After slipping in a brief negative attack on Andrew Cuomo for his negative attacks, Jeanine Pirro says she wants debates, not negative attacks. She says she's accepted three, wants five more around the state.
The best part of her release is the part where she slips in the largely irrelevant fact that she was "born and raised in Elmira, educated in Albany and Buffalo, and raised a family in Westchester County." Think she might be worried about her name-recognition deficit to Cuomo upstate?
Cuomo's campaign, in response, attacks Pirro for her negative attack, then says he's interested in debates too. They've gotten a bunch of invitations and are just beginning to analyze them, says spokesperson Wendy Katz.
Pirro release, Katz response follow after the jump.
PIRRO TO CUOMO: NO MORE SURROGATES; LET’S DEBATE
White Plains, NY – Jeanine Pirro, candidate for Attorney General, today reinforced her pledge to run a campaign about issues important to New York voters – a pledge met immediately by a barrage of scurrilous negative attacks from surrogates for opponent Andrew Cuomo – by challenging Cuomo to a series of debates across New York State.
“Andrew Cuomo didn’t want to debate during the primary until he was forced to. He hid behind surrogates to attack his opponents. Now he’s doing it again,” Pirro said. “New Yorkers want to hear from us, and to judge for themselves who the best person is to be the top lawyer and law enforcement officer in the State. The best way to do that is through a healthy series of face-to-face debates.”
Pirro, who was born and raised in Elmira, educated in Albany and Buffalo, and raised a family in Westchester County, announced that she was accepting debate invitations from across the State.
“Every New Yorker deserves a chance to compare our qualifications, law enforcement records, ideas and priorities for the Attorney General’s office,” she said. “If it was good enough for Lincoln, it should be good enough for Andrew Cuomo.”
To date, Pirro has accepted debate invitations from CBS/New York Times in New York City, Long Island’s News 12, and in the Capital District at Albany Law School/Time Warner Cable. Pirro proposes further debates in Western New York, Central New York, the Southern Tier, the North Country, and Westchester/Hudson Valley regions.
STATEMENT FROM WENDY KATZ, CUOMO SPOKESPERSON:
"Two months ago the Pirro campaign launched a negative television ad attacking Andrew before he was even the Democratic nominee, which clearly backfired. Today Ms. Pirro agrees with Andrew and Eliot Spitzer who have said they will campaign on the issues that matter to New Yorkers and Andrew looks forward to comparing his vision, record and positive message in debates, editorial boardsand forums all across the state."