One month ’til primary—still no Omaha House debate for GOP

Joe Jordan | Nebraska Watchdog

The GOP has had three Senate debates this year, the third debate for governor is coming, so an Omaha House debate must be just around the corner.

Right? Wrong.

There’s no indication Congressman Lee Terry and his Republican rival Dan Frei will meet one-on-one before the May 13 primary.

While Frei tells Nebraska Watchdog he’ll meet Terry anytime-anywhere Terry has already turned down one debate and if others come up he’s apparently saying no to those as well.

“(Congressman Terry) believes the best way to earn re-election is to spend his time doing his job,” said his spokesman.

Team Terry says that job includes, among other things, replacing and repealing Obamacare and completing the Keystone XL pipeline.

The debate that was turned down would have been on KFAB radio and presumably covered by Omaha’s TV stations and the Omaha World-Herald along with Nebraska Watchdog—just the kind of free media coverage the badly underfunded Frei campaign needs to take out the 8-term incumbent.

Two years ago when Terry had three primary opponents the four debated: once.

Terry easily defeated the three, although together they picked up nearly 40 percent of the vote.

Asked specifically why Terry won’t debate Frei, Terry’s spokesman told Nebraska Watchdog this:

“Congressman Terry has a long-standing relationship with this community and the people of Omaha know exactly where he stands on the issues that impact them the most.”

Contact Joe Jordan at joe@nebraskawatchdog.org and listen to Joe every Monday morning at 7:40 on KFAB radio in Omaha.

To subscribe to news updates from Nebraska Watchdog at no charge, click here.