The Great Debate - #WhereisDionne?

My opponent has already taken the public’s vote in November for granted. That’s the only conclusion I can draw for Dionne Foster dropping out of “The Great Debate” on Saturday Oct. 11th – a five-hour affair broken into one-hour segments for each citywide race on the ballot plus the District 2 race. It’s been on the calendar for months and she dropped out last Friday.

Why this matters

I’ve been complaining about the lack of media coverage of Council races this year due to the fact that while there are over twenty debates on the calendar for mayoral candidates, The Great Debate is the only event featuring self-described, one-on-one debates with City Council candidates. I get it: the mayoral race is more sexy because the Mayor is the city’s figure-head. But because the legislative branch passes the laws and controls the money, Council can destabilize the city a lot faster than the Mayor. We’ve seen that before with “defund the police” so people should care about the citywide Council races like mine.

The Great Debate has been an institution since the Murray administration and was produced on a shoe-string budget for a primarily south end audience for years. It has always garnered media coverage and this year’s larger venue and sponsorships promised to draw even more.

I was looking forward to the media covering the contrasts in my race. Like the fact that I have a plan for increasing access to on-demand addiction treatment and recovery-based housing and stabilizing existing supportive services that work. Foster has no plan for reducing homelessness or expanding addiction treatment beyond what we’re already doing. Like the fact that Foster opposes many of the public safety measures Council has passed but won’t say what new interventions she’s for to keep people safe. That means she’s fine with the status quo. 

And when asked at a recent forum that was not recorded for the public if encampments should be allowed in parks, I said no. Foster, however, refused to answer that yes-or-no question, pivoting instead to safe sound-bite talking points about the need to expand shelter. That can only mean she lacks the political will to make our parks and playfields clean and accessible to all. 

The debate format differs from that of multi-race forums because it allows for diving into the details of policy issues and enables the moderator to follow up when candidates try to evade answering the question. And by their nature, debates draw more media coverage – essential for an informed public in a democracy. 

By dropping out, Foster’s not only robbing the audience of her positions on critical issues, she’s disrespecting all the volunteers, debate moderators, and community members who came together to put on this event for the public’s benefit. While I’ll still be allowed time to answer questions myself, media outlets could skip that part of the program for its lack of gripping policy debate.

But it’s not too late! I encourage you to ask my opponent to change her mind and participate – we don’t want to all be left asking #WhereisDionne ?