With the 9th District Congressional election little more than two months away, Del. Morgan Griffith (R-Salem) said it's time to debate.
His campaign office issued a press release on Thursday which included the question, "What is Rick Boucher scared of?"
In that release, Griffith said he and Congressman Rick Boucher (D-Abingdon) received invitations to four public forums from various non-partisan groups.
Griffith accepted all four. To date, Boucher has not accept any, and has not responded to three invitations.
William "Bear" Lloyd issued one of those invitations on behalf of the Washington County Va. Chamber of Commerce.
Lloyd said the farmers he represents are worried about big issues this year -- like the estate tax and the Chesapeake Bay proposal. Candidate forums are extremely important, he said.
"[I do not have a] political leaning," Lloyd said. "We just wanted to surface all the agricultural issues."
Lloyd said he sent out invitations to Boucher and Griffith this July -- to a public forum at Abingdon's 4-H Center.
"We chose August 30th as a date to seek for this because Congress was on recess," Lloyd said.
Lloyd said Griffith accepted immediately, but Boucher never responded.
"It has now been called off," Lloyd said. "We feel like we cannot be bipartisan without having both candidates there."
On Thursday, Griffith released a statement about the 4-H forum. The headline, "Boucher Cancels Abingdon Debate," is a misnomer. Lloyd said he organized a forum, not a debate, and Boucher didn't cancel, he simply did not commit.
"We understand Congressman Boucher is doing a lot, and has a lot going on, but it's hard to believe his staff is too busy to respond to our request -- to at least get an up or down answer," he said.
Lloyd is not the only one waiting for an answer.
Boucher has not responded to forum requests from the Southwest Virginia Association of Realtors or the Montgomery County Va. League of Women Voters.
"We want to know where they stand on all the items that affect our market, such as jobs," said Realtor Glenna Buchanan. "What are they going to do to stabilize the economy in our area?"
"We still want to do a forum," said Mary Houska, President of the Montgomery County League of Women Voters.
"We gave Boucher and Griffith a choice of late September or early October. We are quite flexible," Houska said.
Boucher said his office will respond to all invitations sent.
"We have two live hour-long debates scheduled during the campaign, which is more than most Congressional campaigns around the country are having," Boucher said.
"That's ample opportunity for Southwest Virginians to see and hear the candidates and their positions," he said.
Those debates, moderated by WDBJ-TV in Roanoke and WVVA-TV in Bluefield, fall within 10 days of the election.
Griffith said, that's too late.
"By the time you get to the weekend before the election, is not the time to be doing a debate," Griffith said. "Debate is ultimately done throughout the fall, so people can think about it and let it sink in."
The fourth forum named in Griffith's e-mail was requested by the Virginia Tech Student [Government] Association.
SGA Secretary Katie Collins said they want to host a forum in mid-October. Griffith has committed, Boucher has not.
"I've been in contact with both offices," Collins said.
Independent Candidate Jeremiah Heaton accepted an invitation to one of two interested forums.
He has not responded to the Southwest Virginia Realtors, Organizer Lisia Amburn said.
Heaton accepted a request from the Montgomery County Va. League of Women Voters, Houska said.
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