India Walton on Wednesday publicly turned down an invitation for a second debate against Mayor Byron Brown that would have been televised live.
Democratic mayoral challenger India Walton is already looking toward City Hall with her appointment of six experts to an advisory committee.
"We announced in August that we would be participating in one debate – one more than Byron Brown agreed to during the primary election – and we fulfilled that commitment earlier this month," Walton said in part of a statement provided to the sponsors of the debate, which included The Buffalo News, WGRZ-TV and Buffalo Toronto Public Media.
Walton and Brown, along with two other challengers, participated in a debate two weeks ago that was sponsored by the Buffalo Association of Black Journalists and WUFO radio. The event was broadcast live on radio and social media, but it was not carried on any local television stations. It was made clear to both campaigns that a second debate would have been televised live by all three outlets.
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For his part, Brown, who lost the Democratic primary after largely ignoring Walton's candidacy, criticized the Democratic nominee for ducking a second faceoff.
It was almost as though the switch flipped Monday to full-blown campaign mode in the contest for mayor of Buffalo.
"India Walton's refusal to debate in objective, open and transparent forums, after promising she would debate is not just disqualifying, it's disingenuous," Brown's campaign said in a statement.
Under terms of the debate proposed to both campaigns, the event would have only included Walton and Brown, and not two other write-in candidates who participated in the first debate, Jaz Miles and Benjamin Carlisle. Walton's camp said it was "inappropriate to elevate one of them above the others," providing an unfair advantage to Brown, who is also waging a write-in campaign following his June defeat.
