Nicole Robinson

Friendly, political chatter filled Davies Theatre when students, faculty and community members waited for the 93rd Assembly candidates to begin their debate. As minutes passed, it was clear the debate wouldn’t happern. Incumbent Rob Kreibich, R-Eau Claire, was not in attendance.

Democratic candidate Jeff Smith, challenged Kreibich to the debate one week ago and said he was not too surprised with his absence.

“I heard he wasn’t coming Monday on the radio,” he said.

Smith said he originally thought vice presidential candidate John Edwards was coming to Eau Claire Wednesday. He said he was planning to miss Edwards to come speak to the community at UW-Eau Claire.

“(Kreibich) missed the debate even though he knew about it before he knew of Bush’s campaign stop,” said Andrew Werthmann, a senior political science major and a member of Progressive Student Association.

Incumbents always try to avoid debates, Smith said, adding he thought Kreibich thought it was more important to have fun than to answer questions.

“There is no excuse for Kreibich not showing up to debate Smith,” Werthmann said.

The one-sided debate opened with questions from the moderator, professor emeritus Henry Lippold. Questioning was then opened to the audience.

Issues such as abortion rights, economic concerns, the gay marriage amendment and tax increases for higher education were addressed during the audience’s question portion.

In response to Lippold’s opening question regarding the proposed gay marriage amendment, Smith said that when you start tinkering with the Constitution, you start to mess with democracy.

“We need to protect everyone’s rights,” he said.

Lippold then asked where he stands on university funding. Smith replied, “That’s a billion dollar question, isn’t it?”

Forcing the government to focus on what is important to the communities is the start to creating better funding, Smith said.

It’s when Legislature wants to spend money on renaming highways and doing crazy things like that when most important items are cut, he added.

He also called himself a “townie” and said Eau Claire’s economic development is headed in the right direction.

“We encourage businesses to grow,” Smith said. “If you are going to do it (entrepreneurships), do it in the Chippewa Valley.”

Without Kreibich to oppose his remarks regarding a broad range of topics, students had little to argue with. Smith said he felt victorious following the debate.

“I won this one, didn’t I?”