Toronto – (October 18, 2000)
At just before 11 a.m. today Tooker Gomberg threw down the gauntlet to Mel Lastman to have a one-on-one debate before the upcoming municipal election on Nov. 13.
The gauntlet, a green and yellow hockey glove, was thrown to Mr. Lastman during a 20th anniversary ceremony at Toronto’s Columbus Centre. Mr. Lastman would not pick up the gauntlet. Gomberg was carried out of the room by four police officers after it was claimed that he was trespassing on the property, and was released with no charges laid.
“Debate is fundamental to a functioning, healthy democracy. Why won’t Mr. Lastman accept any invitations to debate during this election? What is he afraid of?”
The Gomberg for Mayor campaign is a serious campaign. “I am the only other mayoral candidate who has been elected to public office. We have a dynamic campaign team with over 500 workers to date. We have already distributed over 120,000 leaflets. The GombergForMayor.org website has already received 200,000 hits, and there’s still a month to election day. Daily we are releasing platform planks on all the issues of concern to Torontonians. I wonder how many volunteers Mr. Lastman has. He doesn’t even have a website yet, nor is his office open.”
“My campaign has received numerous inquiries about when Mr. Lastman and I will be debating publicly. He owes it to every citizen to step forward and defend his views.”