| NEWS | Debate Ditchers These three popular Arizona candidates just can’t commit. BY ELIAS WEISS political opinions and public policy proposals to potential voters, you’re in for a humdrum hangover between the primary and general elections this year. Candidates are flaking on public forums from Phoenix to Flagstaff. One year after a mob of then-President A Donald Trump’s supporters attacked the Capitol in Washington, D.C., the Republican National Committee penned a letter to the Commission on Presidential Debates. Republicans across the country threatened to skip traditional debates unless the committee enacted a host of partisan reforms. Arizona Republicans took the letter to heart and localized it. At least one Democrat did, too. “Candidates should not hide from the people of Arizona,” said Stacey Champion, a Phoenix communications consultant who works with Kris Mayes, a Democrat running for Arizonas’s attorney general. “Whether it’s refusing to debate or talk to reporters, you’re hiding from the people of Arizona.” We rounded up the most popular candi- dates who played hooky from the big stage, or who simply can’t commit to showing up. Here’s who — and why. Katie Hobbs It’s not uncommon to see gamesmanship before campaigns agree to a debate. But Katie Hobbs, Arizona’s secretary of state and the Democratic nominee for governor, is obstinate in her refusal to debate her GOP counterpart, retired TV news anchor and conspiracy theorist Kari Lake. The hour-long affair slated for October 12 is likely to be Arizona’s only gubernato- rial debate. The event’s reach is expected to rival that of the Super Bowl, according to the debate organizer, Citizens Clean Elections Commission. The debate was first scheduled for October 5, but it was rescheduled to avoid conflicting with Yom Kippur. Debate orga- nizers said they hoped for confirmation from both campaigns by September 2. “We have every intention of partici- pating,” campaign spokesperson Joe Wolf rizona’s politicians have a new catchphrase: “It’s not up for debate.” If you’ve cottoned to candidates exposing their Gage Skidmore/Creative Commons Katie Hobbs hasn’t committed to debating opponent Kari Lake in the race for Arizona governor. said. Hobbs is demanding “changes to the format to ensure that Arizona voters get a robust policy debate based on fact,” he added, but her campaign hasn’t proposed any new ideas about how to stifle lies about rampant fraud in the 2020 election. Lake offered Hobbs a backhanded compromise in hopes of moving the needle on October’s spectacle. “To make things even easier for you, I’ll allow you to choose the moderator,” Lake sniped in a video posted to Twitter. “Hell, I’ll even let you write the questions.” Lake didn’t respond to interview requests from Phoenix New Times. Abe Hamadeh Nobody blames Abe Hamadeh, Arizona’s Republican nominee for attorney general, for seeking a little R&R after a blitzkrieg of bad press spearheaded by New Times. We uncovered Hamadeh’s apparent admission of voter fraud in 2008 and followed with a story detailing issues with the financial disclosure he filed earlier this year. When the news broke, Hamadeh’s debate with Democratic nominee Kris Mayes was quietly rescheduled from August 29 to September 28. Mayes committed to the original date on August 17, according to emails provided to New Times. Hamadeh did not. “We committed right away because that’s what you do for a debate,” Champion said. The “original date didn’t work” for Hamadeh, campaign spokesperson Erica Knight told New Times. She added that there wasn’t a time “open in the schedule” until late September. Mayes is skeptical. “The people of Arizona have a right to see us debate and present our ideas,” she told New Times. “I think it’s absurd for my opponent to duck Last One Standing and dodge and weave and postpone a debate. I’m looking forward to, at some point, being able to contrast my views with his because the people of Arizona are going to choose sanity over crazy.” Eli Crane With just one-third of the vote, political newcomer Eli Crane stunned State Representative Walter Blackman in a crowded field to secure the GOP nod in Arizona’s newly drawn Second Congressional District, which is the largest in the state. Crane is a Navy veteran who achieved fame on the reality show Shark Tank for his star-spangled, firearms-themed bottle openers. He claims to be “an America First candidate who is pro-life, pro-Second Amendment, and has the courage to take a stand against cancel culture and the radical left.” On Monday, incumbent Democratic U.S. Representative Tom O’Halleran announced he agreed to participate in a televised debate with Crane on Arizona PBS. Crane outright rejected the invitation, according to Citizens Clean Elections Commission. O’Halleran appeared alone on Wednesday on Arizona PBS’s Arizona Horizon. “As the Congressman representing rural Arizona for five years now, I’m not one to shy away from tough discussions on the issues hardworking families are facing,” O’Halleran said in an email to New Times. “I was looking forward to an honest debate with my opponent, and I’m disappointed that voters won’t get to see one. I’ll always show up for Arizona families.” An August 24 poll from the right- leaning public opinion research firm Moore Information Group found that Crane is a one-point favorite over the incumbent. Crane ignored numerous interview requests from New Times. Local Races Debate skippers aren’t limited to Arizona’s big-league races. According to the Citizens Clean Elections Commission, 44 candi- dates for the state legislature have declined or ignored invitations to debate. State Senate firebrand Wendy Rogers was years ahead of her contemporaries in the RNC. In 2014, she refused to debate U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema, an Arizona Democrat who was then in the U.S. House, over reminiscent claims of debate modera- tors jaded by liberal partisanship. Fast-forward eight years, and Rogers pooh-poohed an invitation Arizona takes initial steps to execute 76-year-old Murray Hooper. BY KATYA SCHWENK T his spring, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich resumed executions in Arizona after nearly eight years. So far, two longtime death row prisoners — Clarence Dixon and Frank Atwood — have been put to death by lethal injection. The next to face the death penalty, the attorney general’s office revealed in July, is likely Murray Hooper, one of three convicted killers in a murder-for-hire case that took place in 1980. At 76, Hooper is the only one of the three who is still alive. Arizona Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Brutinel ruled on August 24 that Brnovich can move forward and file a warrant for Hooper’s execution, which Hooper’s attorneys had attempted to delay. Now, the court battles begin. Over the Murray Hooper. Arizona Department of Corrections next two months, as Brnovich’s office moves through the proceedings to complete the execution, attorneys for Hooper will chal- lenge the execution. If a judge ultimately grants the warrant, and it holds up to appeals by Hooper’s attorneys, his execu- tion date will likely be set for November. Hooper was convicted of killing Pat Redmond, a Phoenix busi- nessman, and his mother- in-law, Helen Phelps, in Redmond’s home on Christmas Eve, 1980. Pat Redmond’s wife, Marilyn Redmond, was shot in the head but survived and testified against Hooper at trial. The prosecution’s theory of the case was that Hooper and William Bracy, who lived in Chicago, alongside Ed McCall, a former Phoenix cop, were hired by Chicago crime boss Robert Cruz to kill Redmond. Redmond had shut down some business dealings with Cruz, and Cruz hoped to take over Redmond’s company. On December 30, 1980, Hooper and >>p 11 Bracy flew to Phoenix and stayed with asso- ciates of Cruz. The next day, as Pat and Marilyn Redmond were preparing Christmas dinner, the three hit men arrived at the home, burglarized it, and shot the Redmonds and Phelps in the head. >>p 11 9 phoenixnewtimes.com | CONTENTS | FEEDBACK | OPINION | NEWS | FEATURE | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | FILM | CAFE | MUSIC | PHOENIX NEW TIMES SEPT 8TH–SEPT 14TH, 2022