Republican Dishonesty????
Updated 11/1/2006
Rumor has it that Bret Millburn is now claiming that he is open to debate Rob Miller any time and that he has never refused a challenge to a debate. In his letter to the editor posted at the Davis County Clipper Bret Millburn stated, “To date I have not refused any invitation from unbiased, independent groups or individuals to appear and discuss the issues important to Davis County.” Up to this point I’ve thought of Millburn as an honest and honorable candidate. Milburn’s letter is very “clintonesque”. He hasn’t refused an invitation from “unbiased, independent groups or individuals to appear and discuss the issues important to Davis County” but he has refused an open and clear challenge from his opponent to participate in a debate. If you read the whole letter Millburn wrote and the letter to the editor he was responding to you can clearly see that Millburn is not responding to the charge that he has refused to debate Miller…he’s sidestepping it.
Millburn very clearly indicated to Rob Miller on October 9th that he would not participate in any debate with Miller outside of the “meet and greet” events they already had planned which weren’t really debates.
Here is the email Millburn sent to Miller refusing to debate along with Miller’s original invitation:
From: Bret Millburn [mailto:bret@bretmillburn.com]
Sent: Monday, October 09, 2006 8:50 PM
To: DemocratAmicus@aol.com
Subject: Re: Formal Request for a Public DebateRob:
If I read the invitation from the League of Women Voter correctly it looks like those events are set up debate style (opening statement, answer questions, closing statement). I look forward to discussing issues at these events.
As far as other times and locations, my schedule between now and Election Day is pretty tight. I’m sure you can appreciate between full-time employment, family, other responsibilities, as well as a planned campaign timetable; it is difficult to commit to anything outside of already scheduled events.
Kind regards,
Bret Millburn
Candidate Davis County Commission - Seat A
XXX East XXX South
Centerville, UT 84014
801.XXX.XXXX
www.bretmillburn.comOn Thu Oct 5 9:49 , DemocratAmicus@aol.com sent:
Bret,
Are any of these events actual debates?
I believe that they are simply “meet the candidates” forums.
As I said before, although I am an inexperienced at the art of debate I believe that the political debate is an honored tradition that should be embraced by the both the candidates and the voters. If you will agree to participate in a debate, I will be delighted to participate also. I received a letter just yesterday by a citizen who said she was interested in possibly putting together this type of event.
I have been talking with several non-partisan organizations and I believe we could have a debate forum that is both fair and fun, that is if you will agree to participate.
Please let me know by October 9, 2006 if you are willing to participate in a formal debate. You can consider this letter a formal request from my campaign to do so.
With every best wish,
Rob Miller
Democratic Candidate for County Commission, Seat - A
(The emphasis in both emails is mine)
If Millburn has changed his mind and will now participate then he gets nothing but props from me as I’ve contended for quite some time on this page that debates are an excellent forum for candidates to display what they are really about. If he is just trying to score political points by now saying he’s always been open to participating in formal debates then I can only conclude that he is being blatantly dishonest.
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Jeremy,
If I read the situation correctly, Millburn did participate in the event with Miller, held by the League of Women Voters. At least, I remember, being disappointed at not being available to go that night, myself.
I wonder if you could clarify for me. Have you tried calling Bret Millburn to get his take on this issue? Or, are you doing what we all seem to do, as bloggers, just posing the question for the aether to answer?
Comment by Tyler Farrer — October 31, 2006 @ 3:22 pm
This post is my open query to the ether (I like the way you phrased that) asking Millburn to cowboy up and say what he really intends to do. If he’s telling the press that he wants to debate while he’s telling his opponent that he can’t free up his schedule for a debate than he is misleading the public. I have not contacted him to ask about this but I encourage him to respond on this site or call/email me any time. I always post corrections when I’m wrong and I hope that in this case I am.
The League of Women Voters events were not debates.
Comment by Jeremy Manning — October 31, 2006 @ 3:41 pm
It’s not a rumor: http://www.davisclipper.com/default.asp?sourceid=&smenu=125&twindow=Default&mad=No&sdetail=17746&wpage=1&skeyword=&sidate=&ccat=&ccatm=&restate=&restatus=&reoption=&retype=&repmin=&repmax=&rebed=&rebath=&subname=&pform=&sc=1005&hn=clippertoday&he=.com
I haven’t been to every event, but I’ll bet Rob will say none of them were debates.
Comment by brett — November 1, 2006 @ 9:58 am
None of them were debates.
801-706-6203
Comment by Rob Miller — November 3, 2006 @ 12:58 pm