Fall River mayoral candidate Sutter, Mayor, disagree on debates ahead of Coogan’s appearance on Will and Mike Show

Fall River, MA: Sam Sutter, candidate for Mayor of Fall River this year, and former Mayor and District Attorney of Bristol County announced last week that he is calling for two debates before the primary on September 19th while Coogan states that he is waiting until the general election.

“I have noticed over the past few weeks that people who are undecided want to see a debate” stated Sutter. “I challenged Paul Coogan to debate one month ago on August 8th, when I posted my position paper on Coogan’s mismanagement of the $90 million American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money.”

“I am reissuing my challenge to him with two weeks to go before the September 19th primary, and I know that he’s not going to debate me. He doesn’t want to debate me because he doesn’t want to answer tough questions about his inability to do anything
about the rising crime in our city, his inability to bring new business into our city, despite all of the federal money he has had, his lack of interest in doing anything about affordable housing, and his consistent mismanagement of the budget. If you don’t have the guts to debate the issues, then you shouldn’t be running for mayor, because being mayor takes guts.”

Sutter said he was particularly disappointed, because Frank Baptista of WHTB and Mike Silvia of the Fall River Reporter have agreed to provide a location and to moderate the pre-primary debate.

Sutter: “Debates are the lifeblood of American politics, and they have been for over 200 years. The people of Fall River deserve a debate right now.

Fall River Reporter reached out to Mayor Coogan’s campaign concerning Sutter’s comments in which the mayor replied:

“A staff member on my opponent’s campaign reached out to me last week to ask whether I would participate in a debate before the primary. My response was that I will happily participate in a debate in the coming months if I am lucky enough to be chosen as a candidate in the general election. I look forward to joining a debate with my opponent after next week’s preliminary vote.”

Mayor Coogan will be on the Will and Mike Show on Thursday, September 14th.