Our own Republican Daddy Warbucks - uber right-wing Tony Strickland, running for the 19th State Senate seat in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties against moderate Democrat Hannah-Beth Jackson, has reportedly refused to debate her in a Sept. 24 forum sponsored by none other than the Ventura County Star and the local Chapter of the California Association of Political Centrists.  

Jackson, on the other hand, had no trouble agreeing to this debate or a question-and-answer forum with Strickland last spring sponsored by the Camarillo Chamber of Commerce. Jackson performed quite well there in "Strickland Country."

The forum provided by the Star will likely be televised and would have given all voters a chance to see the two candidates in action. It's a shame they aren't being given this opportunity.

I must conclude he doesn't want to answer questions local voters want to put to him.

Since he's basing his entire campaign on his new company, GreenWave Energy Solutions, and not his actual record in the Assembly before he was termed out, I'd like voters to know more about it. Here's a link to Star Reporter Timm Herdt's article on the company. GreenWave has no paid employees, no technology, no business and its requests to study a wave energy project off the coast were sent back by a federal agency as deficient.

But his voting record on environmental issues and alternative energy was among the very worst, getting a 1.7 percent rating from the California League of Conservation Voters.

OK, so maybe he doesn't want to talk about that.

Maybe he's also afraid of questions about the $50,000 donation from Altria, parent company of Philip Morris, made to the Ventura County Republican Central Committee on his behalf. Here's Herdt's story on that. Apparently he has an excellent pro-tobacco industry record as Assembly member, voting against two bills which would make it harder for minors to buy cigarettes. He might also not want to talk about the almost $85,000 he's taken directly from tobacco companies.

Those are just a few questions he wants to duck.  So how do we put the truth screws to Strickland if he is afraid to debate Jackson? Tell it like it is on blogs like this. And as Shakespeare wrote in the "The Merchant of Venice" - "truth will out."