Bill Bryant: Gov. Inslee didn’t want me talking to him at debate

While the presidential debates have often included heated back-and-forths, the debate-stage exchanges between Washington’s gubernatorial candidates have been relatively muted. Challenger Bill Bryant told KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson Thursday that Gov. Jay Inslee pushed for rules in the debate format so that the two couldn’t engage on stage.

That claim, however, was later debunked.

Bill Bryant faces criticism over income tax claims

During the pair’s third debate, which was held Wednesday night at Columbia Basin College in Pasco, Inslee and Bryant discussed multiple issues, including education and traffic congestion. Bryant said that the rules for the last two debates differed from the first when the candidates were asked to answer questions and then could rebut each others’ responses. And he claims that those rules were changed to favor Inslee.

“So you had two bites at the apple and you had four different pieces of conversation and you could go back and forth,” Bryant said. “He didn’t like that. So the second and third debate formats he had rules that said I couldn’t look at him or talk to him.”

Wait, Bryant wasn’t allowed to look at Inslee?

“I guess I could look at him, but I couldn’t talk to him,” Bryant clarified. “ … If you noticed in the second debate, I did, and I got my hand slapped because I was looking and talking to the governor. And then last night, again, I asked him, ‘Listen, you can clear up the whole misunderstanding you say that exists over the income tax by telling voters you will veto any new tax on income,’ and that’s when they slapped my hands again and said you can’t address the governor — you can’t look at him, talk to him.”

Debate rules: Bill Bryant vs. Jay Inslee

Bryant’s claims were “absolutely not” true, according to Diane Douglas, executive director of the Seattle City Club, which is the founder of the Washington State Debate Coalition. She told MyNorthwest she had “no idea” why he thought Inslee had any impact on the rules.

The candidates were asked to not engage with one another because it “fosters civil dialogue and that’s a cornerstone of our work and what we aim for in the debates,” Douglas said. “It was something that was in the initial debate format and rules before we sent it out to any candidates.”

Bryant acknowledged to Dori that the debate commission agreed to the rules but that “it’s not something I was very happy about.”

“It’s the rules that the governor wanted,” Bryant said.

Dori reached out to Inslee for comment but has not yet received a response. Bryant hopes Dori does.

“Ask him why he didn’t want anybody talking to him or interacting with him or looking at him during the debate,” Bryant said. “It keeps it from really being a debate and more of a Q&A session.”

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