It appears that Fountain Hills voters will have no opportunity to hear Mayor Linda Kavanagh discuss issues face-to-face with her write-in challenger, Ginny Dickey, before the Aug. 30 primary election.

Mayor Kavanagh is out of town on a trip planned for some time and was unable to attend the Civic Association forum held Tuesday, Aug. 2. Dickey was available but agreed not to participate.

Both candidates had been expected to attend the Men’s Discussion Group forum on July 25. However, the group’s moderator, Sherm Abrahamson, explained that Dickey notified him she was physically unable to attend that morning.

Kavanagh did respond to the questions at that forum.

Kavanagh said when the candidate filing cycle ended without a challenger for her she accepted an invitation out of town for the Aug. 2 date. She informed Jerry Caldwell, who was organizing the forum for the FHCCA. She said he agreed that since she had no opponent there would be no need for her participation.

However, after Dickey announced her intention to run a write-in campaign, Caldwell notified Kavanagh he was trying to arrange a separate forum for the mayoral candidates. Kavanagh said she declined that invitation as well as one from the Chamber of Commerce. She wrote to Chamber CEO Scott Soldat-Valenzuela declining that invitation saying she had “no opponent on the ballot opposing her.”

“I do not believe that public discourse is served by elevating ‘write-in’ candidates to the level of real candidates who had to overcome the hurdle of collecting hundreds of voter signatures to show their candidacy is serious,” Kavanagh said in her email to Soldat-Valenzuela. “The state does not allow ‘write-in’ candidates to take part in clean election debates and you don’t see them in other debates run by the media.”

In a response to an inquiry from The Times, Kavanagh said she did not want her reasons to be misunderstood.

“As you know, I participated in the Men’s … forum where Ms. Dickey had the opportunity to debate me but didn’t show up.

“I attended and participated because months before I promised the group I would even though at that time I had no opponent.”

Dickey said there are various personal reasons, including work obligations at the time and the passing of her father, which precluded her from pursuing a candidacy through the normal petition process. She also said she had hoped someone would step up to challenge Kavanagh.

Dickey said there are very stringent rules outlined in state statute for write-in candidates and it is no short cut to the ballot.

“I’m not sure how (Kavanagh) feels she can judge why I couldn’t enter the race earlier, but she definitely doesn’t have the authority to define the authenticity of my candidacy,” Dickey said. “Write-in candidates for public office in Arizona are governed by five different statutes of state law.”

Dickey said she believes residents should be given a choice.

“Linda Kavanagh has twice run unopposed for various reasons, but becoming mayor of our town is too important to just inherit without communicating her plans and policies unquestioned,” Dickey said in an email response to The Times. “The current mayor apparently believes that she is entitled to continue as if she remains unchallenged, since she is refusing to appear with me and offer her constituents a chance to hear our ideas.

“As a 33-year resident with 16 plus years as an elected official, I am more than willing…indeed eager…to discuss the various issues, hopes and possible direction for Fountain Hills, and share why I would like to serve our community once more.”