Mackenzie, Slattery Back out of CEPTA Debate
Republican Primary candidate Arlene Dabrow was the only candidate to show up at Tuesday night's CEPTA event.
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Arlene Dabrow was stood up by two men last night in front of a crowd of approximately 40 people.
Dabrow is running in the Republican primary for the 134th District House Seat against Ryan Mackenzie of South Whitehall. She was expecting to meet up with Mackenzie during a debate sponsored by the Concerned East Penn Taxpayers Association (CEPTA) scheduled for last night.
Mackenzie, who had originally “RSVP'd” yes for the debate, was a “no show” at the last minute, citing a scheduling conflict as his excuse.
Mackenzie is also running for the open 134th House Seat in a special election scheduled during the April 24 primary. Mackenzie’s opponent in that race is Democrat Patrick Slattery of Lower Macungie Township.
Slattery, too, was expected at last night’s CEPTA debate. But he announced late Tuesday afternoon in a prepared statement that he would not be participating in the debate as a result of a lawsuit filed in Lehigh County Court on Monday.
So instead of a debate, Dabrow was faced with a candidate forum at Emmaus Fire Co. No. 1 in which she had center stage for more than an hour. During that time, she detailed her political career, which she said dates back to 1994. It was in that year that Dabrow took it upon herself to learn more about the American political system through the League of Women Voters.
“I am either too conservative or too liberal or too moderate or one of those,” Dabrow said, in describing how different people have reacted to her political views through the years. “The major issue I see in this election is an out-of-control government, out-of-control spending.
“I have been ringing the bell about our out-of-control spending since the 60s. Nobody has been listening to me on that fiscal responsibility issue. I have a feeling this group does agree with me on that,” she said.
After Dabrow’s presentation, Rob Hamill, who was originally on the Republican primary ballot for the 134th District, praised Dabrow for coming to last night’s event.
“She’s the only one who had the guts to show up and say what she had to say without being controlled by the handlers of the party,” Hamill said. “This is an important election, and there’s been no discussion, no debate.
“What kind of an election is this? They are here to represent the people and the people don’t know what they are representing,” he said.
Dabrow invoked the name of former 134th District Rep. Doug Reichley often during her talk, which ended with a brief audience Q&A session. She summed up her reasons for being in the race: “To be able to follow in Doug Reichley’s footsteps, he’s the best representative in my entire lifetime,” she said.
truth seeker
6:08 am on Wednesday, April 18, 2012
I want to be careful with this comment because I want to avoid any possible lawsuit. Quesion for CEPTA - Isn't this the second time your nominee skipped your event? I'ld like to know the real reason Mr. Mackenzie backed out. Also, why not wait until after the event to file the lawsuit or wny not file in November when it happened? The people that expected Slattery to be there probably deserve an explanation as to the timing of the lawsuit.
taxed-enough
8:38 am on Wednesday, April 18, 2012
So, we have had two debates in the 134th to get to know the candidates, and MacKenzie has not made himself available to show up at either debate even though he comes from a family that has marinated him in politics. MacKenzie was invited to two debates, and has showed up at zero debates. MacKenzie obviously does not feel comfortable answering questions or showing up with concerned citizens at a fire company. MacKenzie is not part of the fire company crowd. He is more comfortable with the Harvard elites, and country club crowd. He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. At least Doug Reichley was a gentleman, and always was receptive to concerned citizens groups. Doug Reichley always attended CEPTA debates, and answered questions from the public. MacKenzie is not mature (in his twenties), not a gentleman (did not keep his word to attend the debate). We will get a representative who is a coward, and hides behind his father's apron strings. I will not vote for MacKenzie after this latest debate dodging episode which shows that he is a coward. He is a debate dodger plain and simple. I will vote for Arlene who was not a coward. God help us all if we end up with MacKenzie or Slattery as representatives. I don't know which one would be worse. How did this happen that we ended up with absolutely no good candidates?
fdsadf dsfa
10:02 am on Wednesday, April 18, 2012
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Tim Killimaji
11:20 am on Wednesday, April 18, 2012
is it a debate if only one person shows up¿
. the only people running debates should be the local news and league of women voters, anyone else is agenda driven and not impartial to the process
Ron Beitler
11:56 am on Wednesday, April 18, 2012
LOWV runs exceptional debates. Anyone know why they didn't they for this important election?
Rob Hamill
12:02 pm on Wednesday, April 18, 2012
I called Mr Mackenzie to get to the bottom of this. This is the second debate that Slattery has ducked. Mackenzie was ready to do a debate but heard that Slattery had backed out, so he decided to do a Berks County function. The day before, Slattery had ducked a Chamber of Commerce function. So the way I see it, Slattery is running away from any issue. If I were Slattery, I would be ashamed of being almost totally financed by unions- 57% direct union support to date on his campaign finance report. The public unions will bankrupt our commonwealth through puppets in the legislature.
Shelly Rota Steiner
12:10 pm on Thursday, April 19, 2012
Why are you so anti union?
Missy Moyer-Schneck
8:41 am on Friday, April 20, 2012
Yesterday I was for voting for Pat, now I'm reading more and more about things that bug me just like they do with the blah candidate on the republican end......the options suck this time around that's for sure....ugh......Anything backed by the union is death to a community....
truth seeker
9:46 am on Friday, April 20, 2012
Consider Arlene Dabrow. She is a local Republican candidate who has actually spent some time here recently. You can find her name on the primary part of the ballot.
taxed-enough
12:16 pm on Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Rep. Doug Reichley has an extemely successful politial career, and always attended Concerned East Penn Taxpayer Accoc debates. He was a mature person and responsible politician. It is incorrect that only the League of Women Voters can host a debate to give voice to candidates, and they are not actively holding debates in Emmaus anyway. Every person and every organization in the world has an agenda. You are naive if you do not realize that every person and every organization and debate host, any every news organization has an agenda. It is a mature candidate who has courage that can participate, and make themselves available to the public for public forums and public debates and questions from the public, which MacKenzie refuses to do. The CEPTA debate from Janauary for the 134th debate is on youtube, and was extremely informative with four participants, but MacKenzie dodged that debate as well. I am not a member of CEPTA, but these people give of their own time and money to host public forums that are free and open to the public. All of us should be so active, and our country and community would be a better place. Are they perfect? perhaps not, but they are local heroes in my opinion for being politically aware, and never asking for cash or tax dollars to perform public services for our community. Let the one of who is a perfect person in every way be the first to cast a stone against the volunteers at CEPTA.
Tim Killimaji
5:37 pm on Thursday, April 19, 2012
I would respond to you directly but your anonymous name and cowardliness to reveal your true identity makes your comments irrelevant, thank you.