It doesn’t appear as if there will be any debates prior to the August 14th primary between Democratic candidates in the race for Florida House District 49.
The Orange County Young Democrats and College Democrats at University of Central Florida had proposed a debate and while one candidate, Shayan Elahi, a civil rights attorney, is ready, Joe Saunders, the other primary opponent in the race, has declined the debate offer.
“It is a shame that Joe Saunders refuses to even respond to debate in Florida House District 49,” said Mike Cantone, Elahi’s campaign manager. “Our opponent is running scared as he does not live in the district and now he refuses to debate the issues and get to know the community he seeks to represent. Voters deserve better than this.”
The proposed debate, with questions written beforehand by Laura Crolla, Vice President of the OCYDs, was expected to cover a range of topics including the economy, jobs and education.
Although the Elahi campaign readily accepted the opportunity to discuss the issues, organizers called off the event due to Saunders’ refusal.
When contacted by West Orlando News Online as to why he turned down a debate with his opponent, Saunders, field coordinator for Equality Florida said, he had no comment.
“Shayan Elahi will continue to canvass door-to-door in his community, talking with neighbors, and is willing to debate his opponent any time before the August 14, primary,” Cantone added.
The OCYD’s are such an ineffective organization at the moment that there would likely be only a handful of people in attendance.
Steve, do you think the same thing of the UCF College Democrats? If the campaigns also encouraged voters to show up, the college and the media, plenty would have been there. It’s not just about how many members of OCYD would be there. I think Joe is just scared he would be embarrassed in front of a community he is not a part of, especially since it would have been on UCF campus you would think Joe “the youth candidate” would have been the eager one.
I like Joe, but this is ridiculous. I dont care whos on your host committee or how much money from Thornton Park you have, folks deserve to see the two sides wholl be representing them so they can make ab educated decision. Thats democracy.
Steve, I don’t care which organization put it on or who came to see it, it was an opportunity for the community to learn more about both candidates. In regards to OCYD, you should know their effectiveness since I never see you at our monthly meetings and events.
The OCYD & UCF Democrats ought to man-up and hold the debate with the candidate who is ready, willing and able to represent them/us any time, any where, any place…his name is SHAYAN ELAHI!
I heard Joe wasn’t available the night of the debate and told the OCYD that. OCYD chose to cancel instead of rescheduling. It’s amazing how bias this story is. Doesn’t Shayan’s campaign manager, who is quoted in this article, write for this site?
The strategy, as I see it, behind declining the offer to debate Shayan Elahi isn’t so much based in fear as it is refusing to acknowledge Mr. Elahi as a viable threat. Once Saunders agrees to debate Mr. Elahi, he is placing him on an equal footing and showing the constituency that there is a credible threat to his candidacy. By not appearing on a panel or in a debate with his primary opponent, he can essentially say “Shayan? who is Shayan?” and write him off as not even a blip on the radar.
As the moderator of the debate I can confirm that Joe did not ask us to reschedule. Please realize that persons who choose not to list their name in their posts are likely not credible sources. Steve, we have never seen you at a meeting or been contacted by you so I doubt your ability to assess our organization. We had over 30 people at our last event regarding youth and knowing their rights. We have already teamed up with other community organizations to increase that number next month when we continue the series. If you are interested in being active in OCYD’s I would strongly encourage you to do so.
I didn’t know a debate can be considered “called off” when it was never confirmed to begin with. The YD’s board consists of loyal Shayan supporters as we all know, not a level playing field. It’s the same reason Shayan’s campaign didn’t want to participate in the DEC debate because it was at the The Abbey, considered unfair territory because Joe had a fundraiser there. West Orlando news is becoming less of a credible news source and more like a personal diary for Mr. Cantone to air all his nasty garbage.
Like the writer of this article????
“Please realize that persons who choose not to list their name in their posts are likely not credible sources.”
Headline from the “press release” issued by Mr. Cantone’s campaign staff: “Local Democrtic Groups, Orange County Young Democrats and U.C.F. College Democrats, Snubbed by Local Democratic Candidate Joe Saunders”.
“Democrtic”???? A typo in the headline? There’s the true hallmark of a Cantone campaign. Sloppy, unprofessional, and based on the tone of the release, NASTY.
Mr. Elahi should worry more about Mike Cantone trying to steal center stage in this race rather than Joe Saunders. After all, the first press release this campaign sent out was about Mr. Cantone. What a riot. My colleagues and I laughed our asses off about that one when we got it. This latest one was just the perfect punch line to follow it up.
Keep this kind of thing up and Mr. Elahi will join Cantone in the 3% club! HAHA!
Did Cantone seriously quote himself in an article he wrote? That’s hilarious. Joe, don’t you dare give this campaign serious press by agreeing to do a debate with them. It’s a waste of your time. Talk to your future constituents one-on-one and don’t give this campaign any legitimacy – it’s the only legitimacy they’ll get.
As someone who has lived and worked in the district for the past five years I am insulted that someone who doesn’t live here thinks that he has a right to represent me. Tallahassee is a mess right now and it’s because of individuals such as Mr. Saunders, who have no business running for office. He is obviously trying to make a name for him self with no thought of the citizens of the district. While I am not very familiar with Mr. Elahi (except from a previous article on this site) I do have some respect that he is running to represent a district that he has lived in for the last several years. I would also like to ask those supporting Mr. Saunders, how they can justify him running in a district where he doesn’t live. He doesn’t drive the same streets that we do everyday back and forth from work. He doesn’t shop at the same grocery store or eat at the same local restaurants. There are many things happening to the east side that I am not happy with and I want a fellow resident, who is here to witness the same things that I do everyday to represent me. As for these negative comments about Mr. Elahi not being a legitimate candidate, I would say who are you kidding? As has been stated so many times in this post of mine, he lives in the district and Mr. Saunders does not. Enough said.
Joe Saunders went to UCF and his family home is in the district. It’s not like the guys from Alaska people. Plus, when it comes to REAL ISSUES, like jobs, the economy, fighting against the GOPtards in Tallahassee, I don’t really give a rat’s behind if he lives in the district or 15 minutes outside of it. As long as he’s good on the issues. Majority of voters don’t care if he’s in district or not. It seems like Cantone is just trying to make an issue out of nothing (yet again). Has he done any polls or surveys in the district to even see if this is a legitimate issue? I doubt. Instead it appears to be just more drama inducing nonsense in a desperate attempt to get back at people who didn’t personally support him when he ran for mayor. You lost. Get over it. You’re trying to run a full-on negative campaign against your opponent, like you did with the mayor. Got you nowhere then (well, 3%, I’ll give you that) and will get you nowhere now.
It’s a shame that Elahi has attached himself to a losing, whining team that will only drag him down to the single digits.
The voters of the district will decide on August 14th who they want to represent them, and all this back and forth between clearly insider OCDEC people isn’t going to change that. If Joe wants to debate Shayan he will, if not he’s probably gonna get hammered on it. Either way it’s probably not gonna matter much in District 49.
So what you’re telling, is that my concern of having an outsider represent me is irrelevant? I went to school in Northern Virginia for my undergraduate degree, doesn’t mean I’m qualified to run for office there. This voter does care about what is happening in his district. And by the by I have talked to several of my neighbors and they are astonished that someone outside our area. I care about the local businesses here (my favorite bar is going out of business because of the shopping plaza near UCF is being torn down. This has been a place for a number of years where my friends and I have gone to hangout, play trivia on Tuesday nights, and have gotten to know everyone who works there and it saddens me that this is going away, NOW TELL ME MR. SAUNDERS understands that at all. I doubt he’s ever been to the place since he doesn’t live here, the safety of my neighborhood, how does someone who doesn’t live begin to understand what the lives of residents here are like??? And please “Anonymous” I would appreciate it if you address my comment with a little more concern and respect and stop spinning it back to some mayor candidate who is irrelevant to all this. When electing a representative we should be looking for someone who understands what’s happening in the area and therefore can find solutions on how to fix it. ONE SOLUTION DOES NOT FIT ALL.
Hi all,
As the Contact Person for this Debate, I can assure you that the Saunders team did not RSVPs yes, no, or ask to reschedule with me or anyone else on the OCYDs board. We are not all “loyal Elahi” supporters; in fact, we have never discussed who we are personally supporting at all.
We had hoped to host a debate for the sole purpose of allowing voters in the district see the differences between two great Democratic candidates; not to cause anyone trouble or distress. As a voter in the district myself, I personally would like to hear more from both sides. We wish that the debate were happening, however it is impossible to host a debate with one person.
Badmouthing the YDs or CDs will not magically make this debate happen. For those of you who feel either of these organizations are ineffective, I encourage you to attend the next meetings and make suggestions.
It is disappointing that this type of negativity came out of an OCYD opportunity for BOTH candidates to get exposure. Not only had our board not endorsed either candidate, I would venture to say that most of these posters don’t even know who our board consists of. The reason I offered to moderate is because I had no ties to either campaign, I barely know either of them, and I really was excited about hearing what each person had to say and learning about each candidate’s views. The fact remains that we gave Saunders until July 3 to respond and he choose not to. So, this will be my last involvement with this race and I am sad to see this kind of negative back and forth between members of the same party who would have given UCF students and the members of the district equal opportunity to speak. Not to mention that because I had no ties to either campaign, I had to waste time (when I could have been working) researching both candidates so that I could ask questions that were fair to both. No one from OCYD had anything to do with either candidates response to the invitation to debate or any subsequent press release, so let’s just move on, quit the name calling, and for once focus on being a unified party rather than the bunch of unorganized and bickering party members that Republicans love to think all Democrats are.
I applogize that my iPad marked that lt comment anonymous. It was from me, Laura Crolla.
Trini quiroz: As Democrats, let’s not say “man up”. We have plenty of brave women in our party! 🙂
The Other Side: Joe’s team was supposed to contact me if they were or were not able to attend, and they did not. (They know my email address, phone number, where I live, I see the candidate and his staff on a regular basis professionally and personal, etc. If the message was trying to be sent, believe me, I would have received it) Apparently you heard incorrectly. Believe me, we and the College Dems would have been happy to reschedule and in fact Shayan’s team offered to do so. The problem is, it’s hard to reschedule when you don’t get a response in the first place.
Anonymous #2: The only reason the debate was not confirmed is because we cannot confirm a debate without participants—don’t you agree? And who exactly were we supposed to confirm with? You? As a OCYDs Board Member, I can personally tell you that I do not know who was supporting which campaign prior to this situation. If Joe’s team felt that we were hosting the debate to sabotage them or make them look bad, I am deeply disappointed that they did not voice this, as I know all of his staff personally. That being said, I doubt and hope they did not feel this way. In fact, I have reassured Joe’s Campaign Manager that this was not this case, which he affirms that he knows. I cannot speak for the DEC or their tactics, nor can I speak for either campaign’s reasonings for their actions in planning this debate or after the debate was canceled.
See? When Mike Cantone is involved in anything, EVERYONE gets dirty. Having that guy as your campaign manager is like having bad breath in a kissing contest!
The OCYDs are not taking any sides here. I wish the same could be said for some of my fellow constituents, who choose to make mean-spirited comments and hide in anonymity.
Bottom line: Joe initially agreed to debate, we prepared everything, and then he completely ignored the debate confirmation. He has every right to do so, and I wish him luck during his campaign. I’m just disappointed that we’re going to miss out on what would have been an incredible showcase of intellectual discourse and creativity between two stellar candidates.