Bennet Challenges Dent to Debate – Then Fails to Show

at Candidates’ Forum!

For immediate release

Contact: Shawn Millan

610.758.9080 

In another misstep typical of her campaign, Congressional candidate and Executive Director of Properties of Merit, Siobhan Bennett, failed to attend a debate/candidate’s forum during the very same week she issued a debate challenge to Representative Charlie Dent.

"It was amazing," said Representative Dent. "She issues a challenge to debate during the week of August 11th, a non-partisan group (the Parkland School District Alumni Association) holds a forum that attracts fifty people from the community and Siobhan Bennett is nowhere to be seen." 

This calls into question the sincerity of Bennett’s debate challenge. “This is what she said she wanted; a chance to debate her energy plan with me. I rearranged my schedule so that I could attend, but Bennett was a no-show. Maybe she’s more interested in issuing challenges and sending letters than in actually doing the debates,” said Dent

Representative Dent questioned if perhaps Bennett is having second thoughts about focusing a debate solely on energy because of the unrealistic nature of her “Drill Nothing” extremist approach to the energy issue. “I think to a certain degree she must see that even Sen. Obama, her party’s presidential candidate, has had to do a 180 degree turn on allowing for greater American energy production.  Sam is stuck way out there in an extreme, irrational position that the majority of the people in this district don’t support. A position, in fact, the majority of the American people don’t agree with. That has to be awkward for her and her campaign to deal with.” 

Congressman Dent’s campaign manager, Shawn Millan, commented on how ridiculous the incident makes Bennett look.  “Standard operating procedure for the Bennett campaign is to make outrageous statements and then to get called on her facts.  She went on a radio program recently and called Charlie a ‘chicken’ for not debating her, then the very week she says she wants to schedule a debate on an important issue – she fails to show up at a debate.  It looks like the Bennett campaign laid another egg.” 

Millan added that Congressman Dent has already accepted three other invitations from three groups interested in sponsoring debates during the fall. 

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