Arcabascio Campaign, Sam Costanz
Queens Borough President hopefuls Republican Tony Arcabascio and Democrat Melinda Katz.
The debate over the debate is over.
Queens Public Television has finally decided to air a debate taped two weeks ago between Queens Borough President hopefuls Melinda Katz and Tony Arcabascio.
The station had pulled the sparring match after third-party candidate Everly Brown complained he was not included.
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Brown placed third in the Democratic primary, behind Katz and City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. He is running in November on the Jobs and Education line.
Arcabascio, the Republican nominee, was furious with the initial decision to pull the debate, which is now scheduled to run a dozen times between Oct. 27 and Oct. 31.
He initially blamed the Queens Democratic Party — which backed the front-running Katz — for pressuring the station to shelve the debate.
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But QPTV said it was their decision from the start.
“Mr. Everly Brown was invited to take part in the debate but failed to participate thereby forfeiting his equal access or ‘equal time’ to our channel,” said Clifford Jacobs, programming and access services manager at QPTV. “Once invited, it is incumbent on the candidate to appear.”
Brown’s campaign manager, Elhadj Bah, said the station had never officially notified the candidate.
“Let them air it,” he said. “They should have re-recorded another one with all three of us. This was a bait and switch.”
Queens Borough President Debate, Queens Public Television, Oct. 27, 10 a.m., noon and 8:30 p.m. For channel information and additional airing dates go to www.qptv.org.
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