The Ben Cline campaign put out a release on Tuesday claiming that a Harrisonburg Rotary Club debate with Democratic challenger Beth Macy on the schedule for Oct. 5 was called off due to something having to do with Macy.
This was news to Beth Macy.
“I just learned that the forum has been (Ben?) cancelled for mysterious reasons, citing fears that it wouldn’t foster ‘goodwill and better friendships.’ My guess it has something to do with the record price of diesel, gas, food, rising interest rates, ballrooms, tariffs, data centers and Russian-funded weddings,” Macy wrote in a post on her campaign Facebook page.
From the archives
- Coverage of the Sixth District congressional race: click here.
The Rotary Club itself issued a statement on its Facebook page on Tuesday, in which it cited its “Four-Way Test,” which it says includes “asking whether what we do will build goodwill and better friendships,” and reported that its board determined that “cancelling the forum is the most responsible way to honor those principles and preserve the Club’s nonpartisan role in our community.”
“This decision is ours as a Rotary Club, and is not a reflection on either candidate or their willingness to participate,” the club said in the statement.
This would seem to put quite the different light on the claims from the Cline campaign from its news release, which is what originally drew my attention to the now-canceled debate.
“This should have been the third debate of the campaign, but instead it marks the third time that my Democrat opponent’s game playing over debates has deprived the people of Virginia’s Sixth Congressional District an opportunity to hear from the candidates,” Cline said in a statement in the release from his campaign.
“Throughout the campaign, she obstinately refused to engage in debates hosted by bedrock organizations from our community, and has even had the nerve to call the events ‘phony’ as her reason for rejecting them. Now they’re obviously fed up with her nonsense, and the last debate is off,” Cline said.
“This should be a clear message to the voters that she is not concerned about them, and is only seeking office for amusement and power. I will use the remainder of the campaign to continue speaking directly to the voters who have been deprived of the opportunity to see us jointly compare my record and her empty rhetoric.”
Interesting, because that’s what the Rotary Club itself said there, Bennie.
The Rotarians literally said they’re backing out because they want to continue to appear to be nonpartisan, and that the decision to cancel had nothing to do with either candidate.
Is Ben Cline saying the Harrisonburg Rotary Club is lying here?
“It’s duck and cover time over at Ballroom Ben Cline’s HQ. He has avoided every opportunity to debate, and only grudgingly agreed to meet at a neutral ‘forum’ at the Rotary Club. He even questioned my support for Rotarians, not realizing they funded a part of my college education,” Macy needled Cline in her statement.
Disclosure time: the local Rotary Club in Waynesboro gave me a four-year scholarship.
“Ben and I are asking to be hired by our voters. He is the first guy I know who thinks he can both run for the hills and for office at the same time. Cluck cluck,” Macy wrote.
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Chris Graham
