Our View: Herger owes his constituents

Wally Herger has never met a campaign trail photo-op he didn't like. The same can't be said for debate opportunities.

Herger, the 12-term Republican incumbent from California's 2nd Congressional District, refuses to debate his Democratic challenger, Jim Reed, a lawyer who bills himself a moderate on the issues.

Dave Gilliard, the consultant running Herger's campaign, told us there's no way the congressman is going to engage in "any type of forum" with Reed, who has "tremendously stepped up his rumor mongering" — specifically the rumor Herger is suffering from the early onset of Alzheimer's.

Reed fueled the rumor by discussing it in a late September radio interview, which is posted on his campaign website, www.reednow.com.

Appearing together — at least in the same room — at a Kiwanis Club meeting in Red Bluff last week, Reed offered an apology, but Herger refused it. "I've always been taught that you don't reward outlandish behavior and I don't think it would be proper to reward him," Herger said.

Reed, in turn, accused Herger of coming up "with any little excuse to not debate."

We don't condone slimy political tactics, but Herger has it wrong: Debating Reed would not be a reward to his opponent, but rather fulfillment of an obligation to the voters that Herger should honor. The district's constituents deserve to hear the candidates confront each other and air it out on the critical issues.

Herger, whose district includes Yuba and Sutter counties, has found the time to make recent press-the-flesh appearances in Marysville, including Thursday's stop at a fundraising dinner for the homeless. So we extended to his campaign an invitation to return to Marysville at least one more time to participate in an hour-long debate at the newspaper's office, to be carried live on the Appeal-Democrat website.

Herger's camp declined. Herger is "willing to go anywhere and talk to constituents, but he's not going to give Reed the platform" for personal attacks, Gilliard said. Reed, of course, agreed to the debate.

Herger has debated opponents in past elections, so why the disinclination to do so now, including canceling a long-scheduled event co-sponsored by the League of Women Voters?

Herger was ducking debates before the ugly politicking's emergence. He refused to debate Col. Pete Stiglich in the Republican primary. He promised future debates against Reed, but turned down his Democratic challenger's offer of three events, including one in Yuba City, during the summer congressional recess. Herger rejected an invitation from the Shasta County Tea Party, which offered to stage a debate. He chose not to participate with Reed in the Sept. 23 candidates forum co-sponsored by the Appeal-Democrat. (To be fair, Congress was in session that day).

In the wake of Reed's Sept. 28 Progressive News Radio interview that included discussion of the Alzheimer's rumor, Herger bowed out of an Oct. 6 debate that had been scheduled two months earlier. Herger's camp denies making that commitment or that it was then aware of the radio show comments.

Then came the decision to cancel the public television debate scheduled for Oct. 25. Herger's campaign initially said that debate was off until Reed issued an apology.

Reed's public apology last week wasn't enough; Herger's campaign had earlier demanded a private apology and the removal of the radio interview from Reed's website.

Maybe the congressman is just playing it safe this time around. After all, he's a longtime incumbent in an overwhelmingly Republican district — why should he debate when he doesn't have to? The political campaign playbook dictates not giving an unknown challenger any exposure. So Herger can content himself with playing to friendly faces.

Herger apparently isn't worried about the anti-incumbent fever spreading across the country. Or website comments like this one: "I've voted for Herger in every election. This time I think, I'll leave that space blank."

While Reed is touting internal online polling results that show him less than 2 percentage points behind Herger, it seems unlikely Herger will lose the Nov. 2 election, not with his voter registration edge. And Reed faces potential backlash for his personal attack.

However, the real loser in this affair will be the voter.

Politics can be a dirty game, a truth Herger should know after 24 years in Washington. We encourage Herger to drop the indignation and step up to confront his challenger, quash the rumors and tackle the issues. He owes that much to his constituents.