DANVILLE - The absence of Congressman Lou Barletta at a campaign event Tuesday night rankled his election opponent, Gene Stilp, and lead to unanticipated debate over the event's format.
The candidates for the 11th Congressional District were expected to debate each other at the American Legion during a Candidates Night hosted by the Danville Area League of Voters.
Instead, it was Stilp and a congressional aide trading barbs.
Stilp attacked Barletta for skipping the event, while Shawn Kelly, Barletta's communications director, said the congressman was simply keeping a prior commitment.
"What event takes precedence over this debate?" Stilp asked Kelly.
Kelly took a long pause and followed with an explanation that, as a employee of his congressional office and not his campaign, he did not know what event Barletta was attending Tuesday.
He did, however, say that "He committed to an event over two months ago and he's keeping that commitment."
Lance J. Stange Jr., Barletta's campaign manager, said the event his boss was attending was not a fundraiser, as stated by Stilp.
Barletta was a guest speaker at a Republican Party dinner in Dauphin County, Stange said.
Stange said the Danville event wasn't billed as a debate in an invitation faxed to the congressman on Oct. 15, the day a reservation was sought. The invitation did say that a representative could fill in at the Candidates Night, but it also included language about a question-and-answer session from a moderator and from audience members.
Stilp opposed the League of Voters' decision to allow Kelly to fill in for him at the debate table, calling it an unexpected change in protocol.
When the debate got under way, Stilp and Kelly engaged in often testy exchanges on health care spending and reform, jobs creation and the national deficit, and engaged in clumsy exchanges of a microphone that underscored the evening's awkwardness.
Stilp spoke on the prominence of Montour County's own Geisinger hospital and health system. He supports health care coverage for preexisting conditions and for preventative medicine, and keeping adult children on parents' health care plans.
As for President Obama's health care plan, he said changes must be made to ease the financial burden on small businesses.
Kelly countered, saying Stilp supports the president's plan.
"What Mr. Stilp isn't going to tell you is that he supports Obamacare," he said.
Kelly said his boss, Barletta, voted 33 times to repeal Obamacare. He said the congressman does support some provisions of the plan, including allowing small businesses to pool resources to lessen the cost of employee health care. However, he said changes to health care can not be wide sweeping and immediate.
Stilp noted more than once his involvement in bringing to light well-documented controversies surrounding a late-night pay raise for state legislators and the "bonusgate" scandal in Harrisburg.
If he were to be elected to Congress, Stilp said he would look to circumvent the "gridlock" that has consumed Washington, D.C., working with representatives of all parties.
Kelly said Barletta has already done that, working with Democrats on a transportation bill and disaster relief for Pennsylvania and beyond following last year's flooding.
The congressional debate was preceded by a debate between state Rep. Kurt Masser, R-107, and his Democratic challenger, Ted Yeager, which was their second debate of the day.