Chris Smith Knows Debates Matter. That’s Why He Won’t Do One

As Joshua Welle gives US Rep. Christopher H. Smith the most serious challenge the Fourth District congressman has seen in more than 30 years, the challenger has a simple request: let’s have a debate, so voters can hear how we differ on the issues.

It’s not a new request. It’s one Smith has ignored for months as Welle has crisscrossed the district, met thousands of voters, and held Town Hall meetings, something Smith will no longer do. But the request has taken on new urgency, as Welle’s TV ads remind voters that Smith opposes women’s reproductive freedom. And this week, we were reminded of Smith’s deeply held opposition to LBGTQ rights, a position that doesn’t align with values in Central New Jersey.

Why won’t Smith debate? Does he think debates are not important? Quite the opposite: Given Smith’s history, he knows precisely how important they are. Chris Smith owes his longevity in office to a lucky moment at a debate. He’s just hoping you won’t remember.

Smith was elected by surprise in 1980, swept into office by Abscam, which had snagged predecessor Frank Thompson. In 1982, Smith was expected to lose to former state Senate President Joseph Merlino, a towering figure in Mercer politics. Merlino agreed to debate Smith, but afterward, hubris took over. When the young Smith tried to interject into the veteran’s gaggle with reporters, Merlino dismissed him:

“Beat it, kid.”

Undone by his own arrogance, Merlino went down in defeat.

Fast forward to 1994, the last time I had an extended conversation with Smith, when my former newspaper sent me to cover the local Republican “watch party,” for a different debate. Republican Assembly Speaker Garabed “Chuck” Haytaian was challenging Democratic US Senator Frank Lautenberg, then seeking a third term. The buzz was that Lautenberg was losing touch with voters, and Haytaian asked a killer question: “Can you name all 21 counties?”

The place went wild as Lautenberg chastised the question. But I recall Smith was not so celebratory; he winced as Lautenberg stumbled. And perhaps it’s this memory that keeps Smith off the debate stage. Perhaps Smith fears the question that Welle will ask, based on connecting with voters every day, hearing their concerns and listening to their fears about the future.

Instead of debating, Smith and his staff have borrowed the “fake news” playbook: they cry foul every time Welle points out inconvenient truths in the congressman’s record. His chief of staff would have you believe that her boss’ current support for a bill banning federal funds for abortion, with exceptions for rape and saving a mother’s life, has been his position over time. But over the years, Smith has sought harsher restrictions.

For example, Smith once amended the District of Columbia appropriations bill to block federal funds from being used for any abortion. And in 2011, Smith led an effort to redefine “rape” as “forcible rape” in the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act. This would have barred girls who were victims of statutory rape from gaining access to health coverage for abortion if any federal funds were involved. Smith launched this unsuccessful crusade just before the Affordable Care Act extended coverage to millions of working families, and that was not an accident.

A debate would serve to point out these facts. It would allow voters to explore what Mercer County Executive Brian Hughes once called “the two Chris Smiths,” the friendly face that appears at parades and at ribbon-cuttings in New Jersey, vs the anti-abortion zealot that Washington knows. Mostly, a debate would call on Smith to answer some questions: with a Supreme Court more to his liking, would he make another run at restricting women’s rights? Smith told a high school class that the question of adoption rights for gay couples was “moot,” but with a new court, would he try to take away the rights of LGBTQ families?

Smith thinks he can run out the clock. By dismissing Welle, by refusing to debate, he’s displaying the same arrogance that torpedoed Joe Merlino long ago. Smith can no longer rely on a gerrymandered district and gerrymandered events, which never appear on a calendar so “unfriendly” voters are avoided.

There will no avoiding the voters on November 6th, when the message will be clear:

Beat it, congressman.