ACV Democratic News: Goodlatte Ducks Debate with Andy Schmookler, Tries to Run Out The Clock

After agreeing to debate Andy Schmookler, Bob Goodlatte has gone into hiding.

Andy Schmookler

Andy Schmookler wishes to debate the issues of the day with Bob Goodlatte but Bob refuses to set a date and time and is attempting to run out the clock so that no debate will be offered to the voters of the 6th District. Shameful conduct but par for the course for Bob Goodlatte who lives with a sense of entitlement as if he owns the Congressional seat. ACVDN is calling Goodlatte out. Set a time when you will debate Andy Schmookler and do it on TV so that the most voters possible have a chance see what the candidates offer. Stop the political games, Stop running and hiding.

Goodlatte's conduct is disgraceful and demeans the District and its voters.

The photos are from a Meet and Greet and Question session Andy Schmookler held in Lynchburg. Andy took all questions the audience cared to ask. There were no restrictions. Andy has no fear of the truth. Truth for a Change is his slogan. PS: Andy Has No fear of Debating the issues on TV. He would like to speak to the largest gathering of 6th District voters possible.

What exactly did Bob Goodlatte agree to?
by Andy Schmookler

After my press conferences at the beginning of August challenging Bob Goodlatte to debate, I was pleased that he accepted. But it is far from clear whether Mr. Goodlatte is willing to debate in a way that serves the people.

In one troubling development, Mr. Goodlatte has reportedly told those in Roanoke who were trying to arrange a debate that he would be unwilling to participate in any debate that would be televised.

I would like to ask Mr. Goodlatte how he can justify that position if he is committed to the idea that elections should serve the needs of the voters, and not the ambitions of the politicians. Does he want to debate only if almost no one gets to watch?

Also, Mr. Goodlatte did not respond to the two proposals I made regarding our debates in the letter that I sent him, which I read at my press conferences.

First, I proposed that the format for these debates be determined not by the candidates or the political parties but by some independent organization, like the League of Women Voters, that would keep the interests of the voters paramount.

I want to know if Mr. Goodlatte accepts that proposal.

Second, I proposed that we have at least three debates—one in each of the three main populations centers of our District (Roanoke, Lynchburg, and Harrisonburg). In a district as vast as ours, that seems the least we can do so that voters throughout our District can attend debates and compare their choices side by side.

I would like to know if Mr. Goodlatte agrees to that proposal of holding at least three debates across the District.

These are things that we, as public servants, should be willing to do. That is especially true because the two forces Mr. Goodlatte and I represent in this campaign are so fundamentally opposed. This battle goes deeper than the usual politics, deeper than liberal vs. conservative.

My position is that Mr. Goodlatte has betrayed the people’s trust, and that in this race I am the one the people can rely on to fight for them against the destructive and dishonest force he so willingly serves. He and his political party have a pattern of serving their own ambitions at the expense of the people and of the nation. That’s at the heart of America’s crisis today. And that is what my challenge to Mr. Goodlatte is all about.

Let the voters hear this case argued.

Andy Schmookler is the Sixth District Democratic Party congressional nominee.

ACVDN to Bob Goodlatte, good lord man you have held the job for over 20 years and you are afraid to debate on TV? The voters have a right to see you in action, not just the spin some slick PR man

adds to your image at a later date. Come out of hiding and debate.

Mr. Goodlatte, Why Your Extreme Vote Against the Transportation Bill?

By Andy Schmookler

Mr. Goodlatte, I saw that you voted against the measure to fund transportation. Why?

Surely you know that our roads and bridges and other infrastructure are in bad shape.

You must know that the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) gave America’s infrastructure a grade of D not long ago. Here in Virginia, our Department of Transportation lists 1,764 Virginia bridges as “structurally deficient” and 3,226 Virginia bridges as “functionally obsolete.”

So why did you vote to block this important bill that can help us address such pressing needs? Do you care about the condition of the roads our children’s school buses are driving on?

Then there are the jobs — perhaps the most pressing problem that Americans are experiencing in these tough economic times. This transportation bill likely will create some 2 million jobs in America, many of them right here in our district.

What’s more important to you than getting people back working and making an important contribution to our society’s well-being? Are you listening to the people in our area, along the Interstate 81 corridor, who are struggling with these hard times?

I know that, with your Republican colleagues, you’ve voted against just about every bill attempting to create jobs. But on this transportation bill, you were even more obstructionist than the others in your party. One of the two co-sponsors of the bill in the Senate was Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., one of the most conservative in that body. And of the eight Republican Virginia congressmen, only one joined you in voting against this bill.

Why would you take such an extreme position? Doesn’t a spirit of moderation better represent the people of the Shenandoah and Roanoke valleys?

Maybe it’s popular to declare against “spending.” But, aside from the fact that this is the very best time for the government to be spending on projects like this – when we need the jobs, and when interest rates are at historic lows — surely you’ve been around long enough – with your 10 terms in Congress – to understand that

some “spending” must be understood as “investment.”

Isn’t it a conservative value to invest in our future?

As the president of that American Society of Civil Engineers said, “Crumbling infrastructure has a direct impact on our personal and economic health, and the nation’s infrastructure crisis is endangering our future prosperity.”

America is richer for having “spent” to build the interstate highway system. We in the 6th District depend on our roads and bridges, and on the state’s ports and railroads, for our personal and economic health.

Our national greatness was built upon the canals, roads, railroads, power grids and other aspects of infrastructure that, since our founding, our government has helped to create.

Have you got some unknown plan for how America can maintain its greatness even while the underpinnings of our national prosperity crumble away?

Or has “just say no to getting anything accomplished” simply become a habit with you?

ACVDN thinks Goodlatte is ganging together with the other extreme conservatives and tea party degenerates to block anything President Obama and the Democrats try to do. For republicans it is a power play with the next election in mind and they don't care that they are blocking jobs or allowing the public safety to be neglected. Defeating Obama and the Democrats is worth any pain the citizens must endure and the republicans could not care less. It is no wonder Goodlatte doesn't want to debate on TV. If the voters see Goodlatte as he really is it will be Good By Bob, Good Riddance.