Because they were clustered there, all three debates were
supposed to be recorded and put online for viewers who lived elsewhere. Due to
technical problems, only one of the recordings captured an entire debate.
And that, Mitrano said during today’s press call, is why she
is calling for five debates this year, one in each of the media markets that
serve the district. The cities of Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, and Binghamton
are outside the 23rd district, “but that’s where Tom Reed will spend a million
dollars on advertisements,” said Mitrano. “You’d think he could agree to debate
in each of those four markets in addition to the one that is in the district,
Elmira-Corning.”
Mitrano said Reed has a history of choosing debate times and
locations that benefit him and put his opponent at a disadvantage. “It’s a
disservice to the district, which is the size of New Jersey,” she said. “It
weeds out all the eastern parts. He hasn’t been in Geneva since 2012. I don’t
believe he has ever had a debate in Ithaca or Owego.
“With more debates, if there are technical glitches at one
or two people will still get a chance to have a full picture of what the issues
are and what the campaigns represent,” she added.
A Reed spokesman declared that “to suggest that the
congressional race warrants more debates than even the race for President shows
that Tracy is a grand-stander.” Mitrano said his tone was revealing.
“The indignation and self-righteousness about just getting
out in front of the public reveals how Tom Reed blurs the line between being a
candidate for Congress and being a congressman,” she said. “Many of the news
reports he sends out are patently political.” Reed has leveled numerous attacks
on New York Governor Andrew Cuomo in his constituent newsletter, “which should
be about federal, not state issues, and not the petty things Tom Reed chooses
to create discord about.”
The campaign spokesman said Reed stays accessible to his
constituents by doing town hall meetings.
“Those aren’t debates! I’m not there to speak at them,”
Mitrano exclaimed. “That’s his function as a congressman. Debates are part of
the campaign.”
She also took issue with a press release announcing Reed’s
second-quarter fundraising results, which ended with the false claim that
Mitrano “expressed support for open heroin injection sites.” Referring to her
2019 OpEd on the opioid crisis, Mitrano said her approach is to track
prescriptions, treat addiction and use technology at the borders and the Post Office
to stop drugs from coming into the country.
“Using a press release about fundraising as a way to
resurrect the lies that Tom Reed used in the last campaign really needs to be
called out,” she said. “Politics is a matter life and death. It is not advertising.
It is not entertainment. Tom Reed doesn’t seem to know that.”
