Is Dudley ducking ANOTHER debate?

This little nugget appeared tonight in the Eugene Register-Guard:

The two nominees for governor will speak to about 70 mayors from across Oregon at a conference Friday in Cottage Grove.

The candidates are scheduled to appear separately. Both will speak for a few minutes and then take questions from mayors in the audience.

Democrat John Kitzhaber is slated to appear at 11:15 a.m. Republican Chris Dudley is scheduled to speak at 2:40 p.m. The Oregon Mayors Association conference is being held at Village Green Resort.

The Democratic Party of Oregon is calling it a debate and flatly states Dudley is ducking it:

Dudley Dodges another Debate - Mayors Edition

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PORTLAND, Oregon (July 27, 2010) -

Chris Dudley has already dodged a debate organized by Oregon newspapers - and now he is skipping a debate in front of Oregon's mayors.

This Friday, the Oregon Mayors Association was scheduled to host a gubernatorial debate. Democrat John Kitzhaber accepted the invitation outright. Republican Chris Dudley declined - again. This time Dudley refused to show up to the debate, agreeing to show up after Kitzhaber had left the building.

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Can we get some media types on this? Either it's a debate or it isn't.

Chris Dudley's employment history

Chris Dudley became Vice President of M Financial Wealth Management in 2006. The "outsider" who is his "own man", would like you to think he's just like average Oregonians.














M Financial Wealth Management was featured in the October - November 2008 issue of the magazine "Private Wealth: Advising the Exceptionally Affluent". (I am guessing that isn't you, Gentle Reader.) This is a very exclusive class of people who are just itching to get their Number 1 free-thrower in the highest office in the state. These are not wealthy people who necessarily create jobs or stimulate the economy in times of recession. These are the ones who sit on their Golden Goose asses and hire firms like M to accelerate their wealth on paper. For many in this class, the only jobs created are the folks' at M.

Having connections in high places is important for a Governor. Chris Dudley is not like that other celebrity pol to our South, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who came into office politically isolated and largely remained politically isolated while running as a populist. No doubt, Chris Dudley intends to leverage his relationships with the "Exceptionally Affluent" to procure some promises for jobs. But he won't come out and say it (even when pressed) and it's the kind of back-door dealing the voters have come to hate, the promise of jobs not-with-standing. Not only that, but such deals have the potential to be dangerous especially when a political neophyte isn't a very strong communicator, which Dudley despite his overall "nice guy" persona, is not. But Dudley claiming to be "open" to offshore oil drilling and LNG pipelines means he's a typical Republican who is "open" to parceling out our natural resources to the highest bidder. That can mean jobs. And it could also result in opening the Oregon coast within 3 miles off shore to oil exploration.

For you and me, he has candy.

Dudley and another former M employee left in 2008 and started their own wealth management company called Filigree. You might recognize Gerald Graves, his business partner. He's one of the "testimonial" heads on Chris Dudley's commercial "Drive".

And lest you think, as I do, that the above is not adequate experience to run the state of Oregon, there's always this gem from Sports Illustrated:

"In the NBA you're working with 12 or 15 players of completely different backgrounds usually," Dudley said. "They're from all over the country working toward a common goal and that's winning a championship. That element of teamwork and working with others is something that translates well into politics."

The stakes have never been higher.

City Club Debate - Another Dudley Debate Failure

I actually understand Chris Dudley's aversion to debating. I don't care for it myself. But debating is about selling ideas. Pageants, parades, rodeos, and candy-throwing events are about selling a man. We're not marrying Dudley, we want to know HOW he will implement his plans for the state of Oregon. Frankly, saying he will assemble a team of people with the brightest ideas sounds a lot like Barack Obama and look who we got in that deal: Rahm Emanuel. And while we're on the subject of teams, I am not exactly impressed so far with Dudley's "team" in their handling this debate blunder (LeRoy Coleman, are you listening?)

If debates don't matter, I've certainly proved it in theory. I posted two reactions to debates with Dudley versus Alley where Alley clearly crushed Dudley and yet Dudley won the primary.

So, uh, what are you afraid of Chris?

Dudley's Bread and Circus

Just an observation. But since I closely follow Chris Dudley's tweets, something strikes me. There are an AWFUL lot of fairs, parades, racing events, rodeos etc. filling his days with an occasional Right-Wing radio show appearance thrown in. But this latest tweet really struck a chord:













Passing out candy??

It just highlights the need for a serious candidate even more. Kitzhaber, say what you will, stood up in front of the ONPA board on July 16th and fielded questions on his policies for 75 minutes. The rodeo and pie-eating contest circuit is just so weak. Sure, Kitz is doing it too, I'm sure. But the fact that Kitz has proffered the idea of 7 debates all over the state versus Dudley's counter of TWO (and after the ballots are mailed) tells me that Kitz wants to tell YOU about where he stands on issues. Not give you candy.

And how tone-deaf is a diabetic politician passing out candy?

Let's be clear - Dudley's vacation didn't interfere with the ONPA debate, the RGA meeting did

Chris Dudley, fearing he opened a spigot of BAD over missing the OPNA debate, offered this excuse on his website:
















In it, he says:

"
While there I did have to mix a little work with pleasure and took the time to sit with a few governors from around the country including Gov. Linda Lingle. Everyone is excited about our campaign and hopeful that we will be able to get OR working again with new leadership and fresh ideas.

Unfortunately, I had to miss a debate with John Kitzhaber on Friday but I am really looking forward to debating him in the coming months and I hope he is looking forward to it as well.
"

Let's just be clear. The Republican Governor's Association meeting was the same day as the debate. His "vacation" started on Wednesday, making missing the debate purely a matter of his choosing.

And then the post goes on to remind everyone that he "will be co-Grand Marshal at the Great American Stock Car Series NASCAR race in PDX". See my post above.

Don't break a sweat, Chris. Remember, free-throws are still scarier than this politician stuff.

I am especially enetertained by the part where he hopes Kitzhaber is "looking forward to to it as well". No doubt, I am sure Kitz can hardly hold his enthusiasm in.

This is why Dudley doesn't want to debate.

KGW Debate: Allen Alley Crushes Chris Dudley

"The Chris Dudley Meme"

What's most interesting is how the local Republican blog reacted to Chris Dudley's lame excuse for skipping the debate:

From Ted Piccolo at NW Republican, this summation is what I am counting on:

"Can Dudley rebound? Oh sure. However they will have to be at the top of their game for a while. You can't have two mistakes like this in a row as the charachature is already being developed. Also it means that the Dudley campaign may be forced into participating in a debate that is entirely NOT of their liking. They had their mulligan and they may be forced to, at least in the immediate future, play by someone else's rules."

See you at the debate, Mr. Dudley.

Want evidence of lies? Why the LIAR meme FITS Chris Dudley!

Evidence of Dudley's lie to avoid debate. Of note, the screen grabs below show the Head of the RGA and his Communications Director on the evening of the ONPA debate, crowing about the "hugely productive couple of days" spent with Chris Dudley and then a while later, the tweets disappeared from the timeline as though they thought better of it. No doubt the Dudley Campaign requested they be removed because he was back in Oregon spinning some yarn about a "family vacation". Dudley and Company had forethought of knowledge that this busted them in a lie.

Luckily, Tweetdeck preserves the tweets as long as you are still in the session. When I closed my window, the tweets were "gone, baby gone".

(Click on images to enlarge)

Yoohooo Dudley, Debate

Dudley's favorite view when debate is scheduled in Oregon

Those Lyin' Loafers

Chris Dudley goes on vacation and forgets his hiking boots. So while he has his dress shoes, he might as well attend a Republican Governors Association meeting.