently rejects out of hand. He’s failed to respond to many invitations and has canceled appearances that might be challenging.
When he does show up, he likes to maintain tight control of the situation. Thursday, for example, he skulked outside the room where Wolfe was making his presentation. According to bystanders, he waited in the anteroom, monitoring what was taking place inside by phone, entering the meeting room only when Wolfe was near the end of his remarks.
To be fair, the Cleveland event was not billed as a debate, but as an opportunity for the candidates to speak before a community’s business elite. Fleischmann was not required to mingle or to listen to his opponent, but decorum and respect for the political process dictate the need to be there for the entire event.
Fleischmann’s reluctance to debate or to appear before general audiences is, to say the least, curious. As the obvious front-runner in a campaign in which early voting is rapidly approaching, you’d think that Fleischmann would eagerly seize any opportunity available to promote his viewpoints. Not so. Fleischmann obviously is depending on the district’s strong Republican voting pattern and not his own platform to carry him to an Election Day victory.
Perhaps Fleischmann deserves some credit for showing up at all at Thursday’s event. Previously, he refused to commit to an all-candidate forum at the Downtown Council of the Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce, and he claimed that he was unable to appear at a meeting of the Chattanooga Association of Realtors. Each time he cited scheduling conflicts as the reason.
If he won’t clear his schedule to appear before such friendly and reliably Republican groups as the Chamber of Commerce and the Association of Realtors, where and when will he engage his opponents? Undecided voters should have an opportunity to form an opinion about the candidate and to gain a broader understanding of his platform. Fleischmann won’t provide it.
No one knows, and answers are hard to ascertain, why Fleischmann refuses to participate in public debate. Chip Saltsman, Fleischmann’s political consultant, tap-dances around the question. When asked if the candidate would debate other candidates, he replied. “We’re doing several forums and joint appearances from here until the election,” Saltsman said. “We’re running our campaign and talking about the issues with voters every day.” That may be true, but apparently only with carefully vetted audiences.
Fleischmann’s refusal to debate might be good politics. After all, he is the Republican nominee in a heavily GOP district. He’s likely to win office regardless of the number of public debates and appearances he schedules between now and Nov. 2. Still, that doesn’t make his decision to avoid the spotlight correct. Fleischmann’s arrogance and high-handedness are more in keeping with the Washington political world he professes to eschew than the man of the people he claims to be.