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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (489969)	6/19/2012 3:58:16 PM
From: Bill	1 Recommendation Respond to of 793996

Brown out of debate after Vicki Kennedy rejects demands By Hillary Chabot And Chris Cassidy \| Tuesday, June 19, 2012 Photo by Mark Garfinkel (File) Victoria Kennedy has refused to sit out the Scott Brown-Elizabeth Warren race and withhold her endorsement, thus rejecting a debate demand from the Republican senator’s campaign, prompting Brown to withdraw his agreement to debate, officials tell the Herald today. After learning that Vicki Kennedy had rejected the Brown camp’s non-endorsement demand, Brown campaign manager Jim Barnett, issued the following statement today: “We respect Vicki Kennedy’s decision but we regret that we cannot accept a debate invitation from someone who plans to endorse Scott Brown’s opponent. The Kennedy Institute cannot hold itself out as a nonpartisan debate sponsor while the president of its board of trustees gets involved in the race on behalf of one of the candidates.” Officials with the Edward M. Kennedy Institute had sent a letter earlier today saying Vicki Kennedy would not abide by Brown’s condition. “This non-endorsement pledge is unprecedented and is not being required of any other persons or entities. To us, such a pledge seems inappropriate when a non-media sponsor issues a debate invitation,” officials with the non-profit institute wrote. “We can assure both campaigns that the debate will be fair — just as the one we co-hosted between Senator Brown and Attorney General Coakley in was fair.” Lisa McBirney, the Institute’s Chief Operating Officer and the Chief of Staff Christopher Hogan wrote that they would consider allowing some other media outlet to host the debate after Brown requested that MSNBC be removed as a sponsor. “We look forward to having the campaigns accept the invitation to debate in principle and then to sitting down to negotiate the specific terms,” they both wrote. Brown accepted an invitation to debate Warren at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute yesterday, but said he had two conditions. He wanted the event to be sponsored by local media instead of MSNBC, and he wanted Vicki Kennedy to refrain from endorsing a candidate. But McBriney and Hogan swatted down that request today, saying Kennedy’s title as president of the board of the Institute is honorary and pointing out that newspapers which host debates also endorse. “Given the goodwill and understanding of the non-partisan mission of the Institute that Senator Brown has thus far shown, it seems inconsistent that he would now attempt to restrict the activities of Mrs. Kennedy as a condition of accepting a debate that is co-sponsored by an organization with which she is affiliated.” The Herald has reported that the Kennedy Institute, which is guided by Vicki Kennedy, is dominated by top massachusetts Democrats, while Kennedy herself has taken partisan shots at Brown in the past — even as the Institute was preparing for a debate in which he was participating. “Do we want to send someone (to Washington) who’s just going to go there and just say ‘no?’?” Kennedy asked just before the 2010 special election. She also endorsed Democrat Martha Coakley before a debate at UMass- Boston. And four days after the debate, Kennedy took to the airwaves in an emotional TV ad claiming Coakley would fight for the same people her husband had. In a statement yesterday, issued before today’s rejection of Brown’s terms, the EMK Institute had reasserted its “nonpartisan” nature and asked for a sitdown to negotiate terms and formats. “The Edward M. Kennedy Institute and the University of Massachusetts Boston look forward (to) discussing the terms of the debate in person with the Brown campaign and the Warren campaign,” said institute spokeswoman Debra De Shong Reed. “The Edward M. Kennedy Institute and (UMass-Boston) cosponsored a critical debate between Sen. Brown and Attorney General Martha Coakley in the last Senate race in a fair and impartial way. We look forward to doing the same in September.” Warren’s campaign had no immediate response to the latest developments in the Institute debate dispute. Article URL: bostonherald.com