Brown Comes Out Fighting - Yee hah!

Op-ed Brown Tells Doolittle, "It's Time to Schedule Debates"
By: Brown4congress.org

Published: Aug 2, 2006 at 09:54

CA 04 Democratic Nominee Lt. Col. Charlie Brown today renewed his request for a series of debates with incumbent Rep. John Doolittle, suggesting 6 dates, and including a series of town hall formats.

Tuesday, August 15th: Auburn, CA, Town Hall Format

Saturday, Sept. 16th: Grass Valley, CA, Town Hall Format

Friday, Sept. 29th: El Dorado County, LOWV Forum

Friday, Oct. 13th: Quincy, CA, Town Hall Format

Friday, Oct. 27th: Roseville, CA, Moderated Q & A

Friday, Nov. 3rd: South Lake Tahoe, CA, Town Hall Format

Due to the geographic size of the 4th CD, Brown has also offered to participate in a series of talk radio call-in forums with Doolittle - in order to ensure that all voters have the opportunity to hear each candidates "unfiltered response" to the broad range of local, regional, and national policy questions at stake in this election.

Doolittle, who agreed to debate Brown following an exchange of letters between the two candidates back on July 11th, has said that he would contact Brown "as the Congressional Schedule for the rest of the year becomes clear."According to the House of Representatives website, that schedule is already clear. July 31st-September 1st is currently slated as a "House District work period." Many Representatives utilize this time to come home and campaign for re-election in their districts. October 6th has been listed as the target date for adjournment of the 109th Congress.

All told, the House is only scheduled to be in session a total of 97 days in 2006 - the least in more than 60 years, and even less than what President Harry Truman dubbed the "do nothing Congress" of 1948. Despite growing policy challenges like the War on Terror, Border and Port Security, widening corruption scandals, and massive deficits, the Tuesday thru Thursday meeting schedule of House members has been justified by its leadership as a way to enable members to frequently travel back to their districts and be with their families on weekends.

"Every day, I speak with constituents of all political stripes who are frustrated that they never see their Congressman," Brown said. "Worst of all, when they do see him, it's either because of a corruption story that runs in the newspaper, or a private gathering at which he tells them to go hire a lobbyist."Since the July 11th correspondence, The Auburn Journal, League of Women Voters of El Dorado County, KFBK Newstalk 1530 AM's Bruce Maiman, and Mike Taborski, who publishes newspapers in Plumas and Lassen Counties, are just a few of the individuals and organizations who have publicly offered to host or sponsor a debate between Doolittle and Brown.

"The voters of the 4th CD deserve the opportunity to contrast the values and vision of the two candidates vying to represent them," Brown noted. "I'll debate any time, any place, on one condition: John Doolittle has to show up too."

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Exerpt from Charlie Brown's open letter to Doolittle:

"You are correct that there are stark differences between our candidacies. And, having fought to defend America in the military, I take issue with your claim that you've ever fought for anything besides the spoils of elected office.When you serve in battle, you learn that the true measure of leadership is performance, not empty rhetoric. And, on issues like national security, ethics in government, and fiscal responsibility (to name just a few), it's clear that there are massive differences between us. In fact, your July 10th letter indicates that I'm the only one who thinks they are priority. Fortunately, our debates will offer a forum for you to defend your record, and state your position on these issues more clearly."