Suozzi Challenges Spitzer to Debate Upstate Economy

Suozzi Challenges Spitzer to Debate Upstate Economy

Two days after Buffalo television viewers were blocked from watching this week's Democratic gubernatorial debate, Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi challenged his front-runner rival, Eliot Spitzer, to debate him in the city next month. Suozzi said Buffalo would be an ideal venue for a single-issue debate: the future of the upstate economy, a matter that was mentioned only in passing during the one-hour debate Tuesday night at a college campus theater in Manhattan.

"I'm prepared to debate in Buffalo anytime," Suozzi said outside the state Capitol on Thursday.

The attorney general has shown no public interest in further debates with Suozzi.

And a request to interview Spitzer was turned down Thursday.

Suozzi said he already has accepted an invitation from WKBW, the ABC affiliate in Buffalo, for a debate on Aug. 28, and he urged Spitzer to attend.

"If they allow me to come without him, I'll be there," Suozzi said when asked if he would attend even if Spitzer is a no-show.

Spitzer's spokeswoman, Christine Anderson, said the campaign did receive a request for Spitzer to appear at a WKBW-sponsored debate in August. She said Spitzer is "considering it along with the other requests" for debates.

After the debate Tuesday, Suozzi said he asked Spitzer three times backstage about additional debates.

"I gotta go," Suozzi said Spitzer told him.

Government watchdogs joined Suozzi's call for a second debate and urged the attorney general not to employ a Rose Garden-like strategy by limiting face-to-face discussions on issues with his opponent.

"We would strongly encourage Mr. Spitzer to engage in as many debates as possible," said Barbara Bartoletti, a lobbyist with the New York League of Women Voters.

The Spitzer and Suozzi debate Tuesday night in Manhattan was dominated by New York City issues and was not televised in Buffalo and many other communities upstate.

The continued erosion of the upstate economy should be the sole focus of a Buffalo debate, which should be followed by another session in the economically ailing city of Rochester, Suozzi said.

This week's debate was sponsored by NY1, a New York City cable television station owned by Time Warner that sent the signal to only five other stations in Albany, Syracuse, Rochester, Westchester County and Long Island. Officials at Adelphia cable television in Buffalo said they were not offered the debate, though it remains uncertain why.

The League of Women Voters has offered to sponsor one Democratic primary debate - in Albany on Aug. 31 - and four general election debates in October and early November in Buffalo, Manhattan, Ithaca and Long Island. League officials said only Suozzi and Republican gubernatorial candidate John Faso have agreed to attend the debates.

Suozzi said Spitzer's planned $11 billion in state spending reductions over three years would be half or more of what will be needed to fund his proposals for school aid funding hikes for New York City, property tax relief, universal health care coverage, transportation projects and other ideas.

Anderson, the Spitzer spokeswoman, said Spitzer's $11 billion savings plan has been validated by State Comptroller Alan Hevesi. "These savings will more than pay for Eliot's tax cuts and the other critical plans he's proposed," she said.

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