Saint Louis, Mo. — After months of bickering over tax returns, St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley has finally agreed to an open debate with his Democratic primary challenger, Councilman Steve Stenger. Unfortunately, the devil is always in the details.
Last Friday, Dooley’s campaign announced it was prepared to debate Stenger on either July 31 or August 1 from 10am to 11am. However, the release also said that details about format, moderator, and location were still being determined. Dooley’s campaign has refused to meet Stenger in open debate until Stenger agreed to release a swath of state tax returns, something the Stenger campaign has said is a political ploy and stalling tactic.
“We’ve accepted 6 separate invitations from folks to debate Charlie Dooley,” said Stenger campaign manager Anthony Badino. “We’ve been calling for a debate for months. In the Friday press release, the Dooley campaign offered no moderator, no location, and no format details for a debate only days before an election when some voters will have already submitted absentee ballots. Steve Stenger is committed to debating Charlie Dooley, but his camp is simply not serious about debating.”
Stenger’s campaign has accepted numerous offers from 3rd parties to debate, including St. Louis Public Radio and KMOX, in an effort to put public pressure on Dooley and paint the incumbent as afraid to defend his positions. But the Dooley campaign stuck to its guns, shifting questions on a coming debate back to Stenger’s unwillingness to release state tax returns.
“Knowing that Charlie Dooley refused to participate in a debate until his opponent was transparent with the voters and released ten years of full tax returns, it took Stenger several weeks to provide just six years of partial federal returns,” said Dooley campaign communications director, Linda Goldstein. “When Charlie Dooley held his position ‘no full disclosure, no debate’ it then took Stenger more than three months to come up with his state tax returns. He still hasn’t released his supporting schedules or his city earnings tax information. Four months of stalling makes one wonder, what is Steve Stenger hiding?”
Goldstein went on to say that details were being finalized and would be made clear to Stenger and the public once they were. Stenger released his state tax returns a few weeks ago with no controversy, hoping to rob Dooley of one of the bullets in his gun.
Stenger’s campaign repeatedly told The Missouri Times that they were ready to debate in one of the many 3rd party offers they had previously accepted, but that they couldn’t confirm participation in Dooley’s offer without more details.
Collin Reischman was the Managing Editor for The Missouri Times, and a graduate of Webster University with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism.
