New Albany resident Philip Derrow is a regular Columbus Dispatch contributor.
With today’s highly scripted political campaigns, it’s harder than ever to know what candidates really think about issues. Add the inevitable bias in most reporting and commentary and it’s all but impossible to discern truth from spin.
Candidate debates, while imperfect, offer at least some opportunity to force those seeking our votes to go toe to toe with their opponents, under pressure, without handlers or teleprompters. Dr. Amy Acton, Ohio’s Democrat candidate for governor, has denied Ohioans that opportunity.
Vivek Ramaswamy, her Republican counterpart, has eagerly accepted the challenge.
Most candidates see the decision whether to debate — or not — as a question of
risk vs. benefit. Campaign advisors worry about exposing their candidate to unscripted moments and questions they’d rather not answer. They seek to avoid high-profile exchanges with an opponent who may get a boost in support from a well-turned response or witty and memorable criticism.
Acton appears to have weighed these concerns and identified more risk.
Polling suggests Acton and Ramaswamy are in a statistical dead heat.
Both have expressed their preferred policy positions, but doing so on their websites and in curated events doesn’t subject those positions to face-to-face challenges like a debate can.
On Sept. 6, the Ohio Highway Patrol says 38-year-old Patrick M. Havas forced his way through a crowd at the Mahoning County Democratic Party’s tent at the Canfield Fair, attempting to reach Acton. He allegedly knocked over multiple people along the way before being arrested. Mahoning County Prosecutor Lynn Maro says Havas was attempting to question Acton.
That’s not how we should be getting information from our political candidates.
Ohio Jews deserve to know what Acton really thinks
Acton shouts “You can’t buy Ohio, and you can’t buy us”while complaining that Ramaswamy has spent millions on advertising questioning her fitness for office. Isn’t a debate stage with a statewide audience the perfect place to offer her evidence and refute her opponent’s criticisms?
There’s another question a debate would force, and it’s one she has never had to face in an unscripted setting.
Acton professes a personal connection to the Jewish tradition of Tikkun Olam — to improve the world. She’s never been pressed about what she thinks that obligation requires. She would be Ohio’s first Jewish governor and she’s running on behalf of a political party that’s become far too comfortable with antisemitism.
Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed —from that state up north — eagerly campaigned alongside the notorious Hasan Piker, who has built an audience on Jew hatred and the destruction of Israel.
Michigan’s Attorney General Dana Nessel interpreted Tikkun Olam to mean that Jews should “…sacrifice the comfort, safety, and security, and even the very future of our own people in exchange for the opportunity to save the rest of humanity.”
Since Nessel’s framing is a perversion of our noble tradition, and dead Jews can’t repair anything, I’m sure many Ohio Jews would like to know if Acton agrees with her fellow Democrat.
She hasn’t answered any of it. She’s arranged not to have to.
Acton’s refusal to debate may well be shielding what’s really happening and it could be a replay of what just happened in Virginia.
Will Amy Acton's mask fall?
Abigail Spanberger campaigned across that state last year as a former CIA officer who put pragmatism ahead of party and talked mostly about grocery bills and the cost of living. She won and promptly signed a litany of progressive wish list items that increased the cost of doing business, banned some guns, and barred state police from helping to enforce federal immigration laws.
The moderate Spanberger lasted until the votes were counted. The far left Spanberger entered the scene soon after Inauguration Day.
Is Acton is running the same sort of campaign? Absent answers to tough questions, voters would be wise to expect the same “stage-left” act that Spanberger performed.
In her last government job, Acton’s authoritarian orders closed Ohio’s schools first in the nation and shut down our state. Then she quit when citizens had the temerity to complain.
Her platform includes typical far left views on abortion and welfare. Her running mate ran the Ohio Democratic Party.
That same running mate — David Pepper — previously said a candidate who refuses to debate is “showing contempt for voters and civic groups.”
I don’t agree with much of what Pepper believes but he’s right about that. It’s not debatable. We deserve to see her answer questions under pressure before deciding whether to hire her.
New Albany resident Philip Derrow is a retired business owner. He was a two-term member of the New Albany-Plain Local Board of Education. He is a regular Columbus Dispatch contributor. Reach him at philderrowdispatch@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Amy Acton won't debate. Is she afraid her mask will slip and we'll see the truth? | Opinion
